It was quite a surprise to discover a Catholic Chapel there. Sir Walter Scot was a Presbyterian. The husband of his grandaughter Charlotte, James Hope-Scott, was Catholic.

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The carved and painted wood altar Front is late Gothic c.1480, and depicts the Tree of Jesse. The statues come from Bavaria. Cardinal Newman was a close friend of the family and celebrated Mass here on several occasions.

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This objects are a limited resource. I will use them carefully. From time to time the question will reappear, so that I might be able to know whether opinions of my (many ;-)) readers have changed.
Please do express your opinion, thanks.

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A mark of a mason in the choir. It is possible to find 6 different types of them. Six different skilled people worked at around 1470 to add choir and sacristy to the pre-existing structure, that is the first (smaller) Church and the side chapel added by Lady Catherine St. Clair after 1434.

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This is the coat of arms over the door of Mary Queen of Scots house (Well, not the door, rather the gate that leads to it). It is quite different from this other coat of arms,

so I'm not sure whether it has been replaced at some point in the past.

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Pope Benedict proclaimed his first 5 new saints. Alberto Hurtado Cruchaga SJ(Chile), Mons. Joseph Bilczewski(Ukraine), Zygmunt Gorazdoski (Ukraine), Felice da Nicosia (Italy), Gaetano Catanoso (Italy).

Padre Catanoso founded the order of "Veroniche del Volto Santo" from an intuition he had working in Pentedattilo at the beginning of the last century.

Gesù ha bisogno di molte Veroniche per i peccati di bestemmia e di sacrilegio e di molti Cirenei per la Croce sempre più pesante dei più poveri senza conforto e senza aiuto

Jesus needs many Veronicas for the sin of blasphemy and sacrilege and many Cyreneans for the Cross, every day heavier, of poor people without relief from their sufferings nor help.

and again

...Ma se vogliamo adorare il Volto reale di Gesù, non l'immagine sola, questo Volto noi lo troviamo nella divina Eucaristia, ove col Corpo e Sangue di Gesù Cristo si nasconde sotto il bianco velo dell'ostia il Volto di Nostro Signore.

However, if we want to worship the real appearance of Jesus, His face we find in the Eucharist, where with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Face of Our Lord is hidden under the white veil of the Host.

He was a point of reference to the Diocese of Reggio Calabria for several decades.

Thank God for such a luminous gift.

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It is the first time I listen to the whole story (well, it is told in an emotional way, no doubt). It's frightening and makes you very sad. If you want to understand Scotland, you have to visit this place.

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The nave. Three storeys, three different kind of columns. It took more than a hundred years to build it, so style and construction technology evolved in the meantime.

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Founded by king David I and the bishop John of Glasgow no later than 1138. It is a magnificent Abbey. It used to be a priory of Augustinian canons ("black canons"). It really looks like the heart of the activities of the town with its massive walls and large cellars. The picture is taken looking from (what was) the cloister.

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A link to the daily 15 seconds of humor-per-day added in Links ....

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So, it seems that the police arrested 18 people in Calabria and a total of 90 in the South of Italy.
They found cocaine hidden in wodden pallets destined to the Gioia Tauro port (please would you count the containers...) and from there it would have reached the rest of Italy.

My personal compliments, this is the kind of news that makes people of Calabria happy.

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8000 people attended the funerals of the vice president of the Regional council of Calabria, Francesco Fortugno.
Solemn State funerals, several members of his political party were present. Berlusconi preferred sending the Minister for Regional Affairs La Loggia.

Mons. Vittorio Mondello , Bishop of Reggio Calabria, interviewed by the Vatican Radio said: "Everybody knows who belongs to the mafia, but there is no intervention". And indeed everybody knows.

Mons. Bregantini , Bishop of Locri, spoke again: "The problem is not only in Locri, but mainly in Rome. The 'ndrangheta with this crime meant to dominate and subject politics so that it could become a docile instrument for its enormous interests."

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Study of Sir Walter Scott. This alone would be enough to make me start reading some of his writings. Any advice?

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President Ciampi was in Calabria for the funerals of Francesco Fortugno.

Reagite con fermezza calabresi: non siete soli, l' Italia tutta è con voi.
...
L'impegno delle istituzioni a cui sono affidate la sicurezza dei cittadini e l'ordine pubblico, non basta, non basterà mai se mancherà l'appoggio consapevole della società alle forze dell'ordine e alla magistratura. La malavita organizzata vuole condannare questa regione all'arretratezza. Ma, lo ripeto, le istituzioni dello Stato centrale e le autorità regionali e locali debbono sentire l'appoggio di tutti i cittadini.

React firmly, people of Calabria: you are not alone, Italy is with you.
...
The effort of the institutions to which security of citizens and public order are entrusted, is not enough, it will never be enough, if police and magistracy won't have the conscious support of the society. Organised crime wants to take this region backwards. However, I repeat, institutions of the central State, local and regional authorities must feel the support of all citizens.

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Sometimes even the region of Italy in which I was born hits the news on BBC. Often, very often, not for pleasant reasons.
I specifically refer to the centre left primaries, which were clearly won by Romano Prodi.
But, more specifically I am referring to the paragraphs saying:

Meanwhile, in the southern region of Calabria, a regional opposition leader was shot dead at a polling station.

The police said they suspected the local mafia - known as Ndrangheta - was behind the assassination of the politician, Francesco Fortugno, but they were not ruling out any possibilities.

The fact seems to have induced national interest. The Interior Minister, Giuseppe Pisanu had a meeting in which he meant to show that the State has not deserted the region.
Well, I know exactly what people are thinking down there, because it's exactly the same thing I am thinking.
There will be no change as long as it will be easier to obtain your rights as a favour from a criminal, than obtaining them as a result of a fair trial.
They can plan to send the army again to patrol the cities, but if they don't seriously tackle the existing link between organised crime and corrupt politics the multi billion (yes, I wrote billion) euro per year drug trade industry which flourishes in Calabria [which probably has got the monopoly in trade of cocaine for Europe], will never end.

Giancarlo Bregantini , bishop of Locri-Gerace, where the fact took place (the best bishop I ever met) asks for investigations on property by Guardia di Finanza, the police corp which is mainly related to crimes on property. Will he ever be heard?

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Misty morning today. It is true: they work. And this is definitely the first time I see something like this in my life. In Italy solar power is cheaper than in Scotland, so the choice is usually biased towards this one, which seems likely to become much cheaper after this.

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Sir Walter Scott is buried in the north transept chapel.

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Rose window. It doesn't look like a sophisticated example of symbolical geometry, it is simply basic. 12 colums radiating from the circular centre and with the cross shape clearly distinguishable. It doesn't look like any other number is put in evidence. The abbey has got a clear structure: cloister, church, dormitory, some other service room. The type of stairs you can find there are interesting: apart from the ubiquitous spiral stairs, there is at least an example of the climbing-on-the-wall type, the same that you can find in the cathedral of Trento (without columns, though). The chapter house has got a fantastic echo.

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