31 January - the death of Charles III

On this day in 1788, Charles Edward Stuart, by right of birth king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland died in exile in Rome.  He was succeeded by his brother, the Cardinal Duke of York, who became Henry IX.

30 January -- The Judicial Murder of King Charles I

A year of years ago (that's 365) on this day King Charles I was executed at the behest of the dictator Cromwell.

On the morning of 30th January, 1649 Charles awoke early and told his attendant Thomas Herbert, “this is my second marriage day… for before night I hope to be espoused to my blessed Jesus.” The winter weather was so severe that the Thames had frozen over. The King was concerned that the cold would make him shiver giving the appearance of shaking with fear, so he asked as he was dressed to be provided with an extra shirt for warmth (one of these shirts is kept at Windsor Castle and the other at the Museum of London).

 More here.

"On this day we must remember to pray for all rulers, especially those divinely ordained to rule, that they may come closer to Christ and his Church."
-Fr. B. 

On Having a Side

I've complained before about not having a side.  I miss having a side.  You know, a "side".  As in "Hooray for our side!"  In politics I just don't have a side any more.  When I was a boy I had a side and politics was loads more fun.  Now, it's just Hudge and Gudge, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and . . . who were the two candidates in Pickwick?  I've drawn a blank.  If I remember before I post this, I'll look it up and fill in their names.  If you're actually reading this bit of text, you'll know that the memory remains as fallible as ever.  In any event, I suppose it was always just Hudge and Gudge but I was having too much fun to notice.

In any event, this week's The Wanderer in the "From the Mail" column has a nice piece pointing out why I don't have a side:

An update on the dialectic: The January 16 edition of FTM featured the wisdom of the late Brent Bozell, founding editor of Triumph, on how a truly Christian politics is outside — cannot be part of — the liberal dialectic, that narrow little cell which holds what is acceptable or not to our Republican/ Democrat duopoly.

That same subject was also discussed in a commentary, “ Transcending the Dialectic,” by the late philosopher Frederick Wilhelmsen of the University of Dallas.

“ Close readers of this magazine will have discovered the difficulties of trying to locate the authentic teaching of the Catholic Church in the conventional slots of left, right, and center. The orthodox view of religious authority seems ‘ rightist’; the orthodox limitations on war- making seem to have ‘ leftist’ consequences. The orthodox approach to culture often looks quite ‘ conservative’; the approach to economics and government alarmingly ‘liberal.’ “In politics the orthodox Catholic appears to be a romantic traditionalist one moment and an anarchist the next. Nor is anything more futile than to try to place orthodoxy ‘ in the middle of the road.’ Orthodox Catholics, plainly, don’t fit anywhere in the philosophical and political dialectic that governs the dying secular order — which is an enormous advantage, of course, since there is no room for them in the conventional coffins in which history is burying the order. . . .

“[ T] he whole meaning of orthodoxy, in the context of the modern world, is that Christianity is outside the dialectic. . . . The whole political vocation of Christians is consciously and purposively to transcend the dialectic.”

Some Piping for the Weekend. . .

. . . or the tail end of it anyway.




That's Kitty Hayes on concertina and Peter Laban on the union pipes playing The Fair Young Canavans and Hardiman the Fiddler.

For in my Faith and Loyalty / I never once shall faulter . . . except the Times shou'd alter.

We learn from Rorate Cæli this morning that the times have indeed altered.  It's not so sunny in Boston any more if one happens to be a traditionalist.  There was this a couple of years ago.  And now there's this.

Rorate Cæli has more here, along with details of Cardinal O'Malley's Methodist baptismal reaffirmation . . . whatever the &%! that is.

That Wasn't Supposed to Happen

But apparently it did.  According to this piece, "Walmart's health plan is better than Obamacare".

"Ah, it's only a wee, humble cottage. . ."

For those with happy memories of "The Quiet Man", this Facebook site may be of interest.  And for those with no use for Facebook, and there seem to be a few, it links and refers people to this site which would like to preserve - and rehabilitate, no doubt - the White 'o Morn cottage that is so prominent in the film.

I Can Think of Worse Places to Celebrate Mass. . . .

. . . .and I can think of better ones, too.  The picture was in this morning's Wall Street Journal.

(And, no, I have no idea how or if this relates to Evangelii Gaudium.)