NB! · Architecture · Faith · Art

A Monumental Pulpit in “Rubens’s Church”

A monumental pulpit in “Rubens’s church”. The work of Jan Pieter van Baurscheit the Elder. The angel at the base bears a papal tiara of the fifteenth-century pattern, with three crowns.

A reliquary shaped like a figure holding a crowned sphere in its hands, in a glass case on a church column.

NB! · Faith · Art · Museums

Reliquary of Saint Justus, executed at 13, in the form of a cephalophore

The decapitated who carry their own heads as instruments of their passion are called cephalophores. This rare reliquary, in the form of a man holding his own head in his hands, is dedicated to Saint Justus, executed at the age of 13

NB! · Faith · Art · Humour

Titian, 1533, Magdalene Gives Thanks to the Lord That Telegram Is Working Again

NB! · Faith · Geography · Art

An eighteenth-century oak pulpit: the animals embody inspiration drawn from the beauty of creation, while the women at its base are the four continents where faith is to reign: Europe, Asia, America and Africa

NB! · Archive · Faith · People

The Seal of Paul II on One of His Documents

Faith · Mores · People · Rome · Humour

Pope Paul II, born Pietro Barbo, his collections, nickname and death at 54

Pope Pietro Barbo wished to take the name Formosus II, from formosus, "beautiful, handsome". On the advice of older friends, however, he chose the more neutral Paul II. Long before his papacy Pietro Barbo had earned the nickname Our Lady of Mercy (Maria Pietissima) for weeping when he

NB! · Faith · Art · Heritage · Ethnography

Statues often have teeth, of bone or stone, but when a three-hundred-year-old Christ from San Bartolo Cuautlalpan in Mexico was restored, real human teeth were found in it, complete with roots!!!

Statues often have teeth, of bone or stone, but when a three-hundred-year-old Christ from San Bartolo Cuautlalpan in Mexico was restored, real human teeth were found in it, complete with roots!!! A rather peculiar votive offering

Film photograph looking up at the two spires and large round rose window of a Gothic cathedral façade against a blue sky.

NB! · Architecture · Faith · Monarchies

Rose window of the west façade of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, built in the 19th century

The ten-metre rose window on the west façade of St Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle, where the kings of Bohemia lie buried. This part of the principal cathedral of the Czech lands was built in the 19th century; the oldest part of the building dates from 1344

Faith · Books · Humour

Agnellus of Ravenna wrote biographies of bishops he knew nothing about

Agnellus of Ravenna composed biographies even of those bishops about whom he had no information whatever. In his view, men set so high by the Lord could not but have been zealous in faith, virtuous and compassionate. "And I think that I have told no lie," he said.

NB! · Faith · Observations · Society · Humour

As You Can See, the Pope Was in Serious Dependence on Napoleon

As you can see, the Pope was in serious dependence on Napoleon. Not that much has changed in relations between Church and state since, mind you

NB! · Faith · Heritage · Rome

There were several Christian figures named Valentine at around the same time, and alas there is no way of establishing exactly whose remains are the holy ones

There were several Christian figures named Valentine at around the same time, and alas there is no way of establishing exactly whose remains are the holy ones. But the skull in Santa Maria in Cosmedin is venerated by many

NB! · Faith · Heritage · Rome

In the small Roman basilica of Santa Maria in Cosmedin, in the left aisle of the church, there is a reliquary containing the skull of the Christian priest Valentine, who may well be the very saint glorified in 496