THE FEAST OF SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

La Festa di San Michele Il Arcangelo

A personal Experience of the Author

 

In 1950, a family contracted my father to build a shrine to St. Lucy at the St. Michael’s Grove in Paterson, N.J. After he finished it, he wanted to show my mother and me his work along with attending a religious feast in progress at the grove. Mom was up to going so they went with me in tow. I was fourteen years old at the time.

Italian feasts are wonderful experiences, and this one was the most impressive I ever attended. It was sometime in September of that year, the weather was still warm and we wore summer clothes. When we pulled into the place, there was a large flat parking lot next to a sizeable beer garden. From the parking lot and the beer garden, the land went uphill.  On the slope of the hill were many trees amongst which were small shrines dedicated to different saints. These were all personal shrines. The road on which we entered continued to the peak of the hill stopping at a small parking lot next to a white chapel with a steeple and a bell. The bell rang all day because anyone at any time could pull the cord, which many children did. We were welcomed to the grounds by the ringing of the bell. At the bottom of the slope were picnic tables, a beer garden, food concessions, and midway up the slope was a little flat bunker, with a number of picnic tables close to it. One of the most beautiful activities I ever witnessed in my life took place there.

When we arrived we walked directly to the shrine my father built; the family that contracted him was there and a priest to give a blessing. When we entered I noted there were six pews, three on each side with a narrow aisle in the middle. At the end of the aisle was an altar on which stood a life size statue of St. Lucy, the patron saint of eyesight. I saw many religious statues before in my life, but never one like this. I was in awe for the statue was of a woman, dressed in a long robe and hood. The color of the robe was similar to the garb of Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, which tends to be in shades of blue. The statue had her right arm extended and in her hand was a plate with two blue eyes on it. I didn't know what to make of it. As we entered we all genuflected and moved into the pews. The priest stood at the small altar, he said a few words and then he gave the blessing.

I learned that in the family someone had an eye illness and they prayed to St. Lucy and she answered their prayers. Afterward, I walked the grounds, and I went up to the chapel, children were ringing the bell, and I rang it a few times myself.  The big event was yet to come. As I was coming down the hill, I heard Italian music, and over at the flat bunker were men playing Italian musical instruments and on the bunker was a young dark skinned girl, with long black hair dressed in a brown knee-length pullover dress, barefoot, and dancing the tarantella. She twirled, clicked her fingers, and kicked her feet with such ardor that dust rose around her adding to the allure of the attraction. People were standing nearby clapping their hands to the rhythm. I was spell bound. It was so vivid I can still see her dancing until this day.

When she finished there was a loud clamor from loudspeaker, telling the people in Italian the next event was about to occur. People rushed to the center of the grove, and soon I heard a grinding noise coming from above, I raised my eyes to it and saw a cable that had suspended from it a little boy dressed as St. Michael with wings attached to his back. He was singing in Latin and blessing all those beneath him.  As he passed over the people, those below him, fell to their knees, rolled their eyes in ecstasy, and howled. Some of the women that were on their knees beat their breasts, and threw the dusty dirt upon themselves, as if it they were ashes for cleansing of the soul.  When he arrived at the thickest part of the crowd the people emitted a greater uproar. The cable men then slowly pulled him away as he waved and in Latin blessed everyone. Soon after, there was another clamor; four men, carrying a platform with the statue of St. Mary in a standing position entered the crowd with a small band playing traditional Italian music appropriate for the scene. Blue ribbons were streaming from the shoulders of the statue. The crowd was thick, people were pushing to get close to the statue to pin money on the ribbons and ask for forgiveness of sins. There was lots of money, no singles but mainly twenty dollar bills. After this we went to the beer garden, ate zeppole, and sausage and pepper sandwiches.

 

Below is a picture of a procession of St. Mary as Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal similar to what I experienced, following is a portrait of St. Lucy by Mackenzie Moran on Prezi and St. Michael the Archangel from a 13^th Century Byzantine icon from the Monastery of

St. Catherine, Sinai. (Wikipedia) and The Alba Madonna – St. Mary by Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520)

 THE TOWN OF ALBERO BELLO

 

Albero Bello is a town of 11,000 people in the province of Bari in the region of Puglia, Italy. Interestingly, the words, albero and bello, mean pretty tree or pretty poplar tree. The town is famous for its unique style of buildings called trulli, singular trullo. These are dry-stone buildings with cone-shaped stone roofs. The history of building these structures dates back to 1200 BC, when the first wave of Indo-Europeans from the East settled there, developing into the following ancient Italic tribes; Veneti, Picinum, Umbrians,  Latins, Osci, Messapi, and Greeks. The Messapi settled in the area of Puglia. Linguistics conjecture that the word trullo derived from the Greek word tholos, because in Mycenea there are conical tombs called tholos. Mycenea is located across the Adriatic Sea from Italy and at the end of the Balkans where its shores are on the Ionian Sea. The civilization was of Greek origin.

The buildings are round and because of this either a very large one needs to be built to have various rooms in the interior. But, instead of doing that for each additional room they build a separate attached trullo. During the summer they are comfortable given that hot air rises; however, in the winter they are difficult to heat for the same reason. The trulli exist throughout the region in a number of different towns and are very popular tourist attractions to Italians. They tend to be the most frequent visitors to the area. Another main attraction is the making of pilgrimages to the Basilica dedicated to Sts. Cosmas and Damiano in Albero Bello, twin brothers who were physicians and Christian martyrs of the 2nd century. (www.cahtolic.org)

GENERAL ANTHONY ZINNI

 

In an issue of National Italian American Federation (NIAF), in the section on, “Affiliate News to Use,” the magazine presented a short news quip concerning a fellow Italian American. General Zinni, a four-star general who retired in July 2000 after nearly 40 years of service. He was head of U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida, from 1997 to 2000, a position that included responsibility for twenty-five countries, ranging from the Horn of Africa and Egypt to the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia. After retiring, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell named him special advisor in the peace process between the Israelis and Palestinians.

Zinni was born on the September 17, 1943 in Consohocken, Pennsylvania, where he lived during his formative years. His parents immigrated to the United States from Italy. His father gained citizenship by serving in the U.S. military. Many other members of the family had also been in the military both in the U.S. and abroad. The General attributes much of his orientation to military life from the fascinating stories he heard from family members.

For his higher education he attended Villanova University. On his first day on campus he saw the U. S. Marine Corp ROTC recruiting kiosk; he went to it and listened to their presentation. It stimulated an interest in him to enroll in their program.  It was a training course in Platoon leadership and would take place during the summers off campus. He attended and successfully completed the course and upon graduation from the University received the commission of second lieutenant.

After graduation he did two tours in Vietnam; his first ended from suffering serious cases of malaria, hepatitis, and mononucleosis. His second tour terminated due to wounds received in combat.

In an interview, following his experiences in Vietnam, he revealed many different things he learned. Those things concerned; the health of the soldiers, the use of and types of personal equipment needed by them, their training requirements, the impact of tour lengths and deployment techniques.

His decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster; the Distinguished Service Medal; the Defense Superior Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters; the Bronze Star with Combat 'V' and gold star in lieu of a second award; the Purple Heart; the Meritorious Service Medal with gold star; the Navy Commendation Medal with Combat 'V' and gold star; Navy Achievement Medal with gold star; the Combat Action Ribbon; and personal decorations from South Vietnam, France, Italy, Egypt, Kuwait, Yemen and Bahrain.

In regard to his appointment by Colin Powell as special advisor, no one was surprised given his qualifications. He has served in the Near East region for almost a decade, including four years as an U.S. military commander. The former General knows the area well. To prepare for his duties as head of the U.S. Central Command, Zinni studied Arabic and Middle East history and politics. During his career he attended The Basic School of Army Special Warfare, The Amphibious Warfare School, The Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and The National War College. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics, and master’s degree in management and supervision, and international relations. Also see http://generalzinni.homestead.com/Zinni_Bio.html.

CONSTANTINO BRUMIDI

 

Constantino Brumidi (1805-1877) was one of the early Italian immigrants to this country, arriving in 1852. He was born and lived in Rome. His father was Greek, Stauro Brumidi, and his mother Italian, Anna Maria Bianchini. He studied at the Italian Academy of Arts, and he worked at the Vatican to restore works of art along with Domenico Tojetti (See a following article). In 1832 at the age of twenty-seven, Brumidi married a widow, Maria Covaluzzi.  They had a daughter, Maria Elena Assunta Fortunata. Unfortunately, five years later Maria and his mother died within ten months of each other. The following year he married again, to Anna Rovelli, they had a son, Giuseppe Antonio Raffaello. In 1852 he left Rome, leaving his wife and two children, a ten and a twenty year old behind. In 1860, Brumidi married an American by the name of Lola Germon. The literature indicates he had a continuing relationship with Elena.

It appears he was seeking political refuge when he came to the United States. In any event, he became an U.S. citizen two years after his arrival. Brumidi is famous for what many consider to be the greatest interior decorative art in the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. He began his work in 1855 and continued for 25 years, almost until his death.

His work was not without controversy. When he received the commission to do the decorative work for the Capitol, Know-Nothing-ism was in its heyday and many of the supporters of this philosophy did not want any foreigners to even compete for the position. Some were critical in terms of his work as not being “republic,” that is, not simplistic; it was too ornate. Nevertheless, others recognized him as an excellent artist and the U.S. Government employed him to do the artwork in the Capitol.

In the twenty-five year period that he worked, Brumidi painted scores of frescoes. Three works that are the most noteworthy are: The Apotheosis (glorification of George Washington), which appears in the Capitol dome Rotunda; paintings on the walls of the Senate corridor, also known as the Brumidi Corridor, and the frieze of the Capitol dome. His untimely death prevented completion of the frieze. Beforehand, he had completed the drawings of epic events in American history for the rest of the frieze, which were: the landing of Columbus, William Penn’s treaty with the Indian, the great battles of the Revolution, the discovery of gold in California, and more. He also did other paintings and frescoes in the House of Representatives Chambers, in many committee rooms, in the President’s Room, in the Senate Reception Room and numerous others in the Capitol building.

It is reported that upon arriving in America, he said, “I have no longer any desire for fame or fortune. My one ambition and my daily prayers are that I may live long enough to make beautiful, the Capitol of the one country on earth in which there is liberty.”

The truth to that is questionable; however, we do have an indication of his pride in being a citizen of the United States, since in his painting,   Cornwallis Sues for Cessation of Hostilities Under the Flag of Truce, he signed it with C. Brumidi, Artist, Citizen of the U.S.

His reputation waxed and waned over the years, in fact, for more than one hundred years his grave in Washington was unmarked and unadorned. One would not know of him or his work unless one visited the Capitol or read books about the construction and development of the Capitol building.

One day while working on the frieze of major events in American history in the Capitol dome, he slipped on the scaffolding and clung to it for 20 minutes until someone arrived to help him. He was never able to do any more work and died four months later on February 19, 1880. He had completed thirty-five percent of the frieze. Filippo Costaggini, an artist from Rome, continued it, using Brumidi’s sketches, except for a thirty-two-foot section, of which there was an earlier miscalculation. Costaggini applied to congress to finish it, but he died before Congress could act. Muralist for three corridors of the House Representatives, Allyn Cox completed the frieze in 1953.

THE CITY OF VENEZIA

 

Venice, the Italian name being Venezia and the Latin, Venexia, is the capital of the region of Veneto. The region has an approximate population of 270,000 people and the city itself around 62,000.  The city is located at the northern end of the Adriatic Sea and consists of the mainland, called Terrafirma, (firm land) and 118 islands, with 150 canals in a shallow lagoon and 400 bridges. The Italians built a causeway from the mainland to Venice in 1930, under the administration of Benito Mussolini. One can now travel to the city by train or car. However, any further travel is by foot or boat. The Venetian community is a part of the islands stretching from the Po River estuary to the city

Venice is the largest urban- car-free area in Europe. The most famous form of traveling in Venice is by Gondola, but this form of travel is limited to tourists, funerals, and other ceremonies. People, who live and work there, travel by a vaporetto (similar to a city bus) or a traghetto, a large foot passenger ferry that crosses the Grand Canal at certain locations. Interestingly, the name of the Rialto Bridge stretching over the Canal is a contraction of riva-alto, high bridge from shore to shore.

Some historians conjecture that the city developed from an influx of people fleeing from the invasions of German tribes, the Quadi and Marcomanni, to the estuary of the Po River, in the years of 166-168 AD. The legendary origins of the city relate that Roman refugees escaping from the Goths founded Venice in 422 AD.

 After the overthrow of the Roman defenses by the Goths in the fifth century, some fifty years later, Attila the Hun invaded Italy. However, the longest and most enduring conquerors were the Lombards, a German tribe who came in 568 and fought the Byzantines, the eastern Roman Empire legions, and took under their control many of the islands.  The original Italian name of the Lombards was Longobardi, meaning those of the long beards.

After the Lombards ceased their encroachment, a small strip island, Malamocco, in the Venetian lagoon, remained under Byzantine power. It was the seat of the local Byzantine governor, the Doge. In 811-827 AD the prestige of the new city increased significantly with the theft of the Evangelist St. Mark’s relics, from Myra, Turkey during the Ottoman Empire incursion.  The Saint was originally from Alexandria, Egypt. The people placed these relics in a recently built basilica. As the town developed and the Byzantine power declined an independent character emerged, leading to autonomy and eventual independence as a Maritime Republic she was La Serenissima Repúbblica Véneta.

 

LA SERENISSIMA REPÚBBLICA VÉNETA

 

The title to this extension is the Venetian dialect form, in Italian it is La Repubblica di Venezia. Serenissima means most serene and as a republic it existed from the eighth to the eighteenth century AD. Its beginnings as such were due to the fall of the Byzantine Empire. As it crumbled, Venice developed into a city-state or a marine republic during the ninth to the tenth century AD. Three other maritime republics were developing at the same time, Genoa, Amalfi, and Pisa. All became rivals of Venice and of each other.

Venice, in comparison to the others, was in a very unique position, the North end of the Adriatic Sea, which afforded it the opportunity to become a great land and sea power. She extended her holding to the North, East, West and South. The region Friuli-Venezia-Giulia till this day maintains the name of Venice in its descriptive label and to the West of Venice is a region called Veneto. The Republic of Venice extended west to Bergamo, south to the Po River, and north to what today is Austria and southeast to include the Peninsula of Istria, which today is part of Croatia.

As Venice expanded, she also acquired control of most of the islands in the Aegean Sea, including Cyprus and Crete. This they called the Duchy of the Archipelago. Venice was able to expand and become an imperial power by aiding in the Fourth Crusade 1201-1204 AD, whereby she accepted ships into her harbor from other cities and trained 33,500 soldiers and 3,500 horses for battle. Consequently, with her physical position on the Adriatic Sea, she also developed extensive trade with the Byzantines and the Moslems; thereby becoming the most prosperous city in Europe. During this time, Venice’s leading families vied with each other in building palaces, churches and other structures, creating a magnificent art filled city.

The Venetian government was, in some way, modeled after the republican form of government used in ancient Rome. It had an elected head of government, the Doge and an elected Senate, an assembly of nobles and many people of wealth.  The great council, consisted of up to two to three hundred individuals. This senate elected ten individuals who held the utmost power in administering the city; they were a secret group who were unknown to the population. This group selected one of their members as the Doge, who was a ceremonial head of city and held the position for life.

The religious circumstance of the people was orthodox Catholic in practice and belief. During the Counter Reformation period, even though the people were very devout, Venice had the recognition of having religious freedom and had not executed anyone for heresy. Due to their attitude the city had problems with the Popes and suffered an Interdict five times. (Interdict is a penalty imposed by the church that suspends public worship and withdraws the administering of the church’s sacraments from a country or territory.) The fifth one, imposed by Pope Julius II in 1509, is the most renowned.

When Napoleon conquered Venice on the twelfth of May 1797, it lost, after one-thousand and seventy years, its independence. Despite its reputation of religious freedom the Jews lived in ghettos and had other restrictions imposed on them. But when Napoleon came, he removed the restrictions against them and opened the doors of the Ghetto; thus, the Jews looked upon him as a liberator.

The Hebraic population traces its origins to their antecedent’s expulsion from Spain in 1492, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued, The Alhambra Decree or The Edict of Expulsion, on the thirty-first of March 1492. It expelled all Hebrews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon and all Spanish lands. These expellees became Sephardim―Sefarad, which is the Hebrew word for Spain. Interestingly, a recent draft of a law has been presented to the Spanish Cortes Generales which seeks to allow any Jew demonstrating that they are descendants of these Sephardim can apply for and receive dual Spanish citizenship. (See http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/sephardic-jews-eager-to-apply-for-spanish-citizenship/2014/02/17/e56978dc-9810-11e3-ae45-458927ccedb6_story.html. Or www.jpost.com/Jewish/-World/Jewish-Feature/Spain-grants. )

After the fall of Napoleon, Venice came under the rule of the Austrian Empire until 1866, when a plebiscite held on the twenty-second of October of that year resulted in Venice becoming a part of the unified Italy.  Below are photographs of the Piazza San Marco, The Doge's Palace 1340, and the Ponte Rialto.

 

 

 

 

In the past ten years I became interested in writing prose and poetry. I found traditional poetry somewhat arduous in reading or at least much of its tempo distracting from its content. The poetry of the last century has been more to my liking, free verse especially, which introduced me to surrealism.
Surrealistic poetry attempts to express the functioning of the unconscious with imagery and juxtaposition of content. I found I could relate to it with ease, particularly in stream of consciousness. Thus, I will use this medium to share my creativity.

In my creations you will note many lines end with an italicized word. Those italics mean the word or phrase relates to the subject that came before and after, just like our human mind operates. One thought leads to another and quite often without clear logical inference, but by  some kind of uncanny relationship the mind may have with it. For example, in thinking of an orange, it can conjure a thought of a ball, a curve, the sun, the moon, a related color, hair, rough skin, a person's head, a tree, a root, a leaf, another fruit, or an occurrence related to it when it was in your presence, a lost memory of years ago, a photo... So now let's see what flows.

 

 

Augur

 

As he approached he stopped, looked, contemplated

and hesitantly entered the building

blocks of any country lie in integrity

takes more than vociferating ideas

that come up suddenly

last summer

always has lots of rain, plants grow, birds flit

among the memories are many things we’d rather

cool weather today of all days this is

one amongst the many  to come

on now where are we going with this

has to give way or bend a little

tyke ran out into the street full of traffic

in drugs especially cigarettes, cigarettes, two for a dime will get you

cancer a zodiac sign for the month of July

named for Julius Caesar who was very august since he was

an augur not to be confused with

auger your way through a piece of wood

nymphs are dryads

frolic in the forest

protection preserves much for future generations,

and generations of people

destroy

the earth

is all we got.

 

An Artist without an Easel

 

In the same vein of explaining surrealism, often in our stream of thinking we

Don’t know where it is going to take us. It is either the mind is tired of the subject and is looking for other challenging thoughts or memories or the sound of the word conjures unrelated thoughts to the subject at hand. It tends to take us hither and yon

Headman in Washington is a con artist without an easel,

Easel reminds of weasel, an animal that is brown in the summer and turns white in the winter

Of anyone’s life should be a lot broader in thinking than it was at birth

Is involuntary, just like many thoughts upchuck into a void filling

It with more reflections

In the mirror can be frightening or assuring.

Hey! I’ve done the right thing.

What?

Anyway an artist without an easel has no standing.

 

 

 

 

I came across this on a facebook paste.

 

Title: The Greatest Threat to America is the Democatic Party, Not Isis – Liberals are running the country. Do You Agree? Thank God for the liberals because below is what they achieved and more in America over the last hundred years.

Because of liberalism we no longer have segregation, we no longer have poor people surging to emergency rooms of hospital, which we all pay for anyway, we have public schools, we have welfare for the unfortunate, we have social security, and social security benefits to surviving children, we have free college in some states, we can pack up leave and go anywhere in the USA, if you are not skipping out on your wife and kids and the bills, or escaping from justice. We have free school lunch programs for children who come to school hungry. We provide schools buses so children can attend school. You can scream and holler at those who disagree with you, you can parade and demonstrate against the government, local, state and federal, you can seek your dreams not matter what your sex, ethnicity or color of your skin. We have a volunteer military. You can practice a religion of your choice or decide not to. You have a right to be eccentric along as you don’t harm anyone or yourself. If you are insane we see to your welfare and extend treatment. You have a right to be safe in your home and papers without arbitrary governmental interference. You have a right if you are charged with a crime to confront your accuser and cross and examine. You have a right to a defense counsel if you can’t afford one, you have a right to a jury trial before your peers. You have a right to remain silent. You have a right to vote at all levels of government. The democrats, in many states are now seeking automatic voter registration procedures for all voters, not so with the other side.  So this, the democratic way, some say is a threat to America. The presidents who played a vital role in furthering education were Johnson and Eisenhower. Johnson also initiated the Omnibus Crime Bill which expanded education significantly for criminal justice.