* 2024 Calendars are now Out of Stock *Showcasing various photos from my 2023 WYD pilgrimage to Lisbon.  Just a brief post to say that my 2024 Calendar containing a selection of my photographs from my WYD Lisbon 2023 pilgrimage are now available to order for the new year.
— Cost for the 2024 Calendars is $30 AUD, plus postage (within Australia). — For International postal orders we will arrange Air Mail costs appropriately, on an order by order basis. You can place your order through the form found under the Contact page or by messaging me via Facebook, or via LinkedIn (though I am hardly ever on that, at all). Vincent Cavanagh 29 Sept 2023 Looking down upon Florence from the Piazzale Michelangelo  Photo by Kelly Paget, administrative leader of the pilgrimage We got up to that scenic spot because firstly we had spare time on our way back to the hotel, and secondly because many members of the Green bus decided to stay in Florence CBD for dinner and then make their own way back to the hotel by train, bus, or taxi/uber. Any domes that should be visible, are hidden by bodies. From left to right are seminarian Rosan, seminarian Paul, myself, Yellow bus chaplain Fr Roger, Oliver, Natalie, and Adeline. We’ve all been appreciating Adeline’s talents as a singer and cantor during the pilgrimage. Vincent Cavanagh #bbwyd 25 Jul 2023, 8.01pm Italy | 26 Jul 2023, 4.01am Sydney Inside the Academy of Fine Arts our guide is showing us Michelangelo’s unfinished “Atlas”.  Our guide telling us about Michelangelo's unfinished "Atlas", Academy of Fine Arts, Florence ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 Technically it is the ‘Atlas slave’ because it was part of a series of sculptures now known collectively as ‘The Slaves’. It was designed to be viewed between the young slave and the awakening slave. In Greek mythology Atlas was a being condemned to bear the weight of the heavens on his shoulders. Just a few words about the guide in this photo. You could almost describe him like one of the prophets from the Old Testament. He appeared out of nowhere – more than 20 minutes after our tour was due to start – was electrifying in his speech, full of love and awe for God, and was gone in an instant, like the Spirit of the Lord. He was on a constant rotation, going in with one group, leaving them inside, and going out to bring in another group. Not to be corny, but he did make the work and life of Michelangelo come Alive. I don’t think that I either knew or remembered that Michelangelo carved his statues from Front to Back – not the Hollywood/Looney Tunes stereotype of chiselling around the marble from all angles. And of course the Academy also contains Michelangelo's 'David'.  Michelangelo's 'David', Academy of Fine Arts, Florence ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 It is impressive to look at from every angle. But it is more impressive when you remember the story behind it. David has his sling resting on his shoulder, and is holding a stone in his other hand, ready to enter combat with Goliath. This is the David who answered the jeers of Goliath with: ‘You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord God of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel that you have dared to insult. Today the Lord God will deliver you into my hand and I shall kill you; I will cut off your head, and this very day I will give your dead body and the bodies of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that it is not by sword, or by spear that the Lord God gives the victory, for the Lord God is Lord of the battle and He will deliver you into our power.’ (1 Sam 17:45-47)  Russian icon of the crucifix, Academy of Fine Arts, Florence ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 Icons are worth spending the time to ponder and soak in the beauty and the message. We are not used to seeing this kind of depiction of the crucifix. You can see both Death – Jesus offering the supreme sacrifice – and Resurrection -the beginning of the dance of victory over sin and death - in this one icon.  Pacino di Buonaguida’s “Tree of Life” painted c.1310-1315 AD, Academy of Fine Arts, Florence ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 This is Pacino di Buonaguida’s “Tree of Life”, painted somewhere between 1310 and 1315 AD. The true size of this painting is around 1.5m wide and 2.5m high. It is a visual compendium of the Gospel. Jesus Crucified is the centre and source. From His Cross come 12 long branches, and upon each branch are 4 medallions, each showing a scene from the life of Jesus. For example, there is a medallion, or ‘meditation’, on the birth of Jesus, on His circumcision, of raising a dead person from the grave, of His condemnation to death. There are tiny scrolls and tiny ribbons with writing labelling many of the medallions. And God has also been giving us “perfect” weather to get us through each day. Vincent Cavanagh #bbwyd 25 Jul 2023, 7.58pm Italy | 26 Jul 2023, 3.58am Sydney  LOOK UP! Anthony in the Way of St Anthony ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 After lunch in Florence, there was time for a stroll, and I happened to be in the right place at the right time to see Bishop Anthony Randazzo below a street sign saying Via S. Antonio, or in other words Way of St Anthony, or St Anthony Street. He is the bishop of Broken Bay diocese, and the spiritual leader of this pilgrimage of 170+ pilgrims. In the photo, on the right-hand side, you can just make out the Pasticceria sign. In there I tried a true Italian espresso, while standing still. Vincent Cavanagh #bbwyd 25 Jul 2023, 1.47pm Italy | 25 Jul 2023, 9.47pm Sydney  Far more impressive than Scrovegni !! ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 ‘Santa Croce’ is Holy Cross in Italian, and this basilica belongs to the Franciscans. This is where we celebrated Mass for the feast day of St James, Apostle, 25 July. From this photo you can see part of the 3-year long restoration project going on at Santa Croce. On the left-hand wall and the right-hand wall enclosing the high altar is told, in painted form, the story of finding the True Cross in Jerusalem by St Helena.  Altar in detail, Santa Croce, Florence ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 After Mass I was able to get a close-up photo of this beautiful reredos behind the altar. In the middle is a Madonna and Child, and the saints to the left and right are doctors of the Church. According to one report I found online, L-R is St Gregory the Great, St Jerome, St Ambrose and St Augustine.  Main Crucifix, Santa Croce, Florence ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 This crucifix was commissioned by the Franciscans of Santa Croce, and done by artist Cimabue, painting with distemper (pigment bound with animal or vegetable glue in contrast to the pigment bound with egg of tempura). At one hand of Jesus is definitely His mother Mary, at the other hand of Jesus is most likely the beloved disciple, John.  Passing Santa Croce on our way back to our buses ~ Vincent Cavanagh ©2023 The photo I took of the exterior of Santa Croce when we arrived, was just too close, and the light had yet to get full. But much later in the day, an opportunity for this photo was too good to miss. Vincent Cavanagh #bbwyd 25 Jul 2023, 9.48am Italy | 25 Jul 2023, 5.48pm Sydney  Vincent Cavanagh © 2023 The reason that there hasn’t been much news from me as late is because I have been sick at home for the best part of a week after having done a crazy 5-and-a-half-day round journey with my father from Sydney to Melbourne, to Adelaide, and back to Sydney again, all by rail. I hope to be in a fit state to attend the 3rd WYD Formation Session this coming Tuesday (20 June), God willing. Until then, I have put together this collection of relevant YouTube Travel Videos for my fellow diocesan pilgrims and for anyone else planning on travelling to Italy or Portugal.  Our Diocesan Itinerary for WYD Lisbon 2023 I do admit that most of these videos are from Mark Wolters and his Wolters World YouTube channel. This is because he and his family are inveterate travellers with a wealth of lived experience and, in comparison to other travel advice channels, he aims to be helpful rather than fear-mongering (case in point: the Scam City tv series, widely available on YouTube).
I would highly recommend checking out Wolters World for further travel advice that I can't share due to how long this post is already getting 😉 Artwork created 17–19 Feb 2023.  Vincent Cavanagh © 2023 The Servite Founders were seven rich men (possibly cloth merchants) of Florence, Italy, who all experienced the same vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the feast of the Assumption in 1233 and gave them this message:
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