We walked briskly to St. Peter's, buzzing with excitement that our morning class was going to be a tour of the Vatican Museums including the Sistine Chapel, just days before it would be closed for the meeting of the cardinals for the Conclave. Dr. Lev took us through early christian art sculptures, the famous gardens with the big pinecone and "sphere within a sphere", and explained to us the meaning behind each one of the paintings we were about to see in the Sistine Chapel. My knowledge of the Sistine chapel was this: It was painted by MichelAngelo, and somewhere in the middle is a guy touching is finger with God. Little did I know that Dr. Lev was going to blow my mind in speaking about the details of the judgement scene and the crucifix being placed in front of the cave of demons, the stories of moses and Jesus on the side walls, the story of creation stemming from God and the steady progression of the fall of humanity written on the ceiling, and so much more. I eagerly soaked in all that I could, feeling my anticipation to see the chapel rising. I came to the realization that I wanted to take the recordings of her explanations and use them when I could come back on my own or at a later point in time to walk through and discover the rich faith and history behind each of the works. We were able to walk through rooms and see unbelievable paintings and the theological and philosophical intentions of the Artists behind them. Michael Angelo, Raphael, and many more great works surrounded the packed rooms. Finally, she let us go to see the Sistine Chapel. However, we were forced to walk through the rooms of modern art which felt like a slap in the face compared to what we were about to see. My first impression walking in was actually: "Whoah, there's a lot of people, and they're really loud, and they are not supposed to be taking pictures." Once I could drown out the policemen shushing the crowd I looked up at the original work before me. It was only a matter of time before I had to kneel before the judgement scene in prayer. Looking up from my position I made out those in heaven rescuing the souls from purgatory, pulling them up by rosary beads and fighting off those in hell that tried to hold them back. The crucifix was the only thing keeping the cave of demons in the background from wreaking havoc. Above was a most unsettling view of our Lord: with arm raised and head turned away from us as if aloof, comes the time for judgement. Mary was curled up near his side and hiding her face as if she couldn't watch. This and other scenes seem to weigh down upon me the longer I stood there. I could've easily walked around the room quickly, thinking it was a good piece of art and continued on with my day, but Dr. Lev's lecture made the paintings seem so real. They all conveyed a message to me, to us, although it is easy to miss. I noticed some people were having powerful experiences as well as they fought back tears. Others, were snapping away with their camera and chatting as if it were another tourist thing to see. I didn't want to leave, but eventually we had to weave our way back through the museums to catch the bus in time for our next class.
I put my walking on power speed trying to take in all that I could before I left. It took forever to grab our bags, buy a bus ticket, and walk over to St. Peters looking for our stop. Eventually, we just gave up, realizing we were going to be way to late for Italian to even go, and we hunkered down on the side of the road and ate our packed lunch. 2 by 2, others from our class joined us after their failed attempt at catching a bus. After we ate we finally found the bus stop and stepped on to go to the Ang for our next class. The ticket readers on the bus were broken so we got a free ride! Very fittingly, Fr. Murray spoke about Michael Angelo's poems, paintings, and famous sculptures during our "God and the Poets" class that night. After class my small group went out to eat at the Abbey Theater Irish Pub, where I got a much-needed American meal: bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a coke. So satisfying! Finishing up the evening with a consecration to Mary, I headed off to bed to dream of Frescoes gallore.
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