World's smallest pipe organ and the head of St. Lawrence

Yesterday we went down near St Peter's, right at the entrance to Vatican City to the church of Santa Anna. The reason for this visit was to view the head of St. Lawrence. Here is the interior of the church, which was round, and quite nice, although small.


Here's a painting on the wall depicting St. Anne, instructing Our Lady as a young girl.


This picture's for you Bronwyn. The head of St. Lawrence. St. Lawrence was a deacon of the early church who was martyred under the persecution of the Emperor Valerian in 258. The Prefect of Rome ordered him to turn over what he believed to be the fabulous treasures the Church possessed. In response, St. Lawrence gathered the poor and needy and presented them to the prefect, saying "These are the true treasures of the Church." In anger, the Prefect ordered him to be grilled to death over a fire. St. Lawrence died with a sense of humor, right before he died he exclaimed "I am done on this side! Turn me over!" In any case, here is his head, which is a little scorched as you can see.


This picture's for you Theodore, and you Joanna and Mary....and any other organists I might have forgotten about. Behold the world's smallest pipe organ. These two street performers were playing and singing. The guy was actually blowing into the organ through that tube. It sounded halfway decent actually, although not very loud!