Photo courtesy of Trudy Rego
Hawaii Benedictine Brother Gregory Foret presents Mass cruets to Pope Benedict XVI at the Offertory during the canonization Mass of Saint Bernardo Tolomei and four others April 26 in St. Peter’s Square.
Back from a canonization
The adventures of local Benedictines shed light on Damien’s big day
Four members of the Benedictine Monastery of Hawaii, Sister Celeste “CC” Cabral, Sister Mary Jo McEnany, Brother Gregory Foret and Brother Isidore Derouen, and two lay supporters, Trudy Rego and Irma Sandbo, traveled to Rome for the April 26 canonization of Blessed Bernardo Tolomei, the founder of the Olivetan Benedictine Order to which the Hawaii Benedictines belong. Four others were also canonized that day. Here is Sr. CC’s account of their travels.
By Sister Celeste Cabral, OSB | Special to the Herald
I and three other Benedictines from Hawaii were blessed to represent our community at the canonization of Saint Bernardo Tolomei in Rome on April 26. The days leading up to and following the two and a half hour Mass in St. Peter’s Square turned out to be a whirlwind of a trip, which we all survived, amazed and thankful.
We arrived in Rome in the early afternoon of April 22, after a 22-hour flight with layovers in Denver and Philadelphia. When Brother Gregory Foret lost his passport in Philadelphia, I desperately called our monastery back in Waialua for prayers. The prayers worked. Brother Gregory found the missing document on his previous flight’s plane seat.
Landing in Rome we headed to the peaceful accommodations of Casa La Salle, the General House of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a religious congregation founded by Saint John Baptist de la Salle.
The next three days were spent on retreat with 40-50 other Benedictine brothers, sisters and priests from Korea, Spain, France, Ireland and England. Our Benedictine abbot general and vicar general drove the three hours from the Motherhouse, Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto, to join us. Our all-day sessions were helped along by Italian, French and English translators (no pidgin?).
The highlight each day was joining our brothers and sisters in the gorgeous Casa La Salle chapel to sing Liturgy of the Hours in Gregorian chant and to celebrate Mass in Latin. Our retreat master was a soft-spoken Italian Benedictine, Father Reginald Gregoire, the postulator of Blessed Bernardo’s sainthood cause. We learned much about Blessed Bernardo. We discovered later, when Pope Benedict embraced him at the canonization Mass, that Father Reginald was a close friend of the Holy Father.
We also met Benedictine Father Placido. He had been close to death more that 60 years ago when he prayed to Blessed Bernardo and was miraculously healed. His cure became the second miracle needed to canonize Blessed Bernardo. It was an honor to meet this gentle, old priest, who I believe is 90 years old.
On the eve of canonization, our abbot general gave us our instructions for the big day. We received our seating passes and were told what to expect upon entering the Vatican. Excitement grew the next morning as we were bused to St. Peter’s where crowds were waiting. The square was packed with tight security.
Making our way to our seats, we were astounded to find them in the VIP section, 15 rows from the Holy Father! We could not believe our eyes! We were told that cameras would not be allowed but we Hawaiians brought them anyway. And seeing everyone else clicking away and aiming their video cams, we joined them.
It rained before Mass started and drizzled through it, but the clouds kept us cool. We gazed in awe at the five huge banners of the soon-to-be-saints hanging down the front of St. Peter’s Basilica. Before we left Rome the abbot general gave each visiting community a replica of St. Bernardo’s banner.
During Mass we were in the left section of the crowd, just yards from Pope Benedict. Could it be a dream? No, we really were there! Watching the liturgy, I was surprised at how everything is done for the pope, like handing him a tissue, giving him his reading glasses and bringing his miter back and forth to him. I was also a little surprised there wasn’t a great deal of music at the Mass, though many prayers were in Italian and Latin.
Our abbot general picked Hawaii’s very own Brother Gregory to be one of two Benedictines to present the offertory gifts to the pope. Brother Gregory was ecstatic. He later told us how ornate and precious the gold tray he carried was.
Relics of each saint, except that of our St. Bernardo, were venerated at the altar. The Benedictine had died of the plague and his body was never recovered. The actual moment of canonization seemed to come at the end of the Mass though it was a little difficult to tell with everything in another language. Pope Benedict read a proclamation reciting each blessed’s name, except this time he said “saint.” Our Hawaii group cheered with the rest of the Benedictines when we heard pronounced “St. Bernardo Tolomei.”
After the Mass, which lasted two and a half hours, we were bused to St. Francesca Romano Convent for a wonderful lunch with our fellow Benedictine brothers and sisters. We received a tour of the convent, which is usually only open to the public on Holy Thursday.
In Rome, we visited the basilicas of St. Peter, St. Mary Major and St. Peter in Chains, and a few in our group visited our motherhouse in Monte Oliveto. We also enjoyed daily walks and visits to religious stores where we bought beautiful “made in Italy” articles.
I thought I’d be daring and represent Hawaii at the Vatican with slippers on my feet and plumeria in my hair. When I saw other pilgrims in sandals I felt at home.
On April 28, Trudy Rego, Irma Sandbo, Brother Isidore Derouen and I traveled on to Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina for five days. There we were blessed to meet two of the six visionaries, Vicka and Mirjana, and “witnessed” an apparition where Our Lady promised Mirjana she would meet her at Apparition Hill at the Blue Cross at 9 a.m. on May 2. Words could not express the next few minutes, in the presence of the Holy Mother, calm, serene, peaceful and beautiful. We have been touched deeply both by this experience at Medjugorje and our time in Rome.