Calendar Class of July 2, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Finishing off the flurry of Kirk Center seminars over the past week was this small in-house seminar yesterday on conservatism in China and conservatism in England. We were extremely fortunate to have speakers with us who are not only native to those countries, but also the most active in the field of conservative studies in those countries today.

Liturgical: Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Psalm 34:7-8, 10-11, 12-13

The angel of the Lord encamps    

around those who fear him, and delivers them.

O taste and see that the Lord is good;    

happy are those who take refuge in him.

The young lions suffer want and hunger,    

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, O children, listen to me;    

I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

Which of you desires life,    

and covets many days to enjoy good?

Keep your tongue from evil,    

and your lips from speaking deceit.

Sanctoral: The Roman Martyrology commemorates Sts. Processus and Martinian whose bodies lie in a chapel at St. Peter's in Rome. During the time when Sts. Peter and Paul were prisoners in the Mamertine, legend says that these two jailors together with forty others were converted through the prayers and miracles of the holy apostles. They were baptized with water that suddenly sprang out from a rock. The jailors then wished to help the apostles make their escape. Both died as martyrs for the faith under the Emperor Nero (about 67 A.D.).

St. Swithin, bishop (800-862) from England is also commemorated on this day. The Anglican Church celebrates his feast on July 15, known as "St. Swithin's Day."

The Church also honors St. Bernardino Realino (1530-1616), who was born in Modena, Italy. He trained as an attorney, but at the age of thirty-four, Bernardine became a member of the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits. He was appointed years later to the post of rector of the Jesuit college at Lecce, remaining there until death. Bernardine was canonized in 1947.

Oliver Plunkett (November 1, 1629 – July 1, 1681)

Archbishop Plunkett was arrested and imprisoned in Dublin Castle in 1679, but his trial was moved to London. After deliberating for 15 minutes, a jury found him guilty of fomenting revolt. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered in July 1681. Pope Paul VI canonized Oliver Plunkett in 1975.

Human: Death of Nostradamus (physician, astrologer) – 1566, Ernest Hemingway (writer) – 1961, Betty Grable (actress) – 1973, Jimmy Stewart (actor) – 1997, Mario Puzo (author) – 1999

419 AD – the West Roman Emperor Valentinian III, the son of Flavius Constantius and Galli Placidia was born. During the reign of Valentinian III, the Western Roman Empire lost a significant part of its territories to Germanic tribes (Vandals under the command of Geneseric, Visigoths, Suebi, Franks and Saxons). Valentinian III’s ineffective rule after the death of his mother led the state to chaos.

Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator – 1937

Natural: Steve Fossett became the first person to circumnavigate the world solo in a balloon – 2002; An alligator was reported to have fallen from the sky at Charleston, S.C., on Anson Street during a thunderstorm – 1843; Northeast Texas was pelted with softball-size hail, and Dallas experienced wind gusts of 90 mph – 1989

Italian: A bruciapelo (point-blank)

Quote: "Saint Augustine says to us that if we want the world to be a better place, we have to begin with ourselves, we have to begin with our own lives, our own hearts." -- Pope Leo XIV