Spiffin' up the Colosseum

Today was quite a full day.  I spent a good bit of time at St. John Lateran, which is the cathedral church of Rome (St. Peter's ISN'T).  They have done some wonderful restoration to the facade, and the Latin inscriptions declaring this to be the "mother and head" of all Christian churches really jumps out at you now.  I kept in mind Fr. Augustus Tolton, whose priesthood ordination was here, and two popes buried here: Innocent III, who approved the establishment of the Franciscans, and Leo XIII, who engaged the modern world with his teachings on the rights of workers.

I found a great place for lunch, between the Lateran and the Colosseum, and then inspected the Colosseum area.  It is undergoing restoration and the restored stone is noticeably cleaner.  

This evening I met Fr. Daren Zehnle for dinner.  He is in the second year of a three-year canon-law program at my alma mater, the Gregorian University.

There was a little rain this evening.  My main recollection of this day is that I seem to do nothing but sweat.