Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 4 - Mater Ecclesiae Monastery

Yet another building inside the Vatican Gardens - makes one wonder if there's any room for plants - this monastery (named for one of Mary's titles, "Mother of the Church") was established around 1990 by Pope John Paul II. It doesn't have a permanent group of residents, but it used by groups of cloistered nuns, who pray specifically for the health of the pope. Which might explain why JP2 lived so long (but not his health issues, go figure).

The building replaced an outpost of the Vatican police, and is set up in a typical monastic style. It does abut a fruit and vegetable garden, and is near the Fountain of the Eagle, built by Paul V in the 16th century.

Orders are invited to stay for a period of five years, although that schedule was cut short by the abdication of Benedict XVI, when the monastery was used as his residence. After his passing Francis invited an order from (surprise) Argentina. If things get back on track they'll be there until 2029. 

Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 3 - Casina Pio IV

Proving it's better to be around at the end than at the beginning, this building was actually started by Pope Paul IV in 1558. A single story building located in the Vatican Gardens called the Casina del Boschetto, its original purpose isn't clear, especially as Paul died the following year.

Pius IV took over the project and made improvements to the original design, including a definite glow up of its aesthetics. In addition to sculptural stucco work on the facade, the building was ornamented with 50 or so ancient Roman statues, while the interior received frescos on various topics (such as baptism and the primacy of the papacy) from a team of Italian artists. While Charles Borromeo hoped it would house an academy he was founding, it became a papal residence and was named after Pius.

Whatever residential prospects it had didn't last, as the building is now home to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, and the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas (whose tenancy is apparently temporary). 

  Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 2: Pontifical Ethiopian College

The Pontifical Colleges in Rome are seminaries typically set up to train students from specific countries or regions to become priests (or, in some cases, train seminarians to become priests in the namesake country or region). These colleges are located wholly within Rome or in Rome but adjacent to the Vatican. With one exception.

The Ethiopian College, while established in 1919, has roots going back to the late 15th century. A group of Ethiopian monks made a pilgrimage to Rome and established enough of a community that Pope Sixtus IV gave the monks the use of St. Stephen of the Abyssinians chapel and another outlying building. The monks formed a monastery, which became a center for both seminary education and Ethiopian studies.

Pope Pius XI ordered the building of the current college in 1929, placing the building on he grounds of the Vatican Gardens. 

 Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

Day 1 - Poste Vaticane, Via della Posta

When Vatican City became an independent state in 1929, one of the first things they did was establish their own postage stamps, as it was an easy way to assert ones sovereignty. Shortly after the Vatican opened a post office, one of which is this one located just off of St. Peter's Square (there are four post offices in total, as well as the iconic yellow Poste Vaticane mailboxes).

It's often said that the Vatican postal service provides quicker service than the Italian one, so many tourists will mail their postcards from the Vatican rather than in Rome proper. Note that the Vatican post office only accepts mail with Vatican stamps.

The post office is also where you can get Vatican-minted Euro coins (the Vatican isn't in the Eurozone or the EU, but made the Euro its official currency at the same time Italy did). The Vatican issues both regular circulation and commemorative coins, with the regular coins typically featuring the effigy of the Pope at the time of minting. The most recent series features Pope Francis' coat of arms, as he asked not to be depicted on coins (after being depicted on the first series issued during his papacy). It's not know if Leo will appear on the next series or if he'll stick to the coat of arms or similar imagery.

It's hard to believe, but this year marks the 20th anniversary of Lentorama. This is where we've been:

2006: Saint of the Day
2007: The Non-Canonized Catholic Person of the Day 
2008: 40 Days, 40 Churches
2009: Great (?) Moments in Catholics on Television
2010: Two Millenia of Pointy Hats 
2011: Better Late than Never
2012: Know Your Dioscese
2013: There's a Name for That 
2014: We're Ready for Your Closeup, Your Holiness 
2015: sede vacante
2016: #Lent
2017: Lenten Observers of Instagram
2018: Second String Saints 
2019: Resurrect My Globe! 
2020: 40 Days of Food 
2021: Take Your Holiday to Go 
2022: It Happened on Easter Day
2023: It Happened on Holy Saturday

2024: Clerical Crime Solvers

2025: Perfunctory Popes

And here's where we're going:

Lentorama 2026: Hic es: aedificia Vaticani

It's 40 days of the buildings and locations of Vatican City. There could be worse themes for our vigentennial.

 Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 40: Urban VII

We've saved the best (or least) for last, as Urban VII holds the record for shortest official pontificate, at just 12 days.

Giovanni Battista Castagna was born into noble Genoese and Roman families, and earned degrees in civil and canon law from Bologna before going to work as an auditor for his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Vellano. He would later work for the Roman Curia and serve in a legation to France before being made an archbishop. He then served in a variety of civil and ecclesiastical roles: as a governor for several Italian regions, a papal nuncio for Venice and Spain, and as papal legate to Flanders. All of this high level work paid off in 1583 when he was made a cardinal by Gregory XIII.

Castagna was a crucial vote in the election of Gregory's successor, Sixtus V, as low turnout and a factional dispute made agreement on a candidate difficult. Sixtus, perhaps in repayment, said he wanted Castagna to succeed him when the time came. An anti-Spanish faction of cardinals opposed Castagna, as he was one of King Philip II's favored candidates.. The election took a week, with the anti-Spanish faction eventually giving in, likely because Castagna's ill health made it likely that he'd not be in office long.

Which came to pass in spades, due to what is thought to have been a case of malaria. In the short time he was in office, Urban provided funds for various public works and subsidized the price of bread in Rome. He also banned nepotism within the Curia, being strongly against the practice. He also instituted what is thought to be the first public smoking ban, as he threatened excommunication for anyone using tobacco in or near a church.

And that's a wrap. Thanks for sticking out another Lentorama. See you in 2026!

Lentorama 2025: Perfunctory Popes

Day 39: Damasus II

You may remember the story of Clement II, who was made pope in order to squash three competing claims to the office and give Holy Roman Emperor Henry III a pope who could crown him as emperor. Which would have settled things nicely, except that Clement died less than a year later.

The Roman nobles sent an envoy to Henry to ask who should replace Clement, and just happened to have someone in mind. Rather than take their suggested candidate, Henry then asked the bishop of Liege who he thought should be pope. The bishop suggested one of the three deposed popes, Gregory VI, but by that point Henry was irritated at the length of time it was taking to come up with a pope and decided on the bishop of Brixen. 

Which would have been fine, except that one of the other deposed popes, Benedict IX, reclaimed the throne with the backing of the powerful counts of Tusculum. Henry instructed the Margrave of Tuscany to escort the new pope to Rome, which was ironic in that the margrave didn't like Henry, and was instrumental in getting Benedict back on the throne. The margrave refused to help the new pope, who then went back to Henry, who sent him back to the margrave with a letter basically telling the margrave to depose Benedict and install Damasus, or Henry would come down and make him do so.

This changed the margrave's tune, and he marched on Rome to depose Benedict and get Damasus on the throne. Damasus barely had time to get the seat warm before he died, 23 days after his coronation. Rumor had it that Benedict had Damasus poisoned, but there's some theorizing that Damasus actually died from malaria.