"The trouble with France is that there is no king. . . ."

Britain had its Distressed Gentlefolks Aid Association. In this morning's WSJ we find that France has taken that a step further with the Association for the Mutual Assistance of the French Nobility. And the web version has a video, too.

October 2 - The Holy Guardian Angels

From the Bl Cardinal Schuster's Liber Sacramentorum:

The Roman feast of September 29 included, indeed, together with St Michael, the whole of the heavenly armies, and the Collect of that Mass declares that the special Office entrusted by God to the Angels is that of watching faithfully over us. This profound teaching of the Doctors of the Church establishes a wonderful unity between the visible and the invisible world, and between mortal and angelic beings. The higher orders of creatures are in close communion with the lower orders, whom they enlighten and protect. . . . .

. . . Paul V in a decree of September 27, 1608, declared the feast of the Guardian Angels duplex ad libitum, and ordered that it should be kept on the first vacant date after the feast of St Michael. Clement X assigned it, later, to October 2.

. . . . .

The guardianship of the faithful is given by God into the hands of the angels, not only for the sake of the unity and harmony which bind together the orders of creation, but also on account of the duty owed by the angels to Christ. It is from Christ that they receive their glory, therefore out of gratitude to him who is caput hominum et angelorum these blessed spirits watch over the Church, the chosen Bride of the Saviour, and over the faithful who are the members of his mystical body.

The epistle [for this feast] is taken from Exodus xxiii, 20-23, in which the Lord promises to the people of Israel journeying towards Palestine the guidance and help of his angel.

The angel represents God himself; he is overshadowed by his ineffable name, wherefore the children of Israel cannot offend him with impunity. He is also the avenger of the outraged sanctity of God, and has power to punish that carnal people and bring them to obedience and fear of him.

In many stories of the saints we notice the same severity shown towards them by their guardian angels, who punished the slightest imperfection of which those chosen souls were guilty.

The motive of this loving discipline may be sought, perhaps, not only the wise counsels of Providence aiming at the purification of certain predestined souls who were inspired to attain extraordinary sanctity through the ministry of the angels, but also in the exquisite perfection of the angelic nature itself, which is less able to understand human nature than are Jesus Christ and his Blessed Mother, having no personal experience of human weakness. "Non habemus Pontificem qui non possit compati infirmitatibus nostris, probatus per omnia, absque peccato."

. . . .

The Gospel is that of May 8. The Saviour's words clearly reveal the wonderful mystery of his mercy, which forms the object of to-day's festival. Every Christian, no matter how small or humble he may be, has an Angel to guard and watch over him.

This great truth should fill us with love and respect for our neighbours, and more especially for the weak and for the little ones, who cannot rely upon their own powers and influence. Let us be careful not to grieve our neighbour, lest the anger of his angel by aroused against us.

. . . .

We should have a great veneration for the holy angels, to whom God has assigned the care and government of creation. St Paul had so great a feeling of reverence for the angels, that when he directed that Christian women should cover their heads in church, as a sign of modesty, he desired that this should be done propter angelos, that is to say out of respect for the blessed spirits.

An old Anglo-Saxon prayer to the guardian angel first recorded by a monk of Hyde Abbey, Winchester some time in the mid 11th century, translated and published by Abbot Gasquet in his "Ancestral Prayers":

I believe, O holy Angel, that thou art appointed by God Almighty to be my guardian, Wherefore through Him who has set thee to this task, I, who am so miserable, so weak, and so unworthy, humbly ask that thou wilt ever and always in this life watch over me; that thou wilt guard me from all evils and ever shield me. And when God shall bid my spirit depart hence, let not the devils have power over it, but do thou gently receive my soul from my body and lovingly bear it into Abraham's bosom, at the biddng and by the help of my Creator, my Saviour, and my God, who is blessed for ever and ever. Amen.

St Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face

The Carmelite calendar honours St Therese today.

Though we must needs be pure indeed to appear in the presence of the God of all Holiness, yet I know too that He is infinitely just; and this justice which affrights so many souls is the ground of my joy and my confidence. Justice not merely exercises severity towards the offender; it moreover recognizes a right intention, and awards to virtue its recompense. I hope as much from the Justice of the good God as from His Mercy; it is because He is just, that "He is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy. For He knoweth our frame. He remembereth that we are but dust. As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on us!". . .(Ps. 102:8, 13, 14).

Listening to these beautiful and consoling words of the Royal Prophet, how can we doubt but that the good God will open the portals of His Kingdom to His children who have loved Him even unto sacrificing all for Him, who have not only left their kindred and their country, for the sake of making Him known and loved, but, still further, desire to give their life for Him?. . . . .Most truly has Jesus said that there is no greater love than this! How then could He suffer Himself to be outdone in generosity? How could He purify in the flames of Purgatory souls consumed by the fire of Divine Love?. . . .

That is what I think of the justice of the good God; my way is all confidence and love, I do not understand those souls who fear so tender a Friend.

VI Letter to Her missionary "Brothers".
Thoughts of St Therese, pg 85

September 25 - St Finbarr

Today is the feast of St Finbarr, the patron saint of Cork, monk and missionary, and possibly bishop. The isle of Barra in the Hebrides may have been the site of one or more of his missionary journeys and be named for him.

Wikipedia has a little life of him here.

And that's St Finbarr's Pipe Band from Cork up at the top of this post playing their championship medley in 2010.

"'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'"

E.g., "hatred".

Cf: "Through the Looking Glass"

September 24 - Our Lady of Walsingham

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, the patroness of England and of the Catholic Ordinariate of the Anglican Use in England. There is a good history of the medieval shrine and the 20th century Anglican restoration here. There is a short history of the Catholic shrine based at the old Slipper Chapel, here. A portal to the websites of both shrines can be found here.

It's very much worth mentioning that there is now an American shrine to Our Lady of Walsingham in Texas. You can find the website here. It's attached to the Anglican Use parish of Our Lady of Walsingham. (Take a look at their website; it's what Catholic churches ought to look like.)

A collect for Our Lady of Walsingham:

O God, who through the mystery of the Word made flesh didst in thy mercy sanctify the house of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and wondrously place it in the bosom of thy Church: Grant that being made separate from the tabernacles of sinners, we may become worthy to dwell in thy holy house; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Bl William Way

The English priest and martyr William Way was "hanged, bowelled, and quartered" on this day in 1588 in Kingston-on-Thames for the crime of being a priest. He is one of the blessed English martyrs. The good old Catholic Encyclopædia - which still lists him as venerable - has this to say about him:

Our martyr William Way received the first tonsure in the Cathedral of Reims from the Cardinal of Guise on 31 March, 1584, and was ordained subdeacon, 22 March, deacon 5 April, and priest 18 September, 1586, at Laon, probably by Bishop Valentine Douglas, O.S.B. He set out for England 9 December, 1586, and in June 1587, had been committed to the Clink. He was indicted at Newgate in September, 1588, merely for being a priest. He declined to be tried by a secular judge, whereupon the Bishop of London was sent for; but the martyr, refusing to acknowledge him as a bishop or the queen as head of the Church, was immediately condemned. He was much given to abstinence and austerity. When he was not among the first of those to be tried at the Sessions in August, he wept and, fearing he had offended God, went at once to confession, "but when he himself was sent for, he had so much joy that he seemed past himself".

It's interesting to see how short his clerical career was. There were four and a half years from tonsure to martyrdom.

His CE page can be found here.

Some Piping for the Weekend

Mirabile dictu: the piping for the weekend clip is actually up in time for the weekend this week.This is the RAF Halton Pipes & Drums playing their medley in the second heat at the world's last August.

Some Reels

Not a bagpipe to be seen in the entire clip. . . just some knock out reels on box and fiddle for what has turned out to be a fairly lazy Tuesday.

This was to be the day the carpenter and the painters finished up and we could start getting everything back in order. Alas, in the event, it was not to be. The painter-in-chief had a serious illness in the family so nobody came. Next week. They've promised. Cross their hearts and hope to die.

We shall see.

It's also our wedding anniversary. (The 31st, since you ask. No, I can't believe it either. It seems like maybe 5 or 6 years.) We were going to spend it minding the carpenters and painters. Instead, with no one to oversee, we went out to a restaurant we can't really afford. Herself had the rainbow trout and I had the swordfish which they do so well. It's like the tenderest filet mignon, only not as heavy. Lovely stuff.

And now we should be getting more things put away in the areas that the painters have finished with. But instead herself is having a nap and I am puttering around on the internet and listening to traditional Irish music.

Oh, yes. Irish music. The first tune in the clip above is familiar but I haven't the slightest idea what the name might be. But the second is the tune usually called Finnegan's Wake, although it was around under another name before it acquired the Finnegan's Wake words. The third one seems to be Back of the Haggard, although it's not a familiar arrangement. I could easily be wrong about that. The players are Roisín Ryan and Padraig O Sé.

Ireland beats Australia

Yes.

15 points to 6.

In rugby.

This is not a typo.

A bird in hand

Someone sent this collection of pictures and videos to Mary this morning. It may not be to everyone's taste but I quite enjoyed it.

A hummingbird family comes of age.

Some Piping for the Weekend

I put this up Friday evening but the Google/Blogger/Youtube Conglomerate seems to have eaten it.

So we shall try again. The original poster on Youtube had this to say: Bill Telfer and Matt Seattle play Noble Squire Dacre, All The Night I Lay With Jackey In My Arms, and Christenmiss Day In The Morning, three classic pipe tunes known on both sides of the Border. Bill Telfer composed parts 3 & 4 of Christenmiss Day.

Yesterday evening I had some no doubt brilliant insight into the music or the piping that is now lost to posterity. But they're good tunes even without my commentary.

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

Today is the feast of the finding of the true Cross by St Helena. Here are two related posts from Vultus Christi:

Fr Mark has a beautiful piece on "the life-giving and glorious Cross of Christ" here. There are scriptural and liturgical analogies, festal customs, and more.

The second post is here. I had no idea that

The aromatic herb, basil (Ocimum basilicum) has long been associated with the Holy Cross. . . .According to a pious legend, the Empress Saint Helena found the location of the True Cross by digging for it under a colony of basil.

There is more and the text of the blessing here.

The September 14th Meeting - 1st Report

It happened.

Rorate Cæli has the preliminary report here.

A proper blogger would give an analysis here. I would, too, if I knew what it meant. It sounds very diplomatic and respectful and conciliatory. Other than that. . . .quien sabe?

Obviously, there will be more.

ADDENDUM: The report from Vatican Radio.

Friday the 13th. . . .

. . . comes on a Tuesday this month. All the usual precautions apply.

Fun with Insurance

Something called Smart Money was bundled in with this morning's paper. It's a magazine for people with pots of money to learn how (a) to hang on to the said pots of money and (b) to get even more pots of money.

Even though your servant does not, in fact, have even the requisite starter pot of money, I did page through it. It was, after all, free. And I came across a fascinating piece on all the remarkable things you can be insured for. (Or is it insured against?) I was reminded of that landlord in San Jose who insisted we have volcano insurance. We tried to talk him out of it. Who would sell us volcano insurance? Not a problem in the event. The risk management folks didn't bat an eye. "You want both ash and lava coverage?"

According to this article there is a policy available for whatever gives you the willies. You can be insured for/against "identity theft, gadget obsolescence, having twins, kidnapping and divorce." There is wedding insurance. And this: ". . . a contract with the Zombie Apocalypse Insurance Co. ($15 a year) provides peace of mind, not to mention postattack [sic] car repair, home reconstruction and, if necessary, relocation to a zombie-free locale." 15 bucks. Hmmm. One is almost tempted. . . which is probably why I don't have even the starter pot of money.

Saving the best for last, though, as did the author, you have to know about this one:

Bart Centre, the retired New Hampshire retail executive behind Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, says he's sold 263 pet-care contracts to Christians concerned about dogs and kitties left behind in the upcoming rapture. For $135, clients can count on pet-rescue services provided by one of 46 atheists who are guaranteed to remain on earth after the Second Coming. The only factor suppressing sales, he says, is the notion that the rapture will be followed by Armageddon. Who wants a policy for Fido, he says, "when the word's going to end 20 minutes later?"

Smart Money has a website here but this piece doesn't seem to be up. For those who don't believe a word of this post - which is probably everyone since the whole thing sounds preposterous to me - you can probably pick up a copy of the October number of Smart Money somewhere around town and take a look at page 95. I assure you in the immortal words of Dave Barry, "I don't make this stuff up."

The September 14th Meeting

You know the meeting: the one between Bishop Fellay and Cardinal Levada of the CDF that's coming up in about a week.

I said this:

I hope it comes to something. Full communion with the See of Peter is not an optional extra.

about that here.

Was that a relevant comment?

Chris Ferrara doesn't think so. As usual, he's pretty convincing.

Still. Whatever you want to call it canonically, official Vaticandom and the Priestly Fraternity of St Pius X aren't on the best of terms. It would be nice to have that sorted out.

Some Piping for the Weekend

More from the World Pipe Band Championships for 2011. This is the Inverary and District Pipe Band who made the finals and captured 4th place with this performance.

Not Quite Latin

"One of the last living relics of the Latin language" fights for its life in Switzerland.

More Saints: The September Martyrs

From Catholic Online:

A group of 190 martyrs who were massacred on September 2 and 3, during the French Revolution. The most prominent martyrs of this group were John Mary du Lau, the archbishop of ArIes; Francis de la Rochefoucauld, bishop of Beauvais; Louis de la Rochefoucauld, bishop of Saintes; Benedictine Augustine Chevreux, last superior general of the Maurists; Charles de la Calmette, the count of Valfons; Julian Massey: Louis de la Touche; and Carmes. One hundred twenty were martyred at the Carmelite Church on the rue de Rennes in Paris. They were all beatified in 1926.

I hadn't known of these martyrs. I mean, I surely knew of the massacres perpetrated by the revolutionaries but not that these in particular had been beatified. Thanks to Mrs Vidal, you can learn about them here. And do follow her links for more of the story.

2 September -- St Brocard

Albert, called by God's favour to be patriarch of the church of Jerusalem, bids health in the Lord and the blessing of the Holy Spirit to his beloved sons in Christ, B. and the other hermits under obedience to him, who live near the spring on Mount Carmel.

Thus begins the Rule of St. Albert, the "Holy Rule" of the entire Carmelite Order. The "B" whom St. Albert is addressing was long considered to be St. Brocard, the prior of the Carmelite community on Mount Carmel who requested a rule of life for his community from Albert, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. September 2d was St. Brocard's feast day from at least the 15th century until the calendar changes that followed that late Vatican Council.

He's still on my calendar, though. (I wrote him in.) So here's what the old 2d nocturn used to say of him.

Here's the old collect for his feast:

Sanctify Thy servants, Lord, who humbly beseech Thee on the feast of blessed Brocard, hermit of Mount Carmel and Thy confessor, so that by his salutary patronage our life maybe everywhere protected in adversity : through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sanctifica, Domine, famulos tuos, in veneratione beati Brocardi, Montis Carmeli incolae, Confessoris tui, humiliter supplicantes : ut ejus salutaribus patrociniis vita nostra inter adversa ubique regatur. Per Dominum. Amen.

Serendipity Dept: I went rummaging about on the web looking for a picture of the saint. I found an interesting icon and a couple of very modern - but acceptable - stained glass windows. But there's also a Brocard lake in France and a vintner or two (or three?) named Brocard. . . .hence innumerable pictures of bottles of wine.
But most interesting of all, a discovery of the ruins of an early church - circa 1200 - dedicated to St Brocard. Take a look here. But I wonder: do they have that quite right? My hazy recollection is that it is the church of St Mary but built by St Brocard. (I hate having no books available to refresh the memory.) But look at the pictures anyway. It's the nicest collection of pictures of the 1st Carmel that I've seen on the web.

St Fiacre?

Maybe. Catholic Online says his feast day is today. The Roman Martyrology says it was last Tuesday. Perhaps one of the local Irish or French martyrologies gives 1 September? I'd look it up in Mrs D'Arcy's useful volume, but she's packed away in a box somewhere.

Well, even if it is supposed to be 30 August, the Catholic Online bio is such a delight it's worth putting up today:

St. Fiacre (Fiachra) is not mentioned in the earlier Irish calendars, but it is said that he was born in Ireland and that he sailed over into France in quest of closer solitude, in which he might devote himself to God, unknown to the world. He arrived at Meaux, where Saint Faro, who was the bishop of that city, gave him a solitary dwelling in a forest which was his own patrimony, called Breuil, in the province of Brie. There is a legend that St. Faro offered him as much land as he could turn up in a day, and that St. Fiacre, instead of driving his furrow with a plough, turned the top of the soil with the point of his staff. The anchorite cleared the ground of trees and briers, made himself a cell with a garden, built an oratory in honor of the Blessed Virgin, and made a hospice for travelers which developed into the village of Saint-Fiacre in Seine-et-Marne. Many resorted to him for advice, and the poor, for relief. His charity moved him to attend cheerfully those that came to consult him; and in his hospice he entertained all comers, serving them with his own hands, and sometimes miraculously restored to health those that were sick. He never allowed any woman to enter the enclosure of his hermitage, and Saint Fiacre extended the prohibition even to his chapel; several rather ill-natured legends profess to account for it. Others tell us that those who attempted to transgress, were punished by visible judgements, and that, for example, in 1620 a lady of Paris, who claimed to be above this rule, going into the oratory, became distracted upon the spot and never recovered her senses; whereas Anne of Austria, Queen of France, was content to offer up her prayers outside the door, amongst the other pilgrims.

The fame of Saint Fiacre's miracles of healing continued after his death and crowds visited his shrine for centuries. Mgr. Seguier, Bishop of Meaux in 1649, and John de Chatillon, Count of Blois, gave testimony of their own relief. Anne of Austria attributed to the mediation of this saint, the recovery of Louis XIII at Lyons, where he had been dangerously ill; in thanksgiving for which she made, on foot, a pilgrimage to the shrine in 1641. She also sent to his shrine, a token in acknowledgement of his intervention in the birth of her son, Louis XIV. Before that king underwent a severe operation, Bossuet, bishop of Meaux, began a novena of prayers at Saint-Fiacre to ask the divine blessing. His relics at Meaux are still resorted to, and he is invoked against all sorts of physical ills, including venereal disease. He is also a patron saint of gardeners and of cab-drivers of Paris. French cabs are called fiacres because the first establishment to let coaches on hire, in the middle of the seventeenth century, was in the Rue Saint-Martin, near the hotel Saint-Fiacre, in Paris. Saint Fiacre's feast is kept in some dioceses of France, and throughout Ireland on this date. Many miracles were claimed through his working the land and interceding for others. Feast day is September 1st.

He's probably never going to be the patron of women's ordination. You can find the quoted text here. There's a picture there, too. It's a medieval illustration by the look of it. The illustrator gives him a white tunic and a red scapular and capuche.

Exodus 16:iii

I.e.:

And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Which, in The Inn's signature understated way, means we are back to having no kitchen for a few days while it's being titivated. We lost it for a three or four days when the countertop was being installed. After a brief respite, we are banished again. At the moment the walls are being prepped and industrial strength sanding is going on. Painting to follow. So everything portable has been packed away and it's a no-go area for a couple of days.

These guys are very good workmen. They really are. I'd recommend their professional skills to anyone.

But sometimes, you have to wonder. Yesterday, I made a pitcher of iced tea and brought it to the other room for safe-keeping. Somebody brought it back to kitchen. Somebody then packed it in a box with the other things being cleared out. Who the %$^x! packs away a pitcher of iced tea?? Might it be the same person who turned the said pitcher on its side so that the top of the box would fit better? Yes. Just what you're thinking: everything else in the box is soaked and tinted a lovely tan colour.

Tea stains many things wonderfully. Did you know that tea stains were the origin of khaki uniforms? The red woolen coats of the army in India were unbearably hot back when the Indian Empire was just a twinkle in the British East India Company's eye. Eventually they came up a tropical white uniform as something cooler. Trouble was, the white made the soldiers stand out rather well and made them splendid targets. But if you soaked the uniforms in tea you got a much less conspicuous, albeit a trifle tacky looking, uniform. In time khaki uniforms were officially issued and the unforms became, uh, uniform.

Where was I? Oh, yes. We are now ensconced in our partially furnished office with a few books, our computer, our smallpipes, a box of almonds and no iced tea.

We may have a kitchen again by the weekend.

Or part of a kitchen.

Or not.

Festina lente

Actually, just lente. There doesn't seem to be much festina about it at all.

The house project, I mean. We're down to just finishing up the bathroom cabinets, the kitchen cabinets, painting the kitchen, and assorted other kitchen carpentry needed because of prior kitchen carpentry. So the kitchen should be completely hors de combat for a week. It's been partially unuseable for a while now. Lots of eating out; I've gained about 10 pounds. Should be nice when it's finished. So I'm told.

I don't know what I'm going to do for non-blogging excuses when this stuff is finished. I should start working on something plausible now, I suppose.

As for this morning, I have a funeral to do in about a half hour: A/Grace and Going Home at the church and 20 minutes or a half hour of something Irish at the reception.

Ideas Have Consequences Dept

[Hannah Arendt] also maintained, citing the American President John Adams, that hell was the doctrine with the most immediate political consequences. This latter comment means that, once we no longer have a doctrine about ultimate punishment, the burden on the state to punish wrongdoers becomes almost a divine power. It tries to be the place wherein all evils are righted. Thus, ironically, if we get rid of hell, the state almost by default becomes all-powerful; we deny doctrine at our peril.

"More Radical than the Radicals", James V. Schall, S.J., appearing in the May/June 2011 number of Gilbert Magazine

Open Season on Confession

As Hilary's left-hand-column has reminded us these last few weeks, the Irish episcopate has not been much interested in protesting Nosey Parker Kenny's intrusion into the confessional.

But at least one atheist recognizes a tyrannical intrusion when he sees one.

It becomes clearer every day that the leaders of the 1916 rising needn't have bothered. Their successors have already sold Ireland's independence to Brussels and now they wish to strangle the Church's sacraments. Did Lord Craigavon ever try that one?

Ecclesiam tuam pacificare et coadunare digneris, Domine

Andrea Tornielli says here that

Bishop Bernard Fellay, Superior General of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Archbishop Lefebvre, has been summoned to the Vatican next 14 September. . . .

Now the Vatican should subject to Fellay some memoranda of understanding, clarifying doctrinal points, as for the Council, on the interpretation of the continuity in the reform suggested since December 2005 by Pope Benedict XVI as the more authentic interpretation of the texts of Vatican II.

A proposal for a canonical adjustment will be submitted to the Society only if doctrinal difficulties are overcome, and that will resolve the current situation, in which the Lefebvrist community finds itself now. . . .

The proposal which has been studied by the Vatican, would allow Lefebvrists the establishment of an ordinariate similar to that offered by the Pope has to Anglicans . . . .

I hope it comes to something. Full communion with the See of Peter is not an optional extra.

Our Lady of Knock - 21 August 1879

Mrs Vidal reminds us here that today is the anniversary (the 132d) of Our Lady's apparition at Knock in County Mayo.

The shrine's website.

A devotional page.

A modern song that became very popular in Ireland a few years ago. . .not Palestrina to be sure but a lovely sentimental melody in honour of Our Lady.

Some Piping for the Weekend

While I was away - or at least away from my pc - the 2011 World Pipe Band Championship was held in Glasgow. Once again the top prize went to Ireland, this time up the North to the Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band. This is their prize-winning medley.

The Gasman Cometh II

Now that's the actual office, with the brand new, ahem, window coverings, which look a lot like wooden blinds.

Speaking of window coverings the fella just put up the new ones with the elegant fabric covered valance, in the kitchen.

It did seem like a good idea at the time. And it does look nice. But now the cabinet door next to that window will only open about two inches unless we remove the valance each time we open the cabinet.

Cf.: The Gasman Cometh below.

I got my office back. . . .

Well, some of it anyway. The desk is back and the computer is hooked up again. With any luck, not to be unplugged again until the inevitable planned obsolescence kicks in. The little book case is still out back along with its contents, and assorted other odds and ends. But I have my desk, my desk chair, my PC, and the big comfy chair in the corner. A semblance of order is returning here in the northwest quadrant of the ancestral manse.

Meanwhile the sink and the countertops are gone in the kitchen until next week. At which time the painters will finish up with the kitchen and the bathroom and the cabinets will be installed.



That? Oh, that's not the office. That's the den, a.k.a., The Library. It's the only room looking moderately respectable, at least from one angle. The PC in the picture belongs to Herself, but the monitor has gone all wonky so the books are the only functioning sources of information.

The new window coverings* are being installed as we speak. The fellow installing them is standing on my desk drilling holes in the woodwork. I think it may be time to take a moment and retire to what remains of our kitchen for an iced tea or something.

___________________________________________
*Yes, "window coverings". They were blinds and shades and curtains when I was a boy. But now they're window coverings. We're terribly sophisticated here at The Inn.

Some Piping for the Weekend

Jarlath Henderson on uilleann pipes and Andy May playing Northumbrian pipes. The introduction is almost 3 minutes long but if you last you'll hear some breathtaking piping. I don't know the second tune but the first is Sí beag, sí mor. You've never heard it played like this.

ADDENDUM: My friend-via-email Maria tells me that the second hornpipe is called The Independent. Thanks, Maria. And apologies for the tardy acknowledgement.

And some of you may have noticed that I got the name of the first tune wrong the first time around. It's not the King of Laois at all. It is, in fact, Sí beag, sí mor. I knew that. Lapsus mentis.

The Gasman Cometh

Yes, we're still in mid-project. I still don't know where anything is. Not so that I can get at it, anyway. And everything we do means we need something else done.

The new kitchen floor is now higher than the floor in the adjoining room. So we need a carpenter to put in a sort of tapered threshold. But the swinging door in the kitchen is attached to the threshold piece that's already there. So the kitchen door needs to be removed and shaved down so that it will fit the new installation. Which means the lintel at the top no longer. . . .

Flanders and Swann expressed it well here:



The hammering, sawing, sanding, painting, etc. means I get to the computer only intermittently to check e-mails and The Inn remains largely neglected.

Irish Ordinariate?

If wouldn't have thought so. Ireland has never been a bastion of Anglo-Catholicism.

But there's a website here for those interested.

With the grace of God, something may develop.

The New O.C. Cathedral: Off-the-Rack or Bespoke?

The Diocese of Orange has been talking about a new cathedral for a few years now. They've even purchased some property to build it on. It had a website for a while, if not a building. But now the papers last Saturday have reported that the Diocese of Orange has offered $50 million for Dr Schuller's Crystal Cathedral. The Diocesan website says it's true.

I played at the Crystal Cathedral once or twice a few years back. Not in the main building but in one or the other of the chapels. I got a look-see at the big fella, though. . . .and, no. Oh, I suppose you could find a place to put an altar and room to swing a thurible. But it's impossible not to agree with this fella in the OC Register: it's about as Catholic as the Koran. You could use Google Images to find some pictures if you haven't spent your Sunday mornings with the Hour of Power.

But then, if you recall, the new L.A. Cathedral was not my very best favourite building in the whole wide Church either. So you probably already knew I wasn't going to like the CC idea.

An Ordination for The Ordinariate in Scotland

The first priestly ordination for the Catholic Anglican Ordinariate in Scotland has just occurred. The Ordinariate website reprints the story from The Scotsman newspaper here. Fr Black's flock is very small at the moment; one story says 12 members. 12 isn't a bad number though. It won't be the first religious movement to begin with 12.

Debt

A friend sent me the link to this appalling graphic.

Our membership card for the Association of Third World Nations may already be in the mail.

Chaos Manor

Jerry Pournelle's webpage/blog/daybook has Chaos Manor as part of the title. I'm borrowing the name for the nonce. You can see why above. This is the front room; the parlour, if you will. It is usually only used for state occasions. At the moment it's full of boxes and furniture from everywhere else in the house. We await the guy to install the moulding tomorrow. On Monday the painter arrives. With any luck, the rest of the kitchen cabinets will be in so that he can paint them. At some point the guy who installed the baseboards will have to re-do two rooms. Today the lady came to consult with The Memsahib about the counter top tile, which won't actually be tile but silestone, whatever that is.

So The World and The Church will have to toddle along somehow with very little attention from me for yet a while longer. And as for piping. . .I can't locate my Irish warpipe. I think I know where it ought to be but I can't quite get into that area for all the boxes. Fortunately I can see my Highland pipes, although it will take some serious furniture and box movement to get at them.

Renewal proceeds apace.

Another Week Shy of Blogging

We are still in the midst of The Great Renewal. No, not the liturgical one, the household one. Last week we had the electricity re-done and up-graded. We are now well-grounded and have three-prong plug outlets and an attic fan to cool the house. I also had only intermittent power to run the PC last week, hence the even less than intermittent blogging.

This week they start in on the kitchen. And the floors. All the carpeting is being taken up. The carpet taker-uppers will be starting on this room, wherein The Inn is sent forth to meet the world, any minute now. We will have to unplug and be computerless for the nonce.

Next week the painters. And then the guys to re-finish the floors.

It could be worse. I could be married to someone who likes to do this all the time. Once in 20 years or so isn't bad. Herself hates disruption as much as I do. But eventually something has to be done to keep the place from falling down around our ears. Even I, who hate disruption and turmoil and look with deep suspicion on renewal, have to agree.

July 16 -- Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Also known as the Scapular Feast.

Mrs Vidal has a good piece on the Carmelite Scapular here today.

10 July -- St Oliver Plunkett

Today is the feast of St Oliver Plunkett in the Anglican Use calendar. He was a 17th century Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland. At that time his jurisiction included the Hebrides and some other parts of Scotland. He was the last official martyr of the English reformation persecutions and the last of Titus Oates's victims.

Wikipedia has a good life of St Oliver here. It incorporates much of the Catholic Encyclopædia's vita but is a bit more up-to-date.

The original of the picture above hangs in the Irish College in Rome. I found the digital copy in the Vultus Christi blog a couple of years ago in a post about the author's visit to the Irish College. The blog itself is a nice addition to the spiritual life of the web and well-worth a visit. The Irish College post itself is here.

Some Piping for the Weekend

This is a group of pipers from The Bagpipe Society's "Blowout 2011". The pipes are in D and G doing "a group participation piece `Da pacem Domine' from a workshop held in the afternoon by Tony Purnell on Renaissance music." The recording was made in Polesworth Abbey chapel.

Further the blogger knoweth not.