Vino Vita & Caffe
  • Home
    • The Traveling Gnomes
  • Out & about in the USA
  • Italy Travel Adventures
  • Italy
    • The Best of Sicily Tour
    • Venice
    • Rome
    • Florence
    • Padua
    • Milan
  • Best of Europe Tour
    • France
    • Switzerland
    • Germany
    • Venice
    • Florence
    • Rome
  • Spain
    • Barcelona

Pope Benedict XVI Last Angelus

2/24/2013

9 Comments

 
Picture
Today my say started with a 7:30 train from Firenze to Roma, my goal: to see Pope Benedict deliver his last Sunday Angelus. I left  all my opinions about the Catholic Church behind and headed south to Rome open to whatever the day would bring
Picture
What is the Angelus? Well as it has been explained to me by locals the Angelus is celebrated Sundays at noon whenever the Pope is in Rome. The Angelus is a prayer, it recalls the moment when Gabriel tells Mary that she will be giving birth to Jesus, it is followed by three Hail Mary's, a message and blessing from the Pope. It is a tradition that was started by Pope Giovanni XXIII.

Picture













I arrived to St. Peter's Square with plenty of time to get a good spot, but the crowds were slowly starting to gather. I heard music and headed to find where it was coming from, and I found myself amongst a group of Mexican priests who wanted to praise the Pope with songs and chants of : "Arriba, Abajo, el Papa es Mexicano!" or "Que viva el Papa!!" between songs like Cielito Lindo, Amigo, and Mexico Lindo y Querido. And what do you know???, I knew the words for all three so there I was singing with them, as more people joined. There was the nun from Brasil who heard the music of Amigo and she joined the group singing it in Portuguese, after all Roberto Carlos made the song famous (I'm not sure if he wrote it).
The were also some ladies from Argentina that joined in and then more people joined in, even the Italians were humming the words and joining in the Ay Ay ... of Cielito Lindo. It was actually pretty cool and made the time go by fast, although we kept recycling the same songs over and over...

The crowd kept growing,people from all over...

Noon strikes and...

Here's a little clip I took, I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed being there...
9 Comments
Wendy Rulnick link
2/24/2013 09:04:47 am

Well done, Rebecca! I think your video was great quality! I also enjoyed your story.

Reply
Rebecca
2/24/2013 06:04:20 pm

Thanks Wendy! I'm glad you enjoyed it

Reply
Kevin De Angelis
2/24/2013 09:20:38 am

Nice job Rebecca! Thank you so much for sharing your experience. Although I am no longer a Catholic, this was an experience I wish I could have had in person. Grazie di nuova!

Reply
Rebecca
2/24/2013 06:07:04 pm

I was raised Catholic, and I have tons of issues with the Catholic church, but I'm glad I was there, it was a moving experience. The crowd and the unity energizes you

Reply
Adelina
2/24/2013 12:06:18 pm

Well done, Bella! Grazie!

Reply
Rebecca
2/24/2013 06:07:34 pm

Glad you enjoyed it!

Reply
Dave Damiano
2/24/2013 12:34:04 pm

You were present for a historic moment. Thanks for sharing that with us. I love the story, the photos, the video ... fantastic! Thanks.

Reply
Rebecca
2/24/2013 06:08:44 pm

I would love to be there on the 28th but I have school all week, the sacrifices we make to learn Italian!

Reply
Wilda
2/27/2013 10:03:14 am

Me encanto, al igual que tu tengo problemas con la Iglesia catolica Pero esto es historia! Excelente!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    About me...

    My fascination with Italy started in 2011 when I visited for the first time. In the last few years I've had the opportunity to explore this country, I've learned the language, I've tried to understand it's culture, and the more I know, the more I want to learn, the more I see, the more I want to experience... 

    Archives

    March 2016
    February 2016
    October 2014
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    Categories

    All
    Assisi
    Bologna
    Cefalú
    Cenacolo
    Eagle Creek
    Firenze
    Italy
    Lecce
    Livorno
    Louvre Museum
    Mt. Etna
    Museo San Marco
    Packing Light
    Padova
    Palermo
    Pantocrator
    Perugia
    Pisa
    Puglia
    Rome
    San Gimignano
    Sicily
    Taormina
    Travel
    Vacationing In Convent

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.