The grotto in St. Peter’s Basilica where John Paul II was laid to rest has been re-opened to the public, and the public has turned out in droves:
"Thousands of mourners filed past the grave of Pope John Paul II after the Vatican reopened its grottoes for public viewing Wednesday, many carrying rosaries and medals they hoped would be blessed by the spirit of a man they already consider a saint."
Apparently, the burial site is rather inconspicuous; so, if you make the pilgrimage, the take-away lesson here is to keep your eyes peeled for the marker. Some didn’t and say they feel "defrauded":
"In an apparent effort to avoid the lines that stretched up to three miles to see the pope’s body last week, the ushers kept the crowd at St. Peter’s Basilica moving quickly. Many pilgrims said they didn’t even realize they were at the grave until they had already walked past.
"’We’ve been in Rome for three days waiting for this moment, and we felt a little defrauded,’ said Silvano Loayza, a 61-year-old Peruvian who lives in Tracy, Calif. ‘There wasn’t even time to pray. The man kept saying, ‘avanti, avanti, avanti.’"
Defrauded? This is St. Peter’s Basilica, not Euro Disney.
Curious about the phrase "Avanti, avanti, avanti," I went to FreeTranslation.com and plugged it in, requesting an Italian to English translation. Either the free translation is off or the ushers were urging mourners "Before, before, before."
My hunch is that it means “forward” as well.
“keep moving forward, keep moving forward, keep moving forward”
Seems visitors should keep in mind that the poor man has only been dead less than 2 weeks & there are bound to be great numbers of folks who would make that trek. And one would think – at least this one would, anyway – that one need only move up in elevation a bit from the gravesite to the . . . Basilica above in order to pray for our dear Holy Father.
“…Silvano Loayza, a 61-year-old Peruvian…”
Ah, Silvano, just reflect on the fact that in a few decades you, as I, will (one hopes) have a loooooong time to visit with JPII!
Arriba, arriba!
Seriously, though, it seems to be a cognate for “advance”. Which is logical.
When I was in Italy back in the 1980’s, the Pededstrian crossing signals used the word “Avanti” for the “Walk” signal. Whatever it means, it’s pretty common in English usage.
oops, that should be in Italian usage.
I looked up at http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr and “avanti” means “ahead”.
When living in Milan, Mussolini was the editor of the socialist newspaper, “Avanti!” The English translation of this was always given as “Forwards!”
Mike beat me to the punch re Babelfish’s “ahead” translation.
I had never heard of freetranslation.com before.
It would be nice if a paper was handed out before you went in, giving you a clue as to what you’re looking for.