Calendar Class of April 4, 2025
- Andrea Kirk Assaf
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
"Black bees on the clover-heads drowsily clinging,
Where tall feathered grasses and buttercups sway;
And all through the fields a white sprinkle of daisies,
Open-eyed at the setting of day."
–Abba Woolson
Liturgical: Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent Mass readings and Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections
"When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit."
Psalm 34:17-18
Sanctoral: Saint Isidore of Seville, (c. 560 – April 4, 636)
An amazingly learned man, he was sometimes called “The Schoolmaster of the Middle Ages” because the encyclopedia he wrote was used as a textbook for nine centuries. He required seminaries to be built in every diocese, wrote a Rule for religious orders, and founded schools that taught every branch of learning. Isidore wrote numerous books, including a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a history of Goths, and a history of the world—beginning with creation! He completed the Mozarabic liturgy, which is still in use in Toledo, Spain. For all these reasons, Isidore has been suggested as patron of the Internet. Several others—including Anthony of Padua—also have been suggested.
He continued his austerities even as he approached age 80. During the last six months of his life, he increased his charities so much that his house was crowded from morning till night with the poor of the countryside.
Our society can well use Isidore’s spirit of combining learning and holiness. Loving, understanding and knowledge can heal and bring a broken people back together. We are not barbarians like the invaders of Isidore’s Spain. But people who are swamped by riches and overwhelmed by scientific and technological advances can lose much of their understanding love for one another.
Human: Martin Luther King Jr. (U.S. civil rights leader; was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee) – 1968
Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith’s son accepted the nation’s highest award for valor for his late father, who exposed himself to enemy fire in Iraq and saved at least 100 of his fellow U.S. soldiers. It was the first medal of honor awarded in the Iraq War – 2005
Roman history today:
The festival of Cybele (Ludi Megalenses) was celebrated with theatrical performances and horse races in Circus Maximus. Sacrifices called moretum were offered and banquets were organized in the houses, to which friends and acquaintances were invited.
204 BC – a meteorite was ceremonially placed in the Temple of Victoria on the Palatine Hill and games were organized. The stone was brought by Roman deputies a year earlier to Pergamum because of the Sibylline Books. The meteorite was a symbol of the cult of the Great Mother of Gods who was worshiped there – Cybele.
188 AD – emperor Caracalla was born. The nickname came from the name of a Gallic hooded tunic he liked to wear. According to Aurelius Victor, a Roman historian from the 4th century AD, the emperor was supposed to distribute robes reaching his ankles to the people, hence he was to be called Caracalla. Officially, however, it was not used. The sources refer his surname, Antoninus.
397 AD – Bishop Ambrose died in Milan.
Natural: "Don't say that spring has come until you can put your foot on nine daisies." All About the Daisy and the Sweet Pea and Their Meanings
Italian: Balzo (bounce / leap)
English: Dominical letter
A letter from A to G, denoting Sundays in the ecclesiastical calendar for a given year, determined by the date on which the first Sunday falls. If it falls on January 1, the letter (for the year) is A; if it falls on January 2, the letter is B; and so on.
Quote: Talent is born in silence, but character is born in the struggles of life.
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