Quenta Nârwenion

2008-01-09T00:46:00.000-05:00

I heard this 'through the grapevine' some months ago....

But it's great to have some confirmation......
Beatification of Cardinal Newman "imminent" Vatican says .

2007-01-19T22:15:00.000-05:00

To clarify....
I don't drink alcoholic beverages at all, and never have. I just enjoy a good drinking song. I've never cheated or been cheated on, but can still enjoy a good 'done me wrong' song.
BTW, I'm going to try to get my rep as a steady blogger back, starting this weekend. (Real Life is getting a little more sane now...)

2006-10-05T15:48:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-10-05T15:40:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Luigi Scrosoppi, C.O., Priest and Founder
is today. There is information on him here.
A blessed feast day to all the Oratorians, and all members of the Congregation of Sisters of Providence, out there !
It is also the memorial of Blessed John Hewitt, Priest and Martyr, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, C.SS.R., Priest , and Blessed Bartholomew Longo,O.P., Dominican Tertiary.

2006-09-01T21:45:00.000-04:00

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord...
and let perpetual light shine upon him.

2006-08-30T23:24:00.000-04:00

The fact that I live a loooong way from California...
usually is viewed by your Humble Scribe as a blessing. However, this week's Rat of the Week is in Sacramento.......
BABY...RAT..JUST... TOO...CUTE !.
OK, I've fought off the irrational impulse to buy a plane ticket.....

2006-08-30T16:15:00.000-04:00

The Memorial of Blessed Juvenal Ancina, C.O., Bishop
is today. There is information on him here.
According to the Times of London obituary, the last ecclesiastical function the Venerable took part in was a solemn triduo in honor of the beatification of Blessed Juvenal, on July 18, 19, and 20th of 1890.

2006-08-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

The blog is back....
I'll be working on updating my links soon.....

2006-05-25T14:46:00.000-04:00

I'm glad that certain Native Americans...
are opposing the opening of a 'clinic' on a reservation to kill their children off before birth.
Didn't some slimeball during the Indian Wars say "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" ? It's a crying shame that a few Native Americans seem to be buying that disgusting line now...

2006-05-25T14:45:00.000-04:00

St. Philip's Day...
is tommorow !

2006-05-25T14:43:00.000-04:00

The Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
is today. There is information on it here and here.

The Ascension of our Lord and Saviour is an event ever to be commemorated with joy and thanksgiving, for St. Paul tells us in the text that He ascended to the right hand of God, and there makes intercession for us. Hence it is our comfort to know, that "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins." [1 John ii. 1, 2.] As the Jewish High Priest, after the solemn sacrifice for the people on the great day of Atonement, went into the Holy of Holies with the blood of the victim, and sprinkled it upon the Mercy-Seat, so Christ has entered into Heaven itself, to present (as it were) before the Throne that sacred Tabernacle which was the instrument of His passion,—His pierced hands and wounded side,—in token of the atonement which He has effected for the sins of the world.

Wonder and awe must always mingle with the thankfulness which the revealed dispensation of mercy raises in our minds. And this, indeed, is an additional cause of thankfulness, that Almighty God has disclosed to us enough of His high Providence to raise such sacred and reverent feelings. Had He merely told us that He had pardoned us, we should have had overabundant cause for blessing and praising Him; but in showing us somewhat of the means, in vouchsafing to tell what cannot wholly be told, in condescending to abase heavenly things to the weak and stammering tongues of earth, He has enlarged our gratitude, yet sobered it with fear. We are allowed with the Angels to obtain a glimpse of the mysteries of Heaven, "to rejoice with trembling." Therefore, so far from considering the Truths of the Gospel as a burden, because they are beyond our understanding, we shall rather welcome them and exult in them, nay, and feel an antecedent stirring of heart towards them, for the very reason that they are above us.

Venerable John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons

It is also the anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Drew Morgan, C.O., to the priesthood. Ad multos annos, Fr. Drew !

2006-05-24T00:57:00.000-04:00

I guess this should go in the "small world" file...
I was looking through the posts of the Catholic Carnival- and one of them turns out to be about an old friend of mine. It includes a picture of him and a link to his dissertation. (Eugene, if you're reading this, hi ! )

2006-05-24T00:54:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-05-24T00:53:00.000-04:00

Two more days...
until St. Philip's Day...

2006-05-24T00:35:00.000-04:00

The Feast of Our Lady, Help of Christians
is today. There is information on it here.

Mary is the "Auxilium Christianorum," the Help of Christians
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Our glorious Queen, since her Assumption on high, has been the minister of numberless services to the elect people of God upon earth, and to His Holy Church. This title of "Help of Christians" relates to those services of which the Divine Office, while recording and referring to the occasion on which it was given her, recounts five, connecting them more or less with the Rosary.

The first was on the first institution of the Devotion of the Rosary by St. Dominic, when, with the aid of the Blessed Virgin, he succeeded in arresting and overthrowing the formidable heresy of the Albigenses in the South of France.

The second was the great victory gained by the Christian fleet over the powerful Turkish Sultan, in answer to the intercession of Pope St. Pius V., and the prayers of the Associations of the Rosary all over the Christian world; in lasting memory of which wonderful mercy Pope Pius introduced her title "Auxilium Christianorum" into her Litany; and Pope Gregory XIII., who followed him, dedicated the first Sunday in October, the day of the victory, to Our Lady of the Rosary.

The third was, in the words of the Divine Office, "the glorious victory won at Vienna, under the guardianship of the Blessed Virgin, over the most savage Sultan of the Turks, who was trampling on the necks of the Christians; in perpetual memory of which benefit Pope Innocent XI. dedicated the Sunday in the Octave of her Nativity as the feast of her august Name."

The fourth instance of her aid was the victory over the innumerable force of the same Turks in Hungary on the Feast of St. Mary ad Nives, in answer to the solemn supplication of the Confraternities of the Rosary; on occasion of which Popes Clement XI. and Benedict XIII. gave fresh honour and privilege to the Devotion of the Rosary.

And the fifth was her restoration of the Pope's temporal power, at the beginning of this century, after Napoleon the First, Emperor of the French, had taken it from the Holy See; on which occasion Pope Pius VII. set apart May 24, the day of this mercy, as the Feast of the Help of Christians, for a perpetual thanksgiving.

It is also the the feast of St. Simeon Stylites the Younger, Priest .

2006-05-23T00:25:00.000-04:00

Only three days...
until St. Philip's Day !
Also, today is the 455th anniversary of the ordination of Filippo Romolo Neri to the priesthood. Happy anniversary, St. Philip !

2006-05-23T00:19:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. John Baptist Rossi, Priest
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-05-19T14:53:00.000-04:00

From Parochial and Plain Sermons
by Venerable John Henry Newman

Let us weigh carefully our Lord's solemn announcements uttered shortly before His crucifixion, and, though addressed primarily to His Apostles, yet, surely, in their degree belonging to all who "believe on Him through their word." We shall find that consistent obedience, mature, habitual, lifelong holiness, is therein made the condition of His intimate favour, and of power in Intercession. "If ye abide in Me," he says, "and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you; abide ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love. Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard of My Father, I have made known unto you." [John xv. 7-15.] From this solemn grant of the peculiarly Gospel privilege of being the "friends" of Christ, it is certain, that as the prayer of repentance gains for us sinners Baptism and justification, so our higher gift of having power with Him and prevailing, depends on our "adding to our faith virtue."

2006-05-19T14:44:00.000-04:00

One week....
until St. Philip's Day !

2006-05-19T14:39:00.000-04:00

The Feast of Pope St. Celestine V
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Dunstan of Canterbury, O.S.B., Archbishop , and Blessed Peter Wright, S.J., Priest and Martyr .

2006-05-16T20:23:00.000-04:00

From Parochial and Plain Sermons
by Venerable John Henry Newman

All things here are against us but God; but if God be for us, who can really be against us? If He is in the midst of us, how shall we be moved? If Christ has died and risen again, what death can come upon us, though we be made to die daily? what sorrow, pain, humiliation, trial, but must end as His has ended, in a continual resurrection into His new world, and in a nearer and nearer approach to Him? He pronounced a blessing over His Apostles, and they have scattered it far and wide all over the earth unto this day. It runs as follows: "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you." "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." [John xiv. 27: xvi. 33.]

2006-05-16T20:11:00.000-04:00

Please pray...
for our bishop, as he is reassigned to Washington, D.C., and for our diocese as we await news on his successor here.

2006-05-16T16:42:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-05-16T16:40:00.000-04:00

Ten more days...
until St. Philip's Day !

2006-05-16T16:31:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Andrew Bobola, S.J., Priest and Martyr
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Brendan the Navigator, Abbot, St. Simon Stock, O.Carm., and St. John Nepomucene, Priest and Martyr.

2006-05-02T20:58:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival...
is up.

2006-05-02T20:52:00.000-04:00

Twenty-four days...
before St. Philip's Day....

2006-05-02T20:51:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Athanasius, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
is today. There is information on him here. He was one of the Venerable's favorite saints.

The revealed doctrine of the Incarnation exerted a stronger and a broader influence on Christians, as they more and more apprehended and mastered its meaning and its bearings. It is contained in the brief and simple declaration of St. John, "The Word was made flesh;" but it required century after century to spread it out in its fulness, and to imprint it energetically on the worship and practice of the Catholic people as well as on their faith. Athanasius was the first and the great teacher of it. He collected together the inspired notices scattered through David, Isaias, St. Paul, and St. John, and he engraved indelibly upon the imaginations of the faithful, as had never been before, that man is God, and God is man, that in Mary they meet, and that in this sense Mary is the centre of all things. He added nothing to what was known before, nothing to the popular and zealous faith that her Son was God; he has left behind him in his works no such definite passages about her as those of St. Irenæus or St. Epiphanius; but he brought the circumstances of the Incarnation home to men's minds, by the multiform evolutions of his analysis, and thereby secured it to us for ever from perversion.

Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., A Letter Addressed to the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D.D., on Occasion of His Eirenicon

2006-05-01T19:29:00.000-04:00

Twenty-five days...
until St. Philip's Day !

2006-05-01T19:19:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Joseph the Worker
is today. There is information on him here.

I ask you when you go out into the world, as soon you must, to make the Holy Family your home, to which you may turn from all the sorrow and care of the world, and find a solace, a compensation and a refuge. And this I say to you, not as if I should speak to you again, not as if I had of myself any claim upon you, but with the claims of the Holy Father whose representative I am, and in the hope that in the days to come you will remember that I came amongst you and said it to you. And when I speak of the Holy Family I do not mean our Lord and His Blessed Mother only, but St. Joseph too; for as we cannot separate our Lord from His Mother, so we cannot separate St. Joseph from them both; for who but he was their protector in all the scenes of our Lord's early life ?

Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

2006-04-30T16:15:00.000-04:00

From Parochial and Plain Sermons
by Venerable John Henry Newman

"Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." 1 John ii. 3.

To know God and Christ, in Scripture language, seems to mean to live under the conviction of His presence, who is to our bodily eyes unseen. It is, in fact, to have faith, according to St. Paul's account of faith, as the substance and evidence of what is invisible. It is faith, but not faith such as a Heathen might have, but Gospel faith; for only in the Gospel has God so revealed Himself, as to allow of that kind of faith which may be called, in a special manner, knowledge. The faith of Heathens was blind; it was more or less a moving forward in the darkness, with hand and foot;—therefore the Apostle says, "if haply they might feel after Him." [Acts xvii. 27.] But the Gospel is a manifestation, and therefore addressed to the eyes of our mind. Faith is the same principle as before, but with the opportunity of acting through a more certain and satisfactory sense. We recognise objects by the eye at once; but not by the touch. We know them when we see them, but scarcely till then. Hence it is, that the New Testament says so much on the subject of spiritual knowledge. For instance, St. Paul prays that the Ephesians may receive "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ, the eyes of their understanding being enlightened;" and he says, that the Colossians had "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him." St. Peter, in like manner, addresses his brethren with the salutation of "Grace and peace, through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord;" according to the declaration of our Lord Himself, "This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." [Eph. i. 17, 18. Col. iii. 10. 2 Pet. i. 2. John xviii. 3.] Not of course as if Christian faith had not still abundant exercise for the other senses (so to call them) of the soul; but that the eye is its peculiar sense, by which it is distinguished from the faith of Heathens, nay, I may add, of Jews.

It is plain what is the object of spiritual sight which is vouchsafed us in the Gospel,—"God manifest in the Flesh." He who was before unseen has shown Himself in Christ; not merely displayed His glory, as (for instance) in what is called a providence, or visitation, or in miracles, or in the actions and character of inspired men, but really He Himself has come upon earth, and has been seen of men in human form. In the same kind of sense, in which we should say we saw a servant of His, Apostle or Prophet, though we could not see his soul, so man has seen the Invisible God; and we have the history of His sojourn among His creatures in the Gospels.

To know God is life eternal, and to believe in the Gospel manifestation of Him is to know Him; but how are we to "know that we know Him?" How are we to be sure that we are not mistaking some dream of our own for the true and clear Vision? How can we tell we are not like gazers upon a distant prospect through a misty atmosphere, who mistake one object for another? The text answers us clearly and intelligibly; though some Christians have recourse to other proofs of it, or will not have patience to ask themselves the question. They say they are quite certain that they have true faith; for faith carries with it its own evidence, and admits of no mistaking, the true spiritual conviction being unlike all others. On the other hand, St. John says, "Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." Obedience is the test of Faith.

Thus the whole duty and work of a Christian is made up of these two parts, Faith and Obedience; "looking unto Jesus," the Divine Object as well as Author of our faith, and acting according to His will. Not as if a certain frame of mind, certain notions, affections, feelings, and tempers, were not a necessary condition of a saving state; but, so it is, the Apostle does not insist upon it, as if it were sure to follow, if our hearts do but grow into these two chief objects, the view of God in Christ and the diligent aim to obey Him in our conduct.

2006-04-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

It's twenty-six days...
until St. Philip's Day !

2006-04-30T16:00:00.000-04:00

If it were not Sunday...
today would be the feast of Pope St. Pius V, O.P.. It would also be the feast of St. Joseph Benedict Cottolengo, Priest and Founder, and Blessed William Southerne, Priest and Martyr.

2006-04-25T22:42:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-04-21T22:05:00.000-04:00

How cool is this !
Ratties are being trained to save lives.

2006-04-21T16:09:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Anselm of Canterbury, O.S.B., Archbishop and Doctor of the Church
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-04-20T13:42:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-04-17T22:06:00.000-04:00

Deo gratias !
It seems that the Venerable's cause is moving along nicely.
Link courtesy of The Curt Jester.

2006-04-17T21:57:00.000-04:00

Sorry about the light blogging lately...
Real Life got somewhat hectic.

2006-04-17T14:16:00.000-04:00

Happy blogaversary...
to Ales Rarus!

2006-04-17T13:57:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Robert of Chaise-Dieu, O.S.B., Priest
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-04-04T15:21:00.000-04:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-04-04T15:13:00.000-04:00

BTW...
it is also World Rat Day.

2006-04-04T14:57:00.000-04:00

The Feast of St. Isidore of Seville, Bishop, Doctor of the Church, and proposed patron saint of the Internet
is today. There is information on him here. There is a prayer to request his intercession before one goes on the Internet here.
It is also the feast of St. Benedict the Black, O.F.M. .

2006-03-30T02:50:00.000-05:00

On March 30, 1851...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., preached a sermon, of which the following notes survive:

On Bearing Mockery

1. INTROD.—Laetare Sunday. Joy, like a flower springing out of desolation and mortification, as Christ goes along the desert.

2. What flower shall be our offering? We cannot do much in the way of fasting, or other bodily mortifications. Why, the time supplies one, and which the epistle suggests, viz. our bearing reviling, etc. On the epistle of the day—Hagar and Sarah. It was a strong boy bullying a small child—cowardly and ungenerous. This animal nature. (Describe Ishmael.) Sarah childless till Isaac. Laetare—the mocking. 'Even so it is now,' says St. Paul. It is the mark of the true Church, and the form of its warfare—mockery. And so it is at this minute.

3. The scoffings, etc., which surround us not exactly violence or suffering, but slander, etc. The huge Protestantism of this land cannot keep from grinning, scoffing, etc.

4. Now this has ever been the case with the Church, as I have said, e.g. Isaac.

5. Joseph, Job, David, Jeremias, Daniel.—Heb. xi. 36.

6. Our Lord—(particulars)—bowing the knee, etc. Christ's sensitiveness.

7. Something very irritating in mockery, irony, etc. Indignation and anger natural, and not sinful, yet to be restrained lest they become sinful. Slander, misrepresentation, abuse of the good, blasphemy of things sacred, ludicrous views, pictures, etc. Nay, the people who throng the doors of a chapel like this, with persons going to and fro, and insult them.

8. All painful, yet laetare. Rejoice in your desolation; let it be your Lent. Rejoice and leap for joy, for great is your reward in heaven.

9. Rejoice if you are made like Christ and His saints.

10. Rejoice, for it is a proof of your real strength. Quare fremuerunt gentes. Our Lord's whisper terrifies this great country. His vicar, a feeble old man, by a bit of paper frightens it—vox Domini super aquas. Can Wesleyans, etc., do so? When did Protestantism ever raise a whole state as a small act of the vicar of Christ has done? You see how the devils fear. Tall Ishmael is mocking in our streets; a strong boy beating a small one.

11. Rejoice, for it is an augury for the future. The desolate has many more children than she that has a husband. So Protestantism is married to the state. Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, etc.

(When this sermon was preached, there was a large outburst of anti-Catholic activity going on in England. Pope Pius IX had given England a hierarchy of bishops, which act many Protestants saw as 'papal agression'. )

2006-03-30T00:37:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. John Climacus, Abbot
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-03-28T14:19:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-03-28T14:14:00.000-05:00

The Feast of Pope St. Sixtus III
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Tutilo, O.S.B..

2006-03-27T21:04:00.000-05:00

A big thank-you...
to Penitens for finding this article on a religious community I know. There's a link to their website on the right side of this blog. (My friend Sr. Maria Johanna doesn't seem to be mentioned in the article, but you can't have everything....)

2006-03-27T00:27:00.000-05:00

On March 27, 1877...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., wrote one of his replies in his lengthy correspondence with an Anglican canon, in which they debated about the "Roman claims". In previous letters, the canon had sent the Venerable a photograph of himself, and had also said that if one has the writings of four or five authors from the early Church, the papal teaching office is rendered unecessary.

My dear Canon Jenkins,
I ought before now to have thanked you for your photograph—which as a work of art is very good, though I did not observe, till your letter pointed out, the fault in the eyes. But I agree with you that photographists visit their unhappy sitters with too fierce a light which makes them frown, or shut their eyes or otherwise distort their features. But your own face shows nothing but patience, or serenity, under the infliction. It is young too for the age you tell me.

I am quite ready to take your quartett or quintett. Do you really think Celestine, Nestorius, Cyril, and John of Antioch would have been a possible court of final appeal? No more than the Kilkenny cats.
Yours most truly,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.

2006-03-27T00:10:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-03-25T00:56:00.000-05:00

"Haunted men do not write books about albino Unitarian assassins...."
Great commentary by the inimitable Fr. George Rutler.

Link courtesy of Open Book.

2006-03-25T00:20:00.000-05:00

The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
is today. There is information on it here.

"Our sweet Christ, the Word Incarnate, has given Himself to us for every thing that was necessary for us, even to the hard and ignominious death upon the Cross. " - St. Philip Neri

Mary is the "Mater Christi," the Mother of Christ
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Each of the titles of Mary has its own special meaning and drift, and may be made the subject of a distinct meditation. She is invoked by us as the Mother of Christ. What is the force of thus addressing her? It is to bring before us that she it is whom from the first was prophesied of, and associated with the hopes and prayers of all holy men, of all true worshippers of God, of all who "looked for the redemption of Israel" in every age before that redemption came.

Our Lord was called the Christ, or the Messias, by the Jewish prophets and the Jewish people. The two words Christ and Messias mean the same. They mean in English the "Anointed." In the old time there were three great ministries or offices by means of which God spoke to His chosen people, the Israelites, or, as they were afterward called, the Jews, viz., that of Priest, that of King, and that of Prophet. Those who were chosen by God for one or other of these offices were solemnly anointed with oil—oil signifying the grace of God, which was given to them for the due performance of their high duties. But our Lord was all three, a Priest, a Prophet, and a King—a Priest, because He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our sins; a Prophet, because He revealed to us the Holy Law of God; and a King, because He rules over us. Thus He is the one true Christ.

It was in expectation of this great Messias that the chosen people, the Jews, or Israelites, or Hebrews (for these are different names for the same people), looked out from age to age. He was to come to set all things right. And next to this great question which occupied their minds, namely, When was He to come, was the question, Who was to be His Mother? It had been told them from the first, not that He should come from heaven, but that He should be born of a Woman. At the time of the fall of Adam, God had said that the seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head. Who, then, was to be that Woman thus significantly pointed out to the fallen race of Adam? At the end of many centuries, it was further revealed to the Jews that the great Messias, or Christ, the seed of the Woman, should be born of their race, and of one particular tribe of the twelve tribes into which that race was divided. From that time every woman of that tribe hoped to have the great privilege of herself being the Mother of the Messias, or Christ; for it stood to reason, since He was so great, the Mother must be great, and good, and blessed too. Hence it was, among other reasons, that they thought so highly of the marriage state, because, not knowing the mystery of the miraculous conception of the Christ when He was actually to come, they thought that the marriage rite was the ordinance necessary for His coming.

Hence it was, if Mary had been as other women, she would have longed for marriage, as opening on her the prospect of bearing the great King. But she was too humble and too pure for such thoughts. She had been inspired to choose that better way of serving God which had not been made known to the Jews—the state of Virginity. She preferred to be His Spouse to being His Mother. Accordingly, when the Angel Gabriel announced to her her high destiny, she shrank from it till she was assured that it would not oblige her to revoke her purpose of a virgin life devoted to her God.

Thus was it that she became the Mother of the Christ, not in that way which pious women for so many ages had expected Him, but, declining the grace of such maternity, she gained it by means of a higher grace. And this is the full meaning of St. Elizabeth's words, when the Blessed Virgin came to visit her, which we use in the Hail Mary: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."

It is also the feast of St. Dismas the Good Thief, St. Lucia Filippini,M.F.P., Virgin and Foundress and Blessed James Bird, Martyr.

Finally, in the Tolkien-verse, it is the anniversary of the day the One Ring was destroyed.

"In Gondor the New Year will always now begin upon the twenty-fifth of March when Sauron fell, and when you were brought out of the fire to the King."
Gandalf to Samwise Gamgee, "The Field of Cormallen", The Lord of the Rings

2006-03-24T23:49:00.000-05:00

A friend noticed
that I apparently make a short appearance in this locally-produced TV show. When they were filming, I wasn't sure the clip of me would be used. It seems that it was.

2006-03-24T01:16:00.000-05:00

Knock, knock...
"Who's there ? "
" AAAAAUGH !"

2006-03-24T01:03:00.000-05:00

Sad, bizarre local story...
Please pray for this young woman. It seems that a predator took advantage of a confused, hurting teenager, and stole not only her innocence, but a decade of her life.

2006-03-24T00:50:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Catherine of Sweden, C.SS.S., Widow and Foundress
is today. There is information on her here. To any Bridgettines out there, blessed feast day !

2006-03-21T23:05:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-03-21T15:49:00.000-05:00

Please pray....
for Mr. Hand and his family, as they go through this terrible trial.

Link courtesy of Against the Grain.

2006-03-21T15:32:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Serapion the Scholastic, Bishop
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Enda of Arran, Priest and Abbot .

2006-03-20T02:08:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
was moved to today, since the normal feast date fell on Sunday. There is information on him here.

Consider the glorious titles of St. Joseph. His was the title of father of the Son of God, because he was the Spouse of Mary, ever Virgin. He was our Lord’s father, because Jesus ever yielded to him the obedience of a son. He was our Lord’s father, because to him were entrusted, and by him were faithfully fulfilled, the duties of a father, in protecting Him, giving Him a home, sustaining and rearing Him, and providing Him with a trade.

V. Blessed be the name of Joseph.
R. Henceforth and for ever. Amen.

LET US PRAY

God, who in Thine ineffable Providence didst vouchsafe to choose Blessed Joseph to be the husband of Thy most holy Mother, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may be made worthy to receive him for our intercessor in heaven, whom on earth we venerate as our holy Protector: who livest and reignest world without end. Amen.

Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., Meditations and Devotions

2006-03-16T01:28:00.000-05:00

From Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Now we are all but actors in this world; we are one and all equal, we shall be judged as equals as soon as life is over; yet, equal and similar in ourselves, each has his special part at present, each has his work, each has his mission,—not to indulge his passions, not to make money, not to get a name in the world, not to save himself trouble, not to follow his bent, not to be selfish and self-willed, but to do what God puts on him to do.

Look at that poor profligate in the Gospel, look at Dives; do you think he understood that his wealth was to be spent, not on himself, but for the glory of God?—yet for forgetting this, he was lost for ever and ever. I will tell you what he thought, and how he viewed things:—he was a young man, and had succeeded to a good estate, and he determined to enjoy himself. It did not strike him that his wealth had any other use than that of enabling him to take his pleasure. Lazarus lay at his gate; he might have relieved Lazarus; that was God's will; but he managed to put conscience aside, and he persuaded himself he should be a fool, if he did not make the most of this world, while he had the means. So he resolved to have his fill of pleasure; and feasting was to his mind a principal part of it. "He fared sumptuously every day;" everything belonging to him was in the best style, as men speak; his house, his furniture, his plate of silver and gold, his attendants, his establishments. Everything was for enjoyment, and for show too; to attract the eyes of the world, and to gain the applause and admiration of his equals, who were the companions of his sins. These companions were doubtless such as became a person of such pretensions; they were fashionable men; a collection of refined, high-bred, haughty men, eating, not gluttonously, but what was rare and costly; delicate, exact, fastidious in their taste, from their very habits of indulgence; not eating for the mere sake of eating, or drinking for the mere sake of drinking, but making a sort of science of their sensuality; sensual, carnal, as flesh and blood can be, with eyes, ears, tongue, steeped in impurity, every thought, look, and sense, witnessing or ministering to the evil one who ruled them; yet, with exquisite correctness of idea and judgment, laying down rules for sinning;—heartless and selfish, high, punctilious, and disdainful in their outward deportment, and shrinking from Lazarus, who lay at the gate, as an eye-sore, who ought for the sake of decency to be put out of the way. Dives was one of such, and so he lived his short span, thinking of nothing, loving nothing, but himself, till one day he got into a fatal quarrel with one of his godless associates, or he caught some bad illness; and then he lay helpless on his bed of pain, cursing fortune and his physician, that he was no better, and impatient that he was thus kept from enjoying his youth, trying to fancy himself mending when he was getting worse, and disgusted at those who would not throw him some word of comfort in his suspense, and turning more resolutely from his Creator in proportion to his suffering;—and then at last his day came, and he died, and (oh! miserable!) "was buried in hell". And so ended he and his mission.

2006-03-16T01:04:00.000-05:00

Some notes on Oratorian-related posts...
in the Catholic Blogosphere.
First, Zadok has a reminder that today is the anniversary of what is probably the most famous miracle wrought by the intercession of St. Philip.
Second, Summa Minutiae has a quote from the Venerable.
Finally, Irish and Dangerous has some impressive statistics from the Venerable's life. (Those were only in his lifetime - God alone knows how many people his writings have helped along since his death. )

2006-03-16T00:35:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. John Sordi, O.S.B., Bishop and Martyr
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Leocritia of Cordova, Virgin and Martyr , and Blessed John Amias, Robert Dalby, and William Hart, Priests and Martyrs.

2006-03-14T23:09:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-03-14T00:45:00.000-05:00

From A Letter Addressed to the Duke of Norfolk on Occasion of Mr. Gladstone's Recent Expostulation
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

The Church has the office of teaching, and the matter of that teaching is the body of doctrine, which the Apostles left behind them as her perpetual possession. If a question arises as to what the Apostolic doctrine is on a particular point, she has infallibility promised to her to enable her to answer correctly. And, as by the teaching of the Church is understood, not the teaching of this or that Bishop, but their united voice, and a Council is the form the Church must take, in order that all men may recognize that in fact she is teaching on any point in dispute, so in like manner the Pope must come before us in some special form or posture, if he is to be understood to be exercising his teaching office, and that form is called ex cathedrâ. This term is most appropriate, as being on one occasion used by our Lord Himself. When the Jewish doctors taught, they placed themselves in Moses' seat, and spoke ex cathedrâ; and then, as He tells us, they were to be obeyed by their people, and that, whatever were their private lives or characters. "The Scribes and Pharisees," He says, "are seated on the chair of Moses: all things therefore whatsoever they shall say to you, observe and do; but according to their works do you not, for they say and do not."

The forms, by which a General Council is identified as representing the Church herself, are too clear to need drawing out; but what is to be that moral cathedrâ, or teaching chair, in which the Pope sits, when he is to be recognized as in the exercise of his infallible teaching? the new definition answers this question. He speaks ex cathedrâ, or infallibly, when he speaks, first, as the Universal Teacher; secondly, in the name and with the authority of the Apostles; thirdly, on a point of faith or morals; fourthly, with the purpose of binding every member of the Church to accept and believe his decision.

2006-03-14T00:18:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Matilda, Queen and Widow
is today. There is information on her here.
It is also the feast of St. Leobinus of Chartres, O.S.B., Bishop .

2006-03-13T20:50:00.000-05:00

Checke outte
the syte ycleped Geoffrey Chaucer Hath A Blog.

Linke by the courtessee of Summa Minutiae.

2006-03-13T15:30:00.000-05:00

Three cheers for Dave Armstrong !
He's done a major update of his mega-links page on the Venerable.

2006-03-13T00:57:00.000-05:00

Blogging by request...
A friend of mine has asked me to note that he is trying to revamp the St. Blog's Drinking Game.

2006-03-13T00:49:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Euphrasia, Virgin
is today. There is information on her here.
It is also the feast of St. Roderick, Priest and Martyr, and St. Heldrad, O.S.B., Abbot, known for, among other things, greatly expanding the abbey library. (A saint after my own heart !)

2006-03-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-03-07T01:05:00.000-05:00

The Feast of Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, Martyrs
is today. There is information on them here and here.
It is also the feast of St. Teresa Margaret Redi, O.C.D., Virgin, Blessed German Gardiner, Martyr , Blessed John Ireland, Priest and Martyr, and Blessed John Larke, Priest and Martyr.

2006-03-06T20:39:00.000-05:00

From Parochial and Plain Sermons
by Venerable John Henry Newman

We are told then expressly, that good and bad shall see God. On the one hand holy Job says, "Though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another." On the other hand unrighteous Balaam says, "I shall see Him, but not now; I shall behold Him, but not nigh; there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel." Christ says to His disciples, "Look up, and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh;" and to His enemies, "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." And it is said generally of all men, on the one hand, "Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also which pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." And on the other, "When He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." Again, "Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:" and again, "They shall see His face; and His Name shall be in their foreheads." [Job xix. 26, 27. Numb. xxiv. 17. Luke xxi. 28. Matt. xxvi. 64. Rev. i. 7. 1 John iii. 2. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Rev. xxii. 4.]

And, as they see Him, so will He see them, for His coming will be to judge them. "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ," says St. Paul. Again, "We shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." And again, "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy Angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. And before Him shall be gathered all nations; and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." [2 Cor. v. 10. Rom. xiv. 10-12. Matt. xxv. 31, 32.]

Such is our first meeting with our God; and, I say, it will be as sudden as it is intimate. "Yourselves know perfectly," says St. Paul, "that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them." This is said of the wicked,—elsewhere He is said to surprise good as well as bad. "While the Bridegroom tarried," the wise and foolish virgins "all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." [1 Thess. v. 2, 3. Matt. xxv. 5, 6.]

2006-03-06T20:14:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Chrodegang of Metz, Bishop
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Colette, P.C.C., Virgin and Foundress, and St. Rose of Viterbo, Virgin.

2006-02-28T00:58:00.000-05:00

On February 28, 1858...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., gave some catechetical instructions, of which the following notes survive:

First Article of the Creed
1. I have been many weeks engaged in explaining what the Creed is, what is the need of it, and similar questions. Now then at length we proceed to consider what it contains.

2. The first article begins, 'I believe in God,' or, as in the Nicene, 'I believe in one God.'

3. Explain what we mean by God, viz. the one being of beings, self-dependent, etc., all-powerful, could create infinite worlds, each more beautiful than the one before, with all other infinite attributes; yet what we know of Him is infinitely less than what we do not know.

4. Here, then, you see the Creed opens in mystery, and what is remarkable, though it is a point of faith, it is also a point of reason. Hence the heathen philosopher asked one, two, four, eight, etc., days to determine about God. Then in the Mass—tremunt potestates—the name of God not pronounced by the Jews. It is what every child understands, who prays to God, as far as the highest intellect.

5. Here you see what is meant by saying that faith is against reason, viz. above, because reason itself comes to truths which it cannot comprehend.

6. There is no article in the whole Catholic faith more mysterious than this, which is the elementary one—nay, which is the belief of nature, too, without grace, which Protestants hold.

2006-02-28T00:46:00.000-05:00

The Feast of Pope St. Hilary
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of Pope St. Gregory II, and St. Hedwig .

2006-02-27T13:03:00.000-05:00

She claims it's somewhat exagerrated....
but I still ought to link to this story about a lady I know. Prayers for the young man involved would be welcome.

2006-02-27T01:04:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Leander of Seville, O.S.B., Bishop
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, C.P. , St. Anne Line, Martyr, Blessed Mark Barkworth, O.S.B., Priest and Martyr , and Blessed Roger Filcock, S.J., Priest and Martyr.

2006-02-24T02:37:00.000-05:00

On February 24, 1861
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., preached a sermon, of which the following notes survive:

State of Innocence
1. INTROD.—State of our first parents. Image and likeness .

2. Image in nature. All things are in a way in the image of God, as being His creatures. Man in a special way.

Soul (1) a spirit; (2) immortality; (3) knowledge illimitable ; (4) free will; (5) Godlikeness, as Satan said .

Body—beautifulness, perfection of form, etc., etc. but still defects.

Soul—passions against reason; body—mortality.

Thirdly, war of soul with body, as having different ends. Strange the body cannot be without the soul, nor the soul well without the body; yet they cannot agree together.

3. Almighty God knows what He has created, and therefore He did not leave man thus, but gave him a supernatural gift.

4. Likeness—(explain)—sanctity. In fact [also] health and strength, viz. three subjections: (1) Soul to God, (2) passions to reason, and (3) body to soul .

5. Hence a knowledge of mysteries. An absence of passions, only good affections.

6. Yet we need not lament paradise—on account of the future glory promised to us.

7. 'Lest he take of the tree of life.'

2006-02-24T02:26:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Praetextatus, Bishop and Martyr
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-02-23T00:32:00.000-05:00

Mr. Riddle....
has a fine post with an extensive quotation from the Venerable.

2006-02-23T00:19:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Bishop and Martyr
is today. There is information on him here.

Hear St. Polycarp's words, when the heathen magistrate urged him to blaspheme Christ: "Eighty and six years," said he, "have I served Him, and He hath never wronged me; and how can I blaspheme my King, who hath saved me?"

Venerable John Henry Newman, Sermons Bearing on Subjects of the Day

2006-02-22T00:56:00.000-05:00

AAAAAUUUUGH !
My mother became ill over the weekend. She's feeling much better now, but in all my flurry I missed the Venerable's birthday !
Prayers for his canonization would be most welcome anyway. .... sigh....

2006-02-16T13:30:00.000-05:00

I have a soft spot for sighthounds...
so I noticed this story. Perhaps people could ask St. Francis of Assisi to intercede for this lost dog .

2006-02-16T13:25:00.000-05:00

After watching the way my rattie boys...
zero in on food, I'm not surprised by this at all.

2006-02-16T12:08:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Onesimus
is today. There is information on him here.
It is also the feast of St. Gilbert of Sempringham, Priest and Founder.

2006-02-14T23:23:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Carnival
is up.

2006-02-14T01:06:00.000-05:00

On February 14, 1853...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., wrote to a friend with sad news. One of the Fathers of the recently established Birmingham Oratory had gone to his reward:

I am just going to sing a solemn Mass for the soul of our dearest Father Joseph Gordon, the news of whose death came by telegraph at ten last night. You may think in what grief we all are ... God's will be done. It is quite taking away the Spring of our year, but St. Philip knows what he is about. When I was engaged in building this house, I kept saying "Now mind me, we shall have crosses to take up for so fine a place"—and we have had a succession so great, that we alone can understand them. We talked of the chance of bereavement—I think with dear Father Joseph—little thinking it would be he.

2006-02-14T00:51:00.000-05:00

The Feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius
is today. There is information on them here and here.
The feast of the Sts. Valentine is today. Some years ago, I posted a poem by the Venerable which he wrote for the young daughter of a friend. Here it is again:

Valentine to a Little Girl
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

Little maiden, dost thou pine
For a faithful Valentine?
Art thou scanning timidly
Every face that meets thine eye?
Art thou fancying there may be
Fairer face than thou dost see?
Little maiden, scholar mine,
Wouldst thou have a Valentine?

Go and ask, my little child,
Ask the Mother undefiled:
Ask, for she will draw thee near,
And will whisper in thine ear:—
"Valentine! the name is good;
For it comes of lineage high,
And a famous family:
And it tells of gentle blood,
Noble blood,—and nobler still,
For its owner freely pour'd
Every drop there was to spill
In the quarrel of his Lord.
Valentine! I know the name,
Many martyrs bear the same;
And they stand in glittering ring
Round their warrior God and King, —
Who before and for them bled,—
With their robes of ruby red,
And their swords of cherub flame."

Yes! there is a plenty there,
Knights without reproach or fear,—
Such St. Denys, such St. George,
Martin, Maurice, Theodore,
And a hundred thousand more;
Guerdon gain'd and warfare o'er,
By that sea without a surge,
And beneath the eternal sky,
And the beatific Sun,
In Jerusalem above,
Valentine is every one;
Choose from out that company
Whom to serve, and whom to love.

The Oratory.
1850.

It is also the feast of Blessed Vicente Vilar David, Martyr.

2006-02-13T00:26:00.000-05:00

The Feast of Blessed Jordan of Saxony, O.P., Priest
is today. There is information on him here.

2006-02-10T12:57:00.000-05:00

Now this....
is one tough mama !

2006-02-10T00:46:00.000-05:00

On February 10th, 1869...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., wrote to his old friend, Sr. Maria Pia Giberne, about his decision not to be a peritus at the First Vatican Council.

Don't be annoyed. I am more happy as I am, than in any other way. I can't bear the kind of trouble which I should have, if I were brought forward in any public way. Recollect, I could not be in the Council, unless I were a Bishop—and really and truly I am not a theologian. A theologian is one who has mastered theology—who can say how many opinions there are on every point, what authors have taken which, and which is the best—who can discriminate exactly between proposition and proposition, argument and argument, who can pronounce which are safe, which allowable, which dangerous—who can trace the history of doctrines in successive centuries, and apply the principles of former times to the conditions of the present. This it is to be a theologian—this and a hundred things besides—which I am not, and never shall be. Like St. Gregory Nazianzen, I like going on my own way, and having my time my own, living without pomp or state, or pressing engagements. Put me into official garb, and I am worth nothing; leave me to myself, and every now and then I shall do something. Dress me up, and you will soon have to make my shroud—leave me alone, and I shall live the appointed time.

2006-02-10T00:34:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Scholastica, O.S.B., Virgin
is today. There is information on her here. A blessed feast day to all the Benedictines out there, especially those of St. Vincent Archabbey and St. Emma Monastery !

2006-02-09T01:01:00.000-05:00

On February 9th, 1851...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., preached a sermon, of which the following notes survive:

On the Descent into Egypt

1. INTROD.—There is one subject not much thought of, the descent into Egypt, though belonging to this season, and it may be accounted one of the Epiphanies of Christ. (1) Magi; (2) purification; (3) idol-breaking in Egypt, for as the Ark levelling the walls of Jericho, and [overthrowing] Dagon, so much more Christ.

2. Circumstances. How one journey to Bethlehem—then they got home to Nazareth—not enough, must set out again. It is remarkable that these first years were spent in a heathen country. There till seven years old.

3. Now why? I will give you a reason. He would undergo every suffering; He would be in a heathen country to share the trials of His apostles and missioners. In Jerusalem was the Temple of God, in the Holy Land His religion; but even there He chose not the Temple, but Nazareth—and the first years of His life Heliopolis, in heathen Egypt.

4. Now it must not be supposed that our Lord was too young to have a trial. (Explain.) Ignorance came from the fall. He was as sensitive [in childhood] as [we] when we are grown. Thus He saw all the evil of the place; and as His body made Him feel in the crucifixion, so His soul was exposed to moral sufferings from the first.

5. And the suffering was greater than we conceive. To live among heathens is a misery, the greater, the purer the mind—Lot in Sodom, St. Paul at Athens—the world is everywhere, and we can understand from a country which is not heathen, such as this, how evil it is, though it would be a great deal worse [among heathens].

6. Even in this country, I say, which is not heathen, the misery of being in the world is great to any holy mind. Take e.g. a city like this, and fancy the thoughts of an apostle in it. Could he go about it freely? A continual service of the devil here. How? By sins of the tongue; not like the seven Catholic Hours coming at intervals, but incessantly; a continual light talk in a thousand places, from morning to night, with scarce breaks. Who is honoured like the devil? Blasphemy and immodesty, so that most men's mouths and all men's ears are polluted from year to year's end. And are not their hearts too? Then imagination. Alas! this is why the devil loves the bad talk; it is the pabulum, the silva of corruption; it sets the heart on fire, as shavings round the wood and coal for a fire. I don't know anything more awful. Other sins men commit from time to time, but this one now. The evil concupiscence boils over and burns without exhaustion, and involves every one, so that religious people are like the Three Children [in the fiery furnace].—and how many, many fall!

7. Well this, bad as it is, is not so bad as Egypt, as heathen Heliopolis, for this country has been Catholic—remains of good, which have soaked in. Grant that a modern city is a furnace of sin—yet it [sin] was deified in Egypt. Vices canonised in animals—heathen idolatry—all vices made gods—the world lieth in wickedness, etc. the god of this world, etc. —the prince of the power of this air, of the spirit that now worketh on the children of unbelief . O misery of the infant Jesus walking in the streets! St. Aloysius fainting at the mention of a mortal sin—smell—saints detecting mortal sin [by its smell]. As sick men cannot bear strong scent or sound, so purity here. What a living martyrdom, etc.

8. I have said He did this for our sakes, to taste every trial, to sanctify every state, to sanctify the state of those who live in the world.

9. You who live in the world, resist evil. On confraternities—third order of St. Francis, and so allude to the Oratorium Parvum. Your confessors may, or may not, from not liking to put burdens on you, speak of these.

2006-02-09T00:53:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Miguel Febres Cordero Muñoz, F.S.C.
is today. They is information on him here. To any Christian Brothers out there, blessed feast day !

It is also the feast of St. Apollonia, Virgin and Martyr, and Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, Virgin.

2006-02-08T01:00:00.000-05:00

From Fifteen Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford
by Venerable John Henry Newman

What is called Philosophy, Wisdom, or Enlargement of mind, has some intimate dependence upon the acquisition of Knowledge; and Scripture seems to say the same thing. "God gave Solomon," says the inspired writer, "wisdom and understanding, exceeding much, and largeness of heart even as the sand that is on the sea shore ... And he spake three thousand proverbs, and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. He spake also of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things and of fishes." And again, when the Queen of Sheba came, "Solomon told her all her questions; there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not." And in like manner St. Paul, after speaking of the Wisdom of the perfect, calls it a revelation, a knowledge, of the things of God, such as the natural man "discerneth" not. And in another Epistle, evidently speaking of the same Wisdom, he prays that his brethren may be given to "comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that they might be filled with all the fulness of God."

However, a very little consideration will make it plain also, that knowledge itself, though a condition of the mind's enlargement, yet, whatever be its range, is not that very thing which enlarges it. Rather the foregoing instances show that this enlargement consists in the comparison of the subjects of knowledge one with another. We feel ourselves to be ranging freely, when we not only learn something, but when we also refer it to what we knew before. It is not the mere addition to our knowledge which is the enlargement, but the change of place, the movement onwards, of that moral centre, to which what we know and what we have been acquiring, the whole mass of our knowledge, as it were, gravitates. And therefore a philosophical cast of thought, or a comprehensive mind, or wisdom in conduct or policy, implies a connected view of the old with the new; an insight into the bearing and influence of each part upon every other; without which there is no whole, and could be no centre. It is the knowledge, not only of things, but of their mutual relations. It is organized, and therefore living knowledge.

2006-02-08T00:32:00.000-05:00

The Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita,F.D.C.C., Virgin
is today. There is information on her here.
It is also the feast of St. John of Matha, O.SS. T., Priest and Founder, and St. Jerome Emiliani, C.R.C.S., Priest and Founder.
To any Canossian Daughters of Charity, Trinitarians, or Somascan Fathers out there, blessed feast day !

2006-02-06T23:27:00.000-05:00

The Catholic Carnival...
is up.

2006-02-06T02:13:00.000-05:00

The Feast of the Martyrs of Nagasaki
is today. There is information on them here. Prayers for the growth and spread of the Church in Japan would be most welcome.

The only reason for my being killed is that I have taught the doctrine of Christ. I thank God it is for this reason that I die. I believe that I am telling the truth before I die. I know you believe me and I want to say to you all once again: Ask Christ to help you become happy. I obey Christ. After Christ's example, I forgive my persecutors. I do not hate them. I ask God to have pity on all, and I hope my blood will fall on my fellow men as a fruitful rain.

- St. Paul Miki, S.J.