Lent in Rome

Blue sky and fluffy white clouds.  I can hear the children playing over at San Saba's elementary school.  The rooster in the backyard makes his presence known.  A breeze tickles some of my school papers at the window.  A dove, "hyoo-Woo, hyoo-Woo." 

I'm hungry.

If we don't teach them, their "friends" will.

My fellow teachers,

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Forbidding them outright only means they're unsupervised.  

If we don't learn it, we can't teach it.

Review your own account settings, so you can help them set theirs safely.

(Thanks to Cool Cat Teacher Blog. Keep up the good work!)

Shakespeare still loves the Oxford English Dictionary

Videtur quod:  William Shakespeare is the champion of beautiful English language.  The newly revised Oxford English Dictionary includes ugly modern words and initialisms.  Therefore Shakespeare (presumably looking down from heaven) must be displeased with the latest edition of the OED.

Sed contra:  LOL!  (colloq. int.)

Respondeo:  We distinguish between dictionaries, which claim to be descriptive, and manuals of style, which claim to be prescriptive.  The OED claims to describe English as it actually is and has been used.  It is therefore quite right for it to include initialisms and slang which are frequently used in both print and speech. Bear in mind, however, that the colloquial tag indicates that a word is not commonly accepted in formal speech or writing. 

Ad obiectionem:  Shakespeare himself invented and popularized new words in his own day.  He likely would be quite comfortable with our creative additions to modern vocabulary.  N.B., however:  As a playwright, he gives some modes of speech to knavish rogues, others to noble heroes.  Which do you want to sound like?  Consider the context of your speech or writing, and the impression made on your audience. 

Nine months till Christmas!

"The Eighth Day before the Kalends of April:  The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord."

"The Eighth Day before the Kalends of January:  ...Nine months having passed since his conception...the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to the flesh."

Start making your lists. 

Yes, you can eat meat this Friday

This year the Solemnity of the Annunciation falls on a Friday of Lent.  As noted last year when the same thing happened on the Solemnity of St. Joseph, the Latin Church's law of abstinence from meat on Fridays does not bind on Solemnities (can. 1251).  Even in Lent.  Except for Good Friday itself. 

Forty Days and Forty Nights

We all know and love Christmas carols.  But not enough Christians are aware of the great treasury of hymns appropriate for the Lenten season.  Here is one of my favorites, by George Smyt­tan, courtesy of Musica Sacra and Net Hymnal. 

Forty Days and Forty Nights
Music  Text

Forty days and forty nights
Thou wast fasting in the wild;
Forty days and forty nights
Tempted, and yet undefiled.

Sunbeams scorching all the day;
Chilly dew-drops nightly shed;
Prowling beasts about Thy way;
Stones Thy pillow; earth Thy bed.

Should not we Thy sorrow share
And from worldly joys abstain,
Fasting with unceasing prayer,
Strong with Thee to suffer pain?

Then if Satan on us press,
Jesus, Savior, hear our call!
Victor in the wilderness,
Grant we may not faint nor fall!

So shall we have peace divine:
Holier gladness ours shall be;
Round us, too, shall angels shine,
Such as ministered to Thee.

Keep, O keep us, Savior dear,
Ever constant by Thy side;
That with Thee we may appear
At the eternal Eastertide.

How Many Canons...

Last night, a confrere here in the Collegio picked up a booklet on Mentorella, and a slip of paper fell out on which someone had printed the following Latin text:

Centum oves faciunt gregem;
Novem boves faciunt armentum;
Tres canonici faciunt collegium.

Ergo:
Quo major bestia,
Eo minor requiritur numerus.

Lorica

For St. Joseph's day, one of my favorite translations, by Cecil Alexander, of one of my favorite hymns by St. Patrick.  What?  Why, it's only the third day of the octave!  Don't just read it, sing it (it's in the commons, after all).  Lorica is the Latin word for a breastplate. 

Lorica Segmentata

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this today to me forever
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in Jordan river,
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb,
His riding up the heavenly way,
His coming at the day of doom
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of cherubim;
The sweet ‘Well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the star lit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward;
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave, the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
By Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

Recourse to the Apostolic Penitentiary

In a recent lesson at school our professor was teaching us about the rare cases when as confessors we might have a need to contact the Holy See, for example, in having certain excommunications lifted.

If any priest should need the address of the appropriate office, here it is:

Apostolic Penitentiary
Piazza della Cancelleria, 1
00186 Roma, Italia, Europe
Fax: 06.69.88.75.57
Source: Catholic Hierarchy


For other offices at the Vatican, California Catholic Daily has the scoop.

Lent: Be Prepared

My patron saint had a great love for the people of Japan, where he spent six years.  My prayers are with them in these difficult days.  This disaster also reminds us of the importance of being prepared, both physically and spiritually. 

Pagans make New Year's resolutions; they try to give up something bad, or start something good.  In Lent, Christians mortify themselves even more than usual by more prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.  The additional prayer and almsgiving are doing something good, which is easy to understand.  But fasting is giving up something good.  By all means, give up whatever in your life is bad; make a good confession.  But that's not fasting.  By temporarily depriving ourselves of something good, we participate in Christ's reparation for our sins and prepare ourselves to receive the True Good.