Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 11-12-02, Memorial of Josaphat, bishop and martyr

Reading I
Ti 2:1-8, 11-14

Beloved:
You must say what is consistent with sound doctrine,
namely, that older men should be temperate, dignified,
self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance.
Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior,
not slanderers, not addicted to drink,
teaching what is good, so that they may train younger women
to love their husbands and children,
to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers,
under the control of their husbands,
so that the word of God may not be discredited.

Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves,
showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect,
with integrity in your teaching, dignity, and sound speech
that cannot be criticized,
so that the opponent will be put to shame
without anything bad to say about us.

For the grace of God has appeared, saving all
and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires
and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age,
as we await the blessed hope,
the appearance of the glory of the great God
and of our savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness
and to cleanse for himself a people as his own,
eager to do what is good.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 37:3-4, 18 and 23, 27 and 29

R (39a) The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Trust in the Lord and do good,
that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will grant you your heart's requests.
R The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
The Lord watches over the lives of the wholehearted;
their inheritance lasts forever.
By the Lord are the steps of a man made firm,
and he approves his way.
R The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.
Turn from evil and do good,
that you may abide forever;
The just shall possess the land
and dwell in it forever.
R The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.

Gospel
Lk 17:7-10

Jesus said to the Apostles:
"Who among you would say to your servant
who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field,
‘Come here immediately and take your place at table'?
Would he not rather say to him,
‘Prepare something for me to eat.
Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink.
You may eat and drink when I am finished'?
Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?
So should it be with you.
When you have done all you have been commanded, say,
‘We are unprofitable servants;
we have done what we were obliged to do.'"

From The Word Among Us

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

Meditation
Luke 17:7-10

For years as a young girl I struggled with piano lessons. It seemed important to play the notes exactly as written and to follow all the nuances given in the notations. Mistakes felt like a personal failure. Being self-conscious, I kept my playing on a very private basis, except for required recitals.

My painful experience with the piano came back to me when my daughter began to take lessons. Unlike me, she progressed rapidly, and it wasn’t hard for me to see why. Her love for the music came from the heart and, though faithful to the composition, she had a flair for letting the music flow through her. The result was much sweeter than anything I had produced by my stilted adherence to every note and instruction on the page.

As servants of the Lord, we are invited to make music also—the music of loving service to the people around us. When we perform our duties only out of obligation, the effect can be forced and spiritless. But if we release ourselves into God’s care and become saturated with his love, he will set us free from the self-preoccupation that makes our life’s music so labored. As we spend time with the Lord in prayer, the warmth of his love softens our hearts and begins to flow through us.

Our call to serve God and his people is not a piece of music that we have to practice to perfection before performing it. On the contrary, we learn how to serve selflessly simply by serving selflessly. The melody becomes better every time we help our families, prudently work for peace in our neighborhood, or patiently listen to a friend in need. If we draw on the invigorating love of the Lord, our service will be far better than anything done strictly out of a sense of duty.

We are all musicians unworthy to be playing God’s hymn of love. But if we keep a balance of prayer and service in our lives, he will transform our weak rendition of his music into a song that brings his joy into the world.

“Jesus, you are the obedient servant of your Father through perfect love. Help me to know your love in my prayer and in my actions. Give me your heart, so that through me others may come to know your love.”

From: Titus 2:1-8, 11-14

Duties of Christians in Different Situations

[1] But as for you, teach what befits sound doctrine. [2] Bid the
older men be temperate, serious, sensible, sound in faith, in love, and
in steadfastness. [3] Bid the older women likewise to be reverent in
behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach
what is good, [4] and so train the young women to love their husbands
and children, [5] to be sensible, chaste, domestic, kind, and
submissive to their husbands, that the word of God may not be
discredited. [6] Likewise urge the younger men to control themselves.
[7] Show yourself in all respects a model of good deeds, and in your
teaching show integrity, gravity, [8] and sound speech that cannot be
censured, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil
to say to us.

The Incarnation, the Basis of Christian Ethics and Piety

[11] For the grace of God has appeared for the salvation of all men,
[12] training us to renounce irreligion and worldly passions, and to
live sober, upright, and godly lives in this world, [13] awaiting our
blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior
Jesus Christ, [14] who gave himself for us to redeem us from all
iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous
for good deeds.

Commentary:

1-10. To counter the fallacies of those whose depraved conduct is at
odds with what they profess to believe, Titus is urged to be sincere in
everything he does and always to act in accordance with the faith. A
key feature of Christian morality is that it can never be reduced to an
abstract ethical code with no theological basis; rather, it flows
directly from the deep truth one professes: doctrinal orthodoxy leads
to upright conduct--and upright conduct equips one to understand and
accept revealed truth. As the Second Vatican Council teaches, faith is
meant to shape the Christian life: "Bishops should be especially
concerned about catechetical instruction. Its function is to develop
in men a living, explicit and active faith, enlightened by doctrine.
It should be very carefully imparted, not only to children and
adolescents but also to young people and even to adults. In imparting
this instruction the teachers must observe an order and method suited
not only to the matter in hand but also to the character, the ability,
the age and the lifestyle of their audience. This instruction should
be based on holy Scripture, tradition, liturgy, and on the teaching
authority and life of the Church" ("Christus Dominus", 14).

In this section of the letter St. Paul reminds Titus about the
obligations and the virtues people have (depending on their age,
state-in-life, social position, etc.); this advice is very like that
given to Timothy in 1 Timothy (cf. 1 Tim 5:1-6:2).

2-3. "Sound in faith...": in the Pastoral Epistles physical health is
often used metaphorically in connection with Christian doctrine and its
transmission (cf. 1 Tim 6:3; 2 Tim 1:13; 4:3; Tit 1:9; 2:8); it is also
applied to people: as the years go on their interior life should grow
stronger and stronger.

"Be reverent in behavior": older women are given special mention (cf.
1 Tim 5:2-16); they must be exemplary, because younger women have to
learn from them.

4-5. All members of the Church are responsible for the formation and
Christian life of their juniors; this general principle applies to
adult women: they have to show younger women that their role as
mothers, their place in the home, is so important that it must be given
priority over outside activities (in which they do have a right to
engage). In connection with the role of women in society and in the
family Pope John Paul II says: "the mentality which honors women more
for their work outside the home than for their work within the family
must be overcome. This requires that men should truly esteem and love
women with total respect for their personal dignity, and that society
should create and develop conditions favoring work in the home"
("Familiaris Consortio", 23).

"That the word of God may not be discredited": an expression very
similar to that used by St. Paul when advising slaves to be submissive
(cf. 1 Tim 6:1). The Apostle is not approving behavior which women or
slaves find obnoxious; what he is saying is that obedience and humility
is the best way to do God honor and to offer others a testimony of
love, following the example of the Master, who "humbled himself and
became obedient unto death" (cf. Phil 2:6-11).

6-8. The model for the younger men should be Titus himself; as in the
case of Timothy in Ephesus (1 Tim 4:12), Titus' duty to be exemplary
derives from the fact that pastors have an obligation to reflect Jesus'
life in their life: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor
11:1; cf. Phil 3:17; 2 Thess 3:9). "THE PRIESTLY PERSONALITY must be
FOR OTHERS a clear SIGN AND INDICATION." This is the first condition
for our pastoral service. The people from among whom we have been
chosen and for whom we have been appointed want above all to see in us
such a sign and indication, and to this they have a right" (John Paul
II, "Letter to All Priests", 8 April 1979).

9-10. The fact that there are these references to the duties and slaves
(and others in 1 Tim 6:1-2) shows that slaves were very much taken
account of in the early Christian community. Christianity has been
responsible for an enormous amount of social change, because being a
Christian means that, whatever one's position in society, one should
give honor and glory to God and recognize the innate dignity of
everyone, without exception.

11-14. This section is almost like a hymn in praise of saving grace and
God's loving kindness as manifested in Christ. The terse, sober style,
with phrases piled on one another, and very few verbs, is typical of St.
Paul. The duties just described (2L1-10)--of older men, women, young
people and slaves--all point to Christians' having a common lifestyle,
which is the fruit of grace. God is the source of that grace, and
salvation its goal, and it is given to us through Jesus Christ.

Thus, divine grace manifested in the Incarnation is actively at work to
redeem us; it brings salvation; it sanctifies us, enabling us to live
godly lives; and it is the basis of our hope in the second coming of
the Lord. All these dimensions of the action of grace summarize
revealed doctrine on righteousness (justification) in Jesus Christ.
Thus, in the Incarnation, God's salvific will, embracing all men, is
manifested in a special way (cf. 1 Tim 2:4); in the Redemption, Christ,
the only Mediator and Savior (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) obtains for us the gift of
grace, whereby man becomes a sharer in the good things of salvation.
Jesus is our model; by means of grace he instructs the Christian on how
to control his defects and grow in virtue. The instruction we receive
is not only an external one: God inwardly moves us to seek holiness
(cf. Rom 5:1-5 and note). Grace also channels our hope, for Christians
are motivated not only by the memory of a past event (our Lord's life
on earth) but also, and especially, by the fact that Jesus is in the
glory of heaven even now and that we are invited to share his
inheritance (cf. 2 Pet 3:12-13).

13. "The glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ": an explicit
confession of faith in the divinity of Jesus Christ, who is stated at
one and at the same time (with only one article in the original Greek)
to be God and Savior. This expression is the hinge on which the entire
hymn turns: Jesus Christ our God is the one who came at the
Incarnation, who will manifest himself fully at his second coming, and
who through his work of redemption has made it possible for man to live
a live pleasing to God.

This verse is reminiscent of Romans 9:5, where St. Paul wrote: "to them
belong the patriarchs, and of their race according to the flesh is the
Christ, who is God over all, blessed for ever. Amen."

14. The mention of Jesus Christ at the end of the previous verse leads
St. Paul to summarize the doctrine of the Redemption in this lovely
passage. Four essential elements in redemption are listed: Christ's
self-giving; redemption from all iniquity; purification; and Christ's
establishment of a people of his own dedicated to good deeds. The
reference to Christ's self -giving clearly means whereby we are set
free from the slavery of sin; Christ's sacrifice is the cause of the
freedom of the children of God (analogously, God's action during the
Exodus liberated the people of Israel). Purification, a consequence
of redemption, enables a man to become part of God's own people (cf.
Ezek 37-23). The expression "a people of his own" is a clear allusion
to Exodus 19:5: through the covenant of Sinai God made Israel his own
people, different from other nations; through the New Covenant of his
blood Jesus forms his own people, the Church, which is open to all
nations: "As Israel according to the flesh which wandered in the desert
was already called the Church of God, so, too, the new Israel, which
advances in this present era in search of a future and permanent city,
is called also the Church of Christ. It is Christ indeed who has
purchased it with his own blood; he has filled it with his Spirit; he
has provided means adapted to its visible and social union [...].
Destined to extend to all regions of the earth, it enters into human
history, though it transcends at once all times and all racial
boundaries" ("Lumen Gentium", 9).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

St. Josaphat of Polotsk Feastday: November 12 Josaphat, an Eastern Rite bishop, is held up as a martyr to church unity because he died trying to bring part of the Orthodox Church into union with Rome. In 1054, a formal split called a schism took place between the Eastern Church centered in Constantinople and the Western Church centered in Rome. Trouble between the two had been brewing for centuries because of cultural, political, and theological differences. In 1054 Cardinal Humbert was sent to Constantinople to try and reconcile the latest flare up and wound up excommunicating the patriarch. The immediate problems included an insistence on the Byzantine rite, married clergy, and the disagreement on whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. The split only grew worse from there, centering mostly on whether to except the authority of the Pope and Rome. More than five centuries later, in what is now known as Byelorussia and the Ukraine but what was then part of Poland-Lithuania, an Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev and five Orthodox bishops decided to commit the millions of Christians under their pastoral care to reunion with Rome. Josaphat Kunsevich who was born in 1580 or 1584 was still a young boy when the Synod of Brest Litovsk took place in 1595-96, but he was witness to the results both positive and negative. Many of the millions of Christians did not agree with the bishops decision to return to communion with the Catholic Church and both sides tried to resolve this disagreement unfortunately not only with words but with violence. Martyrs died on both sides. Josaphat was a voice of Christian peace in this dissent. After an apprenticeship to a merchant, Josaphat turned down a partnership in the business and a marriage to enter the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna in 1604. As a teenager he had found encouragement in his vocation from two Jesuits and a rector who understood his heart. And in the monastery he found another soulmate in Joseph Benjamin Rutsky. Rutsky who had joined the Byzantine Rite under orders of Pope Clement VIII after converting from Calvinism shared the young Josaphat's passion to work for reunion with Rome. The two friends spent long hours making plans on how they could bring about that communion and reform monastic life. The careers of the two friends parted physically when Josaphat was sent to found new houses in Rome and Rutsky was first made abbot at Vilna. Josaphat replaced Rutsky as abbot when Rutsky became metropolitan of Kiev. Josaphat immediately put into practice his early plans of reform. Because his plans tended to reflect his own extremely austere ascetic tendencies, he was not always met with joy. One community threatened to throw him into the river until his general compassion and his convincing words won them over to a few changes. Josaphat faced even more problems when he became first bishop of Vitebsk and then Polotsk in 1617. The church there was literally and figuratively in ruins with buildings falling apart, clergy marrying two or three times, and monks and clergy everywhere not really interested in pastoral care or model Christian living. Within three years, Josaphat had rebuilt the church by holding synods, publishing a catechism to be used all over, and enforcing rules of conduct for clergy. But his most compelling argument was his own life which he spent preaching, instructing others in the faith, visiting the needy of the towns. But despite all his work and the respect he had, the Orthodox separatists found fertile ground with they set up their own bishops in the exact same area. Meletius Smotritsky was named his rival archbishop of Polotsk. It must have hurt Josaphat to see the people he had served so faithfully break into riots when the King of Poland declared Josaphat the only legitimate archbishop. His former diocese of Vitebsk turned completely against the reunion and him along with two other cities. But what probably hurt even more was that the very Catholics he looked to for communion opposed him as well. Catholics who should have been his support didn't like the way he insisted on the use of the Byzantine rite instead of the Roman rite. Out of fear or ignorance, Leo Sapiah, chancellor of Lithuania, chose to believe stories that Josaphat was inciting the people to violence and instead of coming to his aid, condemned him. Actually his only act of force was when the separatists took over the church at Mogilev and he asked the civil power to help him return it to his authority. In October 1623, Josaphat decided to return to Vitebsk to try to calm the troubles himself. He was completely aware of the danger but said, "If I am counted worthy of martyrdom, then I am not afraid to die." The separatists saw their chance to get rid of Josaphat and discredit him if they could only stir Josaphat's party to strike the first blow. Then they would have an excuse to strike back. Their threats were so public that Josaphat preached on the gospel verse John 16:2, "Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God." He told the people, "You people want to kill me. You wait in ambush for me in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways, in the marketplace, everywhere. Here I am; I came to you as a shepherd. You know I would be happy to give my life for you. I am ready to die for union of the Church under St. Peter and his successor the Pope." But aside from words, Josaphat insisted that his party not react in anyway that did not show patience and forbearance. When the separatists saw that they were not getting the violent response they had hoped for they decided to wear Josaphat and the others down as they plotted more direct action. A priest named Elias went to the house where everyone was staying and shouted insults and threats to everyone he saw, focusing on calumniating Josaphat and the Church of Rome. Josaphat knew of the plot against him and spent his day in prayer. In the evening he had a long conversation with a beggar he had invited in off the streets. When Elias was back the next morning of November 12, the servants were at their wits' ends and begged Josaphat's permission to do something. Before he went off to say his office he told them they could lock Elias away if he caused trouble again. When he returned to the house he found that the servants had done just that and Josaphat let Elias out of the room. But it was too late. The mistake had been made. Elias had not been hurt in anyway but as soon as the mob saw that Elias had been locked up they rejoiced in the excuse they had been waiting for. Bells were rung and mobs descended on the house. By the time they reached the house, Elias had been released but the mob didn't care; they wanted the blood they had been denied for so long. Josaphat came out in the courtyard to see the mob beating and trampling his friends and servants. He cried out, "My children what are you doing with my servants? If you have anything against me, here I am, but leave them alone!" With shouts of "Kill the papist" Josaphat was hit with a stick, then an axe, and finally shot through the head. His bloody body was dragged to the river and thrown in, along with the body of a dog who had tried to protect him. The unsung heroes of this horrible terrorism were the Jewish people of Vitebsk. Some of the Jewish people risked their own lives to rush into the courtyard and rescue Josaphat's friends and servants from the bloodthirsty mobs. Through their courage, lives were saved. These same Jewish people were the only ones to publicly accuse the killers and mourn the death of Josaphat while the Catholics of the city hid in fear of their lives. As usual violence had the opposite affect from that intended. Regret and horror at how far the violence had gone and the loss of their archbishop swung public opinion over toward the Catholics and unity. Eventually even Archbishop Meletius Smotritsky, Josaphat's rival, was reconciled with Rome. And in 1867 Josaphat became the first saint of the Eastern church to be formally canonized by Rome.

Sorry about the formatting (or lack of it) Ha!

Here you go!

St. Josaphat of Polotsk
Feastday: November 12

Josaphat, an Eastern Rite bishop, is held up as a martyr to church unity because he died trying to bring part of the Orthodox Church into union with Rome.

In 1054, a formal split called a schism took place between the Eastern Church centered in Constantinople and the Western Church centered in Rome. Trouble between the two had been brewing for centuries because of cultural, political, and theological differences. In 1054 Cardinal Humbert was sent to Constantinople to try and reconcile the latest flare up and wound up excommunicating the patriarch. The immediate problems included an insistence on the Byzantine rite, married clergy, and the disagreement on whether the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son. The split only grew worse from there, centering mostly on whether to except the authority of the Pope and Rome.

More than five centuries later, in what is now known as Byelorussia and the Ukraine but what was then part of Poland-Lithuania, an Orthodox metropolitan of Kiev and five Orthodox bishops decided to commit the millions of Christians under their pastoral care to reunion with Rome. Josaphat Kunsevich who was born in 1580 or 1584 was still a young boy when the Synod of Brest Litovsk took place in 1595-96, but he was witness to the results both positive and negative.

Many of the millions of Christians did not agree with the bishops decision to return to communion with the Catholic Church and both sides tried to resolve this disagreement unfortunately not only with words but with violence. Martyrs died on both sides. Josaphat was a voice of Christian peace in this dissent.

After an apprenticeship to a merchant, Josaphat turned down a partnership in the business and a marriage to enter the monastery of the Holy Trinity at Vilna in 1604. As a teenager he had found encouragement in his vocation from two Jesuits and a rector who understood his heart. And in the monastery he found another soulmate in Joseph Benjamin Rutsky. Rutsky who had joined the Byzantine Rite under orders of Pope Clement VIII after converting from Calvinism shared the young Josaphat's passion to work for reunion with Rome. The two friends spent long hours making plans on how they could bring about that communion and reform monastic life.

The careers of the two friends parted physically when Josaphat was sent to found new houses in Rome and Rutsky was first made abbot at Vilna. Josaphat replaced Rutsky as abbot when Rutsky became metropolitan of Kiev. Josaphat immediately put into practice his early plans of reform. Because his plans tended to reflect his own extremely austere ascetic tendencies, he was not always met with joy. One community threatened to throw him into the river until his general compassion and his convincing words won them over to a few changes.

Josaphat faced even more problems when he became first bishop of Vitebsk and then Polotsk in 1617. The church there was literally and figuratively in ruins with buildings falling apart, clergy marrying two or three times, and monks and clergy everywhere not really interested in pastoral care or model Christian living. Within three years, Josaphat had rebuilt the church by holding synods, publishing a catechism to be used all over, and enforcing rules of conduct for clergy. But his most compelling argument was his own life which he spent preaching, instructing others in the faith, visiting the needy of the towns.

But despite all his work and the respect he had, the Orthodox separatists found fertile ground with they set up their own bishops in the exact same area. Meletius Smotritsky was named his rival archbishop of Polotsk. It must have hurt Josaphat to see the people he had served so faithfully break into riots when the King of Poland declared Josaphat the only legitimate archbishop. His former diocese of Vitebsk turned completely against the reunion and him along with two other cities.

But what probably hurt even more was that the very Catholics he looked to for communion opposed him as well. Catholics who should have been his support didn't like the way he insisted on the use of the Byzantine rite instead of the Roman rite. Out of fear or ignorance, Leo Sapiah, chancellor of Lithuania, chose to believe stories that Josaphat was inciting the people to violence and instead of coming to his aid, condemned him. Actually his only act of force was when the separatists took over the church at Mogilev and he asked the civil power to help him return it to his authority.

In October 1623, Josaphat decided to return to Vitebsk to try to calm the troubles himself. He was completely aware of the danger but said, "If I am counted worthy of martyrdom, then I am not afraid to die."

The separatists saw their chance to get rid of Josaphat and discredit him if they could only stir Josaphat's party to strike the first blow. Then they would have an excuse to strike back. Their threats were so public that Josaphat preached on the gospel verse John 16:2, "Indeed, an hour is coming when those who kill you will think that by doing so they are offering worship to God." He told the people, "You people want to kill me. You wait in ambush for me in the streets, on the bridges, on the highways, in the marketplace, everywhere. Here I am; I came to you as a shepherd. You know I would be happy to give my life for you. I am ready to die for union of the Church under St. Peter and his successor the Pope."

But aside from words, Josaphat insisted that his party not react in anyway that did not show patience and forbearance. When the separatists saw that they were not getting the violent response they had hoped for they decided to wear Josaphat and the others down as they plotted more direct action. A priest named Elias went to the house where everyone was staying and shouted insults and threats to everyone he saw, focusing on calumniating Josaphat and the Church of Rome.

Josaphat knew of the plot against him and spent his day in prayer. In the evening he had a long conversation with a beggar he had invited in off the streets.

When Elias was back the next morning of November 12, the servants were at their wits' ends and begged Josaphat's permission to do something. Before he went off to say his office he told them they could lock Elias away if he caused trouble again. When he returned to the house he found that the servants had done just that and Josaphat let Elias out of the room.

But it was too late. The mistake had been made. Elias had not been hurt in anyway but as soon as the mob saw that Elias had been locked up they rejoiced in the excuse they had been waiting for. Bells were rung and mobs descended on the house. By the time they reached the house, Elias had been released but the mob didn't care; they wanted the blood they had been denied for so long.

Josaphat came out in the courtyard to see the mob beating and trampling his friends and servants. He cried out, "My children what are you doing with my servants? If you have anything against me, here I am, but leave them alone!" With shouts of "Kill the papist" Josaphat was hit with a stick, then an axe, and finally shot through the head. His bloody body was dragged to the river and thrown in, along with the body of a dog who had tried to protect him.

The unsung heroes of this horrible terrorism were the Jewish people of Vitebsk. Some of the Jewish people risked their own lives to rush into the courtyard and rescue Josaphat's friends and servants from the bloodthirsty mobs. Through their courage, lives were saved. These same Jewish people were the only ones to publicly accuse the killers and mourn the death of Josaphat while the Catholics of the city hid in fear of their lives.

As usual violence had the opposite affect from that intended. Regret and horror at how far the violence had gone and the loss of their archbishop swung public opinion over toward the Catholics and unity. Eventually even Archbishop Meletius Smotritsky, Josaphat's rival, was reconciled with Rome. And in 1867 Josaphat became the first saint of the Eastern church to be formally canonized by Rome.

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