Fr. Z's Blog | Formerly entitled: "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" – Clear, straight commentary on Catholic issues, liturgy and life by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf o{]:¬)

You can’t make this stuff up: eRosary. Wherein an annoyed Fr. Z rants.

Posted on 16 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

UPDATE:

I figured I needed to do more, after I read that. So, here is an old recording I made of a chaplet of the Most Holy Rosary using the Joyful Mysteries. I didn’t include the “Fatima Prayer” because there seem to be different versions in Latin (it wasn’t not composed in Latin, of course). I’ve heard some interesting Latin versions out there. Hopefully, this will help.

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Yesterday I posted a facetious story about Kukulkan coming to the Vatican… though t’aint that funny, given what we’ve seen lately. That was from The Onion.

This morning I received a text… “Is this from The Onion?”

Nope… it’s from CNA… no, I couldn’t make this up. Note the involvement of Jesuits:

Vatican promotes ‘smart rosary,’ selling for $109

Vatican City, Oct 15, 2019 / 09:44 am (CNA).- The Vatican promoted the launch of a ‘smart rosary’ bracelet Tuesday compatible with an iOS and Android app, which costs over $100.

“In a world of indifference and in the face of so many injustices, poverty, elementary rights denied, praying for peace in the world means reconciling ourselves in our daily relationships, with the poorest, with the stranger, with different cultures and spiritual and religious traditions, but also with our land, our forests, our rivers and oceans,” Fr. Frédéric Fornos, SJ said in a press release sent by the Holy See Press Office Oct. 14. [The Press Office, yet. So someone is backing this. Wonder why?]

“The rosary is a beautiful spiritual tradition for contemplating the Gospel with Mary, it is a simple and humble prayer,” he said.

The “eRosary” bracelet is activated by making the sign of the cross, and is synced to an app, “Click to Pray eRosary” that tracks the user’s progress and contains visual aids and audio reflections on the mysteries of the rosary. [And what might they include? How do the want to form people’s prayer of the Rosary?]

The bluetooth and water-resistant digital rosary is currently available for pre-order sale on Amazon.it for 99 euros, roughly $109. It is sold by “Click to Pray” — an initiative of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network. [Hmmm… who are they, I wonder.]

Taiwan-based tech company GadgTek Inc (GTI) developed the “smart rosary” for the initiative.

Pope Francis launched the “Click to Pray” smartphone app in an Angelus address in January 2019, encouraging young people to download the app to pray the “Rosary of Peace.”

Among the “exclusive images and personalized content about the praying of the Rosary” contained in the app is a “themed” rosary option. Themes will include Laudato Si, migrants and refugees, vocations, and young people. [Nothing about the Amazon?]

“Aimed at the peripheral frontiers of the digital world where the young people dwell, the Click To Pray eRosary serves as a technology-based pedagogy to teach the young how to pray the Rosary, how to pray it for peace, how to contemplate the Gospel,” the Click to Pray press release said. [Why promote people teaching people to pray the Rosary when you can have a environment themed app do it?]

Our mission is the truth. Join us!

Truth, huh? How about some Veritatis splendor? Oh, right… that’s not fashionable anymore.

Laudato si theme? Migrants and refugees theme?

Periferal frontiers?

I’ll tell you who the perifery is now. Traditional Catholics who don’t want trendy themes constantly shoved down their throats.

I’m surprised that the Jesuit homosexualist activist lobby wasn’t able to insert a sodomy theme in there.

eRosary?

How about this? How about a Rosary that already has themes… perhaps the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious mysteries?

I call it…

rEalRosary

And it’s already water-resistant. WARNING: It is not tears resistant.

You can get one of these. They are tough and practical.

You can get one of these. They are beautiful and bequeathable.

I don’t remember the exact locus of the image, perhaps The Lord of the Rings. I am reminded of the image of a slug crawling across a beautiful lily.

The tech involved is just tech, I know. Tech is neutral. But the Rosary already has its tech.

It’s called “a Rosary”.

In fact, a properly blessed Rosary. What we call, in fact, The Most Holy Rosary.

2016: Ecumenical Exchange Program with winged Mayan snake god Kukulkan

Posted on 15 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Everyone knows that The Onion is one of the best and mostly highly respected news sources available. You might not recall this story from back in 2016.

It seems that the Amazon Synod has been on the minds of many in the Vatican for a few years.

Pope Francis Hosts Feathered Serpent God As Part Of Deity Exchange Program

The story:

VATICAN CITY—In an effort to strengthen their relationship and foster interfaith dialogue, Pope Francis reportedly [It’s just a rumor?] welcomed the winged Mayan snake god Kukulkan to the Vatican this week as part of a month-long deity exchange program. “We are excited to have the War Serpent staying here with us for the next four weeks, during which time he’ll be exposed to the rituals and customs of the Catholic Church, so that when he returns home he can share the experience with his adherents in Chichén Itzá and the surrounding Yucután communities,” said Vatican spokesperson Greg Burke, noting that the pontiff had taken Kukulkan out for pizza on the first night of the exchange before showing him around some of Rome’s most famous landmarks. “Once Kukulkan gets settled in, the pope plans to let him answer some basic prayers on his own, as well as try performing a transubstantiation or two. And perhaps toward the end of his stay, if he’s feeling up to it, Kukulkan can treat us all to an authentic human sacrifice.” Vatican sources confirmed that as part of the exchange, God Almighty, Our Heavenly Father, would be spending the next month with the Taoist thunder god Lei Gong in the cloud kingdom over Tibet.

Hmmm… they got it wrong, I think, even backwards. Aren’t we supposed to be the ones learning from Kukulkan? Or, these days, that whatsherface demonic totem Pachamama?

Well… it’s all human sacrifice, right? Kukulkan… Pachamama… it’s nothing to get your heart ripped out for and shown to you while still beating. Right?

Posted in Lighter fare, Synod |
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PODCAzT 178: Fr. Weinandy and the possible “Internal Papal Schism”

Posted on 15 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today I go back to 8 October 2019 and a piece by Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap., at The Catholic Thing: Pope Francis and Schism. This is important.

Last night I heard at the official presentation of the book length interview Christus Vincit by Bp. Athanasius Schneider a talk by Roberto de Mattei about the role of lay people in The Present Crisis. These fit together hand in glove.

So, I will read for you Fr. Weinandy’s piece and give a brief summary of de Mattei’s main points. I could bring in a lot more, but this is enough for now.

I am sure you are starting to see signs everywhere.

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Posted in On the road, Our Catholic Identity, Pò sì jiù, PODCAzT, What Fr. Z is up to, Wherein Fr. Z Rants | Tagged Thomas G. Weinandy
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Bp. Schneider’s talk at the presentation of the book: Christus Vincit

Posted on 15 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

God has chosen all of us to live in a time of crisis in the Church unlike any other in history. What an honor!

Do not be downcast or anxious. Think of the graces he will offer us if we live our vocations well and remain faithful, hopeful and charitable. The harder the times, the more abundant the grace, the greater the glory. And we are for greater glory.

That said, it is an honor to live in these days principally because it’s a time of war. We are being called to serve in our militant roles more than ever. Some will be in the front lines and some will be in supporting roles. All must be ready to go either to the front or behind the lines, depending on the circumstances of their vocations and God’s will. Even those who are in supporting roles have to bear arms and train, and I implore you to ready yourselves in study, thoughtful reflection and prayer.

Christ always wins in the end.

Last night, Bp. Schneider’s new book was presented formally to an audience of prestigious participants, including several Cardinals. This was an important event.

Here is the video of Bp. Schneider’s talk. It is from The Remnant and Michael Matt has an introduction. Many organizations were involved to make this happen. I’ve started, however, at the beginning of the bishop’s talk. You can rewind and watch the rest. At about 3:30 there is a shot which shows the audience, with Cardinals Burke, Müller, and Arinze.

Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age

US HERE – UK HERE

I am pushing this book hard because it is an important book.

And Robert de Mattei’s talk was quite significant. I am sure it will be translated soon.

Meanwhile… what do I mean when I talk about time of crisis and war? This is going on within the Church today! A friend sent me this, which looks like Fakebook. It was for what is really Columbus Day, but is now the spectacularly incoherent “Indigenous Peoples’ Day”. This is from – it must be – some nuns.

See what I mean?

Go with Schneider.

UPDATE:

The text of Roberto de Mattei’s important talk. HERE

Posted in Be The Maquis, Hard-Identity Catholicism, Si vis pacem para bellum!, The Coming Storm, The future and our choices, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged Athanasius Schneider
24 Comments

ROME DAY 12: Chapels Stupid and Stupendous, Important Book and Talks

Posted on 15 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

In Rome today Sunrise was at 7:20 and the Sunset will be at 18:31, with the curial Ave Maria at 18:45.

During the relatively unhurried day, I had to pick up a package that I had sent to myself by Amazon. I’ve contemplated how to do this, since there’s no way to admit a deliverer where I am. Ask at a local shop to take it? That might work. In any event, in most big cities there’s a locker situation where you can correct your gear. I opted for post office not far from where I go for Mass.

Of course I must have been having a little stroke when I chose that option. A post office. An Italian post office. What was a I thinking? NOTHING is easy or fast at an Italian post office. So, I, seething, waited for a window to open up. The languid, bureaucratic indifference of the Italian postal clerk may be the ultimate origin of the phenomenon of “going postal”.

I did Sudoku on my phone.

Here’s a brief visit to a lovely little church, where St. Philip Neri originally started his oratory: San Girolamo della Carità on the Piazza Santa Catarina della Rota (therefore Catherine of Alexandria, not Siena) next to the little church I wrote about yesterday.

It is said that this church was built at the place where St. Jerome (+420) lived while in Rome. Remember that not too far is the complex built by Pope Damasus who had Jerome work on the “Vulgate” Latin translation of the Bible. A must see here is the chapel of the Spada family (the palazzo Spada is nearby).

At this church St. Philip Neri started his first oratory. So, this church also has a heritage of music: there is a connection between the oratory (group of men) and oratorio (musical form). It has a facade, but you can’t really get far enough away to enjoy it. Instead, you enter by the side.

Did I mention the Spada chapel? That’s all inlayed stone.

It’s an altar rail and a housling cloth in one. But it gives you a sense of how Communion was received.

I dunno. You get the impression that, back then, they thought Communion was something sort of special. That even though you were fabulously wealthy and powerful, you too should actually kneel. At last we’ve out grown all that groveling. Things are so much better now.

Here is a video from the website of the church which shows the rooms of the saint.

Moving on…

One of the big things yesterday was the formal presentation of an important book. I’ve written before of the book length interview that Bp. Athanasius Schneider did with Vaticanista Diane Montagna.

On my way over to the presentation, close to St. Peter’s, I stuck my head into the Carmelite church, S.M. in Traspontina, to see if they lunacy was still building. Yes. It’s still building. I was started at with malevolence by a couple of dominican nuns on the steps, with their lay clothes and little necklaces. The feather hat guy was also out on the steps, weaving a basket or something. An image or two to show what happens when Catholics go insane. You have seen some of this before.

The facade with its Amazon Synod banners.

Beautiful place. I once heard the world re-premier of Handel’s Vespers for Our Lady of Mount Carmel in here. How it has fallen. And this is Card. Ouellet’s church.

And in the next chapel over.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Really moving on now….

The book presentation!

Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age [US HERE – UK HERE]

While the book was released for sale a few days ago, the formal presentation was last night. Card. Burke and Roberto de Mattei gave talks, as did Bp. Schneider. Burke spoke of the teaching role of bishops and de Mattei, in an important speech, both responded to critics of those who have raised questions about what’s going in this pontificate and explored legitimate resistance to unacceptable innovation. Fr. Gerald Murray, in his role as moderator introduced the book with some prophetic parallels in the works in Dietrich von Hildebrand.

More on that later. The talks will be divulged eventually at media outlets. I don’t want to step on their toes.

There were quite a number of people I’ve know for years and many readers who wanted to greet me, which is always a pleasure. By happenstance I wound up in the front role with Robert Royal and my great old friend Card. Arinze. “JOHN!” he exclaimed. Card. Gerhard Müller came to hear the talks as well, but did not himself speak.

Bp. Schneider came straight over when he spotted me. We were at the Augustinianum together way back in the day.

My vantage point for his talk.

With a friend.

I had a bite to eat with a friend after the event. It was merely fuel, so I won’t bother with an account. However, it confirms me in my desire not to return to the cliche and ever nearly mediocre Roberto al Borgo until it is under the management of serious people… or archangels, perhaps. And Card. O’Malley was there. It was always a hangout of for curial types, and clerical visitors, etc. I guess it still is. Still, they have old fashioned gear, which is nice to see. These are hard to find now.

Thus ended the day.

COLD REPORT: I have, I think, beaten the cold. There is a lingering cough as I extract from within what the cold has left behind.

Today, errands. I must check on new cassock and suit. Pick up a package at a different drop point and meet friends (Swiss Guard) in the evening.

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged Athanasius Schneider, St. Philip Neri
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ROME DAY 11: Butchers, Roman Rosary, and an Odd Dessert

Posted on 14 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Today’s Roman Sunrise 17:19, Sunset 18:33. The Ave Maria is fixed these days at 18:45.

Yesterday was about as perfect a Sunday as one could desire. Not only was John Henry Newman canonized, but the weather was magnificent, everything one wants from an October day in Rome. Mass was said, prayers recited, lunch obtained, time shared with a friend, an evening stroll was had, really bad sketches were attempted.

The only fly in the ointment was a laundry glitch. I have no idea how this happened. An enemy, perhaps, hath done it. I washed my white beneath cassock shirts together with an entirely incompatible black ink pen. Think 101 Dalmatians. So, the next day I am still into spot treating and more washings. I have almost every damned spot out. How that pen came to be in that washing machine I cannot fathom.

Some sights from the day. The Great Roman™ leading the congregation in the Rosary and Litany.

This is what it sounds like in this Roman church. Let’s hear the 5th Glorious Mystery and the Litany of Loreto. It is the custom in Italy to say the Marian Litany after the Rosary. It was mostly men, and young men too, saying the Rosary. None of this weak-ass mealy-mouthed, cringe-worthy “pious voice”. And note the pace of the Litany.

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Let’s go straight to lunch. Here are some fettucine with guanciale, artichoke, pecorino and mint. Wow.

Ricciola (a fish) in cartoccio.

With both of these we had a wine I’d never experienced. A dry Moscato di Terracina. The Roman perked up when he saw it on the list, so it was a must try.

And for dessert… no, really, it was on the dessert menu … ajo e ojo!

Believe me, aglio olio e pepperoncino is not easy to make. Usually something is out of balance. Otherwise, you wind up with a lake of oil in the bowl, which is just plain sloppy cooking. True ajo e ojo should have slightly creamy finish, which is tricky to attain, almost as if butter was involved… but it isn’t. It comes from handling the dry pasta properly and… a secret.

I asked the chef (an instructor for Gambero Rosso) what he did and he revealed his technique.

Moving on, I saw a couple churches which are usually closed. The first opens one day a month. It is a little church dedicated to St. Catherine of Alexandria on the Piazza di Santa Caterina della Rota, and is the seat of a confraternity of men who once carried the sedia gestatoria of the Popes, the Palafrenieri.

This was originally called Santa Maria in Catarina and variations of that last, perhaps riffing on the word for “chain” since there were prisons nearby and, connected, there was a hospital for those who were ransomed from Islamic slavery. They would leave their chains as ex voto offerings. It’s an old parish, dating back to Urban III in 1186. The present structure is baroque.

Some of the confrat gear.

Next, on the way to Mass, the little church of the Confraternity of the Butchers was open at the Piazza della Quercia (Oak Tree – to the left).

It’s a little jewel, well maintained.

The TMSM must get a real faldstool.

Beautiful reliquaries.

The standard the butchers would carry in procession. This is a Roman word, Beccai, for Macellai.

These guys were quite prestigious back in the day. There were various “universities”, like guilds, which participated in the governance of the City. They also developed confraternities, which still exist, though the old guilds are long done away with. The Butchers were famed for their surrounding and defense of an important image of Mary which was carried in processions. Such was their service that Sixtus V gave them the privilege of freeing a prisoner condemned to death once a year, on 15 August. Among those freed was certified wild child artist Benvenuto Cellini.

Here is the stone. You should be able to right-click it for a larger version.

Some relics.

Some very fine intercessors.

Posted in On the road, Our Solitary Boast, PRAYERCAzT: What Does The (Latin) Prayer Really Sound L, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged Litany of Loreto
7 Comments

ROME DAY 10: Conference, Requiem and Guts

Posted on 13 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Your yellow Sun rose today at 7:18 and will set at 18:35, while no one will hear the Ave Maria bell at 18:45.

There was a conference yesterday at the Angelicum (the Dominicans’ university) about John Henry Newman. The line up of speakers was good. The talk I was the most interested in hearing was by Australian professor Tracey Rowland, who spoke about Newman’s “idea of the university”. She was, as you might expect, excellent. Her presentation was laden with acerbic and accurate comparisons to the present state of affairs in Catholic universities.

If you haven’t read Rowland’s work I recommend it highly.

Try her terrific book Catholic Theology. US HERE – UK HERE This book is a status quaestionis work, explaining the state of theology is being taught, the different strains and schools, where they came from, who their exponents are. It is supremely helpful. In her section on Liberation Theology, she dedicates a portion to Bergoglio. She “situates” him. Ouch.

Also, Ratzinger’s Faith. US HERE – UK HERE

A shot of the church at the Angelicum.

And… in case you forgot where you are.

Between talks.

The hall where the talks were presented.

I was happy to sit with my friends Robert Royal and Fr. Murray. The latter came for the canonization and also a book presentation tomorrow: Bp. Schneider’s new offering which I wrote about

Christus Vincit: Christ’s Triumph Over the Darkness of the Age

US HERE – UK HERE

Inside the church at the Angelicum. They had exposition… strange business. A dominican was seated behind the picnic table upon which the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, singing and reading loudly into a microphone, thus blasting himself in to the consciousness of every person present.

Last night I said a Requiem Mass for “Supertradmum”. May she rest in peace.

I was taken to supper at a place I haven’t been. Our evening was conducted in a mixture of English, Italian and mostly French, with Paix Liturgique folks.

A sunny egg with shavings of truffle.

I rigatoni con la pajata.

A mixed meat platter.

Ossobuco. Overdone but tasty. There were several small bones rather than one big one.

Other than that, I did some reading, some laundry and some tidying.

COLD REPORT: The head is clearing a little, but I still have a cough going.

Tomorrow I may have a couple great moments with The Great Roman to report.

Oh yes… John Henry Newman is to be canonized. On 13 October, anniversary of Fatima. At least his feast will be on 9 October.

Posted in On the road, What Fr. Z is up to |
8 Comments

ASK FATHER: When could priests wear casual attire?

Posted on 12 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

In the United States, I imagine you would agree, it is not uncommon to see priests in very casual attire. Under what circumstances (if any) would the traditional modus operandi allow for dressing down (i.e. not wearing a cassock)? A private gathering of family and friends? The morning grocery run? Never?

It’s complicated.

The fact is that wearing the cassock out and about was not the custom for priests in the USA. The Council of Baltimore legislated that priests were not to use the cassock as their regular street dress, but rather the frock coat (like today’s suit). They wore the cassock around the parish grounds, church, campus, etc. So, right away, there is a slight distancing in US clerical culture from the cassock as daily wear out and about.

However, a generation of priests pretty much shattered decorum and quite a lot of the good aspects of clerical culture. Thus, today, younger priests are not plugged into the ways of their predecessors. I, for example, had the advantage when I came into the Church of being around priests who were quite a bit older, ordained in the 1940’s. In their company I picked up a lot of lore and their ways. So, even today I tend not to wear the cassock when out and around in the USA and I don’t sport a beard or jewelry, etc. Yes, sometimes I’ll have the cassock on when doing something, but it is not too often. Where I am, however, quite a few of the younger priests are wearing the cassock all day.

Non-clerical attire? Sure. If I have to wash the car or run an errand or go to the grocery store, I don’t feel compelled to wear clerical clothing. If I am in an informal group of friends, I’ll not dress in clerics. Or maybe I will, depending on what I’ve been up to before hand. I’ve also been using my “clerical BDU” style, of 5.11 pants and clerically modified shirts. Super practical.

We are getting to a point where priests probably should use the cassock when going around. It is highly counter-cultural. The witness could be necessary. I know that any number of priests will confirm that when you wear the cassock, quite a few people notice and express gratitude and interest.

Posted in "How To..." - Practical Notes, ASK FATHER Question Box, Our Catholic Identity, Priests and Priesthood | Tagged cassock, casual, clerical dress
18 Comments

ROME DAY 9: Campo, Clams and a Canonization Sonnet

Posted on 12 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Sunrise was at 7:17 this morning and my phone will announce Colors at 18:36. HOWEVER, the Ave Maria has changed to 18:45! How time flies.

Yesterday, being Friday, I wanted to get some fish. My first idea was to have some Orata, but when I got to the fishmonger, I found quite the array.

This synod (“swimming toether”) is quite as impressive as the Synod (“walking together”) on the other side of the river: they all have the mouths open and it’s all very fishy.

What a delight to be able to shop from this selection. Fresh as can be!

One of my favorite selections in restaurants is Orata.

But I wound up not getting any fish. Instead I opted for some wonderful clams!

I got about .75 kg for the sake of a nice bowl of spaghetti alle vongole.

Some sights from the market at Campo de’ Fiori.

And then to the cheesemonger. This peccorino has been smoked with juniper wood. It’s amazing.

You can always buy flowers at the Campo de’ Fiori. Once upon a time this was a meadow, where flowers grew.

Waaaaay back in the day, this area was regularly flooded by the Tiber, so it was hard to build on it. It was between the backside of the great theater and Senate complex built by Pompeius Magnus and the river. In the medieval period, various powers that were started to develop the area. Lots of the streets surrounding the Campo still bear the names of the artisans that were localized in them, such as the Via dei Balestrari (balestra, or crossbow makers) and the Via dei Cappellari (hatters – no doubt saturnos). At the corner of the Campo and Via dei Balestrari there is an inscription in Latin verses

QUAE MODO PUTRIS ERAS ET OLENTI SORDIDA COENO
PLENAQUE DEFORMI MARTIA TERRA SITU
EXUIS HANC TURPEM XYSTO SUB PRINCIPE FORMAM
OMNIA SUNT NITIDIS CONSPICIENDA LOCIS
DIGNA SALUTIFERO DEBENTUR PREMIA XYSTO
QUANTUM EST SUMMO DEBITA ROMA DUCI
*VIA FLOREA*
BAPTISTA ARCHIONIUS ET LUDOVICUS MARGANIUS
CURATOR VIAR
ANNO SALUTIS MCCCCLXXXIII

Your Latin eye rapidly searches to find the key elements, such as subject, main verb, etc., and you spot that MARTIA TERRA and get a firm grip on the thing…

O Campus Martius, you who were putrid and filthy with stinking ooze, filled with ugliness, under ruling Sixtus (IV) put off this foul form. All things in spruced up places are admirable. Worthy rewards are owed to health-bringing Sixtus. Indebted Rome owes so much to her great ruler! *Flowery Street”, Battista Archy and Lou Margano, Supervisor of Roads, in the year of salvation 1483.

Speaking of Sixtus, this is the same guy who built the Ponte Sisto.

Let’s see if I can tie this into tomorrow’s canonization of John Henry Newman and several others.

I am reminded of a sonnet by none other than our Roman Poet Giuseppe Gioachino Belli dated 1833.

LA CANNONIZZAZZIONE

THE CANONIZATION

Domani se santifica a Ssan Pietro
Un zanto stato frate a Ssan Calisto,
Che ssu li santi pò pportà lo sscetro,
E ha ffatto ppiù mmiracoli de Cristo.
Tra ll’antri, a un ceco, duscent’anni addietro,
Che accattava oggni ggiorno a Pponte Sisto,
Lui je messe un ber par d’occhi de vetro,
E dda cuer giorn’impoi scià ssempre visto.
‘Na donna senza gamma de man manca
Se maggnò la su’ effiggia in ner pancotto,
E in men d’un ette je spuntò la scianca.
A un’antra donna j’apparze in cantina,
E jje diede tre nummeri p’er lotto:
Lei ggiucò er terno, e vvinze una scinquina.

Tomorrow at St Peter’s a brother
of St. Calixtus will be canonized,
A saint so great he can have a scepter
and he performed more miracles than Christ.
Among which, two hundred years ago, he gave a blind guy who begged every day on the Sistine Bridge a spiffy pair of glass eyes,
and from that day onward he could see.
A woman without a leg ate some day-old bread soup that looked like him, and in no time a leg popped out. Another woman showed up in the bar and gave three numbers for the lottery:
She played the game for only three numbers
But she won the prize for five.

Less than reverent? Very Roman. Belli was particularly good at capturing in verse the way people really spoke in the streets.

There are references in the poem to San Callisto, a church just around the corner from S. Maria in Trastevere (pictures yesterday) and part of a complex of buildings that house some of the Vatican dicasteries.

There was a Benedictine monastery there. Also, there was a lottery in Italy, based in Genoa from 1576, but it was illegal in the Papal States and you could get yourself excommunicated by playing it! However, in 1713, Clement XI figured they could use the cash, so he permitted the lottery, but only in Rome. One of the reasons why you could be excommunicated, which is a religious and medicinal penalty, is because of the superstition attached to picking numbers. All sorts of crazy stuff was tried, like praying to saints for inspiration in picking the numbers.

The Ponte Sisto I wrote about yesterday. I remarked that it was built by Sixtus IV to help the passage of pilgrims during a Jubilee Year and was funded by taxes from the state sanctioned brothels. Yes, the Papal States, under the Popes, regulated the brothels. At least they didn’t have pagan ceremonies in the Vatican gardens or plant trees with imams who recited sutras to claim the place for Islam.

Back to the kitchen! Because it was Friday, and I am fasting a bit on Friday for the Church I skipped lunch. The clams needed to be soaked for a few hours in salty water to get them to open and purge.

Meanwhile, off to stroll and then Mass. There are great people in Rome now for the canonization and synod coverage. I ran into a group from the Cardinal Newman Society at Piazza Navona. Nice people on pilgrimage. An evening shot of St. Agnes. There’s a planet, Jupiter, shining to the right of the dome.

S. Maria della Pace.

I’m sorry this is all blurry. There are tables out at the P.za der Fico and locals are playing chess. I’ll have to go back.

Wanna see how hard Roman water is? I had boiled some for something and this is the sediment. It’s a really good idea to drink wine and have lots of citrus, like lemons while you are here!

Clams. First, some garlic in warm oil to release its essences. To be removed. And this isn’t the weak-ass garlic we get stateside.

When the spaghetti was cooking, in went black pepper, the clams and a glass of white wine. Cover clamped on and heat on high, they began their piteous little screams for mercy. “But FATHER! But FATHER!” they cried with piping peeps and squeals, “Why o why do you hate us so? It’s because you… you … hate… ARRRRRRGH….ssssssynoddddd…. vat…i… can…. twoooooo……” I, ruthless and hungry ignored their molluscular pleas and cooked the diminutive bivalves until they gave up the ghost and their tasty juices into the simmering broth.

I pulled them from the liquid with a strainer.

Added the pasta to finish cooking.

Recombined with parsley.

My elegant table as I settled in to watch a movie through my Amazon Fire Stick (US HERE – UK HERE)

The best spaghetti alle vongole I have ever had, and that’s saying a lot.

No special errands yesterday. I did encounter seminarians and priests and lay people through the day who expressed thanks for the blog. It’s nice to get the feedback and I really like meeting readers in person. I’ve heard from my friend Fr. Murray, who is here. We will try to do something.

Yesterday evening, I celebrated Holy Mass for all you benefactors of me and of this blog. I am so grateful for all of you. Thank you.

Tonight I will say a Requiem Mass for our late friend Marie Dean, “Supertradmum”.

COLD REPORT: I am not too stuffed up, but I do still have an intermittent wet cough.

Posted in Fr. Z's Kitchen, On the road, What Fr. Z is up to | Tagged Campo de' Fiori, clams, John Henry Newman
6 Comments

ASK FATHER: How to protest, perhaps in Rome?

Posted on 11 October 2019 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Father, do you think individuals or groups of non-Italian Catholics can picket or demonstrate in Saint Peter’s Square? I’m from the U.S.A. and thinking I’d like to fly over and start doing so! As a frequent visitor to the Eternal City, what do you think are the chances?

Interesting.

I’ve been getting a lot of this lately! People are champing a the bit. Especially Americans who want to DO SOMETHING!

The first thing to do is to examine your conscience and make a good confession and good Holy Communion.

Next, remember, it is hard to maintain out of proportion anger towards someone for whom you are regularly praying.

These, and living well your vocation, with fidelity, are good ways gently to protest those who would have us change our doctrine and discipline. Simply say, “No!” and hold fast.

Once those are secured and routine…

Protesting within St. Peter’s Square won’t last very long. You will be herded out. Protesting on the edge will last longer.

There was a great protest a week or so ago. Quite a number showed at the end of the long street that runs up toward St. Peter’s and stood silently. There were quite a few Americans in evidence, but I am not sure who organized it.

Let us also never forget the Angelus address back in 2018 after a certain former Nuncio to the USA issued a public statment. The weekend or so after, an lone voice rose in the Piazza like the battle-cry of Ἀλαλά personified:

“VI-GA-NÒ!”

The video shows that the name caught Francis’ attention and seemed to shake him. You could see him look out, clearly trying to locate the origin and he was distracted for the conclusion. Then he went on with the greetings.

I’m not recommending such a thing, of course. After all, not everyone has such a good sense of timing or strong voice… or luck with the police.

Still, I can imagine a legendary legionary barritus resounding from the Romans present, Rebel Yells from the Americans. Yes, I can imagine that.