Bibiana and All the Single Ladies
Saint Bibiana, who is commemorated today, a virgin martyred during the reign of Julian the Apostate, is the patroness of single laywomen, amongst her...
The Devil’s Deathly Dominion
Physician-turned-author Walker Percy’s final novel, The Thanatos Syndrome, published in 1987, tells the odd tale of a town wherein the ‘elites’ are devolving -...
Chlorine and Conscience
In an ironic twist on this ‘Earth Day’, this also marks the 105th anniversary of the first use of chemical weapons in warfare –...
Erastianism and a Free Church
Thomas Erastus (1524 – 1583) was a Swiss physician and theologian who adopted the newfangled heretical doctrines of Ulrich Zwingli, a sort of extreme...
This and That
Hilaire Belloc was born on this day, July 27th, 1870, 150 years ago, making this his sesquicentennial birthday, which we hope is a bit...
Giving Thanks
A blessed and joyful Thanksgiving to all of our readers, and we may include our American neighbours, who, of course, hold their own day...
Father Reginald Foster, The Vatican’s Latinist: Requiescat in Pace
Father Reginald Foster, O.C.D, died on Christmas Eve from complications arising from Covid-19. (Yes, I know - people across America are dying with bullet...
Thanatophilia, Thanatophobia, Keep Your Chins Up, and Keep That Hope in Ya’
(The title of this brief reflection was an attempt at a musical rhyme - and if the theme were not so tragic, I might...
Dymphna’s Sanity
The story of Saint Dymphna (7th century), steeped in legend, is not one, perhaps, that parents would feel comfortable telling their children. Dymphna was...
Complicit Complaisance and Flying the Rainbow
To paraphrase a popular alliterative 1958 novelty song, we are becoming a nation of pathological people pleasers – and by ‘we’ I mean those...
