A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
Cordelia Anne's recent birthday has us thinking about Anne of Green Gables lately, so Valentina created this watercolor homage to Anne last night, which Kelly took home as a gift for her Anne-fan sister, Mary. Congratulations, Mary, you are now part of the exclusive club of art collectors who own a Valentina Assaf original. :)In addition pilgrimages to Catholic sites, we hope to make a few literary pilgrimages with the kids while they are still young. Prince Edward Island is at the top of the bucket list, and there is, of course, a suggested itinerary for that, as well as a whole site dedicated to following in Anne's imaginary footsteps.
Liturgical: Memorial of Saint Agnes, Virgin and Martyr
Brothers and sisters:
God is not unjust so as to overlook your work
and the love you have demonstrated for his name
by having served and continuing to serve the holy ones.
We earnestly desire each of you to demonstrate the same eagerness
for the fulfillment of hope until the end,
so that you may not become sluggish, but imitators of those who,
through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises.
Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.
Sanctoral: The Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Agnes (c. 304). St. Agnes, like St. Cecilia, is to be numbered among the most famous martyrs of Rome. When the Diocletian persecution was at its height, and when priests as well as laymen were apostatizing from the faith, Agnes, a girl of twelve, freely chose to die for Christ. When she was commanded to offer incense to false gods, she raised her hand to Christ and made the Sign of the Cross. When the heathens threatened to bind her hand and foot, she herself hastened to the place of torture as a bride to her wedding feast. Pain had no terror for her—although the fetters slipped from her small hands while even the pagan bystanders were moved to tears.
When the son of the Roman prefect offered to marry her, she replied: "The one to whom I am betrothed is Christ Whom the angels serve." When the executioner, who was to behead her, hesitated, she encouraged him with the words: "Strike, without fear, for the bride does her Spouse an injury if she makes Him wait". The name of "Agnes" means "lamb-life," and hence the lamb is the symbol of the modesty and innocence of the virgin-martyr.
Human: France's King Louis XVI was beheaded in Paris on this date in 1793, one of tens of thousands of victims of the French Revolution. He had ascended to the throne in 1774, when he was 20 years old, and he had inherited a mess. The kingdom was nearly bankrupt, the result of lavish spending by his predecessors. He was well liked by his subjects at first, although they were unhappy with his wife, Marie Antoinette of Austria, because she was a foreigner. He was intelligent and compassionate, but he was indecisive, and conservative in military action.
The king stepped out of the carriage and removed his outer garments, refusing any offers of help, and folded them neatly. The gendarmes made a move to bind his hands, but Louis recoiled, and a struggle seemed imminent, until Father Edgeworth reminded him that Jesus had suffered his hands to be bound on Good Friday. Louis said, "So be it, then, that too, my God," and offered his hands to be bound. He ascended the steps to the scaffold alone, with strength and determination. Upon reaching the top, he addressed the people:
"I die innocent of all the crimes laid to my charge; I pardon those who have occasioned my death; and I pray to God that the blood you are going to shed may never be visited on France."
The Writer's Almanac edition today.
Natural: First commercial extraction of magnesium from seawater began, in Freeport, Texas – 1941; U.S.S. Nautilus, world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, was launched – 1954
Italian: Stacanovista (workaholic)
Quote: “The Age of Chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished for ever. Never, never more, shall we behold the generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart, which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. The unbought grace of life, the cheap defence of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprize is gone!”
― Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
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