Various...

Habit-watching
I've previously posted snippets from The Handbook to Christian and Ecclesiastical Rome. One of the nice features is the way in which it gives little drawings of some of the more common religious habits in the manner of a birdwatcher's manual. I've often thought that it'd be interesting to do an updated manual of religious habits.
Blogroll
A new addition - Wheat & Weeds!
Dali Crucifix Found?
From Ansa.it

(ANSA) - Ancona, October 12 - An art expert has uncovered a sculpture of Christ on the Cross he claims Salvador Dali made to thank an Italian friar who exorcised him .
Armando Ginesi found the piece, measuring 60cm by 30cm, among the personal belongings of Gabriele Maria Berardi, a friar who died in 1984, in a storeroom in Rome .
He has shown the work to two Spanish experts on the Surrealist artist. They agreed that there are "sufficient stylistic reasons" to believe it was made by Dali .

Silly Roman Tricks...

One of the things that one begins to do when one has lived in Rome for a while is play 'spot the cleric' in restaurants. Even when they dress down, it's usually not too hard to spot a bunch of priests on an evening out. It's also not uncommon to spot groups of three (2 men, one woman) and with a little observation figure out that it's a married couple taking a priest-friend out for a meal.
Now that the synod is on, it's a case of spot the incognito bishops. It's rarely very difficult - the little groups of grey-haired men in cheap suits (no ties, and horror of horrors sometimes shirts buttoned up to the collar) are quickly identified. Last night, however, one group made it too easy. The fact that one had forgotten to leave his (super-sized!) pectoral cross at home spoiled all chance of anonymity for his colleagues.

Eco sets Pendulum in motion

From ANSA.it

Rome, October 8 - Foucault's Pendulum, one of the most famous scientific experiments in history, was recreated in Bologna on Saturday with the help of Italian philosopher and author Umberto Eco .
The experiment provided the title for the second of Eco's best-selling novels .
"I've been pursued by the Pendulum ever since I wrote that book, receiving invitations from museums all over the world who have put one up," Eco told the hundreds of people who crowded into a Bologna church .
"It's my curse, the Pendulum is everywhere and I no longer manage to escape the attentions of those who think they've found the only still point in the Universe," he said .

Via Michelle's Mental Cluster

Another wonderful obituary...

From the Telegraph:

Sig Frohlich, who has died aged 97, was a bit-part actor for much of his long career in Hollywood, playing messengers, waiters, callboys, clerks and soldiers, rarely earning even a flicker of recognition from viewers over 50 years.
But he achieved some lasting celebrity as one of the winged monkeys in The Wizard of Oz (1939). This was despite the fact that he was completely disguised in a monkey costume and uttered no words on screen.
(snip)
In 1935 he was a mutineer in Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Clark Gable, and a gentleman in A Tale of Two Cities. He had his first screen credit in the crime drama Riffraff (1936), with Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy. The following year he was cast in Speed (with James Stewart) and Born to Dance (with Eleanor Powell); he was also a soldier of the evil Emperor Ming the Merciless in the Flash Gordon series.
(snip)
If some wondered whether he minded the modesty of his career, Frohlich, whose surname means happy in German, had no doubt. He was MGM's most senior star, and he was delighted to sign autographs for visitors to his nursing home. He died on September 30.

Fascinating Obituary in the Telegraph

Monsignor Gerald Chidgey RIP.

Monsignor Gerald Chidgey, who has died aged 85, was involved in distributing Allied propaganda for British Intelligence in Spain while studying for the priesthood during the Second World War.

Read it all

Is this good?

To be quite honest, I'm not at all well informed about the Potter phenomenon...

You scored as Albus Dumbledore. Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering. Severus Snape 75% Albus Dumbledore 75% Hermione Granger 65% Remus Lupin 65% Ron Weasley 55% Harry Potter 50% Ginny Weasley 40% Draco Malfoy 40% Sirius Black 40% Lord Voldemort 35% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is...? created with QuizFarm.com

(Stolen from the Cnytr)

Not gone quite yet...

I had to share the following from the Telegraph:

A town in Sweden plans to become the first place in the world where corpses will be disposed of by freeze-drying, as an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial. Jonkoping, in southern Sweden, is to turn its crematorium into a so-called promatorium next year.
Swedes will then have the chance to bury their dead according to the pioneering method, which involves freezing the body, dipping it in liquid nitrogen and gently vibrating it to shatter it into powder. This is put into a small box made of potato or corn starch and placed in a shallow grave, where it will disintegrate within six to 12 months.
People are to be encouraged to plant a tree on the grave. It would feed off the compost formed from the body, to emphasise the organic cycle of life.

More hiatus...

Hi folks...

Going travelling again, so don't expect much for the next week and a half, or so.

Various...

To everyone's great surprise I'm not dead. I'll refrain from blogging the details of some very messy DIY plumbing.
Thanks to Cnytr for the best Latin joke I've heard all week.

A Jesuit and a Franciscan priest were walking together in the forest, and the Jesuit wanted to see whether there was an echo. So, he called out in a loud voice, "Quod est Franciscanorum regula?" And the echo came back, "-gula, -gula" Then the Franciscan calls out in a loud voice, "Fuitne Judas Jesuita?" And the echo came back, "-ita, -ita".

In the Telegraph we have the obituary of Lord Kingsale (Kinsale?)

The 35th Lord Kingsale (by his own reckoning; by others the 28th or 30th), who died on September 15 aged 64, was Premier Baron of Ireland; his varied career included spells as a kitchen fitter, film extra, silage-pit builder, white hunter, plumber, proprietor of a dating agency in Brisbane and bingo caller in Birmingham before he retired on invalidity benefit to sheltered housing in Somerset.
[snip]
Lords Courcy of Ringoane and Kinsale sat in the Irish parliament as late as the reign of James VI and I. But the family had a knack of backing the wrong side; its fortunes declined inexorably until, by the beginning of this century, the principal asset of Lord Kingsale was the right (unique in the peerage) to keep his hat on in the presence of the sovereign.
Kingsale once undertook a sponsored slim (losing four stones) in the hope that it would give him a better chance of picking up a wife. Securing a spouse and heir was a constant ambition, consistently thwarted. In 1965 the Daily Express announced that he had become engaged to Caroline Graham Porter, a debutante whom he had met at Cowes Week, but nothing came of it.
After that, Kingsale frequently declared his eagerness to wed but, despite being, as he once put it, "the only middle-aged heterosexual bachelor in a 30-mile radius, which has made me a must for any dinner party", matrimony eluded him. He advertised for a wife on several occasions, and got a letter a day from candidates. In 1989, while working as a wine-waiter and butler for hire at £25 a night (including washing up), he became optimistic about a "40-plus, leggy blonde of Hampshire naval stock", but was disappointed again.

Burning philosophical issue...

I overheard some young people talking recently and noted that the more conventional verbs of communication have been replaced by the verb ‘to be.’ For instance it’s not uncommon to hear such sentences as:

I was ‘Get out of here.’
He was like ‘What are you doing?’

Now, what I want to know is whether this is indicative of the increasing reluctance to admit ontological considerations as constitutive of the essence of personhood? Have these young people reached a greater awareness of the symbolic nature of human existence and our capacity to express meaning in the manner in which we live out life? Are the distinctions between being, knowing and comminication drifting into oblivion? By virtue of authentic existence, does the barrier between message and messenger cease to be? What are the implications for Christology and a Theology of the Incarnation?

The Obituary Column...

The Telegraph's obituary column is usually worth a look. Otherwise I'd never have heard of blues artist RL Burnside:

Described by Fat Possum's founder, Matthew Johnson, as "a happy-go-lucky nihilist", Burnside became the label's best-selling artist. He also found an enthusiastic following among young rock fans, thanks to his association with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, with which he collaborated on an album - A Ass Pocket of Whiskey - in 1996. (When Burnside's wife heard it she asked him: "You mean you do that stuff in public?")
[snip]
After Burnside returned to Mississippi, he shot a man who, he claimed, had been attempting to run him out of his home. Although he was convicted of murder, the story goes that he had served only three months in jail when a plantation owner persuaded a judge to release him, saying he needed Burnside to work during the cotton-planting season.
"I didn't mean to kill nobody," Burnside later said of the murder. "I just meant to shoot the sonofabitch in the head. Him dying was between him and the Lord."
[snip]
RL Burnside is survived by his wife, Alice Mae, and 12 children. In later life he was nostalgic for the old days, before civil rights improved the circumstances of black people in the Deep South. "The biggest change I've seen in my life is more crime," he said in 1999. "A 15-year-old chopped up his grandmother here so he could pawn her TV set. That don't look like progress to me."

Totally superficial film judgement

I've not yet seen the new Pride and Prejudice film (but hope to soon) but I have seen the trailers and something is bugging me. If you look at these publicity shots you might (or might not) see what I mean. For some reason the two leads Keira Knightly (Elizabeth Bennet) and Matthew MacFadyen (Darcy) just look too modern. Something about their hair and faces seems to speak of the 21st century rather than the 19th. Does anyone else see what I mean?

Fascinating...

Or at least I think so: Voltage & Sockets info for around the world!

When academics snark...

Commenting on 2 Corinthians 11.22 and Philippians 3.5f. Rawlinson writes: "St. Paul's emphatic claim in Philippians 3.5 and 2 Corinthians 11.22, to be a Hebrew suggests that his opponents had attempted to deny his affinities with Aramaic speaking Judaism and rank him exclusively as a Hellenist." Many modern scholars would apparently find Paul's opponents very congenial company. - WD Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (pp 2-3)

Damask and Watered Silk...

The Oligarch recently made a comment about certain similarities between Orthodox Judaism and Catholicism which reminded me of this section from Ecclesiaticus which would seem to be Old Testament POD:

He exalted Aaron, the brother of Moses,
a holy man like him, of the tribe of Levi.
He made an everlasting covenant with him,
and gave him the priesthood of the people.
He blessed him with splendid vestments,
and put a glorious robe upon him.
He clothed him with superb perfection,
and strengthened him with the symbols of authority,
the linen breeches, the long robe, and the ephod.
And he encircled him with pomegranates,
with very many golden bells round about,
to send forth a sound as he walked,
to make their ringing heard in the temple
as a reminder to the sons of his people;
with a holy garment, of gold and blue
and purple, the work of an embroiderer;
with the oracle of judgment, Urim and Thummim;
with twisted scarlet, the work of a craftsman;
with precious stones engraved like signets,
in a setting of gold, the work of a jeweler,
for a reminder, in engraved letters,
according to the number of the tribes of Israel;
with a gold crown upon his turban,
inscribed like a signet with "Holiness,"
a distinction to be prized, the work of an expert,
the delight of the eyes, richly adorned.
Before his time there never were such beautiful things.
No outsider ever put them on,
but only his sons
and his descendants perpetually.
His sacrifices shall be wholly burned
twice every day continually. (45:6-14)

Book question...

I was recently sorting through a few books and realised that as my library is scattered over several locations I have more than one copy of some books. Apart from having several copies of the Bible (different translations, though) and dupicate copies of some liturgical texts, the following are the books I have two copies of:

John Henry Newman: Plain and Parochial Sermons (I purchased the very compact 1 Volume Ignatius edition on ultra-thin paper, and shortly afterwards received the old [early 20th Century] standard 8 Volume set)
John Henry Newman: The Dream of Gerontius (I originally owned a very tatty photocopy of the text, and later received a lovely old illustrated printing as a gift)
Flann O'Brien: The Best of Myles (The most under-rated humourist of the 20th Century. I read my original copy to pieces, retained the remains and purchased another
Jane Austen: The Complete Novels (I don't like being too far from Jane Austen - so I bought a 2nd copy)
EM Forster: A Room with a View (It's a bit of fluff, but I adore this novel. It's my comfort reading and has many happy associations. Again, I dislike being too far from a copy of this book, so I bought a 2nd copy)
EM Forster: Howards End (Got my 2nd copy free at a 2nd hand bookshop. I never look a gift horse in the mouth.)
So, anyone else out there own multiple copies of their favourite (or even not-so-favourite) books?

Did Bacon write Aquinas?

Amongst the more unusual books in my library is one that I picked up a number of years ago when passing through London. Popping into a second-hand bookstore a few streets away from Westminster Cathedral, I was pleasantly surprised to come across quite a selection of theology books recently acquired from the estate of a deceased priest of the Archdiocese. As well as laying my hands on a couple of the early translations of Congar’s works and a first edition of Louis Bouyer’s ‘The Eternal Son’ I stumbled across a genuine rarity. ‘A Compendium of Theological Curiosities’ was privately published by Rev. James Hobin SJ in 1953. Hobin was a master at Stoneyhurst and it seems that the printing of 1,000 copies (by the Ptarmigan Press, Oxford) was funded by subscriptions solicited from Fr Hobin’s former students. Fr Hobin’s main interest seems to have been in the more abstruse theological propositions of various non-Catholic denominations and authors such as the Mormons, the Irvingites and Swedenborg. He also has chapters on some of the more esoteric fringes of Judaism and Mohamedism (sic), as well as what seems to contemporary eyes a slightly mocking treatment of Coptic hagiographic legends. He also gathers together some Catholic material, consisting mainly of various Millenarian theories, heretical oddities and one or two peculiarities from more recent time. I was particularly tickled to come across the following:

It is rare to find humour on the pages of the theological journals, but an exception is a monograph of P. Dubonnier in the Revue Theologique of Louvain. In a parody of the the Higher Critical methods of the modernist school, P. Dubonnier penned ‘On the Authorship of the Summa Theologica’ wherein he proposed that the most significant works of the Angelic Doctor were penned by a committee of no fewer than three Dominican Scholars, including ‘A’ (an original and speculative thinker and follower of St Augustine), ‘P’ (the ‘philosopher’ who was held responsible for the integration of Aristotelian philosophy with the thought of ‘A’) and ‘S’ (the ‘Scholastic’, a somewhat pedantic thinker, albeit with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Fathers). Dubonnier wittily proposed that what is disclosed by the historical sciences about St Thomas is more consistent with the ‘Dumb Ox’ of the famous anecdote than the more conventionally accepted view. The pseudonymous authorship was justified by the desire of the committee to avoid the censure of the Universities for their novel theological venture. It is said that P Dubonnier’s skill at framing this audacious proposition was such that not a few ecclesiastics are known to have expressed their displeasure with the thesis to the Magnificent Rector of the University of Louvain before it was revealed to have been a hoax. (pp 94-95)

A crumb...

In his short essay ‘Kafka and his Predecessors’ Jorge Luis Borges refers to a parable of Kierkegaard:

The subject of the […] parable is the North Pole expeditions. Danish ministers had declared from their pulpits that participation in these expeditions were beneficial to the soul’s eternal well-being. They admitted, however, that it was difficult, and perhaps impossible to reach the Pole and that not all men could undertake the adventure. Finally, they would announce that any trip –from Denmark to London, let us say, on the regularly scheduled steamer – was, properly considered, an expedition to the North Pole.

The Tyburn Benedictines

There's a very nice BBC feature about the Tyburn Benedictines. I visited these contemplative nuns nearly a year ago whilst passing through London and was very taken by the prayerful athmosphere and the significance of a contemplative being located so close to the infamous Tyburn tree. A young Australian nun showed me the convent's relics of the Catholic martyrs of the English reformation.
Check out their website.

Blogroll...

Mea culpa! I hadn't realised that I'd neglected to add the ever-astute Whispers in the Loggia to my blogroll. Well, if you're not a reader do check it out for some commenary (with bite) and to discover what lurks between the lines of a Vatican press release.