Team Chiesa

Rome has some 450 churches; it seems that one can't walk 50 meters without encountering yet another church. As we strolled we would sometimes point and exclaim: "Oh look! It's another church!"

Some people find it odd that I, an atheist, should show an interest in visiting churches in Rome. Obviously, there's more to the churches than religion. They are art and architecture and culture and history, shiny and dull, gaudy and plain. I like to visit the churches to see all those things, and to listen to the stories they have to tell about Rome. Besides, touring the churches of Rome is a good way to see different neighborhoods and regions of the city since they are spread all over; it gives structure to a walking tour that otherwise would be almost as chaotic as daily life in Rome looks to be.

On this trip we managed to visit a good number of churches. Not all 450 by any means, but we did manage some 15% of the total, which is a good stab. Isaac was happy because we made it to all the four "patriarchal basilicas" this time (Saint Peter, Saint Mary Major, Saint John Lateran, and Saint Paul outside the walls), all of which also happen to be extraterritorial, i.e., they actually are part of the State of Vatican City and belong to the Pope. (Remember: Vatican City, whose boundary is entirely contained within the modern city of Rome, is a sovereign nation whose head of state is the Pope.)

It's true that they all tend to blend together a bit after the first 20 or 30, but seeing a big bunch creates a gestalt impression and brings out similarities as well as differences. Perhaps I'll have more to say about some of these in the future, but for now I just want to collect up the list of names to keep track of them. They're listed here in the order that we visited them, and I think I got them all sorted into the correct days, too.

Posted on May 4, 2007 at 14.58 by jns · Permalink
In: All, Reflections

6 Responses

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  1. Written by chris
    on Saturday, 5 May 2007 at 23.27
    Permalink

    yes, yes, yes, that's all very interesting; but the key question is of course

    How many Poodles of God did you find? and photograph?

    Enquiring Minds Need To Know.

    (welcome back to the Eastern Time Zone, btw)

  2. Written by bill
    on Sunday, 6 May 2007 at 08.58
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    The answer to Chris' question (this from the fourth regular reader of the blog and the third of the travelling companions) is MANY, MANY, MANY poodles of God. Some that look like poodles, some like greyhounds, a few that resembled horses. None, that I recall, that actually looked like sheep. Quite a number of pulvinated poodles, of course (that means poodles recumbent — or sometimes, oddly, standing — on cushions). Virtually every ancient apsidal mosaic represents the twelve apostles as poodles looking admiringly at a central Poodle of God. Multiply that times the number of churches with ancient apsidal mosaics and … well, you get the point.

  3. Written by jns
    on Sunday, 6 May 2007 at 10.32
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    As Bill says, the number of PoGs seemed almost without limit, and in infinite variety, but when we have things sorted out we might try to count the number that we photographed or collected with postcards. This did seem to be a time of pulvinated poodles, "pulvinated" being our new vocabulary word for this trip. The parades of poodles around so many of the apsidal mosaics were quite impressive.

    Bill related how, on the feast of St. Agnes (NB, "sheep" in Latin is "agnus", so Agnes is associated with sheep because of the pun in Latin), sheep have been carried in processions on pillows. We never did see a pulvinated Agnes though.

    For those who might be wondering, this poodles business all began years ago when we spotted a needlepoint representation of a "lamb of God" that undeniably looked like a poodle, and it's been "poodles of God" ever since.

  4. Written by S.W. Anderson
    on Sunday, 6 May 2007 at 14.54
    Permalink

    "For those who might be wondering, this poodles business all began . . ."

    I appreciate the explainer. You had me wondering there for a moment.

    Sounds like a rich experience, all right. Now, about the trattorias, la cusina?

  5. Written by chris
    on Sunday, 6 May 2007 at 15.26
    Permalink

    S. Rita (formerly S. Maria della Virgini)

    now WHY would I mis-read that as something to do with "St Mary formerly the Virgin"??

    having a smutty mind does have disadvantages at times.

    Glad to get such an effusive Poodle of God report (plural: PsOG, not POGs, shirley?); I shall expect photographic evidence of course in the fullness of time.

  6. Written by jns
    on Sunday, 6 May 2007 at 17.06
    Permalink

    However, Chris, I aver that having a smutty mind is usually an advantage.

    Certainly, when spelled out, it would be "Poodles of God"; however, American English vernacular commonly puts the plural 's' at the end of acronyms, regardless of what it then acronymizes. At least, that's been my impression, which could be faulty. However, I tremble in the knowledge that if you don't accept this answer I'll be hearing from the Great Zwicky any minute now. For the rest: that's a story for another occasion.

    As is, SW, the story of la cucina romana and the food we ate yet another story, but I'm sure I'll be talking about it soon. For his part, I think Bill would proclaim a tie between a spaghetti carbonara and a "gnocchi to the fourth cheese". Still another story….

    p.s., S. Maria was proclaimed perpetually a virgin, which helps one avoid such a misreading, alas.

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