December 11, 2010

Sant Maria in Via - As he does each year on a Sunday before Christmas, Benedict XVI is due to bless the little statues representing Baby Jesus, the so called “bambinelli”, which many families bring with them to St Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus..
Bambinelli to be placed on Christmas eve in cribs at home . A tradition still very much alive here in Rome and across the world today . But not just in cribs at home , here in Rome also in many churches .In fact I think I can safely say most Churches here set up cribs or Presepe representing the Nativity scene .Among them one in the heart of Rome which has an elaborate Nativity scene in a side chapel as you walk in on the left. The Church in question is “Santa Maria in Via”, just off Piazza San Silvestro in the heart of Rome.
Veronica Scarisbrick went there with our Professor of Fine Arts Breda Ennis …
Maximilian Kolbe - Another appointment on the Pope’s agenda this weekend is a visit earlier on Sunday morning to a Parish Church in Rome dedicated to Saint Maximilian Kolbe .
An event this which provides us with an opportunity to speak of the witness to the faith of this Francisan priest , born in Poland in 1894 and who died in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1941 from an injection of carbolic acid . A man who was canonized by his fellow Pole, Pope John Paul in 1982 declaring him a saint and a martyr . Listen to this programme written and presented by Jill Bevilacqua.
O Antiphons - A musical commentary on the seven plainchant antiphons soon to be sung at vespers.That’s with music historian Monsignor Philip Whitmore…