EDITORIAL
from issue no. 08 - 2007
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“Whereby Christ is Roman”
I remember the crowd of... outsiders when Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli came to give the panegyric of Saint Girolamo Emiliani. Some years later I went to the Sala Borromini on a Sunday morning to listen to the same Secretary of State speaking on: “Whereby Christ is Roman”. The concepts he developed were profound but more than anything else he created a climate of dialogue with the audience
Giulio Andreotti
I was six years old when my Aunt Mariannina began to
take me with her every evening to the afternoon function in our parish of
Piazza Capranica (Santa Maria in Aquiro, with the abutting orphanage of the
Somaschi Fathers, where my brother was a boarder).
Only after the war would afternoon masses be celebrated. Then the rosary was said, followed by the Eucharistic blessing. In the month of Mary (May) there was also a sermon, that concluded with the suggestion of some small self-imposed penance (“fioretti”) to offer to Our Lady.
The sermons were given in very emphatic, almost theatrical fashion. The preacher who for many years remained at the top of the ratings was the Jesuit father Galileo Venturini. He was booked years in advance; and he had a good core of fans (female fans, rather) who followed him on all his bookings.
The year he came to us I saw that when he came down
drenched from the pulpit he dried himself and changed his sweater and
shirt. Although rhetorical, he was concrete. What he said could be easily
summarized, something that wasn’t true of all. Other “sacred
tenors” could have sent the congregation equally into ecstasies with
their voice modulations, even if instead of the text they had shouted out
the Pythagorean table.
The seats cost forty cents and they sold out.
The preachers that entrusted themselves to reasoning had much less success. But at a distance of more than eighty years I still remember the wise counsels of the Benedictine monk Dom Cornelio Cipriani, who as an orator was very boring.
The churches competed to make sure there was a famous preacher for the panegyric on the feast day of the patron saint. I remember the crowd of... outsiders when Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli came to give the panegyric of Saint Girolamo Emiliani. Some years later I went to the Sala Borromini on a Sunday morning to listen to the same Secretary of State speaking on: “Whereby Christ is Roman”. The concepts he developed were profound but more but than anything else he created a climate of dialogue with the audience.
As Pope he dedicated special attention in his audiences to married couples, for whom a special place was also reserved.
One day the President of Italy, Saragat, expressed criticism of these matrimonial audiences. He said that he, too, could introduce them. And, for that matter, President Pertini did so with the young people.
In general, since Rome passes for being (and is) eternal, one may wonder what has changed since then. I will limit myself to recording that the processions were evocative moments. Whether that throughout the city for Corpus Christi, or the “parochial” ones taking Holy Communion to the sick.
Given the multiplication of the parishes, the Collegium of parish priests (that every Thursday in October made an excursion up into the hills above Rome) are no longer active but there is the grouping by city sectors.
The silent trial of strength of the secular clergy to get a number of parishes no fewer than the “religious” ones is also forgotten. However the number of Roman seminarians is not, as in other dioceses, insignificant.
In the international studies on tourism the most popular destination in absolute terms is known to be Rome. It is useful to refer to Dante’s: “That Rome whereby Christ is Roman”.
It would not be right not to emphasize also another Christian contribution to the prestige of Rome. I refer to the religious universities, which are all very respectable. From the historical ones (Gregorian, Angelicum, Propaganda Fide, Alphonsian) to the most recent one of the Legionaries of Christ.
Among other things the students of these religious universities – from which a great part of the bishops comes – all learn Italian. During the war our prisoners gathered in the remotest corners of the world had the comfort of being visited by a former Roman seminarian who expressed solidarity and affection for them in Italian.
I don’t want to make comparisons, but it’s clear the historical merits of Athens are not inferior to those of Rome; the “something extra” of Rome is linked precisely to Christianity.
Mussolini’s claim that «if Christianity had not settled in Rome, it would have remained one of the many sects like the Essenes» is nevertheless odd.
And to think that the Duce’s faithful followers claimed that he was always right.
Only after the war would afternoon masses be celebrated. Then the rosary was said, followed by the Eucharistic blessing. In the month of Mary (May) there was also a sermon, that concluded with the suggestion of some small self-imposed penance (“fioretti”) to offer to Our Lady.
The sermons were given in very emphatic, almost theatrical fashion. The preacher who for many years remained at the top of the ratings was the Jesuit father Galileo Venturini. He was booked years in advance; and he had a good core of fans (female fans, rather) who followed him on all his bookings.
An audience given by Pius XII to seminarians and their superiors
The seats cost forty cents and they sold out.
The preachers that entrusted themselves to reasoning had much less success. But at a distance of more than eighty years I still remember the wise counsels of the Benedictine monk Dom Cornelio Cipriani, who as an orator was very boring.
The churches competed to make sure there was a famous preacher for the panegyric on the feast day of the patron saint. I remember the crowd of... outsiders when Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli came to give the panegyric of Saint Girolamo Emiliani. Some years later I went to the Sala Borromini on a Sunday morning to listen to the same Secretary of State speaking on: “Whereby Christ is Roman”. The concepts he developed were profound but more but than anything else he created a climate of dialogue with the audience.
As Pope he dedicated special attention in his audiences to married couples, for whom a special place was also reserved.
One day the President of Italy, Saragat, expressed criticism of these matrimonial audiences. He said that he, too, could introduce them. And, for that matter, President Pertini did so with the young people.
In general, since Rome passes for being (and is) eternal, one may wonder what has changed since then. I will limit myself to recording that the processions were evocative moments. Whether that throughout the city for Corpus Christi, or the “parochial” ones taking Holy Communion to the sick.
Given the multiplication of the parishes, the Collegium of parish priests (that every Thursday in October made an excursion up into the hills above Rome) are no longer active but there is the grouping by city sectors.
The silent trial of strength of the secular clergy to get a number of parishes no fewer than the “religious” ones is also forgotten. However the number of Roman seminarians is not, as in other dioceses, insignificant.
In the international studies on tourism the most popular destination in absolute terms is known to be Rome. It is useful to refer to Dante’s: “That Rome whereby Christ is Roman”.
It would not be right not to emphasize also another Christian contribution to the prestige of Rome. I refer to the religious universities, which are all very respectable. From the historical ones (Gregorian, Angelicum, Propaganda Fide, Alphonsian) to the most recent one of the Legionaries of Christ.
Among other things the students of these religious universities – from which a great part of the bishops comes – all learn Italian. During the war our prisoners gathered in the remotest corners of the world had the comfort of being visited by a former Roman seminarian who expressed solidarity and affection for them in Italian.
I don’t want to make comparisons, but it’s clear the historical merits of Athens are not inferior to those of Rome; the “something extra” of Rome is linked precisely to Christianity.
Mussolini’s claim that «if Christianity had not settled in Rome, it would have remained one of the many sects like the Essenes» is nevertheless odd.
And to think that the Duce’s faithful followers claimed that he was always right.
