Featured Post

An Interview With Simon Loxley

Monday, August 15, 2016

What's What: L'Osservatore Romano

The publication L'Osservatore Romano issued a statement about the investigation into whether Floradora should be declared a saint (Saint Fidgeta and Other Parodies, 83).


L'Osservatore Romano (Italian for "The Roman Observer") is the daily newspaper of Vatican City State which carries the Pope’s discourses and reports on the activities of the Holy See, reports on events taking place in the Church and the world, and many cultural articles. It is classified as a semi-official newspaper of the Holy See, but is not an official newspaper. The publication prints two Latin mottoes under the masthead of each edition: Unicuique suum ("To each his own") and Non praevalebunt ("[The gates of Hell] shall not prevail").

The first issue was published in Rome on July 1, 1861, a few months after the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. Official permission to publish was sought on June 22, 1861, and four days later, on June 26, Pius IX gave his approval.

Fast forward a few years and the English weekly edition was first published on April 4, 1968. It was printed in Baltimore the same day Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot dead in Memphis, Tennessee. Bellairs was living in Boston as the time, celebrating the publication of The Pedant and the Shuffly earlier in the year.

'Tis obvious but go to through the archives of  L'Osservatore Romano and we doubt you find the word "floradoa" anywhere.

No comments: