Our Roman sunrise was at 5:33 and our Roman sunset will be at 20:45 and the poor, mostly neglected Ave Maria bell ought to ring at 21:00.
Yesterday, Pentecost Sunday, I longed to get out the camera phone and record some things from my vantage point in choro for the Solemn Mass. However, I really needed just to drink it all, replenish, sort of like Kal-El does in the sunlight. It wasn’t just the beautiful church setting or the marvelous appointments of the sacristy, or the nearly flawless ceremonial, or the very good choir. It was also the sight of a packed church, the booming of the responses, the number of people stacked up for confession, the baby carriages in the side aisles and the not rare toddling escape artist, the members of the Confraternity established by St. Philip Neri and now revived in the pews, tourists coming in the back for a glimpse and then staying for the rest. To be contrasted with the rather sad goings on, or non-goings on in dozens of other churches in the centro, where there is a tired priest in a polyester chasuble at an ironing board set up in front of a masterpiece of marble, in the same old excruciating set of awful tunes, a few old ladies in the plastic chairs in the nave and the proverbial four cats wandering around.
Anyway, after Mass the “big six” had to be extinguished.
In another church associated with St. Philip Neri, nearby, there is this sign. Perhaps one of you can give a perfect rendering for the edification of the readership.
Lunch on Sunday.
It is blazing hot and humid here. I welcome the sight and sound of the Roman “nasoni” fountains with their cold, sweetish, very hard water.
S. M. della Pace. Alexander VII widened the streets here so that carriages could pass each other as they made their way from church to church so that their occupants could have the “sacred glimpse” of the Host at the elevation. Footman of opposing coaches were getting into fights over right of way.
What’s wrong with this picture.
Oh, but for those days again.
The styles in the clerical shops have, in my experience, followed the trends set by the Roman Pontiff. I am happy to say that the “B16” style prevails still. Market forces are surely at work. Otherwise, at the perennially weird Ghezzi a cleric unburdened by good taste could relieve his pockets of parish money and get this affliction for the people.
More light fare.
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“What’s wrong…?”
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Clearly, that potted plant has too much bone meal and not enough water.
My rendering of the aforementioned sign:
“Whoever, after confession and communion, shall devoutly visit the seven altars of this church on the fourth Sunday of each month, praying for the concord of Christian princes, for the extirpation of heresies, and for the exaltation of Holy Mother Church, shall acquire all and singular indulgences, the remission of sins, and the condonation of punishments which he would acquire if he visited the seven altars of the basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican.”
So pray hard. AND GO TO CONFESSION!
(E grazie per le foto!)
That food looks delicious!
Re: Ghezzi, it looks like somebody made a fabric out of bits and pieces of medieval manuscript illuminations.
The problem is that the designer had no sense about it.
It would make a nice sweatshirt pattern, though, if you like that kind of mishmash design. Probably the world’s most expensive sweatshirt.
What’s wrong with the picture? The Cranmer Table.
I shall not waste space with my translation, as I see Michael da Roma has beaten me to it, MA – you must tell where is this church! Since such a visit in the Vatican Basilica is now so difficult, this would be most useful information. Notwithstanding Pope Paul VI removal of such plenary indulgences, they remain valuable pious exercises!
What’s wrong with that picture? A lot…
1. “Cranmer Table” as @Julia_Augusta so aptly and eloquently pointed out
2. There are four candlesticks on the Altar; and whether or not that’s actually wrong, my American sense of tradition squeals for the lack of either two or six – and to boot, the candles on the Cranmer Table don’t even have sticks! Oof.
3. No visible crucifix on the C.T.
4. What even is that greenery on the C.T.? Half dead holly? Definitely looks messy… probably more messy than the pathetic potted plant… but nope, gradines aren’t allowed to get between the priest and the people! (next, are they going to take the Eucharist out of the elevation because it gets in the way of the priest’s face?)
5. That icon on the Altar where the tabernacle should be… (I’m assuming this is a side chapel?) … I have a sickening feeling that that’s a Monastery Icon
6. The presider’s office chair, or whatever you want to call it, that is sitting in front of the Altar… looks like it came from Ikea
That headstone is cool. Beautiful belief in the resurrection of the body right there. However, I can’t tell if it’s large enough that the C.T. is actually on top of it. As it appears to be the tomb of a noble family, rather than the tomb of a saint, then why would you put a C.T. on top of it? Sounds downright disrespectful to me.