Catholic Term of the Day

Today's word is AMBO. The place where the scripture is read (or proclaimed, if you prefer). Do not confuse the ambo with a pulpit!

Feast Day of St. Raymond Nonnatus, August 31

According to Catholic.org, St. Raymond "was delivered by caesarean operation when his mother died in childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born)."

What? Who named him? Was Nonnatus like a nickname? Did he introduce himself, "Hi. I'm Raymond. but my friends call me Not Born"? It's another Catholic mystery.

St. Raymond was a Mercedarian, and replaced St.Peter Nolasco (the founder of the Mercedarians) as "chief ransomer". While ransoming slaves in Algeria from those pesky Unitarians, Non Born became a captive himself. He eventually was released, and Pope Gregory IX appointed him a Cardinal - but St. Raymond died on the way to Rome in 1239.

Wait...is that right? Unitarians?

For obvious reasons, St. Raymond is a patron saint of pregnant women and midwives.

Feast of St. Rose of Lima, August 30

Fun Fact!

Why I Love the New York Post

Their website uses the headline teaser of "COWA-NUN-GA" for this charming article about the Sister Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary..

Why Catholics Don't Understand Economics

This article may explain why 53% of Catholics voted for Obama.

Feast of St. Augustine, August 28

The original saint bad boy - he's the patron saint of brewers! St. Augustine said that as he made the change from pagan to Catholic he used to pray, "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet." Eventually he came around to the Truth (thanks to his mom, St. Monica) and was baptized into the Church by St. Ambrose. Doctor of the Church.

Get Your Priorities Straight!

53% of Catholics voted for Obama.

Feast of St. Monica, August 27

Sometimes, being a patron saint of something doesn't tell you anything about the saint. Take Saint Magnus of Fussen...patron saint against caterpillars. But other times, her patronage can tell you a lot about the saint and the life she led.

St. Monica is one whose patronage tells us a lot. She is one of my favorite saints, and if you have a teenager in the house she's the go-to saint. St Monica is the patron saint of:

Those in difficult marriages

Victims of adultery or unfaithfulness

Victims of abuse

Those with difficult children

One of her children was St. Augustine. More on him tomorrow - his feast day!

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Compare and Contrast

"OGUNQUIT, Maine -- Former President George W. Bush and his wife Laura surprised participants in the third annual "Run for the Fallen" Sunday.

Dozens of runners took part in the event to remember the 65 servicemen and women from Maine who have died overseas since 2001.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation, Compare and Contrast

53% of Catholics voted for Obama.

The Master of Soles

I present to you Adriano Stefanelli.

Feast Day of St. Bichier, August 26

Patron saint of cranky people.

Feast Day of St. Louis, August 25

Cities do not have feast days. St. Louis IX became the king of France when he was 12 years old and remained king until his death 56 years later. St. Louis fought in the 7th and 8th Crusades against the Catholic-mudering Methodists. At least I think they were Methodists. I could be wrong. Anyway, he was captured in Egypt during the 7th Crusade and was ransomed for 400,000 livres tournois - at a time when France's annual revenue was only 250,000 livres tournois. They had to take out a loan from the Knights Templar.

Catholics for Obama, Part XXII

The Obama administration (according to NPR) has said they will fight to overturn the injunction.


(Reuters) - A U.S. district court issued a preliminary injunction on Monday stopping federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, in a slap to the Obama administration's new guidelines on the sensitive issue.

The court ruled in favor of a suit filed in June by researchers who said human embryonic stem cell research involved the destruction of human embryos.

Judge Royce Lamberth granted the injunction after finding the lawsuit would likely succeed because the guidelines violated law banning the use of federal funds to destroy human embryos.

53% of Catholics voted for Obama.

Feast of St. Bartholomew, August 24

One of the 12. Not much is known about him except he was flayed and beheaded by King Astyages in Armenia. He also has a nice looking island named after him.

Mark Your Calendar!

We will begin using the Third Edition of the Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent in 2011. Strangely, a lot of the changes revert back to the the prayers I was taught 45+ years ago. I never changed, the Church did! For instance, in the Apostles' Creed Jesus will no longer "descend to the dead" but rather "Descend into Hell". Much clearer, don't you think? I like that the Niacene Creed has changed the plural "we" to the singular "I". I believe...

With any luck, hand holding during the Our Father will be banned along with any liturgical songs written after 1964.

You Don't Know Jack...about the Assumption

This is a week late, but I found it interesting. I didn't know the exact date when the Feast of the Assumption became doctrine, but I did now who the Pope was in 1950. Mainly because he was Pope when I was born. So far I have outlasted Pope Pius XII, Blessed John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul I (Patron Saint of Temporary Help), and John Paul II.

I Need Another Dog Post

How about this. If you were from the Dalmatia region (mostly present day Bosnia) you would know that the most famous Dalmatian ever is St. Blaise. Yeah, the throat blessing guy!

Feast of St. Bernard, August 20

He's a Doctor of the Church, but he is not the patron saint of dog lovers (everybody knows that's St. Roc!). He is patron to the Cistercians...the White Monks.

Dogs of Glory by Jim Steager

I really hope we get to sing this someday at St. Joe's! Maybe we could get Father Uriel to do face painting as we enter the Church, and give us all balloons! It would make Mass sooooo FUN!

Free the Monks!

Diocese of Belleville News

I missed this article from last week. I can't imagine that anyone would be surprised that Bishop Braxton may have to order some parishes to close. I just wish he was out among the faithful explaining again and again WHY it is necessary. Perhaps it would jump start parishioners into praying for more vocations.

Patron Saint of Air Conditioning

More from Sister Mary Martha...

"My central air conditioning is on the blink. Is there a patron saint of air conditioning? I could use some help."

"I'd go with St. Nicholas. He was originally from a hot climate, but moved to the North Pole to beat the heat."

Feast of St. Helena, August 18

My brush with greatness....

St. Helena was the mother of Constantine I. Constantine I was the first Christian Roman Emperor (there is some debate as to what kind of Christian he was, but he is revered as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox "Church"). He became Emperor after defeating Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312AD. In 315AD, an arch in Rome was dedicated to him and his great victory.

And I've SEEN the arch. Here it is from the Colosseum.

OK. That's a stretch...

Sister Mary Martha Explains Papal Infallibility

"Papal Infallibility in a nutshell: You're playing Scrabble with the Pope and he throws down the word "blotsnefad". Does he win because he's infallible and can make anything true that he wants to be true? No. The Pope is only infallible when he speaks on matters of Dogma and only when he speaks on them "Ex Cathedra" which means, "from the Throne"."

Shout Out to St. John Bosco!

From Reuters:

"The Reverend Zoltan Lendvai, 45, who lives and preaches in Redics, a small village on Hungary’s border with Slovenia, believes skateboarding can open the way to God for young people.

Lendvai says he follows the ways of Saint John Bosco, an Italian priest and educator in the 19th century who dedicated his life to improving the lot of poor youngsters and used games as part of their education."

Laugh of the Day

Kathy Schaidle of the blog, "Five Feet of Fury", linked to this article with the headline "In other news, Lourdes marks 54,827th riot free day"