Basilica of Saint Mary

I was in Minneapolis recently and I visited the basilica of Saint Mary, the first basilica established in the United States. I liked its’ ‘white’ look, in comparison with so many churches/basilicas/cathedrals in Europe that have blackened walls (at the end of the post I have my theory why so many old buildings in Europe have blackened walls). Also, what’s the difference between a church, chapel, cathedral, and basilica? I didn’t know until I read about it here.

Name of saints on the doors, and also ‘Stars and Stripes’ !?! St. Thomas and ‘Stars and Stripes’.

I didn’t see any difference between a daily votive candle and an hourly votive candle both same size, same price. I wish I could have asked someone. What is the difference?

Wifi in the church

Near the basilica (somewhere on the side)

Now about my theory why there are so many old buildings with blackened walls in Europe and before the theory is completely discounted read the following:

From this castle, the regent General Espartero indiscriminately bombarded the city with 1014 mortar bombs when the city revolted against his dictatorial rule. Espartero is notorious for his declaration, “Barcelona should be bombed once every fifty years”. The following year, after defeating Espartero in an uprising, the Catalan General Prim launched over 2500 bombs on the city and its people. From: www.barcelona-tourist-information.info/montjuic-castle.html

Every 30,40 years there would be a war in Europe and invariably some cities would be burned down. At some point armies would even avoid confronting each other and take large detours only to burn down more cities than during the previous campaign. Soon burning down cities would become a tradition for any war worth its name and would be considered the proper way to put the troops into the fighting spirit.

And what would the poor inhabitants of the respective cities do? At the beginning they would paint over the walls but after a while they would realize that all their efforts were futile as sooner or later their city would be burned down again, so they would just come back from the woods they had hidden, open all windows and doors to get rid of the burnt smell and forget about the painting. And so the walls stayed black for generations.

The wars would start in Europe for some obscure reasons and when they would run out of reasons they would still wage war, but they would not call it like that as in fact they only wanted to burn down some cities out of boredom and sometimes as they didn’t know better.

And this how the events would unfold. The generals would meet a delegation of the soon to be burned down city and they would say:

“You very well know the resistance would be pointless, as we would conquer the city rather sooner than later so why not come quickly to an arrangement and let us do what we are here for: burn down the city. This is what we do and we are not going to apologize for it.

Now we will tell you how we operate. We do some plundering and we can negotiate how much of it as it will depend on the donations we can collect. Unfortunately burning down the city is an expensive enterprise and the costs have only been going up. We don’t do raping and killing as it is counterproductive and we want to have cities to burn down for years to come. If you give us a hand in burning down the city it will be looked upon favorably and we might spare your city during the next campaign.

And we don’t do fires that consume everything at once, there is no satisfaction it. We like fires that go on for some time and produce a thick black smoke billowing over the city that can be seen for days so when we march to the next city to be burned down we can proudly look back and say: ‘Yes, it was us!’ And this would strengthen us in our resolve when we have second thoughts and question ourselves: “Why do we actually do it? What’s the purpose of it?”

It will be a reminder for who we are and our mission in life. Not to mention that a huge smoke going on for days would keep other armies coming over and be upset that the city had already been burned down. God knows what they might do in this case. So what do you say, do we have an agreement?… Do you need to consult with the citizens? No problem, we will do some bombing in the meantime of the area you would designate to instill some sense of urgency into the matter. Now take care and we look forward to burning down your city!”

Burning down cities would require manpower so I would imagine there were announcements on the churches’ and pubs’ doors that would be read loudly by a few educated people to the benefit of the other illiterate people. Fairs were a good place for recruitment as well.

There might have been announcements like:

“Burn down only places of worship! We cater for all tastes as we have different campaigns every year. This year is burning down protestant, and orthodox churches, synagogues and mosques. Next year catholic churches will be burnt down instead of protestant ones. Join us this year or any year for the full campaign or parts of it. We always burn down synagogues – we cannot help it – however some years we tone it down as we depend on financial donations for our campaigns. Every 7 years we celebrate and we indiscriminately burn down any kind of place of worship, even those that might not qualify as such but we consider them so. Religious beliefs will not be accommodated and atheists need not apply.” signed ‘the God fearing army’.

“March along Adriatic’s unspoilt coast with burning down incursions inland from time to time, weather permitting, well deserved rest and relaxation back on the coast.”

“Easy marches on the plains with a few hills here and there, stop where the mountain begins.”

“Spend summer with the dear ones, burn down cities the rest of the year.”

“Only summer campaigns with long, clear days for the maximum enjoyment of the thick black billowing smoke over the cities.”

“Joins us in the ultimate path of destruction across continents. Our reputation precedes us. You have seen the rest, now see the worst! Past accomplishments are not a guarantee for future large scale destruction but we have had notable successes in the past such as: ‘Scandinavia to North Africa and almost everything in between’, ‘From the inner steppes of Mongolia to Central Europe’, ‘Iberia to Americas including some islands’.

Be part of a vast educational campaign “Hell on Earth! Let them find out now what it is, not when it is too late!”

“People don’t like us and we don’t like them!” is our credo.

“Sit back and relax while friendly locals burn down the city for you.”

Back then there was no advertising industry as we know it now but the best recruitment announcement would have been:

“We might burn down your city and you will still love us!”

The enlightened minds of the time for sure would have greatly appreciated the ‘ad’ for its powerful message and given it an award if there was any award to be given.

Now you know the explanation for the blackened walls of some of the old buildings in Europe.