Sts. Peter and Paul

This weekend has been filled with many celebrations. For one, the priest that I am living with came back from retreat. It is good to have him back and in charge. The second celebration occurred yesterday in Winona, MN where four men were ordained to the priesthood. Two of them were at the St. Paul Seminary (more on this in a little bit). Thirdly, the beginning of the year of St. Paul began yesterday with Solemn Vespers and today in Rome the newly appointed archbishops were given their pallium. Archbishop John Nienstedt (the new archbishop of St. Paul/Minneapolis) was among the many who received the pallium.
Also present were Fr. Scott Carl (he has been in Rome for the past few years studying Sacred Scripture and will be teaching in the fall, he is on the far right) and Fr. Peter Laird (vice-rector and moral theologian, standing next to Fr. Carl)

Today I was able to drive down to Pipestone, MN so that I could attend Fr. Jeffrey Dobbs' (scroll down to page 11 for a brief biography) first mass. Since I did not know how long it would take, I left at around seven thirty this morning and got there at about 9:30. I had some time to spend before mass started at 10:30, so I prayed the rosary while some pictures were being taken. I noticed an older priest walking around and then some pictures were taken while the older priest was blessing Fr. Dobbs' chasuble and stole. Then some more pictures were going to be taken of Fr. Dobbs being vested. All of the sudden I heard a loud thud. Unfortunately it was the older priest that I had seen earlier walking around. He had fainted and had fallen to the ground. I immediately heard someone say "Dial 911." I also heard people praying the Hail Mary and the pastor of the parish got the oil of the sick out and Fr. Dobbs did his first anointing. I later found out during Fr. Dobbs' homily that the older priest was the one who baptized him. Now 26 years later the infant that was baptized was anointing the man who brought him into the Church. The priest was taken away in an ambulance to the local hospital and I did not hear how he was doing. I was glad to have witnessed both the anointing as well as Fr. Dobbs' first mass.

The final celebration of this weekend is that of the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. This celebration brings back memories of my trip to Rome a couple of years ago and I will share a few pictures with you. The first is the outside of the Mamertinum. The Mamertinum is one of the prisons in which St. Peter was held. The second is a picture of the interior of the Mamertinum.














The third picture is from St. Peter's Square. The small square outlined in white is where St. Peter was crucified upside down.











These two places hold a deep place in my heart because they show the great love that St. Peter had for our Lord and secondly because they were two of my favorite places during my visit to Rome.