by Timothy Egan
26. A Series of Unfortunate Events in a Small Car
Brief history of Piacenza, from tourist information office.
More than thirty hostels, from Raju, Via Francigena.
Fascist attitude toward slippers, from Kneale, Rome: A History in Seven Sackings.
Story of Eataly, from its homepage, https://www.eataly.com/us_en/magazine/eataly-stories/story-of-eataly.
Pope Francis on pilgrims, from June 9, 2015, Tektron Ministries, https://www.tektonministries.org/catholic-pope-francis-pilgrimage-is-a-symbol-of-life.
Francis letter to bishops on sex abuse, December 28, 2016, https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20161228_santi-innocenti.html.
Pope on abuse, from The Guardian, August 17, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/17/pope-francis-sexual-abuse-priests-absolute-monstrosity-terrible-sin.
Daniel Pittet forgives abuser, https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-lauds-courageous-witness-of-abuse-victim-who-chose-to-forgive-80070.
Story of Fidenza’s statuary, from author tour of the church.
Half the pilgrims of the year 1300 robbed or killed, from Sumption, The Age of the Pilgrimage.
Robbers in the Apennines, forest cut to protect them, from Raju, Via Francigena.
27. The Way out of a Labyrinth
Background on ancient Etruscan statues, from author visit to the Pontremoli Museum of the Stele Statues.
Frederick II, from Frederick II: A Medieval Emperor, by David Abulafia, Oxford Paperbacks, 1992.
More Frederick, from Fordham University Medieval Sourcebook, https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/salimbene1.asp.
History of testaroli, from Rustico: Regional Italian Country Cooking, by Micol Negrin, Clarkson Potter, 2002.
New interest in testaroli, Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2006.
Story of the Abbey of San Caprasio, from a plaque on the wall in the abbey.
Carrara marble and Michelangelo, from author visit to the Civic Museum of Marble in Carrara. Quote from there as well.
The Pietà’s origin, quote from Michelangelo, from The Atlantic, August 3, 2017.
The Pietà as only signed piece by Michelangelo, from http://www.italianrenaissance.org/michelangelos-pieta.
Quote on wandering Irish, from Sumption, The Age of Pilgrimage.
Greek mythology and the labyrinth, from “Labyrinth from the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca, Italy,” Loyola University of Chicago, Medieval Studies, https://www.luc.edu/medieval/labyrinths/lucca.shtml.
Further explanation of the labyrinth, from “The Mystery of the Great Labyrinth,” by John James, Studies in Comparative Religion 11, no. 2 (Spring 1977).
28. In the Path of the Little Poor Man
History of the Convent of San Francisco, from author visit and interview.
The basic outline of the story of Francis, from www.catholic.org/saints.
Franciscans leave San Miniato, from “Few Friars, the Franciscans Leave the Convent,” December 7, 2015, from Qui News, https://www.quinewscuoio.it/san-miniato-pochi-frati-i-francescani-lasciano-il-convento.htm.
Number of priests since 1970, from New York Times, September 26, 2018.
Young life of Francis from The New Yorker, January 14, 2013, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/01/14/rich-man-poor-man.
Francis on kissing a leper, from his words, collected in The Writings of St. Francis of Assisi, Franciscan Publications, 2011.
Francis’s trip to Egypt, from The Saint and the Sultan, by Paul Moses, Doubleday Religion, 2009.
Clare of Assisi, from Catholic Encyclopedia Online, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04004a.htm.
The stigmata, from “The Mystery of the Five Wounds,” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-mystery-of-the-five-wounds-361799.
More stigmata, from author visit to the Franciscan sanctuary at La Verna. See also preceding note.
Tolstoy’s gospel, from The Gospel in Brief, by Leo Tolstoy, Dover Publications, 2008, first published in 1893.
29. Allegories on the Wall
Number of towers still standing, from history of San Gimignano, at http://www.sangimignano.com/en/art-and-culture/town-history.asp.
Black Death and other historical information about San Gimignano, ibid.
Last judgment, from Matthew 25:31–46.
Pope’s response to child on atheist dad, from Parenting, April 17, 2018.
Pope on the poor, as reported by the Catholic News Agency, November 19, 2017.
Saint Fina, from a brochure inside the Collegiata in San Gimignano, next to her relics, telling her story.
Siena nearly as old as Rome, from http://www.aboutsiena.com/history-of-Siena.html.
Explanation of The Allegory of Good Government and Bad, from description inside the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena, and from “Art in Tuscany,” http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/ambrogiolorenzetti/goodandbadovernment.htm.
Siena after the Black Death, from “The Lasting Consequences of Plague in Siena,” by Ryan S. Davis, http://www.montana.edu/historybug/yersiniaessays/davis.html.
Catherine of Siena and Avignon’s papacy, from Johnson, A History of Christianity, and from National Catholic Register, April 27, 2013.
Palio details, from New York Times, April 22, 2018, and from author witness of the race.
Bank of Monte dei Paschi, history, from The Guardian, December 22, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/dec/22/monte-dei-paschi-the-history-of-the-worlds-oldest-bank.
Bank collapses, from New York Times, June 1, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/business/dealbook/italy-bank-mps-debt.html.
Fra Angelico’s San Marco frescoes, from “Art in Tuscany,” http://www.travelingintuscany.com/art/fraangelico/conventodisanmarco.htm.
Quotes from Savonarola and details of his reign of terror, from Death in Florence: The Medici, Savonarola and the Battle for the Soul of a Renaissance City, by Paul Strathern, Pegasus, 2015.
Quote “We are very few,” from New York Times, September 26, 2018.
D. H. Lawrence quote on the piazza, from Italian Days, by Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, Ticknor & Fields, 1989.
30. The Miracle of Montefiascone
Buonconvento, from author visit to the town.
Story of Saint Christina, from visit to her shrine in Bolsena and in part from https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=148.
Cathedral in Montefiascone third-largest dome in Italy, from Raju, Via Francigena.
Story of Saint Lucia Filippini, from National Catholic Weekly, March 22, 2016.
Background on incorruptibles, from Christian Mummification, by Ken Jeremiah, McFarland & Co., 2012.
Est! Est!! Est!!! I heard the story in Montefiascone, but for scholarly backup relied on “Tales of the Vine,” from https://bubblyprofessor.com/2011/01/20/est-est-est.
31. The Women Who Live Forever
More than three hundred preserved bodies in Italy, from Jeremiah, Christian Mummification.
Roman Goddess of Abundance, from author visit to Museo del Colle del Duomo, Viterbo.
Popes and Viterbo, from http://www.etruscanlife.com/en/art-history/perche-viterbo-viene-chiamata-citta-dei-papi.
The heart of Saint Rose, from Associated Press, June 10, 2010, https://www.foxnews.com/world/experts-examine-mummy-of-13th-century-saint-say-she-died-of-a-heart-defect.
The seven chapels on the island of Lake Bolsena, from Gallard, LightFoot Companion to the Via Francigena.
Pope at Auschwitz, from Jerusalem Post, February 12, 2017.
Death of Italy’s olive trees, from National Geographic, August 10, 2018, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2018/08/italy-olive-trees-dying-xylella.
Trees and feelings, from The Hidden Life of Trees, by Peter Wohlleben, Greystone Books, 2016.
32. Compani
ons of the Camino
Story of Sutri and the Etruscans, from author visit to Sutri archaeological park, including catacombs and amphitheater, and from visit to Santa Maria del Parto.
Etruscan life, from The Etruscans, by Graeme Barker and Tom Rasmussen, Blackwell, 1998.
Ignatius in La Storta, from author visit to Piazza della Visione, and from Faber Centre of Ignatian Spirituality, https://www.faberspirituality.org.au/vision-at-la-storta.
Carlo Laurenzi, author interview in La Storta, and follow-up interview in Seattle.
Dome of St. Peter’s Basilica, Michelangelo’s role, http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en/monumenti/basilica-di-s-pietro/cupola.html.
33. Pilgrim’s Progress
Heads of Saints Peter and Paul, Saint John Lateran, http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/rome-san-giovanni-laterano. Saint John Lateran website doesn’t acknowledge the heads of Peter and Paul, http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_giovanni/index_it.htm.
Shameful history of Lateran Treaty, from The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe, by David I. Kertzer, Random House, 2014.
Most popular religion worldwide at start of twentieth century, as percentage of global population, http://christianityinview.com/religion-statistics.html.
Saint Paul’s remains, from official Vatican City website, http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/san_paolo/en/basilica/tomba.htm.
Life and death of Nero, https://www.livescience.com/40277-emperor-nero-facts.html.
Holy Prepuce, from Slate, December 19, 2006, http://www.slate.com/articles/life/faithbased/2006/12/fore_shame.html. More on foreskin, from National Geographic documentary The Quest of the Holy Foreskin, 2103.
Bruno biography, beliefs, and death, from Giordano Bruno: Philosopher/Heretic, by Ingrid Rowland, University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Additional Bruno from The New Yorker, August 25, 2008.
Hitchens quote, from his God Is Not Great.
Vatican recants on Galileo, from New York Times, October 31, 1992.
Pope John Paul II acknowledges errors, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/2000/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_20000312_pardon.html.
Life of Hadrian, from Historia Augusta, published online in Loeb Classical Library, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/home.html.
Quote from Hadrian’s poem, as translated and presented by the museum that runs Castel Sant’Angelo, though there are other translations that differ slightly.
Jesuits and Ignatius, from author visit to home of Ignatius in the church of the Gesù, Rome.
Ignatius’s life and teachings, from Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola, originally published in 1548. I relied on the Loyola Press version, 1992.
Etruscans, from author visit; additional information from museum website, http://www.villagiulia.beniculturali.it.
Size of the Vatican, from official Vatican City website, http://www.vaticanstate.va/content/vaticanstate/en.html.
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
INDEX
The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. The link provided will take you to the beginning of that print page. You may need to scroll forward from that location to find the corresponding reference on your e-reader.
Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.
Abbey of Clairvaux, Aube, 130
Abbey of Cluny, Burgundy, 56
Abbey of Saint Bertin, Saint-Omer, 43–44, 45
Abbey of Saint-Maurice, 187–90, 192–93, 200, 324
Abbey of Saint Paul, Wisques, 50, 52–55, 58–64
Abbey of San Caprasio, 196, 258–60
Abraham, 62
absolution for pilgrims, 320
abstinence/celibacy
and clerics, 88, 90
and Jesus, 84
and Joan of Arc, 93
Luther’s questioning of, 94, 169
and Saint Augustine, 89–90
and Saint Jerome, 88–89
Saint Paul’s advocacy for, 87–88
accidents, Saint Augustine on, 240
Afghanistan, refugees from, 36, 38
Agatha, Saint, 240–41
Age of Discovery, 123–24
Age of Reason, 136, 141
agnosticism, 7, 176–77, 182, 263
Alexander VI, Pope, 33, 281
Allegory of Good Government and Bad, The (Lorenzetti), 277–78
Alps, Italian, 196, 218–19
Amé, Saint, 191
Angelico, Fra, 280, 283
Anselmo (Saint Anselm), 227–30, 231, 232, 234
Aosta, Italy, 196, 223–24, 227, 230, 231
Arch of Augustus, Aosta, 224
arches, architectural, 311
Arras, France, xvi
author’s stay in, 68–69
cathedral of, 67, 71, 142
and World War I, 66–67, 69, 127
Astronomical Clock of Besançon, 151–52
atheists and atheism
and death, 145
Diderot, 144
and Diderot’s Encyclopédie, 140
Hugo, 149
and lack of story, 146
on pilgrimages, 25, 313
and Pope Francis, 26, 144, 275
Augustine, Saint
arrival in Britain, 15–16, 19
curiosity of, 243
and dualism, 234
impact on Western thinking, 90
influence on Catholic Church, 233–34
on miracles, 74–75, 78, 287
on mystery of self, 7
and question of evil, 234–35, 239–40
rejection of pleasure, beauty, and truth, 243, 244
relics of, 234, 244
and role of suffering, 240
and sexuality, 88, 89–90, 94, 114, 234
on “unlearned” pre-Christians, 256–57
Wilde’s reading of, 215
Augustinian monks, 192, 207–8
Augustus, Emperor of Rome, 224–25, 299
Avignon, France, 278
Bagnaccio, hot springs of, 298–99
Bainton, Roland H., 181
Balter, Joni
accompanying author, 262–63, 295, 297, 300–301, 303–5, 309–10, 314, 318
arrival in Italy, 286, 291–92
caring for sister, 81, 194–95, 263, 291
and incorruptible body of Saint Lucia Filippini, 294, 297–98
previous sojourn in Italy, 275–76
and religious discourse with author, 301–2
Balter, Margie, 263, 291, 324
author’s prayers for, 81, 107, 192, 200, 276, 324
cancer diagnosis of, 80–81
and Joni’s caretaking, 81, 194–95, 291
Baptism of France, 100
Basilica and Abbey of Saint Rémi, Reims, 100, 104, 105
Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Rome, 316, 317
Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Rome, 318
Basilica of San Pietro in Ciel d’Oro, Pavia, 244
Basilica of St. Peter, Rome. See St. Peter’s Basilica
Battle of Arras, 69, 127
Battle of the Oranges, 233
Battle of the Somme, 70
Bavaria, 150
Becket, Thomas, Saint
influence of, on modern church, 12
and King Henry II, 10–11, 18, 171
miracles at tomb of, 11
and modern pilgrims, 310
murder of, 10–11, 17
and power of clerics, 17
relics of, 18–19
in Saint-Omer, 45
belief, power of, 11
bell tower dedicated to Via Francigena pilgrims, 310
>
Belloc, Hilaire, 99–100
Benedict, Saint, 55–56, 90, 94, 213
Benedictine monks
at Abbey of Saint Paul, 50, 52–55, 58–64
aging population of, 58
and champagne, 111
daily lives of, 55–56, 57, 58–59
Father John of Flavigny, 211–13
and Ignatian Method, 211
and Napoleon, 119–20
origins of order, 56
silence among, 57
Benedictine nuns, 97–98
benefits of pilgrimage, 11, 259, 304
Benoît (Labre), Saint. See Labre, Saint Benoît
Berceto, Italy, 253–54
Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint
and Clairvaux Abbey, 130
and Crusades, 38, 116, 123
winemaking in abbeys of, 111
Bernard of Menthon, Saint, 208
Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 326
Bertha, Queen, 15–16, 19, 21
Besançon, France, 132, 147–49, 150–53
Bibliothèque de Saint-Omer, 45
birth control, and Catholic Church, 94
Birth of Venus, The (Botticelli), 280–81
Black Death, 29, 274, 278
Bonaparte, Élisa, 261
Bonaparte, Letizia, 117, 119
Bonaparte, Napoleon
and Abbey of Saint-Maurice, 188
and Bourg-Saint-Pierre, 204–5
challenges faced in youth, 116–17
at English Channel, 31
and Great Saint Bernard Pass, 186, 207
and Holy Roman Empire, 119
and Lucca, 261
and religious dialogues, 230, 231
religious tolerance of, 119
skepticism of, 230
Bonfire of the Vanities, 282, 283–84
Boniface VIII, Pope, 33
Book of Kells, 45–46
Book on Behalf of the Fool Who Says in His Heart There Is No God (Gaunilo), 230
books
and advance of civilization, 44
created by scribes, 42–43, 44, 46, 47, 168–69, 310
and Index of Prohibited Books, 140
and printing press, 46, 47
in Saint-Omer library, 40, 42–43, 44, 45–47, 49
Botticelli, Sandro, 280
Bourg-Saint-Pierre, Switzerland, 202–3, 204–5
