Calendar Class of April 10, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

For our final Art and Architecture class today (sob!), we began at one of Michelangelo's masterpiece, that palimpsest that is the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri, created out of a central section of the ruins of the Baths of Diocletian. Following that we visited a Bernini masterpiece, the "Ecstasy of St. Teresa of Avila" in the Discalced Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Vittoria. Following that, we Carpe Diemed and went in search of a church suggested to me by the religious sister in the gift shop. After wandering a bit we located the Basilica of Santa Teresa d'Avila, a massive neo-gothic structure in a modern neighborhood. On the way there, and on the way home afterwards, we stumbled upon two more neo-gothic churches, Chiesa di Santa Maria Regina dei Cuori and the cavernous Basilica of St. Camillo de Lellis. Besides these churches, there were several other discoveries along the way that would take too long to recount here. As I was telling the girls on the bus at the beginning of our adventures today: "Per Roma, non basta una vita!"

Liturgical: Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent Mass readings and Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections

Psalm 105:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually. Remember the wonderful works he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered.

Sanctoral: Saint Magdalene of Canossa, +1835

Wealth and privilege did nothing to prevent today’s saint from following her calling to serve Christ in the poor. Nor did the protests of her relatives, concerned that such work was beneath her.

Born in northern Italy in 1774, Magdalene knew her mind—and spoke it. At age 15 she announced she wished to become a nun. After trying out her vocation with the cloistered Carmelites, she realized her desire was to serve the needy without restriction. For years she worked among the poor and sick in hospitals and in their homes, and also among delinquent and abandoned girls.

In her mid-20s, Magdalene began offering lodging to poor girls in her own home. In time she opened a school, which offered practical training and religious instruction. As other women joined her in the work, the new Congregation of the Canossian Daughters of Charity—or Canossian Sisters—emerged. Over time, houses were opened throughout Italy.

Members of the new religious congregation focused on the educational and spiritual needs of women. Magdalene also founded a smaller congregation for priests and brothers. Both groups continue to this day.

Human: 191 BC – the Temple of Great Mother on the Palatine Hill and the temple of Iuventus (Youth) near Circus Maximus were dedicated.

401 AD-- The birthday of Theodosius II, a Roman emperor proclaimed co-emperor in 402 as an infant and who, from 408 after the death of his father, ruled the Western Empire alone. He is best known for the law code which bears his name, the Theodosian law code, and for the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople.

Natural: 1815 Mount Tambora in the Dutch East Indies experiences a cataclysmic eruption, one of the most powerful in history, killing around 71,000 people and causing a global volcanic winter

Italian: Allarme (alarm / alert)

Quote: "The people that once bestowed commands, consulships, legions, and all else, now concerns itself no more, and longs eagerly for just two things—bread and circuses." —Juvenal, Satires