Holy Father, you're always welcome at the manor

From time to time, I have unusual hits on my sitemeter; Disney,

Random House and Turner Broadcasting, to name a few. But this

past Saturday, was the most unique in my whole existence of

blogging. I actually had a hit from the Holy See, the Vatican City

State. Okay, I realize there are 900 some residents of the Vatican,

but it's fun to think that His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, just might

have been reading my humble little blog, himself.

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Wait, it gets more interesting. The search words for this particular

hit were "Colonel Bogey March lyrics". I can just see His Holiness

bopping around his quarters whistling Colonel Bogey, then curious

as to the lyrics, sitting down with his laptop to Google up Willow

Manor, and read my post.

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By the way, did you know the pope has his own Pontifical March?

It's played at solemn occasions of the State and ceremonies in which

he is present. When the Vatican's flag is ceremonially raised, only the

first eight bars are played. The music was composed in 1869 by

Charles Gounod, for the celebration on April 11, 1869 of Pope Pius

IX's silver jubilee. Click [HERE] for a listen. The English version of

the lyrics are as follows:

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O Rome immortal of Martyrs and Saints,
O immortal Rome, accept our praises:
Glory in the heavens to God our Lord,
And peace to men who love Christ!
To You we come, Angelic Pastor,
In You we see the gentle Redeemer,
The Holy Heir of true and holy Faith;
Comfort and refuge of those who believe and fight.
Force and terror will not prevail,
But Truth and Love will reign.

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It is a tad more pure and majestic than the common Colonel Bogey

March, sung by British artillery men. I hope he wasn't too taken

aback to discover the lyrics. There are several versions, but this is

one of the most well known:

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Hitler has only one left ball
Göring has two but they are small.
Himmler was somewhat similar
And poor old Goebbels has no balls at all.

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Oh, and another clue that His Holiness, himself, might have visited

Willow Manor? The language used on this particular search was not

Italian, but happened to be German, his native tongue.