Crisis: “You young devils,” says Satan, the wily old misanthrope, wise in the ways of man, “believe you can damn the human vermin with reasoned arguments. Reason, as you should know, and for your own sake you had better remember, is of … Continue reading
Category: Arts and Culture
A Gem of Art: The Veiled Virgin
Aleteia: Maybe not as famous as Sammartino’s 1753 Veiled Christ, Giovanni Strazza’s Veiled Virgin is another exceptional sculpture, featuring a human figure covered with a transparent shroud carved out of the very same marble block shared with the rest of the statue. The … Continue reading
A Summer Place
As I write these words, Summer is halfway through. Now, to many people, especially those living in colder climes, this is a magical season — warm, inviting, filled with vacations from work and especially school, sojourns at lake- or seaside … Continue reading
But God Is Also Beauty
God is Being, its very fullness and source. Which means that God is One, is Truth, and is Goodness. God, in fact, is each one of the transcendentals (dictionary definition, Wikipedia article). Why? Because He truly has these properties, and God’s … Continue reading
Barbarian Triumph
It was one hundred years ago, on July 17, 1918, that Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered — shot, bayoneted and bludgeoned — on the orders of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. Since his canonization by the Russian … Continue reading
The Catholic Genius and Range of Hilaire Belloc’s History, Poetry, and Prose
National Catholic Register, Joseph Pearce: Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) is not as well-known as he and his talent deserve. From the last years of the reign of Queen Victoria until the first years of World War II, when ill health silenced his … Continue reading
Give the School Kids a Break: For Family and Goodness Sake
I thought these six suggestions of Mr. Nielsen were great common sense. Here are a few simple suggestions to ameliorate the situation: Allow kids more rest. Studies show that teen brains need more sleep than they are getting. Starting school … Continue reading
Kentucky Governor Pleads for Reform of Sick Culture, the Real Cause for Youth Violence
Great clip here, just eight minutes, from an excellent pro-life governor. See video here http://www.kentuckynewera.com/multimedia/video/news/youtube_c2674705-960f-52ed-b8d8-9d2c34d514e4.html
‘The Brightness of Thy Face’: Music and Poetry Honoring the Holy Face
The English Hymn variously called, “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded,” and “O Sacred Head, Sore Wounded,” goes back to a German Hymn, O Haupt, voll Blut und Wunden, which, in turn, goes back to a section of a much longer … Continue reading
A Christmas Mass by Catholic Composer, Jan Dismas Zelenka
This “Missa Nativitatis Domini” (ZWV 8) by Jan Dismas Zelenka is a lovely baroque Mass setting composed by the Bohemian master we’ve mentioned elsewhere on this site. The video embedded below is of a performance by Musica Florea, conducted by … Continue reading
Jim Caviezel On Playing St. Luke in New Movie About St. Paul
National Catholic Register, Steven D. Greydanus: Actors who play iconic roles sometimes regret it afterward, not least because their careers often suffer later. Jim Caviezel has said Mel Gibson warned him that playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ would hurt his career … Continue reading
Tolkien and the Horrors of the Killer Machines
Profound insights from Joseph Pearce The Imaginative Conservative: In “Litany of the Lost,” a poem published at the end of World War II, Siegfried Sassoon lamented the “slavedom of mankind to the machine” and the “terror of atomic doom foreseen.” Writing … Continue reading