NB! · Archaeology · Observations

How Little We Know About Pompeii

NB! · Faith · Observations

To mark the first day of spring, I shall launch a regular Wednesday feature on little-known saints

To mark the first day of spring, I shall launch a regular Wednesday feature on little-known saints. The medieval calendar reminds us of the days of veneration in March: the 1st, for example, belongs to Saint Albinus

NB! · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

There is a rule: if you cannot play billiards, you must at least be able to hold up your end of a conversation about Henri IV, whose bust stands in the billiard room

There is a rule: if you cannot play billiards, you must at least be able to hold up your end of a conversation about Henri IV, whose bust stands in the billiard room. The Bourbon, naturally

NB! · Faith · Cinema · Observations · Paris

The relics of Vincent are kept in his chapel in Paris

The relics of Vincent are kept in his chapel in Paris. Its railings look like a set for another film about the Church, one I like far more than the two mentioned earlier: "Sister Act" with Whoopi Goldberg

Faith · Cinema · Observations · Education · People

Saint Vincent de Paul and the disputed account of his captivity in Tunis

Watching Scorsese's "Silence", besides indignation and weariness I felt a sense of déjà vu. The film reminded me of a story that at school is usually recalled in the last days of September. There is a Catholic figure, Saint Vincent de Paul, whom some guides stubbornly

NB! · Art · Observations

I love such details

I love such details. One look and it is clear at once: Cupid is a tamer of wild beasts. And then you remember that he was suckled by the creatures of the forest, and his late antique depictions with a chariot drawn by swans and butterflies

Fresco of a man in a light coat bowing before the Pope in a red cape, with riders and a hilly landscape behind them.

NB! · Faith · Art · Rome · Humour

Nobleman asks forgiveness of the Pope in a fresco in the Vatican

A man begs forgiveness of the Pope, a fresco in the Vatican. You cannot see it, but take my word for it: with his left hand the nobleman is slipping a purse of gold into the Pope's cassock. The Pontiff receives the believer into the embrace of the

An open medieval book of hours with Latin text and ornamented blue and red initials, set against a dark blue background.

NB! · Archive · Faith · Books · Monarchies · Humour

Personal Book of Hours of Richard III, 15th Century, with His Own Notes

The personal Book of Hours of Richard III, with annotations and entries made in his own hand. Fifteenth century: no gentleman of breeding can imagine himself without a book, even if it be a devotional one. Well, this attachment is no worse than an iPhone

Carved carnival sleigh shaped like a white bird with a red beak, with cherub figures and a red velvet seat, in a museum room.

NB! · Moscow · Museums · Ethnography · Humour

Bird-shaped carnival sleigh from the collection of the Historical Museum

A carnival sleigh from the State Historical Museum. Style!

Faith · Art · Mores

Legends of Saint Wilgefortis and the origin of the image of the bearded virgin

There are two legends of the venerated Virgo fortis, the "strong virgin": one tells of a daughter (one of nine) of a Portuguese king of the eighth century, who secretly took a vow of chastity and prayed that the wedding her father had arranged with a pagan might

Sculpture of a bearded saint in a long robe and crown within a baroque altar, beside gilded statues.

NB! · Faith · Art · Ethnography

Saint Wilgefortis, the bearded virgin crucified by her father after refusing to marry a prince

This is not Jesus in a dress, but a Catholic saint: the bearded virgin Wilgefortis. She prayed that her father might not marry her off to a prince she did not love, and a beard grew upon her face; her father, in a fury, had her crucified

NB! · Monarchies · Observations

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