Page 28 - Greccio News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

After months of isolation, a ‘hug room’ lets Italian nursing home residents touch family for the first time Chico Harlan, Stefano Pitrelli © Geraldine Hope Ghelli/for The Washington Post Giano Zagaglioli reaches out to his granddaughter through the plexiglass at Villa del Sole in Greccio, Italy. GRECCIO, Italy— It had been nine months since the nursing home closed itself off to visitors, and the director sensed the toll of isolation was getting "worse and worse." There were video calls and distanced hellos with loved ones on the front lawn. But one resident seemed t...

Medieval Christmas Existing elements of pagan midwinter rites fused with the developing theology of Christmas in an appeal to the senses of both sacred and lay. As the European winter deepens the course of the sun gets nearer the southern horizon until it seems to stand still for a few days, before slowly rising again to usher in the spring. Ancient peoples were of course aware of this phenomenon and the Romans, from their words for 'sun' and 'stand still', called it solstitium, source of our word 'solstice'. By the Julian calendar, the system of months and days we still use (first ...

My dere sone, mine sweting by 18 December 2020 Timothy Larsen Madonna with the infant Jesus among Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Clare, Pavia, c.1400 FOR medieval theologians, the joy of Christmas lay in its celebration of the incarnation: God’s taking human form for the salvation of humanity. In the seventh century, Isidore of Seville explained Christmas’s importance in terms of John 1.14, the Gospel reading for the Third Mass: “The Word became flesh even though, taking on flesh, he was not changed in the flesh. For he took on...

2020 Vatican nativity display draws comparisons to ‘Star Wars’ scene By Catherine Park 2020 Vatican nativity scene inauguration Inauguration of the Nativity scene and lighting of the Christmas tree in the Vatican on Dec. 11. 2020. (Credit: Vatican News via Storyful) The Vatican’s 2020 nativity scene, which has been different every year for the past decade, was unveiled on Dec. 11. Since then, it has drawn mixed reactions on social media, with some critics thrown by its futuristic style. Some critics even compared the unconventional nativity to a scene from “Star Wars.” The ...

The nativity set is alive and well, whatever you think of the Vatican’s Dec 13, 2020 editor A doctor and a nurse holding the Italian peninsula are popular items in 2020 nativity sets in Naples shops. (Credit: Image courtesy fanpage.it.) If the Vatican isn’t actually where the action is in terms of the presepe, maybe we shouldn’t make such a fuss over whatever it chooses to put up every year. News Analysis ROME – For more than twenty years, no matter where travels may take me the rest of the year, I’ve always made a point of being in Rome for Christmas and New Year’s. You’d think...