I can picture the Caedmon Record label, though I am not sure what I owned that had been recorded by them. It was originally a spoken word label -- literary stuff read by BBC actors and the writers themselves. I had a couple of Lord of the Rings albums; they might have been Caedmon. At some point, I listened to TS Eliot read "The Hollow Men;" that was definitely Caedmon.
The label was named for St. Caedmon, an illiterate cowherd who heard... Herd of cows? I don't care what the cows heard. Haha. No, he didn't hear lame jokes from "Veterinary Hospital" on The Muppet Show. Watch the clip here.
He walked out from a feast at the monastery one night because the brothers were singing and he was uncomfortable. Then he heard a voice commanding him to sing.
His reply was a little less than poetic: ''I do not know how to sing and for that reason I went out from this feast and went hither, because I did not know how to sing at all.''
The voice commanded him to sing about Creation, and lo! he was imbued with the Spirit to Sing. From that point on, he was inspired to songs of praise for God.
He told the monastic brothers whose animals he tended about the vision and they agreed to read him verses of the Bible. He composed his hymns based on those verses and dictated them to the brothers.
He was the first known poet of vernacular English. If you want to know more about the record label named for him, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caedmon_Audio
Thursday, February 10, 2011
February 10 -- St. Scholastica
The Venerable Bede gives us a very sweet story in his account of the life of St. Scholastica, the first Benedictine nun. She and her twin brother, Benedict grew up very close. Their mother had prayed devoutly for children, but died during childbirth, which is a careful-what-you-wish-for story, but not the story I want to focus on.
After they had made their holy vows, they were permitted to reunite once a year, at which point they would happily talk about pleasant things like the joys of heaven. It might not sound like much, but it is better than getting together to complain about how strict the abbot is, how much Brother Whatsisname farts during compline, the thinness of the gruel or the fatness of the cook.
One year, Scholastica asked her brother if he and his fellow monks could spend the night at her abbey so that she and Benedict might talk more. He insisted that they had to leave because the Rule of the Monastery demanded that they be in. She prayed, and a violent thunderstorm rose; so great was the tempest that the monks were forced to remain where they were.
Benny: Oh sister, may God forgive you. What have you done.
Scholy: I asked you a favor and you said no. I asked God a favor and he granted it.
They stayed up all night talking about the joys of heaven. Three days later, Scholastica went to find out if they had been right.
After they had made their holy vows, they were permitted to reunite once a year, at which point they would happily talk about pleasant things like the joys of heaven. It might not sound like much, but it is better than getting together to complain about how strict the abbot is, how much Brother Whatsisname farts during compline, the thinness of the gruel or the fatness of the cook.
One year, Scholastica asked her brother if he and his fellow monks could spend the night at her abbey so that she and Benedict might talk more. He insisted that they had to leave because the Rule of the Monastery demanded that they be in. She prayed, and a violent thunderstorm rose; so great was the tempest that the monks were forced to remain where they were.
Benny: Oh sister, may God forgive you. What have you done.
Scholy: I asked you a favor and you said no. I asked God a favor and he granted it.
They stayed up all night talking about the joys of heaven. Three days later, Scholastica went to find out if they had been right.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
February 9 -- Saint Miguel Febres Cordero Muñoz
Saint Miguel Febres Cordero Munoz taught school for thirty-two years, well short of the forty-plus that some of my colleagues have hit, but far longer than my twenty-four (well, 23.5) so who am I to kick. Brother Miguel wrote his own textbooks, as well as hymns, odes, plays, and instructional manuals. I'm sure I could make much more of this if I could rip into his essays on instructional methods (he was probably right on more things than we are today) but my local bookstores don't offer much by way of nineteenth century Ecuadoran pedagogy.
He got to be a pretty big deal. He was elected to the Academies of Letters in Ecuador, Venezuela, France, and Spain. He went off to Europe to translate works from French to Spanish so they could be used in schools, but he got sick and, after a couple of years, died.
I haven't seen that he is the patron saint of anything in particular, but I think it is National Guidance Counselor Week, so any help he can give them would be appreciated.
He got to be a pretty big deal. He was elected to the Academies of Letters in Ecuador, Venezuela, France, and Spain. He went off to Europe to translate works from French to Spanish so they could be used in schools, but he got sick and, after a couple of years, died.
I haven't seen that he is the patron saint of anything in particular, but I think it is National Guidance Counselor Week, so any help he can give them would be appreciated.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
February 8 -- Feast of St. Josephine Bakhita
Kidnapped at nine years old and sold into slavery in her native Sudan, this saint was renamed Bakhita (Lucky) by her abductors. She was sold several times, eventually winding up in the household of Senor Calisto Legnani, the Italian consul in Khartoum.
Long story short, she wound up a nanny in Italy, but bailed to become a nun. Beloved by all, believed to be imbued with God's protecting grace.
Long story short, she wound up a nanny in Italy, but bailed to become a nun. Beloved by all, believed to be imbued with God's protecting grace.
February 7 -- Feast of St. Eugenie Smet
"This is how you will love me."
That's the answer that Eugenie Smet received when she posed the question about how to help the souls in Purgatory. She was a French woman, daughter of a prosperous couple whose reversal of fortune recalled Eugenie from a boarding school to her family's home outside industrialized Lille. Upon discovering the plight of the poor, Eugenie dedicated herself to alleviating it. She took apples from her father's orchard to give the needy. She collected money for the missions in China. Eventually, she dedicated her virginity (didn't they all!) to God. And when she heard about the souls in Prugatory, she wanted to help them too.
Frustrated by the priest under whose care she was initially placed, but encouraged by the archbishop of Paris, she opened a house for women who shared her aspirations. Though deeply in debt, they began to make a go of it in Paris, but still did not know how best to help the souls in Purgatory. Then a woman knocked on her door, asking if she and her sisters could help a sick woman who refused to admit a nun or priest. The answer came to her through an inner voice: This is how you will love me.
From then on, the women working with Eugenie, who had taken the name Mary of Providence, dedicated themselves to comforting the urban poor of Paris. They struggled against alcoholism and prostitution, providing what help they could to the needy and the sick, all the while preaching the Gospel in gentle and inviting fashion. They dedicated their work to the souls in Purgatory in hopes that the dead might benefit from the good works of the living.
I don't know about the efficacy of dedicating their work to others, but I do believe that the Creator speaks to individuals through an inner voice, and that those blessed individuals who hear the Creator will understand what is required for their salvation.
That's the answer that Eugenie Smet received when she posed the question about how to help the souls in Purgatory. She was a French woman, daughter of a prosperous couple whose reversal of fortune recalled Eugenie from a boarding school to her family's home outside industrialized Lille. Upon discovering the plight of the poor, Eugenie dedicated herself to alleviating it. She took apples from her father's orchard to give the needy. She collected money for the missions in China. Eventually, she dedicated her virginity (didn't they all!) to God. And when she heard about the souls in Prugatory, she wanted to help them too.
Frustrated by the priest under whose care she was initially placed, but encouraged by the archbishop of Paris, she opened a house for women who shared her aspirations. Though deeply in debt, they began to make a go of it in Paris, but still did not know how best to help the souls in Purgatory. Then a woman knocked on her door, asking if she and her sisters could help a sick woman who refused to admit a nun or priest. The answer came to her through an inner voice: This is how you will love me.
From then on, the women working with Eugenie, who had taken the name Mary of Providence, dedicated themselves to comforting the urban poor of Paris. They struggled against alcoholism and prostitution, providing what help they could to the needy and the sick, all the while preaching the Gospel in gentle and inviting fashion. They dedicated their work to the souls in Purgatory in hopes that the dead might benefit from the good works of the living.
I don't know about the efficacy of dedicating their work to others, but I do believe that the Creator speaks to individuals through an inner voice, and that those blessed individuals who hear the Creator will understand what is required for their salvation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)