Silvester II (999-1003), the first French Pope, a great teacher, theologian, philosopher, and diplomat is credited with inventing the first mechanical pendulum clock. Not only that, but when he was a student in Spain, studying mathematics and natural science under … Continue reading
File this one under D for “Duh.” Mr. Carl Djerassi is an octogenarian who has the unenviable distinction of having made a key discovery in the creation of the pill. He is now saying, in effect, that it was all … Continue reading
As I write this, it is the Feast of the Holy Family, the first Sunday after the Epiphany. On this day, the Church celebrates Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, the human holy trinity that perfectly images the divine Holy Trinity. In … Continue reading
I was utterly appalled yesterday to read a column that I cannot locate this morning in which the author wrote about how sick and tired he was of all the attention given to the suffering people of Gaza. His point: … Continue reading
An old departed friend of Saint Benedict Center is happily remembered on the web site of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Father Paul Wickens, who championed the innocence of children by combating compulsory “sex education” in Catholic … Continue reading
The police department of Houston, Texas, gave the following ten rules for raising delinquent children. 1. Begin with infancy to give the child everything he wants. In this way he will grow up to believe the world owes him a … Continue reading
[Ten Dates Every Catholic Should Know: The Divine Surprises and Chastisements that Shaped the Church and Changed the World by Diane Moczar, Ph D. Sophia Institute Press, 2005] Please pardon my enthusiasm, but I loved this book! It was a … Continue reading
This is an update on the February-March Catholic America Tour. (If you have not read it, please take a look at Ad Rem No. 95 for the announcement of the road trip.) We have received several inquiries from interested persons, … Continue reading
Anne Hendershott has an article in the on-line Wall Street Journal about Caroline Kennedy and the Kennedy family politicians’ predilection for abortion. She writes of the 1964 meeting at the Kennedy compound in Hyannisport, Mass., the colloquium wherein the Kennedy … Continue reading
“But as many as received him, he gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in his name.” (John 1:12) On this Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, it was my privilege to … Continue reading
When Blessed Pope Pius IX summoned the First Vatican Council in 1869 the world was somewhat mystified. There had not been an ecumenical council since Trent (1545-1563). The nineteenth century had brought a new factor into the equation of church/state … Continue reading
The great Catholic priest, convert, and poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J., was so affected by the sinking, in 1875, of a German ship, the Deutschland, in a storm off the coast of Bremen, and the heroism of five Franciscan sisters … Continue reading
The Battle of Lepanto commenced between the roughly equal number of men and ships off the coast of Corinth, Greece, after a traditional and formalized ceremony. Both Muslims and Christians had about 30,000 men and slightly over two hundred vessels … Continue reading
One of the presidents of the American United Steel Workers Union was a very devout Catholic. He was Phillip Murray (1886-1952), an Irishman whose family emigrated from Scotland in 1902 when he was sixteen years old. Murray, who had worked … Continue reading
The word “gossip” originally had a very noble meaning. It is contracted from “god-sibling” and was the term used for the godparent at baptism. In time the word was extended in usage and applied to any close friend, and, more … Continue reading
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