LEX SALICA. Salic law, or the legal code of the Salian Franks, which was later incorporated into French law. Also any provision of this law, notably the exclusion of women from inheritance of land or succession to the throne.
31 August 2021
Greg Sheridan's Moving Testament to The Wonder of Faith and Christianity
The former PM of Australia reviews a book by his friend, Greg Sheridan, a prominent Catholic journalist, unashamed of his Faith.
From The Australian
By Tony Abbott
Greg Sheridan, the foreign editor of The Australian newspaper, is best known for his shrewd analysis of our country and its relationship with the wider world.
He’s also written a charming account of his youthful misadventures, When We Were Young and Foolish (in which I figure), and now two books about contemporary Christianity: the first, God is Good for You; and now this one, Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in our World. Why? Because he thinks that Christianity is the foundation of our culture and civilisation, and worries that we will be spiritually impoverished and behaviourally adrift without a better understanding of the faith that’s shaped the way we live.
It’s hard to overstate the centrality of Christianity to the everyday life even of those who’ve hardly heard of it; or, indeed, positively rejected it. Far deeper than the folk festivals of Christmas and Easter, or even the parables that shape our response to so much around us, are the central concepts of equality and justice on which all our institutions rest. Our democracy is unimaginable without St Paul’s ringing declaration: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Our legal system is unimaginable without the declaration in Matthew (echoed in the other Gospels): “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Sheridan thinks that we ought to be at least as respectful to the foundations of our own culture as we are to those of others; and far more familiar with them. Even now, just over 50 per cent of us nominate “Christian” to the census (down from 90 per cent a few decades back), yet with the current national curriculum making far more references to Indigenous spirituality than to Christianity, it’s easy to become an Australian adult today with only the vaguest understanding – little more than a comic book caricature – of what Christianity is and has meant to our forebears for two millennia.
Quite rightly, Sheridan deplores this shameful and dangerous cultural amnesia.
But this book is only-in-passing a critique of society. Mostly, it’s a highly engaging and sometimes powerfully uplifting statement of personal faith, and engagement with the faith of others.
Sheridan starts with a robust affirmation of the historical Jesus. Jesus really did exist and make the claims about divinity that were so startling then and almost preposterous now. How do we know? Because numerous other ancient sources refer to him. And because the New Testament writings are the eyewitness accounts of his life and teachings by those who were there; or by those whom they told. As Paul says, in his Letter to the Corinthians: “Christ died for our sins … was buried … was raised on the third day … and appeared to Peter, then to the 12, then to 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive …” Incredible at one level, yes; but accepted then, and later on-faith, by people of undoubted character and integrity for more than 1900 years.
The multitudinous ways in which Christianity has been tarnished by the failings of its professed adherents don’t faze Sheridan, because, after all, Christians have never claimed that their faith made them perfect; just that it made them better. And Christians’ unmatched, spectacular record of learning, art and service sustained over the centuries deserves respect, surely; and should engender an appreciative curiosity, at least, towards the faith they lived and died for.
Sheridan’s book is both reproachful and encouraging. He’s pretty stern against those who’d prefer a Christianity more accommodating of human weakness and more in tune with the spirit of the age. Yet whether or not he set out to write a “how to” manual for rekindling that elusive Christian spirit or for finding inspiration amid all the clamour and distraction, that’s what he’s done and that’s quite an achievement.
The way this sometime fellow university wastrel, then knockabout scribbler, has come to produce a Christian guide and affirmation so beyond that to be found in most places of worship is a supreme credit to him and a testament to the wonder and power of faith.
Greg has a simple message, one that befits a very seasoned journalist: if you want to know about something, go direct to the primary sources.
Don’t read the critics on Christianity but read the real thing, the New Testament – and not once either, but again and again, not necessarily in a spirit of prayer, but simply as great stories that offer further insights with each reading.
To me, the most absorbing sections of the book are where Greg delves into the Christian inspiration and parallels still present in much of our best modern literature. There’s Graham Greene and Evelyn Waugh, whose personal struggles and Christian influence are reflected in novels such as The End of the Affair, The Heart of the Matter, Brideshead Revisited and the Sword of Honour trilogy. There’s JRR Tolkien and the incomparable Lord of the Rings epic, where Frodo is undoubtedly a Christ-like figure.
Greg’s moving account of the life and work of Australian teacher Gemma Sisia, and St Jude’s School in Tanzania that she founded, testifies that faith really can move mountains. Likewise, his account of Frances Cantrall and the Culture Project to raise young people’s horizons to the virtue beyond shallow hedonism.
If “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”, as the Jesuits used to tell their charges, it’s not surprising that the current soft persecution has produced something of a revival of Christianity even in the decadent West.
Those forms of Christianity, whether “contemporary” and Pentecostal or “traditional” and Tridentine, that still demand something of their adherents seem to be flourishing oases in the desert. I doubt there’s much ground for optimism though.
A country that closes churches in the middle of a pandemic doesn’t think much of religion. Jesus’ promise to Peter, “Upon this rock I shall build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”, looks more tenuous than ever.
What can a flawed believer do? Resolve again, with Paul, to “fight the good fight, stay the course and keep the faith”; while accepting with Jesus in Gethsemane, “not my will, but thy will be done”.
Christians: The Urgent Case for Jesus in our World, by Greg Sheridan published by Allen & Unwin. Out now. This review originally appeared in Spectator.
Rewards for Spying on 'Illegal Religious Activities' in China
The ChiComs continue their crackdown on religion. The CCP must be destroyed! #SmashTheCCP #BoycottChineseGoods
From UCA News
Chinese cities and counties introduce cash incentives for residents who report on unauthorized religious activities
Local authorities in northeastern China have introduced financial rewards for people to spy on their neighbors and report “illegal religious activities.”The local branch of the United Front Work Department in Meilisi Daur district of Qiqihar in Heilongjiang province launched the scheme this month, reported China Christian Daily.
The department is the umbrella intelligence and coordination body of the Chinese Communist Party that gathers intelligence, manages relations and attempts to influence individuals and organizations including religions and religious groups inside and outside China.
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The Aug. 9 announcement in Qiqihar said that informants could earn up to 1,000 yuan (US$150) for tips about “illegal foreign infiltration” and whistleblowers could be paid from 500 to 1,000 yuan for reports about unqualified religious personnel, unauthorized trans-regional activities, preaching and distributing printed religious works, audio-visual products outside places of worship, unauthorized donations or private house gatherings.
In the past two years, the Chinese government introduced several laws and regulations demanding registration of all places of worship with the government. Laws also criminalized clergy, who mister communities, without government registration.
Leaders of the underground Churches say the laws are meant to target them and their clergy.
Informants can use phone calls, emails and letters to contact authorities.
The move seeks to “strengthen the control of illegal religious activities in the district, prevent any Covid-19 cluster resulting from religious gatherings, mobilize the public to engage in preventing, suppressing illegal religious activities, and ensure a harmonious and stable religious landscape,” the statement said.
In Henan province last year, similar rewards were offered for people who reported illegal religious activities via a hotline
Similar rewards systems were previously introduced in Boshan district and Weihai City, both in Shandong province.
The notice urged residents to report any unauthorized religious training and summer or winter camps attended by minors, or any evangelistic activity for “parenting purposes.” Unapproved internet religious information, religious donation campaigns that violate the law, and charitable activities for evangelism would be also included, China Christian Daily reported.
Are Progressive Catholics a Threat to the World?
Are progressive Catholics and Nostra Aetate responsible for the failure of the War on Terror? A good case can be made!
From Crisis
By William Kilpatrick
For twenty years we have been fighting a global war on terror without much to show for it. This lack of success stems from a deception at the heart of the war effort. The deception is to call it a war on terror when it is, in fact, a war on Islamic terror.For twenty years we have been fighting against ideologically motivated warriors while carefully avoiding any discussion of what that ideology is. One sometimes gets the impression from news analysts that the terrorists are motivated by terrorism itself. But, of course, that is no explanation at all.
Occasionally, however, the terrorists are described as “radical Islamists.” That’s closer to the truth, but it still leaves many questions unanswered. What’s the difference between Islam and radical Islam? Exactly where did the radical Islamists go wrong?
Very few ever press these questions because, in truth, Islam and radical Islam share the same basic beliefs. The radical version of Islam and the standard version are uncomfortably alike. In the West and in the Muslim world, the most common way of dealing with the issue is to assert that the terrorists have misunderstood their religion. They must have misunderstood Islam, it is suggested, because, as everyone knows, Islam itself is a good thing—a great religion that has brought many benefits to the world. And anyone who says different about this wonderful faith is an “Islamophobe” who ought to be silenced.
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says that in order to win a battle, you must first know your enemy. But in our two-decade war against terror, we have made every effort to avoid knowing too much about our enemy’s motivating ideology. Note that this was not the case in previous wars. During the Civil War, the North made every effort to discredit the South’s slave system. In the Second World War, the Allied Forces mounted a massive propaganda campaign aimed at undermining Nazi ideology. And in the Cold War, America showed no hesitation in attacking communist ideology.
By contrast, the war on terror has dragged on longer than any other U.S. war, with hardly a hint that something might be amiss with Islamic ideology. Perhaps the length of the war reflects the fact that we never fully knew what we were fighting for—and what we were fighting against.
How did we get ourselves into this fix? How did we get involved in endless wars with an ideological enemy whose ideology we refuse to identify? There is more than one answer to that question, but I’d like to focus here on just one of them—namely, the Catholic Church’s role in developing the deceptive myth that Islamic terrorism has nothing to do with the religion of Islam.
The myth developed mainly within the progressive wing of the Catholic Church, but conservative Catholics never mounted much resistance to it. In fact, most went along with it. The myth was “officially” established in 1965 with the publication of the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate.
The declaration’s section on the Muslims tells us that the Church regards Muslims with “esteem” because they “adore the one God,” because they “revere” Jesus and “honor Mary” and because “they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.”
From which the average Catholic might conclude: “Nice fellas those Muslims. They’re just like us Catholics.” Was that the intended takeaway? It seems so. As the old song instructs us, “Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative.” And Nostra Aetate follows the instructions to a T. While nothing false is said about Islam, neither is anything negative. In short, a great deal of important information about Islam is left out. Anyone wishing to get an accurate picture of Islam would have to dig much deeper than Nostra Aetate, yet it is that brief puff passage that seems to have become the Church’s final word on Islam. It is quoted endlessly, and its message—that Islam is just like Catholicism—is echoed in the Catechism as well as in Catholic schools and colleges.
One university in particular spread the message. Founded in 1993, Georgetown’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding became the main vehicle for disseminating the Catholic progressives’ positive view of Islam. Before long, a number of wealthy Arab States became interested in the Center and donations began to pour in. In recognition of the generous Saudi contribution, the Center was renamed the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. However, the Saudi contribution was eventually dwarfed by a massive donation from Qatar—a country which also lavishly funds Islamic terrorist organizations.
Coincidence? Well, only a conspiracy theorist would think such an unkind thought. But, as long as we’re on the subject of coincidences, here’s another one: Georgetown University is situated in Washington, D.C.,—a city which is also home to the White House, the Congress, the Pentagon, the FBI, and the Department of State. Moreover—by sheer coincidence—the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding just happens to be housed in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service—a school whose graduates often go on to careers in the State Department, the FBI, and the CIA. Did some of our foreign affairs experts get their basic training in Islam from the CMCU?
Could it be that, in the crucial days and weeks after 9/11 when President Bush was being assured by Muslim Brotherhood officials that Islam was a religion of peace and justice, the Catholics in his administration were reassuring him that this positive portrayal of Islam dovetailed with their own information?
In any event, the fear and suspicion of Islam that initially gripped many Americans after 9/11 was eventually overcome by the combined voices of government officials, educators, and television news anchors who all confirmed the good news that Islam was a religion of peace and that terrorists were a handful of extremists who had perverted a great religion.
This version of things gained added respectability from the fact that Catholic leaders were saying more or less the same things about Islam. After all, this is what they had learned about Islam in Catholic schools and seminaries. So, after every jihad attack in the U.S., Europe, Canada, and elsewhere, local bishops could be counted on to certify that “this has nothing to do with Islam,” and to bemoan the fact that a tiny minority of “misunderstanders” had tarnished the reputation of a great religion.
Of course, not every Catholic was willing to jump on board the Islam love boat. In his Regensburg Address, Pope Benedict XVI tried to introduce a more realistic view of Islam. However, even Benedict, along with John Paul II, was conflicted over the Islamic issue. John Paul II was more worried about the spread of Communism than the spread of Islam. Moreover, both pontiffs tended to divide the world into two camps—the secular and the religious. With all its faults, Islam was still a fellow religion and an ally in the fight against secularism. And so, both men were reluctant to criticize it.
But with Francis’ election to the papacy, every vestige of realism went out the church window and fantasy-based Islam came in by the front door. Thus, in his first apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, Francis proclaimed that “authentic Islam and a proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence.” Just as he has confused almost every other issue, Francis brazenly declared that a religion founded on violence was opposed to violence. Perhaps the only other progressive Catholic who is more confusing than the Pope is the vacant-eyed occupant of the White House.
Whatever the magnitude of the Catholic contribution to the confusion over Islam, let’s briefly try to set the record straight on one oft-repeated falsehood. One of the chief ways to protect Islam against charges of violence is to claim that jihadists are “misunderstanders” of Islam. That’s another way of saying that they’re mostly illiterate country bumpkins. But a number of studies show that jihadists are, on the whole, better educated and better off financially than the average Muslim.
It’s true, of course, that many Muslims—especially in Afghanistan—are illiterate. But it’s not true of the Taliban. The word “Taliban” means “students.” Students of what? Well, mostly the Koran, the Hadith, the Sira, and the sharia law books. In short, while they may not know a lot about Shakespeare and quantum physics, they do know a lot about Islam. What makes our Western leaders, who know next to nothing about Islam, so sure that the Taliban “misunderstand” Islam?
Most of the Taliban leadership attended the Darul Uloom Haqqania Seminary in Pakistan. And Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban and a graduate of the seminary, received an honorary doctorate from the school. Of course, an honorary doctorate is not as good as a real one. But surprise! Several terrorist leaders did have real Ph.D.s. Abdullah Azzam, the founder of MAK (later renamed al-Qaeda), had a Ph.D. in Islamic jurisprudence from Al-Azhar University. So did Omar Abdel Rahman—the “Blind Sheik” who masterminded the first attack on the World Trade Center. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the founder of ISIS, had a Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of Baghdad, and Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the Iranian Revolution, was an expert on Islamic law and the author of more than forty books.
We in the West tend to think that if only Muslims knew their religion better, they would be more peaceful. But the obverse is true. For example, several European research studies found that as Muslims become more devout, they became more radicalized.
The truth is that it’s Westerners who are the real misunderstanders of Islam. As it became clear that the Taliban would retake Afghanistan and reimpose sharia law, many Afghans expressed fear. They knew what the Taliban had done in the past and they knew that much of what the Taliban did was allowed and even sanctioned by sharia (Islamic Law). By contrast, Westerners tended to be shocked. Covering of women? Child marriage? Amputations for theft? How could such things be done in the name of religion?
But many in the West suffer from the delusion that all religions are essentially the same—that all are peaceful, tolerant, and charitable, and that all treat men and women equally. But these principles and practices derive from Christianity, not from Islam. Westerners should not be shocked when true-believing Muslims—such as the Taliban, ISIS, and Boko Haram—depart from Christian and Western principles. They are guided by a different understanding of right and wrong.
The irony is that this delusion about the essential sameness of all religions has been championed in recent years by progressives in the Catholic Church. One of the prime examples is the Abu Dhabi Declaration on “Human Fraternity” signed by Pope Francis and Ahmed el-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, in 2019. The document portrays both Christianity and Islam as humanitarian religions which share the same values—peace, fraternity, tolerance, kindness, and so forth. At one point the document informs us that terrorism “is not due to religion… it is due rather to an accumulation of incorrect interpretations of religious texts.” Of course, that’s just a fancy way of saying that Islamic jihadists misunderstand their faith.
Whether the Grand Imam believes any of this is doubtful. But Francis does. The Declaration of Human Fraternity is the logical continuation of all the misleading things Francis has said about Islam ever since his election as pope. Misunderstand Islam? If anyone deserves the title of “Chief Misunderstander of Islam,” it is Francis.
Yet it is Francis’ naïve view of Islam that is now dominant in the Church. The “religion of peace” mantra is repeated in Catholic schools, colleges, and seminaries throughout the world. Of course, Francis does not bear sole responsibility. His line of thinking goes all the way back to the misleading picture of Islam presented in Nostra Aetate.
This is not merely intellectual history. I think it fair to say that “progressives” in the Church bear some of the responsibility for what is now happening in Afghanistan. We hear it said now that we “underestimated” the Taliban. But that underestimation is due to a general misreading of Islam—a misreading to which Catholics have generously contributed.
Indeed, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the Church has become an enabler of Islam—not merely in an abstract way but in very concrete ways. One example is the Vatican campaign to admit more Muslims into Europe, and the consequent migration invasion of the Continent by the Muslim faithful. This has already resulted in a massive crime wave, but that’s only the beginning.
Thanks in large part to the Catholic hierarchy, Europe will be dominated by Islam within a few decades. And European Christians? Well, look at what is happening to Christians all over Africa in places where Muslims are a majority or else have a large presence. There are few if any Taliban in Africa, yet Christians are being slaughtered on a mass scale. If the Taliban were to miraculously disappear tomorrow, Islamic persecution of non- Muslims would continue as usual in the rest of the world.
When I say that the Church has become an enabler of Islam, I do not mean to say that the Church has enabled the growth of “moderate” Islam, but rather the growth of what is inaccurately thought of as “radical” Islam. Islam is basically a radical religion. There are far fewer moderates than is generally thought. And there will be fewer still if the progressive view of Islam continues to hold sway.
The basic way in which Catholics enable radical Islam is by denying its importance. Radicals, they contend, are only a tiny unrepresentative minority. They are, according to progressives, an aberration, and they are bound to dwindle and disappear because they are out of tune with “authentic” Islam. All that is necessary to convince them that they are on the wrong path is a little more dialogue.
It’s often said that one of the devil’s greatest achievements is to convince people that he doesn’t exist. Once people are no longer on their guard against him, he can operate more freely and effectively. By insisting that radical Islam is only a small and unrepresentative force on the edges of Islam, naïve Catholics only ensure that it will grow and spread. They also ensure that Catholics and other Christians will be totally unprepared when “radical” Islam comes to their neighborhood.
A Happy Christmas to All
MM wishes his readers a Happy Christmas with a rather odd card.
From The Mad Monarchist (25 December 2013)
from The Mad Monarchist
31 August, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day
Patience
1. Patience may be external or internal. Both are necessary aspects of the same virtue. External patience consists in refraining from outbursts of anger and from sarcastic comments – in short, from all words and actions which might give offence to others. It is easy to be patient when our affairs are running smoothly and everybody is being nice to us. It is quite another matter when we come up against difficulties or find that we are being slighted or insulted. It is hard to remain silent when our pride has been wounded, and it requires the virtue of a saint to be able to smile at our tormentors. It took St. Francis de Sales years of spiritual conflict before he achieved this kind of perfection.
How far can we claim to have succeeded in acquiring this virtue? We should always remember that temperamental explosions are unworthy of a rational being. The only proper course when we have been offended is to state our case clearly and calmly, though generally speaking it is more heroic to remain silent. Impatience is futile because it cannot remedy the situation, and often harmful because it upsets us and only produces bitterness. Acts of impatience, moreover, are a source of bad example to others. “The quick-tempered man,” says Sacred Scripture, “makes a fool of himself.” (Prov. 14:17) “The patient man,” it adds, “shows much good sense, but the quick-tempered man displays folly at its height.” (Id. 14:19)
If we live in the presence of God, we shall learn to be calm and self-controlled in all circumstances.
2. An outward show of patience will hardly avail us much in God’s eyes unless it is accompanied by interior patience, which consists in the possession of complete mastery over all our faculties. We should be able to control our feelings as well as our actions. This is a difficult virtue, but it is the duty of every sincere Christian to try and acquire it. Only the grace of God and constant effort will enable us to succeed, but when we have at last mastered our unruly and selfish impulses we shall have arrived at a state of peace and perfection. “By your patience you will win your souls.” (Luke 21:19)
3. If we are patient from the motive of the love of God, we can gain merit in His sight. There are three grades of perfection in this virtue. (1) The first is the acceptance, with Christian resignation, of every kind of misfortune, offering it in expiation of our sins. (2) The second consists in a cheerful and willing acceptance of these misfortunes because they come from God. (3) The third stage is reached when we actually desire them out of our love for Jesus Christ.
Which grade have we attained? If we wish to please God, it is essential that we should have made the first grade at least. “A patient man is better than a warrior, and he who rules his temper, than he who takes a city.” (Prov. 16:32)
Eastern Rite - Feasts of 31August AM 7529
Today is the Feast of the Placing of the Precious Sash of Our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God in Calcoprateia.
The Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in a church of Constantinople’s Chalcoprateia district took place during the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Younger. Before this, the holy relic, entrusted to the Apostle Thomas by the Mother of God Herself, was kept by pious Christians at Jerusalem after Her Dormition. During the reign of Emperor Leo the Wise (886-911), his wife Zoe was afflicted with an unclean spirit, and he prayed that God would heal her.
The empress had a vision that she would be healed of her infirmity if the Belt of the Mother of God were placed upon her. The emperor then asked the Patriarch to open the coffer. The Patriarch removed the seal and opened the coffer in which the relic was kept, and the Belt of the Mother of God appeared completely whole and undamaged by time. The Patriarch placed the Belt on the sick empress, and immediately she was freed from her infirmity. They sang hymns of thanksgiving to the Most Holy Theotokos, then they placed the venerable Belt back into the coffer and resealed it.
In commemoration of the miraculous occurrence and the twofold Placing of the venerable Belt, the Feast of the Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos was established. Parts of the Holy Belt are in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos, in Trier monastery, and in Georgia.
Troparion — Tone 8
Ever-Virgin Theotokos, protectress of mankind, / you have given your people a powerful legacy: / the robe and sash of your most honoured body which remained / incorrupt throughout your seedless childbearing; / for through you time and nature are renewed! / Therefore we implore you: “Grant peace to your people and to our souls great mercy!”
Kontakion — Tone 4
Today your flock celebrates the enshrinement of your precious sash, / and it earnestly cries out to you: / “Rejoice, O Virgin, boast of all Christians!”
✠✠✠✠✠
The Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos in a church of Constantinople’s Chalcoprateia district took place during the reign of the emperor Theodosius the Younger. Before this, the holy relic, entrusted to the Apostle Thomas by the Mother of God Herself, was kept by pious Christians at Jerusalem after Her Dormition. During the reign of Emperor Leo the Wise (886-911), his wife Zoe was afflicted with an unclean spirit, and he prayed that God would heal her.
The empress had a vision that she would be healed of her infirmity if the Belt of the Mother of God were placed upon her. The emperor then asked the Patriarch to open the coffer. The Patriarch removed the seal and opened the coffer in which the relic was kept, and the Belt of the Mother of God appeared completely whole and undamaged by time. The Patriarch placed the Belt on the sick empress, and immediately she was freed from her infirmity. They sang hymns of thanksgiving to the Most Holy Theotokos, then they placed the venerable Belt back into the coffer and resealed it.
In commemoration of the miraculous occurrence and the twofold Placing of the venerable Belt, the Feast of the Placing of the Venerable Belt of the Most Holy Theotokos was established. Parts of the Holy Belt are in the Vatopedi monastery on Mt. Athos, in Trier monastery, and in Georgia.
Troparion — Tone 8
Ever-Virgin Theotokos, protectress of mankind, / you have given your people a powerful legacy: / the robe and sash of your most honoured body which remained / incorrupt throughout your seedless childbearing; / for through you time and nature are renewed! / Therefore we implore you: “Grant peace to your people and to our souls great mercy!”
Kontakion — Tone 4
Today your flock celebrates the enshrinement of your precious sash, / and it earnestly cries out to you: / “Rejoice, O Virgin, boast of all Christians!”
IN LUMINE FIDEI: 31 AUGUST – SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS (Bishop and Con...
IN LUMINE FIDEI: 31 AUGUST – SAINT RAYMUND NONNATUS (Bishop and Con...: Raymund, surnamed Nonnatus on account of his having been brought into the world in an unusual manner after the death of his mother, was...
31 August, A Chesterton Calendar
AUGUST 31st
Carlyle said that men were mostly fools. Christianity, with a surer and more reverent realism, says that they are all fools. This doctrine is sometimes called the doctrine of original sin. It may also be described as the doctrine of the equality of men.
'Heretics.'
Carlyle said that men were mostly fools. Christianity, with a surer and more reverent realism, says that they are all fools. This doctrine is sometimes called the doctrine of original sin. It may also be described as the doctrine of the equality of men.
'Heretics.'
31 August, The Holy Rule of St Benedict, Father of Western Monks
CHAPTER LXXIII. That the whole observance of Perfection is not set down in this Rule
1 May. 31 Aug. 31 Dec.
We have written this Rule, in order that, by observing it in Monasteries, we may shew ourselves to have some degree of goodness of life, and a beginning of holiness. But for him who would hasten to the perfection of religion, there are the teachings of the holy Fathers, the following whereof bringeth a man to the height of perfection. For what page or what word is there in the divinely inspired books of the Old and New Testaments, that is not a most unerring rule for human life? Or what book of the holy Catholic Fathers doth not loudly proclaim how we may by a straight course reach our Creator? Moreover, the Conferences of the Fathers, their Institutes and their Lives, and the Rule of our holy Father Basil - what are these but the instruments whereby well-living and obedient monks attain to virtue? But to us, who are slothful and negligent and of evil lives, they are cause for shame and confusion. Whoever, therefore, thou art that hasteneth to thy heavenly country, fulfil by the help of Christ this least of Rules which we have written for beginners; and then at length thou shalt arrive, under God’s protection, at the lofty summits of doctrine and virtue of which we have spoken above.
1 September, The Roman Martyrology
Kaléndis Septémbris Luna vicésima quarta Anno Dómini 2021
On the morrow we keep the feast of the holy Confessor Cardinal Raymond, surnamed the Unborn, of the Order of Blessed Mary of Ransom for the Redemption of Prisoners, a man famous for the holiness of his life and for his wonderful works, of whom mention was made yesterday.
September 1st 2021, the 24th day of the Moon, were born into the better life:
In the province of Narbonne, the holy Abbot and Confessor Giles.
At Benevento, [in the third century,] the Twelve Holy Brethren Martyrs.
In Palestine, holy Joshua and holy Gideon.
At Jerusalem, the blessed Prophetess Anna, whose holiness is set forth in the words of the Gospel.
At Capua, upon the Aquarian Way, the holy martyr Priscus, who was one of the original disciples of Christ.
At Reims, in Gaul, holy Xystus, a disciple of the blessed Apostle Peter, who was by him consecrated as the first Bishop of that city, and received the crown of martyrdom in the persecution under Nero.
At Todi, in Umbria, [in the second century,] the holy martyr Terentian, Bishop [of that city,] who was racked and tormented with armed whips by command of the Pro-Consul Laetian, under the Emperor Hadrian, whereafter his tongue was cut out and he was condemned to be beheaded, and so finished his testimony.
At Heraclea, [in Thrace,] the holy Deacon Ammon, and the forty holy Virgins to whom he taught the faith, and whom he led with him, under the tyrant Licinius, to the glory of martyrdom.
In Spain, the holy martyrs Vincent and Laetus.
At Piombino, in Tuscany, the holy martyr Regulus, who was martyred there under Totila, on his landing from Africa.
At Sens, [in the seventh century,] the blessed Confessor Lupus, Bishop [of that see,] concerning whom it is said that one day when he was standing at the holy Altar in the presence of the clergy a precious stone fell from heaven into his chalice.
At Capua, holy Priscus, Bishop [of that city.] He was one of those Priests who, in the persecution under the Vandals, were diversely afflicted for the Catholic faith's sake, and were put on board an old ship wherein they came from Africa to the shores of Campania, and being scattered about those parts, and set over diverse churches, they wonderfully spread abroad the Christian religion. His Companions were Castrensis, Tammatrus, Rosius, Heraclius, Secundinus, Adjutor, Mark, Augustus, Elpidius, Canion, and Vindonius.
At Aquino, [in the sixth century,] holy Constantius, Bishop [of that see,] famous for the gift of prophecy, and for many other graces.
At Le Mans, [in the fifth century,] holy Victorius, Bishop [of that see.]
At Baden, in the country of Constance, the holy Virgin Verena.
V. And elsewhere many other holy martyrs, confessors, and holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God.
30 August 2021
Prayers Request
I often share posts from 'Daffey Thoughts'. Mr Griffey is asking for our prayers. His wife is having cardiac issues. {lease join me in praying for her.
From Daffey Thoughts
By David Griffey
That's not a typo. I mean prayers, as in many, frequently, often. I've been at the hospital since Friday with my wife. Doctors believe she has suffered from a mild heart attack. Her family has a long history of heart problems, and she's actually quite old to have encountered her first cardiac crisis.
Nonetheless, you're never ready to hear those words applied to a loved one. She's undergoing testing and treatments, and praying that this will be caught early enough that medications and the treatments they've used are good to get her back on the road to recovery.
So any prayers available, we would appreciate it. Get the word out and call those prayer chains. More information to come as it unfolds.
Even Nike Can't Sell Masculinity Anymore
Identity politics takes its toll on Nike. The entire essay on House of Strauss is well worth the read as well.
From The Post @UnHerd
The company's brand has become lost in identity politics
In the 1990s, as sports writer Ethan Strauss remembers it, Nike ads were internationally popular, culturally relevant “generational touchstones”. Written by the Wieden+Kennedy firm, these miniature movies were “often creatively daring but also quite funny”. Consider 1996’s “Good vs Evil” where a team of footballers face off against Satan’s demonic soccer army.
Nike, according to Strauss, has stopped making and commissioning ads like this. Why?
Modern Nike ads will never be so remembered. It’s not because we’re so inundated with information these days, though we are. And it’s not because today’s overexposed athletes lack the mystique of the 1990s superstars, though they do. It’s because the modern Nike ads are beyond fucking terrible.
- ETHAN STRAUSS, SUBSTACK
And why are these ads so terrible? Nike like so many other institutions is tangled in the cultural weeds — race, gender, and power. “The result is that what Nike is happens to be at cross-purposes from what Nike aspires to be.”
Nike’s main problem is this: It’s a company built on masculinity, most specifically Michael Jordan’s alpha dog brand of it. Now, due to its own ambitions, scandals, and intellectual trends, Nike finds masculinity problematic enough to loudly reject.
- ETHAN STRAUSS, SUBSTACK
For decades, Nike profited from and marketed a brand of hyper-masculinity. As Strauss puts it:
If you’re committed to marketing sports overall, you’re marketing, at the very least, a brand of masculinity. Dominating your opponents isn’t the only way to be a man and doing so isn’t exclusively the province of men, but the act itself is a disproportionately male endeavor, and also something that really appeals to male audiences. The nation that contains more female than male sports fans … doesn’t exist. Nike sold the public this rented masculinity, year after year, and the public bought it, including the many women who found Nike’s pitchmen and products to be charismatic.
- ETHAN STRAUSS, SUBSTACK
What are Nike’s football ads like today? They’re tolerance bromides, with hyper-masculinity not air-bushed out of the picture, but actively condemned.
Strauss thinks it resembles “an aggressive parody of liberals” not an advertisement for sports apparel. The company’s voice has been bent into the “language of righteousness.”
Ironically, Nike mattered a lot more in the days when its position was less dominant. Back when it had to really fight for market share, it made bold, genre-altering art. The ads were synonymous with masculine victory, plus they were cheekily irreverent. And so the dudes loved them. Today, Nike is something else. It LARPs as a grandiose feminist nonprofit as it floats aimlessly on the vessel Michael Jordan built long ago. Like Jordan himself, Nike is rich forever off what it can replicate never. Unlike Jordan, it now wishes to be known for anything but its triumphs. Nike once told a story and that story resonated with its audience. Now it’s decided that its audience is the problem.
- ETHAN STRAUSS, SUBSTACK
Read the whole essay here.
Biden Admin Handing List of Allies to Taliban is Opposite of Schindler’s List. It’s a Kill List.
The utter idiocy! God help us if we ever need native allies again! 'Pray for the people. Only God can help them now. The US government will not.'
By Matthew Archbold
I’m not even saying it’s Biden. I don’t actually think he has much idea of what’s going on. At all. But the handing of a list of Afghani American allies is nothing short of evil. The strange part is that we don’t really know who is doing committing this callous evil? For America, that’s very strange.This brings to mind the M.S. St. Louis off the coast of Miami in June 1939. As the more than 900 Jewish passengers looked longingly at the city lights they pleaded to land.
Those hopes would soon be dashed by immigration authorities, sending the ship back to Europe. And then, nearly a third of the passengers on the St. Louis were murdered.
This is similar. But this time it’s Americans who we’re abandoning to the murderous evil of the Taliban instead of the Nazis.
NY Post:
A potentially deadly blunder by President Joe Biden’s administration effectively handed the Taliban a “kill list” to target Afghans who aided the US, according to a report Thursday — and admitted it may have happened when asked later at a White House briefing.
Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul, US officials there gave the Islamic extremist group the names of American citizens, green card holders and Afghan allies so they could be allowed to enter the Taliban-controlled perimeter around the Hamid Karzai International Airport, according to Politico.
The decision was reportedly made despite the Taliban’s notorious reputation for brutally executing Afghans who helped the US military and other Western forces during the war and occupation that followed the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
“Basically, they just put all those Afghans on a kill list,” a US defense official told Politico. “It’s just appalling and shocking and makes you feel unclean.”
During a news conference about Thursday’s deadly terror attack at the Kabul airport, Biden acknowledged unspecified “occasions” on which the US military had contacted the Taliban to say, “for example, this bus is coming through with ‘X’ number of people on it, made up of the following people.”
“And to the best of my knowledge, in those cases, the bulk of that has occurred. They’ve been let through,” he said.
“But I can’t tell you with any certitude that there’s actually been a list of names. There may have been, but I know of no circumstance.”
Biden added: “That doesn’t mean it’s not — it didn’t exist. That, ‘Here’s the names of 12 people. They’re coming. Let them through.’ It could very well have happened.”
The shocking revelation came just days after it was revealed that Taliban death squads have been going “door-to-door” to hunt down suspected Afghan “collaborators,” with tens of thousands of American allies potentially at risk.
The White House’s major miscalculation surfaced during a classified, Capitol Hill briefing earlier this week, Politico said.”
Pray for the people. Only God can help them now. The US government will not.
The Truth About Vladimir Putin's Time In The KGB
'There is no such thing as a former KGB man'. V.V. Putin 'Instruction #1 of the attaining of full power has been completed'. Putin, to his former KGB buddies, upon being elected President.
The Rise and Fall of Telephone Operators
I well remember calling 'Central'! It was the late 1950s before dial phones came to rural Kansas. Grandma Spiller was a phone operator.
From History.com
By Greg Daugherty
In the earliest days of the telephone, people couldn’t dial one another directly. They needed an intermediary—a telephone operator—to manually relay their call on a central switchboard connected to subscribers’ wires. It was a crucial new service that helped a revolutionary new technology spread widely to the masses.
The idea originated in April 1877, when 40-year-old George W. Coy attended a lecture by Alexander Graham Bell. In it, the famous inventor demonstrated how he could converse with two colleagues—one 27 miles away, the other 38 miles—using a device he’d patented just the year before: the telephone. Coy, a Civil War veteran who worked in the telegraph business, soon made a deal with Bell to set up the first telephone exchange in the United States, a central switchboard that allowed anyone with a telephone to call or be called by anyone else who had one.
Coy’s telephone exchange, in New Haven, Connecticut, opened in 1878, with all of 21 clients, including the local police, post office and a drug store. Today, Coy is often cited as the world’s first telephone operator. But while Coy devised the switchboard for the exchange (improvising some parts using wire from women’s bustles!), he hired two boys to operate it. Louis Frost, the 17-year-old son of one of Coy’s business partners, was most likely the first operator.
That Coy would employ boys to do a job later associated mostly with girls and young women was only natural. Boys often worked at telegraph offices, while female telegraph operators were a rarity. That would continue into the early days of the telephone. But by the beginning of the 20th century, women began dominating the field. And as their numbers grew they became a powerful force—fighting for the right to join unions, striking for higher wages, even serving overseas in World War I.
Boy Operators Didn’t Last
It turned out there was a problem with male switchboard operators: The boys, often barely in their teens, couldn’t seem to behave themselves. They had a tendency to roughhouse. And “when some other diversion held their attention, they would leave a call unanswered for any length of time, and then return the impatient subscriber’s profanity with a few original oaths,” wrote Marion May Dilts in her 1941 book, The Telephone in a Changing World.
Hoping to find operators who’d be more attentive to their duties and not cuss out the customers, local phone companies began to recruit girls and young women. Often that meant going house to house, trying to persuade parents that telephone operator was a respectable job for their daughters.
As the number of telephones in the U.S. multiplied, so did the demand for operators. In 1910, there were 88,000 female telephone operators in the United States. By 1920, there were 178,000, and by 1930, 235,000.
What Did Telephone Operators Do, Exactly?
In the telephone’s earliest days, one phone could be connected to another by wire, allowing their two owners to speak. While that may have seemed like a miracle at the time, it was clear that the telephone would be much more useful if any given phone could communicate with numerous phones. Telephone exchanges made that possible.
Each of the phones in a particular locale would be connected by wire to a central exchange. The owner of a telephone would call the exchange, and a switchboard operator would answer. The caller would give the operator the name of the person he or she wanted to speak with, and the operator would plug a patch cord into that person’s socket on the switchboard, connecting the two. Long-distance calls would require the local exchange to patch the call through to more distant exchanges, again through a series of cables. Later, as the exchanges added more and more customers, phones were assigned numbers, and callers could request to be connected that way.
Some early telephone operators worked at small, rural exchanges, their switchboards located in the local railroad station or the back of a general store. In cities, massive switchboards could have long rows of operators packed elbow to elbow.Operators Were Subject to Strict Rules
At the busier boards, work could be frantic. Some operators took to wearing roller skates to get around. Otherwise, the dress code tended to be strict—long black dresses and no jewelry, for example. Operators were subject to numerous other rules, and spies sometimes monitored their calls on a device called a listening board. In 1899, when a 25-year-old San Francisco operator named Anna Byrne killed herself, the coroner held the phone company responsible: “I firmly believe that the espionage to which telephone girls are constantly subjected drives them to suicidal desperation. They are overworked; and no mercy is shown them when a slight offense is committed by a trivial infraction of the company’s rules.”
Many operators agreed. “The wonder is that more telephone girls don’t kill themselves,” a veteran operator told the San Francisco Examiner. “We are not allowed to speak even in a whisper to each other the nine hours we are on duty, much less smile, and to laugh out loud is the height of recklessness.” She said she’d once been forced to work 10 extra hours, without pay, for one brief giggle.
Companies often tried to control their operators’ personal lives, as well. “The unwritten rule was that she could not marry and would lose her job if she did,” noted Ellen Stern and Emily Gwathmey in their 1994 history, Once Upon a Telephone.
The Operators Rebel
The pace of the work and the repressive rules that operators often had to put up with eventually led to dissension in the ranks. Phone companies discovered that their supposedly docile female workforces could only be pushed so far.In April 1919, for example, some 8,000 operators walked off the job at the New England Telephone Company, all but shutting down phone service in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Five days later, the company met their demands for higher wages and the right to bargain collectively.
The New England strikers may have been inspired by the more than 200 female telephone operators (out of 7,000 who applied) who’d served heroically in First World War. The Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit, informally known as the “Hello Girls,” had started overseas in March 1918. Their mission was to facilitate communications between American, British and French troops on the Western front, serving not only as operators but often as translators.
The Hello Girls, along with women serving as nurses, ambulance drivers and in other jobs crucial to the war effort, are credited with helping President Woodrow Wilson drop his objection to women’s suffrage and endorse it in a 1918 speech to Congress. “We have made partners of the women in this war…” Wilson said. “Shall we admit them only to a partnership of suffering and sacrifice and toil and not to a partnership of privilege and right?”
The End of the Line?
With the coming of the 1930s, technology that allowed telephone users simply to dial another phone without the aid of an operator had become widespread. Phone companies took advantage of the moment to slash their workforces, and thousands of operators lost their jobs. By 1940, there were fewer than 200,000 in all.
In 2021, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a total of just 5,000 workers it classifies as “telephone operators” plus another 69,900 categorized as “switchboard operators including answering service.” And it expects more than 20 percent of those jobs to disappear by 2029.
Queen 'Orders Senior Palace Aides to 'Lawyer Up' and Plan Legal Fightback Against Harry and Meghan
I have my doubts as to the truth of these rumours, but it wouldn't be a bad idea in my opinion. The Sussexes are an embarrassment to the Roya Family, to Britain, and to themselves!
Fron Nobility and Analogous Elites
According to News Nation USA:
One hurdle any legal team could face is the upcoming release of Prince Harry’s tell-all memoirs.
According to the Sun, a preemptive legal warning to the publishers is now being considered.
The source told the paper: ‘If someone were named in the book and accused of something directly that could be a libel and also infringe their rights to a private family life.
‘It would be ironic if Harry and Meghan were accused of breaching privacy given their pronouncements on the subject.’
To read the entire article on News Nation USA, please click here.
CONTRA GENTILES: BOOK FOUR: SALVATION - Chapter 78 ON THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
[1] Now, we grant that by the sacraments men are restored to grace; nonetheless, they are not immediately restored to immortality. We have given the reason for this. But things which are corruptible cannot be perpetuated except by generation. Since, then, the people of the faithful had to be perpetuated unto the end of the world, this had to be done by generation, by which, also, the human species is perpetuated.
[2] But let us consider this: When something is ordered to different ends there must be differing principles directing it to the end, for the end is proportioned to the agent. Human generation, of course, is ordered to many things; namely, to the perpetuity of the species and to the perpetuity of some political good—the perpetuity of a people in some state for example. It is also ordered to the perpetuity of the Church, which consists in the collection of the faithful. Accordingly, generation of this kind must be subject to a diversity of directions. Therefore, so far as it is ordered to the good of nature, which is the perpetuity of the species, it is directed to the end by nature inclining to this end; thus, one calls it a duty of nature. But, so far as generation is ordered to a political good, it is subject to the ordering of civil law. Then, so far as it is ordered to the good of the Church, it must be subject to the government of the Church. But things which are dispensed to the people by the ministers of the Church are called sacraments. Matrimony, then, in that it consists in the union of a husband and wife purposing to generate and educate offspring for the worship of God, is a sacrament of the Church; hence, also, a certain blessing on those marrying is given by the ministers of the Church.
13] And as in the other sacraments by the thing done outwardly a sign is made of a spiritual thing, so, too, in this sacrament by the union of husband and wife a sign of the union of Christ and the Church is made; in the Apostle’s words: “This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the church” (Eph. 5:32).
[4] And because the sacraments effect that of which they are made signs, one must believe that in this sacrament a grace is conferred on those marrying, and that by this grace they are included in the union of Christ and the Church, which is most especially necessary to them, that in this way in fleshly and earthly things they may purpose not to be disunited from Christ and the Church.
[5] Since, then, the union of husband and wife gives a sign of the union of Christ and the Church, that which makes the sign must correspond to that whose sign it is. Now, the union of Christ and the Church is a union of one to one to be held forever. For there is one Church, as the Canticle (6:8) says: “One is My dove, My perfect one.” And Christ will never be separated from His Church, for He Himself says: “Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world” (Mat. 28:20); and, further: “we shall be always with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:16), as the Apostle says. Necessarily, then, matrimony as a sacrament of the Church is a union of one man to one woman to be held indivisibly, and this is included in the faithfulness by which the man and wife are bound to one another.
[6] Thus, then, there are three goods of matrimony as a sacrament of the Church: namely, offspring to be accepted and educated for the worship of God; fidelity by which one man is bound to one wife; and the sacrament—and, in accord with this—there is indivisibility in the marriage union, in so far as it is a sacrament of the union of Christ and the Church.
[7] Now, all the other things one ought to consider in matrimony we have dealt with in Book III.
Next - CONTRA GENTILES: BOOK FOUR: SALVATION - Chapter 79 THAT THROUGH CHRIST THE RESURRECTION OF BODIES IS TO COME
[2] But let us consider this: When something is ordered to different ends there must be differing principles directing it to the end, for the end is proportioned to the agent. Human generation, of course, is ordered to many things; namely, to the perpetuity of the species and to the perpetuity of some political good—the perpetuity of a people in some state for example. It is also ordered to the perpetuity of the Church, which consists in the collection of the faithful. Accordingly, generation of this kind must be subject to a diversity of directions. Therefore, so far as it is ordered to the good of nature, which is the perpetuity of the species, it is directed to the end by nature inclining to this end; thus, one calls it a duty of nature. But, so far as generation is ordered to a political good, it is subject to the ordering of civil law. Then, so far as it is ordered to the good of the Church, it must be subject to the government of the Church. But things which are dispensed to the people by the ministers of the Church are called sacraments. Matrimony, then, in that it consists in the union of a husband and wife purposing to generate and educate offspring for the worship of God, is a sacrament of the Church; hence, also, a certain blessing on those marrying is given by the ministers of the Church.
13] And as in the other sacraments by the thing done outwardly a sign is made of a spiritual thing, so, too, in this sacrament by the union of husband and wife a sign of the union of Christ and the Church is made; in the Apostle’s words: “This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the church” (Eph. 5:32).
[4] And because the sacraments effect that of which they are made signs, one must believe that in this sacrament a grace is conferred on those marrying, and that by this grace they are included in the union of Christ and the Church, which is most especially necessary to them, that in this way in fleshly and earthly things they may purpose not to be disunited from Christ and the Church.
[5] Since, then, the union of husband and wife gives a sign of the union of Christ and the Church, that which makes the sign must correspond to that whose sign it is. Now, the union of Christ and the Church is a union of one to one to be held forever. For there is one Church, as the Canticle (6:8) says: “One is My dove, My perfect one.” And Christ will never be separated from His Church, for He Himself says: “Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world” (Mat. 28:20); and, further: “we shall be always with the Lord” (1 Thes. 4:16), as the Apostle says. Necessarily, then, matrimony as a sacrament of the Church is a union of one man to one woman to be held indivisibly, and this is included in the faithfulness by which the man and wife are bound to one another.
[6] Thus, then, there are three goods of matrimony as a sacrament of the Church: namely, offspring to be accepted and educated for the worship of God; fidelity by which one man is bound to one wife; and the sacrament—and, in accord with this—there is indivisibility in the marriage union, in so far as it is a sacrament of the union of Christ and the Church.
[7] Now, all the other things one ought to consider in matrimony we have dealt with in Book III.
Next - CONTRA GENTILES: BOOK FOUR: SALVATION - Chapter 79 THAT THROUGH CHRIST THE RESURRECTION OF BODIES IS TO COME
Why Latin Matters
'In 100 years we have gone from teaching Latin and Greek in High School to teaching remedial English in college.' - Joseph Sobran
I. Sacred Language for Worship
Jesus’s everyday language was Aramaic, although as a Jewish boy he would have learned to read and pray in Hebrew. Even as the Jews adopted the more widespread Aramaic, a language related to Hebrew, they preserved the Scriptures in the language in which God had revealed himself. It is not that they were completely against translations, as Jewish scholars produced the Greek Septuagint in Egypt, but they realized no translation could perfectly capture the meaning of revelation, because it was bound to the vocabulary and culture of the Hebrews. As the Italians say: traduttore, traditore—“to translate is to betray.” Preserving an ancient language also preserves the ideas, memories, and customs encapsulated by that language, elements that are essential to preserving a cultural and religious identity.
Greek was also a common language in Palestine during the life of Jesus. It was not a giant leap, therefore, for the evangelists and Paul to write in that language. This linguistic shift certainly also entailed inculturation, the use of culture to translate ideas and practices. Greek thinking met God’s revelation in the writing of the New Testament, a providential meeting of East and West in the ancient world. This first inculturation was so important for the Church that Christians even in Rome prayed in Greek for two centuries. Although Latin, ironically the vernacular of the time, eventually made its way into the liturgy, we still pray with remnants of the original Greek, especially Kyrie eleison, Greek for “Lord, have mercy.” Jerome’s vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin played a huge role in the inculturation of the faith for Roman Christians.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, Europe was overrun by barbarian tribes. Although some tribes had already embraced heretical Arian Christianity, others, such as the Franks and Anglo-Saxons, did not have a literate culture. Irish and Benedictine monks taught the English and Germans how to read and write not in their native languages but in Latin (although the monks did also preserve vernacular literature, such as Beowulf). The language of Rome, therefore, became their main legal, intellectual, and religious language. The Roman rite of the Mass, with its accompanying Gregorian chant, actually served as a unifying force throughout the empire of Charlemagne in the early ninth century, with a sacred language providing a common center for people of diverse cultures and traditions throughout Europe. The common thread of Latin assured that Catholics throughout the West shared a common theological vocabulary and ritual.
It is due to the conversion of the barbarians to the Catholic faith in the Middle Ages that Latin became the common sacred language for all Latin rite Catholics. The preservation of Latin, transmitting the legacy of classical and ecclesial culture with it through the ages, is more than an historical accident, however. Even the inculturation of the faith to the Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe, a bold and controversial move at the time, led to the sacred language of Church Slavonic, still used by Eastern Catholic and Orthodox faithful today as distinct from their modern, national languages. And Christians in Egypt pray in three languages, preserving Coptic (the ancient Egyptian language), alongside some remnants of Greek and the now dominant Arabic. Most strikingly, Maronite Catholics continue to use Aramaic, the language of Jesus, for the consecration.
Christians, like their Jewish forebears, preserve sacred languages because there is something deeply human about using a distinct language for prayer. Even though it is essential to be able to read the Bible and pray in our native tongue, the use of a distinct language for the most solemn moments manifests their transcendent importance. It also gives us precision for things like the form of the sacraments, as there have been recent tweaks to overcome imprecise translations. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI adjusted the words of consecration to “shed for you and for many” rather than for “all,” to match the words of Jesus. There has also been an uproar over changes to the translation of the Our Father in French and Italian. The use of Latin for our most common prayers provides stability through the constant developments of language.
Although the use of a sacred language may challenge us, since it requires us to learn basic prayers in another language, that can be a good thing. It requires more effort on our part that can help us to think through the meaning of the prayer so that we do not simply take it for granted. Using a distinct language provides a sign that the prayer is more important than the words of everyday life. Our Catholic schools used to all teach Latin for a reason (and most public schools did as well for cultural reasons). Learning Latin opens up the great heritage of the Church and the writings of the saints to us. Even just the basic vocabulary can enrich our understanding of doctrine and the Church’s liturgical tradition. Returning even to a limited use of Latin unites us to the past and would serve as a unifying factor for the Church. Even in the modern world, sacred language has not lost its relevance.
Latin in Education
Not only has Latin served as the language of the Church since the third century, it also has provided the key language of education and learning. The great Cicero translated many works of Greek philosophy into the language of the Romans and himself became the chief model of polished writing. After the fall of the Empire, Roman Christians, particularly Boethius and Cassiodorus, sought to continue the study of the Latin language, writing textbooks of grammar and forming libraries to pass on ancient literature. The monasteries became centers of Latin grammar, using the writings of Virgil to provide a literary standard to study the Bible and for the Church’s liturgy, teaching, and legal tradition. Latin became the lingua franca of the Middle Ages and the language of the universities. Even modern writers have found within the ancient tongue their training ground of elegant expression and a literary tradition to guide their own work.
The reliance on Latin suddenly ceased, not only with the introduction of the vernacular in the Church’s liturgy but also with the decline of liberal education. Recognizing this decline, even in the very year the Second Vatican Council commenced, Pope St. John XXIII pointed to the sacred role of Latin in the Church and its important role in preserving her tradition and promoting unity throughout the world. In his letter, Veterum Sapientia, “On the Promotion of the Study of Latin,” he also proclaimed Latin’s crucial role in education: “There can be no doubt as to the formative and educational value either of the language of the Romans or of great literature generally. It is a most effective training for the pliant minds of youth. It exercises, matures and perfects the principal faculties of mind and spirit. It sharpens the wits and gives keenness of judgment. It helps the young mind to grasp things accurately and develop a true sense of values. It is also a means for teaching highly intelligent thought and speech.”
Somewhat more recently, a plea for Latin’s return to education within the United States has appeared in Tracy Lee Simmons’ Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin (ISI Books, 2002). Simmons rightly notes the deep influence of classical learning on the nation’s founders and its guiding presence within our oldest universities and even one room schoolhouses. After expressing the foundational and all-important role of words in education, he notes “the inseparable link between words and thinking” (160). Not just any words, as “good language makes for good thinking,” and not just any language, for Greek and Latin “helped, through their rigor and beauty, to form intellects, to develop minds” (ibid). Engaging in the rigors of ancient grammar teaches language itself, in a much more complete way than found in modern languages. Its complexity and precision leads to discipline within the mind itself, learning the craft of words and the logical thinking needed to form them clearly and cogently.
Some educators recommend Latin for its usefulness in mastering the English language. There is truth to this claim, with a majority of English words deriving from Latin and its derivative languages. More deeply, however, with ancient language, one enters the beauty and power of the masterpieces of the past, not simply reading them quickly in translation, but sitting at their feet and laboring to learn directly from the words of the masters. “Greek and Latin carry in the wake an entire world of thought and feeling” (164). Looking at the great deeds of the past, within our own country and the entirety of our civilization, it is necessary to reconnect to the sources of life that inspired and animated their achievements. In looking to the greats, Simmons advocates, “Don’t merely read about them; read what they read – as they read it” (210).
Many of our Catholic schools offer Latin, and its study opens up for their students a breadth of tradition, thought, and beauty. The language of saints and scholars can inspire our students to read deeply, think rightly, communicate clearly, and to enter more deeply into the mystery of our faith.
From Building Catholic Culture
By R. Jared Staudt, PhD
What does it mean to be a Latin rite Catholic? Does “Latin” have much a determining factor on how we worship and understand our life as Catholics? Latin not only served as the basis of Catholic theology in the West, it also served as the basis for law and education. This post will look at Latin’s importance as a sacred language and for education.I. Sacred Language for Worship
Jesus’s everyday language was Aramaic, although as a Jewish boy he would have learned to read and pray in Hebrew. Even as the Jews adopted the more widespread Aramaic, a language related to Hebrew, they preserved the Scriptures in the language in which God had revealed himself. It is not that they were completely against translations, as Jewish scholars produced the Greek Septuagint in Egypt, but they realized no translation could perfectly capture the meaning of revelation, because it was bound to the vocabulary and culture of the Hebrews. As the Italians say: traduttore, traditore—“to translate is to betray.” Preserving an ancient language also preserves the ideas, memories, and customs encapsulated by that language, elements that are essential to preserving a cultural and religious identity.
Greek was also a common language in Palestine during the life of Jesus. It was not a giant leap, therefore, for the evangelists and Paul to write in that language. This linguistic shift certainly also entailed inculturation, the use of culture to translate ideas and practices. Greek thinking met God’s revelation in the writing of the New Testament, a providential meeting of East and West in the ancient world. This first inculturation was so important for the Church that Christians even in Rome prayed in Greek for two centuries. Although Latin, ironically the vernacular of the time, eventually made its way into the liturgy, we still pray with remnants of the original Greek, especially Kyrie eleison, Greek for “Lord, have mercy.” Jerome’s vulgate translation of the Bible into Latin played a huge role in the inculturation of the faith for Roman Christians.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, Europe was overrun by barbarian tribes. Although some tribes had already embraced heretical Arian Christianity, others, such as the Franks and Anglo-Saxons, did not have a literate culture. Irish and Benedictine monks taught the English and Germans how to read and write not in their native languages but in Latin (although the monks did also preserve vernacular literature, such as Beowulf). The language of Rome, therefore, became their main legal, intellectual, and religious language. The Roman rite of the Mass, with its accompanying Gregorian chant, actually served as a unifying force throughout the empire of Charlemagne in the early ninth century, with a sacred language providing a common center for people of diverse cultures and traditions throughout Europe. The common thread of Latin assured that Catholics throughout the West shared a common theological vocabulary and ritual.
It is due to the conversion of the barbarians to the Catholic faith in the Middle Ages that Latin became the common sacred language for all Latin rite Catholics. The preservation of Latin, transmitting the legacy of classical and ecclesial culture with it through the ages, is more than an historical accident, however. Even the inculturation of the faith to the Slavic tribes in Eastern Europe, a bold and controversial move at the time, led to the sacred language of Church Slavonic, still used by Eastern Catholic and Orthodox faithful today as distinct from their modern, national languages. And Christians in Egypt pray in three languages, preserving Coptic (the ancient Egyptian language), alongside some remnants of Greek and the now dominant Arabic. Most strikingly, Maronite Catholics continue to use Aramaic, the language of Jesus, for the consecration.
Christians, like their Jewish forebears, preserve sacred languages because there is something deeply human about using a distinct language for prayer. Even though it is essential to be able to read the Bible and pray in our native tongue, the use of a distinct language for the most solemn moments manifests their transcendent importance. It also gives us precision for things like the form of the sacraments, as there have been recent tweaks to overcome imprecise translations. For instance, Pope Benedict XVI adjusted the words of consecration to “shed for you and for many” rather than for “all,” to match the words of Jesus. There has also been an uproar over changes to the translation of the Our Father in French and Italian. The use of Latin for our most common prayers provides stability through the constant developments of language.
Although the use of a sacred language may challenge us, since it requires us to learn basic prayers in another language, that can be a good thing. It requires more effort on our part that can help us to think through the meaning of the prayer so that we do not simply take it for granted. Using a distinct language provides a sign that the prayer is more important than the words of everyday life. Our Catholic schools used to all teach Latin for a reason (and most public schools did as well for cultural reasons). Learning Latin opens up the great heritage of the Church and the writings of the saints to us. Even just the basic vocabulary can enrich our understanding of doctrine and the Church’s liturgical tradition. Returning even to a limited use of Latin unites us to the past and would serve as a unifying factor for the Church. Even in the modern world, sacred language has not lost its relevance.
Latin in Education
Not only has Latin served as the language of the Church since the third century, it also has provided the key language of education and learning. The great Cicero translated many works of Greek philosophy into the language of the Romans and himself became the chief model of polished writing. After the fall of the Empire, Roman Christians, particularly Boethius and Cassiodorus, sought to continue the study of the Latin language, writing textbooks of grammar and forming libraries to pass on ancient literature. The monasteries became centers of Latin grammar, using the writings of Virgil to provide a literary standard to study the Bible and for the Church’s liturgy, teaching, and legal tradition. Latin became the lingua franca of the Middle Ages and the language of the universities. Even modern writers have found within the ancient tongue their training ground of elegant expression and a literary tradition to guide their own work.
The reliance on Latin suddenly ceased, not only with the introduction of the vernacular in the Church’s liturgy but also with the decline of liberal education. Recognizing this decline, even in the very year the Second Vatican Council commenced, Pope St. John XXIII pointed to the sacred role of Latin in the Church and its important role in preserving her tradition and promoting unity throughout the world. In his letter, Veterum Sapientia, “On the Promotion of the Study of Latin,” he also proclaimed Latin’s crucial role in education: “There can be no doubt as to the formative and educational value either of the language of the Romans or of great literature generally. It is a most effective training for the pliant minds of youth. It exercises, matures and perfects the principal faculties of mind and spirit. It sharpens the wits and gives keenness of judgment. It helps the young mind to grasp things accurately and develop a true sense of values. It is also a means for teaching highly intelligent thought and speech.”
Somewhat more recently, a plea for Latin’s return to education within the United States has appeared in Tracy Lee Simmons’ Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin (ISI Books, 2002). Simmons rightly notes the deep influence of classical learning on the nation’s founders and its guiding presence within our oldest universities and even one room schoolhouses. After expressing the foundational and all-important role of words in education, he notes “the inseparable link between words and thinking” (160). Not just any words, as “good language makes for good thinking,” and not just any language, for Greek and Latin “helped, through their rigor and beauty, to form intellects, to develop minds” (ibid). Engaging in the rigors of ancient grammar teaches language itself, in a much more complete way than found in modern languages. Its complexity and precision leads to discipline within the mind itself, learning the craft of words and the logical thinking needed to form them clearly and cogently.
Some educators recommend Latin for its usefulness in mastering the English language. There is truth to this claim, with a majority of English words deriving from Latin and its derivative languages. More deeply, however, with ancient language, one enters the beauty and power of the masterpieces of the past, not simply reading them quickly in translation, but sitting at their feet and laboring to learn directly from the words of the masters. “Greek and Latin carry in the wake an entire world of thought and feeling” (164). Looking at the great deeds of the past, within our own country and the entirety of our civilization, it is necessary to reconnect to the sources of life that inspired and animated their achievements. In looking to the greats, Simmons advocates, “Don’t merely read about them; read what they read – as they read it” (210).
Many of our Catholic schools offer Latin, and its study opens up for their students a breadth of tradition, thought, and beauty. The language of saints and scholars can inspire our students to read deeply, think rightly, communicate clearly, and to enter more deeply into the mystery of our faith.
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