MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY FEAST OF ST. STEPHEN!

Today, December 26, the day after Christmas, is also a big holiday in Italy, the feast of St. Stephen, Santo Stefano, so, depending on one’s work, Italians had from two to four days off in this holiday period. The hospitality industry, of course, was vibrant with activity over the weekend but most restaurants, coffee bars, etc, closed Christmas Day and today. This is such a wonderful idea as it allows families to be together for these important religious festivities. And remember, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family next Sunday, December 31.

By the way, happy onomastico or name day to all those with the name Stephen!

These are a few photos from my celebrations of the last two days. Sunday, December 24 began, of course, with Mass at St. Patrick’s, the church in Rome for Catholic Americans and other English-speaking Catholics. Newt and Callista Gingrich, very good friends for many years, have been coming to Rome at Christmas the past few years and attended the 10:30 Mass at St. Patrick’s.  Afterwards we went to one of our favorite brunch spots, Homebaked, to have a great meal and spend time with dear friends, Jesse and Carolina Smeal, our wonderful hosts!

Christmas Day began as it always should, with a beautiful, joyful Mass at St. Patrick’s. I was a lector, as I had been on Sunday, always an honor and joy, as you can see in this photo that Callista took.  Photos also feature our very special Paulist Fathers Greg Apparcel and Matt Berrios, who celebrated Mass, Peter Alegi, a longtime parishioner and lawyer and Daniel, our wonderful sacristan. The Paulists will mark 102 years of serving Catholics in Rome in January 2024!

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A terrific Christmas lunch – and a good portion of the afternoon! – was celebrated at Il Matriciano restaurant, a big favorite of Romans!

Days to remember with a warm heart and a big smile on my face!  I credit Callista with all the photos because I have been laboring with a mobility issue due to back pain that I’ve had for over a week and just getting around was my main focus! Callista is such a good photographer that I let her tell the story!

I hope that all of you, my wonderful readers, many of whom have become friends over the years, had a very special Christmas and that its spirit lasts well into the New Year! In fact, may it be with you and yours throughout the year!  I always keep some reminder of Christmas up all year – a nativity set, a special ornament in plain sight, a small pillow with the words ‘Merry Christmas’.

VATICAN INSIDER: CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S IN THE ETERNAL CITY – MY GIFT TO YOU: “ONE SOLITARY LIFE”

VATICAN INSIDER: CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR’S IN THE ETERNAL CITY

I have prepared a Special this weekend for the interview segment of Vatican Insider and offer you a journey to the Vatican and the Eternal City of Rome to experience the traditions celebrated for Christmas and the New Year.

These photos are from one of my favorite Nativity scenes in St. Peter’s Square, the 2019 presepe and tree…

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I wish all of you – my blog readers, TV viewers and radio listeners – a very blessed, spiritually special Christmas with the Lord’s most abundant blessings!

See you after Christmas!

IN THE UNITED STATES, you can listen to Vatican Insider (VI) on a Catholic radio station near you (stations listed at www.ewtn.com) or on channel 130 Sirius-XM satellite radio, or on http://www.ewtn.com. OUTSIDE THE U.S., you can listen to EWTN radio on our website home page by clicking on the right side where you see “LISTEN TO EWTN.” VI airs at 5am and 9pm ET on Saturdays and 6am ET on Sundays. On the GB-IE feed (which is on SKY in the UK and Ireland), VI airs at 5:30am, 12 noon and 10pm CET on Sundays. Both of these feeds are also available on the EWTN app and on www.ewtnradio.net ALWAYS CHECK YOUR OWN TIME ZONE! For VI archives: go to https://www.ewtn.com/radio/audio-archive and write the name of the guest for whom you are serarching in the SEARCH box. Below that, will appear “Vatican Insider” – click on that and the link to that particular episode will appear.

MY GIFT TO YOU: “ONE SOLITARY LIFE”

This powerful Christmas column by late columnist Jimmy Bishop will surely leave you speechless for its beauty, simplicity and yet depth of understanding. I heard this for the first time a number of years ago when Andy Williams recited this in one of his Christmas albums:

“He was born in an obscure village, the Child of a peasant teen who knew not man. He grew up in another obscure village, where He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never married or owned a home. He never held a job, yet paid taxes. He never set foot inside a metropolis. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never wrote a book, or held an office. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He received no awards, no medals, no prizes from His peers.

“While He was still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. His friends deserted Him. He was turned over to His enemies, and went through the mockery of a trial. He had no lawyers, no friendly juries, no fair hearing. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had – His cloak. After He died, He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave. Those who stood watch could not explain His disappearance.

“And yet two thousand years have come and gone, and today He is still the central figure for much of the human race. All the armies that ever marched and al the navies that ever sailed and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as this ‘One Solitary Life-.”

VATICAN INSIDER: CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR IN ROME AND THE VATICAN – POPE EMERITUS RESTED WELL OVERNIGHT, HEALTH SITUATION STABLE

Allow me to wish all of you who follow me – my blog readers, radio listeners and TV viewers – a happy, healthy, fulfilling, peaceful and joy-filled New Year!. May it be better in every way possible than the year we are leaving!

I’ll be back on this page – save for breaking news – on January 2, 2023! So, see you next year!

VATICAN INSIDER: CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS AND THE NEW YEAR IN ROME AND THE VATICAN

Welcome to Vatican Insider on this Christmas and New Year’s weekend. After all, don’t forget that it is still the Christmas season! In what is usually the interview segment after the News, I have prepared what I hope is a fascinating Christmas story, a Special in which I bring you to Italy to learn how the Vatican and Rome and Italians celebrate Christmas and New Year’s. Christmastide is as wonderful here as you can imagine, and I think you’ll want to invite family members, especially children, to sit around and listen!

POPE EMERITUS RESTED WELL OVERNIGHT, HEALTH SITUATION STABLE

The Director of the Holy See Press Office on Friday said Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s health condition remains stable.

By Vatican News

In a response to questions from journalists, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, on Friday confirmed that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s health condition remains stable at this time. He added that yesterday evening Benedict XVI was able to have a good rest, and earlier in the afternoon he participated in the celebration of Mass in his room.

Vatican news file photo of Benedict XVI and his personal secretary, Abp. Georg Gaenswein –

In related news, at 5:30 pm Rome time on today, Mass was celebrated at the basilica of St. John Lateran, remembering in prayer Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his health. Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, vicar of the Diocese of Rome, presided over the celebration.

The Diocese of Rome encouraged “parish communities, chaplaincies, religious men and women, all the faithful of the diocese and all the men and women of good will who live in Rome,” to gather in prayer for Benedict XVI,  “remembering with gratitude the road travelled together with our bishop emeritus,” and accompanying him now “in this time of suffering and hardship, praying to the Lord that He may console him and sustain him in his witness of love for the Church until the end.”

 

A HOMEY CHRISTMAS IN ROME

A HOMEY CHRISTMAS IN ROME

There’s “Joan’s Rome” and there’s Joan’s home! A home in which I love to welcome visitors and have guests for dinner or even a happy hour with some great prosecco! My dining room table is always set for 4 people – I mean, you never know!

I love the seasons, and try to set the table so you know when you see it that we are in summer, fall, winter, spring but especially Christmas and Easter.

Two choices for Christmas…

Welcome to Christmas!   It starts at my front door…

And continues in my entryway with the nativity set from Bethlehem…

Let’s walk down the hall to my office….

And the stockings are hung by Joan’s bar with great care….

There’s always an Advent calendar….

In the dining room, you’ll find Jingle Bear, sitting on a small rocking chair my paternal grandmother gave me when I was 3….

The living room features my Lladro nativity scene (up all year)….

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…And my tree and many of my favorite ornaments! The pink baby rattle is mine – my Mom hung it as an ornament on our Christmas tree every year, starting with my first Christmas. It still goes on my tree!  I love tradition!

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