With trying to keep up in the vineyard, suckering and stuffing shoots, and all that, I am a bit behind on my reading. Last night, trying to get in a bit of reading before I fell asleep, I noticed this article in the April 13th issue of Time. When Pope Francis visits the United States in September he is going to use a very special silver chalice at a mass in New York (not the mass in Washington D.C. at which the Pope will canonize Blessed Junípero Serra).
Crafted from donations of silver, by silversmith Adrián Pallarols, the design of the chalice will include quite a bit of symbolism, like; stylised leaves for the Garden of Eden; columns and arches representing St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC; and a map of the United States as the host country. In Adrián's first sketch of the chalice design he forgot to include the non-contiguous states of Alaska and Hawaii. An easy oversight, I suppose, and easily amended. But, hang on a minute, there is still one glaring omission; Señor Pallarols forgot to include Vinoland. What? It's okay folks, don't panic, I've added Vinoland myself, all fixed.
One question still remains to be answered though. What wine will be in the chalice? Vinomaker said it most likely would be Manischewitz. But, (rolling my eyes), I'm thinking it should be something from Napa.
Illustration courtesy of Time Magazine.
One question still remains to be answered though. What wine will be in the chalice? Vinomaker said it most likely would be Manischewitz. But, (rolling my eyes), I'm thinking it should be something from Napa.
11 comments:
What wine? I vote for Hurrah-Syrah!
VG:
Hah! I had a close friend who was a Catholic priest and my father-in-law was a lay Catholic deacon. Each told me the wine used at consecration was gag-inducing.
I think they will use 'blood of Christ' vintage 33 A.D.
NHW: Tut! Can't believe they forgot about Vinoland.
I was thinking something from St. Clement Vineyards.
Tomasso: You probably know more abut the Volstead debacle than I do, but I do know that the wine industry was in some part saved in N. California due to the production of sacramental wine. Recently, I met two priests (from New Mexico) at TTWIAGE who said they purchased Livingstone Cellars wine for their altar wine. They were campaigning to have their Arch Diocese let them use something better, but I'm thinking it could be a whole lot worse.
Thud: That's probably a little oxidized by now, fruit dropped off, etc.
VG:
That sacramental wine generally wasn't of the best quality during Prohibition.
My priest friend had taken to bringing his own wine to Mass. Come to think of it, when I was a teenager, I did the same thing...I was not an altar boy.
Tomasso: I bet the Beringer brothers believed they did a fantastic job of making sacramental wine.
VG:
I bet every producer in the world thinks they produce fantastic wine, but those of us with fantastic palates know better, don't we??? The question is: how many in the clergy have fanatics palates?
Of course, not all that "sacramental" wine went toward saving souls. A great deal of California wine went to the "creative" markets of Chicago, and other cities during Prohibition. I read somewhere that the population of clergy and doctor prescriptions in the U.S. increased tremendously after 1920.
I meant fantastic palates, not fanatic...or did I?
Tomasso: I feel safe in assuming that some Cardinals in Rome are indeed "fanatical" about their Brunellos.
VG:
Yeah, maybe so.
We have cardinals in this town, but they don't drink wine, although they appear to be drunk when they fight with their image in my sideview mirrors--and leave blood stains. I've had to turn my mirrors when I park in the driveway to block their access to them.
Tomasso: That would made me so sad...I'd have to knit wing-mirror covers.
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