Saint Ephrem or Ephraim was a deacon in the early church, living in Turkey during the 4th century. His prayers were so beautiful that he was called "the harp of the Holy Spirit." Here is one of his prayers from the Psaltery of Saint Ephraim (95). Praise God in the morning, ye children of the [...]
The First Reading at Mass today is from the Acts of the Apostles, Acts 16: 22-34. Paul on his missionary journeys was arrested, beaten, and jailed in Philippi. He and his companions were in Philippi, a city in Macedonia, because Paul received a vision begging him to come and preach the gospel in Macedonia. He [...]
Christ on the Cross with Pope Pius II. c. 1475. German artist, unnamed. The verses around the picture are a hymn to Our Blessed Mother written by someone known as the Monk of Salzburg, who lived in the late 1300's. This monk wrote both sacred and secular music in German. More or less one hundred [...]
Okay, we celebrated this feast on Sunday, January 11. It is more or less assigned to January 13, but celebrated on the Sunday following the feast of the Epiphany, which is January 6 but moved to the first Sunday in January. Also oddly, the Feast of the Epiphany is considered to be a celebration of [...]
Louvre, Virgin of the Rocks 1483-1486 Leonardo da Vinci Louvre, Paris Wikipedia/public domain London Virgin of the Rocks 1495-1508 Leonardo da Vinci National Gallery London Wikipedia/public domain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_the_Rocks A friend of mine and I were discussing the Blessed Virgin Mary, and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, possibly because the Catholic Church just celebrated the [...]
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