Fr. Z's Blog

At 0633 – up. At 1950 – down. The Ave Maria is still in the 2000 slot.

The Roman Station is at S. Lorenzo fuori le mura. I was once deacon for the Station Mass there celebrated by my bishop and got to sing the Gospel from high atop the great ambo.

Yesterday involved moving things and starting the basic shopping and some repairs. Today will involve the same, along with some writing and a good walk later. It is unseasonably cool here, which I welcome.

Out with friends the other night.  Which drink is mine?

A few little starters.

I opted for orata.

Last night, however, I opted for caprese with a lovely tomato from my usual veg stand.

In the sacristy, everything is set up for a pontifical baptism.

Here is a bugia.  It is used at different times during Masses by priests when the celebrant is reading from the Missale.  Bishops get them pretty much all the time.

Along the way I thought to share a few photos from last Holy Week.   Not systematically.  Just for nice.

Meanwhile,…

Black to move.

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

Will you remember a few things?

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It seems the whole men-finding-deviant-ways-to-compete-against-women farce has also invaded chess. In the Kenyan Open Championship, a guy wearing a niqab with only his glasses and eyes visible, pretended to be a woman in order to win a prize. Apparently he walked funny and wore shoes worn by men.

Today, Ding and Nepo face off again. Nepo is up 1.5 to .5. Ding’s game yesterday did not go well at all after a really strange 4th move, perhaps – surely, rather – suggested by his second, Richard Rapport, a somewhat erratic Hungarian who plays under the Romanian flag.

The sun rose, and I sometime later, at 635 and it will set, and I sometime after, at 1948.  The 2000 cycle holds for the Ave Maria.

It is Tuesday in the Octave of Easter and the Station is St. Paul’s outside-the-walls.   We celebrate St. Gemma Galgani today, a great saint.

Today I left my temporary digs, useful for Holy Week purposes and with the Chicagoans who have departed and have transferred to the Roman Sojourn Apartment.

I started making my first rounds of collecting things for the place, but a sandwich was necessary.

And a suppli.

I went to my usual veg stand in the Campo.  The PEAS have come in and they are magnificent.  Soooo sweet.

Perhaps more later.   This afternoon I have been getting all the tech set up, bags unpacked, lists made of what to purchase… food stuffs, cleaning things, items someone broke in the meantime, etc.

I may curl up for a power nap before I hit the cobbles again.

Right now my plan for supper is caprese with mozzarella from my most dependable place.  Shall I make something warm, too?   Who knows?

Meanwhile, Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Ding Liren in game 2.  Tomorrow is game 3.

The folks who redid my chalice in Rome have a spectacular Missale Romanum for sale.  There is some restoration work to be done, but this is a treasure.

Just sayin’.  I don’t know much about it.  Last spring Aldo said something about a Cardinal who passed away.  It may have been among his things and the family wants to offload it.

I recall that the silverwork is amazing.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, I offered my Holy Mass for my Roman Donors.  Thank you for your great kindness and your prayers.  I will say Mass for you often while I am here.

On this Easter Monday, which is called “Little Easter” here. It is also called “Lunedi dell’Angelo”, probably because of the mentions of the angels of the resurrection in the antiphons for Mass, though the Gospel reading is traditionally about the Road to Emmaus.

The sun rose again in Rome and will set another time, respectively at 0637 and 1947. The Ave Maria remains nailed to that 2000 spot. We are in the Moon’s last quarter, in case you had not noticed.

Today’s Roman Station is at San Pietro in Vaticano. In ancient times and into the medieval period the Roman Bishop would go to St. Peter’s for the Mass and then return to the Lateran in a solemn procession while distributing money to the poor, through the Jewish quarter where he received their petitions, and then through the Forum and up the hill.

A couple views from Sunday Solemn Mass.

There are those who say that I should have buckles on my shoes when in choro or celebrating Mass. Technically, they may be right, since according to Trimelloni they were still obligatory – on the books at least – in 1962. I have a pair of 8″ Bates milspec boots back home in storage with some buckles laced in more or less in the right place, but I don’ think that that is what Trimelloni and the Church had in mind.   To my mind they are entirely appropriate, given the state of affairs and the amount of… stuff we have to wade through about “walking together” and other B as in B, S as in S.

I have business at Gammarelli.  I’ll inquire. If they are available and reasonable, I hope they have good traction.  The deadliest carpet in the world covers the steps to the altar.  I was celebrant yesterday for Vespers and it was a harrowing descent.

Just nice.  The inscription above says “CREDO SANCTORUM COMMUNIONEM”.

At Ss. Trinità they do it right.  I should ask if someone at the parish is arranging their flowers or if they are being done at a shop.  Otherwise, I know the stand where they get most of their blooms, at Campo de’ Fiori, the same stand I’ve used for decades, where “Pippo” reigns.

Last night we went out with priests from the parish and had a good time and a fairly decent meal.  I have not often mentioned names of restaurants in these posts but I decided to do so occasionally on this trip.   Last night, because so many places were booked up solid for Easter, we wound up at Da Pancrazio at the P.za del Biscione.  I had pajjata which was acceptable though not remarkable.  It was good to see it on the menu.  I never received my second course.  More on that below.

Da Pancrazio… I haven’t eaten there for decades and that is a good thing.

It is an interesting place, in that it has in the basement visible traces of the Theater of Gn. Pompeius Magnus, Rome’s first stone theatre and of great importance for Roman history. That is the restaurant’s main draw.

One advantage to Da Pancrazio is that they can  accommodate even large groups, though in the rather cavernous lower level it can get loud if there are young people.

The complaint about the place – for last night at least – was the slipshod table service: food out of order… some that didn’t come at all…. There was nothing special about the food, which was standard Roman fare prepared with and plated with zero creativity. One of us ordered mixed berries with whipped cream for dessert only to be told that there was no whipped cream. “Look: whipped cream takes a few seconds!” On the waiter’s return he informed us that while there was now whipped cream there were no berries and they could not come up with anything to substitute, not even with a minimum effort.

Apart from the splendid company and great conversation, that berry thing characterized the evening.   That and not even delivering my second.  They are skating.

The surroundings were pleasant enough, if leaning toward tourist kitschy. It was clean.  Our waiter had a good attitude, though perhaps he was overly challenged in covering his area and in overseeing the details.  The food was okay, without being memorable in any way other than for its non-arrival or straight up unavailability. There were some good bottles on the wine list (some very good), which – with coaxing and repeated explanations a distracted young lady managed to deliver – were eventually produced in the correct number.

And the “tiramisù” would have been more aptly named “tiramigiù”. I broke a standard of several years by ordering it in a sudden flash of misplaced optimism.  Even by the standard of standard tiramisù in this City, this particularly insipid manifestation was so far from the platonic ideal that its identity was hardly to be guessed at.   Thus, I confirmed that if I never have tiramisù again before it has been made by archangels it will be too soon.

Bottom line.  Even the worst of places – Da Pancrazio is not “the worst” by a long stretch – can be transformed into a wonderful locus for a meal depending on the people you are with.  From that point of view, the evening could not have been better.  We had great conversation and enjoyed each other’s company.   That said, I last ate there in the mid-80s. There are so many other places now that merit our patronage.  Unless some larger group I am with needs a place in a pinch, I’ll next return to “Da Pancrazio” in about 2043.

Tonight out with my Chicagoans who depart on the morrow and with our dear friends The Great Roman™ and his Better Half™.

Meanwhile,…

Black to move.

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

Interested in learning?  Try THIS.

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The traditional monks of Norcia make great beer. We had some the other night after the Vigil.

In chess news… in the FIDE World Championship Ding Liren (3) vs. Ian Nepomniachtchi (2) – drew in Game 1 in Astana. Game Two today. I caught only a little commentary – delayed. Anish Giri was insightful and amusing. I gained a lot from his play by play and speculation about the game. He also revealed something of his own preparation at this high level.

On this Easter Sunday the sun rose at 0638 and will set at 1946.  The Ave Maria is still in the 2000 cycle.

Last night the Vigil rites began at 2000 and went after midnight.  The place was packed.

I will spare you the stories about the pre-Vigil breaking of the candle and the rush to fix or get a new one.

The church was splendid in its darkness, like the silent tomb of Christ before the explosion of LIFE at its most meaningful.

First, lunch.  This bucatini all’amatriciana counterbalanced the dreck I was served the other day.

Ready for the vigil.

This is the folded chasuble.

Lumen Christi

Exultet.

Blessing water.

This, my friends, is the finest of all the photos of the evening.  It is a perfect visual explanation of why this parish is not only healing but thriving.  With all the post-Mass activity and people coming and going, the pastor is sweeping up some stray wax in the sacristy.

This says it all.

On this Holy Saturday, the Station should be at St. John Lateran, where centuries in and centuries out the aspiring catechumens were brought into the fold in the mysterious rites of the Vigil.

Roman sunrise was at 6:40 and the sunset will be at 19:45.

I will participate in the Vigil tonight at my adoptive parish of Ss. Trinità dei Pellegrini, which begins at 2000.

The Ave Maria bell is still ringing at 2000. The Moon has entered into its 3rd quarter.

Yesterday was astounding from the point of view of the participation of the faithful in the Via Crucis, the Solemn Liturgy of the “Mass of the Pre-Sanctified” and then Tenebrae.

I have very few photos of the rites.  I’ll try to get some from others.

Meanwhile, a few sights and sounds.

Here are a couple of sound clips.

From Holy Thursday, the beginning of the Gloria.

Here is the end of the singing – alas polyphonic – the Miserere at the end of Tenebrae last night, followed by the “earthquake”.  You hear drunk kids outside the church in the background.

Meanwhile,…

Black to move. Black is down, so you better force!

There are several lines here, some of them leading to disaster for black.  Get it right, and black will have the advantage.  Not the easiest puzzle.

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

I’m a chess.com and House of Staunton affiliate.

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Chess news.   I’ve been behind in watching what’s up in chess and other news, what with the Triduum.  However, Magnus lost to Hikaru the other day via a mouse-slip.  He was unhappy.

In happier news, one of you readers sent a story about a High School chess team in Detroit.  HERE

And, news from my house sitter back home.  Apparently there was a leak of water (happily clean) that wound up flooding the Two Trinities Chapel.  A plumber was called and various investigations were were undertaken to see where the water originated.

An amusing bit from my house sitter.

Plumber guys are here. – I think they’ve seen it all. Squirrel in toilets – they have a lot of stories.

…

They don’t seem completely alarmed, so that’s good. They are going to do an ” outside clean out”.

…

A largish lizard jumped on Eric from the roof.

…

Happily, two things… there was someone more than competent at the house who found it and, importantly, it had not been raining.

This means… plumber bills.  I don’t yet know the damage.   I will hold my biretta upturned as I take my leave.  [UPDATE: Several of you dropped some cash in the biretta for this plumbing bill. Thanks! Hopefully, those donations were enough to cover this particular expense. On the other hand… if you want to feed a few priests in Rome during the Easter Octave….]