ROME 22/10 – Day 3: Of a hairy bear, a column, and a case of littering.

Sunrise in Rome today was at 7:07 and sundown is projected to be at 18:51. The Ave Maria is at 19:00. It is the feast of a Roman martyr, St. Candidus who was killed in the time of the Emperor Decius at a place called, delightfully, Ursus Pileatus.

Today is the Feast of St. Thérèse de Lisieux.

I call upon her intercession today in a special way, for myself and for my benefactors.

One of my two 1st class relics of St. Thérèse, to whom I am grateful.

The windows in my place were replaced today with new ones that reduce noise by some 60 db.

Therefore, guess where I spent a lot of the day….

I visited one of the “talking statues”.

You can tell that he saw the consistory list.

On the consistory list, he had nothing to say.

I’ll have a lot more to say about columns, in these electronic columns.  This is the one Marcus Aurelius’ son Commodus raised in honor of the victories on the Danube.  Sixtus V put St. Paul on this column and St. Peter on the Column of Trajan at the Forum.  That was a pretty bold thing to do, since from the time of pagan ancient world, columns with statues were considered pagan idols.

More on columns –  fascinating – as the days go by.  Stay tuned.

I had not visited San Silvestro for a long time.

In the entrance is the famous inscription by Pope Damasus in that unmistakable script.

I believe this was one of the cars James Bond used during his first mission in Italy.

I thought this a lovely funeral monument.  It teaches in stone and word.

Who wants to try the Latin?   Right click and open in a new tab for larger.

I stopped at Gammarelli and saw the vestment I had made for a priest of my acquaintance who learned well and implemented in his parish the Vetus Ordo before the pogrom began.    A “Filipo Neri” cut.  Griffons.  It should be spectacular.

On the way home, I noticed that someone had thrown their cigarette butts on the street in complete dereliction against Laudato si!  The things you see.  The nerve!

Even the rat saw the consistory list.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. Josephus Muris Saliensis says:

    I cannot believe the rats are so bold. Horrible. Truly the streets of Rome are a microcosm of the Church!

    Buona festa!

  2. Philokalos says:

    Maria, a widowed wife, remembering the war, surrounds Nicolaus Modetti, her incomparable husband with tears and a prayer. In the year of the Lord 1872.

  3. This is my attempt:

    NICOLAUM MODETTI
    VIRUM SUUM INCOMPARABILEM
    MARIA BELLI VXSOR
    VIDUATA MEMOR
    PRECE ET LACRYMIS URGET
    ANNO DOMINI MDCCCLXXII

    In the year of the Lord 1872, Maria Belli, a wife widowed and mindful, urges her incomparable husband Nicholas Modetti onward with prayer and tears.

  4. JMody says:

    prece et lacrymis urget …
    we should all be so fortunate.

    [AMEN! As a priest without a lot of close family who are Catholic (or who existed in the first place), I ponder this in light of my own mortality. I hope that if I have helped people through this blog or what I have done in parishes, perhaps they will remember to pray for me.]

  5. Philokalos says:

    ah, i hadnt even considered Belli as a surname and not bellum, -i!

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