ROME 22/10 – Day 22: A Tale of Two Pignatelli (…not a shape of pasta)

Our Roman glimpse of Helios was at 7:28 and the final glimpse should be at 18:20. The Ave Maria is slated for 18:30. In the older calendar we have today St. Mark of Jerusalem. In the newer calendar we have St. John Paul II.

O Lord, I thank you for this day.

According to the legislation Cum sanctissima it is possible to celebrate JP2 on this day with the Vetus Ordo because there is no “heavier” feast that must be used. A priest might use the Common for one or more Supreme Pontiffs. I believe his Collect is:

Deus, dives in misericordia,
qui sanctum Ioannem Paulum, papam,
universae Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti,
praesta, quaesumus, ut, eius institutis edocti,
corda nostra salutiferae gratiae Christi,
unius redemptoris hominis, fidenter aperiamus.

O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that the Saint John Paul II
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind.
Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit….

Foodie stuff.  Last night, being Friday, spaghetti alle vongole … the best yet.  At the last moment I gave it some grindings of pepper and hot red pepper.

The nearby Campo de’ Fiori in the early morning.

In the afternoon I went to a couple of churches on another scavenger hunt, as I did the other day for Card. Sirleto.  I was on the hunt for Pignatelli’s tombs, one a rake of a cardinal, the other a canonized saint… even though – or perhaps because – he was a Jesuit.

The first church was Santa Maria sopra Minerva.  However, the whole nave is blocked off, so I couldn’t explore for the funerary monument of Stefano Card. Pignatelli (+1623), son of a Neapolitan pottery maker, who had a spectacularly hideous reputation while alive as a committer of sins that cry to heaven.  Although some says it was from envy that lies were told about him, it was said of Pignatelli that his vices were so numerous that not even St. Peter’s dome could cover them.  He was a “friend” of the nephew of Paul V, Scipio Card. Borghese who was of the same sort.  Scipio somehow got Paul to make Stefano a cardinal.  Talk about reactions or a consistory list!

At the time, the “talking statue” Pasquino (there are a few statues around Rome that talk to each other and to the people through the papers people stick on them… they were “frank”), said of the elevation of Stefano to the sacred purple, that “No one should be surprised.  Spain campaigns for her candidates, France for hers.  Everyone wants his own man to be made a cardinal.  Why shouldn’t Scipio’s (member) get what it wants too, it’s own man in the College of Cardinals.”

Some things don’t change.  Think about what German and Flemish cardinals and bishops are pushing today.  Think about what certain Jesuits are after.   No one should be surprised at this.  The Enemy is very good at being an enemy.  The Enemy is going to attack high so as to confuse and corrupt many more.   Bring down some one in a very high place in the Church and massive damage is done.

[UPDATE: Doing a little more grave digging, I discovered HERE that Stefano Pignatelli was buried in S. M. sopra Minerva “senzo alcune monumento funerario… without any funerary monument” in the Caffarelli chapel.]

On the other hand, St. Joseph Pignatelli (+1811) is considered the second founder of the Jesuits after their suppression.  There had been for sometime in the 18th c. an effort on the part of some monarchs, etc., to suppress the Jesuits and expel them from their territories. For example, the Marquis de Pombal put all the Jesuits, with only the clothes on their backs, into 13 ships and sent them to Civitavecchia the port in the Papal States, as a “gift” to Pope Clement XIII, who refused to admit them.   They and Jesuits from Aragon fled to Corsica.  Pignatelli somehow got the 600 or more provisions and work until France took over Corsica and they were driven out again.  Clement XIV, of happy memory, suppressed the Society in 1773.  Pignatelli and his brother made their way to Bologna and lived in retirement, not functioning publicly as priests.  Eventually, Pius VI would permit the Jesuits left, including those who had not been suppressed by Catherine the Great in Russia, to regroup and function.  Pius VII appointed Pignatelli as the superior in Italy.  They remained untouched even when Pius was exiled and France took over.  The Society would eventually be restored fully in 1814, three years after Pignatelli’s death.  The Jesuits themselves consider him to be the second founder of the Society.  More on him HERE.

The Gesù, principle church of the Jesuits.  Magnificent Counter-Reformation statement which the modern day Jesuits are eroding with stupidate.

In the chapel where you find also the grave of Arupe, is the altar with the urn of the remains of San Giuseppe Pingatelli.

As I contemplated his tomb and thought about the immense suffering of those Jesuits, their rank and file, in the 18th c., driven here and there with nothing and under much hostility, I thought of canceled priests.  There are so many today.  Most are quietly trying to scratch out a living, somehow.  A few are visible or even noisy.  Most are hidden and nearly forgotten.  I prayed to St. Joseph Pingatelli for them, to ask Christ the High Priest to heal the injustices against them and to bring them consolations.

I thought of the plight of the Society of St. Pius X, with a saintly founder, which has in some ways been suppressed by Rome but which nevertheless is growing and thriving in a kind of exile in our midst.  I asked St. Joseph to intercede with God and raise up in the Church a figure who could navigate the present day Roman waters with their Scylla and Charybdis of moral and theological corruptions, to help bring that Society into undisputed harmony.  May Our Lady soften the hearts of their critics and be part of the solution rather than perpetuators of the problems.

I asked St. Joseph Pignatelli to intercede, along with St. Ignatius, St. Peter Favre, St. Francis Borgia, St. Robert Bellarmine, St. Aloysius Gonzaga, St. John Berchmans, St. Francis Xavier, St. John de Brebouf, St. Nicholas Owen, St. Robert Southwell (who lived across the street from where I write at the English College), and all the Jesuits saints and blesseds, with St. Joseph the Church’s Protector, and Mary Queen of the Clergy, to obtain special graces for the members of the Society, especially those who have strayed into destructive paths, who will reform the present day Jesuits. I pray for their reform.   If we say corruptio optimi pessima can we not turn the sock inside out and say conversio pessimi optima?

See what time in Rome is doing to my blog posts, which are sometimes a lot of work.   I was thinking of this the other day. I’ve spent enough time here that I don’t need to rush to see the famous things that you don’t want to miss. I’ve been there and done that.  Now I can drill (figuratively) into the engrossing details.  What treasures and lessons there are.  It’s nice to have my brain awake again.

Speaking of that… I saw this fun meme.

Meanwhile, Clement XIV (Ganganelli) swag that available.  >>HERE<<

Finally, it’s black to move in this tense situation.  The solution is not obvious.  Look at what is hanging.  See if you can force something and get a favorable exchange and position.

I’m really happy to see that some of you are talking about the puzzles in the combox comments!   That’s terrific!

NOTA BENE about the affiliate program I have with Remote Chess Academy.  A friend used one of my links hoping both to get a course and also to give me a commission (I get an amazing 50%). However, he may have moved away from my linkage having gotten into that site with my link, and got something else.  Hence, I may not have gotten that commission.  I’ve written to the person who manages the affiliate program about it and look forward to a response.   The bottom line: if you to that site, and you see something you want, be patient, write to me and I will create a custom link for you.   For example, say you spot All In One Opening Bundle and decide on that, I can create a link for that specific course, as I did HERE.  See something you want?  Drop a line HERE.

Amazon works differently.  Use my link for anything and no matter where you navigate after that your entrance point is remembered during that shopping session.  US HERE – UK HERE

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