One of our Angelicum confreres invited us to a Mass at his collegio, where he was the principal celebrant in front of about another 100 of his OSB brethren. He invited several of us from school, but unfortunately, only a few of us came. Perhaps the idea of a nearly-two-hour-Mass starting at 9am on a Sunday, rather remote from other parts of Rome daunted the others who may have thought that sleep or cramming around a shorter/later Mass might be a more efficient use of their time. Anyway, it was lovely hearing the schola chant the various bits of the Mass, and hearing our friend preach a very bold, very appropriate homily on the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Afterward, our friend prepared a little reception for us in their monastic garden (from which I did not take these photos, but...) and we were able to meet some of the other Benedictines there while snacking on Italian pastries and orange juice (with even a little Prosecco in the offing).
(I didn't take any photos of their garden, thinking my camera battery had died, but there were, apparently, a few pictures left before it completely died, because I took these rose pictures on the way down from the monastery.)
Rome loves roses, and they're proud of their roses. They hold annual competitions in their public rose gardens every year. And for a short time, they open their prize garden to the public, as well. So, we stopped by on our way down the Aventine.
(Then I pulled out my camera to see if I could get just one or two pictures more before the battery died.)
And you know, the first roses we saw on our way in were bright yellow, and smelled like--lemons! Then there were these orange ones that we saw going out, and you'll never guess what they smelled like. Ok, so maybe you will.
i was so tired after that, that when i got home, i decided to take a nap before doing anything else...and woke up monday morning when the alarm went off! or, rather, sort of woke up, because for some reason, i was groggy all day. and that's actually why i didn't post on sunday as i had planned.
5 comments:
What was the occasion for the lengthy Mass?
Those particular rose scents are new to me. Most intriguing. Your photos are marvelous.
Sunday was the occasion for the lengthy Mass. Since it was our colleague from school who served as principal celebrant, he invited us to come hear him preach. He tells us Mass is like that every Sunday morning, though. And there are 120 of them in the collegio, though some go out to preach and say Mass on Sunday mornings, and so were not present.
For myself, I'm wondering how a Latin Rite mass (in either form!) gets to be two hours. The weekly Missa Solemnis I help sing for here only gets to about 1h15m (though in part this is constrained by there being another Mass scheduled right after)
On the other hand, I was at WYD in Germany, so, well, I've seen it happen, anyways.
In the meantime, very much enjoying your roses; the lemony and orange-coloured remind me of a rose that evoked peaches in both colouring and aroma. Maybe I should go obtain a scion for rooting and planting.
i do hope you get the cutting, and that it grows! roses can be so finicky...
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