Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Today marks the anniversary of the final Mass of the parish of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Tacoma. These years have been filled with heartbreaking, almost unfathomable loss. This is an annual post, updated only slightly. Much of the language reflects my thoughts and feelings of the day, taken from my journaled notes. Over the past few years, […]
» Read more
In this very volatile moment in our history, both of the United States and of the world, where things seem to be unravelling and so much anger rises to the surface so quickly, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the meaning of our times. This anger and factionalism and the accompanying doom-saying are hardly unique to our age. […]
» Read more
Today is the feast of Saint Dominic de Guzmán. He was born near Santo Domingo de Silos in Spain, just north of the Camino, in 1170. Legend has it that before his birth, his barren mother made a pilgrimage to Silos, and dreamt that a dog leapt from her womb carrying a flaming torch in its mouth – and it […]
» Read more
Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Mary Magdalen. In the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite, this is indeed a feast again, rather than merely a memorial, thanks to a change made by Pope Francis back in 2016. In the Extraordinary Form and in my Monastic Breviary, it is a Class III feast, althrough prior to the reform of […]
» Read more
Fifty-seven years ago today, on July 20, 1969, human beings first set foot upon the Moon. My mother claims I watched the landing at the tender age of two, hiding underneath the coffee table. If so, I don’t remember it. My lovely bride Francine, however, did. Her birthday is July 21, and she clearly remembered having a lunar module on […]
» Read more
Tradition holds that on July 16, 1251, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Simon Stock, prior general of the Carmelites. She offered him a message of hope for the Order, a message that they sorely needed. At this time, the Carmelite Order was in trouble. They had their origins as a community of hermits on the slopes of Mount […]
» Read more
It’s a pretty rare thing when Kings become saints, or at least become canonized saints. I can only think of a handful off the top of my head, though I’m sure there are more: Saint Louis IX of France, Saint Edward the Confessor of Anglo-Saxon England, Saint Stephen of Hungary. Today is the memorial of the only Western Emperor Saint […]
» Read more
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and […]
» Read more
Today is the memorial of the blessed martyr Saint Polycarp. Burned alive and then beheaded in the city of Rome for the crime of being a Christian bishop, he was a disciple of Saint John the Apostle. In fact, he was ordained bishop of Smyrna by Saint John. He wrote many letters, though only one has survived the centuries, his […]
» Read more
Happy Saint Agnes Day! Saint Agnes was a young Roman lady of 12 or 13 years old who suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in about AD 304. She was one of the youngest of the early martyrs and one of the most moving and articulate. Agnes hastened to the place of torture as a bride to […]
» Read more
Today is the feast of the man many consider to be the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, the “Father of Monks”. He was born in the middle of the third century in decidedly Pagan Middle Egypt to a well-to-do, comfortable family. He spent much of his life avoiding the sorts of comforts available to him […]
» Read more
Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, celebrating that day when John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan River. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, […]
» Read more
Happy fifth day of Christmas! Today, the Church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Over the years, I’ve written many articles on this, one of my favourite saints. I’ve provided links to them below. Many of these articles focus on the saint himself, his life and martyrdom, and others on his legacy to the Church, particularly […]
» Read more
It is altogether right and proper that we should celebrate Christ as the bringer of light on this, the day of the winter solstice. This was an ancient holy day in many religions, as indeed it continues to be. On this, the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, where people for eons have begged their divinity for […]
» Read more
Time again for some history! If you think that the Spanish conquistadors are the ones who imposed Catholicism on the hapless Aztecs, well you’re wrong. Lord knows they tried. And tried. And failed. In the first decade of Spanish rule (1521 – 1531), only a handful of Native Americans embraced Christianity. And then… well, a miracle. Here’s the story as […]
» Read more
Today is the memorial of Saint Edmund Campion. If the paintings of him are to be believed, he is a man to whom I bear more than a passing resemblance, at least in my youth. We commemorated the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation a few years ago. Many continue to see this as a good thing. I don’t. […]
» Read more
Fifty-six years before the English Puritan refugees at Plymouth celebrated their “first Thanksgiving”, Spanish explorers and their Timucua allies celebrated one in Saint Augustine, in what is now Florida. They had bean soup. Pedro Menéndez de Avilés Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral from Asturias. He was under orders to root out some French colonists in the area. […]
» Read more