Monday, March 18, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog: Vigil, Daniel 13:41-62, Psalms 23:1-6, John 8:1-11, Pope Frances Daily Activity, St Frediano, Basilica de Frediano, Lucca Italy, Catholic Catechism Part One Section 2 The Creeds Chapter 3:12:7 Amen

Monday, March 18, 2013 - Litany Lane Blog:
 

Vigil, Daniel 13:41-62, Psalms 23:1-6, John 8:1-11, Pope Frances Daily Activity, St Frediano, Basilica de Frediano, Lucca Italy, Catholic Catechism Part One Section 2 The Creeds Chapter 3:12:7 Amen

Good Day Bloggers!  Wishing everyone a Blessed Week!

Year of Faith - October 11, 2012 - November 24, 2013

P.U.S.H. (Pray Until Serenity Happens). It has a remarkable way of producing solace, peace, patience and tranquility and of course resolution...God's always available 24/7.

The world begins and ends everyday for someone.  We are all human. We all experience birth, life and death. We all have flaws but we also all have the gift of knowledge and free will, make the most of these gifts. Life on earth is a stepping stone to our eternal home in Heaven. Its your choice whether to rise towards eternal light or lost to eternal darkness. Material items, though needed for sustenance and survival on earth are of earthly value only. The only thing that passes from this earth to Purgatory and/or Heaven is our Soul, our Spirit...it's God's perpetual gift to us...Embrace it, treasure it, nurture it, protect it...

"Raise not a hand to another unless it is to offer in peace and goodwill." ~ Zarya Parx 2012

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Prayers for Today: Monday in Lent

Rosary - Joyful Mysteries

Divine Mercy Chaplet

Way of the Cross

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 Papam Franciscus
(Pope Francis)

Pope Francis' utilizes Internet communication

First Tweet: Thank you and pray for me

Vatican City, 18 March 2013 (VIS) - “Dear Friends, I offer my heartfelt thanks and ask you to continue to pray for me.” Pope Francis' first tweet was sent after yesterday's Angelus.

The twitter account @ponitfex, in nine languages, has been reactivated and already has 3,400,000 followers.

Reference: 

• Vatican News. From the Pope. © Copyright 2013 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Accessed 3/15/2013.

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March 18 2013 Message to the World via Annual Apparition to Mirjana:
"Dear children! I call you to, with complete trust and joy, bless the name of the Lord and, day by day, to give Him thanks from the heart for His great love. My Son, through that love which He showed by the Cross, gave you the possibility to be forgiven for everything; so that you do not have to be ashamed or to hide, and out of fear not to open the door of your heart to my Son. To the contrary, my children, reconcile with the Heavenly Father so that you may be able to come to love yourselves as my Son loves you. When you come to love yourselves, you will also love others; in them you will see my Son and recognize the greatness of His love. Live in faith! Through me, my Son is preparing you for the works which He desires to do through you – works through which He desires to be glorified. Give Him thanks. Especially thank Him for the shepherds - for your intercessors in the reconciliation with the Heavenly Father. I am thanking you, my children. Thank you."

March 2, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
“Dear children; Anew, in a motherly way, I am calling you not to be of a hard heart. Do not shut your eyes to the warnings which the Heavenly Father sends to you out of love. Do you love Him above all else? Do you repent for having often forgotten that the Heavenly Father, out of His great love, sent His Son to redeem us by the Cross? Do you repent for not having accepted the message? My children, do not resist the love of my Son. Do not resist hope and peace. Along with your prayers and fasting, by His Cross, my Son will cast away the darkness that wants to surround you and come to rule over you. He will give you the strength for a new life. Living it according to my Son, you will be a blessing and a hope to all those sinners who wander in the darkness of sin. My children, keep vigil. I, as a mother, am keeping vigil with you. I am especially praying and watching over those whom my Son called to be light-bearers and carriers of hope for you – for your shepherds. Thank you.”

February 25, 2013 Message From Our Lady of Medjugorje to World:
“Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. Sin is pulling you towards worldly things and I have come to lead you towards holiness and the things of God, but you are struggling and spending your energies in the battle with the good and the evil that are in you. Therefore, little children, pray, pray, pray until prayer becomes a joy for you and your life will become a simple walk towards God. Thank you for having responded to my call.”

 

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Today's Word:  vigil  vig·il  [vij-uhl] 

Origin: 1200–50; Middle English vigil ( i ) e  < Anglo-French  < Medieval Latin vigilia  eve of a holy day, special use of Latin vigilia  watchfulness, equivalent to vigil  sentry + -ia -y³
 

noun

1. wakefulness maintained for any reason during the normal hours for sleeping.

2. a watch or a period of watchful attention maintained at night or at other times: The nurse kept her vigil at the bedside of the dying man.

3. a period of wakefulness from inability to sleep.

4. Ecclesiastical .

a. a devotional watching, or keeping awake, during the customary hours of sleep.

b. Sometimes, vigils. a nocturnal devotional exercise or service, especially on the eve before a church festival.

c. the eve, or day and night, before a church festival, especially an eve that is a fast.

 

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Today's Old Testament Reading -  Psalms 23:1-6

¹ [Psalm Of David] Yahweh is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

² In grassy meadows he lets me lie. By tranquil streams he leads me

³ to restore my spirit. He guides me in paths of saving justice as befits his name.

⁴ Even were I to walk in a ravine as dark as death I should fear no danger, for you are at my side. Your staff and your crook are there to soothe me.

⁵ You prepare a table for me under the eyes of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup brims over.

⁶ Kindness and faithful love pursue me every day of my life. I make my home in the house of Yahweh for all time to come.

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Today's Epistle -  Daniel 13:41-62

⁴¹ She refused to tell us. That is our evidence.' Since they were elders of the people and judges, the assembly accepted their word: Susanna was condemned to death.

⁴² She cried out as loud as she could, 'Eternal God, you know all secrets and everything before it happens;

⁴³ you know that they have given false evidence against me. And now I must die, innocent as I am of everything their malice has invented against me!'

⁴⁴ The Lord heard her cry

⁴⁵ and, as she was being led away to die, he roused the holy spirit residing in a young boy called Daniel

⁴⁶ who began to shout, 'I am innocent of this woman's death!'

⁴⁷ At this all the people turned to him and asked, 'What do you mean by that?'

⁴⁸ Standing in the middle of the crowd, he replied, 'Are you so stupid, children of Israel, as to condemn a daughter of Israel unheard, and without troubling to find out the truth?

⁴⁹ Go back to the scene of the trial: these men have given false evidence against her.'

⁵⁰ All the people hurried back, and the elders said to Daniel, 'Come and sit with us and tell us what you mean, since God has given you the gifts that elders have.'

⁵¹ Daniel said, 'Keep the men well apart from each other, for I want to question them.'

⁵² When the men had been separated, Daniel had one of them brought to him. 'You have grown old in wickedness,' he said, 'and now the sins of your earlier days have overtaken you,

⁵³ you with your unjust judgements, your condemnation of the innocent, your acquittal of the guilty, although the Lord has said, "You must not put the innocent and upright to death."

⁵⁴ Now then, since you saw her so clearly, tell me what sort of tree you saw them lying under.' He replied, 'Under an acacia tree.'

⁵⁵ Daniel said, 'Indeed! Your lie recoils on your own head: the angel of God has already received from him your sentence and will cut you in half.'

⁵⁶ He dismissed the man, ordered the other to be brought and said to him, 'Son of Canaan, not of Judah, beauty has seduced you, lust has led your heart astray!

⁵⁷ This is how you have been behaving with the daughters of Israel, and they have been too frightened to resist; but here is a daughter of Judah who could not stomach your wickedness!

⁵⁸ Now then, tell me what sort of tree you surprised them under.' He replied, 'Under an aspen tree.'

⁵⁹ Daniel said, 'Indeed! Your lie recoils on your own head: the angel of God is waiting with a sword to rend you in half, and destroy the pair of you.'

⁶⁰ Then the whole assembly shouted, blessing God, the Saviour of those who trust in him.

⁶¹ And they turned on the two elders whom Daniel had convicted of false evidence out of their own mouths.

⁶² As the Law of Moses prescribes, they were given the same punishment as they had schemed to inflict on their neighbour. They were put to death. And thus, that day, an innocent life was saved.

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Today's Gospel Reading - John 8:1-11

 

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in the middle they said to Jesus, 'Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, and in the Law Moses has ordered us to stone women of this kind. What have you got to say?' They asked him this as a test, looking for an accusation to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. As they persisted with their question, he straightened up and said, 'Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her.' Then he bent down and continued writing on the ground. When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until the last one had gone and Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained in the middle. Jesus again straightened up and said, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' 'No one, sir,' she replied. 'Neither do I condemn you,' said Jesus. 'Go away, and from this moment sin no more.'

Reflection

• In today’s Gospel, we will meditate on the encounter of Jesus with the woman whom was going to be stoned. Because of his preaching and his way of acting Jesus disturbs and troubles the religious authority. Because of this, they tried, by all possible means, to accuse him and to get rid of him. Thus, they bring before him a woman, caught committing adultery. Under the appearance of fidelity to the Law, they use the woman in order to have an argument against Jesus. Today also, under the appearance of fidelity to the Laws of the Church, many persons are marginalized. Divorcés/divorcées, prostitutes, sick with AIDS, single mothers, homosexuals, etc. Let us see how Jesus reacts:

• John 8, 1-2: Jesus and the people. After the discussion on the origin of the Messiah, described at the end of chapter 7 (Jn 7, 37-52), “They all went home” (Jn 7, 53). Jesus did not have a house in Jerusalem. This is the reason why he went to the Mount of Olives. There was a garden there, where he usually spent the night in prayer (Jn 18, 1). The following day, before dawn, before the rising of the sun, Jesus was again in the Temple. People came very close to him to be able to listen to him. They sat on the ground, around Jesus and he taught them. What did Jesus teach? It must have been very beautiful because people went there before sun rise in order to listen to him!

• John 8, 3-6ª: The Scribes prepare the ambush. Unexpectedly, the Scribes and Pharisees arrive, with a woman caught committing adultery. They make her stand in the middle. According to the law, the woman would have to be stoned (Lv 20, 20; Dt 22, 22.24). They ask: “What is your opinion, what do you got to say?” It was a trap. If Jesus would have said: “Apply the Law”, they would have said: “He is not as good as he seems, because he has said to kill the poor woman!” If he had said: “Do not kill her”, they would have said: “He is not as good as he seems, because he does not even observe the law!” Under appearances of fidelity to God, they manipulate the law using the person of the woman in order to be able to accuse Jesus.

• John 8, 6b-8: Reaction of Jesus: he writes on the ground. It seemed to be a dead alley without an outing. But Jesus is not frightened, nor does he get nervous. Rather, all the contrary. Calmly, as dominating the situation, he bends down and begins to write on the ground with his finger. His enemies are those who get nervous. They insist and they want Jesus to give his opinion. Then Jesus rises and says: “Let the one among you who is guiltless be the first to throw a stone at her!” Then bending down again he continued to write on the ground. Jesus does not discuss the law. But he changes the objective of the judgment. Instead of allowing them to place the law above the woman to condemn her, he asks them to examine themselves in the light of what the law demands from them. The symbolical action of writing on the ground clarifies everything. The word of the Law of God has its own consistency. A word written on the ground has no consistency. The rain and the wind carry it away. The forgiveness of God takes away sin identified and denounced by the law.

• John 8, 9-11: Jesus and the woman. The gesture and response of Jesus make his enemies go away, they are conquered. The Pharisees and the Scribes go away full of shame, one after the other, beginning with the eldest. The contrary of what they expected takes place. The person condemned by the law was not the woman, but rather they who believed to be faithful to the law. At the end, Jesus remains alone with the woman who stood in the middle. Jesus straightened up and said: “Woman, where are they who condemned you? Has no one condemned you?!” She replied: “No one, Sir!” And Jesus: “Neither do I condemn you! Go away, and from this moment sin no more!”

• Jesus does not allow anyone to use the Law of God to condemn the brother or the sister when the person who condemns is himself/herself a sinner. This episode, better than any other teaching, reveals that Jesus is the light which makes truth shine. He opens up what exists in the secret of persons, in the intimate depth of each one of us. In the light of his word, those who seemed to be the defenders of the law reveal themselves being full of sin and they themselves recognize it, and they leave, beginning by the eldest. And the woman considered to be guilty and deserving of death, remains standing up before God, absolved, redeemed and with her dignity recovered (cf. Jn 3, 19-21).

Personal questions

• Try to put yourself in the woman’s place: Which were her feelings at that moment?
• Which are the steps which our community can and should take to accept those excluded?

Reference: Courtesy of Order of Carmelites, www.ocarm.org.

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Featured Item of the Day from Litany Lane

Our Mother of Perpetual Help Ipad Cases by LitanyLane

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Saint of the Day:  Saint Fridianus

Feast Day:  March 18

Patron Saint:  n/a

Attributes:  n/a

^{St. Fridianus changing the course
of the River Serchio.} 

Saint Fridianus (Italian: San Frediano, also Frigidanus, Frigidian, Frigianu), was an Irish prince and hermit, fl. 6th century. Tradition names him as a son of King Ultach of Ulster. He later became Bishop of Lucca in Italy. The Basilica of San Frediano in the city is dedicated to him.

Fridianus is venerated as a Christian saint of the 6th century and as a bishop of Lucca. The Basilica di San Frediano in Lucca is dedicated to him.

Tradition makes him a prince of Ireland^[1] who became a hermit on Mount Pisano, near Lucca, after going on pilgrimage to Rome. The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “Remarkable for sanctity and miracles was St. Fridianus (560-88), son of Ultonius, King of Ireland, or perhaps of a king of Ulster (Ultonia), of whom in his "Dialogues" (III, 10) St. Gregory the Great relates a miracle.”^[2]

According to his legend, Fridianus was brought up trained in Irish monasticism, and was taught by St Enda and St Colman. He was later ordained a priest. Upon a pilgrimage to Italy, he decided to dedicate his life to God in solitude, and became a hermit, living on Mount Pisano near the city of Lucca. In 556, Pope John II persuaded him to take the bishopric of Lucca, which Fridianus accepted.^[1] However, he would often return to countryside to spend his time in quiet prayer and solitude.^[3]

Fridianus became known for working miracles, his most famous one almost certainly being a legend. The River Serchio, which ran past Lucca, often broke its banks and flooded the nearby city. The citizens became so distressed by this that they called for their bishop to come to their aid. Armed with a rake, Fridianus walked down to the river bank, and, strengthened by the prayers of the faithful, he commanded the waters of the Serchio to follow his rake. To the amazement of those gathered, the river followed Fridianus as he cut a path away from the city and the cultivated land on its outskirts.^[3]

During his episcopate, Lucca was attacked by the Lombards.^[1] The cathedral was burnt down and Fridianus rebuilt it.^[4] He may also have founded a group of eremitical canon priests;^[1] these canons merged with the Canons Regular of the Lateran in 1507.^[1]

Fridianus had a church built on the spot of the present basilica, dedicated to St. Vincent, a martyr from Zaragoza, Spain. When Fridianus was buried in this church, the church was renamed Ss. Frediano and Vincenzo. The church is now a major landmark for people to visit.

St. Fridianus is often confused with St. Finnian of Moville, although no formal connection has ever been made between the two.^[4]

References

1. ^ St. Frediano - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online
2. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: Lucca
3. ^ Bentley, James (1993). A calendar of saints : the lives of the principal saints of the Christian Year. London: Little, Brown. ISBN 9780316908139.
4. ^  "Saint Frigidian of Lucca". Saints.SQPN.com. Retrieved 2012-07-13.

 
 

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Featured Items Panel from Litany Lane

 

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Today's Snippet I:   Basilica of San Frediano

Basilica of San Frediano

The Basilica of San Frediano is a Romanesque church in Lucca, Italy, situated on the Piazza San Frediano.
 

Fridianus (Frediano) was an Irish bishop of Lucca in the first half of the 6th century. He had a church built on this spot, dedicated to St. Vincent, a martyr from Zaragoza, Spain. When Fridianus was buried in this church, the church was renamed Ss. Frediano and Vincenzo. Soon afterwards, a community of Augustinian canons was growing around this church. In the Longobard era, the church and the canon house were enlarged. In 1104, this order was recognized by Pope Paschal II. The prior of St. Frediano was later accorded a rank equal in dignity to that of a bishop.

The church acquired its present appearance of a typical Roman basilica during the period 1112-1147. In the 13th-14th centuries the striking façade was decorated with a huge golden 13th century mosaic representing The Ascension of Christ the Saviour with the apostles below. Berlinghiero Berlinghieri designed it in a Byzantine/medieval style.

Several chapels of the nobility were added in the 14th-16th centuries. These are lavishly decorated with paintings.

Comparisons

The architecture of the Basilica of San Frediano well represents the characteristics of Romanesque Lucca before the influences of the near Pisa, in particular of the Cathedral of Buscheto, and workers from northern Italy change its traditional character. The church still has a simple type of early Christian basilica plan, with curtain walls smooth, without projections or complex joints of the arches, and architectural elements are all of Roman tradition, such as architraves and columns of the facade and the apse, the windows niche, the specially carved composite capitals. These same features are found - in a stadium even purer - in the nearby church of St. Alexander, which includes the remains of an older building in which every element, from the paths proportional to the quality of the walls, the arrangement of unusual materials to bare corinzieggianti capitals, is all ancient roman traditions.

Description

Inside, the basilica is built in richly carved white marble. It consists of a nave and two aisles with arches supported by columns with Roman and Romanesque capitals. The Roman capitals were recycled from the nearby Roman amphitheatre.

The highlight at the entrance is the huge 12th century Romanesque baptismal font (the Fonte Lustrale). It is composed of a bowl, covered with a tempietto, resting on pillars, inside a circular basin. It is the craftmanship of master Roberto (his signature is on the basin) and two unknown masters. The basin is decorated with The Story of Moses by a Lombard sculptor. Master Roberto did the last two panels The Good Shepherd and the Six Prophets. The tempietto was sculpted by a Tuscan master, representing the months of the year and the apostles.

Behind this font, higher on the wall, are two 15th century glazed terracotta lunettes : The Annunciation and St. Bartholomew, both attributed to the school of Andrea della Robbia.

There is another baptismal font, still in use, carved and adapted from a sacramental altar by Matteo Civitali in 1489.

The counterfaçade houses the 16th century organ in the exquisitely carved, gold-plated choir from the 17th century.

On the right hand is the side chapel of St. Zita (1218-1278), a popular saint in Lucca. Her intact mummified body, lying on a bed of brocade, is on display in a glass shrine. On the walls of the chapel are several canvasses from the 16th and 17th centuries depicting episodes from her life.

The remains of St. Frediano lie underneath the main altar from the 16th century. A massive stone monolith stands left of the main altar. This was probably pilfered from the amphiteatre of Lucca. But local tradition has it that it was miraculously transported to Lucca by San Frediano and used as a predella (step of an altar) for the first altar.

Chapels

12th century baptistry

The Trenta chapel in the left aisle houses the polyptych of the Virgin and the Child, a 15th century masterpiece by Jacopo della Quercia, carved with the help of his assistant Giovanni da Imola. Below the altar is a Roman sarcophagus with the body of St. Richard, an English “king” (of Wessex), who died in Lucca in 722 while on pilgrimage to Rome. He was the supposed father of Saints Willibald, Winiblad and Walpurga. On the marble floor lies a tombstone of Lorenzo Trenta and his wife, equally from the hand of Jacopo della Quercia.

Among the many chapels, the Chapel of the Cross certainly stands out. It contains frescoes, recently restored, by Amico Aspertini (1508-1509). The blue vault shows us God surrounded by angels, prophets and sibyls. Above the altar is an anonymous 17th century painting representing Volto Santo, St. Augustine and St. Ubaldo. On the right wall is the fresco of St. Frediano displacing the course of the river Serchio, while trying to stop the flooding. Next to it is a column which is, at closer sight, actually flat. The sgraffiti are drawn in the art technique of trompe l’oeil, giving a false perspective and the illusion of a column. On the left wall is the fresco of the Transportation of the Volto Santo from the port of Luni to Lucca by the Blessed Giovanni, bishop of Lucca. In the front the stooping old lady in red robe certainly steals the show. The mortal remains of this bishop are preserved in this chapel.

The Chapel of St. Anne was constructed in the 16th century, but the paintings date from the 19th century. On the left side of the altar is the Death of St. Anna by B. Rocchi. In the middle, above the altar, St. Anna Adores the Child by Stefano Tofanelli. On the right side of the altar is the Birth of Mary by A. Cecchi.

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Today's Snippet II:  Lucca, Italy

Piazza Anfiteatro, Lucca Italy

Lucca  is a city and comune in Tuscany, Central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca. Among other reasons, it is famous for its intact city walls.

 

History

Ancient and medieval city

Lucca was founded by the Etruscans (there are traces of a pre-existing Ligurian settlement) and became a Roman colony in 180 BC. The rectangular grid of its historical centre preserves the Roman street plan, and the Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the ancient forum. Traces of the amphitheatre can still be seen in the Piazza dell'Anfiteatro.

At the Lucca Conference, in 56 BC, Julius Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus reaffirmed their political alliance known as the First Triumvirate.

Frediano, an Irish monk, was bishop of Lucca in the early 6th century. At one point, Lucca was plundered by Odoacer, the first Germanic King of Italy. Lucca was an important city and fortress even in the 6th century, when Narses besieged it for several months in 553. Under the Lombards, it was the seat of a duke who minted his own coins. The Holy Face of Lucca (or Volto Santo), a major relic supposedly carved by Nicodemus, arrived in 742. During the 8th - 10th centuries it was a center of Jewish life, led by the Kalonymos family (who at some point during this period migrated to Germany and became a major component of proto-Ashkenazic Jewry). It became prosperous through the silk trade that began in the 11th century, and came to rival the silks of Byzantium. During the 10–11th centuries Lucca was the capital of the feudal margraviate of Tuscany, more or less independent but owing nominal allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor.

First republic

After the death of Matilda of Tuscany, the city began to constitute itself an independent commune, with a charter in 1160. For almost 500 years, Lucca remained an independent republic. There were many minor provinces in the region between southern Liguria and northern Tuscany dominated by the Malaspina; Tuscany in this time was a part of feudal Europe. Dante’s Divine Comedy includes many references to the great feudal families who had huge jurisdictions with administrative and judicial rights. Dante spent some of his exile in Lucca.

In 1273 and again in 1277, Lucca was ruled by a Guelph capitano del popolo (captain of the people) named Luchetto Gattilusio. In 1314, internal discord allowed Uguccione della Faggiuola of Pisa to make himself lord of Lucca. The Lucchesi expelled him two years later, and handed over the city to another condottiere Castruccio Castracani, under whose rule it became a leading state in central Italy. Lucca rivalled Florence until Castracani's death in 1328. On 22 and 23 September 1325, in the battle of Altopascio, Castracani defeated Florence's Guelphs. For this he was nominated by Louis IV the Bavarian to become duke of Lucca. Castracani's tomb is in the church of San Francesco. His biography is Machiavelli's third famous book on political rule. In 1408, Lucca hosted the convocation intended to end the schism in the papacy. Occupied by the troops of Louis of Bavaria, the city was sold to a rich Genoese, Gherardino Spinola, then seized by John, king of Bohemia. Pawned to the Rossi of Parma, by them it was ceded to Martino della Scala of Verona, sold to the Florentines, surrendered to the Pisans, and then nominally liberated by the emperor Charles IV and governed by his vicar. Lucca managed, at first as a democracy, and after 1628 as an oligarchy, to maintain its independence alongside of Venice and Genoa, and painted the word Libertas on its banner until the French Revolution in 1789.

Napoleonic conquest

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.

Lucca had been the second largest Italian city state (after Venice) with a republican constitution ("comune") to remain independent over the centuries.

In 1805, Lucca was conquered by Napoleon, who installed his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi as "Queen of Etruria".

After 1815 it became a Bourbon-Parma duchy, then part of Tuscany in 1847 and finally part of the Italian State

Main sights

Duomo di San Martino

The walls around the old town remained intact as the city expanded and modernized, unusual for cities in the region. As the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars. They are still fully intact today; each of the four principal sides is lined with a different tree species.

The Academy of Sciences (1584) is the most famous of several academies and libraries.

The Casa di Puccini will re-open to the public on 14 September 2011. At the nearby town of Torre del Lago, there is a Puccini opera festival every year in July/August. Puccini had a house there as well.

There are many richly built medieval basilica-form churches in Lucca with rich arcaded façades and campaniles, a few as old as the 8th century.

• Piazza dell'Anfiteatro
• Piazzale Verdi
• Piazza Napoleone
• Piazza San Michele
• Duomo di San Martino (St Martin's Cathedral)
• The Ducal Palace, built on the location of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. The original project was begun by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1577–1582, and continued by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century.
• The ancient Roman amphitheatre
• Church of San Michele in Foro
• Romanesque church of San Giusto.
• Basilica di San Frediano
• Church of Sant'Alessandro, an example of medieval classicism
• Torre delle ore ("The Clock Tower")
• Casa and Torre Guinigi - The Guinigi Tower with oak trees on top
• Museo Nazionale Guinigi
• Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale
• Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca, a botanical garden dating from 1820
• Palazzo Pfanner
• Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens.
• Church of San Giorgio in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late 12th century. It has a nave and two aisles with a single apse, and a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style ranked among the most beautiful in northern Italy. The interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on notable sculptures of lions. Also having notable medieval decoration is the octagonal baptismal fount. The altar is supported by six small columns with human figures
• Church of San Michele, at Antraccoli. Founded in 777, it was enlarged in the 12th century and modified again in the 16th century with the introduction of a portico.
• Passeggiata delle Mura Urbane, a street all over the city on the bastions. It passes from these balconies: Santa Croce, San Frediano, San Martino, San Pietro/Battisti, San Salvatore, La Libertà/Cairoli, San Regolo, San Colombano, Santa Maria, San Paolino/Catalani, and San Donato; also pass over these gates: Porta San Donato, Porta Santa Maria, Porta San Jocopo, Porta Elisa, Porta San Pietro, and Porta Sant'Anna.
• Church of Santa Giulia, of Lombard origins, but remade in the 13th century.
• The fortified city is surrounded by the streets of: Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini (vide Pacini), Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento) and Viale Giosuè Carducci (vide Giosuè Carducci).

 

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicalao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of Bruno Menconi and artist Benedetto Brandimarte.

 

Museums

• National Museum of Villa Guinigi
• Museum of Villa Mansi
• Museo della Cattedrale
• Lu.C.C.A. Lucca Center of Contemporary Art
• Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

 

Festivals

Lucca annually hosts the Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition saw Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman and Santana play live in the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Italy's largest festival for comics and related subjects.
 

 

References

• "Lucca", Italy (2nd ed.), Coblenz: Karl Baedeker, 1870

• "Lucca", Northern Italy (14th ed.), Leipzig: Karl Baedeker, 1913

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Catechism of the Catholic Church

Part One: Profession of Faith, Sect 2 The Creeds, Ch 3:12:7

CHAPTER THREE

I BELIEVE IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

Article 12

"I BELIEVE IN LIFE EVERLASTING"

"Amen"

1061 The Creed, like the last book of the Bible,Rev 22:21 ends with the Hebrew word amen. This word frequently concludes prayers in the New Testament. the Church likewise ends her prayers with "Amen."

1062 In Hebrew, amen comes from the same root as the word "believe." This root expresses solidity, trustworthiness, faithfulness. and so we can understand why "Amen" may express both God's faithfulness towards us and our trust in him.

1063 In the book of the prophet Isaiah, we find the expression "God of truth" (literally "God of the Amen"), that is, the God who is faithful to his promises: "He who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth [amen]."Isa 65:16 Our Lord often used the word "Amen," sometimes repeated,Mt 6:2 to emphasize the trustworthiness of his teaching, his authority founded on God's truth.

1064 Thus the Creed's final "Amen" repeats and confirms its first words: "I believe." To believe is to say "Amen" to God's words, promises and commandments; to entrust oneself completely to him who is the "Amen" of infinite love and perfect faithfulness. the Christian's everyday life will then be the "Amen" to the "I believe" of our baptismal profession of faith:

May your Creed be for you as a mirror. Look at yourself in it, to see if you believe everything you say you believe. and rejoice in your faith each day.St. Augustine, Sermo 58, 11, 13: PL 38, 39

1065 Jesus Christ himself is the "Amen."Rev 3:14 He is the definitive "Amen" of the Father's love for us. He takes up and completes our "Amen" to the Father: "For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why we utter the Amen through him, to the glory of God":2 Cor 1:20

Through him, with him, in him,

in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

all glory and honor is yours,

almighty Father,

God, for ever and ever.

AMEN.

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