ROME DAY 25/01 03: jet lag

Today the sun was up by 07:26 and it was down by 17:20.  Getting longer.  Last I was here, they were getting shorter.   The Ave Maria Bell, back in November, was also in the 17:30 cycle.   It is now, too.    But unless you are in a special place, you won’t hear it.

It is the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany.  The Vatican Curia calendar indicates that this is the “Domenica della Parola di Dio”.  Frankly, I think every Sundays is the Sunday of the Word of God.  At least I treat them that way, at 1 Peter 5.

Today I celebrated Holy Mass for my Benefactors who sent donations for this trip.   I won’t forget the rest of you!

An action shot of don Dimitri incensing the Evangelarium,

After Mass one of the members of the Archconfraternity of the Most Holy Trinity of the Pilgrims and Convalescents (founded by St. Philip Neri … I’m the first priest member in maybe a century…) hosted a little reception for the occasion of her onomastico, which is Agnes (so, it’s like the octave of Agnes, Romans are flexible with time).   She made some of the best lasagne I’ve had in a long time.

It’s so nice to be with these great people.  The Archconfraternity is doing well.  Today, The Great Roman™ and the Get It Done Pastor™ were talking about the interview TGR did with EWTN.   Moreover, the Archon is in a book published about the Jubilee (get it?  Rome and Pilgrims?).  HERE

Everything was boxed up when I was last here.  Look.  How beautiful.

In honor of the Palazzo Farnese being cleaned, watch a video of the end of the 2nd act of Tosca, when she stabs Scarpia in the throat with a pair of scissors and then taunts him as he chokes on his blood.  Never gets old.   This is where the 2nd Act of that oh-so-Roman opera takes place.

The production at the Met a few years ago with Sonya Yoncheva was spectacular. Here’s the part where Tosca get’s her revenge. The Napoleanic governor of Rome, the evil Scarpia, is holding Tosca’s main squeeze prisoner. He’s gonna die if she doesn’t give in to his obsessed lascivious demands. She has other ideas. If you have a chance watch the whole opera, in segments. It’s the best Tosca I have ever seen.

“What’s wrong? Are you choking on your blood? Die, damned! Die! DIE!”

Maria Callas.

Tosca is the perfect opera for the beginner and the “in-operable”. It’s short, it has famous arias, and everybody dies.

A while back, there was a broadcast production of Tosca from the real sites of the action, Chiese Sant’Andrea della Valle, Palazzo Farnese and Castel Sant’ Angelo. I’d like to find that, but I’m tired.

A street I walk down.

This is too cool not to share.

I captured the entire “Planetary Parade” using my 11″ telescope, and combined everything into one composite photo that stayed true to the angular scale of these objects.

Made entirely with real photos, I hope this composite helps illustrate the scale of these things! pic.twitter.com/T2SP4sxaKw

— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) January 25, 2025

Let it be said.

Episcopalianism: pic.twitter.com/6KaEFPVp4n

— Mark (@sitsio) January 25, 2025

There’s some B asn in B, S as in S at Fishwrap – what a disaster! Please God snuff it OUT – but Hazell does the lifting.

It should also be noted that the chap who wrote this risible article is a Latin Rite Catholic who attends Eastern Divine Liturgy for what could be considered “aesthetic and ideological tastes”. Projection much? https://t.co/qwxSxW1hJ3 pic.twitter.com/dGMAPHJpmn

— Matthew Hazell (@M_P_Hazell) January 26, 2025

The Fishwrap piece is deeeeeeply stupid. HERE

As much as dismissing trad Catholicism as a mere LARP (“live action role-playing game”) or fringe internet identity category would be unfair, there’s something to be said about the fact that it has flourished in spaces like Reddit, Tumblr and X (formerly Twitter), which have also served as a breeding ground for gamer communities, fandoms and new gender and sexual identities.

Yeah… right.   Scorn.

US high schools and this.  Compare and contrast.  HERE

VP Vance has things to say about the US Bishops.  HERE (Fishwrap had a spittle-flecked nutty)

Chessy news…

Mate in 4.  White’s move.

[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.]

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