Into the Wardrobe

Dear fgiusepp, what a coincidence!! What a beautiful picture!!! I almost can see my brother's family in the crowd behind - they were in Narni just three days ago, this Wednesday, May 24th! Ten out of fourteen; right now they are staying only half an hour south from you, at Nazzano, and are continuing to celebrate my brother's golden wedding anniversary. Had they known what to look for - they certainly would had been very happy to meet you!...

Long live the Blessed Lucy of Narnia!!!

...

Is that the St. Lucy that a lot of cultures celebrate St. Lucia's Day for? I know in Sweden, in particular, the custom is quite widespread. I think it's cool.

I have just read the information for the first time. Thank you Fgiusepp!

I was amazed to read that Lucrezia Borgia had been recruiting nuns for Luci's convent! How did these two women from such different backgrounds and ways of life end up "in the same story"? Did Luci ever have any influence on Lucrezia's faith or way of life?

fgiusepp wrote:
now we have more informations about Blessed Lucy of Narnia at:
http://www.narnia.it/lucia_eu.htm
Beata Lucia da Narni

Remarks I found interesting in this report. "Lucy (Brocadelli) was placed on penance - she was never allowed to speak to anyone until her death 39 years later". Sounds worse than "Shawshank Redemption". And: "it is hard to understand how anyone not a saint could have so long endured such a life". I almost said yes then thought about Lucy Barfield. She did endure something similiar for 37 years. Another coincidence - they both lived to be 67 years old.

Did C.S. Lewis know about Lucy Brocadelli - since 1720 - the Blessed Lucy of Narni? As a Medieval and Renaissance scholar he certainly knew "all about Lucrezia Borgia". So it is not impossible that he also read about Lucrezia's relationship to Lucia Brocadelli (one of Lucrezia's own daughters was a nun). And especially so since Lucia came from a place which, in medieval Latin documents, probably still was called "Narnia". Latin language for C.S. Lewis was neither "dead" nor "obsolete" - for years he corresponded in Latin with an Italian priest (who was also declared blessed - by John Paul II in 1988!)

C.S. Lewis seemed really to enjoy his Latin Oxford address: "E Collegio Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae apud Oxonienses" - and the dates like: "Mart. xvii MCMLIII" (March 17, 1953). So a priest in Narni even today might write us "Ex Sacrario Beatae Luciae apud Narnienses"! (Am I correct, fgiusepp?!)

Narnia is the official Latin name of Narni

What
is the official Latin name of Narni?"

Narnia is the official Latin name of Narni


. "What is the Latin name of the
Diocese of Narni?" If your bishop would write a Latin letter - would he say:
"Scriptum Narniae, in Aedibus Episcopalibus, die septimo Maii, A.D. MMVI"?

this is correct

.
Concerning Narnia and Narni Roger Lancelyn Green writes about C.S. Lewis and Walter Hooper:

"When Walter Hooper asked [C.S. Lewis] where he found the word 'Narnia', Lewis shoved him Murray's Small Classical Atlas, ed.G.B. Grundy (1904), which he acquired when he was reading the classics with Mr Kirkpatrick at Great Bookham [1914-1917]. On plate 8 of the Atlas is a map of ancient Italy. Lewis had underscored the name of a little town called Narnia, simply because he liked the sound of it. Narnia - or 'Narni' in Italian - is in Umbria, halfway beween Rome and Assisi.

Narnia, a small medieval town, is situated at the top of an olive-covered hill. It was already ancient when the Romans defeated it in 299 BC. Its thirteenth-century fortress dominates a deep, narrow gorge of the Nera river which runs below. One of its most important archeological features is a Romanesque cathedral, which contains the relics of a number of Umbrian saints.

It is possible that Lewis named one of his central characters 'Lucy Pevensie' after his goddaughter - Lucy Barfield - to whom The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is dedicated... It is nevertheless a surprise to discover that the most popular of Narnia's saints is Blessed Lucy of Narnia, whose uncorrupted body lies in a side-chapel of the cathedral." See: Roger Lancelyn Green and Walter Hooper, C.S. Lewis: A Biography, 2002, p.306.
It is interesting that Roger Lancelyn Green prefers and suggests the original spelling Narnia (and not the Italian "Narni") for the modern English usage.

Is this the map (the plate 8) to which Walter Hooper refered? I came across it somewhere before I saw Roger Lancelyn Green's book:



.

Interesting. Nice to see you guys.

In an unforgettable scene from the book "Prince of Foxes" Sister Lucy Broccadelli of Narnia calmy faces the ruthless and powerful "Black Duke" Cesare Borgia (Duke of Valentinois and Romagna, Prince of Andria, Count of Dyois, Lord of Urbino... etc etc) with a message from God and a warning. "If you disobey, you will die tonight."

The author of the book, Samuel Shellabarger studied at Harward and Yale; taught at Princeton. Like C.S. Lewis, he also wrote scholarly works ("The Chevalier Bayard", "Lord Chesterfield"), but remains best known and loved for his adventure stories and for his historical fiction (for which he also earned more than $1.5 million).

He travelled extensively; served in World War I (his last son died in World War II). Lived in Switzerland, England and France. It seems very probable that (ten years younger) C.S. Lewis knew him - or at least had read some of his books. Including this story about the Sister Lucy (who became "The Blessed Lucy" only 210 years later).

See also http://www.samuelshellabarger.com/ and the eleven reviews of the "Prince of Foxes" at http://www.amazon.com