Sir Thomas Beecham conducts Messiah!

There are many recordings of Messiah by Georg Friedrich Haendel,  a man who spoke little English being German serving a British King George II who disliked the English and England, spoke next to no English being the Prince of Hannover. They probably spoke German to each other, though the King had learned French as a first language.

 King George II (1683-1760)

Georg Friedrich Haendel (1685-1759)

Sir Thomas gives us a rendition of the Messiah unlike any other, in my opinion the best one you can hear.
Unless our friend and music expert David N. can point me to a better rendition, will see what he has to say.

The recording in question is from 1959 with Jennifer Vyvyan, Soprano, Monica Sinclair, Mezzo-Soprano, the great Canadian Tenor John Vickers and equally great Bass, Giorgio Tozzi. Beecham gave this recording a tempo and he feels the words of the text which he manages to translate into a
dynamic recording.

I love hearing this recording while we are decorating the Christmas tree.

Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)

Phase one is polishing all the Christmas Tree balls, we have 30 of them and then we also have to polish the medallions of various seasonal flowers. Then put up the tree and select the ornaments to go on, there is quite the collection all very different and from various parts of the world we have visited.

What is terribly nice is that each ball has the word Christmas and the year and it always brings back memories of where we were on that year starting with 1979 in Ottawa, 1986 Mexico City, 1989 Cairo, 1993 Chicago, 1999 Warsaw, 2007 Rome.

This year the tree went up on 8 December the Immaculate Conception on the Catholic Calendar, a great spectacle we attended each year in Rome at Piazza di Spagna where the column to the Virgin stands, a column taken from a temple from antiquity and the statue itself is Venus. The Pope comes from the Vatican crosses the City in a great parade escorted by the Carabinieri and all the congregations gather in the Piazza in their various uniforms and banners. The clue of the spectacle is when the Rome Firemen (Vigili) get into their cherry picker to hoist the great garland of flowers blessed by the Holy Father to the arms of the Venus turned Virgin and Mother of God.

The monument is in front of the Royal Embassy of Spain to the Holy See on the Piazza and the Ambassador of His Most Catholic Majesty the King of Spain waives from the balcony.

We have also decided this year that for Christmas day we will go to the Café at the National Arts Centre, they have a very nice set menu. Christmas Eve will be quiet at home and have a nice dinner with our Xmas Dachshunds.

Here are some pictures.

This year Will decided to put up this paper cut model of St-Nick. We got this in Dresden or Munich many years ago but never used it, very traditional and European. I cannot remember being in Dresden for the Christmas Market, the one in Munich is fantastic.

our Nutcracker from East Germany c.1979, they do not make ones like this anymore.

The tree is up now remains to decorate it.

Here are some traditional Austrian lead decoration hand painted, a decorated tree and St-Nick on his horse made by the Wilhelm Schweizer company.

More of the W. Schweizer company work, very typical of what you see in Austria and Bavaria at Christmas time.

A fraction of what has to be polished before it is put up on the tree. Neiman Marcus still sells them.

Christmas 1979 always put at the top of the tree.

A Winter Bouquet for Will's Birthday, the white flowers are called Nerine, there is some Heather and Boronia.

Rome-Trastevere

Today is our first full day, this morning we got up, showered and went for breakfast at the Caffè, we had cappuccino and I had a Tramenzino of cheese and ham toasted and then an Espresso. We then went to the TIM Italia Office to buy a new phone card for my cel with 250 minutes only 16 Euros.

We then walked in the neighbourhood, Trastevere is across the Tiber from Rome as the name implies.
This means that most early Christian Churches are in this neighbourhood, most built between 360 and 420 AD. The reason for this is a political one, like so many things in this world. Early Christians were mostly Jews who lived in Rome or had lived in Rome for generations. It was seen as a Cult like Scientology is today by most Romans who worshipped Roman Gods connected to their culture and history. When Emperor Constantine decided to switch Official Religions on the people of Rome it did not go down too well. He had a near Civil War on his hands, no one could understand why the old gods were being abandoned for a new god who was a Jew from Palestine, who nobody knew much about, but was rumoured to have been a criminal. The Army had its official religion which was similar to the Christian Faith, but no one was willing to accept new temples to be built to worship this new god. So Constantine had to do the political thing and had churches built outside Rome in Trastevere or on land outside the City boundaries like the Lateran where the Cathedral of Rome now stands on land that was private and owned by the Emperors family, St-John Lateran. St-Peter basilica was built in a cemetery on Via Cornelia, a place not likely to bring many Romans to look around. In the end Constantine abandoned Rome and moved the Capital of the Empire to his new city Constantinople (today Istanbul).

Tomb of Pope Innocent II, (1130-1143) 

Main Altar, Santa Maria in Trastevere

We visited Santa Maria in Trastevere which is the Church of the Canadians in Rome, Cardinal Ouellet from Quebec is the head of that Church on top of other functions he occupies in the Roman Curia at the Holy See. Pope Innocent II (1130-1143) is buried there. The Church has many different sized columns taken from various temples of Roman gods and its floor is decorated with Imperial Roman Mosaic also taken from old temples. There is a beautiful iconostasis of Christ above the master Altar.

We also had a look at Santa Maria alla Scala (in the staircase) which is attached to the Papal Official Drug Store since many centuries ago. The pharmacy is lovely and it has kept its old decor though nowadays it is a modern drug store. In this church there is also a famous miraculous icon and people leave little pieces of paper with a note to the Virgin asking for a special favour or miracle, there are hundreds of little notes. The priests who administer this church had 500 years ago commissioned the painter Caravaggio to paint a scene with a theme on the Virgin Mary. Caravaggio wanted something realistic and so he used the corpse of a famous prostitute who had drowned in the Tiber a few days earlier as his model of the Virgin Mary. This famous painting is in the Louvre Museum today, the priests were so scandalized when they recognized the features of the dead prostitute that they refused outright the painting.  

Santa Maria alla Scala and Pontifical Drug store 

Side view of the church with brickwork of the 4th century

We had lunch with a friend just outside the Aurelian Walls in our old neighbourhood a 15 minute bus ride from Trastevere up the hill across the Tiber near Porta Pia. It was nice to go see the old neighbourhood. Things have changed and they have not. Restaurants are empty now at lunch time, the owner told us that these difficult economic times made everyone afraid. There is talk that Italy as a country could disintegrate, the wealthy North (North of Rome) could secede and abandon the South (south of Rome) to its own devices. This would be a true disaster. We have seen more beggars now in the streets, many are simply old people who have been squeezed and cannot manage any more.

 Fruit stand on Viale Regina Margherita

Our neighbourhood, intersection of Via Nomentana and Viale Regina Margherita

We had a lovely lunch and then went to walk along Via Nomentana towards Viale Regina Margherita
Will wanted an ice cream and we went to a shop we know well. The owner told us that he sold his business, things are difficult and he wants to do something else. We did notice that one of our favourite restaurant had disappeared and has been replaced by a pizza joint, another steak house had also disappeared replaced by a McDonald, the horror. Our fruit and vegetable vendor was still there and we chatted with him, he is doing great and so is the flower shop. I felt a little disoriented by all these changes, it is visible that people are worried. Many young people are immigrating since there is no work for them here. It is said that for the under 35 year old the unemployment rate is 40%.

This evening we are going further down the Tiber River on bus no 23 to the area of the Pyramid of Cestius to a new trendy restaurant to meet with friends called Porto Fluviale at no 22 Porto Fluviale.

                     Centro Piazza Venezia

On our way home we went through Piazza Venezia, the centre of Rome, and then crossed the Tiber at Ponte Garibaldi unto Via Trastevere. Just a block away from our B&B we came upon a cheese shop, the rich, creamy and sweet smell of Italian cheeses brought us to look at the wonderful assortments. Including hams of wild boar meat. What a fantastic meal you could make right there and then with a few purchases.

Boar meat hams 

Italian cheeses and wines

I still have to talk about EATALY a huge modern food emporium devoted to all Italian made foods on 4 floors unbelievable place. Located in the old Airport Train terminal now a huge food market with 8 restaurants simply beautiful for the gourmand and gourmet. You can also take the High Speed train to Milan, the connection Rome-Milan takes only 2:56 minutes at train speed of 330 Km. More on this later.

Tomorrow we are to meet with a friend who is an historian and archeologist to visit an historical site with special permission to enter. The weather is lovely and we are enjoying ourselves though a little nostalgic.

Fait divers, Fatto di cronaca

The Pope Emeritus Benedict returned to the Vatican City State today from the Papal Summer Palace at Castel Gandolfo. He was flown by Papal helicopter to the Vatican State, a flight of just a few minutes really.

On arrival he was met by the H.E. Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State of the Holy See, H.E. Cardinal Sodano the Dean of the College of Cardinals and the Governor of the Vatican City State. The helipad is located in the vast gardens of Vatican Hill and he was driven to his new residence in the refurbished monastery Mater Ecclesia which stands next to the old Vatican Radio original building. His new house is 6500 sq. feet. he will live on the ground floor so he does not have to manage any stairs, an indication that he is frail and not in good health. His personal secretary Mgr Georg Ganswein (aka gorgeous George) will remain with him and also 4 women belonging to a religious order who will take care of all the housekeeping, cooking and cleaning. Basically the same household he had when he was pope. The ex-convent has a lovely garden, I remember visiting it, beautiful flowering bushes.

Pope Francis went to welcome him at his new residence when he arrived to wish him well. It is said they had a few words and prayed together in the chapel.
Pope Francis continues to live in the official guesthouse at the other end of the City State, near the Vatican Train Station behind the Basilica. The Papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace remain closed, used only on Sunday when the Pope addresses the crowds in St-Peter's Sq. from the window. New Pope new style, but so far it has all been cosmetic and no changes have taken place. Remains to see if Pope Francis will in effect bring any changes has he as promised.

More potpourri

In preparation for Tuesday the Holy See is now presenting more details of the new symbols ahead of the enthronement.

First a dish of pasta favoured by Pope Pius XII who was elected in 1939, Fettuccine alla Papalina (Pope's fettuccine) the sauce is made of finely chopped white onion, sliced Prosciutto, butter, 3 eggs, Parmigiano and heavy cream.

Then the new Coat of Arms of Pope Francis I, the brilliant sun is the symbol of the Jesuit order, the letters IHS represent Christ and the 3 nails of the cross. The Star is the symbol of the Virgin Mary and the grapes that of St-Joseph as representing the Universal Church. The motto (Miserando atque elegido) is taken from words spoken by Jesus in choosing St-Mathew a tax collector to follow him in his ministry. The ring in silver and gold bears the likeness of St-Peter holding the keys to Heaven.

This Coat of Arms will be displayed on the left side of every church entrance in Rome as is tradition.

Finally the Official entrance of the Apostolic Palace reserved for Heads of State who come to visit the Pope with the great staircase in the background. Tourists do not get to see this.

Enthronement or Coronation

The new Roman Pontifex Maximus was elected by the Princes of the Holy Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday 13 March and will be Officially Enthroned on Tuesday 19 March.

St-Peter's square night of the election of Pope Francis.

The central message of the new Pontiff is '' The Church is here to serve the poor'' a catchy message, not a new one for the Roman Catholic Church, it is part of the central message. The image of the new Pope given to the world Press is of a simple man, with simple taste. Pope Francis has already done well with the image by paying himself his hotel bill and retrieving his luggage and riding a mini-bus with other Cardinals back to the Vatican. He has said his first mass at the Church of St-Anne which is just inside the St-Anne Gate, the business address of the Holy See. He has met with the faithful after mass in front of the Church like  any parish priest would. I have been observing his body language and the way he handles people, first big smile, welcoming, happy, down to earth. Then its a quick hello, a word here or there and he moves on to the next person. The security detail around him, know what to do, it is all well rehearsed. It works, its effective and the public appears to like it. Same with the Cardinals who elected him, he greeted them after the mass in the Sistine Chapel, he spent a little more time with each one of them but not more than a few more seconds really, he also has a way of letting the person know it is time to move on. Obviously this fellow is an effective people handler, you did not see his predecessor Benedict XVI do that, he always looked a little tired or overwhelmed, not Pope Francis.

Swiss Guard in gala uniform

Also since his election Pope Francis has been wearing black shoes not the famous red loafers all Popes have worn in history. The Red shoes are a throwback to the day of the Roman Republic when the Chief Priest or Pontifex Maximus wore red leather short boots. During the religious service at the Temple of Jupiter Great and Best on the Capitoline Hill, the Pontiff would have to slit the throat of the great white bulls brought from Tuscany for the sacrifice, the blood would quickly pool and it was important because of the sacredness of the moment that the Pontiff did not get any blood on his immaculately white toga and his boots had to stay dry but not be stained, so the red leather hid any blood that might splatter. The meat would then be roasted some offered to Jupiter and the rest distributed to the faithful in communion during the service. One of the famous Pontifex was Julius Caesar, we just celebrated the Ides of March. The question is where were you on the morning of 44 BC when Julius was assassinated?

To come back to the enthronement of Pope Francis on 19 March, this ceremonial as changed with time.
Once a great parade would take place between the Cathedral of Rome, Saint-John Lateran and the Basilica of St-Peter going through the Roman Forum to symbolize the link and legacy with Imperial Rome. Not to forget that the Popes claim to be the heir of the Roman Emperors since Constantine in the fourth century. The Pope would wear the triple imperial crown as Sovereign of the Universal Church. He would be carried aloft in the Sedia gestatoria by the Gentleman of the Papal Court, they are the ones you see in photos dressed formally in white tie and dark coats or purple coats.

 Pope Pius XII being carried at his enthronement wearing the triple crown.

It is not likely that we will see any of that on Tuesday with Pope Francis, it promises to be a far simpler affair. The last Pope to be carried aloft was Jean-Paul I, his successor did not want that and since then the Pope has walked. I am told it cannot be a coronation because Kings are crowned by Popes or Cardinals, so Popes can only be enthroned since it is not likely God the Father would come down from Heaven for the event. Though he will be present at the ceremony for the faithful.

Papal Crowns, on display at the Lateran Palace in Rome

A friend of ours said she is staying home on Tuesday because Rome will be invaded by an estimated 1 million visitors for this event. Given that Rome is a city of 3 million people, you can see how this can create traffic problems, even if everyone walks. Attending the ceremony will be 140 Government delegations from around the world, numerous religious congregations and the 115 Cardinals who elected Pope Francis.

Cardinals walking in procession from the Pauline Chapel (named after Pope Paul III) to the Sistine Chapel to vote during the Conclave. Inside the Vatican Palace.

To renounce the Papacy

On Monday morning 11 February, the anniversary of the Signing of the Lateran Treaty, I was awaken to the news that the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI had renounced his title and functions as Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. It did not take long for the press in Canada and elsewhere to get all excited, if not hysterical over this piece of news. What is also of concern is the lack of correct information and factual information or perspective on this news.
So many terms have been used and so much information was just simply wrong. If you do not have factual and correct information how can you reflect or understand anything. We live in an age of flash information and we have never been so misinformed, it is very discouraging at the best of time.

Few of us can claim to know Benedict XVI or who he is as a person. His reputation has been established for better or worse by the media and their confused interpretation of events at the Holy See. Comparing the current Pope with his predecessor Jean-Paul II is also not helpful, two very different men coming from two very different background and countries with different experiences.
Jean-Paul II was a Pole who grew up during World War II in a country marked for annihilation by Nazi policies and then worked during decades of harsh Communist rule stage managed from Moscow. Jean-Paul II was a clever and hard nose politician who knew what he wanted to achieve. I remember being told by Vatican Official once that he was very impatient and wanted everything done quickly, he was not the typical Vatican insider. His last months of his life were difficult, kept alive with a medical cocktail prepared daily by his doctors, often in great pain and confused, everything was stage managed by his Polish entourage so the public could believe that his mind was alert. Benedict then Cardinal Ratzinger saw all this and as a close colleague found it painful, but the Polish entourage was in charge and they wanted to remain in power.  

This is what we have to remember of the Holy See, from the very beginning when Emperor Constantine established Christianity as the religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth Century and created the position of Bishop of Rome at the Lateran, the political manoeuvring started and continues to this day. It is a very complicated story and it has more to do with politics and power than Faith in One God.

Benedict is very well educated, a scholar in Latin and on other topics. He is also a very pragmatic person and in his own words for the good of the Church has decided to renounce his function as Supreme Pontiff. It is rare to see someone, anyone, renounce such a powerful office. Usually people in power become convince that they are indispensable and refuse to leave, even when it has been demonstrated it would be better for them to leave office.

What has also not been mentioned here is the fact that when a Pope dies or in this case renounces his title, all other Cardinals must also abandon their portfolio. Benedict had a weak number two, Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone not up to the responsibilities given to him in the management of this huge machine which is the Holy See and the World wide Church. There was failure in management and communication and Benedict was reluctant to replace people like Bertone who clearly were not up to the challenges. To many scandals including the one created over his butler who was found guilty of stealing private documents, may in the end bring the Pope to conclude that it was better to leave so that a new Pontiff could truly clean up house. A courageous gesture and one of wisdom and clarity which may help the Church in the long run.

The Pope weathered many storms, like the sex scandal which had been brewing for years under Jean-Paul II but never came to the surface, the world was busy with other events like the end of the Cold War and the long illness of the Pope and the team around Jean-Paul was far more politically minded and astute in Public Relations. Benedict inherited the mess and did all he could to bring closure. We can credit him with implementing measures to put an end to these abuses. Maybe he could have done more, maybe he could have been more political or more with an eye to the popular press to satisfy the public at large, but that was not his style. Benedict remains a man of his generation, more conservative, more European in out look, not comfortable with the rock star style of his predecessor. I also believe that with time Jean-Paul II papacy will be re-evaluated by history as the truth will finally come out on what he failed to do for the good of the Church.

It is true that the Church today appears out of step with our modern reality, but then again the Church has always been out of step, example the Galileo affair, the Reformation movement or the movement for the Unity of the Italian Republic or the eternally festering dispute with the Orthodox Church on who comes first in Christendom, the Bishop of Rome or the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Today the issues are different but it remains that the Church does not change to suit popular taste which are seen as a passing fad.

If you think that things are bad in the Roman Church, look at the Anglicans or the Lutherans or the Orthodox, similar political disputes and disagreements. Muslims are not any better with fights between the Shia, Sunni, Druze and Alawites. Or in Israël between the Orthodox Jews and the more Liberal Jews.

In the last few days the popular press including some so called serious newspapers have talked of the Pope quitting his job, resigning, he has done neither. He renounced his functions which are governed by Cannon Law article 332. No there is no signing of papers or retirement parties, no pension for life.
Like any Sovereign he cannot quit or resign, he does not have a job and he is chosen not elected by the masses. The Holy See is not a democracy but a Theocracy, something many people do not understand.

The Vatican newspaper Osservatore Romano pointed out that in 2009, Benedict had visited the earthquake devastated area of L'Aquila and had made a point of visiting the tomb of Pope Celestine V who had renounced the papacy in 1294 of his free will. Benedict had said then that he would do the same if he felt unable to continue, he had left his Pallium at the tomb of Celestine V. The Pallium is the white woollen band with pendants worn by the Pope as a symbol of his authority.

the small building on the right of the photo will be Pope Benedict's home in the Vatican garden.

Now the Cardinals will assemble in the Sistine Chapel, sorry tourists it is closed for the duration, and will discuss and vote on a successor. Benedict will retire first to Castel Gandolfo just a few minutes outside Rome, the summer residence of Popes and then after the election will move to a house in the immense gardens of the Vatican Hill near the old radio Vatican tower to live out his days. It is not a palace and a rather plain two story building with a small chapel and a garden surrounded by a high greenery wall.

And for those who commented that maybe there should be fix terms in office and all kinds of civilian job related modernity a la US political system, again the Holy See is not that kind of organization. The Pope reports to God and not to us, maybe it is better this way, humans tend to be a fickle bunch. I also do not believe the doom sayers who say the Roman Catholic Church is going to disappear. On the contrary it is thriving and growing rapidly in all parts of the world with the exception of Europe and North America. So our thinking is skewed by our North American biased view of the world.

fresco God the Father in the Royal Spanish Church of San Pietro in Montorio, Rome

  










  

Caravaggio's Papal Police records in Rome (1598-1606)

If the painter Michaelangelo Merisi il Caravaggio was alive today, he would probably be seen as the darling of the media and he would probably have a page on Facebook and his image would be everywhere. But in his lifetime it was a different story, artists ranked at the same level as actors and prostitutes. Even when they became popular and had powerful patrons, they ranked below the merchant class, the bourgeois and other non nobles. Their success and prosperity depended very much on attracting the favors of the Nobility and keeping them. Caravaggio was a genius, but a disturbed one, if you look at the Papal Police blotter in Rome. All the streets and Piazza mentioned below still exist and I walk them regularly so that part of Rome has not changed in 500 years. 

He was a bad boy with a nasty temper but such a great painter.

4 May 1598: Arrested at 2- 3am near Piazza Navona, for carrying a sword without a permit

19 November 1600: Sued for beating a man with a stick and tearing his cape with a sword at 3am on Via della Scrofa

2 October 1601: A man accuses Caravaggio and friends of insulting him and attacking him with a sword near the Piazza Campo Marzio

24 April 1604: Waiter complains of assault after serving artichokes at an inn on the Via Maddalena

19 October 1604: Arrested for throwing stones at policemen near Via dei Greci and Via del Babuino

28 May 1605: Arrested for carrying a sword and dagger without a permit on Via del Corso

29 July 1605: Vatican notary accuses Caravaggio of striking him from behind with a weapon

28 May 1606: Caravaggio kills a man during a pitched battle in the Campo Marzio area

The Vatican is burning.

Just read in the New York Times a very good editorial by Maureen Dowd.
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Rome Fiddles, We Burn
By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: July 16, 2010

I would simply change the title because Rome is the Capital of Italy and not of the Vatican which is a separate City State.

Ms Dowd makes several points which shows how much the senior management of the Vatican from the Pope down simply do not understand or do not wish to understand or see the terrible crisis they are not dealing with at the moment. The most recent pronouncement a new Vatican document links raping children with ordaining women as priests, deeming both “graviora delicta,” or grave offenses. Clerics who attempt to ordain women can now be defrocked.
How out of touch with reality can you get.

Ms. Dowd says in her article:

The Catholic Church continued to heap insult upon injury when it revealed its long-awaited new rules on clergy sex abuse, rules that the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said signaled a commitment to grasp the nettle with “rigor and transparency.”

The church still believes in its own intrinsic holiness despite all evidence to the contrary. It thinks it’s making huge concessions on the unstoppable abuse scandal when it’s taking baby steps.

The casuistic document did not issue a zero-tolerance policy to defrock priests after they are found guilty of pedophilia; it did not order bishops to report every instance of abuse to the police; it did not set up sanctions on bishops who sweep abuse under the rectory rug; it did not eliminate the statute of limitations for abused children; it did not tell bishops to stop lobbying legislatures to prevent child-abuse laws from being toughened.

There is no moral awakening here. The cruelty and indecency of child abuse once more inspires tactical contrition. All the penitence of the church is grudging and reactive. Church leaders are merely as penitent as they need to be to protect the institution

.

In other words the R.C. Church is trying to save the furniture while the building is on fire. Protecting itself, its priviledges, its properties and all other wordly goods it truly what it is all about. It is not about Jesus teachings or the word of God. No wonder there is a lack of vocations and priests are in very short supply everywhere, who wants to be a priest nowadays.

In the view of the Vatican, the church can never be wrong, the Vatican and the Pope make no mistakes ever. That is also Church doctrine invoke by Pope Pius IX in 1880 to protect himself against the New Italian Republic.
As one missionary said in Court during a trial on a pedophilia case, protecting the interest of the Church is far more important than some child abuse case, because the Church is doing God's work.
Interesting point of view isn't it?

What we see today has always been the position of the Vatican and this from the beginning when Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity as the only religion of the many religions of the Empire at the time. Protecting its material interest is paramount, religion is secondary.
The Church cannot change? Too bad really for all those in charge. What I see is the end of an institution as we speak, of course the zealots will always be around to defend Pope and institution no matter what, but if devout Catholic can walk away as we see it now, the Pope and others around him will be left whirling in the wind.

In other words, Trust in God, forget the rest.

a stroll in Rome on a Friday afternoon

Usually on a Friday afternoon after lunch I like to either get my haircut or go out to see something. This friday I thought I would go out and get my haircut since we are going on vacation next week to Austria. So I called Mimo and made an appointment.
Photos here are of the streets I walked to get to my appointment and then the walk home.

I walked down Via Palermo which is a back street parallel to Via Nazionale. Went by the Opera House of Rome, then by a series of shops, many are specialty shops, like the one selling decorated cakes and designer handbags, well that is what I thought walking by. I was intrigued by the fact they were selling cakes and handbags, what a strange combination. I looked more closely at the Chanel Bag and the Ferragamo and the Louis Vuitton, they were very nice but then I realize they were made of marzipan.
What a fun thing to do for a party as a novelty, am sure they would be as good to eat as they are to look at.

Then I arrived at the corner of Vincolo dei Serpenti (alley of the snakes) it's a very old street in Rome, it is also the street where the private home of the President of the Italian Republic is located. A little street nothing special, in an old neighborhood. It took me a while to realize that something was odd about that street, no cars are parked, except for one with 2 fellows sitting in it, they are policemen, guarding the street.

President Giorgio Napolitano is 84 yrs old and has been a politician all his life, a communist Italian style. He is much respected by the Italians, a very dignified figure, a defender of Italian democracy and the Constitution. While he is in Office he lives at the Quirinale Palace just about 2 blocks away. Then I turn the corner and am at the barber shop, just across the street from the massive Palazzo Koch which is the seat of the Bank of Italy. The President and I share the same barber.

After my haircut, I decided to walk a little down to the old Market of Emperor Trajan, it was in its time the first shopping mall of antiquity, 5 floors of shops. Today it houses the exhibits of the Forum of Emperors Trajan, Nerva and Augustus.
These forums were fairly well preserved until 1605 when Pope Paul V decided he needed all the marble for a palace and a fountain he was building, what you see today is the result of this act of vandalism by the Pope. From the market platform you can look directly at the Altar of the Nation, this white marble monument was built about 130 yrs ago to commemorate the Royal House of Savoy and the unification of Italy as one country in 1860. It is the largest marble monument built in modern times. The belly of the horse on which sits the figure of King Vittorio Emmanuele can have inside a dining table and 9 men around it for a meal, there is an actual photo of this feat.

I then crossed Via Nazionale and walked up to the Quirinale Palace on my way home passing by the back gate of Prince Colona's garden where once stood the massive Temple to Serapis. The Quirinale was once a Papal Summer Palace, then in 1860 it was confiscated and became the Palace of the Italian King and in 1946 it became the Presidential Palace under the new Italian Republic. However it retains all of its grandeur and the President is housed like a king with all the ceremonial and protocol this entails.

I then walked up along the palace towards Piazza Santa Suzanna where the fountain of Moses has been cleaned after years of neglect, the stone has this soft butter color, it use to be part of a Cardinal's Palace, the palace today is the St-Regis Hotel. The fountain is in fact just a facade, it hides a beautiful apartment attached to the back.

Then onwards towards Porta Pia and home, the street lined with orange trees, full of oranges, they are apparently good to make jam but not to eat. I thought to myself, when would I ever be able to do this back in Canada. This is what I will miss most of Rome when we leave, this certain theatre of life and the elegance of this old city. Will continue to enjoy our stay and make most of it.

La terza Loggia, Vatican City

The Canadian Club of Rome was invited today to a lecture on Foreign Relations and the Holy See. This meeting took place on the third floor or Terza Loggia of the Sacred Apostolic Palace where the Pope lives. If on a Sunday morning you are in St-Peter's square you will see the Pope at the window of his apartment deliver his blessings and message to the crowd below. That is the Terza Loggia, it is also the floor where the Secretary of State has his Office. These are the closest advisors to the Pontiff on matters of church affairs and Foreign Relations with other States. I was keen to go and see the area where the Pope lives and walk in the corridor of Church power.

We entered from the St-Anne's Gate and walked to the great courtyard and through an ordinary looking door up a flight of stairs to what is the staff entrance. There you will see Vatican Police manning the door, once through an attendant in the oak paneled elevator takes you up to the third floor, we arrived in this vast corridor decorated with gigantic painted maps of the world showing the world in 1578 when Pope Pius IV had the area decorated. Note that Australia does not appear anywhere, Canada appears in the area of the Saint Lawrence river between what is today Quebec City and Montreal, Land of Cod, where the Saint Lawrence Gulf is. The USA is divided between Mexico and Canada. One map showing the Holy Land in gold leaf is on the left hand side of the door to the Secretary of State Office, each tribe of Israel is identified as they cross the Sinai Desert and you can see the figure of Moses looking at the Holy Land from Madaba. Little men in white carry the Arc of the Covenant towards Jerusalem. Above the entrance door to the Secretary of State, a painting showing God the Father with Christ to his right and the Holy Ghost to his left. Swiss Guards patrol this corridor and though we were guests, we were invited to move along, the Pope's private apartment is just a few steps away. We then went to a little room decorated by Raphael in Roman imperial style with grotesque and unto a terrace with the most incredible view of Rome I have ever seen in this city. We are way up, level with the statues of the facade of St-Peter's Basilica, in the distance you can see the Cathedral of Rome, St-John Lateran, the Pantheon and all the other monuments of the city. Below us the Pope's car waiting to ferry him to a funeral service for Cardinal Tomas Spidlik, a Czech Jesuit scholar, died in Rome on April 16 at the age of 90. He was
a theologian who specialized in the study of the Eastern Christian traditions. We were told not to look down and move along to the other side of the terrace.

In the Palace itself all you can hear is silence and the bells of St-Peter's Basilica clock marking the half-hour and the hour. There are people coming and going but all move in perfect silence. I cannot go into the details of what the lecture was about but it was interesting for what I learned on the Holy See and relations with other Foreign States.
More photos to come a bit later.

power and corruption

It is the first time in my life that I see an embattled Pontif who is more and more isolated in his Apostolic Palace in Rome. Everyday fresh revelations of this horrible pedophile scandal become public. It is very disturbing to see how the protection of status and property and the reliance on antiquated notions from the Middle-Ages appear to guide those very few people around the Pope and the Bishop of Rome himself. I was at the Teatro del'Opera the other night, the opera Tosca was featured, the plot line is easy, a love story between an artist painter who believes in a free Rome and an Italy free of Papal domination and a singer Tosca who are pitted against the Secret Police of the Pope who is desperately trying to hold on to power by arresting and executing anyone who is promoting the Roman Republic. The story is staged around 1810 at the time of Napoleon's march and liberation of Italy. Scarpia is the all powerful Police Chief and is lusting after Tosca, in the final scene of the first act while a Te Deum is being sung in the church of San Andrea della Valle in Rome, Scarpia sings, while surrounded by all the symbols of the Church's power, of his lust and how he will use his powerful office to get Tosca into his bed. In the context of today's news I could not help think how the Opera Tosca is a mirror reflection of absolute corruption. Being in Rome to see this unravel is unsettling especially during Easter week.

Visit to St-Peter's Basilica

On Saturday our friend Beverly who is visiting from Islamabad wanted to go and visit St-Peter's Basilica. So we took the number 62 bus and went down to the Vatican. Because it is winter and a Saturday not many people around in the Piazza in front of the Basilica, the Christmas tree and the crèche still stand, it should all come down around 2 February. We went through security which is provided, gratis, by Italy, fancy that, Italians pay for the security of another country, while the Swiss Guard stand around in their Medieval costumes looking pretty.
Inside the Basilica it suddenly struck me that it is no more than a museum nowadays, visitors are cordoned off to a circuit which takes them around the central part of the Basilica and out at the other end you go. St-Peter is not used very often except for special days in the church calendar, like Christmas and Easter Sunday, in the Spring mass is said outside in the piazza.
Inside there are gigantic marble statues to several Popes, while a few other Popes dead many decades ago lie in State, they are not all in their coffins down below. No it is not a wax dummy, its a real corpse in all its papal finery lying under the altar of the many side chapels, waiting for Sainthood. Other statues are of Saints like St-Veronica and St-Longinus and of course St-Peter and St-Paul, those two fine jews who just happened to turn Roman Catholic in a nick of time.

Two equestrian statues of interest are of the real political founders of the Roman Catholic Church, without them there would be no St-Peter basilica or much of a Christian church to speak of today, that would be Emperor Constantine and Emperor Charlemagne. The first one made Christianity the official religion of the Empire over all the other religions in 350 AD, when Christianity was still a cult practiced by the plebes and slaves and the second confirmed at a crucial moment in history Christmas Day 730 AD the supreme authority of the bishop of Rome and Christianity as a state religion in Europe when Islam was about to take over in the Mediterranean basin. Bev remarked that it is a very arrogant and pretentious place and that it does not offer a feeling of sanctity and does not invite to prayer. I agree, it is mostly a place for tourists to visit. All in all a bit sad and empty. It looks a lot like what a Roman Temple to the gods of antiquity would have looked like, with the multi-colored marbled floors and gold colored mosaics.

I know a lot of tourists like to visit St-Peter Basilica because it confirms in their mind the supremacy of what they believe and how right they are to believe it too. I remember a different St-Peter when it was still a Basilica used daily for prayers and religious services, you could enter and simply wander around there were priests everywhere ready to hear a confession or help with a blessing or offer a prayer, candles burned as offerings and flowers decorated the side altars and even the main altar reserved for Papal masses. All that is gone today, so sad to see this huge building turned into a tourist attraction, sort of disneyland Christianity, we are probably not far off from Mickey Mouse as some kind of holy figurine.

Almost run over by Pope motorcade, call my lawyer!

If you are a Christian you will have heard of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, Pope Pius IX proclaimed that Mary was born without sin and therefore was pure enough to be the mother of Jesus. Up to 1860 this was a Catholic belief, you could subscribe to it or not, however in 1860 the Pope was feeling a little insecure, the Italians had revolted against his rule as Head of State of central Italy and Garibaldi was marching on Rome with his army. So the Pope did two things, first he proclaimed that he was infallible, meaning that when he speaks he is never wrong, it is the same as if God himself spoke. Not a bad trick really when you think of it. The second thing he did was to make the Immaculate Conception church dogma, so you now have to believe it, it is dogma, no discussion period.

So today 8 December is the Immacolata, a major Roman Catholic Church Holiday, it is the first day of Xmas shopping for Italians and the day all the religious congregations in Rome gather on Piazza di Spagna at the Spanish steps to put flowers at the foot of the column to the Immaculate Virgin Mary, sex should be this clean in other words. The column itself is located between the designer Valentino's HQ, the Sacred College for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Royal Embassy of Spain to the Holy See (see photo) with banners bearing the Coat of arms of His Most Catholic Majesty the King of Spain and the Pope. At the foot of the column you have statues of these nice Jewish patriarchs deep in reflection, Ezechiel, Moses, King David, Isaiah who are considered de facto Roman Catholics.
So we went to Piazza di Spagna to see the congregations and other religious orders with their banners and hear them sing and pray to the Virgin Mary on top her column, noticed that FIAT the car maker had sent a large bouquet of flowers, so did other large Italian manufacturers and also the Rome bus and metro company ATAC. We went to lunch and at 3:30pm we walked back towards Piazza Torre Argentina however there was one small problem, from the Tiber River all along Via Tomacelli and through Via Condotti barricades had been set up by the police of Rome. The Officer informed us that we could not cross at all, the Pope's motorcade was coming. So I looked down the street towards the river at Cavour bridge and then look up towards Piazza di Spagna and saw at the end a wall of humanity in the Piazza and all up the grand staircase, thousands all waiting for the Pope to arrive. The streets in this area of Rome are large enough for a big carriage and 4 horses, a narrow area. We still had 30 minutes before the Holy Father would pass by, so we decided to walk towards the river, in front of the Mausoleum of Emperor Augustus there was a break in the barricades and few people around, would the Pope stop his motorcade at the mausoleum to bless Augustus who was made a God by the Senate of Rome, he lived at the same time as the Virgin Mary, not likely, but we did cross the street quickly while the police was not looking and avoiding the approaching Pope mobile with the 6 beefy Swiss guards running alongside.

Now when Jean-Paul II was pope he use to get into the cherry picker basket and he was hoisted all the way to the top of the column to deposit his flowers, nowadays Pope Benedict sends a nice Vigili (firemen) up to do the job. We did make it to the theater on time.