The Knox Bible Back in Print

According to the Baronius Press website, their edition of Msgr Knox's translation of the Bible goes to press today. So by May or June my favourite translation of the scriptures will be available for the first time in thirty or forty years. My old hardback edition - "Student Edition" it said on the now long-gone dust jacket - is in now tatters with the cover held on by a few threads only.

You can find the Knox Bible page on the Baronius Press website here.

Found While Looking for Something Else

Eugene Lambe busking with the uilleann pipes in Galway . . .and that's all I know about it. (Except I should know the name of the first tune but it won't come to mind.)

Note his beautiful use of the regulators.

Quinquagesima Sunday. . .

. . .means two days until Shrove Tuesday and three days until Ash Wednesday and Lent begins.

More on Quinquagesima Sunday itself can be found here.

Some Piping for the Weekend

The Seven Pipers Band out of Arizona play "Mozart on the Rampage" and "Pumpkin's Fancy" for their Highland dancers.

Catholic Prophecy. . .maybe?

Well, it's certainly looking more like it every day.


From Pope Benedict XVI:

“The church will become small and will have to start afresh more or less from the beginning. She will no longer be able to inhabit many of the edifices she built in prosperity. As the number of her adherents diminishes . . . she will lose many of her social privileges. . . As a small society, [the Church] will make much bigger demands on the initiative of her individual members.”

More at The Anchoress' site here.

Not Found In This Morning's Wall Street Journal

Pope Benedict XVI:

“The world of finance, while necessary, no longer represents an instrument that favours our wellbeing or the life of mankind, instead it has become an oppressive power, that almost demands our adoration, mammon, the false divinity that truly dominates the world”.

And:

“Faced with conformity and submission to this power, we [Christians-ed] are non-conformists: it is not having, but being that counts! We do not submit to this, we use it as a means, but with the freedom of the children of God”.

From Vatican Radio's website

St Valentine's Day

You've heard it before on St Valentine's Day. And I am once again amazed (appalled? depressed? all of the above?) to realize that the ecclesiastical calendar mavens of the western rites thought it a good idea to drop one of the only two saints universally recognized by most of the known world, regardless of religion, and replace him with . . . Ss Cyril and Methodius.

Great saints, to be sure. Universally honored in the eastern churches and pillars of Christianity. But ask the man in the street in most of English-speaking world about Ss Cyril and Methodius Day and be prepared for a blank look. And what was wrong with their old feast day on July 7 anyway?

Fortunately, St Valentine is still in the traditional Roman calendar of 1962 which may still be used by those who will.

Here's a bit about him and his day from the old Anglican Breviary:

On this day is commemorated blessed Valentine, a priest of Rome who was martyred for Christ, probably in the persecution of Claudius the Goth, about the year 269. He was buried on the Flaminian Way; and about 350 a church was built over his tomb, and later a catacomb was constructed thereunder, wherein were buried the remains of many Martyrs. This church, with its cemetery, was the first to greet the eyes of pilgrims coming to Rome to visit the sepulchres of the ancient heroes of the Faith, and therefore his cultus grew, and spread through the world. But in the early years of the ninth century, his body was transferred to the basilica of St Praxedes lest, being outside the walls of the City, it should be desecrated by the Saracens. The popular story is that holy Valentine was cajoled with promises in order to wean him from Christ; and than when these failed, he was beaten with clubs, and finally beheaded.

In England, from the time of Chaucer onwards, there was a belief that on his feast-day the birds began to choose their mates. From which arose the custom of arranging betrothals in Saint Valentine's Tide; and in honour of the fidelity of this servant of God, those who were betrothed called each other Valentine, as a pledge of their mutual fidelity, in token that those who wed are united together in Christ, of whose unbreakable union with humanity in his Church the Sacrament of marriage is ever an outward and visible sign.

One Step at a Time. . . .

On January 1st of this year the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter (in North America) officially came into being and Fr Jeffrey Steenson, was named as the Ordinary. Yesterday, the Rev Msgr Jeffrey Steenson was officially installed as the Ordinary at a ceremony in Houston.

Whispers in the Loggia has the story here.

Msgr Steenson's installation homily, text and video.

The event in pictures here and here.

(The links were pilfered, with thanks, from Fr Bartus's very agreeable Anglican Patrimony.)

Some Piping for the Weekend

Gary West - Vermont Bellows Pipe School Instructor from nate banton on Vimeo.

It's the very end of the weekend but not too late for some first class smallpiping from Gary West who finishes up with a rendition of The Mason's Apron that's right up there with the 78th Frasers' version on the Live in Ireland recording.

Ron Paul; No Longer a Non-Person?

Christopher Manion on Ron Paul in the 2 February 2012 number of The Wanderer:

In 2007, Joe Sobran observed that, “ until now, the GOP has been able to contain [ Cong. Ron] Paul by pretending he wasn’t there. But the silent treatment can no longer stifle this soft- spoken man. He has been proved right too often.” It’s seldom that the liberal media work hand in glove with the GOP establishment, but for the past five years, they’ve teamed up to keep the good doctor under wraps. But now all that has changed.

Suddenly the GOP is all smiles about Ron Paul. Pundits who scorned him or ignored him are now singing his praises. It’s a matter of necessity, compelled by fear: National Review, which has strayed far from its traditional conservative roots since Bill Buckley’s day, now offers online polls that begin, “ Apart from Ron Paul, who won the debate?” — because Paul kept winning the polls. Once a firm believer in ramming Paul down the Memory Hole, NR now reaches for its crystal ball as it struggles to explain its silence. . . . .

Why the sudden change? Unadulterated fear. Without Dr. Paul’s supporters this fall, the GOP is a dead duck. But the Tea Party is getting short shrift too, sidelined in the cat- fight that seems to be consuming the “ front runners.” Right now, alas, November is Obama’s to lose.

There's more in the paper and it's online also but, wouldn't you know, behind a subscription wall and can't be linked to directly. But you can subscribe at the link above.

Quiet

The book review in this morning's WSJ resulted in another volume in the growing want list: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.

Yes, we live in a world where brassy men and women who can work a room and run a meeting and look good on television seem to dominate. But, writes Ms. Cain, there is still room for introverts. In fact, she argues, there should be more room, because introverts are great. They think more, they are less reckless and they focus on what really matters—relationships and meaningful work—rather than on the glittering but empty prizes of financial reward and job title. Introverts are Rosa Parks and Gandhi. Extroverts are economy-busting Wall Street CEOs. . . . .

The Papal States

Vatican Radio this morning has a lecture on the end of the Papal States. It's in two parts and takes about half an hour.

Part I

Part II

There are some fascinating stories here.

1st Amendment? What 1st Amendment?

The Obama administration's anti-Catholicism has been much more out in the open of late. You've read about the contraceptive and abortifacient mandate recently no doubt. There has been a lot of interesting commentary. Here's some of it:

First from Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal: “His decision on Catholic charities makes Romney’s big gaffe look trivial. What a faux pas, how inept, how removed from the essential realities of America.” The rest is here.


Michael Gerson in the Washington Post

This one is from the Catholic Bishops' own USCCB, bluntly entitled “White House Misrepresents Its Own Contraceptive Mandate”.

Many individual bishops have had something to say. Here's Bishop Carlson of St Louis


The bishops of Alabama

The Catholic News Agency thinks about the political ramifications.

And note this one from the Telegraph in England citing an anodyne rationale for the decision. I don't think so, and not least because the BO administration doesn't impress me as all that technocratic.

Bl William Richardson

On 7 February some English dioceses keep the feast of Blessed William Richardson who was the last priest martyred under Elizabeth I. The good old Catholic Encyclopædia has a brief summary of his life here.

According to one account he was arrested at Clement's Inn on 12 Feb., but another says he had been kept a close prisoner in Newgate for a week before he was condemned at the Old Bailey on the 15 Feb., under stat. 27 Eliz., c. 2, for being a priest and coming into the realm. He was betrayed by one of his trusted friends to the Lord Chief Justice, who expedited his trial and execution with unseemly haste, and seems to have acted more as a public prosecutor than as a judge. At his execution he showed great courage and constancy, dying most cheerfully, to the edification of all beholders. One of his last utterances was a prayer for the queen.

Frozen Roma

We're having a little rain here in the Athens of the southeast corner of the county this morning. So no practicing in the park today.

But Hilary reports that, although hell has not yet frozen over, Rome has. See here , here, and here. Oh, and here, too.

A portent, no doubt.

But probably not of global warming.

February 4 -- St Gilbert of Sempringham

Today is the feast of St Gilbert of Sempringham in some of the English calendars. He is the founder of the only English religious order to come out of the middle ages. He never really intended to found an order. He originally gathered a group of women to be enclosed nuns and looked for some priests to look after them. When St Bernard refused to take them under the care of the Cistercians, he founded an order of canons regular to do so.

The good old Catholic Encyclopædia has a short life of St Gilbert here.

And as long as we're mentioning English saints, today is also the feast of St John Stone who was martyred on this day in 1539. He denied that Henry VIII could be head of the church or married to Anne Boleyn while his first wife still lived.

"Behold I close my apostolate in my blood, In my death I shall find life, for I die for a holy cause, the defence of the Church of God, infallible and immaculate" he said as the executioners prepared to do their work. Stone was hanged, drawn and quartered. . . .

His life can be found here.

The absolute, final, last day of anything at all like Christmas

That's today, the last day of Epiphanytide. The "daft days", so called in ancient Scotland due to all the merry-making, ended with Hogmanay. The 12 days of Christmas ended on 6 January, the proper feast of the Epiphany. The Pauline Rite ends Christmas and Epiphany on 13 January, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. And the last real liturgical day counted from Christmas is Candlemas which is 2 February. Everything else in the traditional Roman Rite is counted as weeks after Epiphany until Septuagesima.

And tomorrow is Septuagesima Sunday, which makes today the very last day of Epiphanytide.

Septuagesima begins the pre-Lenten period. We won't hear the Alleluia in the traditional rite again until the Easter vigil. A farewell to the Alleluia hymn used to be sung at Vespers on this Saturday but nothing so florid remains even in the traditional rite. Here's one of those hymns taken from Dom Gueranger's The Liturgical Year with the translation of Dom Laurence Shephard, O.S.B.

And from 13th century France:

Alleluia dulce carmen,
Vox perennis gaudii,
Alleluia laus suavis
Est choris coelestibus,
Quam canunt Dei manentes
In domo per saecula.

Alleluia laeta mater
Concivis Jerusalem :
Alleluia vox tuorum
Civium gaudentium :
Exsules nos flere cogunt
Babylonis flumina.

Alleluia non meremur
In perenne psallere ;
Alleluia vo reatus
Cogit intermittere ;
Tempus instat quo peracta
Lugeamus crimina.

Unde laudando precamur
Te beata Trinitas,
Ut tuum nobis videre
Pascha des in aethere,
Quo tibi laeti canamus
Alleluia perpetim.
Amen

The sweet Alleluia-song, the
word of endless joy, is the melody
of heaven's choir, chanted by them
that dwell for ever in the house
of God.

O joyful mother, O Jerusalem our
city, Alleluia is the language of thy
happy citizens. The rivers of
Babylon, where we poor exiles live,
force us to weep.

We are unworthy to sing a ceaseless
Alleluia. Our sins bid us interrupt our
Alleluia. They time is at hand when
it behoves us to bewail our crimes.

We, therefore, beseech thee whilst
we praise thee, O blessed Trinity!
that thou grant us to come to that
Easter of heaven, where we shall
sing to thee our joyful everlasting
Alleluia. Amen.

Some Piping for the Weekend

Koady, Ellen and Ward at MPF Fall 2010 from nate banton on Vimeo.

Dr Ellen McPhee on Scottish smallpipes plays some knockout reels with a couple of friends.