Aggiornamento is a lovely word; it means bringing up-to-date. So you get an aggiornamento here most days.
Before we go any further you will have noticed the snapshot of a Papal Mass during the Second Vatican Council and, being curious, will want to know if there was a VAT I, or if that’s a brand of whisky. Indeed there was, in 1868, and it took until until 1962 for VAT II. Diageo are swifter – 69 already.
In 1859 the Sisters of Mercy founded a convent in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford. To a small extent their lives and mine were changed by Vatican II. In the autumn of 1972 I de-trained at Rheims and was met by a nun driving a Citroen deux-chevaux. Parking at railway stations was as problematic then as it is now. She found space on a pedestrian crossing, something very much in the spirit of Mrs Stitch.
Amongst a lot of spiritual stuff (not VAT 69) Vatican II permitted nuns to drive but just the one in a convent. The nuns in Enniscorthy debated which nun would be their nominated driver. Incidentally the driving test was introduced in Ireland in 1964 and Vatican II concluded in 1965. It was decided, by Mother Superior, that she would drive. I don’t imagine she took the test. Indeed my sister has never taken the test and drives well unless distracted by chat.
Insomnia serves me well. The BBC World Service had an interview with Colm Tóibín in the middle of the night. He spent his childhood in Enniscorthy and recounted the story about the elderly Mother Superior driving inexpertly while her noviciates were crammed in on the back seat. So you are now aggiornamento on VATs I and II. Why was a nun meeting me at Rheims? Here’s the scoop.