The Narthex

Augustus Welby Pugin is in the news these days in the United Kingdom because he designed Big Ben, icon for the British nation, whose scaffolding has now come down after two years and will reopen this spring. Pugin (1812-1852; his French name is pronounced “PEW-jin”) was THE Gothic Revivalist. A…

Let us familiarize ourselves with the titles accorded these Cappadocian bishops we have studied: Basil, Gregory, and Gregory of Nyssa. St. Gregory of Nyssa is considered the philosopher and mystic; he wrote less than the other two but perhaps more deeply. An ecumenical council in 787 pronounced him “Father of…

Following the council of 381, Gregory returned to Nazianzus. For Lent, he gave up speaking! (Newman, Historical Sketches, p. 86) In his autobiographical poem, Gregory used some harsh words to describe his relationship with Basil. Yet, at the same time that he wrote the poem, he delivered a funeral oration…

Until Gregory’s father’s death in 374, Gregory stayed in Nazianzus. Despite the rupture between Gregory and Basil, Basil attended Gregory’s father’s funeral. (Gregory’s father had always supported making Basil a bishop; see Funeral Orations, p. 154.) Gregory, his father’s auxiliary bishop, did not want to succeed his father. Because nothing…

Gregory refused to go to the appointed town in Basil’s jurisdiction, becoming, in his words, “a fugitive.” At first, Gregory’s father tried to persuade him to be an active bishop of Sasima, then, when the father’s health declined, the father, himself a bishop, asked Gregory to become his auxiliary (Concerning…

January 22 marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision. Soon after it first appeared on the law library’s shelves, I read it and it was a big reason I decided to go to law school. Fifteen years later I became general counsel of the public…

The reason Gregory had left Basil after his visit to Basil’s monastery was related to Gregory’s family. Gregory’s father, now in his 80’s, had become ill and had asked his son to return home. During Christmastime, 362, Gregory was ordained a priest. Immediately Gregory thought he’d made a mistake and…

Basil either returned directly home from Athens and then toured the principal monasteries of the Eastern Roman Empire in Egypt, Palestine, and Syria or toured the monasteries before coming home (it’s unclear from my review of sources). At some point in these travels Basil’s older sister, St. Macrina, upbraided Basil…

In my last post I related how Gregory spared Basil "hazing" on beginning school in Athens. The second thing Gregory did for Basil when they were students was as follows: Some of their childhood friends now at the school asked Basil questions. At first, Gregory joined in the discussion hoping…

The Church annually celebrates the feast days of St. Basil of Caesarea and St. Gregory of Nazianzus on January 1 in the East and January 2 in the West. Their story of great affection, and estrangement, follows below. But first let me say that Pope St. John Paul II often…

Perhaps you have read of the James Webb Space Telescope, launched on Christmas Day 2021, and the kinds of images it has given us, like those of the “Stephan’s Quintet” (google "James Webb Space Telescope Stephan’s Quintet" to see it). And perhaps you have read of the findings of the…

The “Common Era” system has been adopted in history texts and museum exhibits. This reflects a movement to modify the Anno Domini system by using “CE” (for “Common Era”) in place of AD, and using “BCE” (for “Before Common Era”) in place of BC (Before Christ) as a religiously neutral…

If a school child asks, “Why will next year be given the number 2023?” the easy answer by a teacher or parent would be mathematical: “Because we add a one to this year’s number 2022. 2022 plus 1=2023.” As the pupil progresses in school, he or she learns of other…

My last post introduced the novel Mr. Blue. Here I'll look at author Myles Connolly's life. Connolly was born in 1897 in Roxbury, outside Boston. He attended Boston Latin School. At Boston College he edited the literary magazine The Stylus (founded in 1882 and still extant). After his 1918 graduation,…

In 1928 Myles Connolly published his 120-page debut novel, Mr. Blue. This book and author come to mind at this time of year because the protagonist, J. Blue, was in awe of the Incarnation, and also because Connolly was an adviser to film director Frank Capra for the Christmas-time favorite…