ROSARIES BLESSED BY THE POPE AND OTHER ODDS AND ENDS

Roman Catholic rosary

This morning Grandpère told me that he regretted he had not gone with me to Rome on one of my two visits to the city.  I'd love to have had him along, but he chose not to go.  What can I say?  Regrets, regrets - they will not get you there.

At the time of my second visit to Rome on a study tour, I was already in the Episcopal Church, but, as we were scheduled to attend a general audience with Pope John Paul II, several Roman Catholic friends asked me to have rosaries blessed by the pope.  I agreed, but when the time came for the audience, I realized that none of my friends had given me rosaries, and I would have to provide them.  Hmm...  Did my friends think the pope tossed them out like Mardi Gras beads?

The facade of Santa Brigida on Piazza Farnese.

During the visit, our group, which was engaged in a study of a particular aspect of the history of the Vatican which I've now forgotten, stayed at the Convent of St Bridgit of Sweden on the Piazza Farnese, a lovely place.  The single rooms were sparsely furnished with simple but lovely antique furniture - all that we needed, but no excess.

One of the conditions for staying at the convent was that we had to take breakfast and luncheon meals in the dining room, which was no great sacrifice as the food was very good.  For the evening meal, we were allowed out.  We had a key to the main door of the convent, but the key and the lock were old, and one evening we were quite late and could not get the key to work, so we had to ring the bell.  I'm certain the nun who came to let us in was awakened from her sleep, and we felt like wayward adolescents who'd stayed out past curfew.

None of the sisters spoke English, and only one spoke Italian, so communication was a challenge, but we managed with one of the leaders of the study group, who spoke fluent Italian, doing most of the talking.  I even managed with hand gestures and pointing as the day for the audience with the pope arrived, and I needed rosaries.  The sisters came to the rescue, for they made rosaries and sold them in their tiny shop for a very reasonable price, so I bought the five or six rosaries for my friends there and dutifully remained after the audience to have the rosaries blessed.

St Bridget - Salem church, Södermanland, Sweden

The study tour in Rome was one of high points of all my years of travel, obviously not so much for what I learned, but for the places we visited, which included an after-hours tour of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel.  I had visited both places before, but, during the private visit, I saw the gorgeous mosaic tile floor in the chapel for the first time.  In the previous visit, the chapel was crowded with tourists packed in wall-to-wall, and I could see very little of the floor.

Well, as Woody Guthrie said, I roamed, and I rambled, and I followed my footsteps, but not to this land of yours and mine, but rather to Rome.  As you see, I did not  make a long story short.  I could go on, but, I won't.   

Images from Wikipedia here, here, and here.

FEAR ITSELF

MICHELANGELO Buonarroti
Last Judgment (detail)
Fresco
Cappella Sistina, Vatican

Fear Itself

Fear itself …
that is the thing explaining
why bombers bomb
why we cannot control guns
why the Pope suppresses nuns
speaking “radical” humanist words
why “real men” loathe nerds
and arm themselves against
delusions of apocalypse.
Fear is the power of coercion
trumping all notions
of civility, compassion “fittest” assumed to mean
the ruthlessness of nihilists
protecting their own small niche
at the expense of all “soft” targets
“not my problem”
“take care of our own”
dismissing the thoughtful
the adaptive, the truly strong
who mean it when they say
life itself is sacred.
Fear is the tool of men
protesting too much, claiming
to be defenders of liberty
when what they are protecting
is their consumption of advantage
their right to shoot, to profit
to procreate any way they choose
but not you, not you
you must be frightened into
compliance with their rule
their privilege, their proprietary
fist enforcing the lie of superiority
“emotion” labeled “girly” “useless”
except when it is “manly anger”
an excuse to pretend the violence
is just … but it is just their fear
their adrenaline addiction
raging, tolerated, “just the way it is”
not inevitable
just the way things will be
until the greater we
says no
passes the laws that prevent
paranoid bullies from expecting
and getting
our cooperation in their death industry
fear itself.

(Marthe G. Walsh)

Image from the Web Gallery of Art.

THE PAPAL CONCLAVE

To the left, the cardinals are shown processing into the mass in St Peter's Basilica this morning before gathering in the Sistine Chapel to begin the Papal Conclave.

To the right is the Sistine Chapel set up for the for the cardinals meeting in the Papal Conclave to elect the new pope.

The cardinals walk up the aisle toward Michangelo's "The Last Judgement" to place their ballots in the ballot box.

Black smoke issued from the chimney this evening to signal that no pope was elected on the first ballot.  When the new pope has been chosen, white smoke will come from the chimney, and a bell will ring as an additional signal.

The picture of the cardinals in procession made me smile because in my Roman Catholic elementary school such a straggly line would not have been tolerated. We would have heard from the sister in charge, "Straighten that line!"

DATE SET FOR PAPAL CONCLAVE

The Papal Conclave to elect the next pope for the Roman Catholic Church will begin on Tuesday, March 12, 2013.  One day after the arrival of the last cardinal in Rome, The Clan of the Red Beanies the College of Cardinals decided on the date.  As Whispers in the Loggia says, "Habemus Datum", and he continues with a description of the process of the election.

While the governing meetings – which have been attempting to shape the desired "profile" of the next Pope – will continue tomorrow and Monday, the appointed day begins with the Mass Pro Eligendo Pontifice (for the Election of the Roman Pontiff) concelebrated by all the cardinals at midmorning in St Peter's Basilica. 

Then, late Tuesday afternoon, the electors will gather in the Pauline Chapel, processing from there into the Sistina as the Litany of the Saints is sung.

Following the oath taken by each voter, the traditional "Extra omnes" – "Everybody out" – is sounded, the chapel's doors are locked, and the first ballot is taken; as Cardinal Francis George of Chicago recently said, only then does "what everybody really thinks" become clear.

Read the rest of Rocco's post at his website, which is one of the go-to online sites for frequent reports on the Conclave.