A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
More love for Tolkien in Rome today, and I caught a little of it! There was a two day international conference on Tolkien at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. The grand finale was a concert with original compositions! To prepare for the event, I listened to this most delightful conversation on Pints with Aquinas about Tolkien, and practically everything else under the sun, with Peter Kreeft.
Liturgical: Friday of the Third Week of Easter. Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing;
so they led him by the hand and brought him to Damascus. For three days he was unable to see, and he neither ate nor drank.
Sanctoral: Gianna Beretta Molla, Italy +1962. Her life recounted by her daughter
Human: 493 BC– the temple of Ceres on the Aventine hill near the Circus Maximus was constructed, in connection with a famine in Rome and the necessity of importing grain from increasingly distant lands. The temple became a political and organizational center for the plebeians. Gold and archives were kept there.
65 AD – there was an unsuccessful plot against Nero organized by Gaius Calpurinius Piso. The conspiracy failed when one of the conspirators and the emperor’s closest adviser, Fenius Rufus, betrayed his companions. Gaius Piso and the others were forced to commit suicide, as well as Nero's former tutor, the Stoic philosopher Lucius Seneca.
1775-- The American Revolution began with the first shot fired at Lexington (no one knows from which side).
1995- Oklahoma City bombing
2005- Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany was elected pope. He chose the name Pope Benedict XVI. He was the oldest pope elected since 1730.
Natural: death of Charles Darwin (naturalist) – 1882
The death of the oldest known spider (43-year-old trapdoor species) was announced – 2018
Quote: “One earns Paradise with one’s daily task." -St Gianna Beretta Molla
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