by Marcie Girolamo – T.O. Carm.
During the second week of May hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from every corner of the world crammed into Rome in honor of one of ten different men or women to be canonized by Pope Francis on Sunday, May 15th. I was among the ranks. As most of us know international travel is – by normal standards – pretty exhausting. Our pilgrimage was no different and perhaps even more so because our schedules only allowed us to be in the Eternal City for a total of 5 days before we had to turn around and head home. As soon as we checked into our hotel, our small group headed for the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina (Saint Mary Across the Bridge). It is a church run by the Carmelites. It is on the Via della Conciliazione, the primary road leading right into St. Peter’s square. We were going there to pick up our pilgrim packets that we had ordered from the Carmelite Curia. As we rounded the corner and saw St. Peter’s there in all its glory, all of our exhaustion turned to excitement! It finally hit me how blessed I was to be here in Rome about to witness one of the most amazing things our tradition of Catholicism has – the official act of a Christian canonization —declaring one of its deceased members worthy of public veneration and entering his or her name in the canon, or authorized list of the Holy Catholic Churches’ recognized saints.
As a new Carmelite back in 2007 – Fr. Fernando Milan Romeral O.Carm was named our Prior General. That was when I first heard of Bl. Titus Brandsma – because of Fr. Fernando’s devotion to him. Titus’ story fascinated me. I loved his courage and perseverance during times of great trial in Europe, which at that time was facing Nazi occupation. That same year my Carmelite Community asked me to do an oral report for one of our community meetings about Titus so that we could all learn more. In doing the research, my devotion began to grow rapidly. A few years later when my parents and I were heading to England to visit a friend, we decided to make a detour to Amsterdam and visit his shrine. It was there that I said to myself that if I was still alive when Titus was canonized I would do everything in my power to attend! Fast forward 12 years later and here I was!
The morning of the canonization we woke very early and walked over to stand in line outside St. Peter’s Square to wait for the gates to open at 7 am. Our little group had our Titus backpacks, Titus neck scarves and green Carmelite hats on (all which were in the pilgrim packet – along with a relic. The relic was a tiny piece of one of Titus’ habits he wore before being arrested by the Nazi’s). When finally the gates opened and the Carabinieri (Italian police) began letting pilgrims pour in – I would have been shocked at all the pushing and shoving had I not been warned that this would be the case by a couple of my friends who had attended other canonizations before! Once inside the gates, we moved as quickly as possible to the metal detectors. Everyone in our group was hanging on to each other trying not to get separated. After about 10 minutes of being amidst a tightly packed crowd, we were inside the square and began to run (I am not kidding) to the front section trying to get seats as close as possible. We had tickets – thanks to the Carmelite Curia, which meant for the next 4 hours we would not have to stand. Praise God!
We were blessed to be seated right in front of a large group of Carmelites from Malta. It was really fun to meet them and talk to them. You could easily tell which Saint each pilgrim was there for by their scarves and hats. There were many pilgrims from France in honor of Bl. Charles de Foucauld. During the wait for the Mass to begin, we heard singing and praying in many languages. Our group was led in a Rosary by Fr. Brian Grady – a secular O Carm priest from my diocese. Those 4 hours went quickly and before we knew it Pope Francis was being whisked up on the altar in a car…and the crowd not only stood, but hushed. When the Mass began the music was truly Heavenly. Many parts were done in Latin (which was wonderful because all of us – no matter what our home language was – could join in together in worship). The readings were done in many languages. The Gospel was read twice, once in Latin and then once in Greek! That was pretty cool. Believe it or not, our beloved Titus was the first one canonized! They did it alphabetically so “B” for Brandsma earned him this honor. When we heard the official words by the pope pronounced I got goosebumps and could only look up to Heaven and say, “Great job my brother. You have run the race and run it well! YOU MADE IT! Now pray for all of your Carmelite brethren down here still fighting the fight and running the race!”
The heat was pretty brutal that day, but they did a good job of moving the Mass along. Pope Francis’ homily was great. I recommend going online and reading the text of it. I am not sure if I will ever make it back to another canonization in my lifetime, but that is okay. I was there to witness something the Carmelite Order will always celebrate – the naming of one of its own to the list of Saints for all eternity!
St. Titus Brandsma, pray for us!
Marcie Girolamo – TO Carm
Director of Community #1410 (Illinois) in the Most Pure Heart of Mary Province