What Did Jesus Eat? Almost as interesting as observing how Jesus Christ is depicted in art (some places, he’s a white guy who looks a bit like a hippie; sometimes he is a Viking; sometimes he is shorter and a person of color) is seeing what exactly he ate during the Last Supper, at least…
Category: Xmas 2020
Day Trip from Geneva to Yvoire, France
Make Time to Go Medieval in a Small French Village From fast-moving and modern Geneva, with its trains and efficiencies, escape for a day to nearby Yvoire, France, a medieval town replete with a castle. Situated on Lake Geneva (also known as Lac Léman), this little town transports visitors to the Middle Ages as they…
Mothers and Marys around the Planet: Red Square
Some images are universal: here, Mary and Jesus depicted in St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow. The art of Christianity unites Russians with others here in Red Square. —Lori Tripoli ~Advertisement~ ~Advertisement~ Considering a trip to Russia, with or without your mother? You might like these posts: Moscow Now Chewing It Up in Red Square Russia, Contrariwise…
Christ of Many Colors
On this Palm Sunday, marvel at the varied images of Jesus depicted in churches and other places around the world. Sometimes he is a baby with the face of someone far more mature, sometimes he is an adult, sometimes with white skin, sometimes not. I am always surprised that societies try to remake him in…
The Worst Sorts of Falls
Contemplating Colonialism, Missionaries, Politics, Priests Fresh from a trip to Peru, I watch The Mission, a 1986 film about missionaries in South America and their efforts to convert indigenous people to Christianity. Starring Jeremy Irons as a nonviolent priest and Robert De Niro as a former slave trader new to the religious fold, politics—a treaty…
Nordic Jesus
The Bashful Adventurer learns that Jesus looks like a Viking. Finding Nordic Jesus in Iceland.
The Ups and Downs of Mont Saint-Michel
I both love and loathe my experience at Mont Saint-Michel. I’m enamored of its history—how the Archangel Michael appeared to a priest some 700 years ago and told him to build this church in the water, how the priest equivocated right up to the point where the angel put a hole in his head, and…
Paris: Don’t Skip Sainte Chapelle
During this season of renewal, my mind floats to my favorite churches in Paris. I can’t help but marvel at Sainte Chapelle, stuck next to a courthouse, the little sibling of its competitor, the grand Notre Dame Cathedral. With each located on the Ile de la Cité, and with time in the capital limited, the…
On My Knees at the Scala Santa
Will the Bashful Adventurer, who is not exactly a church-goer, nevertheless be transformed by a visit to the Scala Santa, or Holy Stairs, in Rome?