Bologna is no Baloney!

I arrived in Bologna, Italy on late Friday afternoon with Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFMCap, who studied at Borromeo in Cleveland.  As you may know I don't really believe in co-incidences, just God-incidences and this past weekend was certainly that.  We arrived to discover the city was hosting the St. Francis Festival all weekend long.  Though it's been celebrated in the Emilia-Reggi province before it had never been in Bologna.  So, here we were, in the midst of this huge celebration.

We visited a number of awesome churches in Bologna, including the burial place of St. Dominic in San Domenico Church.  The tomb was a masterpiece and St. Dominic's body (and skull in a reliquary) is there.  We met some very nice Dominican brothers and priests and enjoyed visiting the church.  It boasts a beautiful painting by Filippo Lippi called, Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria.  It was exquisite.  Painted in 1503, it shows a sacred conversation between the Madonna and Child and St. Catherine.  Also depicted are St. Paul, St. Sebastian (a popularly depicted saint in Renaissance painting), St. Peter and St. John the Baptist.  What I find interesting about Lippi's work is how he includes modern day images in his work.  Note the classical pillars as well in the painting which gives the impression it took place in a Renaissance building.

The Duomo of St. Petronio was, yet, another beautiful edifice.  We attended a St. Francis Festival Mass there at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.  It was a strange experience.  Though the local bishop presided, Mass was very short - 50 minutes.  The bishop concluded Mass with the closing prayer, blessing and procession when many folks, including some priests, were still receiving Communion.  We just couldn't figure that one out!  Though begun in 1390 the project (a communal project of Bologna, not by the Bishop) was not concluded until the 1479 by architect Antonio di Vincenzo.

Bologna once boasted almost 200 towers.  These were not so much protective as they were to demonstrate the wealth of some families who could afford these towers in case of invasion (more status symbols than practical uses).  One tower was almost 20 stories tall and we actually climbed it. Though there are few towers remaining today, the most remarkable one provides a spectacular view of the entire city.  Bologna also is a city of porticoes.  There are 40km of porticoes throughout the city guaranteeing protection from the elements.  One of the porticoes leading up to the Church of the Madonna of St. Luke has 666 arches and was built in the 1400's as a way of protecting a statue which they brought up to the top from the city.  This church houses a Madonna that was supposedly painted by St. Luke himself though today only a small portion of the painting is visible.

Saturday evening we attended this awesome concert of Paul Winter's "Earth Mass."  It was performed by the Diocesan choir of Bologna and included liturgical dancers as well as very talented musicians. We saw one of those old transparency projectors and discovered (delightfully) that an artist was using the projector to shine images on the outside of the Duomo during the performances.  He was utterly amazing.  Sr. Marie de Lis (my 4th grade teacher) would have been delighted to see the projector being utilized in such a creative fashion!!!  We were so blessed and fortunate to be there for it.   I remember having the recording of this Mass many years ago.  It was dusted off for this amazing night and was accompanied by some quotations from Pope Francis' "Laudato Si" - his encyclical on Creation.

Sunday afternoon we departed for Ravenna.