Audiobook Progress Report

As you know, I also do an audioblog or podcast of public domain audiobooks. I then archive them over at archive.org for the use of all and sundry. This provides me with download statistics (and the vast majority of my readers, truth be told).

So far, it seems that the way to go with fiction audiobooks is to do long-form poetry and short stories. As you might expect, snappy and appealing blurbs and good keywords also seem to provide results. Short Christian works are more appealing than long ones. Stories appealing to seasonal tastes (horror stories and dark fantasy put up pre-Hallowstide) seem to do well, also.

Most of the multi-part works start fairly well, but peter out. (Witness the dramatic drops on The Red Thumb-Mark and The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena.) This may be because people get bored or irritated; because they fail to be interested enough to read on; or most likely, because they come to archive.org or my blog by chance, read what’s there, and just happen not to come back.

I am glad to see that holding up the banner of clan loyalty has also been a good thing for me. Fitz-James O’Brien is one of those great and influential American writers who has been unjustly forgotten, mostly thanks to his untimely death. (Not to mention his insistence, resented by scholarly posterity, on pointing out that Melville had become a victim of the Brain-Eater after he started putting out cruddy novels. (But they were cruddy! He was a reviewer! Pointing out bad value for the dollar was his job!) So it gives me great satisfaction to see Fitz managing once more to entertain the public, a hundred and fifty years later.

Obviously, I ought to do more in the areas and authors that are currently doing well. Still, I also mean to amuse myself, since I am the one who has to read all this stuff! However, suggestions — particularly for entertaining and enlightening bits of the Fathers — are earnestly solicited.

My Top Twenty Audiobooks, with Number of Downloads

1. “The Sword of Welleran” by Lord Dunsany — 102

2. “The Blue Sequin” by R. Austin Freeman — 93

3. “The Dragon-Fang Possessed by the Conjuror Piou-Lu” by Fitz-James O’Brien — 79

4. Annus Mirabilis by John Dryden — 67

5. The Red Thumb-Mark, pt 1, by R. Austin Freeman — 59

6. “Locksley Hall”/”Locksley Hall 60 Years Later” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson — 58

7. “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” by Robert Browning — 56

8. “A Message from the Deep Sea” by R. Austin Freeman — 53

9. “Jubal the Ringer” by Fitz-James O’Brien — 51

10. “Of the Song of Angels” by Walter Hilton — 50

11. “The Man Without a Shadow: A New Version” by Fitz-James O’Brien — 49

12. “The Nightmare” by G.K. Chesterton — 46
12. “Little Orphant Annie” by James Whitcomb Riley — 46
12. “A Terrible Night” by Fitz-James O’Brien — 46

13. “What Was It? — A Mystery” by Fitz-James O’Brien — 43

14. The Red Thumb-Mark, pt 2, by R. Austin Freeman — 37

15. Folk Tales of Napoleon — 35

16. The Red Thumb-Mark, pt 5, by R. Austin Freeman — 33

17. “The Didache” — 30
17. “The Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Romans” — 30

18. The Bridal of Triermain by Sir Walter Scott — 29

19. The Dialogue of St. Catherine of Siena, pt 1 — 28

20. “Two Pioneers” by Elia W. Peattie — 26

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Political Song Corner

Via Jimmy Akin, a great new song from Berkeley: “Bush Was Right”.

Other great Conservative songs:
“Razom Nas Bahato” by Greenjolly. This was literally the themesong to the Orange Revolution, picking up the slogan of the demonstrators and making it dance and rock.

(In a typical postmodern twist of fate, Greenjolly and “Razom Nas Bagato” will be Ukraine’s entry in the Eurovision song contest this year.)

“Democracy, Whiskey, Sexy” is Dr. Frank’s tribute to that unknown Iraqi with an appreciation for democratic culture. With all that implies. (Link was no longer working when I just checked it.)

“Ronald Reagan (Please Forgive Me)” is a funny song that’s absolutely true for a lot of ex-liberal guys out there! Maybe not work-safe, though.

Good Stuff Early Warning System!

Those of you with kids, and those of you who just love good movies, will want to stock up on tapes in January. Turner Classic Movies is airing a Ghibli film festival, and airing movies in both their American dub and Japanese subtitled versions.

Check it out:

Thursday, January 5
8:00pm: Spirited Away (2002 – English-language version)
10:15pm: Princess Mononoke (1997 – English-language version)
1:00am: Spirited Away (2002 – Japanese-language version)
3:15am: Princess Mononoke (1997 – Japanese-language version)

Thursday, January 12
8:00pm: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 – English-language version)
10:00pm: Castle in the Sky (1986 – English-language version)
12:15am: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984 – Japanese-language version)
2:15am: Castle in the Sky (1986 – Japanese-language version)

Thursday, January 19
8:00pm: My Neighbor Totoro (1988 – English-language version)
9:30pm: Porco Rosso (1992 – English-language version)
11:15pm: Whisper of the Heart (1995 – English-language version)
1:15am: My Neighbor Totoro (1988 – Japanese-language version)
2:45am: Porco Rosso (1992 – Japanese-language version)
4:30am: Whisper of the Heart (1995 – Japanese-language version)

Thursday, January 26
8:00pm: Only Yesterday (1991 – Japanese-language version only)
10:15pm: Pom Poko (1994 – English-language version)
12:30am: Only Yesterday (1991 – Japanese-language version)
2:45am: Pom Poko (1994 – Japanese-language version)

So why watch the Japanese version?

Well, obviously the original voice cast is closer to the original intent. But that’s not the real issue. The silences are.

Although some dubs are just fine, dub producers have a tendency to want to fill silent or quiet moments with louder music or new songs or voice-over dialogue. This is unfortunate, because a good deal of the beauty and thoughtfulness of Japanese art and culture is in the spaces it leaves and the things it doesn’t say. Miyazaki and his compadres at Ghibli use such devices often; so their movies have tended to suffer from the American prejudice against “dead air”.

For example, Kiki’s Delivery Service (not being shown) featured a witch girl flying on her broomstick, traveling alone for the first time. In the original version, Miyazaki made much of the sound of flight — of the wind rushing past, and the sounds of the natural world around her. At one point, the silence got too much for her, so Kiki turned on one of those little transistor radios and listened to a defiant little Japanese pop song from the early sixties, complete with realistic static and tinny sound.

In the American version, the wind was replaced with loud soundtrack, and the song with a new sugary, overdidactic, self-esteem song by an American songwriter who can write better than this. Transistor sound and loneliness was not even attempted. The point of the whole scene was lost.

Spirited Away is of course the Oscar-winning story of a girl trapped in a Japanese resort in fairyland or the world of the Shinto gods. Either way, she has to work her butt off to get her name back, win back her parents, and get home. But hard work and cheerfulness will win her unexpected friends, even in this strange place….

Princess Mononoke is not a cartoon for kids. It is a Kurosawa movie, if Kurosawa worked in anime. It is a fantasy set in shogun-run Japan, about the needs of ordinary people versus the needs of nature, and how sometimes neither one is in the right. Watch it. Just realize that early on, heads will roll. Literally.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is okay for kids who are old enough for Harry Potter, I’d say. It’s an eco-science fiction movie of the sort we all remember from the seventies. (Post-nuclear war, check. Downfall of civilization, check. Devastated Earth, check. Chosen One, check.) Except that this time, an eco-science fiction movie is actually being made about people you’ll care about. (Including the “villains”.) Interesting things happen. Love and joy still exist, even in the midst of chaos. And through it all, Nausicaa flies like the fresh winds that preserve her valley. If you’ve only seen Warriors of the Wind, the chopped up version from the eighties, be sure to watch the uncut Nausicaa. It’s a whole new movie.

Castle in the Sky is an action/fantasy/science fiction/steampunk/air pirate/men in black kind of movie. You and your kids will love it.

My Neighbor Totoro is a must-see for kids and parents alike. For once, you’ll get to see a father who is capable, caring, and believes in his kids; and kids who love and trust their parents. A gentle fantasy set in 1950’s rural Japan, this movie is comfort food for pretty much all ages. (And you can tell your little ones that the mother gets better. She had TB, but she comes home from the hospital during the credits.)

Porco Rosso is the story of the Crimson Pig, a World War I ace cursed to look like a pig who now fights air pirates — for a price — while hiding out from Mussolini’s Fascist government. He’s cynical about the world, women, and himself — but is he really such a pig as he claims? Another fun film for all ages.

Whisper of the Heart is not by Miyazaki, but don’t miss it for that reason. I’ve never seen it myself, and am dying to do so. Set in the 70’s, it’s the story of a young Japanese girl (living in a suburb built over the same area we saw in My Neighbor Totoro) who is trying to find her place in the world. It’s not a fantasy movie. It’s not science fiction. It’s not action. It’s just about life.

Only Yesterday is another rarely seen non-Miyazaki Ghibli movie. It’s the story of a young Japanese woman who suddenly realizes that she has no home, and needs one. As she goes out to the country, she begins to remember her childhood in the sixties. She also begins working on getting herself a future that’s not all work. Again, it’s just a simple story about life.

Pom Poko is the last film in the festival. Also non-Miyazaki, and also set in the same place as My Neighbor Totoro, Whisper of the Heart, and bits of Spirited Away, it tells the story of what happened to the animals when the woods, mountains, and fields were destroyed and remade to provide a place for the suburb to be built. The tanuki (Japanese relatives of raccoons that look like bears, and are sometimes also called badgers) haven’t used their magical shapeshifting and illusion powers for a long time. But if the humans are going to attack them with bulldozers and starvation, they figure they may as well fight back! This hilarious and heartwrenching story mixes samurai drama conventions, Japanese folklore and folksongs, and urban fantasy to make a story that everyone will love. Yes, its humor is earthy. So was Shakespeare.

I should probably also point out that all these movies include a large dose of Shinto and a small dose of Buddhism. It’s not evangelistic — just a natural part of the characters’ lives. (Gosh, wouldn’t it be nice if prayer and going to church could be included in American stuff? Heck, anime includes more Christian moments than American TV….) I don’t think this should be a problem for anyone with well-formed religious beliefs. (Besides, Americans never seem to go for real pagan beliefs; just made up neo-pagan stuff and Buddhism.) Be prepared to answer kids’ questions, that’s all I’m saying. “That’s how some Japanese people pray” or “They don’t know the truth about God, so they don’t know any better than to worship God’s creatures” will probably be enough.

Cartoon Update!

Ack! Nobody told me that Cartoon Network has been airing Gigantor at 5:30 in the morning on weekdays! (Eastern time, of course.) Yes, it’s the original American translation of the black and white R/C giant robot show (Tetsujin 28). Yes, it’s pretty bizarre. Yes, that theme song is catchy. Yes, I’ve got a whole November’s worth of shows to catch up on.

Gigantorrrrrr… Gigantorrrrrr…

Magical Doremi, airing on the Fox network at 8 AM, is probably the feelgood show of the season. It’s aimed at fairly young kids (school age or below). Three school friends have become “witchlings” (apprentice witches, with powers that only work after a really cute magical girl transformation) to learn how to help a witch they accidentally turned into a mushroom. (Apparently, calling a Japanese witch a witch is a bad thing for her.) So now after school they work in the witch’s magic shop, making and selling magical items, to earn the “spelldrops” that power their wands. (And no, kids that age aren’t allowed to work in Japan. There was actually an episode where they fell afoul of child labor laws, and got out of it by claiming they were just volunteering. It was a stitch.) In their copious free time, they help out people who visit the shop, and negotiate with the visiting witch who sells them spelldrops.

Over on Kids’ WB at 8:30 AM, The Batman is in its third season, and is currently going strong. Batman is no longer a vigilante hiding from the police (so Detective Yin has vanished from the show). Commissioner Gordon has showed up and instituted the Batsignal, and his teenage gymnast daughter has volunteered her sidekick services as Batgirl. This was not entirely appreciated by Bruce, but he’s become resigned to her presence. OTOH, Bruce knew Batgirl’s secret identity from the first, but Barbara Gordon still hasn’t figured out who she’s really working with.

Winx Club isn’t all nearly as good this year. But it’s on twice a Saturday (they’re trying to use the first showing of it on Fox at 8:30 AM to keep girls from changing channels to watch The Batman. Whatever). Anyway, this year the three annoying seniors from the witch high school who got expelled, took over the world, and then graduated to doing hard time, have been broken out by An Evil Force With Batwings and put to work as his servants. Over at the fairy high school, the Winx Club gained new members: a refugee fairy princess and six fugitive pixies. The Evil Force With Batwings wants the power of the pixies and their hidden village, so much anti-pixie intrigue has ensued. Furthermore, the Evil Force With Batwings is apparently the dualistic result of having Bloom, our protagonist (a red-headed fairy princess raised on Earth by adoptive parents), possess all the remaining power of her destroyed world of dragonfire fairies. (Good must be balanced by Evil, yadda yadda… what Manichee crap! Wouldn’t it be better to say that Evil is scared of Bloom and is trying to take her out while she’s still young?) Meanwhile, one of the prison guards (sometimes angel-winged guys called paladins) has transferred over to the fairy high school to teach, and all the girls are drooling over him; and Flora, the only Winx Club member with no romance last year, appears to have met someone over at the hero school. (Hey, how come girls can be fairies or witches, and guys are stuck just being heroes? Isn’t there a mad mage school or something?)

Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! is still one of the better cartoons on the air. It’s an entirely American show aimed at younger kids, yet also includes some fairly deep themes and plotlines. For us adults, the retro stylings recall Battle of the Planets and other old anime giant robot and sentai shows. The kid and his five monkey robot buddies are still fighting the Skeleton King and defending Shoogazoom City, while drawing upon the Power Primate. Big revelation was that the monkeys were actually invented and built by the guy who later became the Skeleton King! He felt himself inexorably becoming evil, thanks to being possessed by some outside force, and so made the monkeys in a desperate bid to defeat himself. Will it work? Stay tuned!

One Piece is off the air right now. Too bad. It’s good pirate fun. The current incarnation of GI Joe, OTOH, is pitiful.

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Take It with a Grain of Psalter

Check it out! The Paris Prose of the Paris Psalter — 50 prose translations into Old English prose. (The other 100 psalms were translated into Old English poetry. Which I would think would also be web-suitable, but alas, I was not consulted.)

The more I read the Fathers and other traditional stuff, the more I feel that the psalms are getting a bit slighted by modern Christians. I mean, the psalms were nearly as important to traditional Christian thinking as the Gospels or the letters of Paul. People used to learn to read from reading the Psalms. You don’t get more basic than that.

Here’s some other psalmy stuff:
Fragments from Bishop Hippolytus on the psalms.

Some bits of St. Athanasius’ commentary on the psalms.

A severely abridged version of St. Augustine’s commentary on the psalms.

Methodius’ Oration on the psalms.

Hilary of Poitiers’ homilies on the psalms.

A medieval commentary on the Psalms.

St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on the Psalms. Another version of the commentary on Psalm 1.

Countess Marie de Champagne wrote a commentary on a psalm!?! Heh! Of course it’s about courtly love!

The Burnet Psalter: actually more of an all-purpose prayerbook and book of hours. Every page is scanned, and the text given alongside in modern font and explained!

The Theodore Psalter, a Byzantine psalter, explored as a sort of paper hypertext. Note the similarities to the Book of Kells.

The Luttrell Psalter for dialup and broadband. The explanations are not totally enlightening, but better than nothing. Here’s more info about the psalter, along with links to similar important works you can also look through.

The Macclesfield Psalter with some nice pictures of the manuscript. You can buy the whole schemozzle all scanned in as an Adobe Acrobat file, if you wish.

The Getty will let you look at this psalter’s pages with initials. This one, too.

An exhibit on Books of Hours that explains some of the psalter conventions, and another Books of Hours explanation site.

Picture of a besieged psalmist.

A modern psalter — in tanka form! (Not even as rengas, so a tad brief.)

A parallel Latin/English psalter, suitable for decoding medieval manuscript illos!

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Radiator Sickness

I write this not in a bad mood, and not in a good mood. I am in a half-asleep mood, and I have to get out of the house in about ten minutes when I really don’t want to move. But if I want food and coffee and a trip to church that doesn’t take a half hour’s walk in the cold, I must move….

Fitting that the gospel reading for this Sunday is “Stay awake!”

Alas, the ancient radiators of my building are acting up again. They just came in and worked on mine last week, and already it needs it again! So it’s lucky for me that the temperature has gone up somewhat. (But fear not. Since I’m in a building with other apartments whose radiators are working, I do get more heat than what the radiator is currently providing.)

I’m also not happy with my situation at archive.org. I admit that a free service probably is going to have some hiccups, especially over Thanksgivingtide. Still, I would like my six chapters of Surtees to show up somewhere before Judgment Day. 🙂

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Churches Burned in France’s Riots

Via The Anchoress. I’ve “translated” and added links to Alex Corvus‘ list of Christian churches burned and Christian cemeteries desecrated in the riots by the “youths” earlier this month.

5th Night. 31 oct-01 novembre. Mon-Tues
– La Teste-de-Buch (33260 Gironde). Cemetery desecrated.

10th Night. 05-06 novembre. Sat-Sun
– Li�vin (62800 Pas-de-Calais). Church. Incendiary device. Door.

11th Night. 06-07 novembre. Sun-Mon
– Lens (62300 Pas-de-Calais). St. Edouard Church. Incendiary device. Door.
– S�te (34200 H�rault). Church in l�Ile de Thau. 2 incendiary devices. Windows.

12th Night. 07-08 novembre. Mon-Tues
– Strasbourg (67000 Bas-Rhin). St. Beno�t (St. Benedict) Church. Incendiary devices. [Le Figaro – 10 nov 2005.]

15th Night. 10-11 novembre Thurs-Fri
– Houdain (62150 Pas-De-Calais). Polish Chapel. Church ransacked. (see letter by Patrick Bednarek, president of Poland)
– Rance (Belgium). St. Aldegonde Church. Church vandalized.

16th Night. 11-12 novembre. Fri-Sat
– Vesoul ( 70000 Haute-Sa�ne). Church. Door burnt.

17th Night. 12-13 novembre. Sat-Sun
– Brignoles (83170 Var). Church. Door burnt.

18th Night. 13-14 novembre.
– Nanteuil-l�s-Meaux (77100 Seine et Marne). Cemetery desecrated.

19th Night. 14-15 novembre.
– Draveil (91210 Essone) 2 chapels burnt? in the evangelical church in des Bergeries.

20e Nuit 15-16 novembre. Mardi-Mercredi
– Romans-sur-Is�re (26100 Dr�me). St. Jean-d�Ars Church. Arson.

All links inside the quotes are my own; they aren’t Mr. Corvus’ responsibility. And I’m just linking to the pictures. (I don’t read French, see, and I suspect that forum site may not be a nice one.) Also, this article says that it was the “presbyt�re” (rectory?) of l’Ile de Thau that got burned. Here’s a statement from Chirac about the church burned in Romans-sur-Is�re, which apparently got a big reaction. Here’s a small picture. The evangelical church in Draveil is apparently a member of the Assemblies of God.

This site has a letter to the President of France about the whole thing, as well as various other comments abou the whole Muslim violence situation from Indonesia to France. Which is sorta interesting, given that it’s apparently on the official site for the Arras diocese in France. If somebody reads French or Babelfish better than I, please translate!

Finally, somebody did burn a French mosque this week. I condemn this act too.

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Confiteor Meme

Speculative Catholic has tagged me with a meme! So, since I won’t remember in the morning if I don’t fill it out now….

First of all, some folks may be wondering what a “Confiteor” is. That’s the Latin word that starts the Penitential Rite at the beginning of Mass. You know, the bit where we say, “I confess to Almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault….”

So the idea behind this meme is that we make some embarrassing but venial confessions. Hokily dokily. I can do that. No pressure….

*thinking*

I confess that I don’t read my email very often. This is the real reason I got Google’s Gmail — so that I would have a giant hole in which to throw my email. One of the trials of my life is that I have to check my work email at least once a day. I used to love getting email. I’m really sorry that I find it such a trial now. But I really dread all the spam. I don’t check my surface mailbox very often, either.

I confess that even though my apartment is full of books and music, I spend so much time on the computer that I rarely read or listen to CDs anymore. (This is one reason I started the audioblog.)

I confess that I skipped reading most classic non-poetry literature because it always sounded so boring. Boring covers, boring blurbs, boring forewords, no murders — had to be boring. I only made exceptions for classics mentioned in science fiction, fantasies, or mysteries in a convincingly interesting manner. (This is another reason I started the audioblog.)

I confess that I would never have given opera a chance if it weren’t for Irene Adler. But then I found out that executions, murder, and suicide are really fun to listen to!

I confess that I have a really hard time keeping in touch with people unless I see them all the time. This includes members of my own family as well as friends. The more I forget to call or write them, the more ashamed I am that I’ve forgotten, so the less I call or write them. But hardly anybody ever calls or writes me unless I do it first.

I confess that I am sick and tired of my elder brother and his wife quarreling with my parents, and that they all four should just suck it up and come to terms, or at least come to visit during the holidays. I hate seeing people cry when there’s absolutely nothing I can do. They should at least cry at the people who can do something.

I confess that I put the “mess” in domesticity.

I confess that I’m enjoying reading this meme on other people’s blogs way too much.

So I hereby tag… Joy, Steven Riddle, and Mixolydian Mode. No pressure. 🙂

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Eucharist Means Thanksgiving

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about one of St. Catherine of Siena’s favorite phrases: “the table of the Cross”. It’s a phrase that neatly combines the aspects of the Eucharist as sacrifice and as meal”. It is the Cross that is our altar and our table, and Jesus is the spotless lamb we offer to God and then eat.

Here’s a passage from St. Catherine’s letters:

“…reflect, dearest daughter, that this food is not taken upon earth, but on high, and therefore the Son of God chose to be lifted up upon the wood of the Most Holy Cross, in order that we might receive this food upon this table on high…This is a food which while we are pilgrims in this life, draws to itself the fragrance of true and sincere virtues, which are prepared by the fire of divine charity, and received upon the table of the cross…This is the food that makes the soul angelic, and therefore it is called the food of angels; and also because the soul, separated from the body, tastes God in His essential Being. He satisfies the soul in such wise that she longs for no other thing nor can desire aught but what may help her more perfectly to keep and increase this food, so that she holds in hate what is contrary to it.”

The interesting thing about Catherine’s table is that she keeps very strongly in mind that it does not have to be approached only in the Mass. She is a great one for spiritual communion, and likewise for offering up her own sufferings and frustrations. She is perpetually thankful for what Jesus suffered, and perpetually aware that she is a member, a body part, of the Body of Christ. But she always returns back again to the Eucharist of the Mass, and the table of the Cross where we eat the Body of Christ and drink His Precious Blood. That is where she believed a scholar got true knowledge — by “feeding on the food of souls at the table of the holy Cross.” And those who feed on Christ on the cross must suffer with Christ on the cross.

“…hungered for souls, on the table of the most holy Cross, in company with the humble and immaculate Lamb. I do not see, Father, that this sweet food can be eaten anywhere else. Why not? Because we cannot eat it truly without enduring much; it must be eaten with the teeth of true patience and the lips of holy desire, on the Cross of many tribulations, from whatsoever side they may come — complaints, or the scandals in the world; and we must endure all things till death. Now is the time, dearest father, to show whether we are lovers of Christ crucified and rejoice in this food or not… there do you eat this food, bathed in the Blood of Christ crucified.”

“Joy, joy in the Cross with me! So may the Cross be a bed where the soul may rest: a table where may be tasted heavenly food, the fruit of patience with quietness and assurance.”

“Your Father fed His sons at the table of the Cross.”

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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Retirees Conquer the World

This is cool. The Ignatian Lay Volunteer Corps brings together retired persons fifty years or older working with and for the poor, together with spiritual guidance and prayerful reflection. Volunteers make a one year commitment to working two days a week, with an opportunity to re-up each year. This is work for God that is also working on one’s own soul — in the best Jesuit spiritual tradition. Good stuff all around.

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Success Favors the Bold

Afghan women win big at the polls!

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Waiting to Die

I think this post says it all about the joys of nationalized healthcare in Canada. Go look at the chart of typical waits for normal procedures and be appalled. And then there’s this:

In Canada, MRI’s are rarely available and are underutilized.

There are a litany of horror stories of patients left in hospital hallways for days on end, or worse.

In NY State, prisoners (poorly treated by US medical standards) released on parole have to wait 45 days to get on a healthcare program. In other words, if that parolee needed heart surgery (and didn’t get it in prison), he would get it faster than if he were a law abiding, Canadian citizen.

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The History of Telenovelas!

I have long said that telenovelas (Mexican and Latin American soap operas) rule. It appears that the rest of the world agrees with me.

Sigh. Why don’t we have any Spanish language channels on the cable here (well, except the morning programming on EWTN)? Sigh.

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St Gertrude the Great?

Okay, so who the heck is St. Gertrude, and what makes her so great? Heck, she’s the only female saint called the Great. Why?

St. Gertrude was an orphan, her family name unknown, who was raised by Benedictine nuns and brought into their community. Like most nuns at that point in medieval times, she was a scholar. Initially, she was more interested in her studies than her God, but when she was 25, she had a change of heart. From then on she became a great mystic and had the requisite visions, miracles, and so forth… but she also wrote Latin works which were helpful in spiritual life. St. Teresa de Avila, for example, chose her as her model and guide. TAN is apparently publishing some of these works under the title of The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great. She also wrote a set of Spiritual Exercises which are still used today in some communities.

Here’s a short but very useful intro which also tells you why she’s “the Great”.

As always, we can consult the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Another good page on St. Gertrude. This one is part of a POD, do-it-yourself lay apostolate: The Mission to Empty Purgatory. Yes, they mean to empty purgatory by using St. Gertrude the Great’s prayer, which allegedly releases 1000 souls per time said. Yes, they have a pledge page. Yes, they have a page to show how close they’ve gotten to their estimated goal: only 90 million some to go.

Dang, we American Catholics do think big, don’t we? Hee! Let’s do it!

(Somewhere, my poor Evangelical friend Joy is cringing and wondering what Maureen is going to advocate next….)

Also , one of our “traditional” separated brethren has created a whole webpage on just this saint! It’s good info, so ignore the radtrad nonsense and use the good stuff, in the real Catholic tradition of despoiling the Egyptians. 🙂

Here’s some information on her devotion to the Sacred Heart.