A Carpe Diem Snapshot: Buona Festa di San Martino! This morning my class visited the Basilica of San Silvestro e Martino ai Monti, and stumbled upon a Veteran's Day ceremony. Hungarian-born St. Martin, whose father named him after the Roman god of war, Mars, was a Roman soldier who famously converted to Christianity and became the third bishop of Tours. As you will read below, there are many wonderful legends and traditions associated with this saint's feast day, including a

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: Who said November’s face was grim?    Who said her voice was harsh and sad?   I heard her sing in wood paths dim,   I met her on the shore, so glad,   So smiling, I could kiss her feet!   There never was a month so sweet.   –Lucy Larcom (1824-93) Liturgical: Monday of the 32nd Week of Ordinary Time For wisdom is a kindly spirit, but will not free blasphemers from the guilt of their words; because God is witness of their inmost feelings, and a true obser

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: "We too, as living stones, form a spiritual temple." Pope Leo spoke these words just now in his homily at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which one of my Art and Architecture students captured in this image yesterday during the Seven Church Pilgrimage. This church in particular has a long and complicated history, much like the story of the Church itself. It is a story worth knowing, and one I am privileged to share on site later this week. More info t

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: Carpe septem ecclesia peregrinatio! The students' Carpe Diem moment today will be a very long moment indeed as they are undertaking the famous seven church pilgrimage begun by St. Philip Neri, illustrated here with the cheery cartoons of Miss Hannah O'Connor. St. Philip, whose prayer card is visible in the upper left hand corner of the photo, had the brilliant idea to organize a long walk around Rome, all the way outside the walls to the catacombs and

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: Carpe November! The liturgical devotion for the month of November is prayer for the souls of the faithful departed. This lends a "flavor" to the entire month, kickstarted by the Autumnal Triduum of Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. Tonight we held our November minor feast and belated Halloween party with students and friends at Villa Magnolia, giving each guest a "soul cake" along with their saint of the year (saints who have relics here i

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Carpe Colosseum! Today a student and I noticed an open doorway inside the temple of Venus and Roma in the Museo del Foro in the Roman Forum and made the smart, spontaneous decision to walk through it. This spectacular view greeted us (I captured the 360 view on video). There is no signage advertising this special spot, so it was yet another surprise reward of taking the Carpe Diem approach. The museum visit also provided a few other new-to-me displa

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Carpe Plenam Lunam! Look up! Tonight we will see the brightest supermoon of the year. Last night we were gifted this incredible preview as we climbed the hill in Villa Pamphilj. When I turned around to check on the progress of the girls walking behind me, this was right before our eyes. Without even planning it, we caught a moonrise at sunset. Read all about this special moon in the Natural Cycle lesson below. Liturgical: Wednesday of the 31st Wee

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : The class and I stumbled upon this marching band in front of the Pantheon today, just in time to hear them play the Italian national anthem. A real Roman Carpe Diem moment! Liturgical : Tuesday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time Romans 12:5-16ab So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in minis

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Capere pulchritudinem in morte! Seize beauty in death! Yesterday evening's Papal Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed was held at the hauntingly lovely Campo Verano. Somehow, we managed to sit right up front, just four rows from the altar, and participate in what was a most unique open air, yet intimate, Mass. It was my first visit to this graceful land of the dead, which was built only yesterday, by Rome standards, in the early 1

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: One misty, moisty, morning, When cloudy was the weather, There I met an old man, Clothed all in leather, Clothed all in leather, With a cap under his chin. How do you do? And how do you do? And how do you do again? The morning broke all misty and moisty, creating a shroud for the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, where only yesterday we sat baking beneath summery sunshine for the Feast of All Saints. Today's weather is much more liturgically appropriate for

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: This morning St. John Henry Newman was officially declared a Doctor of the Church at a Mass with Pope Leo XIV, and I was there! Sitting next to my friend Nina, who has worked for the causes of the saints, she casually happened to mention that she mailed the tapestry on display in the photo above to the Birmingham Oratory after Newman's canonization in 2019. We wondered if the tapestry today was the original that had to be sent back to the Vatican for

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Our pint-sized super spy would like you to know that the great Autumnal Triduum has begun! With tonight's vigil we begin commemorating the three greatest feasts of the season- All Hallow's Eve, All Hallows Day (All Saints), and All Souls. Each day is replete with Catholic and secular traditions that are blended together to create an ancient brew of customs from several different cultures. Each day we will unpack a few in our lessons below. Happy Hall

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: Carpe gladio! Seize the sword! We happened upon this blacksmith in the medieval town of Sermoneta on my birthday as we wandered down a street and stopped to admire his hand-carved walking sticks for sale. Fortunately, he noticed us as well and came out to chat. It turns out that Dino Messin i is a Jack-of-All-Trades, a rare breed of human beings in our technological age. Dino creates historical weapons for the annual reenactment of the Battle of Lepant

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: My favorite churches in Rome are the ones where you can still experience a sense of mystery, history, and antiquity, the ones off the beaten track that feel like a personal discovery when you walk through the doors. This is certainly the case with the church of Santa Prassede , in the shadow of the enormous Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Here some color-coordinated students knelt before the tombs of the sisters Prassede and Pudentiana. The sisters, d

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Carpe Vitam Integram! Seize a full life! Every now and then I have to feature Hannah's humorous whiteboard artwork, which highlights not only her skill but also how very full life is here at Villa Magnolia. We aim to provide our 42 students present this semester with an integrated community life, balancing intellectual work with fun, athletic challenges, spiritual practices, and plenty of good food and culture. This semester the plank challenge has

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: "Old and new make the warp and woof of every moment. There is no thread that is not a twist of these two strands." --Ralph Waldo Emerson The Via Francigena passes through the medieval town of Sermoneta, I discovered the other day. When in San Gimignano last week, I was delighted to see that it also runs through that most picturesque of towns. Everything that is old is new again, and pilgrimage is no exception to that rule. Every year these caminos be

A Carpe Diem Snapshot: In the hilltop town of Sermoneta is the castle of the Caetani family, the creators of the garden featured in yesterday's snapshot. Below the castle, tucked away in a corner along the winding streets, is a world of tiny people from the past, preserved for posterity by the woman who created it all, who sits day in and day out at the doorway to welcome any passerby. Every sort of pre-industrial craft is represented here by figurines who move, akin to the i

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Carpe Horti Ninfae! To celebrate a very special milestone today, my half century on earth (Deo gratias!), we traveled to the magical world of Ninfa. An abandoned medieval town transformed into a botanical garden by the last of the line of the noble family Caetani, Ninfa first came to my attention through my Dad's own memories of the place as recounted in his autobiography. "Ninfa seemed outside time," Dad wrote (in the third person narrative). "Ther

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Carpe Trastevere! The class and I, joined by Alan and Traci Cornett, had a whirlwind tour of the popular medieval quarter yesterday morning. We began at the hub of the whole neighborhood, the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, the ancient place of prophecy on account of the Fons Olei. From there we walked to Santa Maria della Scala, with the tomb of Venerable Van Thuan (there was a large pilgrim group from Vietnam celebrating Mass there), as well a

A Carpe Diem Snapshot : Carpe Cochlea! This was not an escargot experiment gone wrong, it was a demonstration of the Fibonacci sequence in nature, in this case in the spirals of Roman broccoli and snails' shells. One of the students this semester, Maria, happens to be an expert in math and physics. This afternoon at the villa we heard her speak on this incredible phenomenon in nature as we meditated on the beauty of snails and broccoli. No snails were harmed in the process,