Peace and union are the most necessary of all things for men who live in common, and nothing serves so well to establish and maintain these as the forbearing charity whereby we put up with one another’s defects. (Saint Robert Bellarmine, Cardinal and Doctor of the Church, +1621)
Month: September 2020
Pergolesi’s Sublime Stabat Mater
This versions of the Stabat Mater – the classic 13th century hymn in praise of Our Lady of Sorrows – put to music by baroque composer Giovanni Batista Pergolesi is one of his most enduring, beloved works – and also his last, composed in 1736 on his deathbed at the tender age of 26, as[…]
For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his. (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, +1090)
So great and outstanding a possession is the cross that he who wins it has won a treasure. Rightly could I call this treasure the fairest of all fair things and the costliest, in fact as well as in name, for on it and through it and for its sake the riches of salvation that[…]
The Unjust Steward, Humility and the Libido Dominandi
Remember the commandments, and do not be angry with your neighbour; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults (Sir. 28:7). ⧾ The parable of the unjust steward that we have just heard evidently speaks to us of forgiveness. We know that parables were characteristic of Our Lord’s preaching and all of them[…]
Sunday Musical Selection: Mendelsshon’s Violin Concerto in E Minor
Mendelsshon wrote his final great symphonic work in the mid-19th century, first published in 1844, and performed the year after, taking six years to complete this masterpiece, one of the most frequently played in the violin repertoire. It is a sublime, technically superior work. The subtitle for this piece is a ‘play along’, with the[…]
Damsels in Distress (2012): A Film Review
Immediately before the credits roll, a notice appears on the screen to the effect that footnotes will follow. There are some, but they flash by too quickly for even the most knowledgeable viewer to catch; for the film, fresh as it is, draws upon a host of cinematic, literary and dramatic precursors. The most obvious[…]
And the Virgin’s Name was Mary
In honour of this memorial of the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin, we might peruse Pope Saint John Paul II’s encyclical on the Rosary, Rosarium Virginis Mariae, which he promulgated on the 25th anniversary of the beginning of his pontificate, October 16th, 2002, about the same time as he re-instituted this memorial of the Holy[…]
In dangers, in anguish, in doubt, think of Mary, call upon Mary. Let her name be ever on your lips, ever in your heart; and the better to obtain the help of her prayers, imitate the example of her life. Following her, you do not stray; invoking her, you do not despair; thinking of her,[…]
Islam survives. Its religion is intact; therefore its material strength may return. Our religion is in peril, and who can be confident in the continued skill, let alone the continued obedience, of those who make and work our machines? … There is with us a complete chaos in religious doctrine…. We worship ourselves, we worship[…]