Pope Benedict XVI presents a pallium to Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston during a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican June 29, the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. The pallium symbolizes the archbishop's authority and unity with the pope. Click here, for more pictures of the Pallium Mass and the Houston pilgrimage to Rome. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters)

Archbishop DiNardo receives pallium from Holy Father
Galveston-Houston pilgrims fulfill long-time dreams of experiencing Rome
 

By JONAH DYCUS
Herald Staff Writer

VATICAN CITY – A slightly overcast morning greeted the pilgrims waiting to attend Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica June 29, where Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo would receive his pallium from the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.

To this point, it had been a sunny and very warm week for the visitors, many of which were in town for several days to take in the physical and spiritual beauty of the Eternal City. During this Feast Day of Sts. Peter and Paul, smiles abound and plenty of pictures were snapped as faithful from the Galveston-Houston archdiocese, more than 300-strong, anxiously anticipated entering the basilica walls to get a glimpse of their archbishop and the pope.

Inside, shortly before the Mass’ opening procession, Archbishop DiNardo went down St. Peter’s central aisle to greet the local pilgrims, a pleasant surprise for many.

San Juanita Anderson journeyed to Rome with her sister after meeting with the archbishop at her parish, Sacred Heart Church in Richmond. “He is very personable. We saw in our bulletin there was a pilgrimage coming here for this. My sister and I always wanted to come, so that this was a perfect opportunity for us. It also fulfilled our dream of coming here together,” she said.

Anderson chatted with the archbishop before the Mass. “I told him it was nice to see him again,” she said. “I never thought after seeing him in Richmond, Texas, the next time I would see him would be in Rome.”

The archbishop, who worked at the Vatican from 1984-1991, attended the pallium ceremony many times during his tenure there.

“But it is far different when you are the one receiving it. You walk down that aisle and kneel before the Holy Father, who places (the pallium) on you – there is obviously a sense of communion with Peter all of the way to Benedict XVI, the sense of their responsibility” Archbishop DiNardo said during a press conference in Houston before his departure.

The archbishop’s twin sister, and travel groups from Pittsburgh, the archbishop’s hometown, and Sioux City, Iowa, where he was previously bishop, also made the journey to Rome.

During a reception at the North American College following the Mass, the archbishop had a chance to interact and be photographed with numerous visitors from the U.S. Although the line waiting for him only grew longer with each passing minute, he shared some of his time for a brief interview with the Herald.

“It has been just a wonderful day. It was obviously a very powerful moment when those palliums come up from the tomb and the pope places one on you,” he said.

The pallium is a circular band of wool which marks the office holder as a metropolitan archbishop. Before they are conferred during the Mass, the palliums are placed on the tomb of St. Peter below the basilica. They are raised just prior to the liturgy.

The archbishop said he and the pope had a very brief conversation during the conferral. “The pope said, ‘God bless you,’ and I said, ‘I promise you unity and fidelity.’ He said, ‘Good, thank you,’ and I said, ‘Thank you, Holy Father,’” Archbishop DiNardo beamed.

Archbishop Emeritus Joseph A. Fiorenza received the pallium last year from Pope Benedict after Galveston-Houston was elevated to an archdiocese in 2004. Among those attending this year’s Mass were Auxiliary Bishop Vincent M. Rizzotto, and Bishop James A. Tamayo of Laredo, previously a local auxiliary bishop.

“Just as Archbishop Fiorenza said last year (about receiving the pallium), whatever may be what you think you are preparing for, whenever the moment happens, it is stunning,” Archbishop DiNardo said.

He was also gracious to the hundreds of pilgrims coming from home. “To have 300-plus people come up is just great. They have been very kind and very patient, waiting in line for all of these big ceremonies,” the archbishop grinned. “They told me, almost to a person, how wonderful they thought the liturgy was today.”

Besides their encounters with Archbishop DiNardo and the pope, the pilgrims from the Galveston-Houston archdiocese discovered their own breathtaking moments during their time in Vatican City and its surrounding areas.

Wayne Burkett, a member of St. Ignatius in Spring, says he had been talking about going to Rome for so long, people just started shrugging off his goal.

“I have been wanting to come to Rome for 20 years. I have been saying that I was going to go for years and years,” he laughed. “It has been very educational; I learned a great deal about the meanings of all of the different cathedrals and churches here. There seems to be a church on every corner. But walking into St. Peter’s is really something. It doesn’t look that big from the outside, but when you get on the inside, it is big. Once you are in there and start looking at the side chapels, that is when you know how large it really is – it is just awesome.

“And to me, (the pilgrimage) has been 10,000 times better than what I thought it would be. The city of Rome is unbelievable!”

Not surprisingly, he was particularly in awe at the Pallium Mass. “Just seeing the pope walk down the aisle, being within an arm-touch of him, brought chills down my spine,” he said.

Anderson said it will be hard to describe to those back home witnessing St. Peter’s Basilica in person. “Everybody has to see it on their own. And of course, it is great to see the Holy Father. The whole experience has been just so exciting.”

Also on the pilgrimage was 11-year-old A.J. Motte, an inquisitive young man with a ready smile. Motte could often be found at the tour guide’s hip pocket as he soaked in the history of the Eternal City. The youth, a member of St. Joseph Church in Baytown, did a lot of homework to plan for the trip to Rome.

Still, he wasn’t prepared for the scale of many of the structures he was going to see, like“how big the Vatican looks from the outside. It is huge!” Motte said. “The basilicas are all so beautiful.”

To make the trip happen, Motte ambitiously raised money through a grocery-selling project. An active altar server at St. Joseph, where he regular serves weekday morning Masses and monthly adorations, the enthusiastic Catholic hopes to attend the Vatican’s altar server school. “I also plan on meeting the pope and shaking his hand,” he grinned. His pilgrimage group was scheduled to have a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI as guests of Archbishop DiNardo, June 30.

Just following the Mass, the pope addressed those congregated inside St. Peter’s Square in their native language from his apartment window. To the English-speaking people, he thanked all of the pilgrims who traveled to Rome to witness their respective bishop receive the pallium.
The pilgrimage also brought great peace to those who traveled to Vatican City. Rosemary Lisson’s husband passed away earlier this year after a three-year battle with lung cancer. For Lisson’s 80th birthday, her daughter, Collette Johnecheck, thought the time was right for both to visit the Church in Rome.

“I called her and said ‘I had to do this,’ and she said ‘O.K.,’” Johnecheck said. “It truly has been a wonderful experience.”

Her mother agrees. “I lost my husband in February, and it is a hard thing to get over. But I have always talked about wanting to go to Rome and I thought I would never get here. But Collette heard about the tour through the Herald, and we worked it out,” said Lisson, who lives in Killeen. “It is a life-long dream to participate in a Mass like that. It is beyond anything I could have ever expected. It has helped a lot.”

The mother and daughter arrived in Rome on the day of Lisson’s birthday. “I thought, ‘Who would have ever thought I would spend my 80th birthday in Rome.’ It has been a memorable one, for sure,” she said.

Johnecheck and Lisson have certainly bonded during this time of mourning and healing. With tears in her eyes, Johnecheck said, “We needed this. We needed this. I know my dad is in a better place, and I miss him so much. I know he is free of pain and with our Lord. But I am left behind, and it has been hard because we were so close.”

Her experience absorbing the beauty of St. Peter’s Basilica during the Pallium Mass offered Johnecheck great affirmation. “I know today, when I looked up at the top of church, I thought if this is even a fraction of what my father has seen, what bliss he is in,” she smiled. “And it makes me feel joyous, and I haven’t felt that way in a long time.”

[Top]

Pallium Defined

The pallium is a circular band of white wool with two hanging pieces (front and back) decorated with six black crosses, worn over the shoulders by all metropolitan archbishops and by the pope himself.

Before the ninth century, the pallium was a ceremonial garment given to certain bishops as an honor.  During and after the ninth century, all metropolitans wore it at pontifical liturgies.

The ceremony for blessing the lambs from whose wool the pallia are woven takes place every year on January 21, the memorial of St. Agnes,  at the Church of Santa Agnese Fuori le Mura (outside the walls of the City of Rome).  Traditionally, the pallia are placed on the tomb of St. Peter the night before the Pallium Mass and are then brought up to be presented by the pope during the Mass on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

[Top]