Calendar Class of August 13, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Carpe Kirk! The influence of the village of Mecosta on the mind and stories of Russell Kirk will be my presentation topic tonight at the annual tea party at the village church. The Wizard of Mecosta: Russell Kirk, Gothic Fiction, and the Moral Imagination by Camilo Peralta is the perfect reference. This book, among other factors, has inspired me to put together a homeschool course on "The Moral Imagination in the Fiction of Russell Kirk." Thank you, Camilo!

Liturgical: Wednesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time

If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.

Matthew 18:15-20

Sanctoral: Michael J. McGivney (August 12, 1852 – August 14, 1890)

Michael Joseph McGivney was a genuine pastor who, in the words of Pope Francis, was unafraid to share “the smell of his sheep.” He promoted families whose members were strong in their faith expressed through generous following of the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. In a decree read at the beatification Mass, Pope Francis praised Fr. McGivney’s “zeal and the proclamation of the Gospel and generous concern for his brothers and sisters.” These “made him an outstanding witness of Christian solidarity and fraternal assistance.”

Human: International Left-Handers Day-- Facts and Folklore

Many left-handers have a symmetrical brain, meaning that the left and right portions of their brain are shaped alike. Right-handers often have an asymmetrical brain: The left cerebral hemisphere is often larger than the right cerebral hemisphere.

264 BC – after the consul Marcus Fulvius Flaccus won the Etruscan city of Volsinii, the inhabitants were displaced lower, to the very shore of the lake, and thousands of statues were looted. In addition, the inhabitants of the conquered town asked for the transfer of the Volsinii god Vertumnus to Rome, where a new temple on the Aventine Hill was dedicated to him on 13 August.

Death of Julia Child (chef and author) – 2004

Natural: A plane flew into a hurricane for the first series of bumpy flights for the National Hurricane Research Project, then part of the U.S. Weather Bureau – 1956

Blue sun observed widely in the South, thought to presage Nat Turner slave uprising: phenomenon continued for several days – 1831

Hurricane Connie hit the North Carolina coast with winds up to 87 miles per hour – 1955

Italian: Sconfinamento (trespassing)

Quote: Let your face and hands, 

like the church clock, 

always tell how your inner works are going. 

—Charles Haddon Spurgeon, English clergyman (1834–92)