Fr. Z's Blog

Sunrise in Rome was 06:10 and sunset will be at 20:06.  Each day a little longer and they are, right now, beautiful days.

The Ave Maria should ring at 20:15.

It is the Feast of St. Peter Canisius, SJ, Doctor of the Church.

Last night a couple of retired Navy friends were/are in town.  Here’s one of them when he was at Annapolis.

GO NAVY – BEAT ARMY

We had cocktails at the Campo de’ Fiori – the cocktail culture is being revived in Rome as only the Italians can do followed by supper at a nearby favorite spot with Roman and Sicilian fare.  We started with moscardini and alici fritti with scratch made mayo.

A “bis” divided up… after a while the pasta gets a bit overwhelming.  Behold caccio e pepe and the other with asparagus and truffle.  Very good.

On the way home.

After Mass this morning I noticed something I’ve seen a thousand times.  This time it hit me.  Shell… pilgrims… Trinità dei Pellegrini … DUH!  [Insert forehead slap here.]

Yesterday I followed Game 12.   This is a 14 game match and the first to make it to 7.5 (.5 for a draw and 1.0 for a win) takes Magnus’ title.  As 12 started Ding Liren was down 5 to Nepo’s 6.  Effectively, Nepo would have had a nearly insurmountable lead of 2.o by winning Game 12.

What happened in Game 12 was astonishing.  Nepo with black got a serious positional advantage over Ding and was on the verge of squeezing him like a Boa Constrictor.  Also, knowing that Ding gets into time trouble, he started blitzing out moves.  Bad mistake.  With one misstep, one blunder, he was on the ropes and knew it.  In complete, manifest agony he played a couple more moves and resigned to Ding, who pulled off a stunning victory.  I have bookmarked the video below to just before Nepo’s f5 disaster move.  Watch for a while after as he practically writhes in frustration, talking to himself in sheer disbelief.

Nepo was thunderstruck almost immediately after his error.

That said, think about what goes through the mind of a damned soul in the first few minutes after arrival in Hell.

GO TO CONFESSION.

Here’s a puzzle.  White to move.

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

Oh… in Game 13 Ding with black was up but lost his edge and wound up with a draw.   Tomorrow is a rest day and the final classical Game 14 comes up on Saturday.  The Match is tied at 6.5.

Here in the Eternal City the sunrise was at 0612 in a cloudless sky.  Who knows what the sky shall be when the sun sets at 2005.   The sky will probably be the same at the Ave Maria, still in its 2015 time slot.

Welcome registrants:

Big Dave
Rock1966

It is the Feast of St. Cletus, Pope and Martyr (+ c. 88).  It is also the Feast of Our Lady of Good Counsel, after a miraculous image at Genazzano south of Rome.

This morning a couple of the concelebrating priests chose the Mass for Our Lady of Good Counsel, which texts are in the “Aliquibus Locis” section toward the back of the Missal.  Here is a nice view of 6 concelebrating priests done with a pano setting.

Click for larger.  I was facing the church’s central doors.  The one altar without an altar piece… that’s in honor of St. Philip.  The painting is being restored.  Other wise the altars are from left to right St. Giovanni Battista De Rossi, St. Philip Neri, Crucifix and Sorrowful Mother, St. Carlo Borromeo, St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great.  Two other side altars are not visible: St. Matthew and the Blessed Virgin.  The white canopy covers the baptismal font which YOU READERS helped to purchase and install when the church became a parish church!

Here’s a facchino schlepping fruits and vegetables to the stands in the Campo.

Outside church today the rondini were really at it!  Maybe a little hard to see them.  If in my native place my favorites are the chickadees, here in Rome the prize goes to the rondini.

The video is a little kitschy but… meh… the text is there. And for the Italian challenged my rendering:

I would like to enter the wires of a radio
And to fly over the rooftops of cities
To run into dialectal expressions
To blend myself into the smell of a coffee
To stop on the noses of old men while they read newspapers
And with the powder of dreams to fly and fly
To the coolness of the stars…and farther still

Chorus:
Dream, dream in the sea of dreams

I would like to whirl around in the sky like the swallows
And every so often stop here and there
To have a nest under the roofs in the coolness of porticos
And like them, in the evening to close my eyes with simplicity

I want to follow every beat of my heart
To understand what’s going on inside and what moves it
Where this strange sorrow comes from once in a while
I want, in short, to understand what love is
Where it is that it takes you, where it is that it gives you

Chorus:
Dream, dream, in the sky of dreams

My freesia are as happy as rondini this morning.

Meanwhile, today the FIDE World Championship continues in Astana, Kazakhstan to decide who will be called “World Champion” (since Magnus Carlsen abdicated). Game 11 today. Ian Nepomniachtchi will clash with Ding Liren who is down a point and really needs a win. Coverage HERE

White to move. Can you weave the net?

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

Interested in learning? This guy helped my game.  Try THIS.

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE

May I make a recommendation? This morning after Mass I had a quick coffee and cornetto with Eduard Habsburg who has a new book.  Eduard is Hungary’s Ambassador to the Holy See.  The forward is by Viktor Orbán.

The Habsburg Way 7 Rules for Turbulent Times

US HERE – UK HERE

0613 for sunrise today and 2004 for sunset.  The Ave Maria is still in the 2015 cycle on this 115th day of the year.

It is the Feast of St. Mark, Evangelist, liturgically rich.  Today is a Rogation Day.  Latin rogare means “to ask, beg”.  Even before the time of Pope St. Gregory I, “the Great” (+604) this day, 25 April – thought to be the day that Peter began to “oversee” the Church of Rome, was a time for a procession and the singing of solemn litanies, the “Greater Litanies”.

Processions and litanies are ways in which the Church responds to our needs in time of natural disasters or famine or plagues or invasion.  Today in the Church there are some unnatural disasters in key positions, sacramental famine from the closing of churches during Covidian Theatre and restrictions placed on the Vetus Ordo, plagues in the form of sickening parishes and Catholic identity resulting in demographic decline, and invasions from non-Catholics even at the altars in our loftiest places of worship in Rome itself.

Perhaps those sound priests out there should take matters into their own hands and organize processions and the signing of litanies.

In the Rome of old, we would be gathering at San Lorenzo in Lucina, where there is a lovely Crucifixion by Guido Reni.  Then, by way of the Via Flaminia, we would process to St. Peter’s taking the Milvian Bridge.   Later, in the Medieval period, there were two processions to St. Peter’s, one from the Lateran Palace with the ecclesiastical figures and another from San Marco near the Capitoline Hill wherein civil figures participated.   Every aspect of society bringing petitions to God.

Meanwhile, there was concelebration this morning in church.

A bride’s bouquet is still at the Marian altar.  (One might see a list of intentions for the living and for the dead during the Roman Canon.)

The Campo was mighty quiet this morning, though the shops are set up.  It is a national holiday.  You should be able to right-click for a larger version of this “pano”.

Breakfast was had.

I stopped to greet the folks at my regular flower stand, the only one open today.  The owner, Pippo asked if I was going to church and gave me a lovely long-stemmed rose: per la Madonna.

Back to church went I and gave it to Mary Help of the Suffering, a beautiful image at Ss. Trinità.  I gave her that flower – adding it to some tulips – and also lit a candle for the mother of one of my closest and longest friends whose mother is seriously ailing from major kidney problems and quite a few other maladies as well.

Back in the street again and heading home.  Once again I asked St. Philip for help with a place in Rome in this neighborhood.

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Here’s a puzzle.  White to move.   Be sneaky and win material.

Igor has helped my game.

01615 was the sun’s rising and at 2003 will it set.  The Ave Maria is at 2015.

Today is the Feast of, among others, foundress of the Brigidines, S. Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad (+1957 whose tomb is just up the way.  I see their bell tower from my window.

Welcome registrant:

LSL

Today I had a chat with the manager of the place where I am staying in Rome about a couple of things.  First, the washing machine was not draining and needed maintenance and, next, my return next October.

I’ll have to start raising funds for October one of these days.   In the meantime, I also would remind the readership to pray for a more stable Roman solution which I and a couple of priests could use.  St. Joseph!  St. Philip!  Help us!

Meanwhile, my alstroemeria finally went the way of all flesh.  When I went out to the vegetable stand at the Campo de’ Fiori this morning, I got some fresh flowers, some of the same and also …

… freesia.  Is that how it is spelled?

They are so cheery and bright.

My somewhat cramped workspace.  I’ve turned the apartment TV into a monitor.

And as long as we are in still life mode.  I have a plan for the big peppers, beasts of things, heavy, that will probably but not necessarily involve sausages, in honor of friends in Chicago.  They are amazing… both, the friends and the peppers.

The flowers and the veg came at a discount because I’ve been frequenting those stands for decades now, which is nice.  I like supporting these family businesses.  It involves more stops, but that’s okay.  It’s worth every footstep and wave to old acquaintances along the way.

I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating.  As I walk around, I catch myself smiling.  For that… I cannot thank you enough.

Together with my regular list of the “Roman Sojourn” Donors (yesterday’s Mass was for your intention), the “24thers” are remembered in prayers at the the altar but also as I take care of daily things.  For example, today I note for the 24th (down since 2o22):

KC
DD (one of the faithful “200” when I was in serious, immediate need)
MH
PG
MM
MF
TB
DM (thanks muchly)
MT
DG
ML
PK

25thers.  Please don’t be irked if I don’t write about you tomorrow?

When I go through my mail and send out daily thank you notes (provided I have an address) I think, “Okay, that donation bought the vegetables today, that one bought the flowers, that one bought the morning coffee and rolls after Mass with the two newly ordained priests visiting Rome (I really like doing that), this one goes toward the electric bill back home, this one toward car insurance, etc. …”.  I try to think in concrete terms.   Also, there are those who will send a donation and a note, like the other day after I posted the photo of veg stand in the Campo, “For some of those beautiful little tomatoes.” Thanks WH. Or, for example, SAS sent: “With continued prayers for your strength restored… and a good bottle -or two- of wine”, which permitted a good bottle of Nebbiolo for the aforementioned sausages and peppers and a not great but not bad bourbon for the visit to the digs by The Great Roman™ (to whom the “Shave The Great Roman™” items were duly hand delivered, by the way).

Hence, when I go to the shops or pay bills or simply live life, you donors are with me every day.  A glimpse into how I am grateful for every one of you and have your backs in prayers, almsgiving and even, though it is hard to believe it, regular fasting.  Regarding almsgiving: I almost never give money in the street, but I will offer to buy something to eat.  Many of the beggars reject that out of hand.  Fewer immediately accept with urgency.  So, there are times when your donation may have fed someone truly in need of a meal.  I had some hard days in Rome waaaay back in the day and I have an eye for the hungry.

Meanwhile, in Astana, today Nepo and Ding played to a draw.  It was not a very flashy game.  Nepo leads by a full point and games are running out.

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Here’s a puzzle.

White to move.  White’s bishop is hanging.  There are connected pawns which are a threat, but that rook is really agile and your king is on the 1st rank.  What to do?  You have to keep time on your side and avoid getting forked or skewered.  Don’t let that rook get behind your pawns!  This was hard for me.  Many ways to go wrong.

Aren’t end games fascinating?  There must be a lesson for life and our own ends here.  Go to confession.

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

I’m an affiliate now of chess.com shop which is handled by House of Staunton.  Do me a favor and click over there and have a look around.

Meanwhile, the church of St. Bridget on the P.za Farnese.

After Mass I stopped at the grocery for a couple of things, like Aceto di Alcool which is great for cleaning stuff.  The water here is incredibly hard.  I can give the electric kettle or other implements a soak and they clear right up.  Drains, washing machine rinse, fridge shelves.  A little newsprint on glass windows… kiss your fancy sprays g’bye.

I also really appreciate being able in a pinch to get some fresh tentacle, don’t you?   Somewhere Cthulhu is missing a nephew.

Sun rise over Rome was at 6:16 and Sunset will be at 20:02.  The Ave Maria should be rung at 20:15 right now.

It is the Feast of St. George, whose relics are at San Giorgio in Velabro.

Welcome registrants:

dazcuy
de la Valette

Last night we were invited to a reception in the Galleries and once private apartments at the Palazzo Doria Pamphilji.

Dress: “Smoking” aka black tie. For priests that means house cassock, fascia and feraiuolo.

A few shots.

Some favorite paintings are in the gallery.  As always the illumination is frustratingly horrible.

I always think of my late friend Maurizio Marini when I see this painting. He was a great expert on Velasquez and had the studies for the final work.

There are Caravaggios, of course. Here’s one.

A tiny video clip or two… should have done more of these.

And with The Great Roman™.

Those weird little dots are not stains from the canapés.  I have found that, with this phone camera, if there are multiple light sources the three lens do this.  It’s annoying but… meh.

Meanwhile, today, Nepo and Ding played to a draw. Ding has his back to the wall.

Here’s a puzzle.

Black to move.   The first move is critical.  After that, things get easier.

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

Your use of my Amazon affiliate link is a major part of my income. It helps to pay for insurance, groceries, everything. Please remember me when shopping online. Thanks in advance.  US HERE – UK HERE