Meh

Since Gumby Syndrome (aka Ehlers Danlos Syndrome) has been the bane of my existance lately, posting is going to be haphazard until everything settles down, which should be sometime later this week. Or next.

Better Know a Saint: The Saint

Yesh, you read that right. Roger Moore is The Saint. And Val Kilmer, in a later incarnation. No, I can't choose my favorite. They may play the same role, but they bring their own interpretation, both of which are very interesting.


For those of you who have no idea what Brigid is talking about today, let me introduce you to The Saint. Also know as Simon Templar, fighter of Bad Guys. This is pre-Bond Moore, and I have no doubt that it was The Saint, that got Moore the role. Simon fought the Bad Guys while impeccably dress and manners (except when he absolutely deck some guy) and always got the girl. He was also one cool cat who played his cards close to his chest. If you want to know Simon Templar, watch those eyebrows of his. He and Spock probably had the same eyebrow coach, if there is such a thing. Baddies often learned a hard lesson - don't mistake that bonhomie for weakness. Cross Templar, harm an innocent - and you perish. Very neatly, but you still bit the dust.

Now, about Val Kilmer. Basically the same Simon Templar, more firepower, a bit of an edge to him (bad if you piss him off), more skin and faster cars. To his credit, Kilmer brings his own interpretation to Templar, not copying Moore, but he still has that eyebrow thing going on.

After all, The Saint has to have a least one tell so the audience will know when the baddie is going to have a bit of unpleasantness thrust upon him!

Better Know A Saint: Blessed Marie Poussepin

Marie Poussepin is my idea of a modern woman! OK, you say, she was born in 1653, how does that make her modern?

For starters, her mother and local parish priest educated her. Not every woman at that time had access to formal education. When her mother died, she took responsibility for running her house and raising her younger brother.

Her father, a stocking manufacturer, died when Marie was about thirty. Marie took over the family business. Now this is were she shows modern women how to rock:

Realizing that making stockings by hand was tedious and limited production, Marie installed the latest mechanical technology, modernizing her factory. Not only did she learn to run them all, she trained her employees to do so.

Along with modernizing her factory, she set up a benefit system for her employees; that's right, she created a union, or as it would have probably been called them, a guild. Norma Rae would be proud!

After a few years of running the stocking factory, she felt the calling to serve God and became a member of a Dominican Tertiary (Third Order) in 1690. Tertiaries don't enter an abbey or convent, but instead live in the community, often keeping their secular vocation. Their days include not only work, but prayer, study, and sharing their faith with others. In Marie's case, she turned the operations of the factory to her brother so she could devote herself to helping others, even caring for people in her home.

She later moved to Sainville, France, establishing a house that eventually joined the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin (called the Presentation Sisters), a Dominican order concerned with education and caring for the sick. Her order was also associated with the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, who we all know today from their charity-based thrift stores.

Today American Presentation Sisters are active members of PaxChristi, a Catholic peace and social justice organisation.

We stand for the dignity of life and the rights of each human person and so we oppose any policy or course of action which diminishes life including:

• capital punishment
• violence as a first response to conflict
• shameful poverty
• abortion
• euthanasia
• lack of access to healthcare
• mistreatment of immigrants
• torture

Blessed Marie was Venerated (said to be a good role model for Catholics) - the first stage of canonization, December 21, 1991, Beatification occurred on November 20, 1994 . Beatification allows a person to be honored by a particular group, and there has to be evidence of a posthumous miracle. Paul II. She is still awaiting canonization, which requires a second miracle.

Better Know a Saint: Fiacc

I like Irish saints, considering my father's side of the family is Irish, with a little Seneca and English thrown in. Fiacc is and old saint and there's really not a lot about him. A widower, he had one son Fiacre, who also became a saint.

Fiacc lived somewhere in the early Fifth to early Sixth century and was a convert of St. Patrick. He was the son of a prince (MacDara) and nephew of a bard (Dubhtach) so he was very well connected. He seems to have inherited a bit of the bard - he may have written a "metrical psalter" about the life of St. Patrick. A metrical psalter is (at least the way I understand it) a poem written as a hymn. The "Old Hundreth" is an example.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

I'm still looking for this online, but I can't find it, just references to to it.

Another work attributed to him is a hymn about St. Brigid, "Audite virginis laudes" which details some of Brigid's miracles. The only thing is, neither this work, nor the piece about Patrick can be properly attributed to Fiacc because there isn't enough evidence, just legend.

Okay, you've got me: I chose Fiacc because of Brigid. And he's Irish. All I can say is "Nil aon tintean mar do thintean fein". (There's no hearth like your own hearth.)

Better Know a Saint: Saint Denis

This seems like an appropriate Saint, because the movie Zombieland seems to popular at the moment. Yeah, there's a connection; no Denis was not a zombie. Well, probably not.

Pope Fabian decided to send Denis to Paris to convert the numerous pagan priests still in abundance. The locals liked their pagan ways and decided to behead Denis on the hill known as Montremartre. You'd think the beheading would be the end of poor Denis, but according to accounts, he picked up his head, cradled it in his arm and continues walking along for two miles. When the sermon he had begun (before he was rudely interrupted) ended he dropped dead and was buried in that spot.

To me that sounds very zombie like. And a way to get some converts, I'd bet

Better Know a Saint: St. John The Hermit

In looking for today's saint, I came across a site whose owner has a very personal connection to St. John the Hermit. More about that later.

John the Hermit was born in Egypt and was part of a group of ascetics known for their healing skills. The original group of ascetics numbered 35. By the time the group had traveled to Cyprus, Turkey and finally Crete, their number had risen to 99, including John. What happened on the last leg of the voyage (around the year 1300) is most interesting.

A maritime storm made it impossible to berth in southern Crete as they had intended. As a result, they landed on Gavdos, the southernmost Greek island. The storm lasted 24 days - that's one stalled low pressure system! Upon reaching their final destination, the ascetics realized that something, make that someone, was missing: John. God made John invisible, and he had never boarded the boat.

Realizing they had left John in Gavdos, they called out for him from the beach. Hearing their call, John said a prayer, tossed his tunic into the sea and sailed to Crete in only three hours. Does this make John the first (and maybe only) surfer saint?

When he arrived in Azogires, John healed the residents of a prison. After getting their freedom, the grateful ex-prisoners built a church around the cave he lived in. This brings me back to the beginning, to a family that has a very personal connection with John the Hermit.

I'll just point you to Lucky's blog, Azogires - The Alpha Kafenion Tales and stories about Azogires and The Alpha Cafenion. He tells of the importance of John the Hermit to his family and the history of John in Azogires. After reading his blog, Crete is definitely added to my list of places to go.

Here's an interesting project, and one that's sure to raise the hackles of many Christians. Conservapedia, modeled after Wikipedia, has decided to rewrite the Holy Bible to fit their worldview. Welcome to the Conservative Bible Project. What does the Project intend to do? Evidently the King James Version contains a great deal of Liberal Bias, and they are going to correct it by:

1. Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias

2. Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, "gender inclusive" language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity

3. Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level

4. Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop; defective translations use the word "comrade" three times as often as "volunteer"; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as "word", "peace", and "miracle".

5. Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as "gamble" rather than "cast lots"; using modern political terms, such as "register" rather than "enroll" for the census
Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.

6. Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning

7. Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story

8. Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels

9. Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word "Lord" rather than "Jehovah" or "Yahweh" or "Lord God."

Here's some tidbits from the Gospel of Mark for you to peruse:

And Jesus warned them, "I caution you, beware of the bread of the intellectuals and the bread of Herod."

And as Jesus emerged from the water, the heavens opened and the Divine Guide descended like a dove upon Him:

And lastly, this is from the Epistle to Philemon:

From the KJV:

Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer,

From the new Conservative Bible:

Paul, in prison for Jesus Christ, and our brother Timothy, say to our friend and fellow volunteer Philemon,

And why the verse is being changed:

"fellow labourer" is misleading today, and falsely connotes socialism

I don't think this will fly well with those Christians who accept only the KJV, and their are quite a few denominations who fit into that category.

The Conservative Bible: Because the everybody else's bibles have a well known Liberal Bias.

I haven't been here since May?

Yeah, that's sadly true. The fusion surgery isn't until February. I've had problems keeping up with anything that involves sitting. But I have finally found a chair setting the best fit for me. Since my driving is at a minimum for the moment, I promise to post at least every other day out of sheer boredom. After all there are lots of saints out there whom no one knows about, and I feel bored enough duty bound to bring them to you.