Calendar Class of February 5, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

"Go thou to Rome," the poet urged, and so they went. And we welcomed them there with crowns of flowers...

Liturgical: Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr

So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.

Make straight paths for your feet,

that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed.

Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled.

Hebrews 12:4-7, 11-15

Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.

Sanctoral: The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Agatha (d. 250), who died in defense of her purity, in Catania, Sicily. After Quintanus, the governor of Sicily, tried in vain to force her to consent to sin, she was imprisoned for a month with an evil woman. He then turned from sensuality to cruelty and had her breasts cut off; but that night Agatha was healed by St. Peter. She was then rolled over sharp stones and burning coals, and finally taken to prison where she died while praying. Her name appears in the Roman Canon.

Human: The Festival of Saint Agatha: Catania’s iconic Carnival tradition

The Writer's Almanac edition today.

Natural: It is the birthday of Nobel Prize-winning physicist Robert Hofstadter, born 1915 in New York City and best known for his research on the nucleus of the atom. He was the son of a salesman and attended the City College of New York. Hofstadter wanted to major in literature and philosophy until a physics professor told him, "the laws of physics could be tested and those of philosophy could not." He won the Kenyon Prize for outstanding work in physics and mathematics in 1935.

Hofstadter went on to measure the precise size and shape of the proton and neutron, the particles of the nucleus, winning the Nobel Prize on December 10, 1961, for presenting the first reasonably accurate picture of the structure and composition of atomic neutrons and protons. Hofstadter's discoveries played an important role in medicine, astronomy, military defense, and many other fields.

Italian: Alba (dawn / sunrise)

Quote: "Go thou to Rome—at once the Paradise, the grave, the city, and the wilderness…" - Percy Byshe Shelley

(Quote discovered in this blog post, written by a kindred spirit indeed!!)