Kissing the Ring

Alfonso Cardinal Castaldo visits the Institute of Santa Rita alla Salute in Naples

Practice makes perfect

The earlier you start giving these episcopal rings a decent smack, the better you'll be when you're a grown up. Here we see bishop Chappoulie of Angers with a very young and very well-mannered little girl.

Do you prefer...

... to get out of a car dressed in a cappa magna...

Bishop Diepen from Den Bosch (or 's-Hertogenbosch) in the Netherlands. Okay, I admit it: When I saw the position of the grate in relation to the cassock, my first thought was 'Marilyn Monroe!'


... or dressed in a tabarro?

Pietro Cardinal Fumasoni Biondi. I don't know what exactly is happening here. The guy in the back with the chauffeur's hat in his left hand looks like he is holding the door while performing some kind of dance. Maybe he was just happy that he drove the cardinal safely to wherever he was going.

Too hot!

This photo was taken during the International Eucharistic Congress in Munich, 1960. It can get quite hot there in the summer, so people have to resort to all kinds of means to keep the sun from burning their heads and faces, as you can see.

Long time no see...

My buddy, Fernando Cardinal Quiroga-Palacios, hasn't been around for a while. Here's a nice photo showing him with a first-communion girl.

For Carolina

Co-catholic-blogger carolina cannonball confessed that her favorite kid on this photo from a previous post is the one on the left:



Boy, is she in for a ride. I have two other pics of this kid that I thought were just too much. But I bet Carolina is going to like them just as much as I do, so here we go:


I mean, just look at those postures. How can this guy NOT become a cardinal?

[swiped off this flickr-accont, which has lots of beautiful pictures showing traditions from Filipino catholicism]

I love it!

An article from insidecatholic.com about the "Lost Art of Catholic Drinking" (which also has some fine things to say about Protestant drinking):

"... Here we encounter Catholic drinking. Catholic drinking is that third way, the way to engage in an ancient activity enjoyed by everyone from peasants to emperors to Jesus Himself. And again, it is not just about quantity. In fact, I think the chief element is conviviality. When friends get together for a drink, it may be to celebrate, or it may be to mourn. But it should always be to enjoy one another's company. (Yes, there is a time and place for a solitary beer, but that is the exception.)...