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.
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.
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