Fr. Z's Blog

7:23 is when the Sun rose, which in turn will set at 18:27 and the Ave Maria should – but won’t – ring at 18:45.

One of the things that was causing a lot of stress some time ago is slated to be resolved before too long.

This blog has to move.

I was informed by the Whatever From High Atop The Thing that their business model had changed and everything that was not going to be In The View had to skedaddle before a Certain Terminal Moment.

The clock has been ticking and Crack Team of Experts has been working the problem.   The Certain Terminal Moment is upon us.

In a matter of days, or even perhaps hours, this blog will wanish… vanish!

*PFFFT*

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Only to reappear again, once the polarity has been reversed, Beamed to Another Place.

Let’s hope that all goes well and that The Blog doesn’t get caught in the… what was it they always had a problem with? … the Transporter Buffer?

I don’t always get the tech right.  After all, I’m a priest, not a server technician.

That said, I am convinced more than ever that a Catholic Signal Corps is necessary.   We need a Crack Team of Experts who are dedicated to helping with and maintaining Catholic sites and who will eventually be able to build an infrastructure that isn’t at the mercy of demonic agenda driven ideologues.

Meanwhile, just around the corner from where I say Mass in the evenings, and just up from the Ponte Sisto, is the little church of the Pallottine Fathers.  This is where you may venerate St. Vincent Pallotti.  It’s on the Via dei Pettinari,

This is a Roman saint, who developed schools for tradesmen, such as shoemakers and tailors and carpenters.  There were lots of these shops in the area when this church is, and the streets are still named for various trades.

When his body was exhumed as part of his cause in 1906 and in 1950, it was incorrupt.

A Blessed is here, Elisabetta Sanna, who died in 1857 and was beatified in 2016.   She was a widow, terribly disfigured by small pox and a collaborator with St. Vincent.

Some of the history.  It mentions the first activity here of a hermit named Paul in 1260.

Our Sorrowful Mother.   Today she is sad because of the Amazon Synod (“walking together”).  I think that that’s also an eye-roll.

When you leave San Salvatore in Onda, after your visit to St. Vincent and Bl. Elisabetta, by order of the Most Illustrious and Most Reverend Monsignore President of the Streets, you are NOT to liter or you will be fined 10 golden scudi and maybe given other punishments as well.

I popped my head into the Neapolitan church, Lo Spirito Santo dei Napolitani on the Via Guilia.

Mass was on for Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, so I couldn’t explore.  The sermon took boring to new depths of soul annihilation.

The old church, once dedicated to St. Aurea (thus unlocking the mystery of the name of a nearby alleyway), was built in 1574.   It was S. Aura in strada iulia and there were nuns here.  Dedicated to the same St. Aurea of Ostia in whose church on the edge of Ostia Antica St. Monica’s body was kept, before it was translated into Rome to Sant’Agostino.

A lovely crowned image of Joseph.  You don’t see these too often.  There is a great one at San Carlo al Corso.

This is nice.  Nicknamed, “Madonna del Fulmine”, for reasons that are not clear to me.

Here’s a nice probably 18th c. painting of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Today, walking through the market to collect some clams for supper, I spotted this, embedded in the sanpietrini.  If I’ve seen it, I haven’t remembered it.   Of course it is near the statue of Giordano Bruno, so it’s hatemail to the Church.

Here’s the little, charming (without the cars) Vicolo del Bollo.   A Roman “vicolo” isn’t just an alley or connecting passage.  They had there own microcultures and nearly their own climates.  This one runs between the Via dei Cappellari (where surely saturnos were made) and the Via del Pellegrino.

It was named at the office of the Bollo, or “stamp” which was founded in 1608 to certify the quality of silver and gold in metal works.  There were gold smiths and jewelers around here.  There still are.  In Roman parlance we still say, “oro de bollo” for something that’s the real Dr. McCoy.  I once had an short term apartment here.  At the right time of year, you enjoy wisteria and bougainvillea.

I have a 19th c. silver chalice which I found and had repaired.  It bears the silver stamp of the Papal States.  I’m pretty sure that stamp, that bollo, was set in this little street.

Speaking of silver, click the wavy flag!  Mass tonight for Benefactors at 6-ish, Rome time.

Meanwhile, at the fish monger, I spotted a net of telline… ahhhh… telline, and of razor clams.   I wasn’t quite sure what to do with razor clams, since I’ve never prepared them, so I didn’t get any.  I’ll have to check on that.  I’ve had really good razor clams in Spain.

These are called fazzolari.  If you ever wanted to make a platter of clams and garlic, maybe a little bread crumb or two, try these.

And this little group sends you off to your own day.  Kinda like a MoTown group, a little sole music

Sorry about the puns.  I can’t help myself.

COLD REPORT: It’s under control, but the cough remains. It’s infrequent, but it’s there.

Today, writing. Tomorrow, Vatican gardens and a checkup at the Vatican ATM. I found a zip cover for my Baronius Press Breviary the other day at the Paoline. So that’s done. Meanwhile, I’m reading, Newman, the book on Bernini and Borromini, Windswept House, and Weigel’s new book.