Word: basilicas
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Henry James, stand like archsentinels at these two poles. Twain, the apostle of modernity, prized Italian railroads "more than Italy's hundred galleries of priceless art treasures." Antiquarian Henry James found the restoration of Venice's St. Mark's "crude" and "monstrous," even though the basilica might otherwise have crumbled about the pigeons in the Piazza San Marco.*This conflict adds a fillip to two thoroughly engaging travel books that should please the chairborne as well as the airborne tourist...
...mind's eye of James condoned what the camera eye of Twain condemned. Where Twain saw mere dirt, James saw the patina of centuries-old civilizations. Where Twain saw superstition and ignorance, James saw piety and a sense of the past. Standing within the basilica of St. Mark's, James spoke of its mosaic pavement as "dark, rich, cracked, uneven, spotted with porphyry and time-blackened malachite, polished by the knees of innumerable worshippers." Standing in the same spot, Twain observed: "Everything was worn out-every block of stone was smooth and almost shapeless with the polishing hands...
...commercialism stops at the gate to the grounds surrounding the grotto and basilica. Nothing is sold inside except candles; visitors must dress as they would in church. Under the present Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes, Pierre-Marie Théas, the grotto has regained much of its 'original rustic simplicity; he replaced the ornate altar with a simple stone slab, took down the iron grille that used to stretch across the front of the cave, removed all but a few of the hundreds of crutches and orthopedic braces left behind by sufferers who found relief at Lourdes...
Bishop Théas has also pushed ahead with the construction of a new basilica, big enough to hold 20,000 and almost entirely underground (so expensive has the project proved-an estimated $6,000,000 thus far-that the Vatican sent a bishop coadjutor to take charge of the finances). On a hillside above Lourdes, workmen are hurrying to finish the "City of Help," a dozen simple buildings where 600 poor pilgrims may stay free of charge...
Song of the Dove. On the anniversary last week, Bishop Théas celebrated Mass on the steps of the old basilica, before Pierre Cardinal Gerlier, Archbishop of Lyons, 17 visiting bishops (two from the U.S.†), and a sprinkling of politicians, including Italy's former Premier Amintore Fanfani. Bishop Théas read the gradual for the day: "The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come; the song of the dove is heard in our land. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come, my dove in the clefts of the rock...