Yesterday we wandered around and saw a few churches in the Ghetto part of town.
On the way we visited one of the “Talking Statues”.
And nearby there is one of the fountains set up during the time of Il Duce for the different regions of Rome.
We visited S. Maria in Campitelli.
St. John Leonardi.
I believe that Henry Card. Stewart was the titular of this church… in his day.
Then we wandered by the wonderful little turtle fountain.
Over to San Carlo ai Catinari and the beautiful painting of Our Lady of Providence. Many childless couples pray there for children and there are zillions of ex voto offerings left.
I mentioned that there are still church’s around that haven’t changed their coat-of-arms of Pope’s for a long time. At S. Maria in Monticelli…
Meanwhile, I saw this charming poster on a wall.
One of the errands I had to run was pick up an MC’s cassock, a new alb (mine are pretty much gossamer thin and worn out, and a cincture (the one I travel with literally came apart in my hands while I was in Paris). In a shop I saw this… someone got his degree! Congratulations.
Phew. For a moment I thought you were about to share an experience in ancient Roman gustatory delicacies.
What makes a cassock for an MC special?
In future trips to Rome, I will spend time in my favorite places (S. Cecilia in Trastevere, S. Maria sopra Minerva, and such) and also get off the beaten path…Wow! What a wonderful and special place.
Santa Maria in Campitelli, for my money, is the supreme achievement in the Roman Baroque and a work of genius. And it’s not even by Bernini or Borromini! A forest of Corinthian columns, both on the inside and on the facade; Margaret Visser called another church in Rome a Greek temple turned outside in. And the perspective is original: What could be more basic for a building than four walls, a ceiling and a floor? Stand at the door, look at he high altar, and you can’t see the sides, and hardly the ceiling. The architect, Rainaldi, has dissolved what a building is!
European Civilization (what Americans wrongly call “Western Civilization”) is unique in having two Golden Ages, which we can call using shorthand “Athens” and “Jerusalem”. The story of European Civilization has been the dynamic between the two. Along with Bernini’s St. Teresa in Ecstacy, this church is one of the rare moments when the two golden ages are joined together — Greek Corinthian order and splendor with Gothic height and sublimity.
As late as 60 years ago the Baroque was held in low esteem by Northern Europeans. In our own area of Traditionalist liturgy, Louis Bouyer dismissed the Baroque in his otherwise useful book Liturgical Piety. For the Victorians and the post Victorians, the Baroque was too Catholic, too cluttered, too theatrical. The recovery of high esteem for the Baroque took place early in Literature – with T. S. Eliot’s esteem for the “Metaphysical Poets”. Except for Bach and Handel, in music it came with the Early Music Revival which began in the 1960s with David Munrow. It took the work of Rudolf Wittkower in the 1950s and 1960s to bring back esteem for the Baroque in art and architecture. Today no serious lover of the arts depreciates the Baroque. One German critic summarize the Baroque as: 1. majestätische Größe, 2. Erhabene Pathos (und Ekstase) 3. prunkvolle (prächtige) Festlichkeit – which we can translate as 1. majestic grandeur, 2. sublime pathos and ecstasy, 3. resplendent ceremony.
Alas, the esteem of the Rococo remains undeservedly low.
MSE = neo-fascists
http://www.demotix.com/news/2235843/extreme-right-party-movimento-sociale-europeo-rally-rome#media-2235832
Concerning the link provided by MatthewJoseph: one of the triumphs of the Left has been to pin Fascism on the Right. Fascism is a form of socialism distinguished by nationalist claims. It leaves the façade of private property but forces all under its heel. As Mussolini said: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” Communist style Leftists hate fascists because fascists are nationalistic instead of internationalists and because fascists leave private property in place. The Nazis (National Socialists, therefore Leftists) were fascists and fought fiercely with the Communists until it was convenient to join up with Stalin to crush Poland.
The Right champions individual rights, not the dominance of the state.
On a happier note: thank you for the tour suggestions, Fr. Z. I will be in Rome next month and will follow up on these delightful destinations. I do wish you would let us know where some of those restaurants are.
Possibly to belabor what might be obvious to others but was not to me, till I looked it up: the “NO MUOS” poster is presumably part of (by an attempt to ‘cash in’ on?) the protest by some Italians against the building of the U.S. Navy Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) ground station at the Naval Radio Transmitter Facility Niscemi (NRTF Niscemi) in Sicily. As far as I can see, the metathesis-misspelling-wordplay here is not characteristic of most “No MUOS” iconography. I wonder if the use of the phoenix is consciously connected with that of Ian Davison’s terrorist Aryan Strike Force? – though it is perhaps an obvious symbol for both groups to hijack independently, however ironic its long tradition as a symbol of Our Lord makes the attempt – though, again, an ‘in your face’ political messianism may be part of the point. I suppose the successful subversion of The Walt Disney Company over recent decades makes killing Mickey ironic in its own way. I am reminded of the odd open letter, “Mickymaus & Co.”, written by Romano Guardini in the early 1960s, in which he seems to write as if unaware both of the changes made in the characteization of Mickey some three decades earlier and of many conventions of Animal Fables!
Perhaps there is a further wordplay suggesting MSE superseding and eliminating both MUOS and Mouse.
I can sympathize with the “Yankee Go Home” part. Americans seem to only spread misery and error wherever they go. [That has earned your comments “moderated” status from now on… happily imposed as I just returned to these USA less than an hour ago. Cheers!]
Torch, that’s an overly broad statement. You want to include the U.S. participation in World War II with that?
The only thing I could find about the Movimento Sociale Europeo in Wikipedia in the first six languages I tried, was the bare fact of it being listed under “Scissioni” with the date 2004 in the Italian article about Movimento Sociale – Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT). The English article about them, “Tricolour Flame” (q.v.), includes “Recently Tricolour Flame has been peculiar, among Italian neo-fascist organizations, in actively trying to attract the young masses and renewing its political practices and communication techniques in a more modern, innovative fashion. Political manifests often tend towards attractive, modern graphics and clear-cut, even humorous slogans.” Presumably MSE has followed suit or kept it up after splitting off.
I wonder if “Yankee Go Home” in this context includes resentment at America being so instrumental in defeating the Nazis after Mussolini had been forced to resign on 25 July 1943, or is, perhaps, more directed against them for being so instrumental in putting the pressure on Mussolini before then? Or perhaps the fear that Americans in the future might actually try to stand up to Mr. Putin or the Ayatollahs or the Caliphate?
But what I really want to know is, what you might successdully bait a trap for Mickey with?