As the late great Ray Bradbury once wrote, something wicked this way comes.
I have in mind Episode 5 Trailer | A Marvelous Work.
You’ve been warned.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)
Today was principally devoted to the spectacular Musei Vaticani, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica. Magnificent. Probably my favorite of the very many wonderful aspects of Rome (apart now, of course, from Italy’s “Temple Square,” where we spent significant portions of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday).
Our visit — led by a guide named Stefana, whom some of the group had hired (and very much enjoyed) on a previous time here — was more brief than our visits here have typically been, but I really enjoyed it, as I always do. It was moving to me to see the tomb of St. John Paul II (whom I consider one of the great figures of modern history, and within twenty or so feet of whom I once stood during a meeting in Rome), as well as the tombs of Blessed John Paul I, St. Paul VI, and Pope Benedict XVI, all of whom have been major world personalities during my lifetime. St. John XXIII, who reigned 1958-1963 and who presided over the Second Vatican Council, is the first pope whom I actually remember. Seeing his embalmed body in an illuminated glass coffin on the main floor of St. Peter’s always strikes me as weird and macabre. I definitely do not share the Catholic sensibility in such matters.
(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)
I’m pleased to report that, as of about twenty-four hours ago, the streaming version of Saturday’s FAIR conference had received 415 views in Italian and 346 views in English. (I assume that the figures may have increased since then.) It seems that the conference was well worth doing.
I mentioned yesterday that Dr. Keith Erekson, of the Church’s historical department did a special question-and-answer session for young people after church. It turns out that he stayed for roughly three additional hours after that, answering questions one-on-one. He is quite pleased with how it all went. I can’t imagine but that his efforts did a great deal of good.
Although, of course, it’s a relatively new city compared to the pharaonic ruins of Egypt — most human artifacts are pretty young when the comparison is to the pyramids of Giza or even the great temples of Karnak and Luxor — the depth of the history still manifest in Rome is amazing. My wife and I traveled by metro today, and it struck me deeply that we were getting off the subway at a stop called Ottaviano (presumably named after Octavian, who is more familiar to most people as Caesar Augustus). To reach Ottaviano, we zipped past places like the Fontana di Trevi and the Pantheon. And then we walked over to the Vatican, and to St. Peter’s, which sits atop a very ancient Roman cemetery. (I’m on public record as believing that the case for Peter the Apostle actually having been buried beneath where the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica now stands is a fairly good one. See my Deseret News column “Why was Peter in Rome?”)
I want to call your attention to an announcement from Eborn Books: It concerns the massive and beautifully illustrated Interpreter Foundation book Science and Mormonism, Volume 1: Cosmos, Earth, and Man, which is usually priced at about sixty dollars ($60.00):
We are pricing this book, for Father’s Day, at 66% off; and cheap shipping!The book weighs 5.5 pounds so it will cost us more to ship than we are charging you.A great, large size, full color, book that discusses Mormonism and many different aspects of Science.Published by Eborn Books and The Interpreter Foundation. ISBN: 9781890718411Editors: David H. Bailey, Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, John S. Lewis, Gregory L. Smith, and Michael R. StarkHardcover with dust jacket; still brand new in the plastic. This is an amazing book; and a super deal at $19.50 per copy!Contains these articles:
Posted from Rome, Italy
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