Nogales international., 1944-09-01

Dear Father:
The other day I visited Rome
L arrived early in the morning. 1t
being hot, dusty and tired, the first
thing I looked for was bath, SO I
went to the BAGNI ROMANI.
I arrived at such establishment
by asking directions of the Romans.
On the ground floor was the barr
bershop and downstairs were the
baths, manicurists and others.
They had several kinds of baths.
I bought a ticket for tub bath
from a refreshingly un-painted,
charming Romano. Then went
over to sit down to await my turn.
sat down in front of the door of
the manicurist's shop She was
blonde In all probabilities perox-
e-blonde. When she finished
working on her customer she went
into a tantrum about something or
other. Manicuring tools started fly
ing in all directions. One of them
came dangerously close to me. An
infantry soldier, who was seated
beside me, had to duck to avoid be-
ing hit I told him he had better
go back to the front where it would
be safer
Finally my turn came. One of
the maids filled the tub half full of
hot water and left it to me to regu-
late with cold water. She waited
around when I started 70 undress,
so I gave her dime to get rid of
her. I did not want to shock the
poor thing. I came out of the bath
tub like a new man.
Visits Cathedral
My first step, naturally, was ST.
Peters Cathedral I went down via
Nazzionale, past the Vittorio Eman-
uele monument and the Foro Ro-
mano; then Corso Vittorio Eman-
uele to the Tiber River, where I
crossed a bridge and walked about
one hundred yards up to st. Peters
square
The Vatican is separated from
Rome and at the entrance to the
square there is sign warning that
the Vatican City is neutral and no
arms are permitted therein.
I shall not attempt to describe
this stupendous work of art of the
centuries. 1t would take a George
Santayana to do justice to it. will
say only few things about it.
st. Peters Cathedral is big-as
big as city. 1t has innumerable
affairs; mosaic paintings; statues;
inlaid workings in gold and all pos
sible forms of art.
I was alone I did not join a
group where guides explain the his
tory of st. Peters. Words were USE
less. I disdained the trite eXplana-
tions of the guides.
There is much to see. 1t would
take much time to become familiar
with every nook and corner of the
place.
Each altar with it's attendant dec
orations and paintings would require
! several weeks to absorb. was there
only long enough to become aware
that here something infinitely great
existed. 1 stopped before all the
mosaic works that I could. 1 was
told. afterwards, that these are re-
productions in mosaic of famous
paintings; that they are five times
as big as the originals. An enor-
nous amount of work must have
gone into the making of these, be-
cause it was necessary to use dit
ferent colored, tiny bits of mosaic
to get the desired color and tone
combinations. One must think OF
the work accomplished in terms OF
centuries and not lifetimes.
I did not go into any ecstasy over
the mosaics. 1t is hardly possible
to do so due to the crowds of sight
seeing people making inane re-
marks. The atmosphere at present
is not that of Cathedral, but more
of an art museum. However, did
obtain an incipient impression OF
the beauty of that art. 1t was such
an intense beauty that it hurt me
to look at them. The color schemes
were varied. Some radiated a rag
ing beauty; other a, subdued sub
> Unity. They were mostly themes
from the New Testament.
, The ceilings and domes had rich
gold inlaid relief designs and they
; were also dotted with portrayals OF
religious scenes done in the same
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