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Solomon and the Queen of Sheba Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, Lorenzo Ghiberti [ Web Gallery of Art ] The first reading in tomorrow's Mass, Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time, is 1 Kings 10:1-10 . It tells of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Sheba is believed to have been located in modern-day Yemen. When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, (fame due to the name of the Lord), she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt-offerings that...

Queen of Sheba before Solomon Nicolaus Knüpfer, 1640s [ Web Gallery of Art ] The First Reading from today's Mass, 1 Kings 10:1-10 ( NRSVCE ) When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon  she came to test him with hard questions.  She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.  Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.  When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,  the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the  Lord , there was no more spirit in her. So she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and...

King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba , Rubens, 1620 Today's gospel is Luke 11:29-32 in which Jesus mentions 'the queen of the South'. She is also known as the Queen of Sheba. Some scholars say she was from Yemen, others from Ethiopia. Yemen is one of the Arab countries that is unsettled at the moment. Two days ago President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 33 years, promised to step down 'in a few days' . It seems very few believe him. The day before his announcement Tawakul Karman, a Yemeni woman was announced as one of three winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize.  Yemen's Catholics belong to the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia , which also includes Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Catholics number 2,129,000 or 3.4 percent of the overall population of 62,498,240. However, in 1950 they numbered 5,840 or 0.1 percent of 10,000,000. The increase in the number and percentage of Catholics is due to the in...