Christian F. Casper

Dec 12 - Our Lady of Guadalupe Beneath her mantle and her banner All those vast lands are warmed, But what we seek in them must be First by her love transformed. And so, Diego's cloak poured forth Not conquest but sweet flowers And Mary chose a tattered cloth To first unveil her powers.

As I've mentioned before, I have an idiosyncratic niche interest in border-crossing in the Middle Ages. This is a bit later but it's going on my list!

🕊️🌈 "Beyond mere memories, that day gave rise to what is known as the 'Spirit of Assisi' — a commitment by various religions to meet, engage in dialogue, and build peace together. It became a touchstone for the Church's magisterium — a gesture to be interpreted, refined, and developed."

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Alfred the Great, king of the Anglo-Saxons, died #OTD 899. St Cuthbert appeared in a vision to the then king of the West Saxons as he sought refuge in the Somerset marshes, vowing he would defeat his foes. This he did at the Battle of Ethandune (Edington, Wiltshire) in 878. 📸CNG

Bede, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, Book III, ch. 26; Book IV, chs. 12, 27, and 28; Book V, chs. 2, 9, and 24

Catholic Bluesky has four types of users

My favorite Carmelite saint 🤎

The screen, Worcester Cathedral by Francis Skidmore, 1873. Few English Cathedrals feel as important as Worcester. In most countries it would be the most significant church building. This is one of the great medieval cathedrals of England, secure in its lovely city, imposing and full of confidence.

🕊️ #Francis800

I've been saying for years — since well before ChatGPT — in my introductory talk on argumentation that there should probably be more virtue ethics in engineering. This is a great extension of that point.

This is a really nice little genre study of the collect. (I know a thing or two about genre.)

Monday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time

Bede, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, Book III, chs. 22 and 23 Mentioned also in the Preface and elsewhere throughout the latter part of Book III as well as in Book IV, ch. 3

Bede, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE, Book III, chs. 22 and 23 Mentioned also in the Preface and elsewhere throughout the latter part of Book III as well as in Book IV, ch. 3

Chad appears in Bede's ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE in Book III, chs. 23, 24, and 28; Book IV, chs. 2 and 3; and Book V, ch. 19

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Holy Card with St. Clare of Assisi 1680s? Jan Baptist de Wael, 1632–1697. (Philadelphia Museum of Art)

We Caspers share our name — by tradition — with one of the Magi

Thankful my bishop gave me a good excuse to post the incipit of the first reading today

Today is the feast of blessed Carlo Gnocchi. Kindly plan your festive menus accordingly.

"Given enough time, every institution takes on the character of its leader. Trump is a cruel man, he leads a cruel movement and only the total defeat of both can free the nation from their malign control."

Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time "Thus says the LORD: 'You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.'" www.vaticannews.va/en/word-of-t...

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, / From this day to the ending of the world, / But we in it shall be remember'd"

WCPE just played this track — Jennifer Higdon's arrangement of "Amazing Grace" for string quartet. Beautiful. youtu.be/YSCoFCBLf9I

I read KRISTIN LAVRANSDATTER a volume at a time over three years. Loved it. The Other Doctor Casper devoured it whole in three weeks. 📸 Mine: The cover features a design on a trunk at the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa. We mail-ordered the blanket it's sitting on from there.

Lovely reflection by Fr. Edmund Power, OSB 🐦‍⬛ He's abbot emeritus of St. Paul Outside the Walls and honorary canon of St. Paul's Cathedral, London — a Catholic holding an ecumenical position in an Anglican foundation, like Pope Leo XIV as of this week ❤️‍🔥 www.vaticannews.va/en/church/ne...

John of Beverley was the bishop who conferred both deacon's and priest's orders on my patron saint, the Venerable Bede

Nice time in Canada this afternoon 🇨🇦 Had to create an account to pay for parking. My four-digit PIN: 1812, hosers 🇺🇸

MV Mark W. Barker, Detroit River 📸 Mine, from Windsor, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦 🍁

“PRAY FOR PEACE” Dieppe Gardens, riverfront, Windsor, Ontario, Canada 🇨🇦

Rosa Parks, d. October 24, 2005, in Detroit Block print in our living room by American printmaker Kreg Yingst We purchased it in May 2023 along with Yingst's image of George Washington Carver, the greatest alumnus of my dear alma mater, Iowa State kregyingst.com

Oct 24: Feast of Cóeti (†712), bishop of Iona. Guarantor of Adomnán’s Lex Innocentium, ‘Law of the Innocents’, which protected women, children and clergy, especially during warfare.

NEW: Just as God raised up John Paul II to face down the Kremlin, God has raised up an American pope to face MAGA authoritarianism. In Newark in 1995, with Bill Clinton at his side, John Paul told the country to remain “a haven for generation after generation of new arrivals.”

Henry Ossawa Tanner, THE VISITATION, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts 📸 Mine, five years ago today — October 23, 2021 I was in the area to attend the life profession of a Benedictine monk at St. Gregory's Abbey, Three Rivers, Michigan. 🐦‍⬛ That was quite something.

I sometimes use timestamps deliberately — for example, the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Angelus hours: 6:00 a.m. (rarely, because I read Morning Prayer then), noon, and 6:00 p.m. (I'm in the Eastern Time Zone) Today Pope Leo officially became Papal Confrater of St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle ❤️‍🔥

Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time "One Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all"

Among the most romantic memorials in the Abbey is that to Algernon Coote, Earl of Mountrath, and his wife Diana A life-size figure of the Countess rises from her tomb, supported by a descending angel, who points upwards towards heaven, where the Earl awaits his devoted wife #31DaysOfGraves #Wings

A number of manuscripts in the renowned Cotton collection were damaged or destroyed in the fire at Ashburnham House, London, #OTD in 1731. The Lindisfarne Gospels, pictured, and the Durham Liber Vitae were among those to survive.

I — a recovering chemist — have delayed my reading of Morning Prayer by two minutes so that I too can post this at 6:02 a.m. local time (Eastern Daylight Time here)

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