From a Roman Correspondent

I received this message from a friend of mine in the Eternal City; as it relates to St Philip and his feast day on the 26th of May, I could not but publicize the good cheer it brings:

Wonderful!

I went to visit the tomb of St. Philip after class, and I did manage to remember you in my prayers before the Holy Saint. There were lots of guys from the NAC streaming in and out during the day. It was quite moving. The chapel was decorated with beautiful red roses and there was a delightful aroma in the air.

God be praised!

Chiesa Nuova

On Saturday afternoon I had another serendipitious encounter: returning to Santa Maria in Vallicella for to venerate St Philip, I found a French group (seminarians?) in course of singing a beautiful Novus Ordo Mass in the saint's chapel. There were four priests concelebrating, with two deacons and two others serving, plus about a dozen men who sang music in several parts, in both French and Italian. They all seemed notably pious. Having arrived at the start of the Offertory, I was delighted to find, through attendance to the prayers, that it was indeed a Votive of St Philip Neri: God has been very kind to me in stirring up devotion to this saint, for the good of my soul.

(Much later that night, I read over the readings and such for the Mass of St Philip, so as to supply as it were the half I'd missed. Interesting, isn't it, that one can miss the first half of Mass and not miss it, but not contrariwise; for the Liturgy of the Word is ordered to the Liturgy of the Eucharist, not vice versa - the Fore-Mass by itself is but a paraliturgy; though in Latin, it is a Missa sicca!)

I venerated the saint at closer quarters eventually, but first there was a baptism in the chapel. (Will I see all seven sacraments before I leave Rome?! I've seen now Baptism, the Eucharist, Confessions being heard, a Marriage, Ordinations... only Confirmation and Extreme Unction, which God avert, to go!)

In the huge sacristy, which itself could be a church, complete with a supermassive statue of St Philip above a noble altar, I was able to obtain a guide to the church, ever so many cards of St Philip and the Chiesa Nuova, and best of all a holy medal, which one of the Oratorian fathers kindly blessed for me. I saw another good son of St Philip patiently waiting in the confessional as I left the sacred edifice.

Santa Maria in Vallicella

The titular of the Chiesa Nuova, seat of the Roman Oratory and resting-place of St Philip Neri, is Our Lady, and the patronal feast is kept each passing year on her birthday - the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the 8th of September, some nine months having passed since her Immaculate Conception:

On the eighth of September 

Saint Anna gave birth 

and all of the world 

was filled with joy and mirth: 

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria, 

Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria.

Whatever of this little ditty (to the tune of the famous Lourdes hymn), on the 8th of September I will arrive early in the morning in the Eternal City, and hope to keep the feast of Our Lady's Birth  at her famous church there.  

Infant Mary, Joy of earth,

We with all this world of mirth,

Light-hearted and joy-laden,

Greet the morning of thy Birth,

Little Maiden.

I note certain other saint's days of special Roman relevance ensue:

• Thursday the 10th is the feast of St Nicolas of Tolentino: his church, San Nicola da Tolentino agli Orti Sallusti ("in the Gardens of Sallust"!) is home to Rome's Armenian Rite Catholics;
  
• Friday the 11th is the commemoration of SS Protus & Hyacinth, specially venerated at both Propaganda Fide and the church of San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (where St Philip and his first disciples conducted their devotions; they even had charge of it for some years);
  
• Monday the 14th is of course Holy Cross Day, and I hope to go to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme to adore* the portion of the Holy Cross and other relics of Our Lord's Passion preserved therein;
  
• Thursday the 17th is the commemoration of the Sacred Stigmata of St Francis, and an excellent day to visit Assisi, being the day before I return to Australia (and that day itself is amusingly appropriate: it's the feast of St Joseph of Cupertino, a holy Franciscan best known for his miraculous flights and levitations, who is thereby a patron saint of air travel).

[* To relics or icons of the saints, one pays a relative veneration - since it is directed not to the material object, but "through" it to the holy elect of God whose relic or image it is, since to such friends of Christ in heaven are due our love and reverence - while to relics or icons of Our Saviour, one pays a relative adoration - not adoring the object, which would be mad and detestable idolatry, a bowing down to sticks and stones, but a faithful direction of our worshipping gaze beyond the material to God the Son Incarnate; and in the special case of relics of His Passion, such as fragments of the Holy Cross, the Lance, the Nails, the Crown of Thorns, we must ever bear in mind that these were drenched in His Precious Blood, in the Gore of God!]

Remember to pass on any useful hints for a first-time traveller to Italy...