St. Peter's Basilica

Chapter 17-- Rome

The Basilica di San Pietro – St. Peter's Church

     Doors open at 7:30 am. I would be there at the appointed hour to enter St. Peter's Church, the most famous holy church and historic building in the world.

     The previous day, we toured the Vatican Museums, buildings stuffed with the treasures of the world, and also really stuffed with tourists.

     The Vatican Museum tour ends with the Sistine Chapel, then moves into The Basilica di San Pietro – St. Peter's Basilica. Once in the basilica, even as huge as it is, that afternoon it remained heavily stuffed too .

     The basilica opens each day at 7:30, and I vowed to be there next morning, before the crowds, to absorb the building alone.

     So here I am, early in the morning, myself and a few pilgrims coming in for early mass.

     At right as you enter, there's the Pieta, Michelangelo's masterpiece, the Virgin Mary holding the dead Jesus, after the crucifixion. It's behind protective glass now, ever since in 1972, a person tried to damage it with an ax.

     Here's a quote by Charles Dickens who visited the church in 1846, describing his first steps into the building: The first burst of the interior, in all its expansive majesty and glory and most of all the looking up into the dome, is a sensation never to be forgotten.

     Early morning inside is dark, the sun low against illuminating the interior. Along the sides are small chapels, and I see a service in progress near the front. Noticing many nuns, and since the public is allowed in at 7:30, this must be an early mass being said for workers in the Vatican. As the morning progresses, more and more people enter, many of them locals arriving for mass before work. A priest enters another chapel and begins a service, as many visitors follow. By the time I leave at about 10 am., the chapels are busy, including an organist.

     Many are tourists like myself who simply had to be there, to witness this magnificent holy building, and allow it absorb you. It does not matter your faith, one way or another, this atmosphere, this building interior, will move you.

     The first chapel concludes, worshipers break into groups and go their ways. I watch one of the caretakers, a sampietrini,  manipulate gallon jugs, filling huge baptismal fonts with holy water, ready for the day's visitors.

     As I wander through the basilica, photographing what I can because of the dim light, there are statues everywhere including the 13^th Century bronze statue of St. Peter. After all, this is St. Peter's church, his holy shrine, plus the finest renaissance monuments and decorations money could buy.

     There are more monuments, 39 of saints who founded religious orders and St. Teresa of Avila and other renaissance decorations, plus 44 altars, 27 chapels, 800 columns, 400 statues and 300 windows.

     It is huge inside covering 5.7 acres able to accommodate crowds up to 60,000.

     St. Peter's was founded in 324 by Constantine, then rebuilt in the 16^th Century by Renaissance masters including Bramante, Michelangelo and Bernini with the center focus as the shrine to St. Peter, the first pope, crucified and buried on this very spot, his tomb under the central altar.

     As you wander the church, there is always something that strikes your eye – high above the altar designed by Bernini, a bright golden window of glass with the outline of a dove, shines over all. It's the symbol of the holy ghost. .

     As you enter and walk towards the dome, there is Bernini's Baldacchino at the crossing of the transepts, shelter of the papal alter. If you have seen televised events from the basilica, you have seen this on television, four giant twisting columns of bronze, rising 90 feet from the floor. At the apex of the Baldacchino a globe is supported by four ribs and crowned by a cross.  It is the most sacred location of the Roman Catholic Church, a vertical axis runing from the exact center of Michelangelo's dome then going straight down into the Tomb of St. Peter.

     As you look up into Michelangelo's dome, there are the famous inscriptions surrounding the base: (in Latin of course) You are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

     And: (in Latin) To the glory of St. Peter, Sixtus V, pope, in the year 1590 and the fifth year of his pontificate.

     Now you can take the elevator or climb the stairs to the dome, view the interior of the church from the gallery above, feel its enormity. Then go out onto the east side of the roof, view Vatican City, St. Peters Square and the Eternal City beyond.

     Three blocks away was our apartment. I returned, gathered the family, and on a quiet Roman side street in the residential area, we enjoyed morning cappuccino and a pastry, as all Italians do.

A Book Review

     If you like murder mysteries particularly spy novels, a new book by author Danial Silva is now available, entitled The Fallen Angel. Silva is a spy novelist, with his central character and super spy Gabrial Allon, a master art restorer who is regularly contracted  by the Vatican.

     Gabrial Allon also is an undercover Isreali assassin, on call from Israeli secret security forces for special deadly assignments usually involving international terrorism.
      He is in the Vatican in this current novel restoring a Carravegio, The Deposition of Christ,  when he is summond by the pope's senior aide to come to the Baldacchino area in St. Peter's Basilica where there lies under a tarpaulin the shattered female body of one of the art historians of the Vatican.  She supposedly fell from the catwalks of  Michelangelo's dome, straight down towards the tomb of St. Peter.
    It was first ruled to be a suicide, but Gabrial Allon knows she was murdered.

    In another of Silva's books, Gabrial Allon saves the pope from a terrorist bomb, which does great damage to St. Peters square during the Wednesday audiance killing hundreds of pilgrims.

     Silva's spy novels are fast paced, a roller coaster ride through Europe and the Middle East.   

        Carravaggio's Deposition of Christ, regarded as his finest painting, is described in the spy novel, A Fallen Angel by Daniel Silva who writes:  "the art restorer glowed under the intense white light.  Gabriel stood motionless before the towering canvas for several minutes, hand pressed to his chin, head tilted to one side, eyes fixed on the haunting image.
 " Nicodemus, muscular and barefoot, stared directly back as he carefully lowered the pale, lifeless body of Christ toward the slab of funerary stone where it would be prepared for entombment.  Next to Nicodemus was John the Evangelist, who, in his desperation to touch his beloved teacher one last time, had inadvertently opened the  wound in the Savior's side.
  Watching silently over them were the Madonna and the Magdalene, their heads bowed, while Mary of Cleophas raised her arms toward the heavens in lamentation.  It was a work of both immense sorrow and tenderness, made more striking by Caravaggio's revolutionary use of light.
  Even Gabriel, who had been toiling over the painting for weeks, always felt as though he were intruding on a heartbreaking moment of private anguish."

One of the two fountains in St. Peter's Square, Rome

Here comes Pope Benedict XVI, standing in open air rolling through the crowds in Wednesday morning audience in St. Peter's Square.

Chapter 16 – Rome

The Pope in St. Peters Square

     We arranged our itinerary so as to have our first day in Rome on a Wednesday.

Each Wednesday at 10 am in St. Peter's Square, the Pope holds an audience with the people assembled in the square.

     It's June, and it's hot, even at mid morning.

     There are thousands of people here, the faithful coming to see the Holy Father and participate. As members of the Good Shepard Catholic Church in Tallahassee, our daughter and granddaughter left our apartment early to get a good seat in the reserved area.

     Then on schedule, a man in a bright red hat and white flowing robes appeared, standing in a cart, a cart being pushed through the crowds on assigned paths, surrounded by security guards.

     It was Pope Benedict XVI in person..

     It was electric, and if you can see by the photos accompanying this chapter, everyone had a camera, and as the Pope passed, all cameras were held in the air to get a picture.

     You probably have seen St. Peter's Square on TV during significant religious moments, such as Easter, when the entire St. Peter's Square is jammed with people, This event wasn't that crowded, but the faithful still number a few thousand.

As the pope left his cart and mounted the steps of the church, he sat under a canopy, and a priest changed his red hat for a white one, then he delivered a greeting in several languages to the assembled.

     When the Pope was in his cart, I was at the rail as he passed, and snapped some great closeups. Although not Catholic myself, but having grown up in Catholic families, the event still was meaningful. So here you are, in front of one of the greatest cathedrals in the world, standing in the square of one of the greatest historical locations in the world, and one of the greatest men of peace passes in front or you.

     How impressive is that?

     Let's talk about the popes. I'll take these next few paragraphs from the book, Insight Guides to Italy, facts and figures on the popes.

     “There have been 263 popes. The shortest reign of a pope was that of Stephen II, who died four days after his election in March 752. At the other extreme, the 19^th century's Pius IX, famous for his practical jokes and his love of billiards, headed the Holy See for 32 years. The youngest pope on record, John XI, was just 16 when he took the helm in 931; the oldest, Gregory IX, managed to survive 14 years after his election in 1227 at the age of 86.

     While the great majority have been of either Roman or Italian extraction, Spain, Greece, Syria, France and Germany have all been represented, and there has been at least one of African Birth (Miltiades, 311-14), and one hailing from England (Hadrian IV, 1154-9). John Paul II was the first Pole to lead the Catholic Church. At least 14 popes abdicated or were deposed from office. Ten popes met violent deaths, including a record three in a row in the 10^th century.”

     As we sat there in St. Peters Square, I had my 26 power lens on the camera, and panned around the statuary atop the colonnades later to learn that the figures are of former saints, members who set examples for the love of God. Also, on the church itself, on the top of each side of the facade, there are clocks, perfectly in sync with one another.

     I also learned that in ancient times, this area was part of the Roman circus, where chariot races were held, and executions, including St. Peter on the site where his church would stand in subsequent future centuries. The obelisk is from Egypt brought to Rome in 37 AD by Emperor Caligula. It's a sundial too, a solar symbol communicating with the devine.

     On this day, the only chariot was the pope's cart, winding its way through the crowds—twice.

     Some details on the colonnades. Actually, it's an elliptical space, with 284 Doric columns, four deep. The space was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and constructed between 1657-1667 during the pontificates of Alexander VII and Clement IX.

     Piazza San Pietro (St. Peters Square) is part of Vatican City, 100 acres of the world's smallest independent sovereign entity, as small as new York City's Central Park.

A pause in the action

We are going to pause here in our journey for a review

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1. This blog is getting long, and if you read the current chapter at the top of the blog, Part 2 of the War in Tuscany, I am sure you have discovered that you can stroll down several chapters past this one and discover some you may have missed The blog starts with our visit to Cretaiole, a week stay in a farm house in Tuscany, and our drive touring the farm roads and hillside villages.

2. If you missed the first chapter, look left, and see the “archive list” then click on July 17, for chapter one. Also at left, and you will have to scroll down a little to find them, there are several slide shows. You see them changing pictures. Click on the picture shown, let the slide photo come up, then click on “full screen,” and let the show begin. You an adjust the time between the frames at the bottom of the photos.
3. The chapters are added each Tuesday and Friday, so check your schedule to catch the latest editions.
4.  Tuesday and the approach of the storm, and due to the high probability there will be no power, this will be the entry, posting it Monday night.. Also, I will ad some photos of Florence.
5. The precaution against power is real, Monday morning, we awoke with no power, even though there had not yet been the slightest threat of storm. Tallahassee utilities in our part of town constantly fights falling trees and power outagesI hope you are enjoying these reports, and if you are planning a trip to Italy, I hope these missives give you some desire to do so.
6. Some of these chapters have a comment box on the bottom, so please let me hear from you, and comment. We are not through yet.
7.  After Florence, it's on to Rome for four days, then Venice for four days plus a visit in Venice to the world's most unusual bookstore where you can either walk in from the street through the front door, or disembark from your boat from the canal through the back door...or is it the other way around?

Some views of Florence

Tired toursts take a break outside the Uffizi musem in Florence

Statuary on the Duomo in Florence

Side view of the Duomo in Florence

Lean lights a candle in basilica in Florence

War in Tuscany Part II

Chapter 14 Part two,

The War in Tuscany

Part 2

     We have a Purple Heart in our house, mostly forgotten, somewhere in a box, or in a drawer, in the attic...somewhere.

     It was awarded to my step-dad, Joseph A. Ure, fighting in the US Army, part of the Allied forces in Italy, 1943-1945. A piece of shrapnel from a cannon shot sliced into the muscle in one of his arms. They fixed him up, got his arm working again, and he became one of the hundred of thousands of soldiers of WWII, living into his 80s, who in 2006 faded away, the last of this Greatest Generation.

     Think of this. You are a peasant farmer in Tuscany in 1943 and 1944. The country has been ruled by Fascists and dictator Mussolini since 1922. You are tired of the war, Mussolini too wants out, the Allies demand surrender of your troops and ships, Hitler says NO and sends in thousands of his troops to occupy the country.

     Now you have the Germans, the Allied invasion of the country coming up the interior, the Fascists who think they are still in power and attempt to put together an army, then partisan resistance against Germans which generates into a civil war between the Fascists and partisans..

     What do you do? Where are your loyalties?.

     In Tuscany, what you would like to do is tend your crops, press the olives for olive oil, press the grapes for wine, milk the goats for pecorino cheese, take care of your family and live in peace, become a-political.

     But, and a big but, the Albert line of defense, the defense line where the Germans take a stand to halt the Allies coming up the peninsula, runs right through your back yard.

     In the previous report, we discussed The war in Tuscany particularly the war in Val d'Orcia, and in particular the huge estate of La Foce. It was here at La Foce where Iris Origo was writing a daily diary of how it affected their lives, too busy to be afraid.

     In the farm roads surrounding the estate, partisan activity is at its peak. Every night German soldiers and trucks are ambushed along the supply routes towards the Albert line of defense. The Germans retaliate with unrestrained brutality. Mass killings begin of the peasants – 83 are executed in Niccolete, 40 in Gubbio, 30 in Bottola, 212 men, women and children in Civitilla

     On June 16, the Allies break through to Orvieto, 20 miles south of La Foce, halfway to Chiusi, 10 miles away. On June 18, German troops set up artillery forces on La Foce. Troops take over the villa. The war continues to level historic towns and villages, hundreds of years old.

     All troops passing through the towns and farms, Allies and Germans alike, loot food and household goods from the peasants. One American soldier tells a farmer, “when in war, there is a good chance you will be killed. Moral considerations don't carry much weight.”

     With the war in their front yard, the Origos of La Foce and the 23 children under their care, the local farmers and the workers of their land, evacuate and relocate in Montepulciano

Iris Origo reports in her diary:

     June 27 – The line of fire has been all along the hillside. The allies have at last retaken Chiusi and are pushing on towards Chianciano, We watch their progress by the artillery fire which we can see from our balcony. German sappers are already mining the bridge immediately beneath this house: we watch the dynamite being prepared, open all the windows and wonder when the explosion will be.

     Beneath our windows, the Allied and German forces appear to be dancing, the Lancers, back and forth, forward and back. Now, the gunfire seems nearer, and our spirits rise, now it is farther again, and they fall.

     No military news of any kind. The Allies still appear to be between Chiusi and Chianciano. But in the night some German tanks have gone northwards, and we see little clouds of explosions all over the valley, where ammunition is being blown up

     In the afternoon, the Germans blow up some houses inside the town to obstruct the inner road, and also destroy the magnificent Medicione gateway at the foot of the town.

June 28 – At eleven pm., Allied batteries in the direction of Monticchiello opened fire on the German batteries just beyond Montepulciano and the firing continued all night. At 4:30 am., there was a huge explosion which shook the entire town. The bridge into town had been blown up. At dawn, everyone went out to see the bridge — the rest of us settled down to two hours of unbroken, blessed sleep.

     The Germans have gone at last.

     July 1 – And now we have come home. Plenty of shell and bomb-holes on the road and in the fields. At La Foce, chaos meets our eyes. The house is still standing with only one shell hole in the garden facade, another on the fattoria, and several in the roof. In the garden, which has also got several shell holes and trenches for machine-guns, they have stripped the pots off the lemons and azaleas, leaving the plants to die.

    The ground is strewn with my private letters and photographs, mattresses and furniture stuffing. The inside of the house is far worse. The Germans have stolen everything that took their fancy, blankets, clothes, shoes and toys as well as of anything value or eatable, and have deliberately destroyed much of anything sentimental or personal value.

     In the lower part of the property, where the French coloured troops of the Fifth Army have passed, The Goums have completed what the Germans have begun. They regard loot and rape as the just reward for battle, and have indulged freely in both. Not only girls and young women, but even an old women of eighty has been raped. Such has been the Val d'Orcia's first introduction to Allied rule-- so long and so eagerly awaited.

     July 5 – We have been around to see the most damaged farms. Many are totally destroyed; in others, one or two rooms have no roof. In all of them, the looting has been thorough; either the Germans or the Goums (Moroccan soldiers attached to the French Army of Africa) have taken all that was not destroyed by shells or fire. All the farms have lost their cooking utensils, their linen, most of their blankets and their dearly prized furniture bought one piece at a time, year by year, and all their clothes. Now, almost 50 farms have to be provided for. Where will we find linen, blankets or shoes. The place is still strewn with unburied corpses both of men and cattle.

     Nevertheless, for the future, I am hopeful. The whirlwind has passed, and now, whatever destruction it may have left, we can build again. And it is here that the deepest qualities of the Italian people will have a chance to show themselves. The Fascist and German menaces are receding. The day will come when at last the boys will return to their ploughs, and the dusty clay-hills of the Val d'Orcia will again blossom like the rose. Destruction and death have visited us, but now – there is hope in the future.

Finally--

     Yes, they did rebuild. And if you travel these same roads today, you will see few remnants of the war. They did rebuild, and today, the Val d'Orcia and Tuscany blooms like a rose with its olive groves, fields of wheat, vineyards and picturesque farms. The largest Provence in Italy, is considered one of the Edens on Earth. And it is.

     A note about the War in Italy – from 1943-1945, 60,000 Allied and 50,000 German soldiers died. In all, Allied casualties totaled 320,00 compared to German casualties of 336,000. No campaign cost more in lives lost and wounds suffered than the Italian campaign. In Tuscany as the Germans retreated in 1944, the war on the peasants continued as another 3,650 lost their lives.

You can go there: www.lafoce.com See how it has transformed.

* Some readings: War in Val D'Orcia – An Italian War Diary 1943-1944 by Iris Origo, 1947. Used copies available through www.abebooks.com for about $10.

* Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War, 1944-1945 by James Holland, 2008. Available through Amazon.com

* Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in WWII by Arthur Herman, 2012, available in bookstores or through Amazon.com.