Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Today is the reason we have Christmas in December. Seriously. There’s an ancient tradition that says that you will know the day of your death by the day of your conception, and vice versa. Christ was crucified on the 14th of Nisan – the only date we can fix with certainty in his life. When translated from the Jewish lunar […]
» Read moreAlthough it does not appear on the Universal (Roman) calendar, today is one of two feasts of Saint Benedict celebrated by Benedictines throughout the world. If it is true that the Irish saved civilization, it’s worth remembering that they did so largely in Benedictine Monasteries. Today, I have three short passages from one of Benedict’s spiritual and monastic forebears of […]
» Read moreI wasn’t going to post today. Saint Patrick’s feast has, like that of Saint Valentine, been co-opted by the culture, totally obscuring the person behind the day. But there are folks where I work affecting fake Irish brogues, and it’s driven me over the edge. Today is a day in America where we eat immigrant food and pretend it’s Irish, […]
» Read moreToday is the Feast of the Universal Doctor of the Church and one of my name Saints, Thomas Aquinas. When (certain) people, told of my conversion, said to me “oh, you’re Catholic – you don’t need to think any more”, I always pointed them to Thomas Aquinas. Here’s a guy who was observed to simultaneously dictate three different books to […]
» Read moreToday is the feast of Saint Agnes, 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), though I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I’ve actually heard it prayed. On this day, I am […]
» Read moreToday is the Feast of Saint Thomas Becket. Even before my conversion, I always admired Saint Thomas. It might have something to do with his name—as a child the only other famous Thomases I knew were Jefferson and Edison, and I didn’t much care for Edison. I’d like to think it had more to do with talking Truth to power. […]
» Read moreChaucer’s pilgrims were on their way to the Canterbury shrine of Saint Thomas Becket, bishop and martyr. The kingly descendant of the saint’s kingly murderer later destroyed that shrine and scattered his bones. Now there is only one small flame to mark the place where the saint’s relics once lay. Here is the eyewitness account of the saint’s martyrdom, by […]
» Read moreToday is the feast of this blog’s patron, Saint Bede the Venerable. I took the name Bede when I made my final oblation to St. Martin’s Abbey. Bede occupies an important niche in Church history by bridging the gap between patristic and early medieval times, the era when the Germanic nations had just been Christianized. Through him Christian tradition and […]
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