Angel of light
In Rome with a little time on my hands on Sunday, the 23rd, I went for a leisurely stroll to the Piazza de la Republica near our hotel. I dashed across the busy circle of traffic swarming around the central fountain. I sat for a while on the broad marble border of the fountain listening to the soothing sounds of the fountain and watching people. The fumes and noise from the buses and taxis circling the piazza soon let me to seek quieter quarters.
Across from the fountain was a modest church, the Basilica Di Santa Maria Degli Angeli e Del Martiri, or the church of Saint Mary of the Angels and of her martyr, a modern saint. An eight-foot thick brick wall jutted out from one side of the entrance. I found out later that Michelangelo designed this spacious airy church utilizing the existing ruins of the Baths of Diocletian for some of the walls of the church. The baths were completed in 306 A.D. and destroyed by the Visigoths in the 6th century.
Just inside the church door, I was very much moved by a modern bronze statue created by Ernesto Lamagna for the Jubilee Year of 2000. It is called Angel of Light. She is poised in flight on a rod atop of a bronze pyramid. She is thin. Her ribs show. Her garment is in tatters. Her fingers and toes are spread in fear and alarm. Embedded in her body are several large pieces of crystal that the sun through the windows lights up. The English speaking guide said the sculptor intended her to be a suffering angel viewing the world with deep sorrow. Yet the crystals show her hope.
Each age shows its spirit, its essence through its art. In Florence the great statues and paintings of the Renaissance show the wealth, the power and the generosity of the Medicis. Michelangelo’s “David” on its pedestal is over 17 feet tall. Their chapel is lined with gold mosaics, and on their tombs are other famous statues. In Venice, the pink marble Doge’s Palace with its carved marble staircase and scores of paintings on gilded ceilings was designed to impress visitors with their power and wealth. Their churches are truly magnificent. In Rome, tourists and pilgrims throng St. Peter’s Cathedral. Michelangelo helped in the designs, and still today, we are moved by his “Pieta”, a statue of Mary holding Jesus’ body on her lap, and his incredible paintings in the Sistine Chapel.
Still, smiling cherubs and dignified statues of the popes and others speak to their historical time more than they speak to our modern age. This is why I was so moved by the modern suffering “Angel of Light”. One has to think that angels are grieving over the atrocities of our modern age, the injustices, wars and the suffering of the poor.
We made it to Rome because we just barely made our connection to
the flight from New York to Rome in the early morning of September 11th.
The flight from Detroit was delayed because of bad weather. Our daughter,
Catherine, and her husband, Ray, planned and guided Percy and me, and our
daughter, Laurel, on our trip to Italy. We were supposed to meet our son,
Mark, and his wife, Cindy, at the airport in Rome. It was there where we
noticed a group of people intently watching the television showing the
bombing of the twin towers. It didn’t seem real. We asked some English-speaking
Italians to tell us what had happened. Then we were really worried about
Mark and Cindy. We had expected to see their smiling faces at the Rome
Airport where they were scheduled to arrive two hours before us. We were
finally able to reach their son in Marion, North Carolina, by phone and
learned that their flight from North Carolina was late by 35 minutes and
they missed their flight to Rome. They were stuck in a motel in Philadelphia
f
rom Tuesday until Friday.
We decided to go ahead with our plans. Our hotel reservations were made long before and our return flight already booked. Everywhere we went, people said they were so sorry, and they were very, very helpful. In Rome there was a huge demonstration of support for our country. People marched with candles in St. Peter’s square.
We arrived home on the 25th and are tired but happy to be home in the USA. I quote Lewis Grizzard, who said when he got back to Georgia after spending two winters in Chicago. “If I ever get back to Georgia, I’m going to nail my feet to the ground.” We feel like that about being home in Tiffin.
– Mary