The 10 Most Popular Posts of 2016
Who doesn’t like top ten lists? Well, since we’ve been up and running here at Amateur Monk for nearly a decade, I figured it was time to look at what’s been popular here.
These are the top ten hits on the blog for this past year. Not all of the posts receiving the hits were necessarily written this year. Apparently their appeal is enduring. So let’s count down!
TEN: Feast of the Holy Abbots of Cluny
Posted on 29 April 2014
I’m a frustrated Oblate today. Perhaps I should explain. Today is the (combined) feast of four great Abbots of the Benedictine Order: Saints Odo, Majolus, Odilo, and Hugh.
They were all good and holy men, and during the course of their reigns over the Abbey of Cluny and its associated priories, they reformed western monasticism – indeed, it could be fairly said that together they saved western monasticism. …
Saint Odilo of Cluny
NINE: Notes on the Transitions, Number 1 in a Series
Posted on 23 July 2015
The very clever amongst you no doubt noticed in my previous post that our new pastor was not named pastor of both of our parishes.
Let me explain. …
Corpus Christi Mass, Holy Rosary, Tacoma, 2015
EIGHT: Called, Not Chosen
Posted on 08 February 2016
Last Friday morning, I was struck particularly by a psalm from the Office for Saint Agatha… I’d prayed it hundreds of times over the years, as it is one of the festal psalms for Lauds, but it rang particularly deep for me that morning.
When Francine and I sent in my application to be considered for the diaconate back in December, we were told that we’d know one way or the other by the end of January. …
SEVEN: Victory!
Posted on 26 February 2016
My very smart daughter has enrolled in college! I’m so proud of her.
Huzzah, huzzah, and thrice huzzah!
Her first day of classes is our first day in Spain. Being as there’s no such thing as a meaningless coincidence in the rhyming poetry of God’s great creation, I suspect that means that this is a great day for new beginnings….
Raine and Simba, Christmas 2015
SIX: Rev. Carmine Sacco: Requiem Æternam
Posted on 22 September 2016
In your mercy, please pray for the repose of the soul of Rev. Carmine Sacco, S.J.
Fr. Sacco was the pastor of St. Rita parish in Tacoma from 1979 to 2011. He was a solid rock in Tacoma’s Catholic community and touched the lives of generations of Tacoma’s Catholics.
He was pastor at St. Rita’s so long that he once said he had baptized the grandchildren of people he had baptized. He was….
Rev. Carmine Sacco, S.J.
FIVE: Saint Patrick was an Englishman!
Posted on 17 March 2014
Well that got your attention, didn’t it? It’s not quite true of course; Patrick may have been born on the isle of Britain, but in a time before the Angles had arrived and started making it Angland.
No, his family were Roman Catholic churchmen from the Roman Imperial province of Britannia.
Today, nobody is going to go around speaking in fake Latin and wearing a toga and sandals….
FOUR: The Patron Saint of Grumpy Old Men
Posted on 30 September 2011
Saint Jerome should be the patron saint of grumpy old men.
Born in the Roman province of Dalmatia in modern Slovenia, he studied in Rome starting in about the year 360. During a journey to Syria in 373….
THREE: Saint George and the Dragon
Posted on 23 April 2014
“Fairy Tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
(G.K. Chesterton)
Today’s feast is of the great martyr, Saint George. Pious legends of dragon slaying notwithstanding, George was a soldier of the Roman army who was killed during the persecutions of Diocletian in the early fourth century. …
Saint George of Lydda (Eastern Version)
TWO: Hopes and Prayers for a New Pastor
Posted on 08 May 2011
We learned at Mass today that our parish priest, Rev. Carmine Sacco, S.J. is retiring some time this year.
We also learned that the Jesuits have appointed Rev. Gene Delmore, S.J. to succeed him. A quick search revealed that Fr. Delmore is currently serving as associate pastor of Saint Joseph’s in Yakima, and that he is scheduled to leave there in July.
I pray that Fr. Delmore is a good man and a faithful priest. …
Fr. Sacco
And now, the most popular post of 2016…
ONE: Review: Monastic Diurnal at One Year
Posted on 24 July 2015
Although I’ve prayed some form of the Divine Office since before my baptism, just over a year ago I began using the Farnborough Monastic Diurnal. It is only at this point that I feel confident enough to review it. …
So that’s the top 10 of 2016. It’s interesting that only three of them were actually published this year, with the majority being from the past three years.
Half were about local or personal or family things, of which two were about Fr. Sacco. The other half were about saints or liturgy (or a combination of the two), with the most popular being my review of the Monastic Breviary. Taken together, that’s a pretty good cross-section of what I write about here.
I want to say thank you to each and every one of my readers. You guys are the best.
What was your favorite this year? Any favorites that didn’t make the list?