Prayer, Pilgrimage, and Community: CatholicTech’s August Adventures

Campus Life Updates

As the summer lull settles over the hot afternoons of late August, members of the CatholicTech community have become more creative planning their adventures around the Italian vacation season. Some, to prepare for their pilgrimage to Santiago along the Camino, took a five-mile jaunt around Lake Albano which led to a stunning overlook of Castel Gandolfo and the surrounding towns. Please keep them in your prayers, as they started walking the Camino Frances to Santiago yesterday. They are excited to renew their spiritual lives and explore the north of Spain, making a pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint James, and hopefully onwards to the sea.

To celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption and Ferragosto, a long-standing tradition for Italy as a day of rest, the Catholic Tech community gathered in the evening for a barbecue, a favorite pastime for the community. Indulging in grilled goods, drinks, and homemade side dishes, the solemnity was celebrated and much-needed rest was had by all.

Other members of the community, in a burst of spontaneity last weekend, took a tour of some of the lesser-known churches near the Pantheon. Beginning with iced coffees and granitas from Italy’s beloved Sant’Eustachio Il Caffé, they visited Santa Maria dell’Anima, an enthralling German Church with a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance elements, including a stunning Pietà by Lorenzo Lotti and the funeral monument to Pope Adrian VI.

The group also stopped to pray in the basilica of Saint Augustine before the tomb of St. Monica. If one looks closely into the side chapels of this basilica, works by both Caravaggio and Raphael are displayed above the altars, leaving viewers awestruck at the immense tributes paid to the Virgin Mary and the saints. Some other highlights were the Chiesa di Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi, the national church of Portugal, and the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Via, a 16th-century church built over a miraculous well.

Finally, a few opportunist members of CatholicTech attended the Wednesday Papal audience in an on-going saga to swap zucchetos with Pope Leo. At the last minute, Pope Leo looked at the other side as he passed the CatholicTech group by. While disappointed that the tradition of zuccheto-swapping will have to wait another day, community members still hold hope that one day their mission will be accomplished.

After the audience, these members took advantage of being in the Eternal City to visit many local landmarks on their way back to the main campus in Castel Gandolfo. Firstly, they visited the stones of the Presentation of Jesus and Abraham’s binding of Isaac, both of which are in Santi Michele e Magno, neighboring the Vatican. Some went by the Colosseum, stopped for a break at the Basilica San Clemente, and finally were able to go through the Holy Door at Papal Basilica of Mary Major, praying for Pope Francis at his tomb and going to the Sacrament of Confession in the process. Members of the community are grateful for the endless opportunities of spiritual enrichment while being so close to the Eternal City.