A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
Despite the poor lighting, there's no missing the bright moods of the two ladies in this photo! It seems the best moments are often the unexpected ones, and that's just what this photo captured. Somehow I was able to convince my husband to go out after a long, wearisome day and collect our dear friends, John and Ashley Noronha, from an event at the Lay Center near the Colosseum, and then proceed on to the cortile of the Basilica di San Paolo Fuori Le Mura, for a folk dance in honor of International Dance Day! It may not have been the men folks' cup of tea, but their sacrifice was rewarded when we wandered spontaneously into a restaurant across the street that incorporated an ancient sepulcher. The Caelian hill, dancing a Romanian gypsy folk dance in the dark under a massive basilica, sipping a Garibaldi cocktail in an ancient tomb...I think these qualify as Carpe Diem moments!
Natural: Farewell to April in Rome for another year! Crazy weather extremes this year, with a 20 degree sudden temperature hike yesterday morning with 80 degrees by noon!
Human: 65 AD – the poet Lucan and Roman Senator Thrasea Paetus were ordered to commit suicide after being implicated in an assassination plot against the Emperor Nero. Lucan was the nephew of Seneca the Younger, also implicated in the plot and ordered to commit suicide.
311 AD- Not long before his death, Roman Emperor Galerius issued an Edict of Toleration which granted Christians religious freedom. It was the first ever legal act establishing religious freedom for Christians in the Roman Empire, and was proceeded by a brutal persecution (Galerius actually persuaded Diocletian to pursue the persecution in Nicomedia in 303). Thus, the Christians could freely profess their religion. They were released from prisons or quarries and the sacred objects seized by the imperial authorities were to be returned to them. This edict was signed by for Augusts: Galerius, Licinius, Maximinus Daia and Constantine the Great, but the main architect of the first edict of toleration in the history of the Roman Empire was Galerius.
Sanctoral: St. Pius V (1504-1572), Dominican friar, promoted by St. Charles Borromeo, brief but impactful pontificate-- began the tradition of the pontiff's all white habit, carried out the decrees of the Council of Trent, made a systematic reform of religious orders, established seminaries, held diocesan synods, and reformed the Breviary and Missal. He brought unity into divine worship, published catechisms, ordered a revision of the Latin Vulgate and revitalized the study of theology and canon law. During his pontificate, the Turks were definitively defeated at the battle of Lepanto, due, it was said, to the prayers of the pope.
Liturgical: Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."
Quote:
"In se magna ruunt: laetis hunc numina rebus crescendi posuere modum."
Great things come crashing down upon themselves – such is the limit of growth ordained by heaven for success.
--Lucan
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