Page 34 - March On! God will Provide by Brother Aubert

14 THE soLUTroN
Rule, and then apply to Rome through his bishop.
That would take time.*
Mr. Ryken was in no hurry to leave Rome. He re-
mained there for at least eight months, from September,
1827, until well after Easrer in 1828. In that time he
would have participated in the almost complete cycle
of religious ceremonies that occur each year. Rome
would have become an open book to a man who had to
walk wherever he wished to go; in every waking hour
he would have become more conscious of the religious
associations that hal'e made the Eternal City the lode-
stone of the Saints.
Whatever stories of his pilgrimage, Mr. Ryken may
have told his disciples, few have been recorded. Brother
Ignatius Melis in his "Notes" does recall two incidents:
"While in Rome he was one of twelve Pilgrims at the
Pope's table and received a medal."
There was nothing parricularly special in this inci-
dent except perhaps ingenuity or good fortune in pro-
curing a ticket of admission. Pope Leo XII had ion-
tinued a practice which he had inaugurated in the recent
Jg-fitee Year of serving daily at table in his palace rwelve
prlgrims. The problem with only twelve tickets dis-
tributed each day was to procure one. In this, Mr.
Ryken was successful.
The other incident recorded by Brother Ignatius was
one in which Mr. Ryken's emorions got the better of
him: "At one of the great public services in the church
at Rome, he made his way through the Swiss Guarcls,
approached the Pope, kissed his foot, meanwhile receiv-
ing the blessing of the Pope."
Ilg p".t of the story left unrold is how promprly and
*
e.t,r"tty it took one hundred and two years. On Nov. Z,
193_9, Pgpe Pius XII signed the documenr giving final approval
to Mr. Ryken's Brotherhood, the Xaverian Brothers.