No matter what they tell you, when the horse shits in the church, it is no guarantee of anything. I’ll explain this later.
Today was Palio day in Siena. I began by going into the nearby church of San Domenico, and praying for a few people back home in front of the Holy Head of St. Catherine of Siena. She died in the 14th century in Rome, and was buried in the church of St. Maria sopra Minerva, near the Pantheon. The Sienese wanted their beloved saint back home, but the Romans wouldn’t give her up. So a delegation went to Rome, asked for some time alone with her body, severed her head, put it in a sack, and lit out for Siena. The story goes that when a guard stopped them and asked to see what was in the bag, they opened it, and saw nothing but rose petals — a miracle. The Holy Head can now be seen inside a reliquary on a high altar in a side chapel. I offered prayers for a friend’s recently dead grandfather, and for my family.
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