FROM A Folk History of Slavery in the United States, From Interviews with Former Slaves, compiled by the Federal Writers Project, 1936-38:

Cordelia lives in a small shack with some friends. She is quite an actor and a tireless teller of yarns. She still ties her head up in a white rag and has large eyes set far apart and a very flat nose. She is ebony colored. She is a firm believer in her religion and she enjoys shouting on any occasion for joy or for sorrow.

“White folks tells stories ’bout ‘ligion. Dey tells stories ’bout it kaise dey’s ‘fraid of it. I stays independent of what white folks tells me when I shouts. De Spirit moves me every day, dat’s how I stays in. White folks don’t feel sech as I does; so dey stays out. Can’t serve God all de time; allus something getting in de way. Dey tries me and den I suddenly draps back to serving de Holy God. Never does it make no difference how I’s tossed about. Jesus, He comes and saves me everytime. I’s had a hard time, but I’s blessed now—no mo’ mountains.

“Ever since I a child I is liked white folks. Dey’s good and dey does not know why dey tells stories ’bout Jesus. I got a heap mo’ in slavery dan I does now; was sorry when Freedom got here. I ‘specks I is nigh to a hundred, but dat’s so old. I jest calls myself any whars twixt seventy-five and a hundred. I recollects slavery, though. Ma was Charlotte Anderson and she lived in Union County wid de Tuckers, jest across from de Richards Quarter.

“Biggest sight I ever see’d was dat balloon when it come down on Pea Ridge. De man in it everybody addressed as Professor (Prof. Lowe—1861). He let uncle Jerry git in it. Mr. McKissick helped uncle Jerry up in it. It was de first balloon ever come to Union county, and ’til dis day I don’t like no balloons. Read More »

Jacques Maritain, French author of “Integral Humanism” (1936)

FROM The Undermining of the Catholic Church (Christian Book Club of America, 2007) by journalist Mary Ball Martinez:

Integral Humanism, not unlike the theories of Teilhard de Chardin, envisions religions of every kind converging toward a single human ideal in a world civilization wherein all men will be reconciled in justice, love and peace. Friendship among men will guide all life toward a mysterious accomplishment of the Gospel. As the French theologian Henri Le Caron explains, “Integral Humanism is a universal fraternity among men of good will belonging to different religions or to none, even those who reject the idea of a creator. It is within this framework that the Church should exercise a leavening influence without imposing itself and without demanding that it be recognized as the one, true Church. The cement of this fraternity is twofold, the virtue of doing good and an understanding grounded in respect for human dignity.

“This idea of universal fraternity”, continues Le Caron, “is neither new nor original. It was already advanced by the philosophers of the eighteenth century and by the French revolutionaries of 1789. It is also the fraternity beloved of Freemasons and Marxists. What distinguishes [philosopher Jacques] Maritain’s humanism [in 1936] is the role it allocates to the Church. Within the universal fraternity the Church is to be the inspiration and the Big Sister, and it goes without saying that if she is to win the sympathy of her little brothers, she must neither be intransigent nor authoritarian. She must learn how to make religion acceptable. She must be practical rather than dogmatic.” Read More »

“GOD wants one religion and many nations; the devil wants many religions and one nation.”

— Fr. Denis Fahey

TO AN OLD TEAPOT
— Fay Inchfawn

Now from the dust of half-forgotten things,
You rise to haunt me at the year’s Spring- cleaning,
And bring to memory dim imaginings
Of mystic meaning.

No old-time potter handled you, I ween,
Nor yet were you of gold or silver molten;
No Derby stamp, nor Worcester, can be seen,
Nor Royal Doulton.

You never stood to grace the princely board
Of monarchs in some Oriental palace.
Your lid is chipped, your chubby side is scored
As if in malice. Read More »

ANTONY C. BLACK at Unz Review has written a review of Nick Kollerstom’s book: The Holocaust: Myth and Reality.

Black’s review is a good summary of the book and the issues involved.

Three Women at the Tomb, Ferrer Bassa (1346)

I WAS listening to Easter music on the radio while making dinner on Sunday when the programming was interrupted for a sermon by an Anglican minister. Her name was Judy or Elizabeth, I can’t recall which.

There was nothing particularly offensive about the text of her Easter message, but I wondered who was making Easter dinner at Canon Judy’s house.

Jesus chose only men for His Apostles for a reason. St. Paul enjoined against women preaching for a reason. We know that their momentous decisions had to do with hierarchy and social order. We know women have other things to do.

There was a reason women were the first to learn of the Resurrection. They were favored by God — men have said —  because of their ardent love. The Holy Women went to the tomb on Easter morning to dress the body of Jesus, a perfectly feminine way of expressing the depth of their devotion.

It was for women to repair the damage done by Eve when they found the tomb empty.

Women are not needed at pulpits or on altars. The fact that they dominate churches is one sign that we live in a wilderness without true altars.

Mary Magdalene retired to a cave for the rest of her life after the events of the Resurrection.

There, she contemplated the great mysteries she had witnessed. In the stillness, her love only grew.

FROM “Relentless Truth” on Telegram:

 – Where the flu went in 2020

– Why the global death count didn’t change in 2020

– Why Covid didn’t wipe out the homeless population Read More »

“FOR regular people, good architecture is about beauty. For contemporary architects, good architecture is an intellectual game.”

— Architects Against Humanity

James Tissot

“SIMON PETER, when he heard that it was the Lord, girt his coat about him (for he was naked) and cast himself into the sea. But the other disciples came in the ship (for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits) dragging the net with fishes.”

Paintings of the scene on the shores of the Lake of Galilee.

The blog Ad Imaginem Dei features artworks depicting this scene:

The setting on the shore of the great lake, the misty morning light, the catch, the recognition of the Risen One, the sharing of bread and fish, recalling both the miraculous feeding of the multitudes and the Last Supper combine to create the mysterious reality of this apparition. Ghosts may appear, but they don’t cook and share meals with their friends.

It is surprising, then, that these verses have not inspired more works of art. One of the aspects of this passage, which may have caused difficulties for artists and their advisors is how to distinguish this scene from other, very similar, scenes, i.e., the miraculous draught of fish associated with the calling of the apostles or the scene in which Peter leaves the boat and attempts to walk on water.  The differences between these scenes and that of the post-Resurrection encounter described by John are sometimes subtle.

Among the elements that hint at the post-Resurrection scene are:  Jesus stands on the shore, not on the water, the sea is calm and not stormy (although this is not always so), Peter jumps into the water when the boat is near the shore, there are often elements of the meal Jesus invites the apostles to [share] somewhere in the picture.

ALAN writes:

My mother took this color slide on Easter Sunday in 1965.  It shows our good friend Lynn and her children Lori and Mark.  I wrote about them four years ago (“Remembering a ‘60s Housewife”, The Thinking Housewife, Sept. 4, 2018).

They are standing here in the back yard of the four-family flat on Dewey Avenue where all of us lived that year, in a residential area of south St. Louis.  We met them in 1963 and remained friends for ten years.

It was along the walkway in this picture (lower right) that I walked at the noon hour on schooldays in 1962-64, through the yard, up on the porch, and then into our kitchen where my grandfather had a bowl of hot chicken noodle soup ready for me.

It was in this back yard in July 1965 that we celebrated his 86th birthday.

It was in this back yard that my father and I set up our small telescope and taught ourselves to identify stars, planets, constellations, and artificial satellites.  It was here that we first viewed Jupiter and its four large moons, the ringed planet Saturn, the planet Venus, and stars like Altair, Deneb, Arcturus, Capella, and Vega.  On winter nights, we found Orion’s belt and followed it to Sirius, a scintillating beacon in the black sky.  In the hour before dawn and in my winter coat, I ventured outside to see planets in the eastern sky as the lovely melody of Bert Kaempfert’s “Red Roses for a Blue Lady” played in my head.  How well I remember the moon rising above the row of small houses on 37th Street and the challenge of viewing the brilliant red star Antares, low in the southern sky, through layers of air on summer nights.

It was here in this yard and this house that I discovered the joy of playing with uncorrupted children who were just discovering the ways and wonders of life.  Although I was terribly stupid, evidently I did something right, because Lori, at age 1½, trusted me from the day we met, as did Mark a year later.  Of course prolonged periods of peace between them alternated with occasional expressions of sibling rivalry.  And what a temper Lori had. Read More »

FRANCIABIGIO Noli me tangere 1520-25

“AND ON THE first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled back from the sepulchre. And going in, they found not the body of the Lord Jesus. And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel.  And as they were afraid, and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said unto them: Why seek you the living with the dead?

“He is not here, but is risen. Remember how he spoke unto you, when he was in Galilee, Saying: The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again. And they remembered his words. And going back from the sepulchre, they told all these things to the eleven, and to all the rest. And it was Mary Magdalen, and Joanna, and Mary of James, and the other women that were with them, who told these things to the apostles.

“And these words seemed to them as idle tales; and they did not believe them.” [Luke 23:1-11]

“FIRM hope in God. No matter what the trouble in which a man finds himself, he should always put trust in God’s help and rely on it. There is no trouble greater than to find oneself in hell. If then Christ freed those who were in hell, any man who is a friend of God cannot but have great confidence that he too shall be freed from what-ever anxiety holds him. Wisdom forsook not the just when he was sold, but delivered him from sinners; she went down with him into the pit and in bands she left him not (Wis. x. 13-14). And since to His servants God gives a special assistance, he who serves God should have still greater confidence. He that feareth the Lord shall tremble at nothing and shall not be afraid: for he is his hope (Ecclus. xxxiv. 16).

“We ought to conceive fear and to rid our selves of presumption. For although Christ suffered for sinners, and went down into hell to set them free, he did not set all sinners free, but only those who were free of mortal sin. Those who had died in mortal sin He left there. Wherefore for those who have gone down to hell in mortal sin there remains no hope of pardon. They shall be in hell as the holy Fathers are in heaven, that is for ever.

— St. Thomas Aquinas, Meditations for Lent

Descent into Limbo

Read More »

Flagellation of Christ, Caravaggio

NOWHERE in painting has the truth of the scourging of Jesus been accurately depicted.

Caravaggio’s painting (above) is a good example. It is a highly romantic version of what occurred. The scourging was much more brutal than typically shown. I am not a big fan of Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ, but I think it provides a fairly accurate depiction of the beating of Christ at the pillar by the Roman soldiers.

Pierre Barbet, M.D. in his book A Doctor at Calvary: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ as Described by a Surgeon, explains that a normal person undergoing a similar scourging would have died from blood loss before reaching Calvary. In addition, Jesus was so violently beaten before the scourging that his nose was broken and his body was cut and severely bruised. It was only by a miracle that Jesus’s life was preserved until He was crucified. Here is some of what Barbet, who believed in the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin and explains why, wrote on the scourging alone:

EVERYONE punished with death as a preliminary was always scourged, whether he was to die on the cross or otherwise; by beheading (Livy) or at the stake (Josephus). Only those were exempt, according to Mommsen, who were senators, soldiers or women who had the freedom of the city.

However, in the case of beheading, the scourging was done with the rods from the bundles of the lictor: “Nudatos virgis csedunt secutique percutiunt—They strip them and beat them with rods and strike them with an axe.” (Livy.)

As we have seen, scourging was an ancient custom in Rome. It was also inflicted under Alexander and Antiochus Epiphanes and at Carthage. One keeps on coming across the formulae “proaikistheis anestaurothe—verberatos crucibus adfixit—crucifying after scourging.”

This scourging, which as we have seen was formerly inflicted on the cross, now took place in the area of the tribunal. The condemned man was bound to a column (probably with his hands above his head). As Plautus wrote: Abducite hunc intro atque astringite ad columnam fortiter—Take him inside and bind him firmly to the column” (Bacchides). Read More »

PANGE LINGUA GLORIOSI CORPORIS MYSTERIUM

SING, my tongue, the Saviour’s glory,
Of His Flesh, the mystery sing;
Of the Blood, all price exceeding,
Shed by our Immortal King,
Destined, for the world’s redemption,
From a noble Womb to spring. Read More »