By Maria Karagianis, Globe Staff, 5/25/1985

ilgrims arriving here yesterday from Boston to honor their archbishop, Bernard F. Law, were surprised to find the next cardinal of Boston waiting at Rome's Ciampino Airport to honor them.

For more than an hour yesterday morning, Archbishop Law stood in the hot Roman sun on the steps of the arrival terminal to thank personally each of 341 pilgrims who flew here for this morning's consistory service at the Vatican.

Among those he greeted were Senate President William M. Bulger; former governor John A. Volpe; Philip Perlmutter, director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Boston; Sister Therese Higgins, president of Regis College; and several bishops, priests, nuns and parishioners from across Massachusetts.

Also on the charter flight, sponsored by the Boston Archdiocese, were dozens of friends and parishioners from Missouri and Mississippi, where Archbishop Law served early in his career, and from the Virgin Islands, where he attended high school.

The first traveler the archbishop welcomed was Eldra Schulterbrandt, his high school English teacher from Charlotte Amalie, the capital of St. Thomas. The archbishop embraced her warmly and thanked her for coming to Rome.

Later, as tour leaders herded the pilgrims onto buses headed for several Rome hotels, the archbishop escorted his former teacher into one of the navy blue Mercedes limousines reserved for dignitaries.

"It's too grand," said Schulterbrandt when asked how she felt about flying to Italy to watch one of her former students become a prince of the Catholic Church. An elderly, somewhat frail woman, the retired teacher recalled that "Bernie was an excellent student" who took all the academic prizes in the senior class and loved Tennyson.

The encounter was typical of a week that has been a sentimental journey for the archbishop. Thursday night, at Rome's elegant Excelsior Hotel, on the Via Veneto next to the American Embassy, the archbishop held a private dinner reunion with 60 of his relatives, who flew to Europe from all over America for this occasion.

Archbishop Law said his relatives presented him with a crystal box inscribed with his name and the date of today's consistory elevating him to cardinal. They also gave him, in his words, "a munificent sum of money."

He said the Laws promised to hold their next family reunion in Boston.

Yesterday's charter flight to Rome was one of many pilgrimages from Boston this week. Earlier, Mayor Raymond L. Flynn and his wife, Kathy, arrived in Rome for the consistory. Kitty Dukakis, wife of the governor, arrived here on a later flight.

All the dignitaries, as well as about 600 Boston pilgrims, were there late yesterday afternoon for a Mass celebrated by the archbishop in one of Rome's largest and most splendid basilicas. This church, called St. Paul's Outside the Walls, is built over the grave of St. Paul and has a beautiful 13th century gold mosaic over the altar.

"What a joy and privilege it is to celebrate the eucharist with you in this very special place, this holy ground," said Archbishop Law, noting that the missionary message of St. Paul has always been at the heart of his own ministry.

Concelebrating the Mass for the pilgrims were more than 100 clergymen from Massachusetts. Dressed splendidly in white silken albs, or robes; tall white mitres, or bishops' hats; and chasubles, or sashes, the Boston bishops, abbots and priests made a splendid sight as they entered the basilica to join the scarlet-robed archbishop for his last Mass before becoming a cardinal.

All week, pilgrims have been crowding into this ancient city from all over the world, adding to the typically congested traffic on the Roman streets. Although pilgrimages have been arriving all week, it was considered unusual that one of the 28 cardinal-designates came out to the airport to greet his guests.

Archbishop Law stood at the airport terminal for more than an hour greeting pilgrims. "Nice to see you. Thanks so much for coming," he repeated again and again as well-wishers streamed out of the customs area.

Perlmutter, who received a personal invitation from the archbishop to attend the ceremonies, said "I really came here to wish him mazel tov and l'Chaim, which means congratulations and long life.

"I feel honored to be representing the Jews of Boston here today because Archbishop Law has come to represent a spirit of Catholic and Jewish relations that has been unequaled."

Before the Mass at St. Paul's Church, while monks in robes sang Gregorian chants in Latin, two Norwood women who had made the pilgrimage described their shock at seeing the archbishop waiting for them at the Rome airport earlier in the day.

"I couldn't believe he came out to see us," said Mary Ahearn of St. Catherine's parish, a grandmotherly-looking woman who had donned Nike running shoes to cope with Rome's cobblestoned streets.

"The archbishop has such charisma," enthused her friend, Jane O'Donnell of St. Timothy's parish in Norwood. Both women said they had left their families at home to come to the consistory.

"We just couldn't pass it up," said Ahearn.

The pilgrims who arrived here yesterday from Boston were part of the official tour sponsored by the archdiocese. They paid $995 each for plane fare and hotel accommodations for a week. Also included in their tour will be tickets to the consistory, a reception tomorrow night hosted by the archbishop at the North American College here, and a farewell dinner at a Rome Hotel. The pilgrims also will spend at least one day sightseeing.

This story ran in the Boston Globe on 5/25/1985.
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