It's Been Busy in Alessandria.....

While walking down the street with Lynn and Susan, we spied this poster.
It's announcing a ceremony at Alessandria's largest church and it is in regards to a "veneration" ceremony. Answers.com tells us the definition of venerable, both as an adjective and as a verb:

1 Commanding respect by virtue of age, dignity, character, or position.
2 Worthy of reverence, especially by religious or historical association: venerable relics.
3 Venerable (Abbr. Ven. or V.)
1. Roman Catholic Church. Used as a form of address for a person who has reached the first stage of canonization. Susan said that I must go and I totally agreed.

Profile for Madre Carolina Beltrami

Founder of the Institute of the Immaculatine Sisters of Alessandria.

Born

• 4 August 1869 in Alessandria, Italy

Died

• 8 April 1932 in Alessandria, Italy of natural causes

Venerated

• 17 January 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI (decree of heroic virtues)

Beatified

• pending; if you have information relevant to the beatification of Venerable Carolina, contact
  Fra Luca De Rosa, OFM
  Suore Immacolatine
  Via Tortona, 27
  15100 Alessandria, ITALY

Alessandria honors one of their own and it was a full house.

There was a big entry into the Cathedral and they walked right by me.
There was a huge chorus of music and lots of incense.

Here's a little musical snippet for you. The music stole the show!

This is the Bishop of Alessandria. He just lives a couple of streets away from us. Given that he is a Bishop, he's a bit hard to capture on film...His Etherialness...

Many nuns in the audience wearing many different styles of habits.

It really was an interesting event to attend. (For me. Kim didn't attend b/c she said she didn't "feel well"...yeah, right). And how I wish that I did have some information to send into Father De Rosa!

Then, while walking home, at the large piazza Liberta, there was another event going on. This one had to do with State affairs and was separate from the church event. This is the 63rd anniversary of Italy becoming a Republic:

"Every year on June 2^nd Italians celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the Italian Republic. This important event of Italian contemporary history is celebrated in Italy with military parades and speeches delivered by the President and by other important protagonists of the political life of the country. Before the end of World War II and of the Fascist regime headed by Benito Mussolini, Italy was a monarchy ruled by the House of Savoia. In 1946, after being defeated in the war, Italy became a republic." (Info USA Magazine)

It was a private affair with many people dressed in their fanciest best.

The "rest" of the Alessandrians just carried on....

I had to go home because it's time to start.....

Thank you.