The stockings are hung…..

Student stockings are hanging in the atrium of Ambrit-Rome International School waiting for a gift from La Befana. The gifts will appear in the stockings on January 6th.

La Befana is a character in Italian folklore, similar to Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus. The character may have originated in Rome and then spread as a tradition to other parts of Italy.

There are legends saying Christmas stockings originated with St. Nicholas, whose feast is celebrated today. St. Nicholas was a 3rd Century bishop with a reputation for helping the poor. One of the legends surrounding his life involves a poor man with three daughters. The man did not have the resources to provide dowries for his daughters so they were destined for slavery or prostitution. Mysteriously, on three different occasions, a bag of gold appeared in their home, providing the needed dowries. These bags of gold, tossed through an open window, are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. (This has led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from St. Nicholas.)

Note: Nicholas is the patron saint of pawn brokers. You can often see three gold balls in their shop windows and on their signs. These are a reference to St. Nicholas redeeming the girls with the three bags of gold.

Advent Calendar Window 5

Here is the 5th window from Rome for this Advent Calendar.


Come, thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in thee.
Advent Hymn # 66
from the Hymnal 1982

Getting a Christmas Tree in Rome

Most Italians have artificial trees. It seems that their trees come out of the boxes on December 8th and stay up throughout the Christmas season. This past Saturday, Vincenzo and I went to IKEA and got a tree for our apartment. (Vincenzo has not had a green Christmas tree in the apartment before.) For €9.99 we were able to select any tree from the lot. It's a living tree with a root ball wrapped in burlap, and after Christmas we can return it to IKEA to be planted in a forest.

Advent Calendar Window 4

This is an apartment window near the Campo dei Fiori.

O come, thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel!

15th Century Advent Hymn

Advent Calendar Window 3

One day while walking in Rome I looked up and noticed this pair of windows. (Where do you keep your cleaning supplies?)
And He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Malachi 3:3)
from Handel's Messiah

Advent Calendar Window 2

I am presenting a different Roman window each day until Christmas in the tradition of opening windows on an Advent Calendar. Here is a window near the Porta San Paolo.



Collect from the Book of Common Prayer
for the First Sunday of Advent

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of
darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of
this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit
us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come
again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the
dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.

Advent Calendar

I remember Advent Calendars from my childhood and sharing them over the years with my own kids, Emily and Peter. Each day in December we would look forward to opening a window and revealing a picture, and sometimes a verse, relating to Christmas. This month I want to continue the Advent Calendar tradition by presenting a different Roman window each day. Here is the living room window of our apartment on Piazza Oderica da Pordenone.

O come, o come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
9th Century Latin hymn