Father Mike visits the Vatican

The first time the Rev. Mike Brennan, O. Praem., ’99 was in Rome was his senior year of high school, on a trip with fellow classmates.

Earlier this month, he had the opportunity to return to the Vatican to celebrate the ordination of Nicholas Vande Hey ’19, to the transitional diaconate, along with 17 other men from the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Brennan concelebrated Mass with the Most Rev. Robert Barron, bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minn., and 150 other priests at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Brennan, who has served Old St. Joe’s parish as a priest since 2017, and has been pastor since 2022, said, “I tell the students of St. Norbert College, as often as I can, that they are loved by God. It was a special blessing, then, to be invited to participate in the Ordination Mass of Deacon Vande Hey, and to celebrate his love of the Lord with him.”

Brennan embraced his time in Rome, and the opportunity to be there with his mother. In addition to being filled with wonder, joy, and awe at the magnificence of the Vatican, he was deeply moved by the opportunity to pray in the four Papal Basilicas of Rome: Saint Peter’s, Saint John Lateran, Saint Mary Major, and Saint Paul Outside the Walls, where Deacon Vande Hey delivered an inspiring homily.

The trip was filled with moments that felt like coincidences, but as Saint John Paul II famously said, “In the designs of Providence, there are no mere coincidences.”

For Brennan these included an unexpected lunch with people from Arnhem, Netherlands, the hometown of his mother, and providing hope and encouragement to a man from Spain who was struggling with his faith, but found it providential to speak with a priest from Green Bay, Wis.

While in Rome, Brennan was able to attend a papal audience in St. Peter’s Square, tour the excavations of the necropolis beneath Saint Peter’s Basilica and the burial place of Saint Peter, and pray before the tomb of St. Peter and several other saints.

Brennan’s pilgrimage continued in Assisi, in this 800th anniversary year of St. Francis of Assisi’s death, where he concelebrated Mass at the Papal Basilica of St. Francis. Assisi is also home to the final resting places of St. Clare, St. Francis and the Church’s newest saint, St. Carlo Acutis.

“I am grateful to Abbot Bradley and the Vande Hey family for making my trip to the Vatican possible,” said Brennan. “Worshipping in awe-inspiring basilicas and praying at the tombs of great saints enriched my faith and deepened my love of the Lord. It was a truly magnificent experience.”