In Vincoli

There is a church in Rome called San Pietro In Vincoli. I was there years ago on a pilgrimmage.

It means Saint Peter in Chains. You can see there in a box what purports to be the actual chains that
Peter wore while in prison that the Lord released him from miraculously. This is the church that the Cardinal of Washington chose as his Rome church- they all get one.

      A Monsignor on the pilgrimmage drew my attention to the fact that on the floor of this church there is a plaque. There are a lot of plaques in fact that line the side of the wall because people are buried underneath the floor so the floor plaques are like cemetary markers. There is one that caught my attention or was drawn to it after the Monsignor pointed it out. It had my name on it. My first name was on this plaque. That is not so unusual, it is a Greek origined name but is a common one in French, English and there is an italian variety of it also. The French and English spelling of the name was on the floor. It has been there hundreds of years. Maybe a thousand. I wondered who this woman was that got herself so finely buried and marked in this great historic church. She got a plaque because apparently she was married to a Bishop. It says her name, then wife of Bishop somebody.

    Once upon a time there were wives of Bishops. Saint Peter had one. You can't find a statue of his wife anywhere but the wife of another Bishop is buried in San Pietro de Vincoli in Rome.

    The irony of this being in the church marking Peter in chains struck me. Fear is the Prison of the Heart. Persecution of women who love priests creates a fear founding the prisons of the heart that the bad doctrine creates.  I recall standing staring at the plaque and the chains.  Jesus sets the prisoner free. He comes to proclaim good news to the poor and set the captives free. He frees the oppressed. All the verses flooded my mind and imagination.

       Perhaps one day the cardinal will look down on the ground on which he is stomping.