Day 22 - Return to Rome, Feast of SS. Peter and Paul, Basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian, the Antonianum

Day 22 started the earliest of any of the days. This was because I decided, on a whim, to do my own thing. The rest of the Sorrento group was planning a trip to Positano. I have no doubt that I would have enjoyed going to Positano, but I decided that I would rather address some of my last minute desires in Rome rather than go to a new place. 

I wanted to hit the 11am Tridentine Mass at Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini, so I woke up at 5:45 to get on an early train to Naples. 

It turns out our 4-star hotel didn't want us to be able to leave the wonders of the inside. I found this out the hard way when I attempted to open the front door at 6am only to find it locked from the outside. I, and everyone else inside, was locked in. There is definitely some law against this. I tried my darnedest to force the door, but no dice. I also tried ringing the bell at the front desk, but that was also a failure. I ended up escaping my self-funded prison by going through the manager's area of the hotel to a little courtyard that the mailman uses to give the mail for the surrounding businesses. There, I was able to force open a different gate and escape to the outside world. I didn't have time to alert anyone, so I moved on.

I got to the station and proceeded to try and buy my ticket, but the lady at the window refused to accept my cash. She said that she didn't want to make change. This was very frustrating. I was standing there with money in hand and she was outright refusing to give me my ticket. Instead of trying to argue with this woman, I stormed out and walked up and down the block trying to find somewhere that was open at 6am to break my bill into coins. Finally, I found a corner store opening and I pleaded with the guy to make change. I ended up buying Tic Tacs just so that I could get some euro coins. I finally returned to the ticket window and bought my ticket. I ended up missing the early train, but made the next one. Luckily, the train back to Naples was quick and I bought my ticket to Rome with relative ease. I rode a fast-train back, which was the quickest, smoothest train I'd ever been on. In 1 hour I was back in Rome, and this train continued on to Milan, stopping only 4 times.

I hopped on a Metro train at Termini and walked into the villa by 9:30am (the rest of the group walked in at 8pm). I changed into some fresh clothes and sat down for a bit of a rest. After grabbing my things, I headed out to Mass. Today was the Feast of SS. Peter and Paul, which was awesome to be in Rome for. Mass was beautiful (no street procession or benediction today, though). What I will definitely miss is the ability for me to sit for Mass in a church that was built long before the founding of the United States alongside an entire flock of nuns and other members of the faithful from around the world. They don't lie when they say that "All roads lead to Rome".

After Mass, I decided to hit up two churches that I hadn't made it to before. The first was the Basilica of SS. Cosmas and Damian. 

This basilica is special as it is one of the churches that is a part of the Forum Romanum.

Inner courtyard

Part of this church was at one time the Temple of Romulus in the Forum of Vespasian, a section of the Forum Romanum. This temple was at one point Christianized and thus it survived countless demolitions and rebuildings. The picture below shows the parts of the old temple and the door out into the forum.

The photo below shows the altar and the apse with a mosaic. This mosaic, compared to other Roman mosaics, looks kind of odd. It doesn't really look all that great from the angle that you see it. The issue is that the current level of the church is several feet higher than the original level of the church, seen in the previous picture. For whatever reason, the church floor was raised to its current level, making the mosaic look strange; the mosaic is supposed to be viewed from an additional 15 feet below.

After this church, I visited the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, the church attached to the Antonianum. The Antonianum, known formally as the "Pontifical University Antonianum", is a Franciscan university on the Via Merulana near St. John Lateran dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua (my Confirmation saint). I had passed this place many times on my travels in Rome but had never entered it. To my disappointment, the church was not at all pleasant on the inside so I took no pictures at all. Oh well. One church out of many.

I considered going on to do more, but my list had grown pretty thin for places that I had left that I absolutely had to see. I decided instead to head back to the villa and take a much needed nap. I woke up and did some preliminary packing just so that I wouldn't be overwhelmed when the actual day came.

I went downstairs at 8 and met with the girls and Fr. Bergin for our final group dinner at a fish restaurant. Once again, this was a meal that consisted of things that I would never order for myself in a million years but I enjoyed immensely. We had some great conversation before retiring for the night.

Tomorrow, we have our last class and our last exam. We will also make a trip to the Lateran Baptistery and the Basilica of St. Bartholomew on the Island.

Thus ends the 22nd day.