The Secret Seven Poets Everyone Should Know

Mr Pearce looks at seven Catholic poets, six converts (and one a Saint!) and one cradle Catholic whose work is sadly forgotten in the 21st century.

From Crisis

By Joseph Pearce

This is the nineteenth instalment of Mr Pearce's series on the Unsung Heroes of Christendom. The other parts are, from previous to first, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Who are the "Secret Seven" poets who have been sadly forgotten and unjustly neglected, all but one of whom were converts to Catholicism and all of whom everyone should know?

It is not often that the name of Enid Blyton, the bestselling children’s author, is mentioned in the same breath or the same sentence as literary giants such as Homer, Virgil, or Dante. The reason for the unlikely association is in relation to the title of two of her popular series of books featuring the Famous Five and the Secret Seven. These sprang to mind with respect to a consideration of the poets whom everyone should know, irrespective of whether they are famous or forgotten. It might be fun, I thought, to name a “famous five” poets and also a “secret seven” poets who have been hidden beneath the sands of time, sadly and unjustly neglected.

The famous five would need to include the four literary pillars of Western civilization: Homer, Virgil, Dante, and Shakespeare. But who should be chosen as the final pillar? Within the tradition of English literature, there would seem to be two potential candidates. The first would be Chaucer, recognized as the father of English poetry; the second would be Milton, whose Paradise Lost deserves its status as the preeminent epic poem in the English language. 

The easy solution to the selection process would be to select both of them, transforming our famous five into a sensational six. If this temptation is resisted, the choice would need to be Chaucer. The rationale for such a preference is simple enough. Chaucer stands firmly within the tradition of Western civilization in terms of its being the synthesis of the heritage of Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome.

Milton, on the other hand, has stepped out of this tradition in his rejection of the tradition itself and his embrace of new ideas in religion and philosophy, not least of which was his rejection of the Trinity, his relegation of the Son to being a mere creature, and the elevation of Satan into an anthropomorphic tragic hero. Ultimately, he is a subversive presence in the authentic tradition—not so much a fifth pillar as a fifth column!

Having courted controversy in our exclusion of Milton from the famous five, we will now assuage the sensibility and sensitivity of his admirers by placing him at the forefront of the famous poets who failed to make the final grade. He is the best of the rest, so to speak.

Before proceeding to the “secret seven” poets who have been sadly forgotten and unjustly neglected, let’s acknowledge seven dastardly sins of omission with respect to those poetic giants whose fame demands at least a deferential nod in their direction. Apart from Milton, we must acknowledge the great Romantic poets Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Keats, whose impact on nineteenth-century culture was pivotal, and also Tennyson, whose poetic presence towered over the Victorian age in literature, which was itself a veritable literary golden age. 

The other Victorian poet whose omission would be a travesty is Gerard Manley Hopkins, who would remain unknown in his own lifetime but who would prove one of the most influential forces of the following century. This brings us to our final deferential nod, which is in the direction of T.S. Eliot, the greatest and most important poet of the last century. 

At this point, we will ignore the dissenting whispers of those who are wondering how we could have ignored other giants, such as Donne, Herbert, Dryden, Pope, Blake, Shelley, Poe, the Brownings, Longfellow, Yeats, Belloc, and Chesterton. And we could go on. It is, however, time to desist.

Enough of the famous. What of those who are forgotten? What of those whose reputation has suffered through changing fads and fashions? What of those whose flaming presence has dimmed like Shelley’s fading coal? What of the “secret seven” forgotten poets, all but one of whom were converts to Catholicism and all of whom everyone should know?

We’ll read the roll of remembrance in chronological order by beginning with Robert Southwell, a contemporary of Shakespeare, whose influence belies the belittling of his posthumous reputation. Apart from the intertextual presence of his poetry in several of Shakespeare’s plays, especially in Hamlet and King Lear, he also provoked or prompted the muse of Spenser, Herbert, Donne, Crashaw, and Hopkins. As if this were not enough, he is also a saint and martyr, having witnessed to the Faith even unto death. 

We will now move forward in time a full three hundred years, from the 1590s to the 1890s, to acknowledge a couple of poets from the English Decadence of the fin de siècle. Lionel Johnson and Ernest Dowson lived dissolute lives but sought strength in their weakness in Jesus Christ. They were both received into the Church and wrote powerfully evocative religious verse, as well as poetry expressive of their weak and dissolute spirits.

Moving into the twentieth century, the fourth forgotten poet in the “secret seven” is Maurice Baring, whose poetry reflects his highly cultured heart and mind. We’ve already focused on Baring as a neglected novelist, whose novels were very popular in the period between the two World Wars, yet his poetry is as sadly neglected as his fiction. His religious verse is powerful, but so are his evocative depictions of his experience in pre-communist Russia and his sonnets in honor of Mozart, Beethoven, and Wagner. Truly, his work is a secret worth discovering.

The fifth of the “secret seven” is David Jones, whose work is largely impenetrable, verging on incoherence, and yet whose brilliance was greatly admired by T.S. Eliot, among others. His poetry should be declaimed and not read, the sonorous quality of the blended and interwoven Latin, Welsh, and Old English having a haunting quality, not merely metrical but musical. His enigmatic masterpiece, The Anathemata, is a mystical and transcendental celebration of the Traditional Latin Mass, which is perceived as being the living heart of Christendom. 

A poet of a different ilk but of the same faith and philosophy is Roy Campbell, the sixth of the forgotten seven, whose praises we have sung earlier. As with David Jones, Campbell’s verse was admired by T.S. Eliot and, indeed, he was lionized by the illustrissimi of the literati in the 1920s. He fell from favor following his conversion to Catholicism, his support for Franco during the Spanish Civil War, and his tendency toward belligerence and the making of unnecessary enemies.

The final “secret” to be revealed is Dunstan Thompson, who differs from the other six forgotten poets in the sense that they are all converts to the Faith whereas he is a cradle Catholic. Like Eliot, he was an American who settled in England. He enjoyed a degree of fame and notoriety in the 1940s due to the homoerotic suggestiveness of his poetry during the period in which he’d adopted the homosexual lifestyle. It is, however, the poetry which he wrote following his reversion to the practice of the Faith for which he deserves to be remembered and rediscovered.

And thus, with the naming of the final forgotten poet, we will end this litany of the famous and the forgotten poets whom everyone should know. With respect to the former, may the flame of their fame burn ever brighter; with respect to the latter, may the flame of fame be rekindled.    

Time for the Truth About Islamism and Its Useful Idiots

'We might think that the problem is ... terrorist murder ... The establishment thinks the real danger is that German voters are angry about it.'

From The European Conservative

By Mick Hume

We might think that the problem is the terrorist murder by an Islamist migrant. The establishment thinks the real danger is that German voters are angry about it.

This summer’s events could hardly have shown us more clearly how Europe’s spineless, self-loathing attitude to the fight against Islamism here and abroad is putting democracy and Western civilisation at risk. Yet our leaders refuse to face the truth.

Until the recent announcement of their big reunion gigs, 1990s Britpop band Oasis only featured in the news whenever there was a terror attack in the UK; most notably after the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing in which an Islamic suicide bomber killed 22 people, including children, and injured a thousand more at an Ariana Grande concert in the band’s home city.

After terror attacks, the authorities play the Oasis classic “Don’t Look Back in Anger” at every opportunity, as if it was a state anthem in a totalitarian regime. The message to the public is: be sad, weep for the cameras, but don’t show the ‘wrong’ kind of emotions; don’t get angry about the Islamist slaughter of innocents—and if you do, we’re coming for you. 

Meanwhile, the media collude by using neutral-sounding terms such as “tragic incident” to describe terror attacks, and relegating them down the news agenda as soon as possible. We have witnessed a similar response to attacks across Europe over the past decade.

Recent events, however, offer a stark reminder that this defeatist attitude to Islamism is only making matters worse and encouraging further assaults. It is high time we started telling the truth about the threat to all that we hold dear—and getting angry about our pathetic leaders’ refusal to stand up to it.

We now know that the German authorities not only failed to deport a Syrian failed asylum seeker for a year, but also kept handing him €368 a month in state benefits. Issa al Hassan repaid his hosts’ generosity by butchering three people and wounding eight more at a ‘Diversity Festival’ in the city of Solingen. 

How did the German political and media establishment react to this slaughter? Social Democrat chancellor Olaf Scholz first stuck to the neutralising script by calling the attack a “terrible event,” as if it had been a natural disaster. Then they promised to control knives—as if the blade bought with German taxpayers’ money had somehow stabbed those festival goers in the neck of its own accord, without the assistance of the illegal migrant knifeman. 

But mostly, the establishment parties worried aloud that the ‘far-right’ Alternative fur Deutschland (AfD) would “exploit” the massacre to make political gains in coming elections. We might think that the problem is the terrorist murder of German citizens by an Islamist migrant who had no business living in Germany. Instead, they imagine that the real danger is that German voters are angry about it.

Then the terrorists of ISIS issued a statement, claiming the Solingen murderer as a “soldier of the Islamic State.” They said that the 26-year-old killer had launched his cowardly attack “to avenge Muslims in Palestine and everywhere.” Whether the claim of a direct ISIS link proves true or not, the statement was a brutal illustration of the connection between the fight against Islamism in Europe and the wider war against Islamist terrorism, focused on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

How did the leaders of the European Union react? By discussing a proposal to impose sanctions on Israeli government ministers, and condemning the Israel Defence Forces for launching a defensive raid in the West Bank, designed to prevent Islamist terrorists there from staging a planned repeat of the October 7th Hamas massacres in Israel. One might almost have imagined that it was Israel, rather than ISIS, which had just claimed responsibility for the cold-blooded murder of civilians on European streets.

Some of us might think that the threat we should worry about comes from genocidal Islamists who want to destroy Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. And, at home, from Western leftists, whom Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly calls the “useful idiots” of Iran and its Islamist allies, and whose chant “from the river to the sea” is code for wiping the state of Israel off the map and driving the Jews into the Mediterranean. 

For EU leaders such as foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, however, it appears the far bigger problem is that those pesky Israelis will insist on fighting for their survival by waging war on the death cult of Hamas and Hezbollah, and thus risk upsetting the Islamic world. While the IDF advances in its war on terror, the EU is retreating from supporting Israel on every front. Meanwhile in the UK, an historically staunch Israeli ally, the British state ‘Blob’ has now effectively declared war on Israel, with top civil servants acting to stop new arms exports even before the Labour government has formally announced a change of policy.

Dare to stray from the scripted, conformist response, of course, and you risk being politically slandered. Question the impact of uncontrolled immigration on European society? That makes you a “far-right” Islamophobe. Suggest that Israel has the right to defend itself in a life-and-death struggle?  Why, you’re nothing less than a “genocide apologist”.

This is how far things have gone in the black propaganda wars. When the AfD denounced the Solingen murders as a consequence of Germany’s open-door immigration policy, Politico—the voice of the EU establishment—moaned that “The far-right volleys of criticism, amid a lack of information on the assailant, recalled the recent riots in the UK that were fanned by false claims that a suspected attacker [who murdered three young girls] was a newly arrived immigrant.” 

In Germany, of course, the AfD were right—the murderer was an illegal Muslim immigrant and an Islamist; one who, at least according to the ISIS statement, killed those Germans because they were Christians. But never mind such small matters as the facts. If you say that enough is enough, you can be tarred with the ‘far-right’ brush and accused of inciting a riot. 

It is surely time to show some anger in the face of mortal threats and tell the truth about Islamists and their assorted useful idiots, whether that’s leftists who share Hamas’s hatred for Western civilisation, or pathetic establishment figures who are unwilling to defend their own civilisation’s values. 

We should let them know that we are determined to defend our national sovereignty and democracy against Brussels and the open-borders elites, and to stand with Israeli democracy against all comers. And that no matter what ‘far-right rioters’ slurs they throw at us, we will refuse to be emotionally blackmailed and politically slandered into silence. 

Bishop Challoner's Meditations ~ September 1st

ON THE EIGHT BEATITUDES, ST. MATT. V.

Consider first, how the Son of God, the eternal wisdom of the father, being come down from heaven to be our father, our light, and our guide, in order to reclaim us from all our errors, to dispel our darkness, to redress all our evils, and to conduct us into the way of truth and everlasting happiness, opened his heavenly school for these purposes by his divine sermon upon the mount; in the beginning of which he has laid down in a few words the principal maxims of true wisdom and all the fundamentals of Christian morality comprised in what we commonly call the eight beatitudes. Christians, we all desire to be happy for ever; and behold here the wisdom of God, which can neither deceive nor be deceived, declares to us in clear and distinct terms what it is that is to make us happy here and to conduct us safe to a happiness that shall never end. O let us embrace, then, these blessed lessons! Who would not study them well since the learning of them is to make us wise indeed, and to bring us infallibly to the very source of all wisdom and happiness - even to an eternal union with God himself? O heavenly master, who would not frequent thy divine school since, in the very first entrance into it, thou thus directest us into a plain and easy way to eternal bliss?

Consider 2ndly, that the ancient philosophers, with all their pretensions to wisdom, were strangely in the dark with regard to man's true happiness, his last end, and his sovereign good, about which they ran into many errors; and not one of them all ever came near the truth. And, as they knew not the end, so were they also strangers to the true means that were to bring us to this end. They never once imagined that to be poor in spirit, to be meek, to morn, to suffer persecution, & c., was the way to happiness, much less did they suspect that such as these alone were actually happy. This was a doctrine never heard of in their schools. This was a lesson that was to be taught by the Son of God. This truth he brought down with him from heaven, and delivered to his disciples in his first divine sermon. O my soul, let us embrace with all our affections these divine truths, taught us by so great a master; let us be practically convinced of them, and conform ourselves to them in the whole conduct of our lives.

Consider 3rdly, how miserable are all the children of Babylon, that is, all poor deluded worldlings, who under the name of Christians, whilst they profess themselves followers and disciples of this divine master, take no notice of these lessons which he came from heaven to teach, but live on in an affected ignorance of them; so as to apprehend all those to be miserable whom he pronounces blessed, and those alone to be happy, who wallow in riches and sensual pleasures, whom he declares to be miserable, and against whom he pronounces his woe. And do such people as these believe the gospel indeed? whilst they pretend to seek for happiness in the very way which (if the gospel be true) must needs betray them into many errors, labours, and sorrows here, and shortly conduct them into endless misery. O let us at least be more wise! Let us open our eyes to this great light, which is come down from heaven, to shine upon them that before sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. Let us believe and adhere to this great teacher, who has the words of eternal life. Let us follow him and we shall not fail, under his conduct, to find the true way to solid happiness and eternal life.

Conclude to be ever thankful to the Son of God for all these great gospel truths which he has brought us down from heaven, in order to set loose our souls from the earth, and so to carry us up to heaven. O! if we desire to fly up to this happy region of pure and immortal joys, it must be with the wings of these virtues that are recommended to us in these eight beatitudes.

1 September, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

The Problem of Evil

1. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul speaks of the Anti-Christ, “the man of sin… the son of perdition, who opposes and is exalted above all that is called God…” “Already,” he says, “the mystery of iniquity is at work.” (Cf. 2 Thess. 2:3-7) From the beginning of the Church’s history until the present time it has always been the same.

There always have been and always will be men who do evil not from human weakness, but from motives of malice so diabolical as to present something of a mystery to us. These can be called Anti-Christ because they seem to be incarnations of the devil, the spirit of iniquity. They delight in spreading error, in corrupting minds, and in persecuting the Church. They are steeped in all kinds of baseness and nothing pleases them better than to succeed in inducing the young and the innocent to follow them in their sinful ways. For this purpose they employ all the advantages which modern technical progress has to offer – the press, the cinema, the radio, and television. In short, they use God’s gifts in their commercialisation of sin in order to draw souls away from Him.

The realisation of this terrifying fact provokes two questions. (1) How can such evil be permitted by God, Who made man for Himself and redeemed him with the Blood of His only-begotten Son? (2) What steps can we take to control this alarming and universal deluge of evil?

2. St. Augustine answers the first question by pointing out that the infinite and good God created us without any assistance from ourselves, but does not will to save us without our cooperation since He has endowed us with the gift of liberty. Moreover, He prefers to draw good from evil rather than to prevent the evil itself. We must answer the second question ourselves, remembering that we have a serious obligation to combat evil in ourselves and in our fellow-men. What have we done up to now and what do we propose to do in the future?

3. According to St. Augustine, great good can come from the evil which God permits. In the first place, God displays His infinite goodness and mercy. Even though He permits us to offend Him out of respect for our human liberty, He is always ready to forgive us, even as He forgave the penitent thief. In the second place, by permitting evil God gives the good an opportunity of practicing virtue, especially the virtue of patience. If there were no persecutors, there would be no martyrs and the Church would be deprived of the glory which makes her most like her founder, Jesus Christ. Finally, each of us has a particular duty to fulfil in resisting the onslaught of evil. As followers and soldiers of Christ, we cannot remain passive. The invasion by the forces of evil demands a counter-attack by the forces of good in defense of the faith and of the Church. As Christians, we are the sons of martyrs. We must not refuse, therefore, to make our lives a continuous martyrdom for the triumph of goodness in ourselves and in others. The faithful exercise of virtue and of the apostolate is often a form of martyrdom.

Eastern Rite ~ Feast of 1 September AM 7533

Today is the Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost, the Beginning of the Indiction, that is, the New Year, the Commemoration of Our Holy Father Symeon the Stylite and His Mother Martha, and the Synaxis of the Most Holy Mother of God of Miasenes.

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The first day of the Church New Year is also called the beginning of the Indiction. The term Indiction comes from a Latin word meaning, “to impose.” It was originally applied to the imposition of taxes in Egypt. The first worldwide Indiction was in 312 when the Emperor St Constantine, Equal of the Apostles (May 21), saw a miraculous vision of the Cross in the sky. Before the introduction of the Julian calendar, Rome began the New Year on September 1.

According to Holy Tradition, Christ entered the synagogue on September 1 to announce His mission to mankind (Luke 4:16-22). Quoting Isaiah 61:1-2, the Savior proclaimed, “The spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord...” This scene is depicted in a Vatican manuscript (Vatican, Biblioteca. Cod. Gr. 1613, p.1).

Tradition says that the Hebrews entered the Promised Land in September.

Troparion — Tone 2

O Creator of the universe, / Thou didst appoint times by Thy power; / bless the crown of this year with Thy goodness, O Lord. / Preserve in safety Thy rulers and cities: / and through the intercessions of the Theotokos, save us!

Kontakion — Tone 4

O Creator and Master of time and the ages, / Triune and Merciful God of all: / grant blessings for the course of this year, / and in Thy boundless mercy save those who worship Thee and cry out in fear: / “O Savior, grant blessings to all mankind!”

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Saint Simeon the Stylite was born in the Cappadocian village of Sisan to Christian parents, Sisotian and Martha. At thirteen years of age he began to tend his father’s flock of sheep. He devoted himself attentively and with love to this, his first obedience.

Once, after he heard the Beatitudes in church, he was struck by their profundity. Not trusting to his own immature judgment, he turned therefore with his questions to an experienced Elder. The Elder readily explained to the boy the meaning of what he had heard. The seed fell on good soil, and it strengthened his resolve to serve God.

When Simeon was eighteen, he received monastic tonsure and devoted himself to feats of the strictest abstinence and unceasing prayer. His zeal, beyond the strength of the other monastic brethren, so alarmed the igumen that he told Simeon that to either moderate his ascetic deeds or leave the monastery.

Saint Simeon then withdrew from the monastery and lived in an empty well in the nearby mountains, where he was able to carry out his austere struggles unhindered. After some time, angels appeared in a dream to the igumen, who commanded him to bring back Simeon to the monastery.

The monk, however, did not long remain at the monastery. After a short while, he settled into a stony cave, situated not far from the village of Galanissa, and he dwelt there for three years, all the while perfecting himself in monastic feats. Once, he decided to spend the entire forty days of Great Lent without food or drink. With the help of God, the monk endured this strict fast. From that time he abstained from food completely during the entire period of the Great Lent, even from bread and water. For twenty days he prayed while standing, and for twenty days while sitting, so as not to permit the corporeal powers to relax.

A whole crowd of people began to throng to the place of his efforts, wanting to receive healing from sickness and to hear a word of Christian edification. Shunning worldly glory and striving again to find his lost solitude, the monk chose a previously unknown mode of asceticism. He went up a pillar six to eight feet high, and settled upon it in a little cell, devoting himself to intense prayer and fasting.

Reports of Saint Simeon reached the highest church hierarchy and the imperial court. Patriarch Domninos II (441-448) of Antioch visited the monk, celebrated Divine Liturgy on the pillar and communed the ascetic with the Holy Mysteries.

Elders living in the desert heard about Saint Simeon, who had chosen a new and strange form of ascetic striving. Wanting to test the new ascetic and determine whether his extreme ascetic feats were pleasing to God, they sent messengers to him, who in the name of these desert fathers were to bid Saint Simeon to come down from the pillar.

In the case of disobedience, they were to forcibly drag him to the ground. But if he was willing to submit, they were to leave him on his pillar. Saint Simeon displayed complete obedience and deep Christian humility. The monks told him to stay where he was, asking God to be his helper.

Saint Simeon endured many temptations, and he invariably gained victory over them. He relied not on his own weak powers, but on the Lord Himself, Who always came to help him. The monk gradually increased the height of the pillar on which he stood. His final pillar was 80 feet in height. Around him, a double wall was raised, which hindered the unruly crowd of people from coming too close and disturbing his prayerful concentration.

Women, in general, were not permitted beyond the wall. The saint did not make an exception even for his own mother, who after long and unsuccessful searches finally succeeded in finding her lost son. He would not see her, saying, “If we are worthy, we shall see one another in the life to come.” Saint Martha submitted to this, remaining at the foot of the pillar in silence and prayer, where she finally died. Saint Simeon asked that her coffin be brought to him. He reverently bid farewell to his dead mother, and a joyful smile appeared on her face.

Saint Simeon spent 80 years in arduous monastic feats, 47 years of which he stood upon the pillar. Many pagans accepted Baptism, struck by the moral staunchness and bodily strength which the Lord bestowed upon His servant.

The first one to learn of the death of the saint was his close disciple Anthony. Concerned that his teacher had not appeared to the people for three days, he went up on the pillar and found the dead body stooped over at prayer. Patriarch Martyrius of Antioch performed the funeral before a huge throng of clergy and people. They buried him near his pillar. At the place of his ascetic deeds, Anthony established a monastery, upon which rested the special blessing of Saint Simeon.

We pray to Saint Simeon for the return to the Church of those who have forsaken Her, or have been separated from Her.

Troparion — Tone 1

You were a pillar of patient endurance, / having imitated the forefathers, O Venerable One: / Job in suffering, and Joseph in temptations. / You lived like the bodiless ones while yet in the flesh, O Simeon, our Father. / Beseech Christ God that our souls may be saved.

Kontakion — Tone 2

Seeking the things of the Highest, / and having made your pillar a fiery chariot, you were joined to the heights. / Therefore, you have become a companion to the angels, O Venerable One, / and with them you are praying incessantly to Christ God for us all.

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Saint Martha lived in Cilicia of Asia Minor during the fourth and fifth centuries and came from a poor family. She and her husband Sisotion were the parents of Saint Simeon the Stylite.

At the age of eighteen, Simeon received the monastic tonsure without his parent's knowledge. Many years later, Martha came to the saint’s pillar in order to see him. Simeon sent word to her not to come, for if they were worthy, they would see each other in the life to come. Martha insisted on seeing him, and he had someone tell her to wait for a while in silence. Saint Martha agreed to this and waited at the foot of the hill where her son’s pillar stood. There she departed to the Lord.

When he heard that his mother had died, Saint Simeon ordered that her body be brought to the foot of his pillar. He prayed over his mother’s body for some time shedding many tears, and witnesses said that a smile appeared on Saint Martha’s face.

Troparion — Tone 8

By a flood of tears, you made the desert fertile, / and your longing for God brought forth fruits in abundance. / By the radiance of miracles you illumined the whole universe! / Our Mother Martha, pray to Christ God to save our souls!

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(No icon available)

The Miasena Icon of the Most Holy Theotokos was thrown into Lake Zagura in the ninth century in an effort to save it from the iconoclasts. After a long time, the wonderworking icon emerged from the water unharmed and was brought to the Miasena Monastery.

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1 September, The Chesterton Calendar

SEPTEMBER 1st

If a modern philanthropist came to Dotheboys Hall I fear he would not employ the simple, sacred and truly Christian solution of beating Mr. Squeers with a stick. I fancy he would petition the Government to appoint a Royal Commission to inquire into Mr. Squeers. I think he would every now and then write letters to the newspapers reminding people that, in spite of all appearances to the contrary, there was a Royal Commission to inquire into Mr. Squeers. I agree that he might even go the length of calling a crowded meeting in St. James's Hall on the subject of the best policy with regard to Mr. Squeers. At this meeting some very heated and daring speakers might even go the length of alluding sternly to Mr. Squeers. Occasionally even hoarse voices from the back of the hall might ask (in vain) what was going to be done with Mr. Squeers. The Royal Commission would report about three years afterwards and would say that many things had happened which were certainly most regrettable, that Mr. Squeers was the victim of a bad system; that Mrs. Squeers was also the victim of a bad system; but that the man who sold Squeers' cane had really acted with great indiscretion and ought to be spoken to kindly. Something like this would be what, after four years, the Royal Commission would have said; but it would not matter in the least what the Royal Commission had said, for by that time the philanthropists would be off on a new tack and the world would have forgotten all about Dotheboys Hall and everything connected with it. By that time the philanthropists would be petitioning Parliament for another Royal Commission; perhaps a Royal Commission to inquire into whether Mr. Mantalini was extravagant with his wife's money; perhaps a commission to inquire into whether Mr. Vincent Crummies kept the Infant Phenomenon short by means of gin.

Introduction to 'Nicholas Nickleby.'

1 September, The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Patriarch of Western Monasticism

PROLOGUE OF OUR MOST HOLY FATHER SAINT BENEDICT TO HIS RULE

1 Jan. 2 May. 1 Sept

Hearken, O my son, to the precepts of thy Master, and incline the ear of thine heart; willingly receive and faithfully fulfil the admonition of thy loving Father, that thou mayest return by the labour of obedience to Him from Whom thou hadst departed through the sloth of disobedience. To thee, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever thou art that, renouncing thine own will, dost take up the strong and bright weapons of obedience, in order to fight for the Lord Christ, our true king. In the first place, whatever good work thou beginnest to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect; that He Who hath now vouchsafed to count us in the number of His children may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with the good things He hath given us, that not only may He never, as an angry father, disinherit his children, but may never, as a dreadful Lord, incensed by our sins, deliver us to everlasting punishment, as most wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.

2 September, The Roman Martyrology

Quarto Nonas Septémbris Luna vicésima octáva Anno Dómini 2024

On the morrow we keep the feast of holy Stephen, King of Hungary, adorned with many graces from God, who was the first to turn the Hungarians to believe in Christ, and who was received by the Virgin Mother of God into heaven upon the very day of her Assumption, but by the appointment of Pope Innocent XI, his feast is rather kept upon the 2nd day of September, whereon the Christian army, by the help of this holy King, wrested the strong fortress of Buda (from the Turks.)
September 2nd 2024, the 28th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:

At Rome, the holy martyr Maxima, who confessed Christ along with holy Ansanus, in the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, and was beaten to death with cudgels.
At Pamiers, in Gaul, (in the second century,) the holy martyr Antonine, whose relics are kept with great reverence in the church of Palencia in Spain.
Likewise the holy martyrs Diomede, Julian, Philip, Eutychian, Hesychius, Leonides, Philadelphus, Menalippus, and Pantagapa, whereof some finished their testimony by fire, some by water, some by the sword, and some by the cross.
At Nicomedia, (in the persecution under the Emperor Diocletian,) the holy martyrs Zeno and his sons, Concordius and Theodore.
On the same day, (at Syracuse,) the holy brethren Evodius and Hermogenes and their sister Callista, all martyrs.
Upon the same day is commemorated at Lyon, in Gaul, (in the fourth century,) the holy Confessor Justus, Bishop (of that see,) a man of wonderful holiness of life, gifted with the spirit of prophecy he resigned his Bishopric, and withdrew himself into the desert of Egypt, along with Viator his Reader. There he led for some years a life bordering upon the life of Angels, and, when the worthy end of his labours came, departed hence to receive a crown of righteousness from the Lord. It was the 14th day of October, but it was upon the 2nd of September that his sacred body was brought to Lyon, along with the bones of his blessed servant Viator.
Also at Lyon, (in the fifth century,) was born into the better life the holy Confessor Elpidius, Bishop (of that see.)
In the March of Ancona, (in the fifth century,) at the town called by his name, which rejoices to own his sacred body, the holy Abbot Elpidius.
On Mount Soracte, the holy Abbot Nonnosus, who by his prayer moved a stone of great weight, and was famous.
℣. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
℟. Thanks be to God.

Meme of the Moment

I am convinced that the path to a new, better and possible world is not capitalism, the path is socialism.

Happy New Year AM 7533!!! Срећна Нова Година AM 7533!!!

Happy New Year's Day, A.M. 7533!!!

No, I haven't gone mad. In the Byzantine Calendar, used liturgically in the Catholic Churches of the Byzantine Rite and the Eastern Orthodox (except for the Old Calendarists) today is the anniversary of the Creation 7533 years ago.

Whilst the West uses A.D., anno Domini, In the Year of Our Lord, the East uses A.M., anno mundi, In the Year of the World.

The Byzantine Catholic Troparion and Kontakion for the New Year:

Troparion — Tone 2

O Creator of the universe, / Thou didst appoint times by Thy power; / bless the crown of this year with Thy goodness, O Lord. / Preserve in safety Thy rulers and cities: / and through the intercessions of the Theotokos, save us!

Kontakion — Tone 4

O Creator and Master of time and the ages, / Triune and Merciful God of all: / grant blessings for the course of this year, / and in Thy boundless mercy save those who worship Thee and cry out in fear: / “O Savior, grant blessings to all mankind!”

Let the festivities begin!

Feasts of Early September

From My Book of the Church's Year, by Enid M. Chadwick; Forward by Peter Kwasniwesi, PhD.

German State-Funded Website Teaches Migrants How To Avoid Deportation

If you need proof that the German elites are committed to the destruction of Germany by the jihadist invasion, here it is!

From The European Conservative

By Hélène de Lauzun, PhD

From ‘disappeared’ children to violent resistance, instruction manual shows how to get around German law.

An An investigation by the German outlet Apollo News revealed the existence of an online platform funded by the German government and the European Union, one of the aims of which is to provide practical and legal advice to migrants so that they can oppose their possible deportation, in the name of a “right to remain for all” on German soil.

The site, called Handbook Germany, takes the form of an information site aimed at immigrants arriving on German soil, with an apparently harmless programme: ‘orientieren—informieren—austauschen’ (find your way around, get informed, exchange information).

But on closer inspection, the site turns out to be a weapon in the service of a militant and openly declared political programme: “against deportations and for the right to freedom of movement for all.”

The Apollo News investigation shows that the site provides a whole range of practical advice for asylum seekers to enable them to avoid imminent deportation, giving them information on the conditions that prevent a deportation from being carried out—for example by playing on the ‘disappearance’ of a child, since a family with a missing child cannot be deported.

If an asylum application is rejected, the Handbook Germany site encourages legal recourse: take legal action against the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees or lodge a complaint, bearing in mind that “the costs may be covered by the State.” Refugee applicants are even provided with contacts for sympathetic advice centres and lawyers.

But there’s more. In the event that the application for deportation is approved, the site goes so far as to promote physical resistance, advising rejected applicants to defend themselves on the plane “by not sitting on the plane and making it clear that they are not taking the plane of their own free will.” Handbook Germany also recommends, in this case, active resistance by passengers in support of the migrants and suggests, with a link to the website of the ‘Abschiebungen stoppen. Bleiberecht für alle’ initiative, to which Handbook Germany makes reference. Flyers can be downloaded that have been specially designed for this kind of situation. Nothing less than a complete agitprop kit for the public.

The existence of such a site is hardly surprising: in Germany, as elsewhere, there are many pro-immigration associations and lobbies seeking to circumvent the law and obtain the right for migrants to remain on the soil of the host country at any price, even in violation of the law. The shocking nature of the Handbook Germany site stems from the support it receives from numerous German public institutions. The impressum page shows a panel of prestigious institutions supporting the editorial team (of which there are only two German-sounding names in the fifteen or so members): the European Union, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the Federal Office for Migration, Refugees and Integration, all at the instigation of the Federal Parliament.

In the run-up to the forthcoming state elections, the federal German government is seeking to convince voters of its renewed firmness on migration policy. There is clearly an urgent need for better control of the agencies that deal with asylum and migration and receive public funding to do so.

Brazil’s Ban on X Is a Taste of Things To Come

'[I]n blocking access to X, Brazil now joins an ignoble list of authoritarian nations, including China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, that have done the same.'

From Sp¡ked

By Fraser Myers

The global crackdown on free speech is getting more aggressive by the day.

X, the social-media giant owned by Elon Musk, has officially been banned in Brazil. Last night, X failed to meet a deadline set by a Supreme Court judge to block vast swathes of content and appoint a local legal representative for the company. It has now gone offline to its 22 million Brazilian users – roughly one tenth of the national population.

The Brazilian elites loathe X for precisely the same reason as the elites across the rest of the democratic world do – they blame it for the spread of so-called disinformation, particularly since it was taken over by Musk and its content-moderation policies were relaxed. Just as disinformation has been blamed for Brexit in the UK and Trump’s election in the US, it is blamed in Brazil for the 2018 election of right-wing firebrand Jair Bolsanaro – and especially for his supporters’ storming of the Brazilian congress in 2023 after he failed to win re-election (a kind of ‘January 6’ tribute act). Essentially, elites believe that fake news, by boosting populist movements, poses a direct challenge to their rule.

The censorship orders from judge Alexandre de Moraes, which X and Musk refused to comply with, make this all too clear. While Moraes claims he is merely trying to tackle disinformation, hate speech or what he calls ‘digital militias’ (those users promoting content that supposedly undermines democracy or the rule of law), his demands are nakedly political. As the New York Times reports, X was ordered to ban over 140 accounts, among them some of Brazil’s most prominent right-wing pundits and even elected members of congress. X has refused to comply as it says these takedown orders are themselves illegal and unconstitutional.

Tensions between Moraes and X erupted into the open back in April, when Musk publicly branded Moraes a ‘dictator’. But rows had been brewing behind the scenes, even before Musk took over what was then Twitter and rebranded it as a ‘free speech’ platform. As the Twitter Files reveal, between 2020 and 2022, Twitter’s legal counsel continually pushed back privately against requests for content to be removed and for data from anonymous users to be handed over to the state, noting that many of these requests were ‘illegal’, and not to mention ‘political’, in their blatant targeting of supporters of Bolsonaro.

Moraes’s moves against X are unprecedented in a democratic country. Banning or suspending an entire social-media platform is usually unheard of outside of despotic regimes. Indeed, in blocking access to X, Brazil now joins an ignoble list of authoritarian nations, including China, Iran, Russia and North Korea, that have done the same.

Worse still, the ban is far from the only measure Brazil has taken against X. Last week, Musk shut down the platform’s Brazilian offices, after his staff members were threatened with arrest. Indeed, one of Moraes’s key demands is for X to name a new legal representative who can be held accountable in Brazil for any breaches of the law. But if someone were to be named, they would very likely face immediate arrest.

Equally unprecedented is Brazil’s decision to levy fines on anyone in the country who tries to access X via a virtual-private network (VPN) – a tool that allows internet users to hide their location. Anyone caught tweeting from Brazil using a VPN could face daily fines of R$50,000 (roughly £6,700). This makes clear that the real target of government censors is not Big Tech companies or their billionaire owners like Musk or Mark Zuckerberg. No, it is the users of social media, ordinary citizens, whom the elites want to silence and control.

The banning of X in Brazil this week and the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France last week suggest that the global war on free speech online has stepped up a gear. Where new laws like the UK’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Services Act threaten tech firms with heavy fines if they fail to bow down to government censorship, Brazil’s banning of X suggests we might start to see an even more aggressive approach to dissenting platforms in years to come. As long as the powers-that-be continue to believe that free speech poses an existential threat to their rule, then the methods for curtailing it will surely only get more blunt and more brutal.

Brazil is the canary in the coalmine.

The Holy Rosary

Saturday, the Glorious Mysteries, in Latin with Cardinal Burke.

The Evolution of the British Royal Crown

In the first episode of How it Started, How it's Going, expert Joe Kendrick investigates the Coronation Regalia, delving into three of its most significant – and dazzling – pieces: St Edward’s Crown, the Sovereign’s Orb, and the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross, uncovering how these historic objects have evolved through time.

Human Sinfulness and the Study of the Past

With Fr Gregory Pine, OP,  BA, STL, Assistant Director for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute & Brad Gregory, PhD, Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair in European History, University of Notre Dame.

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Brad Gregory about intellectual genealogy, what virtues are needed for historians, the unintended consequences of the Reformation, and the theological implications of history.

Meet Raymond Nonnatus, the Saint Who Was “Not Born”

St Raymond the 'Not Born' was delivered by a very crude Caesarean Section. His father cut him out of his mother's womb with a dagger.

From Aleteia

By Larry Peterson

St. Raymond Nonnatus surrendered his life for that of Christians captured by Muslims

The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, more commonly known as the Mercedarians, was founded in the year 1218 by St. Peter Nolasco. His purpose was the redemption of Christians captured and imprisoned by the Muslims. To become a Mercedarian requires an additional commitment on the part of those wanting to join the order. It is known as their “fourth vow.”

In addition to the traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the Mercedarians also vow to willingly trade their lives for the lives of others. One of the original Mercedarians, St. Raymond Nonnatus, did just that.

If his surname, “Nonnatus,” seems strange, it’s because it is Latinized and means “not born.” In 1204 his father brought him into the world with a dagger, opening the womb of his mother, who died in labor.

Raymond’s father owned several farms and he wanted Raymond to manage one of them. Raymond, however, was drawn to the religious life. He possessed a deep devotion to God and the Blessed Virgin. Nearby was the ancient chapel of St. Nicholas and he would frequently go there to pray and meditate. Eventually his father realized that his son would not be a farmer and gave in to the boy’s wishes to join the Mercedarians, in Barcelona.

Emboldened by his father’s permission, Raymond told the Mercedarians that he had already taken a private vow of perpetual virginity and was determined to join them. He was accepted and (legend has it) St. Peter Nolasco, the founder of the Mercedarians, was the one who presented Raymond with the Order’s habit.

Still in his 20s at ordination, Father Raymond, in 1224, began his first redemption journey to Valencia, which had been conquered by the Moors. Raymond Nonnatus managed to gain the freedom of 233 captive Christians. He was just beginning his work.

In 1226, he traveled to Algiers, in Northern Africa, offering to become a prisoner in order to free another 140 captives. Three years later he went back to Algiers again. This time he was accompanied by his friend, Friar Serapion.

Friar Serapion had become a Mercedarian after having fought alongside Richard the Lion-Hearted during the Crusades. He had decided he would rather surrender his life for captives than kill. Together Serapion and Raymond managed to free 228 captives from the prisons and dungeons of Tunis.

St. Raymond’s last redemption was in 1236. It was in Algiers again and this visit is not known for the number of freed prisoners. Rather, it is known for the torture Raymond was forced to endure. Having exhausted all funds, Raymond stayed behind as a hostage. He spent his time in the dungeons preaching the message of Jesus and Christianity. His captors would have none of it.

His torturers used a searing iron to bore holes through his upper and lower lips. Then they placed a padlock through the holes in an attempt to keep the suffering man quiet. The padlocks remained in place for eight months at which time ransom was received for Raymond’s release. He was returned to Spain in 1239.

Raymond Nonnatus died toward the end of August 1240; the exact day is unknown. He was 36 years old. Tradition has it that the villagers, the local count, and the friars all claimed his body. They resolved the dispute by placing Raymond’s body across the back of a blind mule. The mule was let loose and wherever it stopped would be Raymond’s burial place.

The mule ambled slowly to the chapel where Raymond Nonnatus had prayed so frequently as a teenager. That is where he was buried and many miracles at the site have been attributed to his intercession.

St. Raymond Nonnatus was canonized a saint by Pope Alexander VII in 1657. He is the patron saint of childbirth, children, and pregnant women. He is also patron for priests defending the seal of confession.

St. Raymond Nonnatus, please pray for us and all of the unborn.

Read about St. Raymond’s brother Mercedarian, St. Peter Armengol, here .