Daily Rome Shot 613

7 Comments

1. TheCavalierHatherly says:

   23 December 2022 at 11:35 AM

   From Alban Butler, the explanation as to how two Cilician doctors become so venerated among the Romans:

   “Their bodies were carried into Syria, and buried at Cyrus. Theodoret, who was bishop of that city in the fifth century, mentions that their relics were then deposited in a church there, which bore their names. He calls them two illustrious champions, and valiant combatants for the faith of Jesus Christ. The emperor Justinian, who began his reign in 527, out of a religious regard for the treasure of these precious relics, enlarged, embellished, and strongly fortified this city of Cyrus; and finding a ruinous church at Constantinople, built in honor of these martyrs, as is said, in the reign of Theodosius the Younger (who died in the middle of the fifth age), raised a stately edifice in its room, as a monument of his gratitude for the recovery of his health in a dangerous fit of sickness, through their intercession, as Procopius relates. To express his particular devotion to these saints, he built also another church under their names at Constantinople. Marcellinus, in his chronicle, and St. Gregory of Tours, relate several miracles performed by their intercession. Their relics were conveyed to Rome, where the holy pope St. Felix, great-grandfather to St. Gregory the Great, built a church to their honor, in which these relics are kept with veneration to this day.”
2. Adam Piggott says:

   23 December 2022 at 11:42 AM

   Nc6-a5 and the white queen is trapped.
3. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

   23 December 2022 at 3:56 PM

   This is tiny church is not the one at the Roman Forum. This one, very close to where I was in seminary, is on the Via dei Barbieri. These saints are the patrons also of barbers who, back in the day, were also sort of doctors. The church was dedicated and re-dedicated many times. It’s now Gesù Nazareno. It was once dedicate to the Most Holy Trinity, and indeed Ss. Trinita – Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims and the Sick is near by. After the unification of Italy this church was deconsecrated by the government but later acquired by the Archconfraternity of Gesù Nazareno which was once popular devotion but is now being revived at Ss. Trinita. It was closed for many years and then restored and reopened a few years ago. There is a fine image of Gesù Nazareno at Ss. Trinita and they have made holy cards for distribution.
4. RJR says:

   23 December 2022 at 4:37 PM

   1. … N-a5 (traps the white queen)
5. TheCavalierHatherly says:

   23 December 2022 at 7:47 PM

   Thanks Father! I really appreciate the additional information.

   Indeed, the “barber surgeons.” Doctors were often loathe to get their hands soiled, and would direct the barber to do the dirty work. Cut one part of the body and they might as well get you to do all the cutting… Its endlessly fascinating how today’s for-granted conventions would have seemed bizzare a matter of centuries ago. I’m glad that the monument of their devotion is retained in stone.

   From Wikipedia:
   “During medieval times, barbers performed surgery on customers, as well as tooth extractions. The original pole had a brass wash basin at the top (representing the vessel in which leeches were kept) and bottom (representing the basin that received the blood). The pole itself represents the staff that the patient gripped during the procedure to encourage blood flow… In Renaissance-era Amsterdam, the surgeons used the colored stripes to indicate that they were prepared to bleed their patients (red), set bones or pull teeth (white), or give a shave if nothing more urgent was needed (blue).”

   I have a vivid memory from my university days of seeing a woodcut with the Doctors directing the Barbers in the act of demonstrative dismemberment at a public dissection in the late middle ages. The professor for that course would often rant about how much she despised the “enlightenment” myth of the forbidden dissection of human bodies promoted by the “anti-scientific” Church. She was a marvelous magistrix.
6. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

   24 December 2022 at 11:51 AM

   Look at that monster sniper on h7. Black to move to gain material and obtain domination.

   1. … Nxd4 (forcing)
   2. cxd4 (otherwise the queen is toast and mate is threatened with Ne2) Qc6+
   3. Nc4 dxc4

   if 3. Qc3 Qxc3+
   4. bxc3 Ba3#!!

   if 4. Bxc4 Ne2+
   5. Kd2 (a square fraught with danger) Nxd4!
7. Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

   24 December 2022 at 11:58 AM

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