{"id":113508,"date":"2019-09-30T00:05:21","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T07:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=113508"},"modified":"2019-09-04T23:08:32","modified_gmt":"2019-09-05T06:08:32","slug":"since-its-his-feast-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2019\/09\/since-its-his-feast-day.html","title":{"rendered":"Since it’s his Feast Day…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

And since I love cranky, crabby St. Jerome for showing that anybody can become a saint, I offer not only a great poem in his honor, but the incredible fact that Dion then turned that poem into a blues tune, which makes my heart happy.<\/p>\n

The Thunderer
\nby Phyllis McGinley<\/p>\n

God\u2019s angry man, His crotchety scholar,
\nWas Saint Jerome,
\nThe great name-caller,
\nWho cared not a dime
\nFor the laws of libel
\nAnd in his spare time
\nTranslated the Bible.<\/p>\n

Quick to disparage
\nAll joys but learning,
\nJerome thought marriage
\nBetter than burning;
\nBut didn\u2019t like woman\u2019s
\nPainted cheeks;
\nDidn\u2019t like Romans,
\nDidn\u2019t like Greeks,
\nHated Pagans
\nFor their Pagan ways,
\nYet doted on Cicero all his days.<\/p>\n

A born reformer, cross and gifted
\nHe scolded mankind
\nSterner than Swift did;
\nWorked to save
\nThe world from the Heathen;
\nFled to a cave
\nFor peace to breathe in,
\nPromptly wherewith
\nFor miles around
\nHe filled the air with
\nFury and sound.<\/p>\n

In mighty prose
\nFor almighty ends,
\nHe thrust at his foes,
\nQuarreled with his friends,
\nAnd served his Master,
\nThough with complaint.
\nHe wasn\u2019t a plaster
\nSort of saint.<\/p>\n

But he swelled men\u2019s minds
\nWith a Christian leaven.
\nIt takes all kinds
\nTo make a heaven.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n