The Haunted Friary

Ahem. Well, the haunted former friary.

The Great Yarmouth Mercury reports here that a former furniture store, merchant's residence, pipe maker's shop, and Carmelite friary is once again being renovated and the workers have found it haunted.

It doesn't say if any of the ghosts are Carmelites. But at only 24 hours from Halloween, one can't be too picky.

24 October -- Bl Thaddeus MacCarthy

Today is the feast day of Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy, a 15th century Irish clergyman who was successively Bishop of Ross and Bishop of Cork and Cloyne and never got to act as bishop of either of them.

Wikipedia has a piece on him here. There was an article in the old Catholic Encyclopædia but it seems to have gone missing. Or I've completely lost my ability to do simple research. Or both.

I Lose Computer Access for a Couple of Weeks. . . .

. . . .and the world's finances collapse in a heap. It was very upsetting. We were longing to keep a much closer eye on our vast financial empire, which we are depending on to keep us well into our dotage. Fortunately, it will still last us until we die, provided we die next week.

The papers have been full of potted histories and explanations of how the wizards of Wall Street got us and themselves into our current financial spot of bother. But none of them beat the one below.



[Thanks to my friend Danny who sent this to me some time ago. Long before Bear Stearns shuffled off its mortal coil and joined the choirs invisible, as you'll hear.]

22 October -- St Donagh of Fiesole

St Donagh's story is one of those that could only happen in the far less bureaucratic early middle ages. Donagh was an Irish pilgrim on his way home from a pilgrimage to Rome. He wandered into the Cathedral of Fiesole just as the people had come together to pray for a new bishop. The bells rang and the candles lit of their own accord when he walked in. The people of Fiesole, being able to take a hint, decided they'd found their man and, hey presto! Donagh the Irish pilgrim found himself the new Bishop of Fiesole. And his friend and travelling companion, Andrew the Scot, became his new archdeacon.

It wasn't a sinecure by any means. Mrs D'Arcy reports that "six years earlier the feudal barons had disposed of a predecessor by drowning." And the Mahometans were making periodic raids and the bishop had defense of the diocese as one of his duties.

Wikipedia has more on St Donagh (or Donat or Donatus) here and the Catholic Encyclopædia has something here. But the most extensive I've seen is in Mrs D'Arcy's "The Saints of Ireland" which, alas, isn't on line. You'll need to locate your own copy.

FINALLY

The local phone company after a week of puttering around investigating various lines and boxes, restored our telephone last Monday. And after two (2) weeks, Earthlink decided that the internet failure was their fault after all, and restored that yesterday. We are back in communication with the world.

And not co-incidentally, we have found a substitute for Earthlink, which should be up and working by early November.

More Adventures with Earthlink

Still no internet connection on the pc. Earthlink was still promising early solutions as of yesterday . . .I think. ELNK, it's known on Wall Street, seems to do all of its business from India and I have as yet not mastered the subtleties of the various accents of the Asian subcontinent. So perhaps the gentleman was only commenting on the weather or wishing me a pleasant evening.

I don't know whether he is of the same opinion still, for in attempting to fix the internet connection, they have now also bolloxed our telephone service: he can't call me and I can't call him or anyone else from the home phone. My new multi-talented phone/pda has turned out to be more useful than I ever imagined.

If you were thinking about signing up with Earthlink, I would suggest almost anything instead, including two Dixie cups and piece of string.

Fun With Earthlink

Once again the pc is off line and the Good Lord Himself only knows for how long. Someone is supposed to be out tomorrow to do something called "line testing". This is being posted via the pda, something I don't plan on doing a lot of. Thumb-typing is about 8,946,911th on my list of fun things to do.

7 OCT - Our Lady of Victory

Our Lady is commemorated today under her titles "of Victory" and "of the Rosary". Both memorialize the Christian victory over the Mahometans at Lepanto. And you can't find a better recounting of the battle of Lepanto than this one now can you.

More on the feast here

On the Rosary

A curiousity: Henry VIII's Rosary

Mudville

No joy in, etc.

Not even enough to google the poem and reprint it.

Not that Erick Aybar would ever be mistaken for the mythic Mighty Casey.

Couldn't even lay down a bunt.

Sheesh.

Playoffs

The Dodgers: an amazingly tedious game even if they did win. James Loney's grand slam got the blood racing for a while and then back to another peaceful afternoon. And where did they recruit those Cubs' fans? Mount Carmel Cemetery? They used to be capable of more passion than that.

The Angels: very exciting, full of tension and great baseball. Unfortunately, the great baseball was played by the Red Sox. E.g. Scott Shields: in his one inning pitched: 4 hits, two earned runs, no strikeouts. And let's not talk about Vladdy. His lousy base-running instincts are common knowledge. Except, apparently, to the network announcers who once again exhibit their usual ignorance of and bias against all west coast teams.