Just another writer
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Today’s saint picture: Saints Mark and Marcellinus
A pair of saints about whom nothing is known beyond their names which of course means that it was an opening to make things up. So tradition says that they were twin brothers in the Roman nobility who refused to apostosize and were beheaded as a result. The drawing I did here was based on…
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Today’s saint picture: Saint Albert Chmielowski
Albert Chmielowski is another one of these interesting figures, he was involved with the Polish independence movement in the 19th century and in a battle, was injured by a Russian grenade leading to his losing his leg. He went on to study engineering, but discovered he had a talent at painting so he dropped out…
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Today’s saint picture: Saint Lutgardis
Catholics have a tendency to overdo it with the priests, monks and nuns in their canon of Saints and Lutgardis falls into that category, although in her case, she originally entered the convent not out of any sense of vocation but because her dowry had been lost in a failed business venture. She was twelve…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Most Holy Trinity Dockhead
Looking at Catholic churches in London, there were two churches named “Holy Trinity” (or something close to that). I picked the one that was more accessible by public transport and dragged my kids to the 6p Mass, which, it turned out, was the shortest Sunday Mass I’ve ever attended at 37 minutes long, thanks, largely,…
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Today’s Saint Picture: Elisha
Today’s saint picture is of the prophet Elisha. While the old-style designation would be to call him “Saint Elisha,” the title “Saint” for Old Testament figures always feels kind of off to me, but looking at the commemorations for the day, I couldn’t pass up on Elisha since one of his trademark stories was having…
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A visit with my younger self: 3 July 1988
My next journal entry showed some ambitious plans: Outline for “Lilith” (epic poem in blank verse) Book I—Lilith’s arrival at the Red Sea. She meets the demons (souls without bodies). She acquaints them with her history and becomes mistress to them all. Book II—Adam’s realization that Lilith shall not return voluntarily. He tells his story…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Saint-Antoine de Padoue
Another Parisian parish for my project, it is, of course, on the opposite side of Paris from my hotel, but a relatively quick trip by Metro (my hot tip for travelers—don’t bother with surface transport in Paris. Metro is always faster, often by disconcerting amounts). In the morning, they had a lauds service before the…
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Catholic nerd pilgrimage: Sanctuaire de Notre Dame de Fatima—Marie Médiatrice
I stumbled on the fact that Le Sanctuarie de Notre Dame de Fatima—Marie Médiatrice was having a procession to commemorate the second apparition of Mary at Fatima (which was actually on June 13th, but oh well), and figured it would make for a good pilgrimage for the day (although I skipped the procession for the…
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Today’s Saint Picture—Saint Barnabas
One of the fun things about the older saints is that no one has any idea what they actually looked like, Our common image of Jesus with his northern European features is almost certainly far from reality, and the other Biblical figures are likewise likely to be incorrectly imagined. Nevertheless, the icon that I worked…