ROME 25/4– Day 3: Water-sellers

At 06:34 the sun rose over the Eternal city. It will set at 19:49.

The Ave Maria Bell, were it better times, would ring at 20:20 for the Curia.

It is the Feast of St. Gemma Galgani (+1903).   She was a mystic who probably had stigmata and visions of her angel guardian.  She died of tuberculosis on Holy Saturday after great suffering.

The Cesi chapel in S.M. della Pace.   Above, frescoes of the creation of Eve and the expulsion from Paradise.  The painting Holy Family with St. Anne by Carlo Cesi.

This church is where there was once a church called St. Andrea Aquareariis.  It was by the “water-sellers”. People bought water back then because there weren’t as many fountains flowing with the waters brought from ancient or papal aqueducts.  The water-sellers got water from the Tiber and then filtered out the sand, etc., and sold it.

Did you know the way you place your fork and knife after a meal sends a clear message to the waiter? pic.twitter.com/U71F4noNob

— Culture Explorer (@CultureExploreX) April 11, 2025

And…

This is Mars!

140 million miles away from us! pic.twitter.com/WofcPJIQAD

— Curiosity (@MAstronomers) April 9, 2025

Chess Champ Bobby Fischer died Catholic:
MASTER OF PATTERN RECOGNITION

“In his final years, Fischer’s only hope for salvation was through the Catholic Church, according to a friend who wishes to remain anonymous. ‘He was reading a catechism and Chesterton, and told me the only… pic.twitter.com/tLKWlkB0SA

— Dr Taylor Marshall™? (@TaylorRMarshall) April 11, 2025

And… have you seen this movie?

Filmed on location during the halcyon days of Catholicism in Quebec. But were they really? The rapid secularization of the so-called “Quiet Revolution”—and the collapse of Catholic practice—suggests otherwise. https://t.co/VMRM5mR50K

— Father V (@father_rmv) April 10, 2025

White to move and mate in 4.

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