American First Italian Always

Essay of the 1st Winner was Christina Rondinone

St. Catherine:  A Child of Siena

    Amidst a world of chaos and religious turmoil was born a woman of marvelous strength and a profound love for both her country and the Lord.  In her peaceful solitude, St. Catherine of Sienna was born the twenty-fifth child to Monna Lapa and James Benincs in Sienna, Italy, 1347.  Her miraculous virtue and her sense of charity compelled her to a saintly life defending the weak, caring for the ill, and spreading a kind of hope and faith that mended the spirits of many Italians of the times.

    Europe raged with the Black Plague, Italy was being torn apart by civil war, and the Church was suffering through the ordeal of a division between Rome and Avignon, France.  While her country endured political and religious turmoil, Catherine remained a trusting servant of God and a shining example of chivalry.  Despite the desperate conditions and the seemingly hopeless situation in which she found herself, Catherine remained humble and assisted in any way she could, without discrimination.  This pious attitude was reflected in every deed Catherine committed, and was instrumental in her dealings with popes, cardinals, people of nobility, and people of poverty.  Her fearlessness was only surpassed by her grace when confronted with the taunts and evil tongues of those who criticized her.

    Among so many things, St. Catherine of Sienna was a mystic, one who serves as a medium between the divine heavens and our own realm on Earth.  She experienced regular spiritual encounters throughout her life, the first when she was only six years old.  During these convergences with the Lord, Catherine was reported to have experienced intense states of ecstasy, and spoke and acted as if she had left her own body and someone else had entered it.  Many of these encounters have been documented, and have been notably compared to that of a person possessed, although by Jesus Christ and not by Satan.  Before her death in 1380, St. Catherine dictated a book called The Dialogue, which organizes her doctorate into a collection of conversations with the Lord.  This, along with the four hundred letters she was written that still survive, are her most famous works.

    By reading her works and understanding her purpose, it is undeniable that Catherine was gilded with many attributes, the most spectacular of which was her unshakable courage.  With God to guide her, she stood up to the treachery of those in authority without wavering, and sought reform in the Church and the Italian community, both of which were plagued with corruption at the time.  Although she rarely held here tongue to please those who held a higher social status than she, Catherine was not always so severe.  She had many dealings with the popes of her time and was quite involved with the crises of the Great Western Schism and the papacy's move from Rome to Avignon, France, and back again.  Likewise, during the later incident, she gave the pope her unfaltering support.  She was quite instrumental in Pope Gregory XI's move from France back to Italy.  Her personal relationship with Gregory was extremely tight-knit; she lovingly referred to9 him as "babbo", the Italian term for "daddy".  While trying to persuade him to make the monumental move back to Rome, Catherine spoke to him as a loving daughter would, with words of motivation, comfort, and inspiration.  Her words and actions were finally enough to convince Pope Gregory XI, and he moved the papal residency back from Avignon, France to his rightful place in Rome, Italy on September 13, 1376.

    Catherine was truly a child of Siena, for it is a city of such religious tradition that it is known as "the city of the blessed virgin".  The saint's compassion and devotion has gilded her footsteps along the greenest hills of Siena, where she once added those dying of the plague, and mediated the re-uniting of the Church of Rome.  St. Catherine's home was transformed in to a sanctuary for prayer and worship, and fittingly, Pope Pius XII pronounced her as the patron saint of Italy in 1939.  As the sun rises over the Gothic palaces, medieval towers, and adorned mansions, a glow will be cast over the city and the spirit of St. Catherine of Siena will rest over the blessed town.

Essay of the 2nd Winner was Jere J. Nolan, Jr.

Journey To Rome

        As a high school senior, there are many aspirations in my future.  Besides the obvious such as beginning my college career, living away from home, and planning for my financial future, one goal I have always wanted to achieve is to visit the city of Rome.  Having been born and raised in South Florida, I have realized that our state, our country, is in its infant stages when compared to the great cities of Europe.  As I write this essay, I invite you to accompany me on "my journey" to Rome.

    I have often heard that the best way to enter Rome is by rail.  To be able to pull into a railway station and see before you the street markets, towering statues, and native sons and daughters milling about would give you the perfect first glimpse of this magnificent city.  You must be careful, however, for as you leave the station you are thrust into the murderous Roman traffic and swarms of Roman pedestrians.  These "non-Romans" will wait for a break in traffic to get to their destination.  The "true Roman", however, casually walks along seemingly unaware of the oncoming traffic.

    There is so much to see and do in Rome.  For those with an eye for beauty, no city in the world is richer in palaces then Rome.  There reportedly are fifty of them carved into an area about a mile in diameter.  You could literally be at one palace and speak directly to someone else in an adjacent building.  It is interesting to note that in medieval times when war broke out between clans, the home of every noble was like a fortified island.  So, besides being beautiful structures of wealth and importance, these palaces also served as a refuge for its inhabitants.

    Needless to say, another one of my stops on my journey to Rome would have to be the Vatican and St. Peter's.  On Sunday morning I would be joined by thousand of believers awaiting the chance to catch a glimpse of the Pope.  What a spectacular moment that would be!  The Vatican itself has thirty streets and squares and fifty palaces of its own.  It has been said that its rooms, which number into the ten thousands, are too numerous to count because of a constant practice of repartitioning space.  This seems mind boggling to me.

    Something else that you would notice in walking through the streets of Rome are the innumerable water fountains.  They are everywhere!  Before barbarians destroyed the aqueducts that fed them, there were over 1,200 public fountains in Imperial Rome.  Today Rome has approximately 300 fountains in all shapes and sizes.  Even though they many no longer be needed for their original purpose of filling household jugs, they are cherished by Romans for their beauty, their cool, clear liquid, and as gathering place to pass the time of day.  If while socializing around one of the city's famous fountains the air becomes thick and the humidity a bit high, you need not worry.  You may be lucky to be rescued by the "ponentino", the westerly.  It is a wind rising from the sea about fifteen miles away.  Legend has it that some trick of the hills and river sends it scouring through Rome at the worst hours of the day.  No matter where you are the "ponentino" grabs you and revives you from the heat of the day.

    After all of our touring, I am sure we would be hungry.  There are no shortages of places to eat in Rome.  The Roman restaurant is perhaps the last true inn or tavern in Europe, always welcoming you with good company and even better cuisine.  In Rome, there is a variety of places to drink and to eat under one roof.  If one wanted to entertain guests at a certain establishment, you could, until the wee hours of the morning.  No one would complain - especially not the owner.  Don't be surprised if he joins in the fun!  The fresh fish and homemade specialties would continue to be brought out as long as the guests were hungry.  Unlike here in the United States, the pace of a meal, whether midday or late evening, is not be rushed.  What a novel concept!  For a mother to shop for her family may not seem unusual to us.  In Rome, however, such a shopping trip may turn into instant theatre.  This is said because the housewife often appears to be the suspicious shopper and the vendor the accused.  It truly can be a show for a bystander to observe.  Many Italian writers have made it a point to mention that it is more important for a Roman child's survival to learn to read facial expressions than to learn to read print.  Luigi Barzini, the famous Italian author, believed that when facial expressions and speech differ - forget the words - just believe the face.  We should also not forget the importance of the hands during a lively discussion.  This form of expression helps to make one's point very clear.  It is sometimes said to be an art form in and of itself.

    I hope that someday I will have the opportunity to experience all the aspects of Rome that I have only read about or heard about from my relatives.  It is part of my heritage, a part which I yearn to learn more about first hand.

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