Paradise regained

Bennibags of my heart, send a mail if you want one!

I do not know why,and it is – believe me - sheer mistery to me, people think that the Middle Ages are a dark period of history and something that altogether scares deep inside, leaving the shadows of the devil somewhere hidden in the bush... But no, no, absolutely not! During the Middle Ages, the great, luminous saints of Catholicism were born and bread: Saint Benedict, Saint Francis, Saint Dominic and many many more that can replenish a big book. So many are the saints and martyrs of the Cathedra of Saint Peter that a huge book (that I am reading right now and that belonged to my grandmother)does not tell the story of everyone of them. Today, for instance, is Saint Anastasia (Anastasis meaning in greek resurrection), but many othe saints are cherished today: Saint Paterno, Saint Leonida and other ones that I do not know. And not only saints but great artists worked and dwelled in those long lost days: Giotto, Pietro Cavallini, Arnolfo di Cambio andnd witers like Dante and Boccaccio and Petrarca and Cecco Angiolieri...

In Rome, the Middle Ages, breathe and prosper in every secluded angle, in every church and in the deepest deep of everyday life. They smile, just to mention one thing, from the beautiful mosaiques of the Christ Pantocrator in many churches (Saint Clement, Saint Mark, Saints Cosma and Damian and on and on in a neverending line), but there is a place, a sacred, golden place where the Middle Ages are so very much alive and palpitating that one could stand in all that beauty for hours on end and the place is the Zenone Chapel in Santa Prassede. Up above, the angels, in golden silent, pray for us on earth, a deer drinks the water of life (the Word of the Father) from a happy spring, Mary is as beautiful as a beautiful doll and all around us is gold like gold is paradise, Paradise regained.

If you want to walk with me for a unique Roman tour, send me a mail: mbennidv@gmail.com