Faith · The East · People · Rome
On 13 May 1981, as the Pope's motorcade moved across St Peter's Square and John Paul II greeted the pilgrims, six shots rang out. A Turkish extremist standing in one of the front rows wounded the Pope in the abdomen and the hand: by a miracle,
Faith · People
Bishop of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church Patriarch Neofit has been admitted to hospital with a broken left hip. For a man of 76, Neofit's health is not of the best: he was hospitalised for a week last year and for a month in 2018, and in 2011 he
Faith · Books · Monarchies · People · Humour
In the prologue to Jean de Joinville's book of 1309 on the life of the French king Louis the Saint, four occasions are listed on which he showed knightly valour, risking his life for others. One of the four perils that met the king on his path through
NB! · Faith · Observations · People
NB! · Faith · Art · People
Magdalena Luther, daughter of Martin Luther. Portrait by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The girl lived only 13 years
NB! · Faith · Monarchies · Moscow · Observations · Humour
Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov and his wife Victoria Romanovna at the Easter table. Judging by the economy-class bimetallic radiator, the cyan-style refurbishment of the flat and the restrained laying of the table, I would venture that the heir of the Romanovs and the Hohenzollerns has not, after all, left
Faith · People · Rome
From Vatican news: Pope Francis did not celebrate today's scheduled Divine Mercy Sunday Mass in Saint Peter's Basilica; Archbishop Fisichella celebrated it in his stead. The Pope attended the service seated in an armchair. The change was occasioned by the pain in Francis I's
Faith · Books
O death, where is thy sting?! O hell, where is thy victory?! Christ is risen, and thou art overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life triumphs! Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the
Faith · Society · People · Rome
The meeting of 85-year-old Francis I and 75-year-old Patriarch Kirill on 14 June in Jerusalem is cancelled. It was to have been the second audience between the heads of the two churches since their personal meeting in Havana on 12 February 2016. To grasp the importance
Archive · Faith · Mores · Pop Culture
Pope Leo XIII on an advertising poster for Vin Mariani. Vin Mariani was nothing other than a wine tonic laced with cocaine, which became extraordinarily popular in the 1870s. According to the recipe, every 100 grams of the drink, made from Bordeaux wine, contained 25 mg of cocaine. The makers
Architecture · Faith · Art · Heritage
Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" miraculously survived the Anglo-American bombing of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan in August 1943. The bombs tore through the roof of the refectory that houses da Vinci's fresco. Fortunately, three walls remained standing,
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