The Narthex

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…

Before my class of one hundred graduated from grade school -- from Mary, Seat of Wisdom School in Park Ridge, Illinois, in 1964 -- we had a Day of Recollection at our church conducted by one of the priests who belonged to the Mission Band of the Archdiocese of Chicago.…

Daniel S. Dickinson died suddenly on April 12, 1866. The day before he died he was quite well and trying a case in court with his close friend Daniel Webster. Five days before his death, he had composed a poem to his wife in which he referred to their deceased…

In June of this year I had the pleasure of addressing the annual reunion of the Dickinson Family Association held at Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts. The Association is devoted to learning more about its members’ ancestors, such as the poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886). My richly illustrated talk was…

My nominee for the greatest songwriter of all time is King David of Israel (c. 1000 B.C.). There are 150 psalms in the Bible’s Book of Psalms. The psalms are songs; the title of the book refers to “instrumental music” or to the words accompanying music. Furthermore, there are inscriptions…

How would we answer the question “Who’s the greatest songwriter of all time?” For a moment let us revisit our musical past. What about Andrew Lloyd Weber (b. 1948) with his Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1968; Broadway 1982), Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), Evita (1978), Cats (1981), and Phantom…

Previously I addressed teaching Latin to Catholic grade school students. Now I'll address teaching Latin to high school students who are Catholic. As previously described, I used the Bible, Latin hymns, Latin prayers, and the Latin Mass to help teach Latin to Catholic grade-schoolers. But what about Catholic high school…

I taught Latin to Catholic grade school students from 2010 through 2018. Admittedly, the course was not demanding since we met for only 40 minutes once weekly (on Saturday mornings). But from the outset I never intended to concentrate, as is typical of Latin instruction, on grammar or, shall I…

Lorenzo B. (for Brewster) Shepard was a prominent lawyer and politician in his time. He had a meteoric rise before he died suddenly at age 35 in 1856. For example, he was appointed by the president in 1849, at only age 27, to be the U.S. Attorney for the Southern…