A Little Bit of Home in Rome: Day 4

Today in Papal History will be writing from Rome through the end of this week.

My only Sunday in Rome allowed for a bit of sleeping in before we caught a taxi up to the North American College, where American diocesan seminarians in Rome live and study. This Sunday was the acolyte installation for several dozen of the men there, including one from my ancestral Diocese of Helena, so Fr. Ned had planned for us to attend Mass and brunch afterward.

The halls of the North American College in Rome. Each American diocese’s crest lines the top of the wall, with papal portraits hung beneath them.

Following the festivities, we worked our way up to the roof of the NAC in time to see Pope Francis pray the Sunday Angelus. To be fair, he was little more than a speck in the distance (see below), but the NAC’s proximity to St. Peter’s Basilica and its placement atop one of the seven hills of Rome made it easily among the best views of the entirety of Rome.

Pope Francis saying the Sunday Angelus, WAY off in the distance

Fr. Ned (second from left) and I with the two Diocese of Helena seminarians studying in Rome – Caleb Mitchell (far left) and Brett Rotz (second from right)

Fr. Ned and I then opted to take the scenic 45-minute walk back to our respective houses (I was shocked at how my wooden-heeled leather dress shoes seem to have been made to walk on Roman cobblestone streets…), and on the way we found the Church of San Marcello, dedicated to Pope St. Marcellus I.

The ceiling of the Church of S. Marcello

It was yet another little surprise gem that Rome had waiting for us – I didn’t expect at all to walk into the church and have it be named after that St. Marcellus, to say nothing about discovering that his relics are reposed in the main altar and a painting depicting the 4th Century pontiff graces the high altar.

The high altar of the Church of S. Marcello. Pope St. Marcellus I (d. 308 AD) is depicted in the painting behind the tabernacle and his relics are reposed beneath it under the altar.

The church, traditionally thought to have been built over the prison that held Marcellus I during his pontificate (Christianity was almost, but not yet, legal in 308 AD), was the place of Pope St. Boniface I’s election to the papacy in 418 AD. A reconstruction was built during the 700s by Pope Adrian I, which currently sits beneath the present church structure.

The Church of S. Marcello is also a titular church of Rome, meaning that one of the church’s cardinals has been assigned to it as cardinal-protector in an unbroken line for 17 centuries – a list that includes the future Pope Urban VIII during the 1580s – up to the present day.

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While Fr. Ned rested up for the upcoming week of classes, I set off to find one of Rome’s famous flea markets in search of any sort of historic papal memorabilia (at the recommendation of friend-of-The-Popecast Fr. Richard Kunst).

Unfortunately the wind and impending rain limited the options, but I still was able to find a few medallions that fit the bill.

Clockwise from the top: a medal depicting Venerable Pope Pius XII, a Pope St. John Paul II medal from his beatification in 2011, a medal depicting Pius XII and Bl. Pius IX from 1954, and one depicting Pope St. John XXIII from the early 1960s.

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The day came to an end with a trip to Abruzzi, the restaurant that was easily the most recommended by friends prior to my trip. Whatever they did to the pork cheek bacon in that carbonara made this the best meal so far, and though the green Sambuca liquer gifted to us by the host vaguely reminded me of a gross peppermint chewy candy from my childhood at some elderly person’s house, it did seem to pair with the dessert at least…so no complaints there.

Both the dessert (montebianco?) and the liqueur looked weird, but together they were excellent.

More to come tomorrow. Thanks for reading!