Newly appointed Patriarch arrives in Venice

The Patriarch of Venice (Latin: Patriarcha Venetiarum, Italian: Patriarca di Venezia) is the ordinary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. The bishop is one of the few Patriarchs in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church (currently five Latin sees, including the Diocese of Rome itself, are accorded the title of Patriarchate, together with Lisbon, the East Indies and Jerusalem). Currently, the only advantage of this purely formal title is the bishop's place of honour in papal processions.

The Arrival of Francesco Moraglia Patriarch of Venice (Few more images are here)

The diocese of Venice was created in 774 as suffragan of the Patriarchate of Grado. It was only in 1457^[1] that, in consideration of the political influence of the city, its bishops were accorded the title of patriarch by the Pope.

By tradition, the Patriarch of Venice is created a cardinal at the consistory following his appointment, although the Pope is not bound by law to do so. A large number of the prelates holding this office have been elected Pope. Three of these were in the 20th century alone: Pope Pius X (1903), Pope John XXIII (1958) and Pope John Paul I (1978).

Proterra

It is one of my favourite songs from Celtic band Runrig. The story is a universal one, as the elements of land and sea are pivotal for the survival of maritime civilizations. Probably of all kind of Civilization. It is the struggle of our Mother Earth subjected by greedy choices of few to all sort of damages and crimes.

The title is a made up word, from the Latin, meaning 'for the land.' It was taken from the motto on the Macdonald Clan crest - Per Mare, Per Terras - By Sea, By Land. The crest shows a severed arm holding a cross. The legend or myth of the crest origin became the subject of the song. In the story, two sons of the chief were given the opportunity to become his heir, and to take the title of Lord of the Isles. The Isles being virgin territory that would be claimed, to become the start of a new clan dynasty. The decision rested on a rowing race between the two sons and their respective oarsmen. The victor would be the one to first touch the new land. The galleys rowed neck and neck until close to the shore, when one brother drew ahead and was about to claim his prize. Before he touched the land, the other brother, seeing the race slip away from him, drew his sword, severed off his own arm and threw it onto the land first. He then became the eventual victor.

This legend within the album is a piece of symbolism for the importance and the struggle that the Celtic peoples have experienced from the dawn of history to the present day for the ownership of, and their survival on the land on which they live.

As I was saying the story in my view is universal and is the struggle we are facing every day no matter if are earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, tsunamis, typhoons, cyclones, mudslides, and other natural disasters after such tragedies we tend to ask ourselves "This is such a tragedy... God doesn't exist...". Of course some good-doer, no matter from which side will promptly come up with something made up claiming that not only does God exist, but he is trying to show us something through these natural disasters. In reality God on Friday 11th was too busy doing something else and had no time to look down to the poor people of Japan!