Giant marine bogies, huge gobs of sea-snot

Nice.

Here, from Tepidus.

[Early evening update: er woops. That was not a link to a National Geographic article about marine bogies. This is. For much nicer marine things, you could look at the Amazing Fish here. Or here - towards the end you can see the odd way they swim - is vertical the right way up for them, or horizontal?]

 

Mother Teresa and the will of God

“God has not called me to be successful, but to be faithful.”

 

What’s this?

Dead giant mechanical spider ...

Any guesses? Photo pinched some time ago from Lavinka. Who I think can see my windows from her windows.

 

Pope in Britain 2010 :-D

LOOK!

Yippee! I’m looking at wizzair already! I missed the Pope in Poland, am not going to miss this one!

{And thanks to Tepidus, we appear to be the first britblog to report this. Scoop!)

 

Nth Scots Catholic Blog

A seminarian from Dunkeld.

Let’s pray for him.

 

Joining the Sisters of the Gospel of Life

The Sisters of the Gospel of Life welcomed a new postulant on Tuesday. Their blog post on the occasion claims the text of the ceremony is on the blog somewhere…

ad multos annos, Amanda 

 

Calvinist book fairy strikes.

Once more I am distracted from Buridan, usury, matters-to-arrange in this office and that, by the arrival of a volume faster-paced than The Existential Version of Classical Metaphysics, larger than The Little Book of Hugs, more gloriously illustrated, and on better paper, than the 1984 Polish samizdat edition of Bulhakov’s Three Islands, more reliable than The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, fuller of surprising plot twists than  A Systematic Course in Formal Logic …

It is indeed all of those things, and I have been enjoying it very much indeed; from the initial pleasure of finding a book waiting for me after a week away from home, to that of pulling out a glorious fat hardback with a shiny dustjacket and just the right size of print and with pictures, to reading it and finding it to be also a good juicy read.

A review here, with links to other reviews.

THANK YOU to the lovely book fairy!

 

Trailer for new St Augustine film!

From the FB status of a friend from theology-studying days, now a baby religious and studying in Rome.

 

For all pious cyclists

Being what some consider a crazy (though very far from really impressive) cyclist, I am ashamed that it only came to my mind today to inquire who the patron saint of cyclists was. Now guess who? No one less than Our Lady! To be exact, Our Lady of Ghisallo. In best contemporary academic manner, I googled for the background story and took hold of the first thing that came up:

“One day, around 1135, a man, The Count of Ghisallo, was traveling through this remote part of Italy — that country which would come to hold such an important place in bicycle history — when he was set upon by bandits.

Fearing for his life, he ran until he saw a little roadside shrine that held an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Taking refuge at the shrine, the Madonna herself appeared and the bandits ran off into the countryside sparing the count further worry and harm.

Count Ghisallo recognized this as a miracle and he not only shared the story with many gentle listeners over the years of his life, but he built a larger and more auspicious shrine on the site of his salvation.  The shrine was cherished by the simple people of the region and the occasional traveler, but essentially unknown to the rest of the world.  That would change, but change would come in fits and it would come slowly.

For 500 years the shrine was maintained by generations of the people to whom it meant so much.  Then, in 1645, a chapel was built at the top of the hill and a painting of the Virgin and the Baby Jesus was placed above the altar.  Again it was quiet for a while; about 360 years.

It was quiet until 1905 when a bicycle race was planned.  It would be called, the Giro di Lombardia, or Tour of Lombardy, and it would ascend the hill on which the shrine to the Madonna del Ghisallo had been lovingly maintained for almost 800 years.  At the top of the long, hard climb, the racers, certainly all Italian and all Catholic, were struck by the wonder of finding a shrine and chapel at such a lonely outpost.  Many of them returned to the site and prayed for safety while riding their bicycles, and for victory in their races.  Word spread, and the shrine became a bicycle destination for many and a pilgrimage for some.

Then one day, by the mysterious workings of the Church, it was decided that a priest by the name of Father Vigano, should be made pastor of the chapel.  Father Vigano was a great cycling fan and he welcomed the bicyclist who made pilgrimages to his chapel.

Many of the cyclists left votive offerings to the Virgin in the form of jerseys, race numbers, even bicycles, and Father Vigano built a little museum in which to display them.

Over time, Father Vigano became more and more fascinated by the story of Count Ghisallo and by the devotion of the bicyclists to the Madonna.  He asked the Pope to proclaim Our Lady of Ghisallo to be the patron saint of bicyclists, and in 1949, Pope Pius XII granted his petition.”

Found at Coho Bicycles.

 

[forced once more to blog]

If I were asked for my three favourite nineteenth-century German novels, I’d – well, I don’t think I know of three nineteenth-century German novels, never mind know three. Being asked for Three Songs Wot I Would Pick From An Juke Box is along those lines – I don’t remember stuff I hear on the radio, I own the grand number of two albums, both inherited from Boeciana. What I am trying to say is, this isn’t really a proof of my taste or any such because the sample on which I am drawing is too small.

That disclaimer in place, here are three songs that come to mind:

One with which I was utterly fascinated in my fifth or sixth year at school. Do you not think it has a kind of Schubertian perfection-in-miniature about it? :

One which I wouldn’t put on in the pub because I think it is probably scandalous:

so I might instead put this on:

I love most of this woman’s songs (no laughing there at the back!), but I think this one suits her voice very well:

(apropos Hendrix v. the Doors: remind me at some point in the autumn to write a post about the Devil having the best tunes.)

No more memes!

I tag Mark and Notburga, and she can tag five four people, as a punishment for being lazy last meme