Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Thou art all fair, Mary, and the stain of original sin is not in thee. (Antiphon 1 for Lauds of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Monastic Breviary) Since this great Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary this year fell on a Sunday, we celebrate it on the following day, which is today. Let […]
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Today is the memorial of the great Doctor of the Church, Saint Ambrose of Milan (340-397). As is my custom on this day, I’m posting the second reading from today’s Office of Readings. Although Ambrose is specifically addressing bishops in this letter, his call to evangelization is for all of us, for all time. Saint Ambrose of Milan, a contemporary […]
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Happy Saint Nicholas Day! How Saint Nicholas was transmogrified into Santa Claus, I’ll never know. “Jolly Old Saint Nick” was by all accounts a thin man, most famous for giving gifts to prostitutes and punching heretics. That whole “eight tiny reindeer” thing seems like a bit of a come down. Wait, prostitutes? Saint Nicholas, Bishop of Myra (d. 06 December […]
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The Church honours Saint Benedict with two great feasts. One is not much celebrated these days, as it typically occurs during Lent, and it has been removed from the Universal Calendar. The Benedictines, of course, continue to celebrate both. To these, some Benedictine monasteries add a third feast, which is celebrated today. Icon of Saint Benedict at Mount Athos The […]
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The season of Advent began with last night’s vespers, and today is the First Sunday of Advent. This is the first day of the new liturgical year, so happy Advent and happy new year! For us, it’s time to pull the Advent box out of the garage and start decorating. If you are in Tacoma, please join us for chanted […]
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Andrew, son of Jonah, fisherman of Bethsaida in Galilee. Follower of John the Baptist. The first apostle called by Christ, who told him and his brother, Simon, to “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men”. After the Resurrection, Andrew preached along the coasts of the Black Sea, both north and south, founding churches that included one […]
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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. […]
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This weekend we celebrate the great feast of Christ the King. Traditionally here at Pistachio House, we have had our “Franksgiving” feast on this weekend. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I forgot to take a photo of our little gathering yesterday, though I did get one of Francine with the turkey. It is right and just that we celebrate God’s bounty […]
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Saint Cecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs. Legend has it that she was martyred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about AD 230. Her name appears in the First Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon) among Rome’s other beloved martyrs, and when Christianity became legal in the Roman Empire in the fourth century, […]
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Today is the 103rd anniversary of the dedication of our former parish church of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. The church, still in danger, was dedicated on November 21, 1921. Here is what the parish history has to say about the event: Nov. 21, 1921 Thanksgiving Day. The new Church building is dedicated by the Most Rev. Edward J. […]
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Surrexit Odo, plenus Spiritu Sancto, et monastici Ordinis decus per orbem renovatum est. (Odo arose, filled with the Holy Spirit, and restored the glory of the monastic Order throughout the world.) —Antiphon 2, Lauds of Saint Odo Today is the memorial of Saint Odo of Cluny on some of the calendars of the Benedictine Order. Others – most especially the […]
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Several years ago, The Catholic Herald published an article on one of today’s lesser known saints that absolutely delights me: Blessed Lucy of Narnia. Of all the great characters from children’s literature, who better to have a namesake to intercede for us in heaven? (At least, in the absence of a St Bofa of Sofa.) After all, it was she, […]
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Appropriate to today – the Feast of All Souls of the Benedictine Order – we once again have the Dies Iræ, the traditional sequence for Requiem Masses and the Masses of All Souls. Today we pray for the souls of all Benedictine monks, nuns, sisters, and oblates in purgatory. Servant of God Thomas of Celano Most probably written by […]
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Once again we come to a feast of All Saints. “But wait!” I hear you cry, “wasn’t that back on the first of November?” Right you are! But today on the Benedictine calendar is the feast of All Saints of the Benedictine Order. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside […]
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It seems fitting that Veterans’ Day – Armistice Day – is celebrated on November 11, for this is the memorial of the soldier-saint, Martin of Tours. He was a soldier turned monk turned reluctant bishop, and he was one of the first saints to be venerated who wasn’t a martyr. Saint Martin of Tours was born in A.D. 336 in […]
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My beautiful bride Francine and I spent two or three hours this morning working on the garden. Honestly, we’ve been neglecting it this year, so there’s still a lot to do. The plan was to get as much done as we could before the rain came today. I focused my energies on the raised bed behind the chapel. Because we […]
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You would be forgiven for thinking that the Pope’s main church is St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. It’s certainly the largest. But no. The Pope’s own church – his episcopal seat as Bishop of Rome – is the church of Saint John Lateran. Which Saint John? Good question. Two of them, actually, for the full name of this church […]
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