The Daily Niblet: San Giovanni in Laterano

Today, November 9th, marks an interesting memorial in the Christian liturgical calendar. It is on this day that we recall the dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome - the pope. Many people assume that St. Peter's in the Vatican is the cathedral of Rome. This is not the case. St. John Lateran is older and in some respects more important than St. Peter's, since it is in fact the place where the pope's cathedra - or chair - is located. Since it is the cathedral of Rome, it is the mother church of both the diocese of Rome and the entire Roman Catholic Church. The church, since it is a patriarchal basilica, is technically first and foremost dedicated as "Our Savior" which is reflected in the basilica's official name: the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and of Sts. John the Baptist and the Evangelist at the Lateran.

From the Roman Martyrology:
At Rome in the Lateran, the Dedication of the Basilica of the Saviour, which is the Mother and Head of all churches in the city and the world.

At left is a view of the nave toward the high altar

The Daily Niblet: A Burial at Ornans

"A Burial at Ornans" by Gustave Courbet

We discussed this painting today in my Honors Humanities class, and how it showed an ordinary scene - a burial - on a scale that was typically reserved for grand historical paintings. This painting was completed in 1850, and marked the transition in French art from Romanticism to Realism. I rather like it.

The Daily Niblet: Memento Mori

Since it's All Souls Day, and we should be praying for all of the faithful departed, I thought I'd share this image that helps us remember that we too will eventually die and hopefully join their great company. This is the Sedlec Ossuary in Sedlec, which is in the Czech Republic. It is a small chapel that contains the skeletons of approximately 40,000 persons. The result is an eerily macabre chamber that is festooned with skulls and other bones. The chandelier contains at least one of every bone in the body. The reason for the chapel's popularity for burial was that earth from Golgotha (where Christ's crucifixion took place) was spread over the cemetery by an abbot in the Middle Ages.

The Daily Niblet: Fitzroy Island

Pictured is Fitzroy Island, Australia. It is a small barrier island off the coast of Cairns, Queensland. After seeing this photo and others of the island, I will endeavor to make this place figure prominently on my Australia 2012 itinerary.

The Daily Niblet: FYI

For any that are interested: my architecture history course this semester requires that we blog about various writings and works from the modern movement in architecture. A link to that blog is below.

Thoughts on the History of Modern Architecture

The Daily Niblet: Mass in Ruins

I love this picture. It shows the celebration of holy mass in a cathedral in Germany damaged during World War II. Even in the darkest times of misery and utter ruin, Christ is there in the Eucharist. This, if anything, should console us.

The Daily Niblet: Anna, the Prophetess

I'd just like to point out that today is the feast of Anna the Prophetess, who told of the coming of the kingdom of God when Mary and Joseph went to present Jesus at the Temple. Anna is of course a name that is near and dear to me: my sister's name is Anna, and three out of my four great-grandmothers were named Anna. Furthermore, my mother and grandmother have Anne as their middle name - though Anne is more probably in reference to St. Anne the mother of Mary. Anyways, here follows the relevant Biblical passage:

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in years, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow until fourscore and four years; who departed not from the temple, by fastings and prayers serving night and day. Now she, at the same hour, coming in, confessed to the Lord; and spoke of him to all that looked for the redemption of Israel. (Luke 2:36-38)

So there ya have it, folks!

The Daily Niblet: Emails

Having recently returned to college, I have found my once-tranquil email inbox inundated with tens - nay, hundreds - of superficially important emails. Approximately 20% of the emails that I receive pertain (even tangentially) to my life. About 5% of what I receive in my inbox requires me to respond in some fashion. That act of responding is the topic for today's niblet.

How should I end my email back to someone? It is one of those eternal questions in the vein of "who let the dogs out?" Should I say sincerely when I'm being less than sincere? Should I say thanks even if I don't ask for anything? Should I say something else entirely? I suppose knowing the audience is a big part of responding to email. If, for instance, I am emailing certain professors in the college of architecture and planning, I will invariably end my email with Best. I always send my Warm Regards to professors in the honors college. Emails to classmates rarely get any send-off (or greeting) at all.

But, there are always differing circumstances. Let us remove ourselves from secular email and discuss the most confusing form of communication the world hath ever known - the sacred email. The sacred email typically involves a rather mundane reminder of meeting times and places for certain events occurring in the parish, the Bible study group, etc. These pose a response problem for me. Far be it from me to belittle someone's piety and devotion, but I just don't know how theological people are getting with their emails. Ending with God Bless seems to evoke an image of someone sneezing. In Christ is nice, but a potent send-off. And using something as simple as Peace is just too mainstream. Part of me wants to reply with something like Through the Intercession of the Immaculate Mother of God or In the Mercy of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, but wiser counsel typically prevails.

Wish me well in my dealings with people via email!
Basking in the Brilliant Generosity of Your Readership,
Me

The Daily Niblet: Back to School

Our recent scribblings on things papal and biblical obscured the fact that we have returned to Ball State for another year of adventure in higher education. This is my third year of architectural learning at the university, and I am looking forward to it with great expectation. Already, as of this afternoon, I have attended all of my classes for this semester. With some slight exceptions, I am thrilled about each of them. My studio placement could be described as nothing less than providential, and the combination of students and faculty in my section are brimming with potential. My "accessory" classes should be interesting, though a bit more challenging than in the past. By third year, we are hitting the more practicable knowledge such as HVAC, structure, and detailing in our non-studio architecture courses. Outside of the College of Architecture (yes, I do know of the existence of the outside world), I am enrolled in two honors classes. One is the final installment of the humanities sequence, in which we will deal with human achievements from the 18th to the 20th Centuries, and the other is a theoretical physics/math hybrid where we will be talking a lot of theory and philosophy. All in all, it will be a busy semester on this side of the computer.

The Daily Niblet: If human society is to be healed

As one of my good friends once quipped, "When a pope takes the name Pius, playtime's over." It does seem so. From Pius I who excommunicated the heretic Marcion, to Pius V who laid the smackdown on the Ottoman Turks - thus saving Europe, to Pius X who just flat wouldn't put up with Modernist theological nonsense, the papal name of Pius seems to have a certain tone of frankness about it. Pius XI was no exception. He saw the concluding of the Lateran Treaty, which guaranteed the Vatican's existence as a sovereign state, and he canonized several important saints such as Albertus Magnus, Thomas More, and Therese of Lisieux. However, the point of this installment of the Niblet comes from his teaching in his encyclical letter Quadragesimo Anno in which he discusses the moral and ethical dimensions of economic and social issues. For your reading pleasure, a snippet of his philosophy:

"'Wherefore,' to use the words of Our Predecessor, 'if human society is to be healed, only a return to Christian life and institutions will heal it.' For this alone can provide effective remedy for that excessive care of passing things that is the origin of all vices; and this alone can draw away men's eyes, fascinated by and wholly fixed on the changing things of the world, and raise them toward Heaven. Who would deny that human society is in most urgent need of this cure now?" - Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno

The pope wrote this passage in 1931, yet it still bears fruit for thought for our current age.

The Daily Niblet: Notre Dame de Fourviere

A bit of Catholic eye candy for you: the interior of the Basilica of Notre Dame de Fourviere in Lyon, France. This church is an interesting blend of Gothic and Byzantine styles, a combination that seems a bit tricky, but which is accomplished nicely in this particular example. It is a close ecclesiastical cousin to the magnificent (if a bit ill-proportioned) Basilica of the Sacre Coeur in Paris: both were constructed during a similar timeframe in a similar blend of styles - though the Sacre Coeur tends a bit more toward the Romanesque. Notre Dame de Fourviere commands a fine vista over the city of Lyon and the Rhone River. More information - and photographs - can be found here.

The Daily Niblet: Jesus, the first Gothic architect

Yes, candid reader, I have resurrected the "daily niblet" as a way to post some more or less intriguing - but brief - errant thoughts without bogging you down in more than three paragraphs or so. Expect meatier niblets than those of the past, but nothing more filling than your average appetizer. Firstly, from the great thinker G.K. Chesterton:

"Christ prophesied the whole of Gothic architecture in that hour when nervous and respectable people (such people as now object to barrel organs) objected to the shouting of the gutter-snipes of Jerusalem. He said, "If these were silent, the very stones would cry out." Under the impulse of His spirit arose like a clamorous chorus the facades of the mediaeval cathedrals, thronged with shouting faces and open mouths. The prophecy has fulfilled itself: the very stones cry out." - Orthodoxy, Ch. 7 The Eternal Revolution

Pictured below is the great Cathedral of Strasbourg, France.

The Daily Niblet

February 3 marked the feast day of St. Blaise, a bishop and martyr of the early Church. Blaise was bishop as well as a physician in modern-day Armenia, and was martyred there in 316 AD.

It is traditional on the Sunday nearest his feast day, for a blessing of throats to occur during the context of the Holy Mass. St. Blaise's intercession is commonly invoked for protection against various diseases, specifically those of the throat. The blessing is done by the priest taking two crossed, unlit candles and holding them near the neck of the person being blessed. The following is then said by the priest:

Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God protect you from all illness of the throat and all evil, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Pictured is the spectacular abbey church of a monastery dedicated to the patronage of St. Blaise in the German village of Sankt Blasien. It is a large, neoclassical domed church with a striking white interior. The exterior is also quite fantastic and stands distinctly in the surrounding landscape of Germany's Black Forest.

The monastery is quite near to Florian's hometown, but I unfortunately did not have the time to visit it during my trip last spring.

The Daily Niblet

Design for a large parish church by the turn-of-the-century Austrian architect Otto Wagner. The style is typical of Wagner's interpretation of the Jugendstil, the Germanic variant of the Art Nouveau. This is probably one of my favorite unbuilt projects.

The Daily Niblet

So, a few weeks back, I wrote a post about my experience at a Latin mass in Grand Rapids. The mass was at Sacred Heart Church, and I recently found this beautiful photo of the interior of the church. It is a stunning place, and I hope you enjoy the view!

Photo source: http://studioxplore.blogspot.com/2009/09/cody-pete-married.html