1 July

Today is the old feast of the Precious Blood of Jesus, 'old' being a relative term. The feast was less than 150 years old when Archbishop Bugnini decided it was surplus to requirements. Originally, Bl Pope Pius IX placed it on the first Sunday in July. At some point it found its way to the first of July, replacing the old octave day of St John the Baptist. The Catholic Encyclopædia tells about the doctrine here and Recta Ratio provides us with the Litany of the Precious Blood here.


In the Pauline calendar, it's also the feast of the Bl Fr Junipero Serra, O.F.M., one of the patrons of California. The picture shows the austere cell in which Fr Serra died in 1784. There's a short life here. Agnes Repplier wrote a very readable biography of Fr Serra in the 1930's. My tattered and yellowed paperback was reprinted in 1962, although I don't think it's in print any more. ABEBooks seems to have some, though. Fr Maynard Geiger wrote a biography in the 1950's that may be more accessible, i.e., in print. I would have thought that Fr Zephryn Engelhardt, O.F.M., my favourite of the historians of early California, would have a biography of Fr Serra. And so, according to Google, he does. But only in Spanish. I wonder if it's ever been translated?


A-a-a-a-and, as Hilary has reminded us, it's Canada Day. The video shows a Royal Canadian Legion colour party being led by a pipe band. It appears to be the 48th Highlanders Pipe Band -- white hackle on the feather bonnets, black sporran with the white tails. But I could be wrong; can't really tell what the tartan is on this video.