AN EXCITED PILGRIM SEEING AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Eugene had written to Fr. Tempier that “I must be with Mgr d’Isoard before ten o’clock, who is to take me with him to St. Peter’s to assist at the great exposition of the Forty Hours.” In his diary he wrote:

Sunday, November 27: Went to Saint Peter’s. Attended the service in the chapel. All the Cardinals present, the Pope absent. The Blessed Sacrament carried in procession to the Pauline chapel for the adoration of the Forty Hours. The illumination of the chapel according to the design of…, with a huge number of candles.

One senses the excitement of the pilgrim Eugene in Rome for the first time – quite an itinerary for one afternoon:

After dinner, visited the Church of the Trinita del Monti, met the Father Abbot of the Trappists[ed. whom Eugene had hosted in Aix some years before], Saint Mary Major, Saint John Lateran, returned by way of the Coliseum and the Capitol.

Roman Diary, EO XVII

On the day of his arrival, Eugene’s first stop had been to greet Monsignor d’Isoard. We will be reading a lot about him during Eugene’s stay in Rome. Alexander d’Isoard was born in Aix en Provence, and while Eugene was a seminarian in Paris, they had visited. While in Rome, Eugene visited him very often. Because he was involved in the ceremonies at the Vatican as the Pope’s mitre-bearer, he often invited Eugene to walk behind him, thus enabling Eugene to participate fully in important ceremonies while in Rome.