Saturday, June 21, 2025

"He has much talent, and a gentle, fine character. I am convinced that he will delight you." ~ a brief bio of Rev. Joseph Coolidge Shaw

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Painting of Rev. Joseph Coolidge Shaw, uncle of Civil War hero, Col. Robert Gould Shaw. The top spot on my rankings of Civil War movies alte...
Monday, June 09, 2025

"I wished to see a king, not corpses." ~ Achilles, Alexander, Augustus and the historian as transmitter of heroic virtue

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Detail from Augustus Caesar visits the tomb of Alexander the Great by French artist Lionel Royer (1878). The dominant literary culture of t...
Friday, May 23, 2025

"They still make human sacrifices..." ~ How Christian were the 6th century Franks, anyway?

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Merovingian Frankish warriors looking especially fierce in this fanciful 19th century engraving. The nation of the Franks are well known tod...
Friday, May 02, 2025

"Faithfully compile the acts of the martyrs, omitting nothing." ~ The duty of the Popes to preserve the history of the Church

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Images of Popes Clement I, Anteros, Fabian, and Damasus I, all holding codices indicating their legacies of defending the doctrines and pres...
Saturday, April 12, 2025

What Happened on Holy Saturday? ~ The ancient sources on Christ's Harrowing of Hell

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Fresco of Christ's Descent into Hell from the lower Basilica of San Clemente in Rome, 9th Century AD. In this detail, Christ takes Adam ...
Sunday, March 30, 2025

Young Constantine as a Ward (or Hostage) at Diocletian's Court

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Constantine slays a lion in this detail from a 17th century tapestry by Peter Paul Rubens. As part of the series of tapestries by Peter Paul...
Thursday, March 13, 2025

Don Giovanni, Lorenzo Da Ponte, and the Unforgivable Sin

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Don Giovanni confronts the statue of Il Commendatore at the climax of the eponymous opera. During Lent, I usually attempt to limit my consum...