Note: This article originally appeared in the 2015 Winter edition of Carroll Magazine and has been adapted for the web
by Jay Bouchard, Class of 2015
In Rome there are no coincidences. Take the purple flag that flew amidst a crowd of 70,000 eager pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square on May 21, 2014. The pilgrims had come from around the world, as they do each Wednesday to share an audience with Pope Francis. The purple flag was fastened to a tent pole and was hoisted high in the air by a group of 31 pilgrims from Montana. Emblazoned in gold on the purple flag were the letter “C” and two words: Carroll College.
It was seen by thousands of people, including the Pope, but its presence in the square filled one man with particular excitement. Judge Mike Salvagni, Carroll College class of 1969, from Bozeman, had planned and made his own pilgrimage to Rome on May 21 to see the Pope. What Mike didn’t expect to see in St. Peter’s Square that day was Carroll’s flag flying above the crowd. After the Papal blessing, Salvagni forged his way through the sea of pilgrims towards the flag. At its base he found us, his fellow Saints.
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Long before Mike Salvagni looked up to see Carroll’s flag flying in St. Peters Square, long before our group from Carroll was blessed by the Holy Father, long before we flew on various connecting flights from Helena to Rome, long before we began to work out a budget or even think about packing, 26 of us Carroll students became pilgrims.
In early December 2013, we 26 made a leap of faith and decided to make a pilgrimage to Italy led by Carroll Chaplain Father Marc Lenneman. Joining Fr. Marc and us were Katie Murray and Dan Theis, Associate Directors of Campus Ministry, Dan’s wife Andrea, and their 10 month-old son Isaac. The total number came to 31, and as the sun came up over Helena on May 12, we lifted off from Helena Regional Airport en route to Rome, Italy.
We stepped off the plane in Rome, jet-lagged, drowsy, and a bit anxious to confront the Italian language barrier. Soon we were on our way to Assisi—a peaceful, Umbrian city unchanged since the 12th century and graced by the spirits of St. Francis and St. Claire.
In Assisi, we encountered the peace for which the city is renowned. With Fr. Marc as our guide, we celebrated Mass at the tomb of St. Francis. We prayed at the tomb of St. Claire. We heard vespers sung by cloistered sisters. We prayed before the San Damiano cross—the cross before which St. Francis famously encountered the Lord. We celebrated Mass at the hermitage where St. Francis prayed 800 years ago. And not surprisingly, after four days in Assisi, few of us wanted to leave.
On the eve of our departure from Assisi, Fr. Marc offered a simple reflection. “Assisi needs Rome and Rome needs Assisi,” he said. “If in Assisi we encounter a grace that allows us to rest in the Lord’s love, in Rome we experience the energy that inspires us to carry the message of the Gospel to the whole world.”
And with that in mind, we somewhat reluctantly boarded another rickety Italian train and headed back to Rome for six more days of pilgrimage.
In Rome we found a massive, noisy city filled with unfathomable traffic and too many Motorini scooters. Compared to the calm of Assisi, Rome was chaos. But we found something very important in Rome—home, the heart of the Catholic Church, St. Peter’s Basilica.
The first morning in Rome, May 18, we did some-thing very few human beings have the opportunity to do. We celebrated Mass in the crypt beneath the Basilica at an altar in front of St. Peter’s tomb.
That same morning we met Deacon Garrett Nelson, whom on June 26, 2014, the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings would ordain a priest. Fr. Garrett gave us a tour of St. Peter’s Basilica that left us in awe of the Church, the art, and of his God-given gifts. Moved by our own pilgrimage, he dedicated one of his final weeks as a deacon to guiding us through our journey.
Chris Lebsock, a seminarian for the Diocese of Helena who would be ordained a deacon on October 2, 2014, also joined us in Rome. Like Fr. Garrett, Deacon Lebsock accompanied our group as often as he could and together they served as striking examples of the peace, power, and beauty of religious life. Both Deacon Chris Lebsock and Fr. Garrett Nelson are studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome.
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With great leaders guiding us through the labyrinth of Roman streets, our group encountered both the center of the Roman Catholic Church and the birthplace of Western civilization.
We toured the Vatican Museums and prayed in the Sistine Chapel. We celebrated Mass in the rooms of St. Ignatius. We prayed before many powerful relics including the heart of St. Charles Borromeo—the saint after whom Carroll was originally named. We beheld the masterpieces of Caravaggio, Raphael, Giotto, and Michelangelo. We ate pasta, pizza, and gelato. And then ate some more gelato. We crossed the Tiber countless times and of course, some of us got lost. And some of us got very lost.
But no matter how lost we became, we always found our way home—to St. Peter’s Basilica. While we were in Rome, St. Peter’s served as our meeting point and the site of some of our most enormous blessings—including, of course, a Papal blessing.
Our experience on May 21 at the Papal blessing taught us an important lesson about our Church and our school. While we were gathered for the Papal audience, Fr. Marc urged us all to look around and really capture in our minds just how many people were in that square. He then reminded us that this happens every Wednesday all year long. “What other institution does this?” he asked us.
St. Peter’s creates a place for the family of God to come together,” Fr. Marc said. “And people come from all over the world and they cross all kinds of barriers—cultural, geographical, political, linguistic, and economic—to come together. Our common faith in Christ unites people at St. Peter’s.”
What we witnessed in St. Peter’s square that Wednesday in May is a testament to the power and the strength of the Church. The Church that can’t escape popular media’s criticism could not have looked healthier that Wednesday morning.
And, of course, in the square that morning we learned an important lesson about Carroll College. That is, Carroll College is a beacon to the Catholic Church everywhere. When Mike Salvagni came sifting through the crowd to find our group with the Carroll flag the first thing we noticed was his shirt. He broke through the mass of people and when he saw us, with a wide smile on his face, he simply pointed to what was written on his shirt: “Carroll College.” He had special ordered the shirt from Carroll’s bookstore so that he could represent his alma mater at St. Peter’s square.
"Seeing the Carroll flag, Fr. Marc, and my fellow Carroll journeyers and sharing the joy of having experienced that time with the Pope was a providential reunion gift to me,” Salvagni said. “My prayer is that the young Carroll students who celebrated with me on that day will also have a Carroll encounter to embed in their special Carroll College memories as I did on May 21, 2014.”
Perhaps the most important lesson we learned that morning is that Carroll College is part of something bigger than itself, bigger than its diocese, bigger than the state and country in which it resides—Carroll is part of the Roman Catholic Church and exists amidst a wide and varied world. Following Mike Salvagni’s example, we are all called to spread Carroll’s mission wherever our lives lead us, whether it is Butte, Bozeman, Birmingham, Reno, Rwanda, or Rome.
“That encounter embodied Carroll’s motto, Not for school, but for life,” Salvagni said. “It helped all of us recognize that in life there are occasions by which we are blessed by the opportunities given to us to experience the great universality of the Church and to embark on the journey of the Church’s teaching to make a difference in our world.”
For the 26 of us who took the leap of faith, our journeys continue. We have learned to recognize our lives as a pilgrimage. And even if we think we are traveling alone, many miles and years from now we may look up in the sky and see a purple flag that tells us otherwise.
Recommended Reading:
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Carroll College Students in Rome, Italy
