One of the reasons I write this every week is to have a record of events I can look back on later in the year or next year if I’m reading it then.
Also I start too many projects and never finish them, so I am motivated to keep doing it.
I really have no idea if anyone reads this or not, but if you do you can learn what happen…
Last Week In Life: May 3, 2021- May 9, 2021
FEAST DAYS ,HOLIDAYS AND LAST WEEK IN HISTORY
Mon May 3, 2021
Saints Philip and James, Apostles – Feast
- 1632 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nurse and saint, founded the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec is born. (d. 1668)
- 1715 – A total solar eclipse was visible across northern Europe, and northern Asia, as predicted by Edmond Halley to within 4 minutes accuracy.
- 1791 – The Constitution of May 3 (the first modern constitution in Europe) is proclaimed by the Sejm of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
- 1802 – Washington, D.C. is incorporated as a city after Congress abolishes the Board of Commissioners, the District’s founding government. The “City of Washington” is given a mayor-council form of government.
- 1896 – Dodie Smith, English author and playwright is born. (d. 1990)
- 1903 – Bing Crosby, American singer and actor is born. (d. 1977)
- 1934 – Frankie Valli, American singer and actor is born.
- 2007 – The 3-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history”.
Tuesday May 4, 2021
Star Wars Day (International observance)
Anti-Bullying Day (United Nations)
- 1256 – The Augustinian monastic order is constituted at the Lecceto Monastery when Pope Alexander IV issues a papal bull Licet ecclesiae catholicae.
- 1493 – Pope Alexander VI divides the New World between Spain and Portugal along the Line of Demarcation.
- 1776 – Rhode Island becomes the first American colony to renounce allegiance to King George III.
- 1904 – The United States begins construction of the Panama Canal.
- 1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is incorporated.[1]
- 1932 – In Atlanta, mobster Al Capone begins serving an eleven-year prison sentence for tax evasion.
- 1953 – Ernest Hemingway wins the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea.
- 1959 – The 1st Annual Grammy Awards are held.
- 1970 – Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.
- 1973 – The 108-story Sears Tower in Chicago is topped out at 1,451 feet as the world’s tallest building.[2]
- 1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
Wednesday May 5, 2021
- 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain.
- 1925 – Scopes Trial: Serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
- 2021- May 5 – SpaceX successfully flies, lands, and recovers a Starship prototype for the first time, after four unsuccessful previous attempts.
Thursday May 6, 2021
- 1536 – King Henry VIII orders English-language Bibles be placed in every church. In 1539 the Great Bible would be provided for this purpose.
- 1542 – Francis Xavier reaches Old Goa, the capital of Portuguese India at the time.
- 1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.
- 1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.
- 1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.
- 1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.
- 1941 – At California‘s March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show.
- 1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.
- 1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.
- 1983 – The Hitler Diaries are revealed as a hoax after being examined by new experts.
- 1984 – One hundred three Korean Martyrs are canonized by Pope John Paul II in Seoul.
- 1998 – Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. unveils the first iMac
Friday May 7, 2021
Military Spouse Appreciation Day
- 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven‘s Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer’s supervision
- 1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
- 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
- 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
Saturday May 8 2021
- 535 – Pope John II dies.
- 615 – Pope Boniface IV dies. (b. 550)[20]
- 685 – Pope Benedict II dies.
- 1429 – Joan of Arc lifts the Siege of Orléans, turning the tide of the Hundred Years’ War.
- 1668 – Catherine of St. Augustine, French-Canadian nun and saint d ies. (b. 1632)
- 1786 – John Vianney, French priest and saint is born. (d. 1859)
- 1884 – Harry S. Truman, American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States is born(d. 1972)
- 1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named “Coca-Cola” as a patent medicine.
- 1895 – Fulton J. Sheen, American archbishop is born.(d. 1979)
- 1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.
- 1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.
- 1945 – World War II: The German Instrument of Surrender signed at Reims comes into effect.
- 1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
- 2019 – British 17-year-old Isabelle Holdaway is reported to be the first patient ever to receive a genetically modified phage therapy to treat a drug-resistant infection
Sunday May 9, 2021
- 1887 – Buffalo Bill Cody‘s Wild West Show opens in London.
- 1958 – Alfred Hitchcock’s film Vertigo has world premiere in San Francisco.
- 1960 – The Food and Drug Administration announces it will approve birth control as an additional indication for Searle‘s Enovid, making Enovid the world’s first approved oral contraceptive pill.
- 2002 – The 38-day stand-off in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem comes to an end when the Palestinians inside agree to have 13 suspected terrorists among them deported to several different countries.
- 2020 – Little Richard, American singer, songwriter, and pianist dies. (b. 1932)
Bishop Barron’s Homily of the Week
Last Week’s SPECTACULAR STORY OF WEEK
Blessed Carlo Acutis (3 May 1991 – 12 October 2006: Aged 15)
Beatification Saturday, October 10 at 4 P.M, Papal Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi by Pope Francis
Young Carlo is Acutis, was born on May 3, 1991, would have been 30 years old this year.
Young Carlo is one of the newest Blesseds in the church.
Young Carlo is the first millennial to be beatified by Catholic Church.
Young Carlo was passionate about Computers.
Young Carlo was passionate about the Eucharist.
Young Carlo was inspired by blessed James Alberione (April 4, 1884 – November 26, 1971)the founder of the Society of St. Paul, and of the Daughters of St. Paul to use the media to to evangelize and proclaim the Gospel.
So the result of all 3 ingredients led him to create a website listing all Eucharistic miracles in the history of the church.
Like some other young saints contracted a form of cancer which led to his death.
His wise words of life.
“Do not be afraid because with the Incarnation of Jesus, death becomes life, and there’s no need to escape:
in eternal life, something extraordinary awaits us.”
Blessed Carlo Acutis’ 30th birthday celebrated by parishes across world (catholicnewsagency.com)
A new Catholic youth center named after Carlo Acutis opened in Reggio Calabria at the Holy Family parish in Palmi.
The oratory, which includes a soccer field, was inaugurated with a ribbon-cutting and blessing by Bishop Francesco Milito, who quoted St. John Bosco in his speech.
“In an oratory, three things can never be lacking: the sports field, the theater, and the church,” he said.
Wise Words Indeed.
Last Week’s News of the World
Because It’s Important to Now What’s Happening in the World
I usually write something a little longer and substantial. But I’ve been working on another project but needed to put out something for the Last Week in Life. So here is briefly what is happening the world. A lot of interesting things. Click on the link to read more.
Survivor of subway crash reflects on decision to change cars (apnews.com)
A decision to change cars to get closer to a station exit may have saved Erik Bravo, a 34-year-old financial adviser who survived the collapse of an elevated line in Mexico City’s subway system that killed 25 people and injured around 80.
Nature at its craziest: Trillions of cicadas about to emerge (apnews.com)
Sifting through a shovel load of dirt in a suburban backyard, Michael Raupp and Paula Shrewsbury find their quarry: a cicada nymph.
And then another. And another. And four more.
In maybe a third of a square foot of dirt, the University of Maryland entomologists find at least seven cicadas — a rate just shy of a million per acre. A nearby yard yielded a rate closer to 1.5 million.
And there’s much more afoot. Trillions of the red-eyed black bugs are coming, scientists say.
When the entire brood emerges, backyards can look like undulating waves, and the bug chorus is lawnmower loud.
Bill and Melinda Gates divorce could shake up philanthropy (apnews.com)
As much as Bill and Melinda Gates might want to keep their pending divorce private, the split between the billionaire co-founders of the world’s largest private foundation is sure to have very public consequences, with the breakup having already sent a wave of anxious uncertainty through the worlds of philanthropy and community health.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment of nearly $50 billion, donates about $5 billion annually to causes around the world. Last year, it donated $1 billion to combat COVID-19 through the administering of vaccines.
Chauvin’s lawyer seeks new trial, hearing to impeach verdict (apnews.com)
The defense attorney for the former Minneapolis police officer convicted of killing George Floyd has requested a new trial, saying the court abused its discretion, and he wants a hearing to have the verdict impeached because of what he says is jury misconduct, according to a court document filed Tuesday.
Derek Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last month of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the May 25 death of Floyd. Evidence at trial showed Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as the Black man said he couldn’t breathe and went motionless.
Biden’s National Day of Prayer proclamation lacks mention of God (catholicnewsagency.com)
US President Joe Biden issued on Wednesday the annual proclamation of a National Day of Prayer, without mentioning any deity in it.
The May 5 statement says that “throughout our history, Americans of many religions and belief systems have turned to prayer for strength, hope, and guidance. Prayer has nourished countless souls and powered moral movements — including essential fights against racial injustice, child labor, and infringement on the rights of disabled Americans.”
Wine that went to space for sale with $1 million price tag (apnews.com)
The wine is out of this world. The price is appropriately stratospheric.
Christie’s said Tuesday it is selling a bottle of French wine that spent more than a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station. The auction house thinks a wine connoisseur might pay as much as $1 million to own it.
The Pétrus 2000 is one of 12 bottles sent into space in November 2019 by researchers exploring the potential for extraterrestrial agriculture. It returned 14 months later subtly altered, according to wine experts who sampled it at a tasting in France.
Tim Tiptree, international director of Christie’s wine and spirits department, said the space-aged wine was “matured in a unique environment” of near zero-gravity aboard the space station.
The trip turned a $10,000-a-bottle wine known for its complexity, silky, ripe tannins and flavors of black cherry, cigar box and leather into a scientific novelty — and still a fine bottle of wine, Tiptree said.
Most Reverend Salvatore Cordileone, Archbishop of San Francisco, called on local Catholics to “engage in prayer, adoration and fasting for an end to violence and hatred,” after two Asian women were stabbed at a bus stop in downtown San Francisco on Tuesday at around 5:00 pm.
In a statement released to CNA, Archbishop Cordileone wrote, “It happened again. This time, two Asian women were stabbed on the streets of San Francisco in broad daylight. How can this be happening? Our beloved city is deteriorating. The Tenderloin is the center of homelessness and poverty. Solutions are going to require new and creative ideas, and a hard and honest look at some very painful realities.”
Court to hear challenge to UK’s Down syndrome abortion law in July (catholicnewsagency.com)
The High Court in London will hear a landmark case in July challenging the U.K. government over a law allowing abortion up to birth for Down syndrome.
States continue ‘unprecedented’ surge of pro-life bills (catholicnewsagency.com)
A multitude of pro-life bills passed through state legislatures last week, creating new protections for the unborn around the country.
USCCB applauds Biden for raising limit on refugee admissions (catholicnewsagency.com)
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on Tuesday praised the Biden Administration for its decision to raise the refugee ceiling.
“As a nation of immigrants, we have a moral obligation to help our brothers and sisters around the world who are in need. The updated refugee admissions cap is a step in the right direction to help those who need it most,” said Bishop Mario Dorsonville, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington and chair of the USCCB’s migration committee, in a statement on Tuesday.
What’s in a name, you ask? Surely not “vowels” in the case of a newborn boy from Carmen, Cotabato who was given an unusual name that is difficult to pronounce and spell.
Interviewed in Mark Salazar’s report on “24 Oras,” the child’s grandfather, Raugyl Ferolin Estrera, decided to name the baby boy as Ghlynnyl Hylhyr Yzzyghyl Mampuan Buscato.
Even the personnel who processed the baby’s birth certificate had to reprint the document because they committed errors in spelling his name, Estrera shared.
POPE FRANCIS’S FAMOUS LAST WEEK’S WORDS
To Cardinal Oswald Gracias
Archbishop of Bombay
President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India
At this time when so many in India are suffering as a result of the present health emergency, I am writing to convey my heartfelt solidarity and spiritual closeness to all the Indian people, together with the assurance of my prayers that God will grant healing and consolation to everyone affected by this grave pandemic.
My thoughts go above all to the sick and their families, to those who care for them, and in particular to those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. I think too of the many doctors, nurses, hospital workers, ambulance drivers and those working tirelessly to respond to the immediate needs of their brothers and sisters. With deep appreciation I invoke upon all of them God’s gifts of perseverance, strength and peace.
In a particular way, I am united to the Catholic community in your country, with gratitude for its works of charity and fraternal solidarity carried out in the service of all; I think especially of the generosity shown by so many committed young people. I join you in commending to the Lord’s infinite mercy the faithful who have lost their lives, not least the great numbers of priests and men and women religious. In these days of immense grief, may we all be consoled in the hope born of Easter and our unshakeable faith in Christ’s promise of resurrection and new life. To all I send my blessing.
Rome, from Saint John Lateran, 6 May 2021
FRANCISCUS
There is only one great call, one great call in the Gospel, and it is that of following Jesus on the way of love. This is the summit and it is the center of everything. In this sense, charity and contemplation are synonymous, they say the same thing. Saint John of the Cross believed that a small act of pure love is more useful to the Church than all the other works combined. What is born of prayer and not from the presumption of our ego, what is purified by humility, even if it is a hidden and silent act of love, is the greatest miracle that a Christian can perform.
And this is the path of contemplative prayer: I look at Him and He looks at me. It is that act of love in silent dialogue with Jesus that does so much good for the Church. Thank you.
Contemplative Action-America Magazine
BLOG/ARTICLES POSTS OF THE WEEK
There are many different kinds of breakfast, and all of them are delicious. Continental breakfast is classy. Full English breakfast is greasy and satisfying, and an American farmer’s breakfast is even more so. Pancakes and waffles are dessert cleverly disguised as a meal, to say nothing of muffins and doughnuts. Children’s cereal is an innocent treat. The French have Cafe au lait and croissants. The Dutch sprinkle chocolate jimmies on everything. Russians have sausage and buckwheat kasha. The Japanese enjoy a nice piece of fresh fish and a soup made of MSG. The Spanish eat fried dough with cinnamon and cholate. The Chinese eat fried dough with salt, soymilk and scallion cakes. Breakfast is so good that on special occasions, people will make their culture’s version of an enormous decadent breakfast for dinner just for the fun of it. – Mary Pezzulo, Traditionalists, Breakfast, and the Beatific Vision
Mark Wilson over at The Catholic Bard at Patheos, has assembled for your enjoyment, a virtual buffet of Star Wars related videos to amuse those in whom the Geekdom lives loudly. The Starwars references brought back pleasant memories of 2019 and the most recent movie my family as a family has seen. It was (you guessed it), the last Star Wars movie.
-Sherry Antonetti ,Patheos Celebrates Starwars, May the 4th be With You (May 4, 2021) Chocolate For Your Brain @Patheos Catholic
Pondering Podcasts OF THE WEEK
12 Mystery Podcasts Guaranteed to Tingle Your Spine (makeuseof.com)
If you love mysteries, you’ll love these fascinating podcasts. Here are the best mystery podcasts you can listen to right now.
Book Em, Dano on your reading list