Today is the birthday of a virgin; let us imitate her purity. It is the birthday of a martyr; let us offer ourselves in sacrifice. (Saint Ambrose)
Month: January 2021
The Purity of Agnes and True Femininity
‘Tis incumbent upon us on this day, as a new incumbent takes over in the Oval Office, one whose policies are inimical to the genius of the feminine, to remind ourselves of the glory of woman, signified in saints like Agnes, a young Virgin Martyr, who perished by the sword under the reign of Diocletian[…]
Washington’s Enclaved Elysium
For Biden’s inauguration, 25,000 troops were stationed in Washington, with much of the area around the Capitol and White House closed off. So much for the days of the ‘citizen president’, upon whom other citizens might drop in for a chat. Now not only is the commander-in-chief ensconced behind layers of military-style barricades, but so[…]
For just as the fall of a bishop tends to bring about the ruinous fall of his followers, so it is a useful and helpful thing when, by the firmness of his faith, a bishop becomes manifest to his brethren as an object of imitation. (Saint Cyprian, +258)
God Speed, Mr. President: Donald Trump’s Farewell
(As a final gesture, Donald Trump has signed an order for an outdoor garden of American heroes, and he has specifically included Catholic, pro-life greats, Bishop Fulton J. Sheen, Nellie Grey, the foundress of the March for Life, and Antonin Scalia, the pro-family Supreme Court Justice. Whatever one says of him – and people are[…]
A Totalitarian Putsch?
People who are not governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. William Penn So much has happened in the past ten weeks that it’s impossible to itemize it all here. Even so, the dust and fog fueled by the hurricane of mendacity that’s been passing for ‘news’ is lifting. And it’s lifting despite the continuing[…]
Les Arts Florissants
Ah, to be able to play such music – Monteverdi, Frescobaldi, Dalza, Handel and Merula – in an Italian, or French villa: A little slice of heaven, and hope in grey days. Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness is not able to overcome it:
George Orwell’s Final Warning
https://twitter.com/fukushimaexpos2/status/1351329578577395712
A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, “You are mad; you are not like us” (Saint Anthony the Great, of Egypt, + 356)
The Limits of Papal Authority, and the Covid Vaccine
Pope Francis has added the heft of his papal authority to the question of the Covid vaccine in a television recent interview: I believe that morally everyone must take the vaccine…It is the moral choice because it is about your life but also the lives of others. I do not understand why some say that[…]