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OLM 
Parish Reporter in Rome!

Monte Cassino Tour & Mass at the Pantheon
(click on tiny picture to view original)
 
  A weekend free offered the chance to visit the town of Cassino. The Mountain about the town is home to Monte Cassino, Benedictine Monaster, and burial place of St. Benedict and St. Scholastica. This abbey is totally rebuilt since WWII when it was bombed to the ground because of being a suspected haven for the Nazis. Near the Abbey today is the Polish Cemetery also from World War II. Unfortunately, we had the sad experience of arriving at the Abbey when the monks as all good Italians do, were taking their siesta so we only viewed the abbey from below and also the town from above it. We had lunch in the town of Cassino and I found a delicious hot dog and french fry pizza for my taste buds. Oh, not as American as apple pie but very tasty as the photo shows. Will have to return some day to visit the Abbey inside and see the great saints graves. It still remains a reminder to me of my roots and I will cherish having been up to the mountaintop even if not inside.
 
  
 
    We fared better on Sunday, Feast of All Saints. There was Mass celebrated at the Pantheon, an ancient building dedicated to the Roman Gods, taken over and made into a church in the Christian Era. They do not usually celebrate Mass here but on this Feast day the special celebration took place. It was in Latin, German, Italian and French and the music varied between Gregorian Chant and Polyphony by an expert choir.
 

Other sights around rome on a Sunday Walk

Some other usual and interesting things presented themselves to me after the Mass above as I again walked the streets of Rome - sightseeing that is.
 
 
 Another famous church is inundated with scaffolding preparing for the year 2000. But in the midst of chaos they have left visible the chains of St. Peter.
 The Trevi Fountain is a perennial site for visitors as was the case on this day. They take their turns throwing a coin over their shoulder in the fountain and making a wish.
 On the corner of the Piazza near the fountain is one of the many street shrines which dot the city. Not too clear it is a further evidence of devotion in Rome.
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