Culture

Art, Food and the air of Rome. Curated by Lucy Gordon

Planning a pilgrimage to Italy for the 2025 Jubilee

By Mother Martha In 1300 Pope Boniface VIII proclaimed the first ordinary Jubilee, or Holy Year, with the Papal Bull, “Antiquorum Habet Fida Relatio.”  Since then, they have taken place either every 50 or every 25 years. 2025’s Holy Year is the 27th.  It began on Christmas Eve 2024 and will last through Epiphany, January 6, [...]

Archbishop Aldo Cavalli on “the Holy Spirit at work in Medjugorje”

The Vatican has approved the “emergent spirituality” of Medjugorje in recent pronouncements. The Apostolic Visitor appointed by Pope Francis talks about why By Christine Mugridge* Map with tourist sites in Medjugorje, Bosnia and Herzegovina. In Nazareth, the young “pre-teen” was caught by surprise during her time of prayer through the greeting of the heavenly [...]

“The Treasure of the Holy Land” on Display in Florence

By Lucy Gordan The Altar of Calvary before being sent to Florence for Restoration (Courtesy of Brother Stéphane Milovitch) Brother Stéphane Milovitch (Courtesy of Terra Sancta Museum) The 109 spectacular masterpieces on display until January 8, 2025 at the Marino Marini Museum in Florence chronicle more than five centuries of sacred art. [...]

The Appian Way: Directions, Sights and Gastronomy

By Mother Martha On July 31, UNESCO proclaimed the Via Appia, or Appian Way, Italy’s 60th World Heritage Site. Running about 500 miles from Rome south to Brindisi and lined with cypresses and umbrella pines, the Via Appia was begun in 312 BC by its namesake, the blind Censor Apppius Claudius Caecus, for military reasons. Nicknamed [...]

Christmas Art Essay: The Incarnation in the Words of the Church Fathers

Scenes from the life of Jesus Christ, triptych, Constantinople, crimson ivory, late 10th century. In the central panel is the model used, from Giotto on, in the iconography of the nativity, both in the East and in the West What shall we offer Thee, O Christ, who for our sake hast appeared on [...]

When in Rome, where to eat like a Roman

By Mother Martha The ancient Romans were the world’s first gourmets. They owe their obsession with food, at least in part, to fellow citizen Marcus Gabius. Better known as Apicius, he was a wealthy decadent epicure who in the first century wrote De Re Coquinaria (Concerning Culinary Matters), the world’s first cookbook. He specialized in [...]

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