Undocumented Local Craft Distillers. . .

. . .a.k.a.  moonshiners.

This time, they appear to be "documented", since they're operating out of city hall.

It says so here.

17 November - St Hugh of Lincoln

St Hugh was a Carthusian monk and prior of the first Carthusian house in England.  He eventually was elected Bishop of Lincoln.  Among other things, he is the patron saint of swans.  As the story goes, a white swan at Stowe developed a life-long affection for St Hugh and followed him everywhere, even guarding him as he slept.

The good old Catholic Encyclopædia gives his life here.

A collect:

O God, Who didst endow Thy servant Hugh with a wise and cheerful boldness and didst teach him to commend to earthly rulers the discipline of a holy life:  by his intercession, give us grace like him to be bold in the service of the Gospel, putting our confidence in Christ alone; Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, forever and ever.  Amen.

-from the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham

The Last Rose of Summer

And Autumn, too.  This one lasted into November.

Rules to Live By: Another in the Series

If the advertizing says "Makes a Great Christmas Gift!". . . .

. . . .it doesn't.

Not for Christmas or any other occasion.

St Margaret of Scotland

Today, the anniversary of her death,  is the feast of St Margaret of Scotland in the liturgical calendar of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter.  St Margaret's father was in fact of the old Anglo-Saxon royalty of England - hence her other title "St Margaret of Wessex" - and her  mother probably Hungarian.  But she married Macolm the King of Scotland.  The good old Catholic Encyclopædia has a biography here.

A collect:

O God, the Ruler of all, who didst call Thy servant Margaret to an earthly throne and gavest to her both zeal for Thy Church and love for Thy people, that she might advance Thy heavenly kingdom:  mercifully grant that we who commemorate her this day may be fruitful in good works and, with her prayers, attain to the glorious crown of Thy Saints; through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, now and always and forever.  Amen.

(I found the picture on the Wikipedia site here. By Edward Burne-Jones it says, but it doesn't give the provenance. It would be interesting to know.  You can click on it to get a better, i.e., larger, view.)

Fashion News

Clerical garb is IN once more. . .and not just those tacky short sleeved shirts with a touch of white plastic at the throat, either. The cassock is on the list also.

The Secretary of State says so here.

Will there be any compliance? It would be nice. But then it would have been nice if some time in the last 40 years the powers that be had been able to get priests to say Mass properly also.

Nolite Confidere in Principibus Department

This is interesting.

(Although, up until the very end I thought it was going to be a warning about, um, somebody else. Silly me. This is the beeb, after all.)

A Verity from the Internet

"Every time TV runs a Christmas ad in November, an angel dies."

-shamelessly swiped from Tim Stanley's twitter feed.