President Bush to Meet Pope on Friday the 13th. What does it mean? Is there an occult connection/significance? This is just one of the topics Frank and Chris will be discussing later tonight.
Trend News : Pope to meet Bush in medieval tower
The Vatican has announced that the Holy Father will meet with Bush in St. John's Tower, an ancient building in the far corner of the Vatican gardens. After their private talk, the two will walk through the gardens to the Lourdes grotto there.
Catholic World News : Bush to receive special welcome at the Vatican
Online Etymology Dictionary
grotto
1617, from It. grotta, ult. from L. crypta "vault, cavern," from Gk. krypte "hidden place" (see crypt). Terminal -o may be from its being spelled that way in many translations of Dante's "Divine Comedy."Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This Grotto
Crypt\ (kr[i^]pt), n. [L. crypta vault, crypt, Gr. kry`pth, fr. kry`ptein to hide. See Grot, Grotto.] 1. A vault wholly or partly under ground; especially, a vault under a church, whether used for burial purposes or for a subterranean chapel or oratory.
The pavilion, to the right of the Casino, is on a level with the roof of St. Peter's . In this section of the garden vineries have been laid out, and vegetables are cultivated. Before the first Leonine tower a terrace affords a wide view across the Valle dell' Inferno, from whose ancient brick-works half of Rome has been built. To the left of the tower is an oak grove where wild flowers grow. Three statues represent Youth, Virtue and -- incongruously in a center of Christianity -- the pagan deity Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods. Cybele: Originally a Hittite and Phrygian goddess, Cybele (Greek: ??????) was a deification of the Earth Mother and was worshipped in Anatolia since Neolithic times. As with Gaia (the "Earth") or her Minoan equivalent Rhea, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals (especially lions and bees).Another more classical plaza is Casina Pio IV. It is a series of ancient style temples clustered around a central oval courtyard called the Nymphaea. Its central sculpture, that the goddess Cybele is a featured element, complemented by gorgeous mosaics and balustrades. It was built by Pirro Ligorio, the same engineer and garden architect who created Villa d'Este. The complex was built under the reign of Pope Pius IV, a member of the great Italian family of Medici.
Although many of the populace believed that Nero intentionally had started the fire (Dio LXII.17.18.3; Pliny XVII.1), he himself blamed the Christians. Because of their supposed hatred of mankind, he had them thrown to dogs, nailed to crosses in his gardens, and burned alive (the traditional punishment for arson) to serve as living torches in the night (Tacitus, Annals, XV.44; this passage also contains the earliest non-Christian reference to the crucifixion). Probably taking place in the Vatican gardens, where Nero had his private racetrack, the emperor strolled among the crowd in the guise of a charioteer. It also was to Nero that Paul had appealed from the tribunal at Caesarea (Acts, XXV.10ff) and in whose reign Peter and Paul traditionally were thought to have been executed at Rome (e.g., Eusebius, II.25.5-8; Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics, XXXVI). Nero as the Antichrist Some Christians were thrown to wild, ravenous animals (sometimes with sheep faces attached to their faces and hides to their bodies), others were sprinkled with pitch and set alight to serve as human torches for the games (and Nero's gardens, now the Vatican gardens), and others were crucified.For pilgrims visiting the shrine in France or other holy places dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes this year, Pope Benedict XVI authorized a special indulgence to encourage renewed holiness.
Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence for taking part in any public or private devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes, said U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with indulgences and matters of conscience.
An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due for sins committed. A plenary indulgence is the remission of all punishment.
Catholic Chronicle - Local shrines prepare for 150th anniversary of Lourdes
Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has announced that a plenary indulgence is available to Catholics who travel to Lourdes during the coming year, for the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there. A plenary indulgence is also available to those who venerate an image of Our Lady of Lourdes at any church or chapel between February 2 and February 11 of 2008, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.For those who are unable to make a pilgrimage because of ill health or some other reason, the indulgence may be obtained if, under the usual conditions, they "spiritually visit the above-mentioned places" and offer their prayers on the days February 2 through 11, 2008. A) If between December 8, 2007 and December 8, 2008 they visit, preferably in the order suggested: (1) the parish baptistery used for the Baptism of Bernadette, (2) the Soubirous family home, known as the 'cachot,' (3) the Grotto of Massabielle, (4) the chapel of the hospice where Bernadette received First Communion; and on each occasion they pause for an appropriate length of time in prayer and with pious meditations, concluding with the recital of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith, ... and the jubilee prayer or other Marian invocation.Zeitgeist Challenge responds to Acharya S
grotto
Grotto
Crypt\ (kr[i^]pt), n. [L. crypta vault, crypt, Gr. kry`pth, fr. kry`ptein to hide. See Grot, Grotto.]1. A vault wholly or partly under ground; especially, a vault under a church, whether used for burial purposes or for a subterranean chapel or oratory.
The pavilion, to the right of the Casino, is on a level with the roof of St. Peter's . In this section of the garden vineries have been laid out, and vegetables are cultivated. Before the first Leonine tower a terrace affords a wide view across the Valle dell' Inferno, from whose ancient brick-works half of Rome has been built. To the left of the tower is an oak grove where wild flowers grow.
Three statues represent Youth, Virtue and -- incongruously in a center of Christianity -- the pagan deity Cybele, the Great Mother of the Gods.
Cybele: Originally a Hittite and Phrygian goddess, Cybele (Greek: ??????) was a deification of the Earth Mother and was worshipped in Anatolia since Neolithic times. As with Gaia (the "Earth") or her Minoan equivalent Rhea, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals (especially lions and bees).
Another more classical plaza is Casina Pio IV. It is a series of ancient style temples clustered around a central oval courtyard called the Nymphaea. Its central sculpture, that the goddess Cybele is a featured element, complemented by gorgeous mosaics and balustrades. It was built by Pirro Ligorio, the same engineer and garden architect who created Villa d'Este. The complex was built under the reign of Pope Pius IV, a member of the great Italian family of Medici.
Although many of the populace believed that Nero intentionally had started the fire (Dio LXII.17.18.3; Pliny XVII.1), he himself blamed the Christians. Because of their supposed hatred of mankind, he had them thrown to dogs, nailed to crosses in his gardens, and burned alive (the traditional punishment for arson) to serve as living torches in the night (Tacitus, Annals, XV.44; this passage also contains the earliest non-Christian reference to the crucifixion). Probably taking place in the Vatican gardens, where Nero had his private racetrack, the emperor strolled among the crowd in the guise of a charioteer. It also was to Nero that Paul had appealed from the tribunal at Caesarea (Acts, XXV.10ff) and in whose reign Peter and Paul traditionally were thought to have been executed at Rome (e.g., Eusebius, II.25.5-8; Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics, XXXVI). Nero as the Antichrist Some Christians were thrown to wild, ravenous animals (sometimes with sheep faces attached to their faces and hides to their bodies), others were sprinkled with pitch and set alight to serve as human torches for the games (and Nero's gardens, now the Vatican gardens), and others were crucified.
For pilgrims visiting the shrine in France or other holy places dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes this year, Pope Benedict XVI authorized a special indulgence to encourage renewed holiness.
Catholics can receive a plenary indulgence for taking part in any public or private devotion to Our Lady of Lourdes, said U.S. Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, a Vatican court dealing with indulgences and matters of conscience.
An indulgence is a remission of the temporal punishment due for sins committed. A plenary indulgence is the remission of all punishment.
Catholic Chronicle - Local shrines prepare for 150th anniversary of Lourdes
Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) has announced that a plenary indulgence is available to Catholics who travel to Lourdes during the coming year, for the 150th anniversary of the Marian apparitions there.
A plenary indulgence is also available to those who venerate an image of Our Lady of Lourdes at any church or chapel between February 2 and February 11 of 2008, the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
For those who are unable to make a pilgrimage because of ill health or some other reason, the indulgence may be obtained if, under the usual conditions, they "spiritually visit the above-mentioned places" and offer their prayers on the days February 2 through 11, 2008.
A) If between December 8, 2007 and December 8, 2008 they visit, preferably in the order suggested: (1) the parish baptistery used for the Baptism of Bernadette, (2) the Soubirous family home, known as the 'cachot,' (3) the Grotto of Massabielle, (4) the chapel of the hospice where Bernadette received First Communion; and on each occasion they pause for an appropriate length of time in prayer and with pious meditations, concluding with the recital of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith, ... and the jubilee prayer or other Marian invocation.
Zeitgeist Challenge responds to Acharya S
