If you happen to be in Rome tomorrow, help the city celebrate its 2,771st birthday! I’ve listed some events as reported in Wanted in Rome magazine. A few took place today and I apologize for not getting this to you beforehand. April 21st is the city’s birthday so if you miss it this year, put it on your agenda for next year!
VATICAN INSIDER CELEBRATES FR. JIM LLOYD, 70 YEARS A PAULIST
I’ve been blessed to know SO many wonderful priests over my life but I might have to give a special prize this week to Paulist Fr. Jim Lloyd. We had another great visit over the Easter holidays at the Paulist Motherhouse in NY where I was a guest for a few days. He had just turned 97 and on May 1st he will celebrate his 70th anniversary as a priest!!
The Paulists, of course, have been in Rome since 1922 when they were asked to care for the Catholic American community in the Eternal City. Our home now is St. Patrick’s Church on Via Boncompagni in central Rome.
Fr. Jim and I talk about his life, starting at his birth just blocks from the Paulist motherhouse, where he now lives, and the adjacent St. Paul the Apostle Church. You will be riveted by every facet of his life! In the early years of his priesthood, Fr. Lloyd was a missionary in South Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in psychology from New York University. For 20 years, he worked at Iona College as a professor and director of the college’s graduate division of pastoral counselling. He continues to hear confessions and provide pro bono counselling services.
He started our conversation by telling me about his amazing parents – no way could you guess what they did! We cover his priestly life and ministries and his NBC TV show “Inquiry” – and so much more! Not a dull second in our conversation!
I only wish that Vatican Insider was TV instead of radio so you could see Father Jim’s sparkling blue eyes and feel his enthusiasm and joy when he talks about the amazing, different periods in his life as a priest. One thing you will hear him says several times is that, no matter what he was doing, he always wore his Roman collar so people would know he was a priest.
In the United States, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (there is a list of U.S. stations at http://www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio. Outside the U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” Vatican Insider airs Saturday mornings at 9:00am (ET). On the SKY satellite feed to the UK and parts of Europe, VI airs on audio channel 0147 at 11:30 am CET on Saturdays, and 5:30am and 10pm CET on Sundays. It’s also available on demand on the EWTN app and on the website. CHECK YOUR TIME ZONE. Here’s a link to download VI to your iTunes library: http://www.ewtn.com/se/pg/DatService.svc/feed/~LE.xml For VI archives: http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=7096&pgnu=
TO CITIZENS OF ALESSANO: “YOUR LAND PRODUCED A SAINT”
Friday, Pope Francis travelled to two cities in two Italian dioceses south of Rome. He first went to Alessano where he visited the grave of Bishop Tonino Bello on the 25th anniversary of his death, telling the citizens, “Your land produced a saint.”
At the second stop of his morning, the Pope celebrated Mass at the port of Molfetta on the Adriatic. Fr. Tonino, said Francis, imitated Jesus by drawing near to the poor to the extent of “dispossessing himself.” In order to promote peace on a global level, he acted locally. He was convinced that “the best way to prevent violence and every type of war, is to take care of those in need and promote justice.”
The Pope said Father Tonino – later a bishop – had an “allergy for titles and honors.” Like Jesus, he stripped himself of every “sign of power in order to make way for the power of the sign….”
Francis invited the faithful to “find the strength” to be divested of everything that inhibits putting on aprons, which Fr Tonino called, “the only priestly garb recorded in the Gospel”.
The vaticannews site gave a brief biography of Bishop Bello.
In 1982, St. Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Molfetta and Ruvo. Bishop Bello renounced all signs of power and tried to help the most disadvantaged. He ensured Caritas groups were established in every parish, and founded a community to help people with addictions. His pastoral zeal took him to Australia, Argentina and Venezuela where he visited immigrants from his diocese.
Bishop Bello is greatly known for his work with Pax Christi, an international Catholic peace movement. He was appointed president of Pax Christi Italy in 1985, a position he held until his death. An outspoken critic of the Gulf War and other conflicts, he even rallied against NATO. In December 1992, he led a group from Italy across the Adriatic to Sarajevo where he headed a peace march.
Bishop Bello envisaged the Church in an “apron”, evoking the image of Christ at the Last Supper who tied a towel (apron) around his waist, got down on his knees to wash the feet of his disciples in a symbolic gesture of humble loving service. Known for his frugal ways, Bishop Bello preferred to take a bus and often used a bicycle since he felt cars added to air pollution. He often went out to the streets, bars and restaurants to interact with people. He died of stomach cancer in Molfetta on April 20, 1993. He was 58.
CZECH CARDINAL’S REMAINS LEAVE ST. PETER’S FOR NATIVE LAND
The remains of exiled Czech Cardinal Josef Beran were taken out of St Peter’s Basilica, the final resting place of popes, on Thursday evening in the presence of a Czech delegation comprising church and state representatives. Friday, they were flown to Prague for a later burial in St. Vitus Cathedral, according to an English-language program on Czech Radio.
Cardinal Beran was exiled to Rome in 1965 and died there four years later. He was buried in the Vatican because the communist authorities didn’t approve his final wish for his body to be returned to his homeland.
Along with the coffin, a small bag with earth from Beran’s homeland, which was placed in his grave in 1969, was also taken out from the chapel to be returned to the Czech Republic. A commemorative plaque will be installed in St Peter’s Basilica as a permanent memorial to the Czech cardinal, whose name became a symbol of resistance to the communist regime. The coffin was then moved to the Nepomucenum, the Czech papal college in Rome, where the cardinal died in 1969.
For more; click here: http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czech-cardinals-last-wish-to-be-respected-after-almost-50-years
THE ETERNAL CITY TURNS 2,771 ON APRIL 21
The capital celebrates its 2,771st birthday on Saturday 21 April, with events also taking place on days on side of the anniversary. Known as Natale di Roma, the annual birthday celebration is based on the legendary founding of Rome by Romulus in 753 BC.
The traditional birthday celebrations are centered in the Circus Maximus and include the trench-digging ritual, known as the tracciato del solco, at 15.00 on April 21. This tradition recalls the founding of ancient Roman towns when a trench or mundus was dug and offerings thrown into it to encourage the gods to watch over the town’s inhabitants.
The Circus Maximus will also host historical re-enactments including gladiator fights, aimed at children, on April 20 from 14.30-15.30.
For a complete report of times and venues – and a lot of pictures – click here: https://www.wantedinrome.com/news/rome-celebrates-2771st-birthday-on-21-april-2018.html
Joan's Rome 