Playing on the pillars at Perga

We saw the best-preserved amphitheater from ancient times at Aspendos.

Mass at the ruins of Laodicea.

Pammukale, or the Cotton Castle. Natural spring water high in calcium carbonate leaves spectacular white deposits on the mountain as it flows downhill

Our pilgrim group pauses for silent prayer at the tomb of St. John, the Beloved Apostle.

The tomb of St. John.

The house of our Blessed Mother Mary at Ephesus.

Meeting the Bishop of Smyrna, we present a potential candidate for the catechumenate, a young Turkish man who worked at the hotel we stayed at.

Our group among the ruins at Pergamon.

Excavations at the ancient city of Troy reveal different layers of the city’s ancient growth and development.

Robert, Marek, and Sunny enjoy the unseasonably warm weather on our ferry ride across the Dardanelle Strait.

The historical church of Hagia Sophia.

The interior of Hagia Sophia. Now a museum, it contains both Islamic and Christian art and decorations

A mosaic of St. Paul in the Chora Church in Istanbul.

Angelo takes in the scenery at the Topkapi Palace.

Fr. McIlhone officially greets Patriarch Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

group photo op with Patriarch Bartholomew.

José Antonio cantors the psalm for us at Mass in Thessalonika.

José Antonio, Matt and Vu at the memorial shrine which marks the site of Lydia’s Baptism just outside of ancient Phillipi (Acts 16:11-15).

A group of us at the site of the prison.

The prison St. Paul was thrown into in Phillipi.

At the Bema of St. Paul, in a public address of somewhat less eloquence than St. Paul, Fr. Peter Damian and Sr. Kathleen merely say “Cheese.”

While on our pilgrimage in the footsteps of Paul, we take a photo-op in the very place he preached (Acts 17:10-14).

The walls of the studio where icons are painted by the monks – or more accurately in proper Orthodox terminology, “hand-written,” – are filled with be

Nearly two dozen monasteries and convents, most dating back more than one thousand years, are perched atop the peaks in the Meteora mountain range.

Cable cars bring people up to one of the monasteries (Agia Trias) in the Meteora mountains. While we didn’t visit this one, the view was spectacular.

Mark and Pat fall into a state of deeply contemplative prayer on our long bus ride to Athens.

Fabian and Hugo are disqualified from Olympic contention after a false start.

Fr. Peter Damian gives us an exegetical understanding of Paul’s address.

The Parthenon, the ancient temple to Athena.

We prepare for Mass in Corinth.

Walking down the roads of ancient Corinth.

Patrick the Defender, protector and guardian of Pauline virtues in ancient Corinth – perhaps the best-preserved statue we have thus far encountered.

The interior of St. Peter’s Basilica features 91-foot tall baldaccino, a high altar canopy, made by Bernini in the 17^{th Century.}

St. Peter’s Square in the evening.

The Statue of St. Paul in the courtyard of St. Paul Outside the Walls

Spectators of the gladiatorial contests would vote on the fate of those who had fallen in battle inside the Colosseum.

The stone stump on which St. Paul was beheaded.

Fr. Mike teaches us about the RCIA process in one of our classes.

Affectionately known as the DIME statue, this is the real one near the Piazza Spagna, the Spanish steps.

On the way to the Papal audience, some of us pause for a photo op in front of St. Peter’s.

The Holy Father waves to the crowd at his Wednesday General Audience in the Paul VI Hall in Vatican City.

Fr. Peter Damian prepares to celebrate Mass in the chapel we made out of a meeting room.

The volcano that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD still looms nearby.

We wander through the excavated streets of Pompeii, checking out remarkably-well preserved houses, temples, bakeries, pubs, and other attractions.

Marek threw his coin into the Trevi Fountain, so according to the folklore of the ritual, it looks as if he will be coming back to Rome.

Built in the 6^{th century, it was and still is an amazing architectural masterpiece, containing the second largest dome in the world (the largest is in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, built 1,000 years after Hagia Sophia.)}

We visited this one, the Varlaam Monastery.

Editor’s note: we regret this disservice this photo does by failing to accurately render the splendor of God’s creation.

In an appropriate mystical movement after visiting the monasteries this morning, Mark and Pat fall into a state of deeply contemplative prayer on our long bus ride to Athens.

From the Aeropagus above the city of Athens (also known as Mars Hill), the site where Paul preached to the Athenians (see Acts 17:16-32), Fr. Peter Damian gives us an exegetical understanding of Paul’s address.

(“dime” stands for the four Old Testament figures at the base of the pillar: David, Isaiah, Moses and Ezekiel.) As you can see, it is protected by heavy police presence, lest some Mundelein person try to snag it for our seminary. (Little do they know we don’t need it anymore – we’ve got our own now, and thanks to Cardinal Mundelein, ours is bigger!)

The icons, carpet, and other artistic furnishings are all our own, things we’ve purchased during our pilgrimage.

Next to Castle Gandolfo, we loiter in the town’s piazza above which the Holy Father greets people from the balcony and prays the Angelus on Sundays at noon. Zach practices his pontifical wave before a meager audience of Glen and Matt.

We feast in a restaurant in Frascati, a meal so grand it required four forks.

Could the rolling hills of the Frascati region southeast of Rome possibly be more beautiful?

The interior of the Basilica of St. Peter. Because everything is architectured to a grand scale, it is about three times larger than it appears. The baldaccino over the main altar is 91 feet tall, and the letters of the inscription near the top are two meters high.

We were blessed to be able to celebrate Mass in the Crypt Chapel at the tomb of St. Peter.

We attended our second general audience of Pope John Paul II, in which he gave a catechetical teaching on the Psalms. After this audience we were invited up for a group photo, but were not able to greet him individually. Official photographers took some pictures. (Hopefully we may be able to scan it and post it when available).

On our tour through the Vatican Museum, our tour guide pauses at a display poster to explain the design and features of the Sistine Chapel because it is still a chapel and a place of respectful silence and contemplation. The conclaves of the Cardinals to elect new popes take place in the Sistine Chapel.

Throughout the Vatican Museum, the ceilings in the grand halls are painted or carved very ornately.

One of Fr. Gus’s favorite paintings, the School of Athens, spans the entire wall in one of the great rooms in the Vatican Museum. Actually, this room used to be a dining hall for the popes several centuries ago.

We meet with the monsignor secretary for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, but unfortunately he was not in the office that day to meet with us.

Fr. Jim celebrates Mass for us in a chapel in the catacombs, which were early Christian cemeteries.

We stand in awe in the Basilica of St John Lateran, which was the Papal church for 1,000 years before St. Peter’s was built at the Vatican. Giant statues of the Twelve Apostles flank us on both sides, and a baldaccino above the high altar contains relics of both Saints Peter and Paul.

The Basilica of San Croce de Gerusalen (Holy Cross of Jerusalem) contains sacred relics.

From left to right, the reliquaries contain a piece of the pillar on which Christ was scourged, one of the nails, bones from the finger of St. Thomas, wood from the Cross, two thorns from Christ’s crown, and a piece of the sign which hung above the Cross: “Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudorem.”

We visit the Vatican office for the Congregation of Clergy.

Mass at our chapel in the Casa.

Khue, Bob, Jacek, Marek and Zach check their e-mail and work on their papers for class in the Casa’s computer lab.

St. Bartholomew church is on an island in the Tiber River which runs through Rome. It is the resting place of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, and also is the “titular church” of Cardinal George. Every cardinal is pastor of a church in Rome, and this one is his.

St. Benedict’s first Monastery, Monte Cassino, sits at the top of a mountain with a splendid vista of the mountainous lands around it. The monastery also overlooks a cemetery for Allied Polish soldiers who died during World War II when trying to take the monastery back from the Germans.

Bob and Pat relish the fact that we’re at the boyhood home of St Thomas Aquinas in Aquino.

Tony went to the barbershop in Italy, but apparently something got lost in the translation.

Pop Quiz: Sr. Kathleen ________

A.) is pulling her hair out trying to keep us in line,

B.) is having a bad hair day,

C.) went to the same barbershop as Tony, or,

D.) had one too many bowls of cappuccino for breakfast.