Fr. Z's Blog

When the sun rose on this lovely Roman morning it was 5:51. The lovely Roman evening commences with the setting of the sun at 20:23.

The Ave Maria Bell should ring at 20:45.

It is the Feast of Sts. Nereus, Achilleus and Pancratius (304).

As it does inevitably happen the question came in: “What is the Ave Maria Bell you keep mentioning?”    I wrote about that in greater detail HERE.

Here’s a compressed version.

The Ave Maria Bells signals the end of the “religious” day and the beginning of “religious” night.

It is rung in the ball park of 30 minutes after sunset.  Usually the Ave Maria is rung in a way not dissimilar to how the Angelus (Regina Caeli now) is rung…  3x… 4x…5x… 1x.

If the Ave Maria rings at, say, 19:00h (7PM), then 18:00h (6PM) would start the 23rd hour of the day and 19:00 would start the 1st hour of the new day’s “evening and morning”.   In Roman churches, Vespers were usually sung about an hour before the Ave Maria Bell.  Hence, in the example above, at about 18:00 at the 23rd hour.

What was the Ave Maria Bell doing for the Roman Curia?

In the Roman Curia, Cardinals who were Prefects (the offices of the Congregations had/have throne rooms, btw) and other “pezzi grossi” around the place would receive visits for an hour after the Ave Maria. An hour after the Ave Maria was rung to signal the change of religious days, another bell was struck to denote the 1st hour of the new day.

The Ave Maria could also follow the sun, and ring precisely one half hour after sunset.   So, following the sun strictly, the solar Ave Maria this evening would ring at 18:53.

To simplify this for the Curia – ’cause who had watches, right? – they adopted 15 minute cycles.  We are in the 18:45 cycle now.  Actually we are in the 17:45 cycle, which lasts from 11-24 May.  BUT… there’s the “ora legale” here, the European “daylight savings” in force which moved the hour hand forward.   On Sunday 26 October “ora legale” is over and we will turn our clocks back to normal.

This also ties into the old Six Hour Clocks, you can still see around Rome.  The Six Hour Clock, which divided the day in 4 parts and made a complete revolution every 6 hours, influenced the recitation of the Angelus at 06:00 – 12:00 – 18:00.   These Six Hour Clocks were adjusted daily according to solar noon.   Solar noon was tracked carefully, because that is when contacts and appointments went into effect.  In the Church today, appointments still generally are designated as starting at noon.  There is a solar calendar made by a shaft of light through a tiny hole at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli by the Piazza della Repubblica.   The light spot on the floor traces the sun’s analemma over the course of the year across a 45 meter long meridian line.  It also could track certain stars, such as Sirius, the Dog Star.  Clement XI (+1721) commissioned it to check the accuracy of the Gregorian Calendar (1582).  

That sun clock was used to determine solar noon for all of Rome.  A signal would be sent from that church by means of a flag, watched for across town from the Gianicolo Hill where a cannon fired to sound noon.  It still does, everyday!

BTW… John L. Heilbron has a book on churches and cathedrals as solar observatories.  It is called The Sun In The Church.   Very cool.

There’s this.

Today I left my glasses on my vestments in the sacristy.  The World’s Best Sacristan™ put them in church on a side ledge of the main altar so I could retrieve them “after hours”.

Tonight I was out with The Great Roman™ and the The Wife of the Great Roman™ (a distinguished and internationally known bio-ethicist) and the emeritus head of An Important Institute™ (whom you would instantly recognize).

… honestly, I feel like I’ve come alive again.

Before “certain changes” all I wanted to do was sleep or lock the door, the spiritual FUG was that bad.  Now, I’m getting out more and meeting up with people more… it’s like normal life is returning.  It’s a sign of how deeply some of us have been wounded now for years.

Anyway, I was out…  mussels, clams, tomato, hot pepper, yum.

On the way home.

From a reader…

QUAERITUR:

Our pastor had a rare situation with the election of the Pope. The white smoke went up, indicating that we had a new Pope, but before who the new Pope was announced, he had to go say Mass, thus not having a name for the Eucharistic prayer.

He handled it, but just curious if there is anything official that covers this unique situation.

Just when you think you’ve heard it all.

This is only possible in today’s world of instantaneous, real time information.  Right?

Back in the day, before everything was live on the little screen in your hand, this wouldn’t have been a problem.  Father would have simply said Mass as if it were still sede vacante … ’cause it was as far as he was concerned… and changed his way of saying the Canon when he finally got the news.

Hence, there isn’t anything “official” – that I know of – for this scenario.

Back in, say, the 16th century, some old guy in a village somewhere might be blithely saying Sixtus V in the Canon.  After a while he gets the news that Gregory XIV is Pope.  He changes from Sixtus to Gregory, not even knowing that between Sixtus and Gregory was Urban VII… for 12 days.

I can think of a couple solutions to this problem.

First, there is the idea of delaying Mass a little and wait for the news, though you never know how long it’ll take to get that announcement going.   And people have to get home and make supper for their children, etc.

Second, I would just say:

…  una cum fámulo tuo Papa nostro et Antístite nostro Uhtredo et ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus. …

… together with Thy servant our Pope, and our Bishop Uhtred, and all orthodox believers and professors of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith.

In that way you pray for the Pope, whose name you don’t know.

This might be a solution in the case of a genuine antipope!

Say that, in some scenario, there is doubt about a Pope’s resignation or there is a split in the College of Cardinals after the death or resignation of a Pope and the two differing groups of Cardinals stage their own conclaves, each producing a “Pope”.   All things being equal, one might be hard pressed to know what name to say in the Canon.  Therefore, just saying “for Your servant our Pope” without a specific name could work.

Today, the 11th of the month saw the sunrise on the 3rd day of a new pontificate at 5:52.

It duly set at 20:22.

The Ave Maria Bell should ring at 20:45.   A new cycle as of today.

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Yesterday, 10 May, was the Feast of St. Job of the Old Testament and of St. John of God, Doctor of the Church.  Today, is the 3rd Sunday after Easter.  The Feast of Sant’Antimo.

Near my place.  Lovely scent of jasmine and cooking fills the street.

At The Parish™ we don’t waste candle stubs.

They go to the side altars.   Here’s what one of them was like when I finished today.

Beautiful light toward the end of an exquisite day.

Tired.

Let’s start with the important stuff, like the coat-of-arms and motto. ‘Cause I like that stuff.

Here is the coat-of-arms of Pope Leo XIV.   His motto is “In Illo Uno Unum”, which from the elegance you know is from St. Augustine.  Indeed it is, from en. ps. 127.  I’ll write separated about that.

The arms bear a Marian lily of purity and the symbol of the Augustinians, the arrow-pierced burning heart on the book, for Augustine is a Doctor of the Church.  It is simple.  That is good.

That Augustinian symbol is so familiar to me, since I studied in Rome at the Patristic Institute “Augustinianum” (while Prevost was there… and his classmate was president).

His name.  He told the cardinals that he wanted to affirm the path that the Church took with the Second Vatican Council, underscoring certain elements that both Benedict and Francis emphasized.  Hence he took the name Leo, calling to Leo XIII, and the social teaching of the Church.  Perhaps it is only coincidence that Leo XIII’s family had intimate dealings with Augustinians.

In that talk to Cardinals he mentioned AI.   This is a big deal.

His pectoral cross, at least what he has now, has relics of Augustinian saints, including Augustine and Monica.  I also have their relics in my chapel.  That will help me with a sense of solidarity, I hope.

The Pope will live in the Apostolic Palace.

Just watch.  Pretty Casa Santa Marta will return to being a “5 star hotel”.

Please, God, let the performative humility be at an end?

His theological background.

He has the coveted M.Div from the worst possible school in the worst possible years, Chicago Theological Union.

That doesn’t mean he is a heretic, like the instructors.  However it doesn’t point to a profound foundation.  It could be that he has done more on his own.  However, his jobs have kept him busy.

My sources say that he believes  and that he prays.

That’s a good start.