Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Most folks have seen some variation of this photo of Bernini‘s “Chair of Peter” in the Vatican. It’s a masterpiece of baroque art, found in every art textbook covering the period. The chair in question is carried aloft by four saints. The image of the dove in the Holy Spirit window has been duplicated and copied all over the world […]
» Read moreToday is the 1200th anniversary of the death of Charlemagne. He, more than any other single human being, cemented the idea in western Europe of a truly universal, Catholic culture. Every ruler who followed him looked to him and to his example. Even after every political organ he had created was gone, even after every monarchy established by his grandchildren […]
» Read moreHappy Saint Agnes Day! Saint Agnes was a young Roman lady of 13 or 14 who suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of Diocletian. Her name is in the Roman Canon of the Mass (Eucharistic Prayer I). Prior to joining our current parish, I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’d actually heard the Roman […]
» Read moreToday is the memorial 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.
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Aia María quanta Eruanno i Héru as elye · aistana elye imíca nísi · ar aistana i yáve mónalyo Yésus : Aire María Eruo ontaril á hyame rámen úcarindor sí ar lúmesse ya firuvamme : násie : (The Ave Maria in Quenya, translation by J.R.R. Tolkien) On this day in 1892, J.R.R. Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. The […]
» Read moreBy now some of you might be thinking that the O Antiphon words are sounding kind of familiar, even though you’re not really up on your Gregorian Chant. In fact, these antiphons are some of the earliest attested antiphons in the Divine Office, being mentioned in passing in the works of Saint Boethius in the early sixth century. They’re rooted […]
» Read moreIf 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 natives embraced Christianity. And then… well, here’s the story as found in the venerable Catholic Encyclopedia: To a […]
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On this day in 1968, the great Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton died. Despite his valuable spiritual writings, including The Seven Storey Mountain and New Seeds of Contemplation, and the Christian virtue with which he lived his life, the Church will never name him a saint. To say that I am made in the image of God is to […]
» Read moreYesterday’s anniversary of Sacrosanctum Concilium was tackled by a number of Catholic blogs, but I’d like to draw your attention to two of them specifically. Andrew Casad, Director of the Office for Liturgy at Archdiocese of Seattle, offers his reflections Celebrating Fifty Years of Sacrosanctum Concilium.
» Read moreThe Council of Trent, 1562 We Catholics sure seem to enjoy coincidental dates, or at least doing things on specific days that have specific meanings. This past year, the Church has made a big deal out of the 50th Anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. Pope Benedict XVI even proclaimed it a “Year of Faith“. Indeed, today marks the 50th […]
» Read moreFifty-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 was a Spanish admiral under orders to root out some French colonists in the area. Sighting land in La Florida on 28 August […]
» Read moreYesterday, on the great feast of Christ the King, the Year of Faith drew to a close. Pope Benedict XVI established it as a time to re-dedicate ourselves to professing the faith, celebrating the faith, and witnessing to the faith. Faith grows when it is lived as an experience of love received and when it is communicated as an experience […]
» Read moreJoseph Stalin famously demanded to know “How many divisions does the Pope of Rome have?” Stalin was, of course, asking the wrong question, as the saint whose feast is today finally proved. When Karol Wojtyła was elected Pope John Paul II in October of 1978, I was not only just 11 years old – I wasn’t even Catholic. It’s safe […]
» Read morePlease consider heeding the call of Pope Francis to fast and pray for peace on this coming Saturday the 7th of September. In that spirit, please consider this litany. Litany of Syrian Saints For private use only Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison, Christe eleison. Kyrie eleison, Kyrie eleison. Christe audi nos, Christe audi nos. Christe exaudi nos. Christe exaudi […]
» Read moreIn his Angelus address on Sunday, Pope Francis issued a plea for a day of fasting and prayer for peace on this coming Saturday the 7th of September. All men and women of good will are bound by the task of pursuing peace. I make a forceful and urgent call to the entire Catholic Church, and also to every Christian […]
» Read moreToday is the feast of the deacon martyr, Saint Lawrence. There are so many stories about him, that it’s hard to sum him up briefly. In the confused days after the martyrdom of Pope Sixtus, the administration of the Roman churches fell to the Deacon, Lawrence. He was captured by the Imperial authorities, but he bargained for his release. The […]
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Today in the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite is the feast of Saint Dominic de Guzmán (1170 – 06 August 1221), founder of the Order of Preachers, known as the Dominicans. In the Extraordinary Form calendar that my current breviary follows, this feast was last Sunday, the 4th (or would have been, had it not been a Sunday). You […]
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