Mozarabic Toledo

Retablo of the high altar

The cathedral chapter of Toledo celebrates a solemn high mass every day. Except for the Sanctus, in Latin, it was all in Spanish, so I am not exactly sure what was going on before and after – some kind of office. I think I recognized the Benedictus of Lauds before the Kyrie, and then there was something after the Blessing at the end, which involved another offering of incense. This is advertized as the Mozarabic Rite, but I couldn’t tell the difference. Must be something to do with the actual wording of the mass itself.

Anyway, it was pretty colorful. Two concelebrants, an MC, a cantor, and about a dozen canons. The latter vest in cassock and surplice, with a great capa nigra, whichi isn’t entirely nigra, because there is scarlet velvet trim, including a kind of bib. [At first, I thought it was a cowl, but it doesn’t go around the back.] The celebration was in the Lady Chapel, which also serves as the sacrament chapel. A high dome surmounts the completely baroque space. All marble (green and red) with gilded capitals and ornaments. I am happy to say that the altar arrangements are just like Holy Trinity and St. Anskar: floor-model bier candles at either end of the massive stone mensa, whuich has obviously bee moved out from its retablo so as to accommodate the sedilla. The big difference is that here everything appears to be made of solid gold. From bier candles to processional crucifix [standing to the epistle side in front], to the elaborate arch of intertwining vines that surmounts the sedentary statue of our Lady and her Son. The statue itself appears to be solid silver.

The chant was fine. I couldn’t really tell whether the tones were of modern composition or more traditional. There was a minor flavor, so maybe they were the Mozarbic part. Anyway, I went to Communion.

Toledo is lovely, medieval, charming in every way- as long as one keeps one’s mind off the inquisition and on San Fernando! Sometimes I think we Americans have absorbed the English view of the Spanish and their Church. Philip II wanted to claim the English throne and burn Elizabeth as a heretic. We remember the horrors that Spain committed yet tend to excuse those of the English. And, after all, England expelled its Jews quite a bit before Spain did. Still, with all allowances made, Toledo does not exude happy vibes for me. And the the mystical simplicity of the old synagogue still surpasses the opulent display of the Cathedral. The osternsorium is, indeed, aptly named.

Bigger is Better ~ solid gold, too!

St. Anthony, Hog's Legs, and on to Toledo

The royal chapel of St. Anthony of Padua was painted by Goya and became his tomb. Lovely frescoes of a joyous and hopeful nature are recognizable by his signature use of grey and black. The cupola is the central work. As one walks around to see it from all angles, the balustrade offers several trompe l’oeil effects.

The tapas are sensational, of course. Humberto took me to one of his favorite little bars (they all seem to have non-alcoholic beer ON TAP, which is a new one for me). There I had little open-faced sandwiches of mushrooms, tuna, beef, and – best of all – morcillo. This is a minced tripe concoction with piñon nuts. Very delicate and not at all strong.

The Spanish are extremely proud of their ham. Humberto says the French get most of theirs from Spain.] their tyopical tapas-bar's awning says "tapas - bocadillas - jamboneria" (tapas, sandwiches, ham). the butchers [on every block] sell ham from EUR 10/kg to EUR 90/kg (that;'s about $54/lb!) for bellota, which is supposed to be the best. All of these tapas bars have whole hog’s legs – hoof and all –  on display behind the bar, in special holders designed for easily shaving slices of the fancy ham.

I went on to Toledo the next morning. I found a sweet little, medieval-feeling B&B RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET from the cathedral. Really. the windows of my corner room open right onto the square in front of the south transept, which is the entrance. And it is CHEAP (about$65 including breakfast and free WI-FI).

On my first visit to the vathedral, i discovered that a mozarabic Rite mass is SUNG EVERY DAY, so I will attend tomorrow, before going on to Cordoba. Today, I had a good look at the famous retablo (all gilded) and the glorious choir. The place is apparently an old abbey or something, because they have a chapter house. There is also a ten-foot, four-hundred-pound monstrance, which is still used on Corpus Christi processions.

But best of all were the Greco apostles, almost casually displayed as portraits in the sacristy. And at one end, the fabulous Stripping of Christ. Also Titian's portrait of Paul III, hung by the door as an afterthought!  [Paul III has his faults (he was one of the Popes during the reign of Henry VIII) but he also issued a Bull (Sublimus Dei, 1537) ththe indigeno9us people of at forbid the enslavement of  the indigenous people of the Americas, who were declared to be human beings, not to be robbed of their freedom or their possessions. Although this decree was later withdrawn, it became a kind of Magna Carta, nevertheless, cited by De las Casas and others.]


After a short rest in the Casa Cisneros [this is another Cisneros: not the Abat of Montserrat,whose name was given to the hotel there, but the cardinal who preserved the Mozarabic Rite, here] I went to see the interment of Count Orgaz and the old main synagogue. The Greco painting is one of the treasures of the city, and it can't be seen anywhere else.

As the nobleman's corpse is interred, it is shown tended by St. Augustine (the bishop on the right) and St. Stephen (the deacon on the left ~ both in cloth-of-gold vestments.). I notice how the visual line seems to make an elongated "S", beginning at the bottom with St. Augustine's curved back, then curving in the opposite direction, beginning at the tip of his mitre, up through the angels to John the Baptist's thigh, where it curves back again with the Precursor's back and head, right up to the Glorified One. The motion is a swirl from earth to heaven.


Notice also how the Precursor's left arm exactly echoes the bend of the corpse, and how the two golden figures outline a kind of mandorla, in the same way that The Virgin and the Precursor do above. The n lower one cradles the dead Co9unt; the upper one opens to God, Who welcomes the new Saint.


The Green Guide observes that Greco was deeply interested in this cosmological scheme. many paintings are divide in half, with heaven above and earth beneath, emphasizing that our earthly lives are nothing but a period of gestation before our heavenly birth. The terrestrial mortals are all in black and white. The color is reserved for the celestial immortals.


The Synagogue of the Dormition of Mary is a museum that was once the main synagogue in the city. Then it became a church dedicated to the Dormition (Transito, in Spanish: Mary-in-transit!). The long, high, rectangular space is just magnificent. The wooden-decorated ceiling is indescribable. 

And the Moorish arches, high at "clerestory" level,  give the space a rhythmic peace.

I have to admit that I found this place more uplifting, on the whole,  than the late-gothic cathedral, with its extremely busy retablo. the best part of that was the claustro adjacent. But then, maybe it's just my mood. the Sephardim must have really had something going, though, to be able to create such a masterpiece. (Now, the old synagogue also houses a small museum of Sephardic Judaica). 

It is all unbearably poignant. for some reason, I hadn't known before that Jews lived safely and happily in Christian Castille for centuries. - not only in Cordoba and Moorish Spain. The high point was the 13th Century, when Ferdinand III encouraged the Jewish community,protected it, and promoted social harmony. This contemporary of the anti-Jewish King St. Louis IX of France also became a saint. LA's San Fernando Valley is named after him! He is my new hero. His successor, Alfonso X (the Wise) carried on his policies and formed a special council of Jewish advisers on cultural and political matters.

All this came to a halt in the next century, and then came another Ferdinand (of Aragon) and his wife, Isabella. They expelled the Jews in1492 and started the inquisition to root out those who only pretended to convert so they could stay. We all know this story, but somehow the tolerant Christian past escapes our attention, and we seem to think that only the Moors were enlightened. It is good to learn that at least SOME of the Christian Spanish monarchs were not intolerant creeps! 

The giant ostensorium on its annual Corpus Christi outing.

Madrid

I took the AVE [Spain's high-speed train] from Barcelona yesterday, without incident except for the fact that I had forgotten that my rail pass is a 21-day CONTINUOUS one, not one in which I get any 21 days I like within two months. SO, I have rethought my itinerary somewhat, since I started the clock running on the trip here to Madrid. I think I will go to Andalusia this coming weekend. Cordova and Granada. Then to Sevilla for Christmas.


Then, I am thinking of training all the way to Palermo, to get my money's worth before January 2, when the pass expires. I do love to ride trains, and this way I can stop off in Rome for the night if I feel like it. Naples or Salerno too, depending on the timing. Then I think I will rent a car, as planned, and just drive around for awhile. Maybe I'll even go to Tunisia! There should be some pretty good hotel deals there, right now! When I get tired of it, I will fly back to Paris. EasyJet has cheap flights from Palermo.


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Anyway, the AVE was great: not-bad food thrown in for the $30 supplemental fee (whether you eat the food or not, you have to pay the supplement). 


Humberto (Carleton Spanish and Art professor) gave me great directions around his university-area neighborhood and instructions on riding the bus. I did that successfully to the Prado and back today. it's a dandy museum. Not too big, and full of great stuff. I concentrated on Velasquez and Goya. I will remember especially the "Ladies In Waiting"  (Meninas) for its concept (the painter is looking out from behind his easel at the viewer, who stands in the place where the king and Queen are seated to pose, unseen except for their reflection in a distant mirror). 

Philip IV had a lot of these portraits painted. Too bad he was so butt-ugly (Habsburg jaw). Michel de Foucauld had something to say about this painting in the introduction to one of his books 


The Goya "black paintings" were suitably frightening. I think I will remember especially Drowning Dog, because - except for the poor pup's head - it is completely abstract.

A pleasant surprise was the Picasso on ol09an from the Pushkin Museum (Moscow). Acrobata con Bola (Girl on a ball). It was exhibited by itself in an oval room. i got to sit in front of it for a long time, and it was worth the price of admission by itself. the note said it was his "rose" or "harlequin" period (1905).

Note the ho9rse in the middle background, and how the two figures complement each other: the man on a cube, the girl on a sphere, the child's left arm and side echoing the line of the man's left shoulder, the angular male figure and the curving female one. But above all, the color. The cloth of the "blue period" giving way to the pale rose of his undershirt and the background hills.


Tomorrow, more Goya at a church he painted with frescoes.

Costa Brava

Northeast of Barcelona is the litttoral known as the Costa Brava. (roughly, the area between Barcelona and France). We drove up to Girona, a pleasant little city in the foothills of the Pyrenees,  which we could see, snow-covered, in the distance. Our aim was a scenic road between Girona and the sea. It turned out to be not very scenic, but we pressed on up the coast and happened upon something that was. Outside the town of Palafrugell is an old mountain fastness called Begur. 

Now it is a vacation destination – lots of villas and condos. But near the top it is still an old village.

On the way, we found another destination we were looking for, a good restaurant. Not too many of those open here this time of year, since the Costa Brava is not a winter resort. But we found a delightful one, by accident. 

The Galena  - Mas Comengau is an albergo – three-star hotel with excellent restaurant. The owner, Miguel, bought the farmouse (as in French, called a mas), made of stone in the old Roman style. This one is over 200 years old.

The menu was really terrific. We chose the first thing Miguel recommended: caldèr d’arròs amb llamartol  (rice-pot with lobster) for two. It was perfect:  a rich, brown broth in which the rice is simmered with the lobster. 

This was preceded by an appetizer of grilled squid and sausage, with garlic and peppers.

We got back to Barceloa by nightfall, just in time to get thoroughly lost and to take about an hour wandering aimlessly through the lovely streets to find our way back to the hotel.

Miguel, the owner, with Sharif. Miguel is a very sweet man - from La Mancha, but his wife is Catalan. Along with the rest of his staff,k he made us welcome and comfortable, in the hospitable tradition of this beautiful part of the world.


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Tomorrow, I will go to Madrid, starting my Eurailpass, on which I have 21 days of first-class travel anytime within the next two months. This includes certain ships, so it occurred to me that I could go all the way to Crete or Rhodes. Stay tuned!

GAUDETE, Gaudi!

An old friend once remarked that “you can’t lie with architecture”.  This is proven once again by the Bl. Antoni Gaudí, the aptly-named architect who ornamented this city a hundred years ago. His works smile, just as the Catalans do. (Just catch their eye and they nod and smile. It is almost like being in Thailand.) His great church, the Basilica of the Holy Family is all about the joy of creation. (He was so devout that he is called "God's architect", and he was beatified in 2000.) The Gothic-inspired design is what looks like late, flamboyant style so hot it melted. But, while the stones of flamboyant turn into fire, in the alchemy of theological architecture, Gaudí’s pillars become organic, living things. The finials turn into reeds and fruit. The columns become palm trees. All this celebrates the joy of creation, typified by the Nativity. The whole building smiles at its visitors – and they smile back. It is almost impossible to feel grumpy around this building.

The same is true of the Park Güell (pron: well), where Gaudí lived. 

At the turn of the last century, he was commissioned to design a housing development on a hill overlooking the city and the sea. It never worked out, and Señor Güell, the developer, gave it to the City for a park, 

but there are lots of Gaudí buildings, mostly walls and colonnades that look like trees, fountains, and whimsical sculptures with lots of brightly-colored mosaic tile-work. Above the main gate, there is a large plaza, which is the roof of what was to have been the market for the development. This lower floor is a dense forest of fantastic pillars, reminding one of the mosque at Córdova. The balustrade of the big plaza is am irregularly curving bench decorated with mosaic ceramic tile. It is designed ergonomically, so this enormous stone bench is really very comfortable to sit on.

On this holiday Saturday (Thursday, La Puríssima, is a national holiday and it seems that everybody takes  Friday off, too), there are lots of Catalans and tourists hanging out with children running around and musicians playing for tips. A fine flamenco dancer, small string groups, a saddhu with five dogs, playing a flute, and something like a steel drum.

You can tour Gaudí’s small house where his furniture is on exhibit. It is also inspired by living plants. 

This place is art nouveau paradise! The people seem to be just as happy as the architecture. I can see why everyone falls in love with Barcelona – it’s like San Francisco without the attitude!

This is really an appropriate way to spend the eve of  Gaudete Sunday!

Monastery of Montserrat

Montserrat is said to have  been a destination for pilgrims since before Christian times. No doubt the striking rock formations of the mountain attracted them. The ridge seems to form a kind of saw (hence the name), with large boulders jutting up as teeth. ) There have been monks here since the 7^th or 8^th Century. First, they lived as hermits, and then became a coenobitic community, which flourishes to this day, as a Benedictine Abbey.

In the 12^th Century, the celebrated Black Virgin arrived. The statue is now enshrined high above the choir. Millions of pilgrims visit each year. The Bl. Pope John Paul II visited and elevated the Abbey church to basilica status. The large monastery includes a really fine – and affordable – hotel for pilgrims: the Hotel Abat Cisneros, where Catalan food joins Catalan friendliness for perfect hospitality, at a very affordable price.

Not all visitors have been worthy of it, however. Napoleon destroyed the monasatery, and Franco, the late tyrant, also suppressed it after the civil war, in his attempt to erase Catalan culture. (The Black Virgin has been the [patroness of Catalonia for 125 years.) Now Catalan is the languiage of operation: the masses and offices are all said in the local language. [View short clip below.]

We were lucky to arrive on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Devember 8), which meant that there is special festivity all day. Beginning with Solemn Lauds, officiated by the Abbot in cloth-of-gold cope, assisted by two deacons. The Solemn Mass was concelebrated by the Abbot and about thirty priests. The large Basilica is about the size of the in Minneapolis, and it was filled to standing room only. I found a seat in one of the numerous side chapels. The choir included the boys from the choir school, who also sang the Marian devotions after mass, ending with Salve Regina, which everyone sang in Catalan.

There seem to be lots of monks, though not enough to fill the rooms in the vast monastery building. They are working on renovating a large Hostel, for official guests. There are lots of other buildings, a shopping center, and several restaurants at the foot of the monastery. All this is reached by a switchback road or by train or tour bus.

The basilica itself is baroque inside, with a full-strory for a triforium, which houses chapels above the ones off the aisles. When it was still the custom for every monk to celebrate everyday, the literature claims that five hundred masses were said every day in the chapels fo the monastery. Now, as at St. John’s in Minnesota, all these Masses are replaced by the single conventual Mass late in the morning. There isn’t much glass, but the pillars and ribs are elaborately painted, and all the capitals gilded – as are many of the retablos behind the altars.

After the image of the Virgin itself, high above the bema of the basilica, and accessible to pilgrims via a long stairway that I did not attempt, I will remember most the numerous hanging lamps. These are enormous fixtures, suspended from iron hangers jutting out from the walls. Each one is at least as big as the main sanctuary lamp at St. Paul’s-on-the-Hill, but much more fancifully decorated. And they ALL are lit! That’s because they have been electrified so carefully that one can’t see the wires at all. The colored lights are small and flickering, so they might be oil. I like it. The candles on the main altar and in the more important chapels are real. The six in the Lady Chapel were all lit.

Benedictine splendor.


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After this pious beginning, out visit to Catalonia continued in the afternoon by finding our hotel near the center of Barcelona. The  Vilamari is an elegant, modern,k boutique hotel, at a superb, significantly-discounted price, thanks to Booking.com.


today, we visited Gaudi's La Sagrada Faamilia, but decided to go in tomorrow, when we have bought our tickets online, and this won't have to stand in the hour-long line. Instead,k we drove up the coast to look at the seaside suburbs and the Mediterranean. Not very sunny, but then it IS winter. the temperature Is about like San Francisco.

We did drive around downtown a bit, too. La Rambla (above) is the famous main street, which is really jumping. Allo the streets are pretty nice, though: lined with sycamores or acacias in front of delicate old eight-floor apartment buildings - all with iron railings and many with turreted corners. Best of all, whoever laid out the streets (outside the old central core) cut off the corners of the blocks at every intersection, so that it actually forms a square. Not only is it attractive, but it makes driving allot easier.

OWS and Sermon on the Mount

A friend sent me this excellent sermon by Chris Hedges, with which I agree completely. It was preached at Liberty Square, as part of the challenge to Trinity Church, Wall Street (the world's richest Episcopal/Anglican parish) to give their vacant lt to the protesters.

It is really worth reading.