O King of the gentiles, yea, and the desire thereof, the Cornerstone that makest both one: come and save man, whom Thou hast made out of the slime of the earth. Roman Breviary, Great Antiphon at Vespers on December 22nd (ca. 7th cent.) Read more
On this day Pope Leo XIII issued two encyclicals: Quod Auctoritate (Proclaiming a Jubilee) December 22, 1885; Officio Sanctissimo (On the Church in Bavaria) December 22, 1887. Read more
Michael Corcoran was an Irish–American general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He led the 69th New York Regiment, the Fighting 69th, into action at the First Battle of Bull Run. Corcoran also led the regiment to Washington, D.C. and served in the Washington defenses building Fort Corcoran. Born in Sligo, he emigrated to America in 1849. He enlisted as a Private in the 69th New York Militia. By 1859 he was appointed colonel of the regiment.... Read more
Today is Penn State Coach Joe Paterno’s birthday, and from the blog Scholium we take this account of his senior year at the Jesuit-run Brooklyn Prep: “In my senior year, we were the best Catholic-school team in New York. We lost only one game, to St. Cecilia’s High from Englewood, New Jersey, which had a sharp, intense young coach named Vince Lombardi. I had hurt my arm the previous week, and all through the St. Cecilia’s game I had to... Read more
O Orient, Splendor of the eternal Light, and Sun of justice: come and enlighten them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. (Listen to this one): Roman Breviary, Great Antiphon at Vespers on December 21st (ca. 7th cent.) Read more
History is peppered with oddments and ironies, and one of the strangest is this. A few days before the first Christmas of that long bloodletting then called the Great War, hundreds of thousands of cold, trench-bound combatants put aside their arms and, in defiance of their orders, tacitly agreed to stop the killing in honor of the holiday. That informal truce began with small acts: here opposing Scottish and German troops would toss newspapers, ration tins, and friendly remarks across... Read more
In 1888, Pope Leo XIII issued Etsi Cunctas (On the Church in Ireland). In 1929, Pope Pius XI issued Divini Ilius Magistri, on Christian education. Read more
The Assumptionists were born in France, founded in 1850 by the Venerable Emmanuel d’Alzon (1810-1880). The nineteenth century in which he lived was a time of great upheaval in France. The old society was giving way to a new one, and the birth was painful. Emmanuel d’Alzon was to witness a succession of French political regimes, several revolutions (those of 1830, 1848, 1870) and some bloody repressions of labor demonstrations (1848 and 1871). Violent outbreaks erupted regularly in the highly... Read more
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