Monday, February 29, 2016

Found While Looking for Something Else

That little piece of business is a list of the officers of the court of common pleas in Dublin sometime in the 18th century.  The source, if I recall correctly, actually did give an exact date.   But alas, I don't recall, the source or the exact date . . . correctly or otherwise.   I know.  I should write these  things down.

And look at all those wonderful titles.  Would you like to be the court's own Tipstaff and Cryer?  Mind, you'd probably have to work your way up from Deputy  Cryer.  A Chirographer is listed but then says to see the Keeper of the Writs.  Are they the same thing?  Or does the Chirographer work for the Keeper of the Writs?  The Clerk of the King's Silver has a deputy; I suspect they keep a close eye on each other.

I would probably be taking advantage of the Clerk of the Essoins.  The dictionary says this fellow is in charge of excuses for not showing up, e.g.,  the dog ate my writs and I had to chirograph a whole new set.

As [almost] always, you can click on the roster above and make it a good deal larger and more legible.


Sunday, February 21, 2016

Not his feast day . . .

. . . but as I'm about to leave for Mass I see on my calendar notes that it is Bl John Henry Newman's birthday.  He'd be 215 years of age today.

Deus, qui beatum Ioannem Henricum presbyterum lumen benignum tuum sequentem pacem in Ecclesia tua invenire contulisti: concede propitius; ut, eius intercessione et exemplo, ex umbris et imaginibus in plenitudinem veritatis tuae perducamur. Per Dominum Nostrum Iesum Christum.  Amen.

Almost all you'll ever need to know about Blessed John.



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Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Can HRC really be that unaware of the uses of youtube?

Before the primary season is over this little piece of business will be edited and inserted into more imaginative youtube productions than you can count.  You know it will.

What will?

This.

10 to 1 it'll be the Howard Dean howl of 2016.



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The Devil Hates Latin . . .

. . . as did a lot of  high school students back when I was an aspiring scholar.  But apparently the devil, who is better at it than we were, really hates Latin.  As an American exorcist has noticed more than once.

NLM elucidates here.


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Monday, February 15, 2016

St Valentine - a belated note

St Valentine never got a mention here yesterday.  (And, yes, it is still his feast day on the calendar of the traditional Roman Rite.)  I was on the QM all weekend with the local branches of the RSCDS demonstrating what we do and hoping to attract some interested folks.  Mentioning St Valentine, along with my annual whinge about why our most reverend fathers-in-God chose to eliminate from the Pauline calendar one of the very few saints which the secular world still recognizes, got neglected.  It was, alas, not the only thing neglected over the weekend.  But to the point.

Mrs Vidal was not so neglectful.  A nice piece about St Valentine can be found here.

Justice Antonin Scalia, R.I.P.

There's a delightful interview with the late Justice Scalia that you can find by clicking here.  Please do so; it's well-worth the time.  You'll thank me.

A sample:


I don’t know how, by your lights, that’s going to be regarded in 50 years.
I don’t know either. And, frankly, I don’t care. Maybe the world is spinning toward a wider acceptance of homosexual rights, and here’s Scalia, standing athwart it. At least standing athwart it as a constitutional entitlement. But I have never been custodian of my legacy. When I’m dead and gone, I’ll either be sublimely happy or terribly unhappy.
You believe in heaven and hell? Oh, of course I do. Don’t you believe in heaven and hell?
No. Oh, my.
Does that mean I’m not going? [Laughing.] Unfortunately not!
Wait, to heaven or hell?
It doesn’t mean you’re not going to hell, just because you don’t believe in it. That’s Catholic doctrine! Everyone is going one place or the other.








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Monday, February 01, 2016

Lá Féile Naomh Bríde

Today is the feast of St Bridget, patroness of Ireland, and not incidentally of my wife.

From The Life of St Brigit by Cogitosus, excerpted from The Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham:

. . .On another occasion the blessed Brigid felt a tenderness for some ducks that she saw swimming on the water and occasionally taking wing.  She bid them fly to her, and a great flock of them flew towards her, without any fear, as if they were humans under obedience to her.  She touched them with her hand and embraced them tenderly.  She then released them and they flew into the sky.  And as they did so she praised God the Creator of all living things, to whom all life is subject, and for the service of whom all life is a gift. . . .

The collect for St Brigid from the Masses proper to England and Wales in the old English Missal:

O God, who on this day dost make us to rejoice in the yearly solemnity of blessed Brigid thy Virgin : graciously grant ; that we who are enlightened by the example of her chastity, may be aided by her merits. Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.
The collect in the Pauline Rite:

Lord, you inspired Saint Brigid such whole-hearted dedication to your work that she is known as Mary of the Gael; through her intercession bless our country; may we follow the example of her life and be united with her and the Virgin Mary in your presence.  We make our prayer through Christ our  Lord .  Amen.
The monks of St Benedict's Abbey in Norcia have been brewing their own beer for a while now.  You may have seen a notice here and there that their beer is soon to be available in the U.S.  You can find out about it here.  They're far from being the first brewing abbey.  That talent goes at least as far back as . . . St Brigid.

In his Lives of the British Saints the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould informs us that St Brigid was no mean brew-mistress:

She was famous for the ale she brewed, and on one occasion supplied seventeen churches in Meath with liquor from Maundy Thursday to Low Sunday. She also furnished [St] Mel, her diocesan, with beer continually. Lepers and poor people clamoured for her ale, and on one occasion she bluntly told them that all she could give them was her bath-water. The [medieval] biographer improves this story into a miracle, her tubbing water was converted into excellent beer. Indeed such was her desire to supply the Saints with wholesome home-brewed ale, that the only hymn of hers that has been preserved, runs as follows: 
I should like a great lake of ale
For the King of Kings!
I should like the whole family of heaven
To be drinking it eternally. 
One day Bishop Mel arrived with a large party of clerics, and clamoured for breakfast. "This is well for you to be hungry," replied Brigid, "but we also are hungry and thirsty, and that for the Word of God. Go into the church first and serve us with the spiritual banquet. After that we will attend to your victuals."

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