The man nearest to Christ Jesus was His foster father, Joseph the carpenter. John the Baptist saw Christ briefly near the Jordan and knew that his work as Precursor was over. The Apostles lived and worked with Christ during the brief days of His public life. But Joseph presided over the events of Christ’s Infancy, […]
8 March International Women’s Day
Today we celebrate the International Women’s Day. Sr Emanuela was interviewed for Vatican News, and she invites us to meditate on the qualities that comprise the so-called, ‘feminine genius’. In the article you can see the contributions of women to the life of the Church through the art contained in the Vatican Collection. To read […]
Devotion to the Holy Face of Jesus
“Of you my heart has said, ‘Seek his face!’ Your face, Yahweh, I seek” (Ps 27, 8) Man has always searched to contemplate the face of God. Jesus told us that “to see Him is to see the Father” (Jn 14:9) and so, the contemplation of Christ’s face is the very contemplation of […]
The Consecrated Life “a light for revelation to the Gentiles.” (Lk 2:32)
“A light for revelation to the Gentiles,” are the words that resound today in the Church which remembers the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. The entrance procession, with lighted candles and the words of the Gospel, introduce the mystery of that Child who is the true light that illuminates […]
The Mother of God and the three Kings in the Dogmatic Sarcophagus
In 1823, Saint Paul Outside the Walls basilica, Rome, was destroyed in a terrible fire. During the reconstruction works in 1838, a splendid sarcophagus from the 4th century AD was found near St Paul’s tomb. The beauty and the profound nature of the Biblical scenes that were sculpted on the face of the tomb, has […]
It is good to go back in time
A city like Rome, with its abundance of history and art, can, at times, produce sentiments of inadequacy and disorientation. Here we can find places that open our minds to the possibility of a recuperation of our Christian identity and roots. For a moment, let us abandon the noisy hub-bub of the streets and try […]
St Joseph’s Fountain: the 100th Fountain in the Vatican City
St Joseph’s fountain, realised in 2010 by architects Giuseppe Facchini and Barbara Bellano in collaboration with artist Franco Murer, brings the number of fountains in the Vatican city to 100. The fountain was commissioned because the Vatican Gardens, so rich in artistic patrimony from every epoch, was not blessed with a monument in honour of […]
Novena to the Immaculate Conception. Day 3 You are the glory of Jerusalem
Tota Pulchra Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula originalis non es in te. Tu gloria Ierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri, tu advocata peccatorum. O Maria! O Maria! Virgo prudentissima, Mater clementissima, ora pro nobis, intercede pro nobis, ad Dominum Iesum Christum. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the stain of original sin […]
Novena to the Immaculate Conception: Day 2 Et macula originalis non est in te
Tota Pulchra Tota pulchra es Maria et macula originalis non es in te. Tu gloria Ierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri, tu advocata peccatorum. O Maria! O Maria! Virgo prudentissima, Mater clementissima, ora pro nobis, intercede pro nobis, ad Dominum Iesum Christum. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the stain of original sin […]
Novena to the Immaculate Conception: Day 1 Tota Pulchra es Maria
Tota Pulchra Tota pulchra es Maria, et macula originalis non es in te. Tu gloria Ierusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri, tu advocata peccatorum. O Maria! O Maria! Virgo prudentissima, Mater clementissima, ora pro nobis, intercede pro nobis, ad Dominum Iesum Christum. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the stain of original sin […]