Reflections from Rome: Feast of St. John Paul II

On October 21, the alumni of Saint John Paul II Seminary now studying at the North American College in Rome gathered together to commemorate and celebrate the life of a great saint and the patron of our diocesan seminary, whose feast day was on October 22.

We began our day of celebration with Mass at Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Polish Chapel of Our Lady of Częstochowa.  Not surprisingly, the Chapel of St. Sebastian, where the tomb of our beloved patron rests, was booked all day, so we were unable to have Mass there.  In a providential way, however, it was as if Saint John Paul II was pointing us towards and leading us to Our Blessed Mother instead, just as he did during his pontificate.  Mass was celebrated by Fr. Wojciech Giertych, OP, a papal theologian and professor of moral theology at the Angelicum, the university where many of us receive our intellectual formation.  Fr. Giertych was joined by Fr. Robert Kilner, one of the Archdiocese of Washington’s newly ordained priests and a member of the inaugural class of JPII.

At the end of the day, we proudly donned our burgundy JPII polo shirts to pray Evening Prayer together and shared in a delicious dinner prepared by some of our more “culinarily-inclined” alumni.  The dinner included some traditional Polish dishes, such as golumpki, a stuffed cabbage roll in tomato sauce, as well as Polish sausages.  Over the meal, we reminisced about some of our favorite memories from our time at JPII, including the way we would sing “Happy Birthday” at dinner (perhaps “scream” would be the more appropriate term) and unfortunate encounters with ghost peppers.  It was an unforgettable evening, and we look forward to continuing this tradition in the years to come.

We give thanks to God for the gift of this great shepherd who by his life gave witness to the Gospel and has given us seminarians an example of a holy and joyful priesthood.  We also give thanks to God for the gift of Saint John Paul II Seminary, our home away from Rome.

Saint John Paul II, pray for us!