Milan

 I never posted about our quick visit to a cathedral in Milan.  When we took the train from Turin to Zurich, we had a brief stopover in Milan.  I do mean brief - it was only about an hour between trains, so we had to pick something near the train station.  This cathedral was built in the 1950s, and it is not Milan's main cathedral, but it was beautiful.

We only had to walk a few blocks to get to it, and it was nearly empty, so I was able to wander around everywhere and light candles and pray.

There were stained glass windows of saints throughout.

This mosaic was really beautiful.  It's another one of St John Bosco.  There were several large mosaics in the church.

More from Turin

Nathaniel recently uploaded his pictures from Turin to my computer, so here are a few.  It appears he took a lot of pictures of me in restaurants.  In this first one, we are drinking bicerin in our favorite chocolate shop.  Bicerin is a local specialty, with chocolate on bottom, a shot of espresso in the middle, and cream on top.  I'm not a coffee person, but I did drink a couple of bicerins on this trip.  (I still don't like coffee.)

That, in my mug, is chocolate.  Liquid chocolate.  It was divine.

Apparently, when we travel, Nathaniel always finds giant balls for a photos.

This was in a cute little Ukranian restaurant that had the best dumplings!

 

Basilica di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice

 

I saved going to this church for Sunday Mass, and it was a great decision.  Basilica di Santa Maria Ausiliatrice (Our Lady, Help of Christians) was founded in the 1800s by Saint John Bosco.

This basilica is magnificent.  It is built on the site of the martyrdom of early saints Adventer Solutor and Octavious.  The church contains their relics and those of many other saints, although I'm not quite sure where all of the relics are.  

Three saints from the 1800s are buried here, including Dominic Savio, who died young.  He was one of Don Bosco's students, and after he died, Don Bosco wrote a biography of him.

Naturally, St. John Bosco is also buried here:

And also, St. Maria Mazzarello, who worked with Don Bosco to found the Institute of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians, is buried here. 

Mass was largely in Italian, but it was Mass, so I could mostly follow along.  I could sing along with the parts in Latin (Agnus Dei) and the Kyrie.  I even understood quite a bit of one of the readings, although I was pretty lost on another one.  Parts of the homily made sense, but certainly not all of it.  Still, it was a beautiful Mass, and I was happy to get to participate.

More from the Museo Reali in Turin

 

Mosaics!  After seeing the Savoy Palace, and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, we also got to see the Antiquities Museum.  They also had a Cleopatra exhibit going on:

And the art gallery:

There were plenty of fantastic artworks to see.  

Basilica del Corpus Domini

Yet another beautiful Baroque church in Turin, Italy is the Basilica del Corpus Domini, or the Basilica of the Body of Christ.

It's hard to see the altar painting, but it is portraying the Eucharistic miracle that happened on the site of the church.

On the floor, this plaque designates the exact spot where the Host levitated in the year 1453.  The story goes that a group of French soldiers were plundering a church nearby Turin.  They took the Mass vessels, including the ciborium holding the Body of Christ.  Their donkey (carrying the loot) fell down on this spot, refusing to move, and the Host was seen rising out of the saddlebag and into the air.  The church was built on the site about 30 years later.  It has been modified a few times, with fantastic art added.  For more, see here: Basilica of Corpus Christi and the legend of the miracle - Torino Rete

 

Lavazza Coffee Museum

Nathaniel has been drinking Lavazza coffee for many years.  Turin is the home of Lavazza Coffee, and they have a very nice little museum.

All of the interactive stuff was in both Italian and English, so that was easy.

Nathaniel as a mad scientist

These characters were part of a hilarious ad campaign from the 60s and 70s.  They missed an opportunity, because nothing in the gift shop had them on it.  

 

The Chapel of the Holy Shroud

 

As part of the Savoy Museum complex (Musei Reali), we got to see the Chapel of the Holy Shroud.

It is a small, circular room with extremely high ceilings and a magnificent dome.  

These marble statues are around the circular room, with the altar in the middle.

Unfortunately, this photo of the altar is blurry.  The Shroud used to be kept here.

I took this photo in the Cathedral.  The glass behind the Cathedral's altar is a wall of glass in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud.  So it is still attached to the Cathedral, although it is no longer a working chapel, just part of the museum.

To the left of this picture is the place where the Shroud is kept today, out of sight in a climate-controlled box.