Our almond-eyed chubber charmer turns one year old today! We are celebrating the 365 days of love and joy she has added to our lives with a visit to Santa Maria Regina Pacis (Our Lady Queen of Peace) and a family dinner in a nearby restaurant called Il Focolare (The Hearth). 

I recently discovered this lovely tradition of a birthday blessing from another mom that we'll bestow on Valentina today before the cake and candles singing:

“Many happy returns to the day of thy birth, many seasons of joy be given, and may our dear Father prepare you on earth for a beautiful birthday in Heaven.” Then we clap and chant 1…2…3…etc, up to the celebrant’s age." 

Below is a look back at her first week of life in snowy Michigan last year.

Non mi piaci, o freddo inverno,
che ci tieni qua in prigione,
dove il giorno sembra eterno:
fuggi, perfida stagione!
Senza i fiori e la verzura
sembra morta la natura.
Piu non canta il vago uccello,
trema e soffre il poverello.
Ma la mamma sa le fole
e ci chiama attorno e se
con le magiche parole:
-Una volta c'era un re....
Poi ritornano il Natale,
la Befana, il Carnevale;
ognuno d'essi reca un dono:
freddo inverno, ti perdono!
-A. Cuman Pertile

Buon Onomastico! That means "Happy Name Day" in Italian and today we heard it frequently when celebrating wee Valentina's first "onomastico" in Rome. In honor of her namesake, we took her to light a candle in front of the skull of St. Valentine in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. It may sound macabre, but paying visits to holy relics is quite commonplace in Rome- in fact, it is one of the reasons Rome is such a pilgrimage destination. Santa Maria in Cosmedin (which means "ornamented" or "adorned with beauty") is a Greek Melkite Catholic church built atop an intact tiny temple of Herucles. Despite its impressive history and beauty, the church is best known for a huge stone face on a wall of its portico dubbed "The Mouth of Truth". Made popular by the film "Roman Holiday", tourists line up to tentatively put their hand inside its open mouth. According to a medieval legend, liars get their hands bitten off. We bought a tiny replica to test our children's honesty when necessary...

Here is a post on the Roman origins of the Feast of St. Valentine from my blog Rome and Remus in 2012, before Valentina was even a glimmer in her father's eye.