Cardinal Seán's Blog

Buona sera!

This morning, I had the great joy of celebrating a baptism in the baptistry at Saint Peter’s Basilica. It was the first time that I ever had the privilege to have a baptism there. It was a very moving experience…and at the same time it was a bit like celebrating a baptism in Grand Central Station because there are thousands of tourists walking around inside the Basilica. Logistically, the sacristan and officials had to place some stanchions near the baptismal font so that we could proceed.

I’m sure that over the course of the last 500 years there have been many children baptized at the huge St. Peter’s baptismal font….children of kings and children of peasants, from every nation under heaven.

It was certainly special. However, I believe that any baptism is a great event. It is Christ who is acting through the sacraments and the child or adult who receives baptism is being reborn into God’s life. It is very significant.

At Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan, the voice of the Father was heard…“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased….” In baptism we become God’s beloved children. It’s the beginning of our vocation – a call to holiness, a call to discipleship, a call to be a member of a family, a faith. It’s a call to be part of a communal mission, to work to make God’s presence more visible, to build a civilization of love where there’s greater justice and greater concern for those in need. It’s a wonderful event, not only for the family, but also for the entire community of believers.

The child that I baptized is Declan Sean Kennedy, son of Sean and Gina Kennedy. When Sean graduated from Georgetown University, he became a lay missionary, working one year in Samoa and then working with me in the West Indies for two years. During his tenure in the West Indies, he started a shelter for the homeless. We named it “Bethlehem House” because in Bethlehem, Jesus, Mary and Joseph were homeless and there was “no room at the inn.” Sean did a wonderful job and was a fantastic example to the young people of my Diocese. After he left his three years as a volunteer, he went back to school to study public health. He then went to work for the United Nations and was in Africa for a while.

He and his wife, Gina, came back to the Islands after they were engaged and I married them. It was quite an event because many of their relatives came to the ceremony in the Islands.

Sean and Gina are originally from Utah, which is very interesting – there are not many Catholics in Utah. Sean said, “Being a Catholic in Utah was like belonging to a very exclusive club.” Both Sean and Gina work for agencies of the United Nations – Gina dealing with world hunger and Sean is making strides with agriculturally challenged areas of the world. They have been living here in Rome for a number of years and after many years of praying to have a child, they’ve been blessed finally with a little baby. I was so pleased when they e-mailed me and asked me if I would have the baptism. I knew that I’d be coming over here at this time, so it worked out very well. The baby was born a couple months ago.

I suggested that we might try to do the baptism at St. Peter’s. I thought that would be something that Declan would know his whole life – that he was baptized there at St. Peter’s. It would be so wonderful – the fact that we could do it so near to where St. Peter was buried….this spot…for two thousand years, Christian Pilgrims have come here, St. Patrick was sent to evangelize the Irish from here, St. Boniface was sent to evangelize the Germans from here, St. Ignatius….every great personality in the Church’s history has come here and prayed and found inspiration in this place.
So to have a baptism here is a very special thing….and not just because of the architecture or the beauty of St. Peter’s – it was built to be a beautiful place – in that period of the counter-reformation, the beauty of the Baroque churches was intended to give people a glimpse of God’s beauty and of heaven. For us, if there was no church here at all, just the fact that Peter was buried here…and as Jesus said “upon this rock I will build my Church,” and indeed the Church is built on the rock of Peter’s faith, his commitment and his martyrdom. So, it was a very special event.

Sean and Gina were both thrilled. The baptism today was special for me, as well. These are friends and people that I am very pleased to see that God has blessed with a child. I know that they will be very good parents and instill that spirit of service and generosity that has been characteristics of their lives. They are people with a sense of vocation, giving their lives to work for the betterment of humanity.

Ornate St. Peter’s Baptismal Font.

At the Font.

You can see the rather large crowd of people inside St. Peter’s that were attracted to watch the baptism.

Entering St. Peter’s Basilica this morning for the baptism.

I wore my “Cardinal Reds” today because I was in the Basilica of St. Peter. It was a bit embarrassing and a bit amusing to see the ushers “parting the ‘Red Sea’” through the crowd…lol.

This afternoon I went to visit and have a meeting with the new Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. I was able to talk with him about the situation of the Church in Boston and share with him some of my hopes and aspirations for the future of our Archdiocese. We also touched on our request for new Auxiliary Bishops.

I also reminded him that one of our Auxiliaries, Bishop Emilio Simeon Alluè, is a member of his community, as a Salesian. Cardinal Bertone is quite outgoing and very friendly. He just recently began serving in his new role as Vatican Secretary of State. Previously, over the years when he was Archbishop, one of his great joys was to do a little sports broadcasting for the soccer games in Italy.

As Secretary of State, he serves in a role that one could describe as the “Vice President” of the Church….much like our Vicar General and Moderator of the Curia in a Diocese, who administers so much of the life of the Church. Cardinal Bertone is a very important figure in the life of the entire Church. We had a productive and enjoyable visit.

Torre di San Giovanni – Tower of St. John.

It was also very interesting to see where his office is located in the Vatican – in an old tower in the Vatican wall, called Torre di San Giovanni – Tower of St. John. It’s a tower that was built many centuries ago with the purpose of protecting the Vatican from invasion. We noticed how the wall has a passageway so that people could have escaped from other parts of the Vatican into that tower.

Passing by parts of the beautiful Vatican Gardens on the way to Torre di San Giovanni.

More of the Vatican Gardens.

View of St. Peter’s Basilica and the city on the way to Torre di San Giovanni.

I am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s Mass and ceremony at Santa Maria della Vittoria. It will be a very significant moment. The Mass is very ceremonial, but more importantly, it is symbolic of the connection of Boston and Boston’s Cardinal-Archbishop, with the Diocese of Rome, which is the Diocese of St. Peter – the place where the center of Christianity resides and which is the guarantor of the unity of the Church throughout the world.

I have received a few comments from people who indicated that they are having difficulty finding previous posts – one may access each day’s post by clicking on the corresponding date in the calendar on the right side of the screen.

Until my next post….

God Bless,
Cardinal Seán

Greetings bloggers. Welcome….and thank you for visiting.

To begin today’s post, I wish to ask you to recall that today is the Feast of St. Michael, the Archangel. On this day, especially, we are very mindful of the fact that he is the patron of public safety. Today we are reminded to keep in our prayers members of the police and fire departments, as well as all public safety workers, in Boston, New England, the United States and all over the world….these are the very courageous men and women who risk their lives for our safety and we are grateful for their caring and tireless work.

I’d like to share with you some reflections of Saint Peter and also share some thoughts and images of the magnificence that is St. Peter’s Basilica.

St. Peter, for Catholics, has such important meaning because of his role in the history of salvation. When you read the New Testament, one will find that after the name of Jesus, the name of St. Peter is the one that appears the most. He is the one that Jesus chose to be the head of the Apostles and he told Peter to “confirm your brethren in the faith.” So Peter’s role has been just that – to be the one who confirms us in our faith and maintains the unity of the Church.

Peter came to Rome, which in those days was the capitol of the known world, the European world and the Mediterranean world. As Bishop of Rome, Peter died here as a martyr in the Circus of Nero at the time of a very terrible persecution of the Church. He was buried near where he was martyred. His grave became a place of pilgrimage for Christians.

Constantine, when he was converted, built a huge Basilica – dedicated in 326 – on top of Peter’s grave and later on, Pope Julius decided that he was going to build a bigger Basilica at the time of the Renaissance. He took down the old Basilica and began work on the present Basilica, which was finished 100 years after he began. Michelangelo did most of the architecture, himself.

To me one of the most significant tours for anyone who comes to Rome, is to visit what is called the Scavi, the excavations underneath St. Peter’s where you actually go down into what was the old Roman cemetery and to the tomb where Peter was buried. When you think, for two thousand years believers have come here to pray…kings and queens, peasants, saints and sinners all came….people came here because it was the tomb of Peter.

Jesus had said to Peter, “upon this rock, I will build my Church.” The Church of St. Peter’s is built, literally, on the rock of Peter, whose name means “rock.”

The Church of St. Peter’s is a wonderful monument of Christendom. It’s not actually the Cathedral of Rome…St. John Lateran is the Cathedral of Rome, which is another church built by Constantine. St. Peter’s is certainly the one that is the most emblematic of the City of Rome.

For me personally…I think anybody who visits St. Peter’s is overwhelmed by the majesty and the grandeur and the sheer size of this Basilica. When you look up at the ceiling and you see the letters, it says, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,” and you realize that the letters are actually nine feet tall and they look so small from the floor. It gives you some idea of the proportion of the Basilica. This year they are celebrating the 500th Anniversary of the Dedication of St. Peter’s.

I feel especially recharged spiritually and moved when I enter St. Peter’s, especially when I am able to go there to celebrate Mass. Also, every five years, the Bishops come back to Rome and we all say Mass at the tomb of Saint Peter and make our report to the Holy Father. In a very spiritual way it’s a reminder of our connectiveness in the College of Bishops to the Holy Father, who has the ministry of Peter today. It really is a magnificent church and visiting it is a spiritual experience.

The Main Altar, located right above the tomb of St. Peter, is referred to as the Papal Altar. Usually only the Holy Father, or a delegate, may celebrate Mass on that Altar.

Covering the Papal Altar is the Baldacchino, which was created by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the same very famous sculptor who created “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa” statue located in my Cardinatial Church, the Santa Maria della Vittoria.

This is a magnificent work of art, with its spiral columns holding the canopy over the Main Altar.

If you go down to where the excavations are, you actually get to the very place where St. Peter’s tomb is located…below the Papal Altar.

From the Basilica floor, under the main alter, you see a box that contains the palliums that Archbishops wear. You may notice that when I participate in ceremonies in Boston, in my own Archdiocese, I wear a vestment, which looks like a white band with black crosses on it – they are made out of wool. It represents, like the Good Shepherd, carrying the sheep on his shoulders. That box is kept above the tomb of St Peter. They are given to new Archbishops on the Feast of St. Peter every year.

The Altar of the Chair is located further back at the far end of St. Peter’s Basilica.…there is what looks like a huge chair. It is said, contained in that sculpture of the chair, there are the remains of a chair that St. Peter himself used when he was in Rome.

High above the Altar of the Chair, one will see an alabaster window, depicting the Holy Spirit – “The Window of the Holy Spirit.”

The Pietà is probably considered one of the most beautiful statues ever made, carved in 1499 by Michelangelo when he was only 24 years old. It depicts what we would call the XIV Station (14th), where Jesus is taken down off the Cross and laid in the arms of Mary. The first time I saw this statue was in 1964 at the World’s Fair in New York. It was brought over to be displayed at the Vatican Pavilion. As you can imagine, it was quite a sensation at the time. I’m sure hundreds of thousands of people went there to see it on display. It certainly is a very beautiful and moving statue.

If you look closely at a band around Mary’s neck, it is said that Michelangelo placed his name along the band…. it’s said to be the only piece that he ever signed. The statue was actually sculpted to be viewed from below. It was created from one piece of marble. Michelangelo would say that when he looked at a large piece of stone before he began his creative work, that he envisioned his desired creation and then he liberated the figures from the stone.

In addition to saying Mass in front of the Tomb of St. Peter, I often say Mass on the Altar of Blessed John XXIII.

The glass tomb of Blessed John XXIII, below the Chapel’s Altar

On the top of the façade of St. Peter’s, one finds Jesus, John the Baptist and eleven of the Apostles. The Apostles represented on the facade, symbolizes that they are the visible face of the Church. The Church is built on the foundation of the Apostles. The Church is not made out of marble, brick, mortar, wood and glass, but rather it is comprised of women, men, girls and boys who are formed into a living holy edifice.

The obelisk in St. Peter’s Square would have been one of the last things that St. Peter would have seen himself before his martyrdom. It was the Circus of Nero in those days and although they have moved this towering piece slightly from where it was at that time, it basically was very close to where it is now. The Caesars brought many of the obelisks back from Egypt as trophies and many of them are located in the different squares in Rome, often in front of important churches. You can actually see Egyptian hieroglyphics on many of them. Presumably, these were made by the Pharaohs in Egypt. There is quite a collection of them here in Rome now. At the very top of the obelisk in St. Peter’s square, you can see the “Chigi Star,” in honor of Pope Alexander VII.

Christ directly over the main door, symbolizing that in order to enter into Christ, one must enter His Church.

Saint Bruno, founder of the Carthusian Order – known for their life of monastic prayer and solitude. They are the only religious order in the Catholic Church that has never been reformed.

Although they look small from the floor of St. Peter’s, these letters are actually each nine feet tall.

The names of Cathedrals from all over the world are placed on the floor of St. Peter’s, in spots that correspond to their sizes, measured from the Altar of the Chair. Here’s the spot that marks the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston.

Fountain in St. Peter’s Square at dusk.

Today, we visited the American Embassy to Italy, accompanying a group from the Order of Malta from Boston who are here visiting Rome and will be attending the Mass on Sunday. They arranged for us to have a wonderful tour.

The group from Boston includes Bob and Sue Downing, Bob and Mary Doyle, Hap and Sue Redgate, Rosemary and Jack MacKinnon, and Connie and John McManmon. It was a joy to spend time with this group and we all appreciated the hospitality of staff members at the American Embassy in Italy.

Mary and Bob Doyle posing for a picture in the entrance to the Embassy.

Front of the United States Embassy to Italy.

That’s all for today. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Until my next post…..

God Bless,
Cardinal Seán