St. Catherine's head

By Jack Brummet, European Travel Editor

When I was traveling in Italy in the mid-80's, I was curious  interested  fascinated obsessed with the reliquaries and other collections of people's physical remains.  And if you went to a lot of museums, churches, and basilicas, you would bump into various collections of what I called Shards of Saints and Parts of Popes.  But my friend Nick nailed it one night over a few glasses of lovely Tuscan wine, when he called them The Papal Giblets [1]. 


Rome’s Capuchin Crypt lies beneath the Santa Maria della Immacolata Concezione dei Cappuccini church in Rome. It's not a crypt in the same sense as the Paris catacombs or the crypts beneath the Vatican, but the walls of this series of chapels are entirely decorated with the bones of deceased Capuchin monks.

Rome’s Capuchin Crypt

There is a chapel in Rome—the church of Saints Vincenzo and Anastasio—very close to Trevi Fountain (and near the very site where St. Paul was beheaded)  that contains the hearts of almost thirty popes, from Sixtus V (d. 1590) to Leo XIII (d.1903). When a Pope was embalmed, it was a custom to remove their heart, which was placed into an urn. This church keeps those urns because it is the official parish church of the Quirinal Palace which the Popes used as their summer home since the 16th century.

St. Catherine's head

A trip to Sienna requires absolutely requires at visit to the mummified head, and finger, of St. Catherine at the Church of San Dominico [2]. It was one of the most memorable things I saw in Italy.  She is the patron saint of both Italy and fire prevention (she was reportedly fireproof).

Saint Catherine of Sienna once received a vision that Jesus gave her a wedding finger made of his own holy foreskin. She "wore" thing ring her entire life, although no one else could see it.  She would whip herself to dampen the unholy urges she sometimes felt.  At the age of 16, her family attempted to marry her off, but she wasn't buying that.  She cut off all her hair and scalded herself in a hot springs in order to make herself flat out too ugly to marry.  
























St. Catherine experienced stigmata—when she was 28, five red rays shot out of the crucifix she was praying to and pierced her hands, feet and heart.  She had visions, and lived on nothing but the Blessed Sacrament (a sip of wine and a cracker).  It is also said that she could spontaneously heal, was impervious to flames (she was fireproof!), and had the ability to levitate.  

The Church of San Dominico

She died of stroke in Rome in 1380 at the age of 33. The people of Sienna wanted her body back. They couldn't steal her whole body, so they cut off her head and put it in a sack.  Legend says that guards stopped the thieves but when they checked the sack, only found hundreds of rose petals in the bag.  When they returned to Sienna, the head had re-materialized.To this day, the head is still on display in Sienna, along with Saint Catherine’s dismembered thumb [3].  For some reason, her foot is in Venice. 

St. Catherine's finger

[1] [Ed's note: *Sidebar* There is a rumored Papal Phallus repository squirreled away in some shrine or crypt. And drifting even further off topic, I believe, that Lord Byron's pride and joy actually merited its own urn when it came to disposing of his body. If that is true, and if the relic did survive into the third millennium, All This Is That can't find it.]

[2] Although not nearly as strange as the trial of Pope Formosus. In the ninth century, "a successor of Pope Formosus (891-896) exhumed his 9-months-dead body and put it on trial for perjury and other crimes. As Notre Dame scholar Richard P. McBrien recounts in 'Lives of the Popes,' Formosus' cadaver was 'propped up on a throne in full pontifical vestments' for the trial, and after his conviction, 'three fingers of his right hand (by which he swore oaths and gave blessings) were cut off.' " (From the St. Louis Post Dispatch).

[3] St. Catherine's head, being many centuries old now, is not so nearly well-preserved as say, Lenin's, or Mao Zedong'a, or even the body of Sylvester, the mummified corpse that stands in a display case in Seattle's Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe.

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Goat arrested in Nigeria for attempted armed robbery

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Drawing: Ten Thousand Dots

by Jack Brummet

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Drawing: The Maze

By Jack Brummet

click to enlarge

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I cut off my beard today, and I feel nekkid!

before

after

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The Sergeant-At-Arms

by Jack Brummet

[mixed media and acrylic on  16" x 30" wood panel, revised and restored Aug. 2012] 

click to enlarge

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The Good Samaritan/A Helping Hand

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This photo disturbingly reminded one of our readers (Scott) of ATIT

by Mona Goldwater, Social Mores Editor


Thanks to Scott Tester for passing this along.  Although ATIT has published 5,463 articles since 2004, there is a certain group of people who still strongly identity us with our reportage on the Enumclaw horse situation (along with the numerous people each day who look up these past posts on Enumclaw).

• This may be our final Enumclaw/Horse post. . .
• Not now deer! Wisconsin man punished for necrophilia and beastiality--at the same time!
• Sex In The News: Lesbian Bigamist Off The Hook; Shepherd Exonerated Over Sheep Sex
• South King County is in the news again--not Enumclaw beastiality, but ghostiality in Federal Way
• Horsing around: Co-conspirator in Enumclaw beastiality/horse sex case arrested in Tennessee
• Horsin' Around? Shades of the Enumclaw horse sex case--another Washington State man succumbs to the lure of a smokin' filly
• Inanimate Love: Guys having sex with lamp-posts, signs, picnic tables, park benches. and cars 
• Shades Of The Enumclaw Beastiality Case-- A Spanaway, Wash. Man Is Accused Of Having Sex With A Pit Bull 
• Further ruminations on Enumclaw 
• Horsin' around: update on Enumclaw
• Another shocking revelation
• Beastiality in south King County
• The final horse/beastiality update
• Enumclaw Story To Become A MovieSeattle Horse Sex Film Is Selected For Sundance!

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Paul Ryan—the man on horseback—rides in to save a moribund and faltering Romney campaign

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor 

Mitt Romney introduced Paul Ryan this morning as the "next President of the United States."  He later corrected himself, but, who knows?— he may have been right the first time.



I'm good with this choice. He's great for "the base" and ensures there will be exactly zero bleedthrough from the Democratic middle.  Isn't it funny that we don't have a good term for more conservative democrats?  Blue Dog Democrat probably comes closest.  The phrase "Moderate Republican" used to actually mean something.

Moderate Republicans unfortunately became extinct sometime around the time of the Millennium.   I now believe the Democrats can and will win this election (up to, and including, The Senate).  The GOP/Tea Party, and especially their candidate, keep lobbing incredibly sweet cream-puffs at the Dems. Sadly, I don't think any Veep candidate can much help the Ex-Governor's chances of taking the White House. . .unless they seal the candidate's mouth with duct tape until November 6th.

Mitt Romney has cashed his check.  The time of the Democrats has come.   Virtually every Romney supporter I've met is not really so much for Romney as they are against Obama.  BHO needs to get his message out there: the auto companies are booming and repaying the money he loaned them, with interest; Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are profitable again; the TARP money has mostly proven to be a very good investment.  A little bit of health care reform went down on his watch too, on top of winding down wars on two fronts, ending Don't Ask/Don't tell, and (finally!) coming out in favor of same-sex marriage.   This could be a rout.

 

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Notes on Ex-Governor Mitt Romney banging his head against the wall

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

-1-

I suspect this is mild compared to what we will see in September and October.  It really feels like the longer he bobs and weaves around the issue of his tax returns, the more steamed up the opposition becomes.

Let's face it, even The Republican-Tea Party members are cringing and having second thoughts as the Democrats declare open season.

 

-2-

In 2004, Mitt Romney had this to say about John Kerry’s tendency to change his mind.   He starts off telling the audience that it's "standard operating procedure" in campaigns to "look at your opponent's record, you find someplace where he or she has changed positions and you say they're a flip-flopper."  He goes on:

"For those who don’t understand how he can be so vacillating, it stems from the fact that he is very conflicted, that he is drawn in two different directions very powerfully. If he’s with an audience, he wants to identify with and satisfy that audience, and will say what he thinks they want to hear. And if that audience, for instance, is on one side of an issue he’ll follow that, on another, he’ll follow another."

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His numbers are sucking:

a) A recent Fox news poll (click on this link to see very detailed analysis of the poll) lists Obama pulling 49% of the vote and Romney 40%.  If the election were held today. Obama's lead in that poll comes from an 11% lead among independent voters.

b) Cnn:

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The Ex-Governor is running scared.  

While his band of surrogates keep hectoring BHO, Mitt himself sounds like he'd just like us to just drop it.  He doesn't want to talk about his record anymore.  Early in the campaign, he brought up Bain in every single speech and appearance.  But he would now prefer to not discuss his time with Bain 

Romney said on Friday that both campaigns would benefit if they agreed that “attacks based upon business or family or taxes or things of that nature — that this is just — this is diversion.” Instead, he said in an interview with NBC News, he would prefer a setting where he and BHO could talk about issues and differences in their positions. Really?  This wouldn't seem so disingenuous had Mittens not spent the last year trumpeting his success at Bain, and how he planned to implement the Bain model nationally.  And as for the tax mess--both his proposed taxing schemes, and his own shadowy personal tax record--the less Mitt talks about taxes, the better he will be.  By not releasing his own tax information, The Ex-Governor has almost given up the right to talk about taxes at all. 

Mitt Romney is still allowing "members" of his team like Donald Trump to hammer away on the birther and Muslim non-issues, continuing to imply that the President is not an actual U.S. citizen, and that even if he is, he is really a Muslim who will implement Sharia Law as soon the instant he is sworn in for his second term.

As Republican strategist David Gergen said recently:  "I think the Obama campaign is outmaneuvering the Romney campaign. They've kept him on the defensive on his taxes and on Bain, which is a key foundation for his campaign," Gergen said. "This rat-a-tat of advertising, this avalanche of advertising has taken a toll."

Finally, Gergen said "It's now clear that Romney can't win this election by default. It's not an apple that's going to fall into his lap because the economy is weak. He's got to take it away from (Obama)."

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Paul Ryan

Ex-Governor Mitt Romney was pretty much forced into selecting Paul Ryan has a running mate.  Paul Ryan will appeal to the "base" and even to the Tea-Party/Birther fringe.   But as to grabbing voters in the middle, or chiseling a few Dems into a Democrats For Romney movement?  Stillborn.  His choice for Vice President nets him nothing.  Nothing at all.  No votes, no momentum (a/k/a "The Big Mo"), and no gravitas. Romney's selection nets him zero votes--no one from the middle, and no one from the left.  And, as for the right/the base?  It leaves Mitt with a VP that most of his base would prefer was on top of the ticket

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World heritage site: India's Ellora Caves, Marathi, Maharashtra, India: The 34 Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain Carved Rock Caves At Ellora

By Jack Brummet, Travel Editor

Of the  962 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, I've been to 20 [1] so far.  I plan on hitting many more, but it will take a while.  So far, my favorite site has to be the caves at Ellora, in India.    

Ellora is the site of monumental, rock cut, cave temples representing Buddhist, Hindu and Jain religions, built in close proximity to each other to show the religious harmony in the area. The structures are multi-level buildings, carved directly from caves within the mountain face, and include monasteries, shrines and places of worship. Many of the buildings have vaulted ceilings and are all intricately carved, with most of the shrines containing large carved deities. During construction, 200,000 tons of rock were removed from the site by generations of workers. 

Some of the most interesting caves: the Buddhist shrine Vishvakarma, with a multi-storied entrance, a large hall with vaulted ceilings and a 15 foot tall carving of Buddha preaching; The Indra Sabha is a two level Jain cave with a monolithic shrine, like all of the Jain caves it once had richly painted ceilings, part of which are still visible. It also has carvings of lotus flowers, Yaksha Matanga on an elephant and Ambika sitting on a lion under a mango tree; Kailasanatha is the centerpiece of the Ellora complex, and resembles Mount Kailash, the home of lord Shiva.  It has intricate carvings, including sacred bulls and life-sized elephants supporting the shrines.

Claire with a Buddha

 

Monkeys at Ellora

Like most of the best archaeological sites we've seen around the world, the Caves of Ellora are a World Heritage Site. Marathi: (वेरूळ) is an about 20 miles from Aurangabad in the Maharashtra state (which also contains Mumbai). I'm not sure how far this is away from Mumbai, but the flight here was only about 35 minutes on a 737 (so it is within a couple hundred miles).

[Note: The photos are not great--you are not allowed to use flash in the caves...and remember these are caves!]

These fantastically sculpted caves are a mind-bending example of "cut from rock" architecture. Everything you see is cut from stone. The caves and sculpture were cut out with chisels and other hand tools from the face of solid stone in the Charanandri hills. The 34 caves were successively built by Buddhist, Hindu and Jain groups.

These caves (not the sort of caves we think of in the west) were temples and monasteries, carved out many years from around the 5th to 10th centuries (A.D.). There are 12 Buddhist (caves 1–12), 17 Hindu (13–29) and 5 Jain (caves 30–34) caves, built in a row over six centuries. Some of the caves took 200 years to complete...

Amazingly, each succeeding set of caves builds on the tradition of the previous ones--probably not surprising when you think of the amazing stew of hundreds of religions and sects that still exist (and influence each other) here. You find Buddhas in the Hindu caves; there are Ganeshes in the Jain caves. Some of the caves have two, three, or four floors. Not only did they carve out the caves themselves, but they also carved elaborate sculptures, friezes and the like on many of the walls. They also carved out elaborately decorated and sculpted columns--some of which remind me of Roman and Greek columns.

Restoration workers on bamboo scaffolding. Not only is it bamboo, but it is fastened together with what is little better than very thick jute twine!

[1]  World Heritage sites I've visited (as of August 2012):

Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang (China)

Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing (China)

Acropolis, Athens (Greece)

Medieval City of Rhodes (Greece)

Old Town of Corfu (Greece)

Ellora Caves (India)

Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See in that City Enjoying Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (Italy/Vatican City)

Historic Centre of Florence (Italy)

Piazza del Duomo, Pisa  (Italy)

Historic Centre of Siena  (Italy)

Medina of Tétouan (formerly known as Titawin) Morocco

Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada (Spain)

Historic City of Toledo (Spain)

Göreme National Park and the Rock Sites of Cappadocia (Turkey)

Historic Areas of Istanbul (Turkey)

Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and Saint Margaret's Church (England)

Tower of London (England)

Yellowstone National Park (USA)

Everglades National Park (USA)

Redwood National and State Parks (USA)

Olympic National Park (USA)

Statue of Liberty (USA)

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Mitt Romney's Wimp Factor

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor

Newsweek has really been on a roll this year.  Earlier, one of its covers  proclaimed President Obama the first gay president, for the repeal of don't ask/don't tell, and coming out for same sex marriage.  And now, they've come out with a cover that labels Mitt Romney a "wimp," or maybe just too insecure to be President.  

Michael Tomasky, wrote about Romney:  "He keeps saying these . . . things, these incredibly off-key things. Then he apologizes immediately — with all the sincerity of a hostage. Or maybe he doesn’t: sometimes he whines about the subsequent attacks on him. But the one thing he never does? Man up, double down, take his lumps."

Mitt's spokespeople, of course, dismissed the article.  “If I worried about what the media said I wouldn’t get much sleep,” said Romney. “And I'm able to sleep pretty well.”

Suddenly, the wimp label is starting to stick.  People were very disappointed that Mitt didn't get behind the Chick-fil-a President Dan Cathy, an issue conservatives peg to freedom of speech rather than about gay marriage.  As Newsweek reported, Romney s"aid the issue was not part of the campaign, leaving many to wonder if he was waiting for poll results before deciding which side to support."

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