590 years ago, on May 30, 1431, a young French saint died at the age of 19, The Maid of Orleans, that is, virgin, as she is called by all and Friedrich Schiller in his homonyms drama of 1801: Joan of Arc. Matching her with St Catherine of Siena, Benedict XVI defines both “two young…
Two hundred years ago, “by the tidings, in amaze / the earth is held, and with her gaze / the parting hour doth mutely scan / of this great spirit,” as we read in Alessandro Manzoni’s The Fifth of May. In fact, on May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte died in Saint Helena, a British island…
Author’s note: I originally published this essay on Dec 17, 2015, the day before the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It was a time of anticipation and excitement for Star Wars fans, but although The Force Awakens recaptured much of the magic of the original trilogy, the next two films wound up being as…
Half a millennium ago, on April 27, 1521, the Portuguese explorer who made the first tour of the world in human history was killed in the Philippines during an unexpected skirmish on the small island of Mactan: Ferdinand Magellan (Fernão de Magalhães, in Portoguese; Fernando de Magallanes, in Spanish). Born to a noble family in…
Fifty years ago today, on April 6, 1971, at the age of 88, the composer Igor Stravinsky died of a heart attack in New York. He was a musical genius of the twentieth century who did not limit himself — so they said — to turning a page in the history of music; instead, he…
From The Book of Lemaitrians, Chapter 1, Verses 1 & 2: In the beginning was the dot, no larger than the end of a human hair. When it exploded, that dot released everything that exists and has ever existed in the Universe: time, space, light, energy, and all the matter that makes up the stars,…
Editor’s note: we have embedded several videos of the sacred music performances discussed in the following text, but space prevents us from including them all. We encourage you to follow the links as well so you don’t miss out on any of these beautiful pieces of music. Throughout the desert of Lent, souls seek conversion…
Author’s note: there are many legends and stories of St. Patrick. In an attempt to view the saint from a different perspective, I offer a reflection on one of the most significant events in the life of the “Apostle to the Irish” as a creative non-fiction short story. The following is based on actual accounts…
One hundred years ago, on March 11, 1921, the greatest musician of Argentina in the second half of the last century was born: Astor Piazzolla. In Argentina he was born in Mar del Plata to Italian parents (the father from Trani in Puglia, the mother from the Garfagnana in Tuscany) and died on July 4,…
The Consensus of the Fathers and Theologians Fr. Chad Ripperger Sensus Traditionis Press 35 pages $2.99 Kindle; $6.95 Paperback I recently discovered a little book by Fr. Chad Ripperger entitled The Consensus of the Fathers and Theologians. It really is little, at only thirty-five pages, and very inexpensive; but it is also a nugget of…
Primer On The Right: The Challenge of the Modern Right and How It Relates to the Contemporary Left Robert E. Salyer Self-Published 103 pages $8.99 Paperback Many Catholics are dismissive of the Left versus Right divide, deeming it a false dichotomy – a distraction from more substantial divisions, such as the one separating the Catholic…
