Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle {August 24}

Happy Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle! St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of dermatology, a somewhat gruesome attribution as he was martyred by being skinned alive. some of his relics are buried in the church of San Bartolomeo all'Isola (St. Bartholomew's on the Island, meaning the Tiber Island just down the river from us). the communion of saints is so much more tangible here. so many of their bodies or other relics are kept and revered within walking distance of our apartment. as humans, we do need that physical connection to inform and ground our spirituality. our souls can never die, but our bodies were just as intentionally formed by God, and while we are here, i want to make the most of the opportunities we have for physical closeness to these holy men and women. 

before our little pilgrimage, however, i set off on the more mundane errand of grocery shopping. although to be honest, it's quite important to me to plan meals, follow a budget, and actually manage to find the ingredients i need for those meals without paying through the nose. when i can't just jump in the car and zip to the Shop'n'Save five minutes away for an ingredient i forgot, the stakes are a lot higher! and i just don't feel settled if the fridge is getting bare (who would?). i've had to police Greta's milk and fruit intake as i reiterate that we eat at mealtimes, not fifteen thousand times throughout the day, and we don't waste anything -- because i walked two miles roundtrip to get that food, child! don't take two bites of an apple and throw it in the trash!

anyway. Friday morning i set off to try my luck at a third grocery store, a much larger Todi's located just beyond the Vatican Wall, past the museums. the Todi's in Trastevere is quite small, more like a glorified bodega. this one is like Valhalla, with a vast selection of all those basic things i need (even cheddar cheese slices!) at prices much more comparable to my beloved Aldi's at home. there's a little household goods store attached to it as well, where i found potting soil -- i didn't have room to carry it home on this trip, but i'll be back for it soon as i just have to try my hand at growing some herbs on our terrace! i almost fell over when the total for my brimming cartload of groceries came to €58. Todi's, you have my heart. 

on the walk back home i just had to capture the view as i crossed St. Peter's square. it is absolutely surreal to be here. i also felt sadly pragmatic as i strode across the cobblestones under the blazing sun, weaving my way through mesmerized tourists and pointedly ignoring the street vendors thrusting selfie sticks in my face. the pop-up Vatican post office always makes me smile. the Vatican postal service is much more reliable and faster than standard Italian post, as all the mail gets directly routed to Switzerland and then distributed from there. 

home for lunch. Nick took Greta to the gym with him while Cecilia took a nap, and then the girls played for a while before we headed out to say a few prayers in St. Bartholomew's church. as i was packing up the diaper bag, i realized i hadn't seen Cecilia in a few minutes. Greta pointed her out, playing happily in a basket on the other side of the sideboard like baby Moses in the bulrushes. she insisted on bringing "Draggy" the dragon along on our expedition. she just cracks me up. 

we walked along the river to Trastevere and then across the bridge to Tiber Island (Isola Tiberina), where St. Bartholomew's stands. the original church was built in 998 by Otto III, the Holy Roman Emperor. relics of St. Bartholomew are buried in the main porphyry altar, and St. Adalbert's arm is enshrined in the rear side altar. the church was dedicated to the memory of new martyrs by Pope John Paul II in 2000, and the side altars each have relics and personal possessions of martyrs from the last century. it was a moving reminder of how many faithful have gone before us. 

St. Bartholomew's relics are in the large red tub.
in the foreground, you can see a section of a carved column excavated from the original church in 998.

beautiful ceiling

Cecilia wanted to explore the church with Daddy

we then walked back across the river to Trastevere and stopped for gelato. i'm not sure why we had the brilliant idea to have Cecilia eat hers while riding on my back in the Ergo, but that lasted about a minute until she dripped an ice-cold spoonful on the back of my neck. 

after scrubbing both girls with wipes, we walked a few more blocks to see the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere. this church is renowned for its beautiful mosaics. five o'clock mass was being celebrated when we arrived, so we stayed for the reading of the Gospel while taking it all in, and then quietly left. we'll certainly go back sometime soon and explore more. 

finally, we headed home, stopping at the mini-mart at the base of the hill to buy Greta's long-awaited prize for sleeping in her own bed. today marked 5 days in a row that she has slept in her bed (although she has woken up every night at 3 AM on the dot, and come to get me to snuggle with her til morning). she finally got to pick out the coveted pig water balloon. 

when we got home, she ecstatically squished it, tossed it on the ground, rolled it around, and dropped it from ever-increasing heights until SPLAT! it exploded all over the kitchen floor. and oh, my sweet girl apparently didn't realize that it was a water balloon. she thought it was a sturdier toy and wasn't expecting it to break. so many tears and such disappointment! we sat on the couch for a while while she cried, and then eventually she asked forlornly if we could get another pig tomorrow. at €1 a piece, we said sure, and now she understands that it will break at some point and the more gentle she is with it, the longer it will last. and that night she slept the whole night through without summoning me (Cece woke up at 5:30 AM wailing for "bed! bed!" -- meaning she wanted to get out of her crib and sleep with me in bed -- but that's a different story). hashtag ReluctantCosleeping. hashtag WhateverGetsUsTheMostSleep. 

Greta emerged from her grief to help me cook dinner, another simple but delicious Italian dish: pasta with eggplant. i over-salted the eggplant, but we all got a kick out of the curlicued pasta (the recipe called for bucatini, but the closest i could find at the store was fusilli lunghi bucati). my dinner was complemented by a glass of remarkably good Pinot Grigio -- €3 a bottle at Todi's. yep, it's official. i'm in love.