SYBELLA'S 'AUDIENCE' ON 10/11/06
Truly, I can't wait to hear firsthand from Monica about what it feels to be in possession of a zucchetto fresh off Paino's head and hair. I too would be literally crazed with joy and disbelief to have such good fortune, and how could one ever let go of it?
One would want to hold on to it forever, touch it, caress it, smell it, imbibe the very aura of the blessed person it belonged to - and at the same, time, to preserve it so it remains pristine. And where and how to enshrine it? It is, after all, a true 'relic' even if it is from someone very much alive.
Meanwhile, Paparatzifan has just informed us in the main forum that she will be coming from Venice and Gabriella from Trieste to be in Verona tomorrow for the Pope's visit. I hope Monica, Anna, Valifra and all the other girls who live in northern Italy are able to do that as well...and that Mary and Nan in Rome will think it worth their while to get on the train to Verona!!!!! (instead of just staying in Rome to wait for the Angelus on Sunday)....
And also, Sybella has posted her account of the very well-documented October 11 audience they experienced. So here is a translation -
Roma, 10-12 ottobre 2006
My appointment with Eugenia was for 6:oo p.m. at the Piazza Sant'Uffizio, under that elegant yellow edifice which for more than 20 years had seen a fascinating prelate pass through its gates daily with his old trusted black leather briefcase under his arm.
I had just come from the main train station, where my train arrived a little late but otherwise without incident...In the same first-class compartment there weree three (other) sisters [
real nuns] going to Rome.
Rome is beautiful, crowded and almost as hot as when I was last here in August. I got to my hotel - a comfortable, quiet place literally two steps from here, settled in, then came here.
Eugenia arrives punctually. We have not seen each other in over a month, and although it is only the second time we meet in person, we embrace each other like the friends we have become, thanks to all the things we have in common, above all, an infinite love for Benedict.
The first thing we wanted to do was to get those longed-for tickets to the most longed-for audience, but that seemed almost impossible - there was a very long line of people there for the same reason (because evidently, those who come to the audiences come because they want to be there, not because they happened to be there by chance!).
So, Eugenia and I go to the Vatican bookstore, where I take out from my purse a long 'shopping list" and start to pick up books about Papino (a few) and by him (a lot more!), picking out for each one - in order not to get it wrong - a bookmark appropriate to the theme of the book.
Meanwhile, Eugenia's eyes - and hands - have locked on to a marvelous photograph of Papino with his hair 'a spazzola' [
I looked up the term - it means 'crewcut' - how could that be?] and his capelet blown up by the playful wind, as usual...
We couldn't miss a nice stroll to savor once again the atmosphere of Borgo Pio (and the Piazza della Citta Leonina) while waiting to get into line for the Bronze Door, holding on dearly to the letters informing us to come pick up our tickets...
It is my first time to be within the Apostolic Palace, and it was very emotional to imagine who was probably moving about with muffled steps three floors above us....
We went up the stairs, we were saluted by the Swiss Guard on duty, and - resisting the temptation to go beyond the red velvet cord and up that grand stairway beyond it - we entered the little room where two diligent employees of the Household Prefecture were giving out the tickets.
And here, one gazes on a beautiful portrait of the master of the house, who watches with a benedicent look from the wall facing us...And now, here we have in our hands an envelop with the precious blue ticket, on the back of which they have thoughtfully printed the Latin text of the Our Father and the Apostolic Blessing, to help the faithful participate....
After passing security, we decided to enter the Basilica, where first we stopped to pray before John XXIII, who was being remembered in the liturgy the next day...And while we prayed, the organ started to play announcing the start of an evening mass...
There was another important mission we could not omit - the flowers. To find white roses still in bud is not that easy, but finally, here we had them - five tender buds, nested among yellow ones and bright green leaves. The kind florist completed it all with ribbons in the Vatican colors and a white rosette (who knows if she believed us that it was for someone's birthday?)..
When we asked her if perhaps she had a clip to affix the note (decorated with white flowers, not by chance) which had been lying in my purse for days, she took out a clip adorned with a little red satin heart ... Euge and I looked at each other and burst out laughing...Of course, we took it - it would very mich be in keeping with the banner that Gloria would be bringing from Mestre [a suburb of Venice] and with our feelings for the recipient of the flowers.
At this point, cradling the bouquet like a baby, we walked towards my hotel to keep it as well as possible until the audience (I will keep the window open all night and will change the water often) - because tomorow they should be as beautiful as the person to whom we were hoping we would succeed in handing them.
We deserved a good supper after all this - and where else but at the Tiroler Keller (Cantina Tirolese)? We went down the stairs, careful not to lose our good sense and our balance before a beautiful black-and-white picture taken a few years back, in which a splendid cardinal raised a stein of Weiss in a toast, and took our seats in front of 'that' table...
I had not been to the Cantina before this, and I was struck by the genuinely German atmosphere within, supported by excellent cuisine which faithfully reproduces Tyrolean and Bavarian specialties...
The mushroom soup was perfect, as was the Alpine 'kebab' (with fried potatoes the way the Bavarians like it), and the Sacher was a dream!
We took the time to write our thoughts on the notepaper...While we did this and I was addressing the envelop, writing underneatath 'Personnaly delivered" [To His Own Hands], it seemed like a dream...
On the way home, we went through the Borgo Pio once more and stopped at St.Peter's Square...How beautiful and calm this time of night is, when practically the only sound heard is the murmur of the fountains...The lights up on the third floor are on - Papino could be making final touches to his catechesis, although as we we watched those windows and threw it many kisses of good night, we preferred to think he must be preparing for bed...
And just then, we hear from Gloria who has arrived at her hotel with the precious banner...We make arrangements for the next day and then...it seemed to me the night passed by in a flash.
A little after 6 a.m., I left the hotel, headed once again towards the Piazza Sant'Uffizio...The city has barely awakened, the morning is quite cool, and one already knows it will be a beautiful day, one of those that only Rome can gift you with in October.
In front of the barriers, a few faithful (Germans? Polish?) are already waiting. Pretty soon Eugenia arrives, and right after, Gloria...The noise we made hugging and greeting each other must have echoed within the Palazzo Sant'Uffizio, where one could see lights going on behind white curtains...
The piazza is filling up, slowly but surely...Behind us, some German pilgrims remind us, in song, that 'Wer glaubt ist nie allein'...And then around 8 a.m., earlier than one expected, they open the gates....I go through the metal detector with the flowers in my arms, protecting them as much as I can....
Meanwhile, my friends have attended to the task of getting us places in the first row on the left - what we had hoped for...We couldn't believe it - perhaps it was just our sheer luck (I was going to see Benedict for the fourth time, but this would be my first audience), or maybe Someone up there is looking after us... The fact is within two hours, Papino will be passing through here, and it seems, will be doing so twice [
on the way in and on the way out].
The wait does not seem very long...We had placed our banner properly in front of us, and we were well settled...The Square was filling up and the sun was coming out....When I look toward the Apostolic Palace, the sun is being reflected precisely from that second window and would be there for some time...
The atmosphere was beautiful, like that of a real celebration, and it is only right that it should be so - Papino deserves it.
Shotly after 10:30 (I remember now that the blessing of the new statue to Edith Stein would be today), the people to the left of us suddenbly erupted in festive cries...Papino was coming through the Arch of the Bells...
I had a moment of doubt...Supposing I would be disappointed? If it would not be that marvelous person who has kept me company for a year and a half now? But it passed in a flash...
When the white jeep passed before us, I catch a glimpse of an elegant hand raised in benediction, a light, a white and rosy vision, an incredibly perfect profile...And I hope he caught the "Benedetto, we love you" cries that accompanied him on his jeep tour of the Piazza, right up towards where it opened into Via della Conciliazione...
Then the catechesis began. Today, he would speak on Simone the Canaanite and Jude Thaddeus....Benedict's words are always incisive and direct...I loved it when he reminded us that "Jesus was interested in persons" not in labels or categories, and I held my breath in admiration when he came back to the importance of dialog, within the context of Vatican-II, and he pronounced the word that I think best describes him too: courage.
He follows the catechesis with a synthesis in different languages, which I always listen to with the interest of a linguist...
Next the greetings...The Piazza erupts in triumphant exclamations, flag waving and singing which clearly fill the Pope with joy.
Now the Pater Noster chanted in Latin, and his Blessing, during which I raise in his direction a prayer book I had bought the previous day.
After greeting various bishops and priests - during which we were concerned about the Pope being under the hot sun until someone opened up the white umbrella - finally, here was the Popemobile back on its way out...
Papino would be before us soon, and we all turned in his direction like sunflowers reaching towards the sun....And the white jeep stops right before us!
I raise our bouquet of roses to him and tell him "Thank you"... our hands touch under the flowers - time seems to have lost meaning for me...his eyes, two aquamarines of the purest water, are looking into mine, almost incredulous as if to say "For me?"...There is the sweetest smile on his lips, very disarming, adn then they open to say "Grazie" clear and loud as he takes up the bouquet in his right hand...I see the expression lines ripple around those stupendous eyes as it takes in the attached note which contains yet again all of our affection for him...
I am left with a confusion of sensations...The smile from Monsignor Georg who has now taken the bouquet, two elegant hands which pass before my eyes, the ring on the hand which Gloria is now bringing to her lips, the happy shining eyes of Eugenia who has also touched him...and above all, an impression of great accessibility coupled with an absolutely regal presence, and a radiant white image that comes across with supernatural grace, as if an inner light illuminates and projects it...
We hug each other brimming with happiness which cannot be explained in words except by the one name Benedetto....
Now it was time to share our emotions with friends whom we would have wished to be with us...We call Francesca (who very kindly had offered to post the first 'news bulletin' about us on the forum) and Gabriella....
Then on to the Cantina, where we enjoyed an excellent rich buffet capped by an exquisite tartlet of wild berries and yogurt...
We spent the afternoon reconnoitering the various photo agencies in which, between enlargements and proofs, we faced only having to choose from an embarassment of riches...
Then yet another stop at St. Peter's before sunset...and another supper at the Cantina, where we started the evening with the obligatory picture at the table with the wall plaque honoring His Eminence in the background...
While we decided whether to order gnocchetti, canederli or other Bavarian dishes, we learned that when the Cardinal came to dine with a few friends, usually co-workers, he would usually be seated at this table for four, where we were now seated...
We could not end the day without passing under Benedict's window (still alight) and send him a message of Good night, and without renewing our birthday greetings to Eugenia who had just spent a most beautiful birthday exactly as she deserves... It wouldn't have been such an incredibly, absurdly perfect day if it had not been shared among friends...
The following day, Rome had yet another splendid day in store for me. As I left the Vatican after having made purchases at its famous drugstore, I met Gloria who was on her way to the offices of Osservatore Romano, and there on the desk, between the photographs and the computer, I found my copy of an American magazine that I had forgotten the previous day!
Afterwards, Gloria and I decided to go down to the Vatican Grottoes for my first visit there...Here was Papa Luciani's tomb...A prayer also before Paul VI's...and in front of John Paul's gravesite, we received a fleeting blessing from Cardinal Meisner [
of Cologne, who was in Rome for the blessing of the Edith Stein statue, contributed by the faithful of Cologne].
Back upstairs in the Basilica, we offered a prayer for Benedict at the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament...On the way out, we saw them preparing the hugh tapestry portraits of the four blessed ones who would be canonized that Sunday...
We left the Piazza to browse one last time in the bookstores on Via della Conciliazione and the surrounding streets - all of them, truly! - and then we had a snack at the Piazza della Citta Leonina, where we could look at the Caridnal's fourth-floor apartment almost directly in line his third-floor apartments in the Apostoli Palace.
Gloria talks to me with passion about her veneration of Papa Luciani and how she learned (bravissima!) to 'reconcile' it with her later love for Benedict...
So one last salute to those windows where I send a flying kiss, an affectionate embrace with Gloria, then back to the hotel, a taxi, the train, and a quiet if rather lengthy trip back home....
And above all this, I carry one thought and one image: those eyes which seem to me to hold all of our hopes and a piece of heaven.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/10/2006 0.58]