Naples

The city of Naples is about 140 miles to the south of Rome.  But they are very different places.  As most Italians will tell you, Naples is louder and more energetic, più vivace, as the Italians would say.  The people also have a great deal more piety than you see in Rome.  And the Pizza in Naples is much, much better than the Pizza in Rome.  On the negative side, it is one of the most corrupt in Italy.  There is a general stereotype among Italians that Neapolitans are not trustworthy.  One is constantly warned before going to Naples to beware of robbers, thieves, and pickpockets.  That corruption is extremely evident in the city government.  As is widely known, the company with the contract for garbage collection in Naples is a mafia run organization.  In order to punish the city for anti-Mafia activity, the company seems to collect the contract fees, but not the garbage.  It is therefore one of the dirties cities in Europe, with mounds of uncollected and rotting garbage lining the streets.  Also, most Italians are very aware of the importance of tourism and keep the historic areas clean.  There is a level of graffiti in Naples--even on the churches in the historic city center--that you do not see in other cities in Italy, at least in the tourist areas.  It is very sad, because there is a great amount of beauty in the city.

The city of Naples (or Napoli, in Italian) is ancient, and has pre-Roman roots.  Its name comes from the Greek:  Neo Polis, the "new city".  It was originally a Greek settlement, and only much later came under the control of the Roman Empire.  After the collapse of the Roman Empire, it eventually formed part of the Two Kingdoms of Sicily, and was the seat of government in the Kingdom.  The Two Kingdoms ended when the people voted in a plebescite to join the emerging united Italy in the mid 19th century.

Among the things to see there are the Duomo, the Cathedral of St. Januarius (or San Gennaro, in Italian).  He is the most important saint of the city, as his his relic.  St. Januarius was a 3rd/4th cntury martyr under the Diocletian persecution, and his body was brought to Naples after his death.  The church in Naples has preserved not only his bones, but a relic of his blood.  There is a miracle associated with it, in that the blood--which had long since dried--miraculously liquifies.  It usually occurs on his feast day, and its liquefaction is seen as a sign of blessing on the city.  However, there have been times it has failed to liqufy, and disaster has struck.  Every year, the people of Naples gather on the feast to see if the miracle will occur, and therefore whether it will be a blessed year (or not) for the city.

In the pictures below is also one of the greatest carvings I have ever seen, the Christo Velato, or veiled Christ.  It is a carving of Christ in the tomb covered in a linen blanket.  The carving is so delicate, do perfect, it really looks as though it is the body of a man covered in a damp cloth.  Pictures are not allowed in the chapel, so the one below is actually a picture of the post card.

We Dominicans have our own church, the Basilica of San Domenico Maggiore.  The Dominicans arrived there in the 13th century, very early in the life of the Order.  There was a church there, originally dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.  Eventually it became a priory, and a new larger church built in honor of St. Dominic.  For several years, St. Thomas Aquinas stayed there, and his former cell is now a chapel.  There is a story that here while in prayer, the icon of the crucifix spoke to him saying, "You have written well of me, Thomas, what reward would you have?' St. Thomas replied,"None other than Yourself, Lord." The icon of the crucifix is still in the cell, and some pictures of it are below.

Also buried in the Basilica of St. Dominic is the body of Bishop Luke Concanen, an Irish Dominican and the first Bishop of the Diocese of New York.  Unfortunately, Bishop Concanen was never able to make passage to the U.S., and died in Naples before ever taking possession of his Diocese.  Terence Cardinal Cooke, the former Archbishop of New York, had plaques in honor of Bishop Concanen placed in the church.

Finally, Naples is important historically for its harbor.  It is located in a bay, and when the weather is good, the views of the bay are stunning.  Unfortunately, the weather was not very good when we were in Naples.

Here are the pictures from Naples:

Bari

I just realized I forgot to post the pictures from Bari.  After our trip to Calabria and Acri, we drove over the "arch of the foot" that is the Italian boot.  The drive reminded me a bit like long drives in the States.  However, while in the States you often pass miles and miles of corn and soybeans, in Italy you pass miles and miles of olive groves and vineyards.  With the olive trees, they'll often cover the ground with nets, shake the trees (I assume), and catch the ripened leaves in the netting.

Vatican Christmas Creche 2012

I was in St. Peter's square this past weekend, when the crowds were much reduced.  As such, I was able to get some good pictures of the elaborate Christmas Creche in the Piazza.  (I wrote a little about it here.)  You don't get a good sense of dimension here, but the figures are rather small, perhaps about 6 or 7 inches tall, although the whole display is quite large. 

Plaster Casts

In the museum of the Norman Castle in Bari, there is a series of plaster casts on display.  They were casts taken from various important carvings throughout the Apulia (or, in Italian, Puglia) region of Italy.  Here are pictures of some of them:

Acri

Acri is a small town--about 20,000 people--spread out over a range of hilltops.  The place makes San Francisco look like Nebraska.  It is in the Cosenza region of Calabria in southern Italy.  It is truly a beautiful place.

We went to the church of San Domenico (St. Dominic) there, which the Dominicans had from the 16th century until the supression of the religious orders in Italy in the late 19th century.  We entered at the tail end of Sunday Mass.  Afterwards we met the local pastor, Don Fiore.  He said that it was like a vision, looking up from Mass and seeing two Dominicans in white enter his little church of St. Dominic!  He and his parishioners were extremely kind to us.  They bought us breakfast and talked to us about the town.  The parish Deacon then offered to bring us to the town offices to look through the historical records for the family of the Dominican who came with me.  We went through a number of books and found a great deal of information about his family.

We also had Mass at the Franciscan church, the Basilica of Beato Angelo.  Bl. Angelo was a Capuchin friar from Acri, whose relics are in the Basilica.  The Basilica was built largely on the donations of Italian immigrants from Acri who had moved to the U.S.  The Franciscans were also incredibly kind.  Not only did they allow us to celebrate Mass, but they also invited us to a great lunch with them.

Bl. Angelo has a great devotion to the Mater Dolorosa.  The chapel has a very beautiful image of that title of Mary. 

My sister also insisted we take a picture of a medieval crucifix.  Well, this crucifix is housed in a church--Santa Maria Maggiore--on the top of one of the more remote hills of Acri.  I have never driven tighter corners than we did to get there.  And then getting home, my GPS decided we would drive a barely paved road all the way down the side of one mountain, just so we could drive back up the side of another.  When we got to a dirt road, the other priest, who was driving, had had enough, so we went back the way we came and found a slightly better--or, at least, safer--route.

Below is are the pictures I took.  Unfortunately, even though I remembered everything else, I forgot to take the good camera with me.  There are all from my cellphone.

Almalfi Coast

Another American Dominican and I went south of Rome in pursuit of his roots in Calabria, near the toe of the Italian boot.  On the way down, we made a slight detour to the Amalfi coast.  It was pretty quiet in January, although I imagine it is simply packed with people come the summer times.  Even in winter, the views are amazing.  The towns do seem to just cascade down the mountainside into the sea.  The driving can be a bit rough though--plenty of switchbacks and narrow roads.  It was definitely worth seeing, though.