Probably a stupid question, but

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farmfresh

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its been driving me crazy for quite some time, and i’ve just got to ask… what is all this Tiber Swim Team stuff? I see it on peoples signatures saying class of 98 or class of 05. My curiosity is getting the best of me, i guess.
 
Their converts…the Tiber is the main watercourse of the city of Rome.
 
I wondered that at first too and I looked up Tiber in Wikipedia and saw it was a river. At first I thought it was some US college swim team !! aahahaha.
 
Crossing rivers is a strong symbol in Roman history. On the secular side of things, we have the phrase “crossing the Rubicon”, which means acting in a manner that there’s no going back on. To cross that river with an army under arms was an de facto act of rebellion by a general. Caesar did that, and said “the die is cast” when he did.

So it was a rather short step to use the image of crossing a river – the one that runs through the City of Rome itself – as an image of coming home to the Church.

Blessings.

Gerry
 
Somewhere, I recall hearing it used for Anglican converts to Rome - e.g. Cardinal Newman. They left the Thames for the Tyber.
 
Just for the record, FarmFresh, the only “stupid” question is the one you don’t ask…👍
 
I’ve heard of Greek Orthodox converts swimming the Ionian- Sea, that is.
 
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