Chasuble by St. Therese of Lisieux

While doing the previous post, I came across this photo of a chasuble painted by St. Therese. The chasuble garment itself was made from an old dress of Madame Martins. It appears to be a heavy brocade type fabric. It is dark green in color. St. Therese painted the Holy Face and the vines and roses. The book, Therese and Lisieux, didn't say who sewed the garment. You can see an enlarged version of the photo here.

The two roses at the bottom represent Mr. and Mrs. Martin. The two bigger roses above them the two eldest sisters, Marie and Pauline (also in the convent with Therese) the rose directly below the face is Celine - the last sister to enter the Carmel, after their father had died. Therese is the rose to the left of the face, and Leonie's rose is to the right. She became a visitation nun.

The other four buds represent the four other children the Martins had, who did not live past early childhood. Helene was a little younger than Leonie, and Helene died about aged and a half. Melanie Therese was the child born before St. Therese, and she died about aged one or two. Two infant boys, who did not live very long were born after Helene, Joseph, and Joseph Jean. All the children had the first name of Marie, including the boys.

Some of you may or may not know that initially, for the first 10 months of the marriage, the Martin parents lived as brother and sister, not consummating the marriage. The book, had this to say:

"Louis approached marriage with very specific views: he wanted to live with his wife as brother and sister. He even copied a passage from a theology book, which confirmed his way. [That's some theology book! - kh] Zelie, for her part, wanted to have many children; but she finally accepted her husband's point of view.

There was no selfishness in the young household. No sooner had they set up house, when they took charge of a little five year old boy, whose father had just died, leaving his wife with eleven children. After ten months of life together, the strong intervention of a confessor led the Martins to change their minds. From that time, nine births followed in succession from 1869 to 1873."

I say "Hurray, for that good confessor!" [And boo-hiss to Mr. Martin if he didn't tell his intended before the wedding. When did he spring that one on her? The wedding night? I'm going to have to plough through Zelie's diary to see if she mentioned it there. Let me also guess a situation like that wouldn't be easy to handle in a keep the line moving "Penance Service."]
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St. Therese and Tom, Redux

Someone had run across an earlier posting of my blog re: St. Therese and her dog Tom. She wondered if there were other pictures of this dog. Here's another I have, also from the book "Therese and Lisieux" by Pierre Descouvemont and Helmuth Nils Loose. When I was in Lisieux I was able to buy a postcard of this picture.

(Marie Guerin, Leonie Martin, Celine Martin - flanked by two servants - Mr. Martin, and his brother and sister in law, the Guerins)

The photo was taken in 1892 at the Guerin home, where from that time Mr. Martin lived until his death in 1894. Later the same wheelchair used by Mr. Martin was given to the Carmelite convent. In June of 1897, Therese would sit in it in the garden at Carmel and write her last manuscript.

By accounts Tom was a spaniel, and you can see he looks more spanielly[sp?!] from this angle than in the other photo. Also breeds of dogs can undergo changes in appearances over time. This one would be around 130 now if he'd lived! And that's "people years."

(Here he is in isolation. My guess is that he's wagging his tail, to judge by the blur.)

The book is well worth getting, it has a lot of things about Therese and the Martin Family I had not seen elsewhere.
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49th Anniversary of Our Lady of the Angels Fire

Many of us from the US baby boom generation were particularly haunted by the tragedy of the Our Lady of Angels fire at a Catholic parochial School in Chicago throughout our growing up years.

This fire, on Dec. 1st, 1958 claimed the lives of 92 children and 3 nuns. The fire, as it turns out, had been deliberately set by one of the school children.

If you are unfamiliar with this tragedy, it was a national heartbreak. There is a website here, which is dedicated to the event. The story of what happened is here.

I was only a little over two years old myself when it happened, but I do remember it. When I was little, I used to kneel up in bed and say my prayers and my mother would say them with me. That event marked the first time I can ever remember praying for someone outside my immediate family and friends. My mother had not told me of the tragedy during the day, but waited for evening just before prayer time. She said something along the lines of "Almost 100 children died in a fire at a school today, and some nuns too, we will pray for them tonight." She reassured me that my cousins and uncle were fine, and the city was far away from us. Ever since then I have always feared death by fire the most. The fire was the first "big news story" I remember hearing about.

I can still see now the mental picture I had of those poor suffering children and their teachers. When I got older and read about the tragedy myself, I confirmed the childhood memory of praying for these children and nuns with my mother.

All through our grade school years, our teachers had been exceedingly diligent in making sure we took our fire drills very seriously. A few of them, when we were older, referred to the Our Lady of Angels fire. After the fire, schools across the nation upgraded their safety standards. For those of you with children - would they know what to do in case of fire? What exit to take from any room in your house? What about their schools? Regular fire drills? For very young children, are they aware the kind of damage "playing with matches" can do?

When I was in first grade, our nun would always have us stop for bit if a fire truck went by with its siren on. We would pray for the firemen and those who needed help. I still do that to this day whenever I hear a siren. Do many of you do the same? How many of my fellow bloggers either remember the story or have heard of it? [ma beck, I think you would, though I searched your blog to see if you had written about it in prior years and you hadn't.]

Some news events can affect a person his whole life. This was one such event that ended up being that way for me.

Update:

The 49th Annual Memorial Mass of the Our Lady of the Angels School fire will be celebrated on Sunday, December 02, 2007 at:

Holy Family Church, 1130 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, Il.

Service will begin at 2:30 P.M
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100 Movies Meme

More fun with movies

Jean over at Catholic Fire, has tagged me with the 100 Films meme that's been making the rounds. Go to the AFI top 100 films list and pick:

1) Top 5 on the list you liked:

The Godfather, Gone with the Wind, It's a Wonderful Life, Patton, Sound of Music

(I can't stand it: my second 5 = All About Eve, Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, My Fair Lady, American Graffiti)

2) Bottom 5 you didn't like:

Grapes of Wrath (Hank Fonda and the whole communist Joad Family can take a hike or a ride on top of his model T)
Rocky (too "something.")
Raging Bull (Go rage elsewhere)
Silence of the Lambs (it was well acted but Anthony Hopkins gave such a throughly convincing tour de force portrayal of this creepy[!] guy I never want those nightmares again.
M*A*S*H (saw it once, for whatever reason didn't like it)

3) 5 movies you haven't seen on list but want to:

A clockwork Orange (so sue me! I never got around to it), The Manchurian Candidate (ditto), Maltese Falcon(Ditto), Chinatown(Ditto), Taxi Driver (Just to see what all the hoopla was about)

4) 5 movies on the list you don't care to see:

Dances With Wolves, The Wild Bunch, Unforgiven, Pulp Fiction, Midnight Cowboy

5) 5 favs that aren't on the list:

Stalag 17, Holiday Inn, Easter Parade, Father Goose, The Trouble with Angels

(Can't stand it, next five = Meet Me in St. Louis, McClintock, To Catch a Thief, The Twelve Chairs, the Producers)

This meme concerned a list of American made movies only - but I'd like to add my favorite non American made Films:

Millions(UK), Hope and Glory(UK), Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (Russian), The Twelve Chairs (Russian), Gallipoli (Australian), Au Revoir Les Enfants (French), Diva (French), 400 Blows (French), Small Change (French), The Bicycle Thief (Italian)

Anyone who loves movies and wants to do the meme, consider yourself tagged. And if you haven't a blog of your own, but would like to add your favs/dislikes feel free to use my comments box. I'd love to hear what your favorites are. If you are not from the US and would prefer to discard the AFI angle, just list whatever you like and go for it.

I've written other movie threads with detailed comments.

Favorite Movies with Religious Themes
More Movies with Catholic Appeal
Appealing Movies with Military Themes/Background
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New Blogger - Adrienne's Catholic Corner

Drop by and say "Howdy"






to Adrienne at her Catholic Corner. Her blog is delightful. She lives in Northern Idaho, and is involved with teaching RCIA and Confirmation Classes. I loved this post of hers regards the cat with persistence.
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Mohamedans, Teddy Bears, and Dogs

Well, I under-
stand from the blogo-
sphere some Muslims are upset because somewhere someone has named a Teddy Bear after Mohamed.

These people don't know when they're well off. In some quarters this calls for taking up jihad. These are the same people who often name their sons after Mohamed. This same kid might grow up to be a nice person, or he might grow up to have the distinction of putting a bomb vest on himself and detonating it to allegedly honor the same.

[Update: Click here to check out this hysterical ebay listing someone just sent me.]

I would think if a person REALLY set out to tick off the Muslims, he'd be much more creative - this might run to naming a dog after Mohamed. Think of the apoplexy your Muslim neighbor might have with the following:

Mohamed, get DOWN off the couch, DOWN I say.

Mohamed, roll over.

Mohamed, fetch my slippers, the paper, and a beer from the fridge for me.

Mohamed, stay.

Mohamed, stop slobbering.

Mohamed, lie down.

Mohamed, don't whiz on the carpet.

Mohamed, beg.

Mohamed, let's go walkies.

Mohamed, stop trying to procreate with the furniture.

Mohamed, stop licking your b---s.

Update:

(Saw this guy making the rounds over at www.freerepublic.com)

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One of Life's Mysteries - Strong Altar Wine

I don't know what the altar wine is like at your church, but at mine we use Cribari. This "stuff" and I use the word with caution, is high in alcohol volume - well up over 20%. MOST table wines have an alcohol content of 9%-11%. It's not just this brand either, over the years we've used other brands, but the alcohol volume is particularly high. I've been filling cruets for about 33 years now -- and I'm jiggered if I know why the alcohol content is so high, comparatively speaking. Is it so strong to guarantee any germs being killed off? Why so? Inquiring minds wanna know.

(My private speculation is it's so strong to keep the altar servers from even *thinking* of swiping any.)
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Gang Way World, Get Off of My Runway

A virtual gold star for anyone who knows where the blog title comes from.

If you know what's good for you, stay off the road, I've gotta use it. And I hope the bosses called in sick tonight, because I am not in the mood for their B.S.
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Of Penance Services, Sharks, and Liturgists

Last night after Mass, as I was walking with the venerable Msgr. S. out to the parking lot, the conversation fell upon the subject of the modern Penance service. I remarked that I hate going to those things, and refuse to go to them any longer, on the grounds that when I committed the sin in the first place, I didn't need anybody's help to commit the sin, so I should be big enough, all by my lonesome to go to Confession on my own.

Father has remarked in the past that he hates those services too - as sometimes things really serious can come up, and something where the "line is expected to keep moving at a rapid clip" isn't what's always what's best for the penitent by a long shot.

We are both in agreement about modern liturgists:

What's the difference between a liturgist and a terrorist? You can negotiate with a terrorist.

If a liturgist falls into the sea and is surrounded by sharks, why doesn't he have to worry about being eaten? Professional courtesy.

oh, and:

If a liturgist is riding in a bus, and the bus goes over a cliff, what's sad about this scenario? There was room for 59 other liturgists.
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Rodger on the Lessons and Carols

Huzzah!


(A kudos to anyone who can sight read this well enough to know what it is without playing it.)

Our choir, for the first time ever, is going to have a joint "Lessons and Carols" service on Saturday, Dec. 15 with the added strength of an adjacent parish. It will start at 3 p.m., followed by a little reception, then Sat. vigil Mass - so if you're in Old Town in San Diego, drop by. [Capisce, Digi & AA?]

I've often had "Lessons and Carols envy" for these delightful services put on by our Anglican friends. I hope it goes well. I was unaware of such things until about 15-20 years ago when I ran across a Video tape of a "Lessons and Carols Service" by King's Choir, Cambridge. The video had the 9 lessons and Carols, and also had a nice segment about the school where choir boys are trained.

The English have a traditional song "Once in Royal David's City" that is quite unknown to the average American - (odd, because there are other British Carols well known in these parts, but not that one.) Is that song often done in English *Catholic* churches too?

Happy 38th Birthday to Philip

Freeze right there, buster

Philip, over at Carpe Canem, didn't mention on his blog that his 38th birthday was Sat, the 24th. He did let it slip, though, over in Nova's comment box. He seems a little non-
plussed at having turned the ripe old age of 38.

Honey, 38 is nothing. Your get up and go hasn't got up and left. Who said you had to use base 10 anyway when counting your birthdays? In hexcidecimal, you're only 24.


Now that I know, next year I'll have enough time to go down to Tijuana and have this rendered in black velvet - "they" can also make sure Sienna is one of the players, and for good measure Jesus and Elvis can be added too. I can get it for either 7 bucks or 348 bucks, depending how sharp a trader I am.

Hope your birthday was aces!
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Get it Right this Year

Okay, listen up: I'm only going to go over this with you once more. It's early. There's plenty of time to get the right elf crew on this. For the last time: A PONY. A brown and white pony. I don't need no stinkin' butt ugly dolls coming my way from a certain relative, who shall go nameless.

If you have to contract the work out, use a reliable supplier this year. In other words, don't use dad's mom, like you did last year.

A PONY. (ONE) Brown and White. Not White. Not Brown. Brown and White. And a cowgirl outfit to go along with that pony would be keen too. And make sure there's lots of fringe on the outfit. I gotta hot date lined up for New Year's Eve.

(That's right! Mrs. Claus must have helped out out big time!)

And please. No more black and white checked leggings. They are so "last year." Dior wouldn't be caught dead in them.

(Gee, Karen, tell us how you really feel!)

Too bad when you're older, you're expected to "make nice." Life was a lot simpler and less PC then.
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Happy Thanksgiving

One of my favorite US holidays is Thanks-
giving because everyone, other than the most curmud-
geonly of atheists celebrate it in the spirit it was intended. Most know the story of how the pilgrims in New England did undergo great hardship that first winter, the Native Indians helped them, and a great feast was celebrated and thanks were given to Almighty God. This day can be said to be the most ecumenical day of our civic year, in that it does not matter if one is Catholic, Jew, Protestant, Muslim, or other religion, it's celebrated in the original spirit - thanks are still given to the blessing bestowed on all of us and our nation. All Americans should know that contrary to the PC crowd which try and suppress expressions of religious celebration, the founding Fathers knew what kind of nation we ought to be, and G. Washington proclaimed this New England custom a national holiday - to wit:

Thanksgiving Proclamation

[New York, 3 October 1789]

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be-- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions-- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

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A blessed and Happy Thanksgiving to you and Yours.

Karen

Update:

Northampton Konkrete Kids 41, Catasauqua Rough Riders 7

I didn't get to see this one, but I was there in spirit. Hurray for the K-Kids! 6,000 plus were at the game in eastern Penna. In other words, a considerable portion of both towns. They've been playing for 85 years now, 80 games on Thanksgiving day itself. It's one of the oldest high school rivalries in the country. (We watch a lot of football on Thanksgiving too!)
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Those Crazy Canucks!!!

And I say it with all fond-
ness! God, I really needed a laugh today, and Angela Messenger provided one for me. Don't fail to miss her Canadian Temperature Conversion Chart.

We Canadians and Americans (yes, we're going to irritate you Canucks by claiming possession of the word "Americans") sometimes have our sibling squabbles --

US: "Will you guys quit sending those arctic blasts our way?"
Canada: "Stop stealing our best hockey players, you couldn't get a home grown one to save your souls."

US: "Well, at least stop sending all those guys in sheets from coming over your borders."
Canada: "We will if you stop sending the illegal Alien Mexicans - the Yukon can only support so many paper flower and orange vendors."

US: "How come you get so upset when Europeans can't tell your accents from ours?*"
Canada: "Because even we run out of red thread sewing our flag on our backpacks, we just want to hitch a ride in Switzerland, and not get dumped on because you people have a scorched earth policy, cut us a break, eh?"

But on this eve of Thanksgiving, I am remembering and being grateful to our
Friendly Neighbors to the North.

Canada, I am one American who does not forget that when the US embassy in Iran was over run in late 1979 in all the confusion you hid a large number of US diplomats and citizens in your embassy compound. We had a hostage crisis for 444 days, but your actions at that time were truly noble. You risked your own necks in giving those you were able to hide false Canadian identity papers, and managed to keep them from the Iranians.

You weren't a bit more clairvoyant than we were as to what was going to happen to our diplomatic personnel, and you went out of your way to help us, endangering yourselves.

All friendly back and forth all-in-good-fun-
snipping aside, I thank you for helping us then. I thank you for standing against terrorism with us now.

AND THANK YOU for opening up your homes and putting up thousands of our citizens along with citizens from many nations on September 11 and the days immediately following.

LONG MAY OUR FRIENDSHIP REMAIN!

*(The reason it DID work was because if even we ourselves can't tell each other apart unless we're really "listening" and our British friends have a hard enough time discerning our accents - the Iranians didn't stand a chance. Neener-neener, we were right you DO sound like us! Or do we sound like you ;-D )
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