Caravaggio Crawl

Liz calls yesterday the "Carravagio" Crawl.  We visited 3 churches that boast of Caravaggio's paintings.

The first centers on the theme of St. Matthew.  It is located in the Church of St. Louis the French. Check out this amazing work!  This church was located in a high class neighborhood that had many wealthy people.   Cardinal Delmonte invested in young artists and knew that Carravagio had tremendous talent.  This work was completed in 1599 just before the Holy Year of 1600.  Rome was preparing to be a city filled with pilgrims and this church's job was to preach conversion.  He takes an ordinary scene of men gathered and look how the light emanates from the right window.  No other background detail is necessary to tell this story.  Matthew sees the light and leaves everything to follow Christ.  After this series depicting Matthew's call, conversion and martyrdom Caravaggio would never return to ordinary paintings again.  This work invites us to follow the light.  Notice how the young man is seated on the bench with his feet not on the ground.  Literally, Christ, through Peter, mesmerizes and strikes Matthew in such a way that he is literally brought off his feet.

The second visit was to St. Augustine Church.  It is where this fascinating work called, "Madonna de Loreto" appears.  Notice the two ordinary people to whom the Blessed Mother appears.  They are ordinary people, dirty feet and all!  Caravaggio was known to use ordinary folks like you and me to depict those blessed by divine visits.  He caught a lot of flack for using ordinary prostitutes, farmers, and other local folks but his message was that God appears not only for the righteous and the holy, but to every day people like you and me.  This painting is simply awesome not only in its' beauty but in its message also.

Finally, we visited Santa Maria del Popolo where Caravaggio was commissioned for several wonderful pieces to appear in the Cerasi Chapel. This piece depicting the Conversion of St. Paul is remarkable.  The horse doesn't even seem to notice St. Paul but we can tell he is in shock.  Further, the characters seem to be coming into the viewer's space.  Caravaggio wanted us to feel as if we're right there with St. Paul.  Notice the muscle development on both the horse and Paul - it's truly incredible.  There is no need for background detail.  We can tell - from the 3 characters in this story exactly what is going on.   This is a moment of spiritual ecstasy and Paul lies with hands open to what God is calling him to do.

Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli and Spoleto

Today I was the presider for Mass at a very special place.  The Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli is a basilica in the lower city of Assisi which contains another small church.  This small church is called the "Porziuncula" and it was the second church that St. Francis rebuilt.  It is the place where the Franciscan order's vows were first composed, the place where St .Clare's hair was cut, and a setting for prayer for the early members of the religious community of St. Francis.  It was given to Francis and his followers in the year 1211 following the creation of the new community.  It was a great privilege and honor to pray in this Church and to lead my brothers in the Eucharist.

As we left Assisi, we headed to the town of Spoleto.

Ravenna - Italy, not Ohio!

Ravenna is an amazing city.  Once known as  the city "Classe," it was an imperial port.  It had been invaded by the barbarians but gained prominence when, in A.D. 540, the Byzantine emperor Justinian turned the city into the western most location for the Byzantine Empire.  Today the place is filled with remnants of that era - beautiful mosaics.  A single ticket gains you entrance to all of the major places where the mosaics remain. The two most significant places were the Basilica of San Vitale and the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia.  It's hard to fathom how difficult mosaic creations are.  We were told it could take as much as a week to do a 1x1 foot mosaic.  But these were not only artistic.  They served the purpose of providing a "catechism" for people long before the printing press and in the days when only the wealthiest of families could read or write.

We stayed at a little hotel called Hotel Antica.  I would highly recommend it.  Not only was it close

to the train station but they even provide bikes for the hotel guests to use.  Ravenna has the most bikes of any city in Italy and I believe it to be true!  We saw hundreds of them and really enjoyed biking all around.

The train to Florence from Ravenna took 3 hours.  It was a local train that seemed to stop everywhere.  Fortunately the high speed train from Florence to Rome only took 1.5 hours and we arrived home, exhausted but fulfilled, by 10:00 p.m.

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.

Spirituality of Christian Art & Architecture

Wednesday we began with Mass at the Basilica of St. Clare and then listened to Rev. Michael Gaudoin-Parker speak to us about the Spiritiuality of Christian Art & Architecture.  Fr. Michael's gentle and humble nature made for a wonderful few hours of insightful wisdom and insight.

Art is not an end in itself.  It introduces the soul into a higher spiritual order which it expresses, and in some sense, explains. Christian art provides a "fullness" into which we are invited and pertains to a spirituality that focuses out "outward" toward the transcendent.  The aesthetic is to "make formal" an epiphany, a manifestation of the presence of God.

When we approach Christian art and architecture with a sense of openness and a willing to engage, there is a transformative element to it - it changes us.  Fr. used the image of the priest placing a drop of water into the chalice of wine.  It becomes immersed into the wine and is no longer able to be separated out.

When a Christian person engages in the art of faith, she/he becomes fully immersed into what it conveys.  There is an incomprehensible mystery in which we are absorbed.  However, art demands of us our willingness to be engaged in it.  There is a true humility about allowing God to speak to us through the use of art and the use of our senses.

Fr. says that all art is rooted in substance but good art begins in immanence and presents the continuity between the temporal and the eternal, between matter and good spirit between humankind and the other.

The Church of St. Clare and the Eremo delle Carceri - Assisi

Tuesday we toured the Church of St. Clare as well as the Eremo delle Carceri (a small hermitage at the top of Mount Subasio.

The Church of St. Clare is simply, but beautiful.  You can see a photograph of it above.  We began there with Mass and a tour of the Church including a visit to the tomb where St. Clare is buried.  She was one of first followers of St. Francis and the founder of the Order of Poor Ladies (now, the Sisters of Poor Clare).  In fact, today (September 24) they celebrate the finding of St. Clare's body. She was buried below the main altar of this church, built by Filippo Campell in 1260 and moved from her former burial place in St. Gregorio.  When her body was exhumed, in 1850, they found it perfectly preserved.

Later that day I performed a miracle - I climbed Mt. Subasio.  Let me tell you, it was no piece of cake!!!  Very steep climbing across a rocky grade.  But arriving at the top, a place where St. Francis founded a small hermitage, was truly amazing. This is where he sought refuge for 6 months out of the year.  He and other monks lived in caves carved from the mountain side.  Their dwellings were simple but they enjoyed the beauty of God's spectacular creation while on the mountaintop.  We then climbed even further to the very top of the mountain and enjoyed a magnificent view of the city of Assisi below.

Orvieto and Assisi

I'm sorry for not keeping up with my posting.  The place we're staying in Assisi has basic internet but I've been knocked off the web more than I've been able to access it.  Perhaps it's a message from St. Francis to ponder, pray and meditate more and blog less!!!

Chapel of the Corporal, Orvieto, Umbria, Italy

This is a spectacular place - a place not only of beauty but of peace, of prayer.  Yesterday we began the day in Orvieto, a beautiful town on the way to Assisi.  There we celebrated Mass in a very place called the Chapel of the Corporal.  In the year 1263, in town of Bolesana, near Orvieto, a priest was celebrating Mass.  He had entertained doubts about the real presence of the Eucharist and, as he consecrated the host, it began to bleed and stained the white corporal with drops of blood.  The corporal is located underneath the altar here and the beautiful frescoes on the walls tells the story of
the miracle.

Fr. Joseph Tuscan, OFM, Cap is one of the priests on Sabbatical here in Italy.  He actually studied at Borromeo and is originally from Pittsburgh.  Joe preached about the Eucharistic miracles (there are 140 of them) and how Pope Paul VI in 1970 commissioned the Academy of Science to do scientific studies on several of the Eucharistic miracles.  Strangely enough, the academy concluded that in all the blood samples taken from Bolseana, Lanciano and from the Shroud of Turn they discovered tissue from the human heart and all had AB- blood types, the rarest kind found in only 4% of the world's population.  When we speak of the "real presence of Christ" in the Eucharist, these miracles all point to our belief that Jesus makes himself present, body, soul and divinity at every Eucharistic celebration.  A great gift to us indeed.

Oriveto is a place of special veneration and prayer.  The town itself is also very beautiful - accessible only by funicular or by ascending many, many stairs.  But once you've arrived, it is magnificent.

We arrived in Assisi just in time for dinner.  We are staying at a Capuchin guest house/retreat center just outside the walls of Assisi's main area.  We are being well cared for and the hospitality and warmth of those who work here is truly a manifestation of the Lord's care for everyone.

Tuesday morning we celebrated Mass in the Basilica of Saint Francis, the largest church in the area. There are two levels - the lower one which is the crypt in which St. Francis is entombed and the upper basilica.  The upper basilica was heavily damaged on September 27, 1997 where four people (2 architects and 2 monks) lost their lives.  They have restored the basilica since but some of the frescoes were permanently damaged from the quake.

It's difficult to cover all the beautiful pieces in the basilica.  I'll focus on two frescoes in particular. The first depicts the Last Supper but with a specifically Italian twist.  Note that the left side of the fresco shows 2 common citizens doing the dishes with a dog licking food of the dirty plates.  What is notable here is that common Italian life was incorporated in a Renaissance depiction of the Last Supper.  The artist wants us to know that faith was accessible and available to everyone - even the most common of folks.

The second fresco is a confrontation between Francis and his father.  As you may know, his father was a wealthy garment merchant and he despised the fact that Francis wanted to leave everything to rebuild Christ's church.  His father even imprisoned Francis (we saw the prison) and refused to speak to him ever again.  The scene of this depiction is when Francis discarded his clothing in the town square.  His father is pictured with condemnation while the Bishop (representing the church) is now covering Francis with a cloth - showing that he belonged now to the Church.  Fr. Tuscan told us the story how Francis and his father never reconciled.  Though it had always been Francis' hope to do so, when he left his father's home his father never spoke to him again.  He would often run into his father in town and it was customary for a son to ask for a blessing from his father when he encountered him. Francis' father refused so Francis asked a poor man to bestow on him the blessing his father refused to give.

It was beautiful tour - more in my next post.