Sitting in a pew at Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore of Trieste I was approached by a man haggard-looking, thin, in tattered clothes, and with a three-day old growth of beard. My first reaction was to recoil in dread: “Can’t these damned migrants, addicts, or paupers stop bothering me… in Church?” But, then I realized that beneath the modern, Western accoutrements, the man wore the habit of a Franciscan priest-monk. He spoke to me of God’s love and forgiveness; I nodded my head, as I have heard it all before. Only seconds after he left my side did I realize this monk was wearing coarse, fingerless gloves, and I was struck by the thought that I just spoke to
Thank you. No, it is not from the same church. Some of the most beautiful mosaics I have seen are in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. The small church that inspired the encounter described in this poem is in Trieste. For sheer magnificence, few churches can match the mosaics in the San Giusto Cathedral, just a 5 minute walk up the hill. It is not something that can be appreciated through a digital image, so I hope you are able to see the cathedral in person some day. I was lucky enough to attend the Easter mass there last week.
Thanks very much. I'll be in Italy for the coming academic year and you've heightened my resolve to visit Trieste. I've long been curious about it because of the Joyce connection. If, by any chance, you get to visit the Duomo in Monza, near Milan, there's a fine fresco of the tree of life as crucifix (or vice-versa). I hadn't seen these motifs combined before.
Trieste is my favorite "big" Italian city. Though, I absolutely loathe Venice, which everyone seems to love, so please take my advice with a grain of salt.
Some of my friends in Trieste claim that Joyce developed the style of Ulysses based on the Triestinian dialect. Some even go so far as to claim that Ulysses is not an Irish novel at all, but a novel of Trieste, with the places changed to those in Dublin. Personally, I could care less either way: Umberto Saba and Italo Svevo are more interesting to me than Joyce.
Thanks, Farasha. That's a beautiful mosaic. Is it from the same church?
Thank you. No, it is not from the same church. Some of the most beautiful mosaics I have seen are in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of Italy. The small church that inspired the encounter described in this poem is in Trieste. For sheer magnificence, few churches can match the mosaics in the San Giusto Cathedral, just a 5 minute walk up the hill. It is not something that can be appreciated through a digital image, so I hope you are able to see the cathedral in person some day. I was lucky enough to attend the Easter mass there last week.
Thanks very much. I'll be in Italy for the coming academic year and you've heightened my resolve to visit Trieste. I've long been curious about it because of the Joyce connection. If, by any chance, you get to visit the Duomo in Monza, near Milan, there's a fine fresco of the tree of life as crucifix (or vice-versa). I hadn't seen these motifs combined before.
Trieste is my favorite "big" Italian city. Though, I absolutely loathe Venice, which everyone seems to love, so please take my advice with a grain of salt.
Some of my friends in Trieste claim that Joyce developed the style of Ulysses based on the Triestinian dialect. Some even go so far as to claim that Ulysses is not an Irish novel at all, but a novel of Trieste, with the places changed to those in Dublin. Personally, I could care less either way: Umberto Saba and Italo Svevo are more interesting to me than Joyce.
I just passed by Trieste the other day
I suspect you may encounter St Francis again -- sooner or later.
Inshallah