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10 Mar
2013
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10 Mar
2013
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28 Feb
2013
Now mind you, I have absolutely positively nothing against Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and its “Cycle for Survival” (whatever frivolous fundraising function that might be) but on the first of March the Empire State Building should not be lit orange/orange/orange but rather green/red/white in honor of the Welsh nation on the occasion of its patronal feast, St. David of Wales.
From the venerable and veracious Catholic Encyclopedia: “Bishop and Confessor, patron of Wales. He is usually represented standing on a little hill, with a dove on his shoulder. From time immemorial the Welsh have worn a leek on St. David’s Day, in memory of a battle against the Saxons, at which it is said they wore leeks in their hats, by St. David’s advice, to distinguish them from their enemies. He is commemorated on 1 March. The earliest mention of St. David is found in a tenth-century manuscript of the “Annales Cambriae”, which assigns his death to A.D. 601. Many other writers, from Geoffrey of Monmouth down to Father Richard Stanton, hold that he died about 544, but their opinion is based solely on data given in various late “lives” of St. David, and there seems no good reason for setting aside the definite statement of the “Annales Cambriae”, which is now generally accepted. Little else that can claim to be historical is known about St. David. The tradition that he was born at Henvynyw (Vetus-Menevia) in Cardiganshire is not improbable. He was prominent at the Synod of Brevi (Llandewi Brefi in Cardiganshire), which has been identified with the important Roman military station, Loventium. Shortly afterwards, in 569, he presided over another synod held at a place called Lucus Victoriae. He was Bishop (probably not Archbishop) of Menevia, the Roman port Menapia in Pembrokeshire, later known as St. David’s, then the chief point of departure for Ireland. St. David was canonized by Pope Callistus II in the year 1120. This is all that is known to history about the patron of Wales. His legend, however, is much more elaborate, and entirely unreliable.”
So simply skipping over the pious premise that he was an uncle to King Arthur and other inventive inaccuracies meant to support the claims of the Welsh episcopate’s independence from the see of St. Augustine at Canterbury let us turn quickly to a couple of cute and quaint customs (mainly culinary) wherein devotedly and domestically this feast may be solemnized. Firstly we have the delightfully dainty daffodil, Amaryllidoideae Narcissus, the Welsh national flower, which is worn on this day. Not only is it particularly prettier (confer its scientific name above), it will not be maliciously malodorous in complete contradistinction to other the national emblem, which appeared on the coronation gown of Queen Elizabeth II, the Amaryllidaceae Allioideae, the lavishly lovely leek. Whichever variety of vegetation is victorious in completing one’s holy haberdashery an entertaining extension of this delicious devotion would be to grow the particular plant at least in a pot on the windowsill. Those with a modest modicum of artistic ability may daringly draw and decorate said conventional containers cleverly with vicarious visuals such as the Flag of Wales and the Flag of Saint David. Then there are totally tasty treats, the recipes which are available on wales.com, such as Cawl, a traditional Welsh soup; Bara Brith, a rich fruit loaf made with tea (sometimes known as ‘speckled bread’); Glamorgan Sausages; Welsh Rarebit;and the scone-like Welsh Cakes.
Of course one can simply refresh the palate with a potent pint of Welsh Ale that might be making the rounds for the national day. After dropping off a big box of leeks at 350 Fifth Avenue.
Mr. Screwtape
26 Feb
2013
Once upon a time in a neighborhood in Brooklyn that one had not the pleasure of ever visiting previously this ridiculous redactor was walking a friend home. Midway in the walk, the friend (who was a transplant to the center of civilization from the forsaken barbarian land of Ohio) stopped and broke into laughter almost hysterically. “What’s so funny?” one asked perplexed. “You,” stammered forth the response, “You’ve never been here before, right?” Which query one affirmed simply with a terse “That’s right.” After another gregarious giggle, the friend exclaimed, “But you look like you belong here!” Solemnly speaking this miffed Manhattanite decisively declared: “Well, when you’ve grown up in New York you sure as beans better look like you know where you’re going before something happens to you!”
This little lesson in savvy street survival smoothly segues to the simple story of a saintly scrawny scholastic and unlikely patron saint of self-defense, Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin. There are some variations on the story and the one that I have chosen to relate is probably the least canonical but perhaps most colorful. The year 1860 was quite tumultuous in the soon-to-be-non-existent Papal States, as the apostolic works of many religious orders were curtly curtailed by the new national Italian government. Without the merciful moderating ministrations of Holy Mother Church, the naturally rowdy Italian countryside made the contemporaneous American Wild West look positively civilized.The Passionists moved their novices, including one Br. Gabriel Possenti to the town of Isola in the Abruzzi Mountains of the Kingdom of Naples. Now for the fun part. A terrible troop of mean marauders belligerently burst into the terrified town. They got near the Passionist monastery while loudly and liberally violating the second commandment. Coming to a second floor balcony our pious protagonist properly protested the impious incursion. The apparent leader scoffed out loud and challenged: “So waddaya gonna do about it, Skinny?” Now staying at the monastery’s infirmary was a wounded constable from whom the simple son of St. Paul of the Cross borrowed a sidearm.
“Good Sir, do you see that lizard by your feet?,” was our holy hero’s rebuttal.
“Yeah, so what? Youze gonna tell it ta bite me? Hah,” the belligerent buffon scoffed.
Promptly St. Gabriel pulled out the handgun and shot the unfortunate lizard straight between the eyes.
After making a small puddle where he stood, the leader of the mellowed mauraders stammered: “So, so sorry, good Reverend Brudder, that we, um, boddered ya. Bye!”
While the Congregation for Divine Worship, whose competence it is to declare in these matters, seems to have accidentally misfiled the application by the St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc. (“An Organization Dedicated to Promoting St. Gabriel Possenti as the Patron Saint of Handgunners”) of PO Box 183, Cabin John, Maryland 20818 perhaps it is not inappropriate for the sensus fidelium to invoke him as the patron saint of the Second Amendment.
Mr. Screwtape
4 Dec
2012
St Barbara in Vierzehnheiligen (“Fourteen Holy Helpers”)
In the late 1960s many little girls playfully imagined that they were the purple suited, fiery wig wearing acrobatic adventurer Batgirl! Of course the tiny titans were also interestingly intrigued by her civilian identity as Police Commissioner Gordon’s daughter who held the imposingly important job of Head Librarian of the Gotham City Library and whose name was Barbara.
Okay, I know that’s not the most serious segue but what do you expect from this Joker?
Switching Sixties screen symbolizations let us quoth from Around the Year with the Trapp Family by Maria Augusta Trapp regarding the Barbarazweig or Barbara Branch: “On the fourth of December, unmarried members of the household are supposed to go out into the orchard and cut twigs from the cherry trees and put them into water. There is an old belief that whoever’s cherry twig blossoms on Christmas Day can expect to get married in the following year. As most of us are always on tour at this time of the year, someone at home will be commissioned to “cut the cherry twigs.” These will be put in a vase in a dark corner, each one with a name tag, and on Christmas Day they will be eagerly examined; and even if they are good for nothing else, they provide a nice table decoration for the Christmas dinner.”
One of the medieval super-team known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers, St. Barbara is the patroness of artillerymen, military engineers, miners and others who work with explosives, fireworks manufacturers, firemen, stone masons and also of mathematicians; she is also invoked against sudden death, against fires, and against storms (especially lightning storms). Her feast is celebrated by the British (Royal Artillery, RAF Armourers), Australian (Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery, RAAF Armourers), Canadian (Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians (EOD), Canadian Air Force Armourers, Royal Canadian Artillery, Canadian Military Field Engineers, Royal Canadian Navy Weapons Engineering Technicians), New Zealand (RNZAF Armourers, RNZA, RNZN Gunners Branch) armed forces. Additionally, it’s celebrated by Irish Defence Forces Artillery Regiments, Norwegian Armed Forces Artillery Battalion, United States Army and Marine Corps Field and Air Defense Artillery, many Marine Corps Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technicians, and other Artillery formations. In art she is usually depicted as standing by a tower with three windows, carrying a palm branch and a chalice, sometimes with cannons by her side.
Biff! Bam! Kapow!
Mr. Screwtape
24 Nov
2012
St. Catherine of Alexandria from the facade of St. Vincent Ferrer in New York. Once one of the greatest of saints in the West – as she still is in the East – St Catherine was struck off the Roman calendar in 1969 but was later “rehabilitated.”
According to myriad medieval manuscripts St. Catherine, a member of the original super powered squad known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers, was a brilliantly bright young woman of birth noble who went before his imperious Imperator Maximinus to quietly correct him for worshiping ersatz eternals and to unabashedly upbraid him for his pernicious persecution of Christians. Some of his incredibly inscrutable scholars and famously fine philosophers were canonically commissioned to definitively debate our holy heroine but she ended up confounding and converting many of them, so they were painfully put to death and Catherine was beaten and jailed. The Emperor’s good wife, interestingly intrigued by Catherine, went to visit her with the leader of the Emperor’s troops. They, too, (naturally) were converted and (of course) put to death. Then came Catherine’s turn; she was condemned to die on the wheel, but when she touched it, it suddenly shattered. Exasperated Max had her beheaded. Legend says that the angels carried her body to Mt. Sinai, where a monastery under her patronage was established and flourishes to this day under the care of Orthodox monks. Over 1,100 years following her martyrdom, St. Catherine was identified as one of the Saints who appeared and counselled, along with St. Margaret and St. Michael, St. Joan of Arc.
Now for the fun stuff……On St. Catherine’s Day, the twenty fifth of November, it is quaintly customary for unmarried women to pray for husbands, and to honor women who’ve reached 25 years of age but haven’t married — called “Catherinettes” in France. Catherinettes send postcards to each other, and friends of the Catherinettes make hats for them – traditionally using the colors yellow (faith) and green (wisdom), often outlandishly outrageous – and crown them for the day. Pilgrimage is made to St. Catherine’s statue, and she is asked to intercede in finding husbands for the unmarried lest they “don St. Catherine’s bonnet” and become spinsters. The Catherinettes are supposed to wear the hat all day long, and they are usually feted with a meal among friends. Because of this hat-wearing custom, French milliners have big parades to show off their wares on this day. The French say that before a girl reaches 25, she prays: “Donnez-moi, Seigneur, un mari de bon lieu! Qu’il soit doux, opulent, libéral et agréable!” (Lord, give me a well-situated husband. Let him be gentle, rich, generous, and pleasant!”) After 25, she prays: “Seigneur, un qui soit supportable, ou qui, parmi le monde, au moins puisse passer!” (Lord, one who’s bearable, or who can at least pass as bearable in the world!”) And when she’s pushing 30: “Un tel qu’il te plaira Seigneur, je m’en contente!” (“Send whatever you want, Lord; I’ll take it!”). An English version goes, “St Catherine, St Catherine, O lend me thine aid. And grant that I never may die an old maid.”
And for pious pyromaniacs there is the Catherine Wheel which is a type of firework consisting of a powder-filled spiral tube, mounted with a pin through its center. When lit it rotates quickly, producing a dazzling display of spectacular sparks and captivating colored flame.
Now, now Ladies, pretty please put those matches down….. I only relate the old legends, I don’t always endorse them…. Really……
Mr. Screwtape
2 Catherinettes in Paris in 1909. This custom continues to the present day among workers in the fashion industry in France. (source “Catherinettes” fr.wikipedia.org)
16 Nov
2012
On Saturday, November 17th the Society of Saint Hugh of Cluny invites you to the First Annual Hispanic Heritage Pilgrimage In Honor Of Our Lady of Divine Providence Patroness of Puerto Rico. Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 10 AM at The Church of Saint Catherine of Genoa Between Amsterdam & Broadway 506 West 153rd Street New York, NY 10031 Followed by a visit to The Hispanic Society of America located on Audubon Terrace, Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets.
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Angeli et Amici: Back in the bad old days when the East Village was a dangerous place to grow up but still a neighborhood to raise a family, a little lad six years old, maybe six and a half, first had his heart stolen. She was a vivacious brunette, perhaps auburn if memory serves one correctly, with round bright eyes and an infectious smile. Her name was “Provi”, short for Providencia the patroness of Puerto Rico. The name and worship of Our Lady of the Divine Providence originated in Italy in the thirteenth century. It was a very popular devotion which later passed to Spain, where a shrine was built in Tarragona, Catalonia. When Gil Esteve Tomas, a Catalan, was named bishop of Puerto Rico, he brought with him this devotion which he had become acquainted with during his seminary years. The bishop had to place his diocese in the hands of Divine Providence, for he found the cathedral nearly in ruins and the finances of the diocese in similar condition. The bishop’s trust and work bore fruit quickly; in less than five years the cathedral church had been restored, and immediately worship of the Virgin of Providence was established there. The original image, venerated by the Servants of Mary, and other Italian religious orders and saints, was a beautiful oil painting in which the Virgin is shown with the Divine Child sleeping peacefully in her arms. The title “Of Divine Providence” has been attributed to St. Philip Benicio, fifth superior of the Servants of Mary. On a day when his friars had nothing to eat, having invoked the help of the Virgin, he found, at the door of the convent, two baskets full of food whose origin could not be found. The image that Don Gil Esteve ordered was carved in Barcelona according to the prevailing taste. It is a handsome seated figure, made to be dressed, and it was in the cathedral sixty-seven years, until 1920 when it was replaced by a magnificent all wood carving, which is the image of Our Lady of Divine Providence most familiar and best known to the Puerto Rican communities. Mary leans over the Child, who in an attitude of complete trust sleeps peacefully on her lap. The Virgin’s hands are folded in prayer while she gently supports her Son’s left hand. The whole carving suggests tenderness, abandonment, devotion and peace. Pope Paul VI, by a decree signed on November 19, 1969, declared Our Lady Mother of Divine Providence principal patroness of the island of Puerto Rico. In this document it was also decreed that the Virgin’s solemnity be transferred from January 2 to November 19, the day that the island was discovered. The intention was to join together the two great loves of the Puerto Ricans: love of their gorgeous island and love for the Mother of God.With humble and happy heart one sincerely shares a pious project to promote “La Providencia”: On Saturday, November 17th The Society of Saint Hugh of Cluny invites you to the First Annual Hispanic Heritage Pilgrimage In Honor Of Our Lady of Divine Providence Patroness of Puerto Rico. Solemn Mass in the Extraordinary Form at 10 AM at The Church of Saint Catherine of Genoa Between Amsterdam & Broadway 506 West 153rd Street New York, NY 10031 Followed by a visit to The Hispanic Society of America located on Audubon Terrace, Broadway between 155 and 156 Streets. Mr. Screwtape To get back to the top of this e-pistle…….a Catholic gentleman would never kiss and tell! |
12 Oct
2012
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7 Oct
2012
Many people are quite familiar with the diminutive devotional paperback prayer pamphlet with the pious picture of Michelangelo’s Pieta which leads off with the (sometimes simultaneously)
Mr. Screwtape
22 Sep
2012
New York City Transit operates approximately 4,500 buses in revenue service. Each year as rolling stock ages out over an average twelve year life span, the agency purchases between 300-400 new buses to refresh the fleet. With such large parameters the Transit Authority prudentially probes various vehicular varieties. A few years ago for thirty days on the hard-boiled streets of the Big Apple on a route that is a successor to the fabled Third Avenue Elevated of yore was field tested one of the more popular bus models of Europe. Its model series alphanumerical designation is O530 and its brand name is Citaro. Its manufacturer is Mercedes-Benz.
Now that would have given new meaning to the phrase, “I’m waiting for my Mercedes”!
As any amateur aficionado of automotive avocation will attest to, the appellation derives from the affection of an Austrian aristocrat, Emil Jellineck. At the threshold of the twentieth century, in order to promote among the higher eschelons of society the powerful products of the Daimler Motoren-Gesellschaft, Jellineck entered the nascent automotive race meets under the sobriquet “Monsieur Mercedes”. He borrowed the name from his beloved daughter who was born in 1889.
This last segue of course leads us the pious purpose of this e-pistle which is the origin of the popular Spanish girls’ name Mercedes. Thanks to our good friends at the University of Dayton: The story of Our Lady of Ransom is, at its outset, that of Saint Peter Nolasco, born in Languedoc about 1189. He conceived the idea of establishing a religious order for the redemption of captives seized by the Moors on the seas and in Spain itself; they were being cruelly tormented in their African prisons to make them deny their faith. On August 1, 1218 the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Peter, to his confessor, Raymund of Peñafort, and to King James I, and through these three servants of God established a work of the most perfect charity, the redemption of captives. Its members would undertake to deliver Christian captives and offer themselves, if necessary, as payment. Word of the apparition soon spread over the entire kingdom, and on August 10 the king went to the cathedral for a Mass celebrated by the bishop of Barcelona during which Saint Raymund narrated his vision with admirable eloquence and fervor. The king besought the blessing of the bishop for the heaven-sent plan, and the bishop bestowed the habit on Saint Peter, who emitted the solemn vow to give himself as a hostage if necessary. The Order, thus solemnly established in Spain, was approved by Gregory IX under the name of Our Lady of Mercy and spread rapidly. Eventually a feast day was instituted and observed on September 24, first in the religious order, then in Spain and France, and on February 22, 1696 Innocent XII extended it to the entire Church. To this day, the Mercedarians keep this day as a first class feast, with a vigil, privileged octave, and proper Office under the title: Solemnitas Descensionis B. Mariæ V. de Mercede.
Our Lady of Ransom is the principal patron of Barcelona; the proper Office was extended to Barcelona (1868) and to all Spain (second class, 1883). Sicily, which had suffered so much from the Saracens, took up the old date of the feast (Sunday nearest to August 1) by permission of the Congregation of Rites of August 31, 1805. In England the devotion to Our Lady of Ransom was revived in modern times to obtain the rescue of England as Our Lady’s Dowry.
Something to meditate upon while you’re fiddling with your metrocard waiting for the apparently inconsiderately inconveniencing delayed bus!
Mr. Screwtape