Category: Saintly Stories Nuns Never Told Me

Postcard from Palermo, Sicily: Putti play while Jesuits pray

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Above: Putti sculpted of marble in Chiesa del Gesu

Known as soldiers of God, Jesuits travel throughout the world to educate and evangelize the masses. They take a vow of poverty when they enter the order, which makes the extravagant beauty found in their churches particularly surprising.

The website of Chiesa del Gesu explains their evangelization efforts through art with words of Saint John of Damascus (676-749):

If a pagan comes and says, “Show me your faith!” take him to church and show him the decoration with which it is adorned and explain to him the series of sacred pictures.

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Postcard from Siracusa, Sicily: Bellomo Palace and, for saint’s sake, always eat two of this dessert

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Above: A representation of the story of Adam and Eve eating the forbidden apples, Museo Regionale di Palazzzo Bellomo

A stark façade conveys the 12th-century origin of the Bellomo Palace. The interior spaces, however, reflect several centuries of architectural alterations, much like the centuries of regional Sicilian art housed within. Benedictine monks occupied the palace in the 18th century, merging it and an adjacent palazzo into one compound.

The Risorgimento, the ongoing unification of the Kingdom of Italy, represented a disaster for many Catholic religious orders. In Sicily, the government seized property and buildings, including this monastery in 1866. In 1940, the government repurposed the compound as a museum, with the 1866 confiscated religious art forming a major portion of its collection. The Bellomo underwent substantial renovation in 2004.

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Biannual Roundup: What posts you’ve traveled most

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Above: A mock wedding is always part of the pre-Lenten Carnaval in San Martin Tilcajete, Mexico

Above: Lou Ann Barton, Marcia Ball, Sue Foley, Ruthie Foster and Eve Monsees joined forces at a March benefit for the Austin History Center

Is everyone on a diet? I think this is the first time that there is not one food post represented in the top 12 posts that you have frequented during the past year.

The following list represents the biannual results of the most-read postcards, with the numbers in parentheses indicating rankings from six months ago when applicable.

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