Dancing With the Black Madonna

Dancing With the Black Madonna

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Dancing With the Black Madonna
Dancing With the Black Madonna
Vacuums, not mantras

Vacuums, not mantras

The holy of holies in your living room

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Dancing With the Black Madonna
May 27, 2025
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Dancing With the Black Madonna
Dancing With the Black Madonna
Vacuums, not mantras
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The interior of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. I love more-is-more, but come on.

This post for paid-subscribers is a working excerpt from my book about the Black Madonna and my life with Her. Want more? Join the party and up your level to paid.

The first time I visited St. Peter's in Rome, I was overcome with disgust. The largesse and opulence betrayed the message of Christ as badly as the inappropriate luxury of the (if not artistically splendorous) cathedral in Assisi betrays the humility of St. Francis. Luckily, I went to Rome on a subsequent trip and was able to enjoy the aesthetic and architectural marvel that is the basilica while my husband (his first time) seethed and grumbled about the obscenity of it all. Just to make sure we're not Catholic-bashing alone, the same can be said of the Mormon temple in Salt Lake, the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar, or any of the monuments to power visited by millions around the world. Each is a compensation for our misgivings about the institutions' false virtue.

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© 2025 Greg Casale
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