.... is of not knowing whom to commemorate. I've always had a soft spot for S Januarius; the thought of all those small but perfectly-formed Neapolitan crones screeching their abuse at the Saint if the relic of his blood is lazy about liquefying; the clergy smoking and gambling in the Sacristy and occasionally strolling out to see whether it's happened yet; the episode a few years ago when a Sceptical Journalist (oxymoron?) was given a prime spectator's position so that he could see and report what 'really' happened and who was flabbergasted to see that the liquefaction really did happen; the Archbishop then, as he took the Reliquary around to be kissed, pressed it upon the Man of the Press with such generosity that his nose was nearly broken ... now there's real religion for you.
But then there is S Theodore of Canterbury; and the wonderful thought of a Pope of Rome appointing a Greek-speaking Syrian monk to be Archbishop of Canterbury ...
Of course, if the modern Liturgy were not so neat, so reformed, so Enlightenment, so uncluttered, so logical, so etc., I might be able to say Mass of one with a commemoration of the other.
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4 comments:
We should ask for a foreigner to be sent to Westminster. Athanasius Schneider, anyone?
Grappa or Metaxa? Personally, I would go for the Grappa.
Don' forget Friday is an Ember Day too.
Oh, St Theodore, surely! Januarius is certainly entertaining, but not nearly as teaching.Then, there is St Pomposa of Cordoba (worth it just for the name), or St Emily de Rodat, who has only one portrait, with a five-o-'clock shadow (I've seen it), or even (just for the chutzpah of pronouncing the name) Blessed Maria of Jesus de la Yglesia y de Varo.
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