It wasn't always so, at least not as we understand it. In discussing Leo the Great, Hughes Oliphant Old's The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Vol. 2: The Patristic Age has this to say: Lent has usually been explained as a period of forty days during which …
Pope Benedict XVI: Another Great Refusal Leads to Another Great Nailbiter
This came as something of a shock: Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign on February 28 -- the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years -- setting the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March. A Vatican official said the Holy See hopes …
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In Defence–Really Praise–of Scholasticism
In a recent comment on my page Think Before You Convert "KYCath" (I assume that means Kentucky Catholic) there was the following: In short, Wills exposes how the original infrastructures of the Catholic Church morphed and transformed over the ages, so that original dogmas–and the understanding of their meaning thereof–changed to the point where the …
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The Christmas Story, from the Cofraternity Version
Now it came to pass in those days, that a decree went forth from Caesar Augustus that a census of the whole world should be taken. This first census took place while Cyrinius was governor of Syria. And all were going, each to his own town, to register. And Joseph also went from Galilee out …
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Look Beyond…
Could not resist posting this one... https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/d0OYDuuRrec?version=3&hl=en_GB The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is the best part of Roman Catholicism, and songs like this only made it nice. HT Old Folk Mass.
Forty Years Ago, I Left. Today, the Diocese of South Carolina Leaves.
Through this year, I have posted from time to time about my journey forty years ago from the Episcopal Church to the Roman Catholic Church. Today is the fortieth anniversary of that transition. On a very nice South Florida November afternoon, I took my baby blue Pinto on the very short drive to St. Thomas …
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Veni, Venite, or Coming to Terms with Proper Latin Pronunciation at Christmas
One of the significant changes that has come to this blog in the year fast ending is the incorporation of proper WordPress statistics for the webmaster to contemplate. This gives me a better idea of where my readers are coming from and what interests them (better than Google Analytics, I might add). This blog (and …
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Taking the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
He's not widely known outside of the fields he specialised in, but Adhémar Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant (1797-1886, usually known in the Anglophone world as simply Saint-Venant) was one of the premier scientists, engineers and mathematicians of the nineteenth century. His accomplishments were many and include the following: Successful derivation of the Navier-Stokes Equations …
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What the Britons Thought of Pelagius and Grace
To be called a "Pelagian" is about the worst insult that a Calvinist can hurl at you. So who was Pelagius? And how did his contemporaries react to it? Specifically, Pelagius was from Roman Britain; what did they think of it? Let's start with this, from Peter Salway's Roman Britain: One incident, in which the …
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The Best Part of Being an Aggie
Although the "official" entry of Texas A&M to the SEC was 1 July, the "grand entrance" (and for a Palm Beacher, the importance of this cannot be understated) will be this Saturday, when the Florida Gators visit Kyle Field. One serious question, of course, is whether Kyle Field will stay, be remodelled, or built somewhere …
Positive Infinity 