DUTCH FLORISTS CREATE A FLORAL HEAVEN IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE

DUTCH FLORISTS CREATE A FLORAL HEAVEN IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE

For decades, it has been Dutch florists who have provided the floral decorations for St. Peter’s Square for Easter. It is always a true labor of love – not just growing the flowers but, extremely important, packing them correctly in the huge vans that bring them to Rome so that they arrive fresh and unbroken.

Work began yesterday and continued today, despite rain and chilly weather. It will be wonderful to see the final product – the final arrangement of the 35,000 plus flowers!

A number of times in the past I have gone to the square and taken photos on Easter Sunday, after Mass, long after the flowers, shrubs, etc. had been placed in the square by the Dutch florists. I always loved the moment and prayed my parents were watching from heaven as they were marvelous gardeners! We always had enough property to have flourishing gardens and this was their passion.

The flowers you see in this slideshow were taken by a vaticanista colleague with permission to share. Thanks to Hendro Munsterman who writes for Nederlands Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper, we have these great images!

One photo shows bouquets of pink roses. These were delivered to the press office for the journalists who write about the Dutch floral display in the Vatican.

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Vatican news published this on April 1:

To celebrate Easter and to express the joy of the resurrection of Christ, Saint Peter’s Square will be transformed into a garden in bloom. More than 35,000 flowers and plants from the Netherlands will carpet the parvis of the Vatican Basilica. The floral decorations will be created by the workers of the Garden and Environment Service of the Directorate of Infrastructure and Services of the Governorate, with the collaboration of Floral Designer Daniela Canu. Dutch florists and floristry professors from Naklo in Slovenia will also contribute.

Together they will work throughout the whole day of Good Friday to prepare and finish the decorations by the following day. World of Spray Roses – Creative and Innovative Sprayroses Inspiration Worldwide Rose Alliance will provide some 720 roses, delivered to the Service via Flora Netherlands, in cooperation with Dr Charles Lansdorp.

Not only on the occasion of the Solemnity of Easter, but throughout Holy Week, Saint Peter’s Square will be adorned with flower arrangements and decorations. This will be carried out by the in-house workers of the Governorate of the Vatican City State, in cooperation with those who have offered plants and flowers.

In particular, for Palm Sunday, 2 April, olive twigs will be distributed, provided by the National Association of Oil Cities, by the mayors of the Oil Cities of Umbria Region, coordinated by Dr. Antonio Balenzano, national director of the Association.

The “Phoenix palms” will be provided by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. Palm trees from the city of Sanremo will also be present.

The wholesale floricultural company Flora Olanda of Rome will lend the large olive trees to be positioned near the statues of Saints Peter and Paul, at the foot of the parvis, and the obelisk.

 

VATICAN INSIDER: THE STORY OF A VOCATION – POPE FRANCIS: I WANT TO GO TO ARGENTINA – ST. PETER’S TO HOST MONTHLY EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

There are many excellent, trustworthy websites for people who are either just slightly curious about stories from or about the Vatican or perhaps ardent followers of all news papal and Vatican. Of course I am prejudiced but obviously two of those are in the EWTN family, the National Catholic Register and CNA, Catholic News Agency. A more recent addition to Catholic news sources is www.pillarcatholic.com, especially with its Tuesday and Friday email editions.

The March 10 issue is important for a number of stories but especially for the big news of the week at an ongoing Vatican trial regarding charges of financial misdeeds, embezzlement, money laundering, fraud and other accusations. One of the accused is Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former number two in the Vatican’s Secretariat of State and former prefect of the Dicastery for Causes of Saints.

If you go to the link and scroll down to the title “He’s just not that into you” you can read the exchange of letters between Pope Francis and Cardinal Becciu who had asked the Pope to basically stand behind him in the trial. These amazing missives were part of the latest session of the court and there is video as well (in Italian, naturally).

VATICAN INSIDER: THE STORY OF A VOCATION

Welcome to a new edition of “Vatican Insider” featuring news stories from the Vatican and an always-interesting interview segment.

My guest in the interview segment is Fr. Brad Easterbrooks, although he was a Deacon studying in Rome when I interviewed him for Vatican Insider just before his priestly ordination. The first part of our conversation aired last weekend when we looked at his pre-seminary years – work at a consulting firm and on political campaigns, law school, then the Navy and assignment as a lawyer for JAG (remember the TV show “JAG” – Judge Advocate General!).

Fr. Brad has such an amazing story – one that continues following his ordination in June 2022 – that I wanted to offer an encore presentation. Part II this weekend!

On his ordination day (photo from Military Archdiocese of the U.S.- Father Bradley David Easterbrooks, LTJG, USNR, a candidate for United States Military chaplaincy)

Poway, CA_ordination of two priests at St. Gabriel’s Church

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 searching in the SEARCH box. Below that, will appear “Vatican Insider” – click on that and the link to that particular episode will appear.

POPE FRANCIS: I WANT TO GO TO ARGENTINA

Pope Francis is interviewed by the Argentinean website Infobae, on the 10th anniversary of his pontificate. He discusses his hopes for change in Venezuela, an end to the war in Ukraine, the situation in Nicaragua, the “discipline” of celibacy, “evil resistances” in the Church, and his vow to Our Lady not to watch television.

By Salvatore Cernuzio (vaticannews)

Above all, Pope Francis focuses on Central and South America in an interview he gave to the Argentine news site Infobae, a few days before the celebration of the tenth anniversary of his pontificate. He discusses his desire for a trip to Argentina, his hope for change in Venezuela and the denunciation of a “crude dictatorship” in Nicaragua. In the interview at Santa Marta with portal owner Daniel Hadad, the Pontiff ranges from geopolitical issues, such as the war in Ukraine, to ecclesial issues, such as his approach towards homosexual people and the role of women, to more personal topics (“Why don’t you watch TV anymore?”).

For answers to that question and others: Pope Francis: I want to go to Argentina – Vatican News

ST. PETER’S TO HOST MONTHLY EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

(CNA – Hannah Brockhaus) St. Peter’s Basilica will now host an hour of Eucharistic adoration on its front portico once a month.

Beginning March 14, adoration will take place every second Tuesday from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the parvise in front of the Vatican basilica leading to St. Peter’s Square.

The Holy Hour, according to a press release, is part of the pastoral initiatives of the basilica.

The March 14 adoration will be led by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, OFM Conv, who is the archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica. The prayer will be offered for Pope Francis in light of his 10th anniversary as pope.

For more: St. Peter’s Basilica to hold monthly eucharistic adoration on portico | Catholic News Agency

 

A SAILOR, AN OBELISK AND A PAPAL PROMISE

A SAILOR, AN OBELISK AND A PAPAL PROMISE

It is time once again to tell you the marvelous story of how a sailor from Liguria saved an obelisk from falling and extracted a papal promise of an honor for his native city.

In 1586, Pope Sixtus V, wanting to complete the design of St. Peter’s Square, ordered architect Domenico Fontana to place in the center of the square a giant Egyptian obelisk that had been brought to Rome in 39 A.D. by Emperor Caligula. For centuries it has been in the emperor’s circus in what today is Vatican City, and moving the obelisk from that point to the center of St. Peter’s Square would be a Herculean task.

The obelisk had been in the Vatican gardens, near the first Constantinian basilica (dedicated in 326), and had lain there, forgotten, for many years under layers of mud and stagnant water. Giacomo della Porta was asked by Sixtus V to recover the obelisk and, struck by its majestic beauty, the Pope asked that engineers study a project to raise the obelisk in St. Peter’s Square.

On September 10, the day the 85-foot high, 350-ton obelisk was transported by 900 workers, 140 horses and 44 winches, Benedetto Bresca, a ship’s captain from the Italian Riviera area of San Remo-Bordighera, was in the square.

The head engineer had told Pope Sixtus that total silence was needed to raise the obelisk, once it was in the square. Thus, the Pope announced to the huge crowd that had assembled to watch the manoeuver that anyone who spoke during the delicate and risky operation would face very severe penalties.

As work was underway, the ropes used to raise the obelisk gave signs of fraying and weakening and the obelisk itself began to sway. However, Benedetto, as a sailor, knew what the problem was – and how to solve it – and so, notwithstanding the pontiff’s ultimatum, he shouted “water on the ropes, water on the ropes.” The head engineer realized the sailor was right, the ropes were watered, they became taut and strong and the obelisk was raised, without further danger to anyone.

Instead of punishing the audacious sailor, Pope Sixtus rewarded him by giving Benedetto and his descendants the privilege of providing the Vatican with the famous Ligurian palms used for Holy Week ceremonies in the Vatican. And so it has been for over four centuries, with only a few brief interruptions.

Known as parmureli, the leaves from date palm trees in San Remo and Bordighera are woven and braided into intricate sculptures, some only inches high, while others are perhaps two meters high. (photos from Cosa sono i Parmureli? – Sanremofiorita)

Some years, more than 200 of the six-foot high parmureli are sent to the Vatican from Liguria for Palm Sunday – for the Pope, cardinals, archbishops, etc. (Vatican photo 2022)

Many years ago, when the parmureli arrived by sea, the ship that carried them placed one of the palm leaf sculptures on the mast that usually displayed a flag. The palm “flag” thus gave that vessel from San Remo-Bordighera precedence into the port over all other vessels.

This is one of my favorite stories to tell young children (have photos handy) and teens and everyone who visits Rome.

I also did a “Joan’s Rome” video with this story: Joan’s Rome – St. Peter’s Square Obelisk – YouTube

VATICAN INSIDER: TWO PRIESTS, TWO BROTHERS, TWO TALES OF PRIESTHOOD – CARDINAL PAROLIN: AVOID ESCALATION IN UKRAINE, BUCHA CIVILIAN MASSACRE “INEXPLICABLE” – FLORISTS, GARDENERS AND TECHNICAL WORKERS TO BEAUTIFY ST. PETER’S SQUARE FOR EASTER

VATICAN INSIDER: TWO PRIESTS, TWO BROTHERS, TWO TALES OF PRIESTHOOD

My guests this week in the interview segment of Vatican Insider are two of my dearest friends, two priests, two brothers, native Chicagoans, who are both in Rome at the same time: Msgr. Michael Boland, a consultant to Catholic Charities USA following 30 magnificent years as head of Catholic Charities in the archdiocese of Chicago, and his brother Fr. Jeremiah Boland, pastor of a parish I know and love, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glenview, Illinois. Fr. Jerry is in Rome on sabbatical at the North American College’s Institute of Continuing Theological Education.

They both recently celebrated anniversaries of their priesthood : Fr. Jerry 40 years, Msgr Michael, 35.

They are two of my most cherished friends and, as I note in our conversation, there are two things that bind us in friendship: celebration of the Eucharist, Mass, and meals! I know you will hear that friendship when we talk!

I forgot to take a photo while they were in my office but here we are, breaking bread, after I conducted the interview (Fr. Jerry on the left; Msgr. Michael on the right)

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 searching in the SEARCH box. Below that, will appear “Vatican Insider” – click on that and the link to that particular episode will appear.

CARDINAL PAROLIN: AVOID ESCALATION IN UKRAINE; BUCHA CIVILIAN MASSACRE “INEXPLICABLE” 

On the sidelines of an event at Vatican Radio, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin comments on the recent revelations of the massacre of civilians in Bucha, and confirms the possibility of a papal trip to Kyiv and a separate meeting with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill. Parolin: Avoid escalation in Ukraine, Bucha civilian massacre ‘inexplicable’ – Vatican News

FLORISTS, GARDENERS AND TECHNICAL WORKERS TO BEAUTIFY ST. PETER’S SQUARE FOR EASTER

You may recall that, in January, I published a piece about Dutch Florists who, for the first time in 35 years, would not be able to embellish St. Peter’s Square for Easter with thousands of flowers, plants, palm trees and shrubs: 35-YEAR TRADITION OF DUTCH FLOWERS IN THE VATICAN AT EASTER TO END  | Joan’s Rome (wordpress.com)

Well, it seems from a press release today from the Governorate of Vatican City State that there will still be some Dutch participation:

Continuing the Holy Week tradition of decorating St. Peter’s Square with hundreds of floral compositions and decorations, workers from the Infrastructure and Services Service of the Governorate of Vatican City State will prepare the altar area of the square, working alongside those who have offered plants and flowers. In particular, on Palm Sunday, April 10, olive branches provided by the National Association of the City of Olio, by the mayors of the City of Olio and the Lazio Region, and by the Caputo family of Taranto in the Puglia Region will be distributed.

The supply of “Phoenix palms” ** will be handled by the Supreme Pontiff’s Office for Liturgical Celebrations. Parmureli from the city of Sanremo will also be present.

The Flora Olanda wholesale floriculture company in Rome will lend large olive trees to be placed near the statues of Saints Peter and Paul at the foot of the churchyard. The floral decorations in St. Peter’s Square on the occasion of Holy Easter will be made thanks to the generous contribution of the florists and the professors of floristry of biotechnology of Naklo in Slovenia, with the collaboration of the Vatican gardeners who will work throughout Good Friday to prepare and finish the decorations by the next day.

** Phoenix canariensis is a species of flowering plant in the palm family, native to the Canary Islands

2021 VATICAN NATIVITY SCENE HAILS FROM THE ANDES

The Vatican’s Nativity Scene was inaugurated on December 10 and the adjacent Christmas tree was illuminated as well, albeit under a pouring rain. The actually inauguration ceremony took place in the Paul VI Hall.

I visited the square yesterday, the second full day of sunshine we’ve had in weeks! It was a joy to be in the square, to take the photos you will see below and to hear people’s joyful and positive comments, especially given the generally negative reception given last year’s nativity scene (remember how some of the characters looked like astronauts and others defied description!). The word heard most often yesterday was “bellissima!” – “very beautiful!”

The text below comes from several vaticannews articles.

2021 VATICAN NATIVITY SCENE HAILS FROM THE ANDES

This year’s Nativity Scene in St. Peter Square’s is a gift from Peru and comes from the Chopcca Nation, comprised of several communities located in the Huancavelica region in the highlands of the Andes mountains. The scene comprises more than 30 life-sized figurines in typical Andean costumes, made of ceramic, maguey wood and fibreglass, and features alpacas, vicunas and the Andean condor, Peru’s national symbol.

The figurines were created by 5 different artists belonging to the Chopcca Nation. Their name refers to a character that represents a “common ancestor”, and oral sources and accounts date the First Nation to times prior to the arrival of the Incas.

Pope Francis had announced the Andean origin of the 2021 Nativity Scene in October after praying the Angelus when he greeted a group of Peruvian pilgrims who were celebrating the feast of Señor de Los Milagros.

A universal call to Salvation

With its representation of a cross-section of the life of the peoples of the Andes, a Holy See Press Office communiqué explained that the Nativity Scene also celebrates 200 years from the independence of Peru, and symbolizes the universal call to Salvation.

The life-sized figurines representing the Child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the Three Kings and the shepherds are made of ceramic, maguey wood and fiberglass, and will be wearing traditional Chopcca costumes.

Baby Jesus has the appearance of a “Hilipuska” child, so-called because he is wrapped in a typical Huancavelica blanket tied with a “chumpi” or woven belt. The Three Kings are carrying traditional foods such as potatoes, quinoa, and other indigenous cereals, and they are accompanied by llamas with the Peruvian flag on their backs. The birth of the Savior is announced by an angel playing the Wajrapuco, the traditional Andean wind instrument. Indigenous animals such as alpacas, vicunas, and the Andean condor, Peru’s national symbol, are also featured.

The realization of the Andean Nativity Scene was born from the collaboration between the Episcopal Conference of Peru, the Diocese of Huancavelica, the Regional Government, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Embassy of Peru to the Holy See.

 

IS THIS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED NEW YEAR’S EVE IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE?

IS THIS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED NEW YEAR’S EVE IN ST. PETER’S SQUARE?

This is one of the most fascinating and also credible summaries I have read of what happened New Year’s Eve in St. Peter’s Square when a woman grabbed Pope Francis hand, would not let go, he slapped her wrist and then walked away with a provoked expression on his face.

There were no eyewitnesses who clearly heard, saw and understood everything that night so news reports to this point have been lacking that major element. Conjecture has been the main ingredient thus far.

A friend made me aware of this Facebook post and I read it with bated breath, She sent this to me because of my various news stories and posts about China, knowing full well I am mystified about the Vatican’s 2018 agreement with China over the appointment of bishops and that I sympathize with Chinese Catholics of the so-called “underground” who feel they have been betrayed by Rome.

You will understand what I just wrote in the previous paragraph as soon as you click on and start reading this link. And you will understand why the Holy Father’s expression last December 31 was seemingly one of anger or deep frustration.

From the Thursday, January 9 blogspot Clay Testament: “Why destroy their faith?”: What the Asian woman said to Pope Francis before he slapped her –

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fclaytestament.blogspot.com%2F2020%2F01%2Fwhy-destroy-their-faith-what-asian.html%3Fm%3D1%26fbclid%3DIwAR22OCxP45pvLZvJFwUAHqohwDCbAcAKt6eFsfRFEMucZ70410gR326umVU&h=AT00lY24V84my9EyajcrVQFpLalTiExFlWL-sE-QApUafLvKZrOvQYUEjMeqhgV5XegKBMI3QuQcmVeG76GCUdHtDk-8IiYs75fsH1-ocHR0bJdjqvTwLLQuJapPA-ldbNUIpw