An orionine voice in the desert

Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 kilometres (81 mi) southeast of Rome , Italy , c. 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the west of the town of Cassino (the Roman Casinum having been on the hill) and 520 m (1,706.04 ft) altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery , the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944. The site has been visited many times by the Popes and other senior clergy, including a visit by Pope Benedict XVI in May 2009. The monastery is one of the few remaining territorial abbeys within the Catholic Church . pics by Marcio Calais Fonte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monte_Cassino

Today I visited the Catacombs of St. Callixtus, one of the most important among several that exists in Rome, you can find in them signs of the first Christian communities as the paintings left on the walls of the catacombs, and is also a place where martyrs were well known in Brazil and worldwide, as St. Cecilia and St. Tarcisius. They are on the right of the Appian Way, after the church of "Quo Vadis?". The catacombs of St. Callixtus are among the greatest and most important of Rome. They originated about the middle of the second century and are part of a cemeterial complex which occupies an area of 90 acres, with a network of galleries about 12 miles long, in four levels, more than twenty meters deep. In it were buried tens of martyrs, 16 popes and very many Christians. They are named after the deacon Callixtus who, at the beginning of the third century, was appointed by pope Zephyrinus as the administrator of the cemetery and so the catacombs of St. Callixtus became th...

Mansaf ( Arabic : منسف ‎) is a Jordanian dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or groats . It is the national dish of Jordan . PREPARATION The lamb is cooked in a broth made with a fermented then dried yogurt-like product called jameed , and served on a large platter with a layer of flatbread ( markook or shrak) topped with rice and then meat, garnished with almonds and pine nuts , parsley and then sauce poured over all . CULTURAL ROLE Mansaf is served on special occasions such as weddings and births, or to honor a guest, and on major holidays such as Eid ul-Fitr , Eid ul-Adha , Christmas Day and Jordan's Independence Day, Easter, Graduations , It is traditionally eaten collectively from a large platter in the Bedouin style, standing around the platter with the left hand behind the back and using the right hand instead of utensils. Al Karak is widely accepted by citizens as the mansaf "capital" of Jordan. Ph...