antiquam

Yesterday I went to Divine Liturgy and as the priest was censing the congregation and proclaiming “Christ Is Risen!” in English and Slavonic he noticed me off in the corner and shouted, “Christus Resurrexit!”

It took me a second to get my bearings — because I wasn’t expecting Latin in a Byzantine church — but eventually I was able to croak out a self-conscious, “Vere Resurrexit!” in response.

For those of us with a Latin fetish, the once dying language seems to be breathing on her own. You can go to Latin Masses, read the news in the old tongue, and even catch the weather report in Linguam Latinam. (BTW, in Boston right now it’s Partialiter Nubila)

Which reminds me of a song poem…

Several years ago, a friend sent me the following and, in my opinion, its clever construction makes it worthy of a Nobel Prize. You can probably decipher it if you (barely) passed Latin I in high school.

Have at it:

Carmen Possum

The Nox was lit by lux of Luna
And ’twas a nox most opportuna
To catch a possum or a coona;

For nix was scattered o’er this mundus,
A shallow nix, et non profundus.
On sic a nox with canis unus
Two boys went out to hunt for coonus.
The corpus of this bonus canis
Was full as long as octo span is
But brevior legs had canis never
Quam bad hic dog; et bonus clever.
Some used to say, in stultum jocum
Quod a field was too small locum
For sic a dog to make a turnus
Circum self from stem to sternus*

Unis canis, duo puer,
Nunquam braver, nunquam truer
Quam hoc trio nunquam fuit
If there was I never knew it.
This bonus dog had one bad habit.
Amabat much to tree a rabbit,
Amabat plus to chase a rattus,
Amabat bene tree a cattus.

But on this nixy moonlight night
This old canus did just right.
Nunquam treed a starving rattus,
Nunquam chased a starving cattus,
But succurrit on intentus
On the track and on the scentum
Till he trees a possum strongum
In a hollow trunkum longum.

Loud he barked an horrid bellum
Seemed on terra vehit pellum
Quickly ran the duo puer
Mors of possum to secure.
Quam venerit, one began
To chop away like quisque man
Soon the axe went through the truncum
Soon he hit it all kerchunkum
Combat deepens, on ye braves!

Canis, pueri et staves
As his powers non longius carry
Possum potest, non pugnare
On the nix his corpus lieth
Down to Hades spirit flieth.

Joyful pueri, canis bonus,
Think him dead as any stonus
Now they seek their pater’s domo
Feeling proud as any homo
Knowing, certe, they will blossom
Into heroes, when with possum
They arrive, narrabunt story
Plenus blood et plenior glory.

Pompey, David, Samson, Caesar
Cyrus, Black Hawk, Shalmanezer!
Tell me where est now the gloria
Where the honors of victoria?
Nunc a domum narrent story
Plenus sanguine, tragic, gory.

Pater praiseth, likewise mater
Wonders greatly younger frater
Possum leave they on the mundus
Go themselves to sleep profundus
Somniunt possums slain in battle
Strong as ursae, large as cattle.

When nox gives way to lux of morning
Albam terram much adorning
Up they jump to see the varmen
Of the which this is the carmen.

Lo! possum est resurrectum
Ecce pueri dejectum
Ne relinquit back behind him
Et the pueri never find him
Cruel possum! bestia vilest
How the pueros thou beguiles
Pueri think non plus of Caesar
Go ad Orcum, Shalmanezer
Take your laurels, cum the honor
Since ista possum is a goner!

– Anonymous

I love this country…

Poll: Most Say U.S. Needs Warrant to Snoop

WASHINGTON – A majority of Americans want the Bush administration to get court approval before eavesdropping on people inside the United States, even if those calls might involve suspected terrorists, an AP-Ipsos poll shows.

[snip]

Yet 56 percent of respondents in an AP-Ipsos poll said the government should be required to first get a court warrant to eavesdrop on the overseas calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens when those communications are believed to be tied to terrorism.

Agreeing with the White House, some 42 percent of those surveyed do not believe the court approval is necessary. [Emphasis mine]

Not exactly earth shaking, but a small glimmer of hope nonetheless.

And he wasn’t kidding!

Has anyone noticed the Pope’s wardrobe? I know most people could care less but I think the Vaticanologists and religion reporters are missing a quiet revolution going on right before our eyes. More important, it seems, than what Pope Benedict writes or how Pope Benedict speaks is what Pope Benedict wears.

John Paul liked to dress down. Memories of his mega-Masses call to mind simple, solid color vestments and a no-frills style. Benedict, by contrast, presents as a pontiff straight out of the 18th Century. Consider:

This man likes being pope…

John Paul showed up everywhere in a simple white cassock and sensible brown shoes. Benedict is all about the red velvet cape (mozzetta) and brocade stolls:

And ya gotta dig the pontifical footwear:

But this is the most jarring image of all:

No, the Holy Father isn’t playing Santa Claus – that red, ermine trimmed cap is called a camoura. And as far as ecclesiastical dress codes go, only the pope is allowed to wear one. Thing is, no pope has worn one publically in decades. (Even though John Paul wore the camoura for an official portrait early in his pontificate, he would not have been caught dead wearing one in public. And speaking of dead, John XXIII was buried — over 40 years ago — with a camoura on his head. So there ya go!)

And with the change of wardrobe came an overhaul of Vatican communications. The late pope did his writing in Polish and had it translated into Latin just before its official release. Not so with Pope Benedict. Word has it that official communications to and from the Pope are composed in Latin in the first instance. So popular, in fact, has Latin become that aspiring young seminarians have oversubscribed Latin classes at Rome’s pontifical universities.

And with the uptick in Latin comes the rumor that by next Christmas, Benedict will have restored the Latin Mass alongside the vernacular in parish churches throughout Christendom.

So when that old Cardinal strode out on the balcony of St Peter’s last April and announced, “Habemus Papam!”, he wasn’t kidding!

Out of sheer laziness, I’ll just re-run the Christmas Eve post from last year. On second thought, let’s not call it laziness, let’s call it a blogging tradition:
___________________

It’s Christmas Eve and I’m taking a two day vacation from this pitiful blog.

Whatever you are – Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, Muslim or Hindu, Democrat or Rebublican, good American or Massachusetts Liberal – I wish peace and goodwill to you all.

“And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” [St. Luke 2:1-14]

If the Sisters of Mercy knew that I used the King James text I’d get my arse swatted. But, c’mon, it just sounds so much better… “Sore afraid”, ya gotta love it!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

New Englanders are cheap…

PORTLAND, Maine – New Englanders remain among the most tightfisted in the country when it comes to charitable giving while Bible Belt residents are among the most generous, according to an annual index.

[snip]

Using that standard, the 10 most generous states were, in descending order, Mississippi, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Utah, South Carolina and West Virginia.

The 10 stingiest, starting from the bottom, were New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and Michigan.

But the methodology is suspect so you’ll have to draw your own conclusions.

___________
Worth a read:

– Fish farts You can’t make this stuff up… It’s how Herring communicate. “Hey Marlin, pull my fin!” Link takes you to a National Geographic video.

– The Weekly Standard’s War Scott McConnell in the American Conservative.

– Forging the Case for War Philip Giraldi in, well, the American Conservative. (Hey, what I can I tell ya? It’s a good issue…)

– “Intelligent Design is not science” says the Vatican’s Chief Astronomer, Father George Coyne, S.J. (I’m not kidding! Go see for yourself.) This comes as no suprise to Herring…

God Loves Soldiers but, for some reason or another, He hates Swedes. (Brought to you by the God Hates Fags folks.)

………. St. John 11:35

I like to bandy about the phrase “Republifascists” whenever I can reasonably work it into a post. Such is my great love for that awkward little compound word. But, I gotta tell you, in this case it may be appropriate.

Here’s Blogs for Bush (*snide little chuckle*) reverently quoting a pathetically ignorant soldier:

[...] Citizens with no military experience cannot begin to empathize with the hardships that we endure, nor can they understand the split second life and death decisions we are forced to make. Instead we’ve created a nation of hind-sight soldier critics with force fed tunnel vision.

[...] As a soldier my concern is that while Americans enjoy their freedom of speech and freedom of the press they are inadvertently weakening our defenses, damaging our nation, and negatively influencing the frontline soldiers that continue to ensure their freedoms.

Yeah, that pesky First Amendment sure can be inconvenient to those off fighting Mr. Bush’s elective war of national liberation. I’ll sleep better tonight knowing that Sergeant Benito is defending my “freedoms” in, well, ….Iraq. (Even though it appears that my uniformed countryman is more hellbent on curbing my freedoms than that old bugger Saddam ever was.)

But I digress. Our correspondent — who describes himself as “Being in the minority of soldiers with formal education” (Hmmm, a whiff of elitism there, methinks. He’s not being appropriately deferential to our boys in uniform. Someone alert FoxNews!) — has much more to say. So get your brownshirt out of the closet and go have a look.

By the way, Blogs for Bush (*snide little chuckle*) says we should pass this along. I could not agree more…

In a political climate that defines anyone wearing a government uniform — from postman to Marine — as a “hero” it’s nice to be reminded that the private sector can get in the action too.

Ladies and gentlemen, Nomar Garciaparra, American hero:

“Then we heard a splash, and it sounded kind of close,” Victor [Nomar's uncle] said. “We looked down and saw someone in the water [Boston Harbor], and so Nomar started running down.”

Victor said he was trailing Nomar when he saw the other woman fall in, apparently hitting her head.

“When she fell, it was about a 12- or 15-foot drop, and I thought she had hit the deck of the pier, so I jumped off a balcony,” he said. “I figured she was probably unconscious.”

By the time Victor Garciaparra got close to the second woman, he said he reached out for her only to find Nomar already in the water with both women in his arms. Victor said Nomar swam with them before the men pulled them onto the deck.

“They were kind of combative at first,” Victor said. “I think they were in shock from the fall, and one of them had a bump on her head. But then when we pulled them up, the one girl recognized Nomar and says, `Are you Nomar?’

“He didn’t respond to her, and she asked about three times, `Are you Nomar? Are you Nomar?’ Finally he said to her, `I think you hit your head pretty hard,’ and that was about it.” [Article]

Hats off to Nomah!