St Andrew's Day

"The 30th of November is the feast of St Andrew the Apostle, the patron of Scotland  -- and Russia, Prussia, somewhere in Greece, Amalfi in Italy and a lot of other places and things,  too."

Which is how The Inn has begun its St Andrew's Day post more than once before.  For more on St Andrew and his feast click here or here.

You'll also find out about the St Andrew's Novena, which isn't actually a novena because it lasts 25 days and isn't actually to St Andrew.  But it does begin on his feast day.

For the less liturgically (or paraliturgically) minded, how about a short St Andrew's Day parade?

Happy Thanksgiving

Maria Stuarda

Gorgeous stuff.  The Met just posted this a short while ago.  It's the finale to Act 1 of Donizetti's Maria Stuarda if you were wondering.  A shame Joyce di Donato doesn't try for the high D at the end but it's still one of the best.   IMHO only, of course.

Sunday, the Last before Advent

The Benedictus antiphon at lauds did sort of grab my attention this morning.

Cum videritis abominationem desolationis, quæ dicta est a Daniele propheta, stantem in loco sancto : qui legit intellegat.

Holy Mother Teresa de Jesus didn't believe in co-incidences.

Armistice Day/Veterans Day 2019

Someone sent me this today.  I thought it worth a share considering the day that's in it.

May GOD continue to bless all who serve... 

Vietnam Memorial Wall Facts 

A little history most people will never know. 

Interesting Veterans Statistics off the Vietnam Memorial Wall. 

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010. 

The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are  in alphabetical order.                            

It is hard to believe it is 57 years since the first casualty. 

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965. 

There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall. 

39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger. 

8,283 were just 19 years old. 

The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old. 

12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old. 

5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old. 

One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old. 

997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam. 

1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam. 

31 sets of brothers are on the Wall. 

Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons. 

54 soldiers attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia. I wonder why so many from one school. 

8 Women are on the Wall, Nursing the wounded. 

244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall. 

Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons. 

West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall. 

The Marines of Morenci - They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058)had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest. And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci's mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966.  Only 3 returned home. 

The Buddies of Midvale - LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam. In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. 

The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths. 

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 - 2,415 casualties were incurred. 

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. 

This Seemed . . . Relevant

Part of this morning's scripture reading, from chapter  5 of Isaias.

This friend, that I love well, had a vineyard in a corner of his ground, all fruitfulness. 2 He fenced it in, and cleared it of stones, and planted a choice vine there; built a tower, too, in the middle, and set up a wine-press in it. Then he waited for grapes to grow on it, and it bore wild grapes instead. 3 And now, citizens of Jerusalem, and all you men of Juda, I call upon you to give award between my vineyard and me. 4 What more could I have done for it? What say you of the wild grapes it bore, instead of the grapes I looked for? 5 Let me tell you, then, what I mean to do to this vineyard of mine. I mean to rob it of its hedge, so that all can plunder it, to break down its wall, so that it will be trodden under foot. 6 I mean to make waste-land of it; no more pruning and digging; only briars and thorns will grow there, and I will forbid the clouds to water it. 7 Alas, it is the house of Israel that the Lord called his vineyard; the men of Juda are the plot he loved so. He looked to find right reason there, and all was treason; to find plain dealing, and he heard only the plaint of the oppressed.

 From Msgr Knox's translation.

St Hubert

He is the patron saint of hunters.  His feast day was actually earlier this week but I just came across this piece today.  If you didn't know you had a saintly patron, well, now you do.

Tolle, lege.