Following up on my story Monday about the Vatican’s temporary suspension of credit card use inside Vatican City (museums, stores, etc.), I’d like to suggest that you try using your credit card online to reserve Vatican Museum tours, the scavi, etc. I received an email from a friend who told me that successful reservations for the scavi had been made with an online payment. Sounds like it would be worth a try.
Today I repeat the story about the nativity scene designed by Rome’s street sweepers, adding the photos missing yesterday because of email problems at EWTN headquarters.
PAPAL SECRETARY FEATURED ON COVER OF VANITY FAIR
Pope Benedict’s private secretary, newly ordained Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, graces the cover of the Italian edition of Vanity Fair this month is what has become a global media sensation. The magazine entitles the story “Fr. Georg, being handsome is not a sin,” and says the papal secretary was not interviewed for the story.
Abp. Gaenswein was also recently named by the Pope as prefect of the Papal Household, effectively doubling his duties and, according to many Vatican insiders and pundits, doubling his power and effectiveness as a doorkeeper. He has been dubbed the “George Clooney” of the Vatican and “Gorgeous George” by the Italian media, with one commentator saying he is a look-a-like for 007 actor Daniel Craig.Abp. Gaenswein, 56, has been the Holy Father’s private secretary for 10 years. In that time we have learned from rare interviews that he is also a pilot, likes to keep fit by playing tennis, and has authored several books,
Six years ago Italian designer Donatella Versace came out with what she called her “Clergyman Collection,” saying it had been inspired by then Fr. Gaenswein.
VATICAN MUSEUMS AND A CONFERENCE ON COFFINS
I received an email about a Vatican-sponsored conference that piqued my curiosity, an event I’ll put on my calendar for June. The email said, “The Vatican Museums, in collaboration with the Musée du Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden in Leiden, is organizing an international conference entitled "First Vatican Coffin Conference" which will take place over four days from 19-22 June 2013.
It added that, “For the first time internationally renowned scholars will compare their findings on all the themes relating to the coffins which so clearly express the clerical culture of Thebes in the Third Intermediate Period. The approach will be multidisciplinary and will link historical and textual-iconographic analysis with the most sophisticated scientific technology that has been applied to the study of both the materials used and the painting techniques, as well as restoration.”
The reference is to Thebes, Egypt, not Thebes, Greece. I have been fascinated since childhood with ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, reading books about these cultures from a very young age when I was first allowed to go to our local library alone as a youngster. I don’t know how this fascination was born as my parents were not historians, teachers or world travelers (until their later years), but it is still alive (even though I have yet to visit Greece).
The news has been picked up by a number of organizations including the Egypt Exploration Society and the International Committee for Egyptology.
ROME STREET SWEEPERS CELEBRATE BIRTH OF JESUS ALL YEAR LONG
A must-visit nativity scene in Rome, at Christmas time and all year long, is that built by Rome’s Netturbini or street cleaners of AMA, the municipal waste management company. Pope John Paul visited this presepe all but the last two years of his 26-year pontificate. Other visitors have included Pope Benedict XVI, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a succession of Rome’s mayors and Italian politicians and Father Ibrahim Faltas, Custodian of the Nativity Grotto in Bethlehem.
Tucked away in an ex-storeroom on Via dei Cavalleggeri 5, a side street just minutes from St. Peter’s Square, you can easily think you are mistaken when you walk up to the building in a setting that is so unpretentious that anyone not in the know would walk right past. The entrance at number 5, in fact, is a doorway leading into a courtyard that houses an unprepossessing block of apartments with laundry hanging from balconies. The AMA Christmas site is in the center, and there are signs on nearby streets that lead the visitor to this site.
The crib scene is an extraordinary work of craftsmanship, born in 1972 when Giuseppe Ianni, then an AMA employee and now retired, suggested that AMA build its own nativity scene, such as those constructed annually by firemen, policeman, etc. The first AMA village was created in 1972 but it is actually open all year round, though Ianni always adds new features – houses, bridges, an aqueduct here and there.
Forty years ago, Ianni, then a street cleaner, said, “I will set up the most beautiful Nativity Scene in Rome and also the Pope will come and visit it.” Little did he know!
Like most traditional Roman cribs, the AMA manger scene is a fanciful representation of the town of Bethlehem, incorporating a number of Roman monuments and set within a grotto. Ianni told me on my first visit – and gave me a brochure “so you will always have the information - that the buildings are all constructed in masonry and can withstand the weight of three men.
The manger scene, which started as a little cluster of houses at the very back of the grotto, has expanded over the years as Ianni patiently added more and more elements. It consists of a hundred houses ablaze with individual lights representing hearth fires and oil lamps glowing behind doors and shutters, thanks to a complex wiring job involving 95 light bulbs set up by AMA fellow-worker Gabriele Tassotti.
This photo was taken before Christmas so Baby Jesus is not in the manger crib.
Three rivers, crossed by seven bridges, flow for a total of 28 feet through the town. Two of these feed a 50-foot-long Roman aqueduct that snakes through the heart of the composition. This aqueduct is made of marble pieces from Bernini’s colonnade of St Peter’s that were discarded when it was restored in 1999 (and it is undergoing a total restoration today as I wrote this column in 2013. A new aqueduct was added in 2008. Other marble fragments were used to build many of the 870 stone steps connecting the cobbled streets and houses.
However, one of the most fascinating parts of this particular manger scene is its concrete base. This is encrusted with over 1,400 different stones brought by pilgrims and visitors from all over the world. “Over a hundred and fifty different places are represented here,” Ianni told me on a recent visit, as he pointed out the names written beneath each little stone. “This tradition started because people wanted to donate money, but I thought that would have profaned the spirit of the crib. I told people to bring a stone instead as a goodwill gesture for peace on earth.”
If you visit, ask for Giuseppe Ianni and tell him that Joan of EWTN sent you!
HOURS:
DECEMBER 15 TO JANUARY 30: Daily 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m.
FEBRUARY TO DECEMBER 14: Daily 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m.
SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS: 8 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Write to Joan at:
joansrome@ewtn.com
CLICK HERE FOR
PRACTICAL INFORMATION ON VISITING THE VATICAN.
View Joan's videos at :
www.youtube.com/joansrome
