A Carpe Diem Snapshot:
In honor of today's feast of St. Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians, I wanted to post something about sacred music in Rome. Unfortunately, the weather was tempestuous today and I may not be able to get out to the Basilica of St. Cecilia for her annual Mass tonight (where a choir will likely be singing!). So, this snapshot of a spontaneous jam session the other night will have to fill the spot. I was just remarking today on how lovely it is that so many students who pass through the villa have musical abilities... and love to share them with us! Our piano may be old and out of tune, but it is still the center of homespun entertainment here, along with the guitars, ukulele, drums, canjo, harmonica, and kazoo!
Liturgical: Readings for the Memorial of Saint Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr
Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out
those who were selling things, saying to them,
“It is written,
My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves.”
And every day he was teaching in the temple area
The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile,
were seeking to put him to death,
but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.
Bishop Barron's Gospel reflections today.
Sanctoral: St. Cecilia, Rome +3rd century
Cecilia was so highly venerated by the ancient Roman Church that her name was placed in the Canon of the Mass. Already in the fourth century there was a church of St. Cecilia in Trastevere, erected on the site where her home had stood. Her martyrdom probably occurred during the reign of Emperor Alexander Severus, about the year 230. In 1599 her grave was opened and her body found in a coffin of cypress wood. It lay incorrupt, as if she had just breathed forth her soul. Stephen Maderna, who often saw the body, chiseled a statue that resembled the body as closely as possible. Since the Middle Ages, Cecilia has been honored as patroness of Church music, a practice having its source in a false application of a passage from the Office (cantantibus organis).
Sing with your children! A podcast episode with Cecilia and Emma Black
Human: Death day of Blackbeard (pirate) – 1718, C.S. Lewis (author) – 1963
It was about 12:30 p.m. on this day in 1963 that President John F. Kennedy was fatally shot while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The Warren Commission published a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in shooting the president, a conclusion that less than half of all Americans believe. Don DeLillo's novel Libra (1988) is about the Kennedy assassination. He wrote: "What has become unraveled since that afternoon in Dallas is [...] the sense of a coherent reality most of us shared. We seem from that moment to have entered a world of randomness and ambiguity."
More on The Writer's Almanac.
Natural: Health mindset shift- we don't exercise just for immediate benefits, but for a stronger last decade of our lives-- The 4 Pillars of Movement for a Long and Healthy Life | Dr Peter Attia
Italian: Cioè (that is / namely)
Etc.: Another good introduction to Justin Martyr
Quote: "Hymn", by Edgar Allan Poe
At morn—at noon—at twilight dim—Maria! thou hast heard my hymn!
In joy and wo—in good and ill—Mother of God, be with me still!
When the Hours flew brightly by,
And not a cloud obscured the sky,
My soul, lest it should truant be,
Thy grace did guide to thine and thee;
Now, when storms of Fate o'ercast
Darkly my Present and my Past,
Let my Future radiant shine
With sweet hopes of thee and thine!
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