Il Portastendardo di Civitella del Tronto (n. 60 - Giugno 2026)

Fifth Sunday After Pentecost at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City, New Jersey

An Introduction to Giambattista Vico and The New Science

Portrait of Giambattista Vico, attributed
to Francesco Solimena or his circle

“Men first feel necessity, then look for utility, next attend to comfort, still later amuse themselves with pleasure, thence grow dissolute in luxury, and finally go mad and waste their substance.” ~ Giambattista Vico, The New Science

Giambattista Vico (1668–1744) was a Neapolitan philosopher, historian, and jurist deeply rooted in the civic, linguistic, and historical traditions of Naples. Though formally educated, he pursued extensive independent study, distinguishing himself from the dominant rationalist currents of his age. A serious childhood fall interrupted his early schooling, an episode noted by later biographers, though its long-term significance remains uncertain.

He spent most of his career as a professor of rhetoric at the University of Naples, where his study of language, law, poetry, and history became central to his philosophy.

Vico’s major work, Scienza Nuova (The New Science), offered a critique of Cartesian rationalism and of attempts to reduce history and civil life to geometric certainty. Rather than treating civilization as governed by universal formulas, Vico argued that laws, customs, institutions, myths, and histories must be understood as societies create and preserve them. This principle, known as verum factum (“the true is precisely what is made”), stands at the center of his thought.

In The New Science, Vico also proposed that civilizations move through recurring historical cycles, or corsi e ricorsi, passing through the divine, heroic, and human ages. Early societies, he argued, expressed themselves through myth, religion, and poetic imagination before giving way to more reflective and rational forms of political life. 

This cyclical understanding of history opposed the linear idea of inevitable progress favored by many Enlightenment thinkers and instead presented civilization as a process of rise, decline, and renewal. His attention to language, symbolism, memory, and custom anticipated later developments in the philosophy of history and cultural thought.

Little recognized during his lifetime, Vico’s work gained influence in later centuries among historians, philosophers, and scholars. Today, he is regarded as one of the foundational figures in the philosophy of history and as one of the earliest major critics of purely rationalist accounts of civilization. 

His enduring importance lies in his insistence that societies are understood not through abstraction alone, but through the traditions, institutions, and historical memory they inherit and preserve across generations.

~ By Antonio Isernia

Photo of the Week: The "Cleopatra Verospi" Sarcophagus, Vatican Museums

Photo by New York Scugnizzo

Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at St. Michael's Church in Staten Island, New York

Happy Birthday Princess Maria Carolina!

HRH was born in Rome, Italy, on June 23, 2003

Photo courtesy of Real Casa di Borbone

Happy Birthday to Her Royal Highness Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess of Palermo and Calabria!

On this joyous occasion, may Heaven bless Your Royal Highness with abundant grace, lasting joy, and profound peace. May the noble legacy you carry continue to shine through your life with elegance, virtue, and dignity.

Auguri di cuore, Altezza Reale!

The Orient Imagined: East and West at The Met

Napoleon Before the Sphinx (Oedipus), ca. 1863-86,
oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme

I recently visited Orientalism: Between Fact and Fantasy at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, an exhibition I had been looking forward to for some time. Bringing together paintings, textiles, ceramics, arms and armor, and other works from both Europe and the Islamic world, it explores how nineteenth-century artists encountered (and sometimes imagined) the cultures of the East.

The exhibition highlights the extent to which many European artists romanticized and idealized the Orient, frequently blending observation with fantasy. Beautifully presented and filled with remarkable objects, it is well worth seeing for anyone interested in art, history, or the long and storied relationship between East and West.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 22nd, Feast of San Paolino di Nola

Napoleon in Cairo, ca. 1863-68, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme

(L) Moorish Bath, 1870, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme.
(R) A Bashi-Bazouk, 1875, oil on canvas, Charles Bargue

The Snake Charmer, ca. 1879, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme

Dance of the Almeh, 1863, oil on wood, Jean-Léon Gérôme

(L) Bashi-Bazouk, ca. 1868-69, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme.
(R) Bashi-Bazouk, ca. 1868-70, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme

A Greek Man on a Precipice, ca. 1822-24, oil on canvas, Théodore Géricault

Man Meditating over the Our'an, 1902, oil on canvas, Osman Hamdi Bey

(L) Dervish at the Children's Tomb, 1903, oil on canvas, Osman Hamdi Bey.
(R) The Grief of the Pasha, 1885, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme

Odalisque in Grisaille, ca. 1824-34, oil on canvas,
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres and workshop

Scene in a Harem (Un Envoi de Serbie), 1876, oil on canvas,
Benjamin-Constant (Jean-Joseph-Benjamin Constant)

(L) An Ottoman Man in the Artist's Studio, ca. 1823-26, oil on canvas, Auguste-Xavier Leprince. (R) Girl in a Courtyard, Algiers, 1886, oil on wood, Philippe Pavy

The Great Bath at Bursa, 1885, oil on canvas, Jean-Léon Gérôme

Sketch for "The Revolt of Calro, October 21st, 1798," ca. 1809-10, oil and ink on paper, laid down on canvas, Anne Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson

(L) Portrait of a "Mamelouk," 1810, oil on canvas, Horace Vernet.
(R) Egyptian Woman, 1890-91, oil on canvas, John Singer Sargent

The Turkish Patrol (Cadji-Bey, Chief of Police at Smyrna, Making His Rounds),
1830-31 Oil on canvas, Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps

(L) Jewish Woman of Algiers Seated on the Ground, 1846, watercolor over graphite on wove paper, Théodore Chassériau. (R) Saada, the Wife of Abraham Ben-Chimol, and Préciada, One of Their Daughters, July 1832, watercolor over graphite on wove paper, Eugène Delacroix

Visit to a Jewish Bride in Tangier, ca. 1832-33,
watercolor on paper, Eugène Delacroix

Helmets with mark of the Ottoman arsenal, formerly in the collection of Jean-Léon Gérôme, attributed to eastern Turkey or Iran, Aq Qoyunlu period (1378-1508), ca. 1450-1500, steel, silver, copper alloy, probably Turkey, Ottoman period (ca. 1299-1923), late 15th-16th century, steel, copper alloy, silver, gold

Pair of flintlock pistols, probably Albanian, Ottoman period,
19th century, wood, steel, silver, silver wire

Corteo Storico della Real Colonia di San Leucio

Remembering "il Bosso," Ruggero I d’Altavilla, Gran Conte di Sicilia

Roger I of Sicily at the Battle of Cerami in 1063 by Prosper Lafaye

In memory of Roger I of Altavilla (1031 — 22 June 1101), Grand Count of Sicily, we pray for the happy repose of his soul. 

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

New Book — Agatha of Sicily for Beginners: Understanding Her Life, Courage, and Role in Church History

A new title that may be of interest to our readers. Available at Amazon.com

• Agatha of Sicily for Beginners: Understanding Her Life, Courage, and Role in Church History by Fr. Angelo Butler MSP

Publisher: Independently published
Pub. Date: May 19, 2026
Hardback: $11.95
Language: English
Pages: 134

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Happy Father's Day!

Requiescat in pace

In celebration of Father's Day I'm sharing a poem by Achille Serrao from Cantallèsia: Poems in the Neapolitan Dialect (1990-1997), edited and translated by Luigi Bonaffini, Legas 1999, p. 68-69.

My Father Never Left...

My father never left

the last mouthful in the plate
and didn’t throw away half a cigarette, ever.

I do, times have changed
and so have sayings…
as for instance:
tell me who your father is
I’ll tell you who you are.

Pàtemo nun lassava...

Pàtemo nun lassava
'o muorzo d''a crianza dint' ô piatto
e nun jettava 'a meza sigaretta, mai.

I' si, 'e tiempe só ccagnate
e 'nzieme 'e ditte càgneno...
tanto pe' mme n'ascì:
'e chi sì ffiglio, dimme
e te dico chi sì.

Happy Summer!

The summer solstice, or midsummer, is the longest day of the year and marks the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere. In celebration of this wondrous cycle, we’re sharing a poem by Vittorio Clemente from Dialect Poetry of Southern Italy: Texts and Criticism (A Trilingual Anthology) edited by Luigi Bonaffini, Legas, 1997, p.38. The accompanying photo of The Royal Palace of Apollo by Girolamo Starace Franchis (Napoli c.1730-Napoli 1794) comes courtesy of Andrew Giordano. It's from the elliptical double vault overhanging the Grand Staircase at the Royal Palace of Caserta, Campania.

Bliss

Golden days of summer, facing the sun,

facing the sea, delighted, and content.

Days spent eavesdropping on the wind,

mindful of words whispered in secret.

Words I'd unravel; listening, alone,

for the voice of the world, the nothing beyond,

alone, while my nimble heart took flight

for untold trysts and destinations.

Perhaps for the very edge of the world,

where Our Lady of the Mariners

trims white roses in the morning.

And to find myself here, again, eyes

like a boy's, quick and bright, seeing, upon

the lace of waves, roses ride to shore...

(Translated by Anthony Molino)

A Pilgrimage to the Tomb of King Francis II

The Fondazione Francesco II delle Due Sicilie invites those devoted to the memory of King Francis II to make a private pilgrimage—individually or in groups—to his tomb in the monumental Basilica of Santa Chiara. There, visitors may pay their respects to the last sovereign of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and also venerate the urn of his mother, Maria Cristina of Savoy, who has been beatified by the Church. 

Beyond an act of remembrance, such a pilgrimage offers an opportunity for prayer, reflection, and renewed appreciation for a king whose life was marked by faith, sacrifice, and fidelity in both sovereignty and exile.

New Book — Saint Benedict, Montecassino, and the Crisis of Ninth-Century Southern Lombards in Early Medieval Cassinese Memory

A new title that may be of interest to our readers. Available at Amazon.com

• Saint Benedict, Montecassino, and the Crisis of Ninth-Century Southern Lombards in Early Medieval Cassinese Memory by Luigi Andrea Berto

Publisher: Routledge
Pub. Date: May 30, 2026
Hardback: $142.50
Kindle $61.99
Language: English
Pages: 146

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Fourth Sunday after Pentecost at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City, New Jersey

The Dancing Mænad of Tarentum

Terracotta statuette of a woman, probably
a mænad, Greek, South Italian,
Tarentine, late 3rd-2nd century B.C.

Among the most evocative survivals of Magna Graecia are the terracotta figures produced in the workshops of Tarentum (modern Taranto), the great Greek city of Apulia in Southern Italy. This small statuette of a woman—probably a mænad, a female devotee of Dionysus—was fashioned in the late 3rd or early 2nd century B.C. and now resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Though modest in scale, the figure preserves something of the ecstatic and theatrical spirit associated with the cult of Dionysus in the ancient Mediterranean.

The woman appears suspended in movement. Her raised arm, flowing drapery, and forward step evoke ritual dance, as though she belongs to a sacred procession or ecstatic rite. The mænads of Greek tradition were companions of Dionysus, god of wine, frenzy, fertility, and divine intoxication.

Another view of the statuette

In poetry and art, they move through mountains and forests carrying torches, drums, or ivy, overcome by sacred frenzy and divine possession. South Italian artists, particularly those of Tarentum, frequently depicted such figures with a softness and lyricism distinct from the more restrained classical traditions of mainland Greece.

The statuette also reflects the broader artistic world of Hellenistic Southern Italy, where Greek religion, drama, and craftsmanship flourished centuries after the founding of the colonies of Magna Graecia. Terracotta figures like this were often placed in sanctuaries, tombs, or domestic shrines.

Their survival is remarkable precisely because they were made from humble clay rather than marble or bronze. Yet the fragility of the material forms part of the figure's charm. Time has worn away details, softened the colors, and broken the limbs, but the gesture remains. Across more than two millennia, the little dancer still appears caught between ritual and motion, between earthly form and ecstatic abandon.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 17th, Feast of Beata Teresa del Portogallo

Among the Nihilists

Not too long ago, a group of young people approached me about joining their nihilist-themed book club. Since it is rare to meet young people with any real intellectual interest—even when that interest takes a darker form—I agreed at once.

Years ago, we tried something similar, but it quickly fell apart. I wasn’t entirely sure how serious they were about this one, but I was willing to give it a try, even though the subject sat uneasily with my Catholic convictions. That tension, in fact, was part of what interested me.

There is some discipline in engaging with ideas one does not share. Grappling with them forces clarity—why one believes, and whether those beliefs can withstand pressure. You cannot be certain of standing on solid ground without testing it against opposition.

I was already familiar with some of the thinkers on their reading list, having read a good deal of E.M. Cioran and Giacomo Leopardi when I was their age. Still, I thought it might be worthwhile to revisit these ideas with them. I had also been meaning to explore Albert Camus further. I remembered liking The Stranger well enough back in school.

Our first book was The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus, introducing his philosophy of the absurd: the idea that humanity’s search for meaning in a silent and indifferent universe creates a tension to be met not with suicide, but with conscious rebellion and passionate living.

Disappointingly, out of the original five of us, three have already dropped out; now there is only me and one other left—not much of a book club anymore. Enthusiastic as he seems, we shall see how long he stays. Strangely enough, the young lady who suggested the whole affair was the first to quit.

If nothing else, the exercise still offers a chance to read seriously, think carefully, and share ideas with someone else who still believes that ideas matter. That alone makes it worthwhile.

Our second selection will be Drawn and Quartered by E.M. Cioran.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, June 18th, Feast of San Calogero

Votive Mass for Unity in the Church and the Healing of Schism at the Shrine Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament in Raritan, New Jersey

Celebrating the Great Neapolitan Tenor Enrico Caruso in New York

Simona Frasca, Malina Mannarino, Prof. Giuliana Muscio, and Claudio Pagliara

On June 6, Director Claudio Pagliara welcomed the public to the inauguration of a new exhibition dedicated to the legendary Neapolitan tenor Enrico Caruso and his remarkable journey from Naples to New York and ultimately to the world stage. The evening featured a screening of the documentary Enrico Caruso, the Greatest Singer in the World—curated by Prof. Giuliana Muscio of the University of Padua for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs—followed by the opening of Enrico Caruso: From Naples to New York, an exhibition first presented at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli in 2022.

The exhibition brings together rare photographs and historic recordings from the collections of the Istituto Centrale per i Beni Sonori e Audiovisivi. Curated by Prof. Muscio in collaboration with noted author and music historian Prof. Simona Frasca of the University of Naples, it traces Caruso’s rise from humble beginnings in Naples to international acclaim.

Prof. Muscio emphasized Caruso’s pivotal role in bringing opera to audiences throughout the Americas and described him as perhaps the first truly global celebrity. Long before the modern age of mass media, Caruso skillfully embraced emerging technologies such as film and the popular press to cultivate his public image. Muscio also noted that many remain unaware that Caruso appeared in a feature-length silent film and that the celebrated Neapolitan song Core ’Ngrato was composed in the United States by Cordiferro specifically for the tenor, reportedly inspired by the end of one of his romantic relationships.

Prof. Frasca highlighted another dimension of Caruso’s legacy: his pioneering use of recording technology. In addition to performing before audiences across Europe and the Americas, Caruso recorded both operatic arias and popular songs in multiple languages, allowing his voice to reach millions far beyond the concert hall.

Cav. Charles Sant'Elia with Simona Frasca and Prof. Stanislao Pugliese

Among the exhibition’s most notable artifacts are Caruso’s iconic slippers from Pagliacci, one of the sculptures he created for himself and friends, and several of the caricatures for which he was also widely admired.

The exhibition is the fourth of five musical initiatives promoted by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura of New York, in partnership with the United in Sound: America at 250 festival at Carnegie Hall. It will remain open to the public through August 31.

In addition to celebrating Caruso, Prof. Frasca discussed her new book, Mixed by Erri (Naples: Ad Est dell’Equatore, 2025), which examines the mixtape culture of 1980s Naples through the story of the Frattasio brothers. Far from being mere pirate music vendors, Frasca argues, the brothers were innovative DJs and cultural mediators who creatively blended Neapolitan and American musical influences for a devoted audience.

~ Cav. Charles Sant’Elia