Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
I have written before about the 14-year old Agnes of Rome, murdered on this day at the order of the Emperor Diocletian, and of some of the traditions that have grown around her feast day. Today, I will simply leave you with a photo of the shrine containing her skull, and the marvelous words of John Keats, an English poet […]
» Read moreToday 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 moreThis year, I’m going to forgo my lamentation of the mobile Epiphany. For today, 6 January 2012, is the 600th birthday of one of the most truly remarkable women who ever lived. And she was burned at the stake when she was 19 years old. She was known as Jehanne la Pucelle, Joan the Maiden. In 1429 at the tender […]
» Read moreIt’s the first of January, and I’m clearly looking and feeling my very best after last night’s festivities. We rarely throw parties, but when we do, we invariably overdo it a bit. Last night’s feast had libations aplenty and a table groaning with food for our family and friends old and new. Everybody brought something to share. Combine that with […]
» Read moreI‘ve written twice before about Saint Thomas Becket, whose feast day is today. This year, I’d like to just quote a small passage from G.K. Chesterton on the matter of Becket’s martyrdom: When four knights scattered the blood and brains of Saint Thomas of Canterbury it was not only a sign of anger but a sort of black admiration. They […]
» Read moreToday I’m going to upset some of my (Protestant) Christian friends who see the Reformation as a good thing. I don’t. Here is one of many, many reasons why. December 1 is the feast of Saint Edmund Campion, a Jesuit martyr. The matter-of-fact beginning to his entry on Wikipedia reads as follows: Saint Edmund Campion, S.J. (24 January 1540 – […]
» Read moreMy son’s middle name is Andrew, after his mother’s uncle. The name itself means “brave one” in Greek. Today is the feast of Saint Andrew, a brave man if ever there was. Saint Andrew is sometimes known as “First called” since he was the first of John the Baptist’s followers to become disciples of Jesus. He quickly recruited his brother […]
» Read moreToday the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Cecilia, virgin and martyr. Cecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs, even though the facts of her martrydom are a little vague. Legend has it that she, her husband Valerian, and her brother-in-law Tiburtius were martyred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about the year […]
» Read moreHappy Feast of All Saints! This is the day where we celebrate all the saints, known and unknown: the Church Triumphant. This day has been a feast since the sixth or seventh century, and it was fixed on November 1 in the Roman calendar by Pope Gregory III in the mid 8th century. Yesterday, of course, was the vigil or […]
» Read moreEnter the KING WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England That do no work to-day! KING. What’s he that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin; If we are mark’d to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater […]
» Read moreBy an extraordinary coincidence, today is the feast day of both the saint who gave the Divine Mercy devotion to the world, and of one of the disciples of Saint Benedict. Interestingly, neither of these feasts are on the universal calendar. Saint Mary Faustina Kowalska (1905 – 1938) was a Polish nun who received a vision of Christ as the […]
» Read moreSaint 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, he fell ill and had a vision that caused him to devote the rest of his long life to the service of […]
» Read moreToday is officially the “Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels” or, in the old calendar, the “Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel”. Whatever you call it, the most common name is Michaelmas. It is one of several harvest festivals celebrated throughout Christian Europe. In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which was marked […]
» Read moreToday we celebrate the feasts of two very different men. One lived in the first century and probably died a martyr. The other lived during the 20th century and died at the ripe old age of 81. One was the disciple of Peter and Paul, becoming the second Pope after Saint Peter’s martrydom. The other was a simple Capuchin friar. […]
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Today at 9:30AM, a small vial of dried blood in Naples turned to liquid, as it has done several times a year since at least the 1380s. A great crowd had gathered to witness this event. The man holding up the vial, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples, was nearly brought to tears. The announcement was greeted by a […]
» Read moreDear Saint Monica, troubled wife and mother, many sorrows pierced your heart during your lifetime. Yet, you never despaired or lost faith. With confidence, persistence, and profound faith, you prayed daily for the conversion of your beloved husband, Patricius, and your beloved son, Augustine; your prayers were answered. Grant me that same fortitude, patience, and trust in the Lord. Intercede […]
» Read moreOn July 20, 1969, man first set foot upon the Moon. On July 20, 2011, the last flight of the last Space Shuttle is heading to a close. Perhaps appropriately, the (hopefully temporary) ending of the US manned space flight was aboard Shuttle Atlantis. It certainly gave me a sinking feeling. But the project that took us to the Moon […]
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