Calendar Class of May 9, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

I borrowed this Carpe Diem moment from the McConnell Center students who are staying with us now as it exemplifies how utterly historic the papal election was last night (you can see a few photos I posted from my own Carpe Diem moments on Instagram). A few days earlier we were pulled aside by NBC and asked some questions about our thoughts on the conclave. Fortunately, NBC had the foresight to bring the students back just before the white smoke appeared so that they were able to capture their spontaneous reactions to the announcement of the election of the first Pope from the United States (he is also a citizen of Peru!). Habemus Papam! Viva Leone XIV! Cordelia is particularly pleased with Cardinal Prevost's name choice, as she has waited eight years to get her own Papal name. Maya has "Karolina" after Karol Wojtyla, Joseph is after Joseph Ratzinger, Valentina Sofia Francesca is after Pope Francis (and Francesca Romana), and now Cordelia has added on the name "Leonora". We have yet to hear from the new Pope himself why he chose "Leo," but we do know that some of the Leos before him left quite a legacy: Leo I halted Attila the Hun from ravaging Rome, Leo III crowned Charlemagne, Leo IV built the Leonine wall around the Vatican, Leo X excommunicated Martin Luther, and, finally, Leo XIII gave us the St. Michael the Archangel prayer and the encyclical Rerum Novarum.

Liturgical: Friday the Third Week of Easter

He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”

Acts 9:1-20

Sanctoral: The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Pachomius of Tabenna (290-346), founder of the cenobitical life, born near Esneh, Egypt; died at Phebôou around the year 346. After spending some time with the hermit Palemon, he withdrew to Tabennisi where he introduced community life among the hermits who gathered around him. Before he died he had established nine monasteries for men and two for women. His order continued until the 11th century. Represented in hermit's garb, or crossing the Nile on the back of a crocodile.

The rule that Pachomius drew up was said to have been dictated to him by an angel, and it is this rule that both St. Benedict in the west and St. Basil in the east drew upon to develop their better known rules of cenobitic life.

Human: 328 AD – Athanasius the Great became a bishop of Alexandria.

480 AD – former emperor Julius Nepos was murdered in Dalmatia. He was probably killed at the behest of one of his predecessors, Glicerius, who abdicated in June 474 AD.

1386 Treaty of Windsor between Portugal and England is ratified at Windsor, cementing and strengthening ties between the two kingdoms. The treaty guarantees the mutual security of both nations and strengthens commercial ties. It is the oldest diplomatic alliance still in force.

1865 President Andrew Johnson issues a proclamation declaring that armed resistance in the South is virtually at an end, the commonly accepted end date of the American Civil War

Natural: Some May gardening tips-- growing lilac bushes, how to keep cats out of the garden, and best flowers to help out the bees

Italian: Fracasso (smash / crash / uproar)

Quote: This morning the McConnell students and I descended down into the musty catacombs on Appia Antica, then ascended back up into the Roman sunshine where we heard the words of the new Pope at his first Mass, some in English, on the radio in the gift shop. We chatted with the shopkeepers (twins!) about how happy they were with the choice of Cardinal Prevost and the name he selected for himself, Leo XIV. Later on in the day, my friend Lidia posted this quote below, which seemed to capture the hopeful spirit of renewal that has been spreading throughout Rome since last night.

"The Church was buried in the catacombs; she rose again with Constantine. She died in the Dark Ages; she rose again with Charlemagne. She died with the Renaissance; she rose again with the saints of the Counter-Reformation. You cannot kill the Catholic Church."

—Fr. Ronald Knox