Notes and Comments
Anniversaries and Exhibitions
On December 13, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI marked the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the Vatican Publishing House, the Libreria Editrice Vaticana. While Sixtus V established the Vatican Printing Press in 1587, it was not until 1926 that Libreria Editrice was constituted as an autonomous organization with the mission of publishing official Vatican documents and works on Catholic doctrine, liturgy, and culture. On February 7, 2007 it opened the John Paul II International Bookstore in St. Peter's Square for the sale of its publications.
On February 23, 2007 an exhibition entitled "Tu es Petrus—the Basilica of St. Peter in the Medals of the Popes" opened at the Villa Chiassi on the via Cola di Rienzo in Rome to help commemorate the five-hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the new St. Peter's Basilica. Among the depictions of the Basilica are that of Bramante's design (1506), Sangallo's project, Michelangelo's design with the dome, Maderno's façade, and Bernini's cathedra. Once the exhibition closes on April 22, it will move to the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and be open there in the months of May and June.
The Museo di Roma is sponsoring an exhibit "Portraits in Purple" that displays seventy images of cardinals from the Renaissance to today, some portraits painted by such famous artists as Raphael, others photographs taken by Mario Delogu. Among the cardinals represented are the two Alessandro Farneses (father and grandson), Carlo Borromeo, Scipione Borghese, Ludovico Ludovisi, Francesco Barberini, Pietro Gasparri, Giovanni Battista Montini, Francis Arinze, and Josef Ratzinger.
Archaeological Find
On December 11, 2006 the Vatican archaeologist Giorgio Filippi formally announced the unearthing of the sarcophagus of St. Paul found three years earlier under the pavement of the Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls in Rome. The sarcophagus dates from the reign of emperor Theodosius and bears the inscription "Apostle Paul Martyr." After the fire of 1823 it had been enclosed in a large block of cement. With the removal of the cement it is now visible through a glass window laid into the floor. Whether the sarcophagus contains the bones of St. Paul has yet to be determined.
Conferences and Workshops
On March 1, 2007 a conference was held in Sora, Italy to commemorate the four-hundredth anniversary of the death of Cesare Baronio (1538-1607), the [End Page 470] disciple of St. Filippo Neri, cardinal, and librarian of the Church, whose Annales Ecclesiastici covering the years up to ll98 was published in twelve volumes (1588-1607). Edoardo Aldo Cerrato presented a paper "Cesare Baronio discepolo e primo successore di san Filippo Neri."
On March 9, 2007, in conjunction with the meeting of the Texas State Historical Association in San Antonio, the Texas Catholic Historical Society presented a panel entitled "The Movimiento and the Catholic Church, Texas Style, 1965-1972." It consisted of three papers: "Caution and Compassion: The Catholic Church and the Early Chicano Movement in Houston" by Robert R. Treviño, "San Antonio Women Religious and the Chicano Movement: Resisting the Challenge and Challenging the Resistance" by Maria Eva Flores, CDP, and "Researching and Archiving the Catholic Church's Response to the Movimiento Chicano in South Texas" by Gilberto M. Hinojosa. On March 10, 2007 the Society presented a workshop in Laredo, Texas on "Teaching Texas Catholic History." It featured three talks: "Spanish Missions in Texas" by Gilberto M. Hinojosa, "Catholic Social Justice and Archbishop Robert E. Lucey" by Thomas W. Jodziewicz, and "The Catholic Church in Laredo, 1755-1911" by Jose Roberto Juarez. For further information, please contact Professor Jodziewicz at tjodz@udallas.edu.
On April 12-14, 2007 the Calvin Studies Society Colloquium presented "John Calvin and Roman Catholicism" in the McKenna Hall, University of Notre Dame. Among the papers presented were "The French Roman Catholic Lives of Calvin from Bolsec to Richelieu: Why the Interest?" by Irena Backus, "Calvin and the Nicodemites" by George H. Tavard, "John Calvin, Accidental Anthropologist: How Calvin Stumbled on a...
