Calendar Class of July 31, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

The providential parade of particularly interesting personages to Piety Hill continues unabated! Meet my new friend, Angel Adams Parham, who spoke at the Kirk Center yesterday on her upcoming book, History in One Square Block. When discussing homeschooling and Classical Education, it didn't take long for us to realize that we are "kindred spirits." Take a look at one of Angel's most beautiful and creative projects, the Nyansa Classical Community!

Liturgical: Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time

“Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” 

Matthew 13:47-53

Sanctoral: Ignatius of Loyola (October 23, 1491 – July 31, 1556)

Luther nailed his theses to the church door at Wittenberg in 1517. Seventeen years later, Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society that was to play so prominent a part in the Catholic Reformation. He was an implacable foe of Protestantism. Yet the seeds of ecumenism may be found in his words: “Great care must be taken to show forth orthodox truth in such a way that if any heretics happen to be present they may have an example of charity and Christian moderation. No hard words should be used nor any sort of contempt for their errors be shown.”

Patron saint of retreat participants.

More info here.

Human: 30 BC – the battle of Alexandria took place between Octavian (Augustus) and Mark Antony. The army of Mark Antony deserts, leading to Antony's suicide.

French became the official language of Quebec – 1974. A brief video on the history of Quebec.

The ashes of astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker were deposited on the Moon – 1999

Natural: At the Field's End: When Boundaries, Borderlands and Margins Become Places of Revelation, the latest edition of Nature Notes by Sheila Carroll

Italian: Grossomodo (roughly / approximately)

Quote: "Our answer to the question “Aren’t the liberal arts racist?” is a definitive no. While they can be slanted or framed in ways that are racially exclusive, such framing is not integral to what the liberal arts are. Rather, the liberal arts are capacious enough to embrace multiple peoples and cultures across time and place, integrating them into a Great Conversation that spans the ages."

--Angel Adams Parham, from her essay in The Liberating Arts: Why We Need Liberal Arts Education. Here's Jason Jewel's review.