Calendar Class of November 14, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Carpe sarcophagum! Today I wandered into one of my favorite churches in Rome, San Salvatore in Lauro, where this empty coffin, draped in black velvet, was symbolically placed before the altar. November is the month during which the Universal Church prays together for the dead. It is a beautiful and dramatic memento mori addition to the church's already dramatic Baroque style. Behind the coffin, on the front of the altar, is a mother pelican carved in gold, feeding her young with her own blood (you can read all about that in the Natural Cycle lesson below). Flanking the gold tabernacle on either side are silver and gold reliquaries in front of a golden rays surrounding a statue of Our Lady of Loreto, being crowned by a stucco angel above. There is much else to describe in this one frame of this beautiful, and little-known church located at the head of the via Coronari near Bernini's angel bridge that leads to Castel Sant' Angelo and St. Peter's Basilica. But the art is not the church's best kept secret. It also boasts relics of St. Jude Thadeus, St. Pio of Pietrelcina, St. John Paul II, and Josemaria Escriva. Temporarily, the church has relics of St. Charbel of Lebanon, a saint of great importance to me (and Lebanon, of course), which I was shocked to stumble upon today. Even more surprising, the relic of the precious blood of Mantua will be coming to this church in just a few days on November 17, where it will be venerated until November 25. This is the first time in history that the reliquary has ever left Mantua, where, according to tradition, it was brought from Calvary by the Roman centurian Longinus, who thrust his spear into the side of Jesus and converted on the spot. Here is an article on the Catholic veneration of the Precious Blood, and the relics around the world, including the one we will see in a few days at San Salvatore in Lauro.

Liturgical: Friday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time

Wisdom 13:1-9

For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists, nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works; but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water, or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods, let them know how much better than these is their Lord, for the author of beauty created them. And if people were amazed at their power and working, let them perceive from them how much more powerful is the one who formed them. For from the greatness and beauty of created things comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. Yet these people are little to be blamed, for perhaps they go astray while seeking God and desiring to find him. For while they live among his works, they keep searching, and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. Yet again, not even they are to be excused; for if they had the power to know so much that they could investigate the world, how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?

Sanctoral: Blessed John Licci (1400-1511) was born to a poor peasant farmer near Palermo, Sicily. His mother died in childbirth, and his father was forced to leave his infant alone at home while he worked in the fields. One day a neighbor woman heard the baby's cries and, in compassion, brought the child into her home to care for him. When she laid the baby on the bed next to her paralyzed husband, he was miraculously cured of his disease. Mr. Licci was unhappy with the woman's meddling and brought his son back into his home. However, when he did so, his neighbor's paralysis returned. Mr. Licci took this as a sign that God wanted the couple to help him care for his son. This was the first of many miracles John Licci would perform throughout his life. He joined the Dominican Order in 1415 and was a friar for 96 years, the longest period known for any religious to wear the habit. His miracles include the multiplication of building materials used for a convent he founded, miraculously feeding a poor widow and her six children, raising a dead boy to life, and curing three people whose heads had been crushed in accidents. Consequently, he has been designated the patron saint of head injuries. He is the longest-living saint in the Catholic Church, dying at the age of 111.

Human: Birthday of William of Orange, King of England, Scotland and Ireland (1689-1702) and Stadtholder, born in The Hague, Dutch Republic 1650; Leopold Mozart, German composer and teacher of his son Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born in Augsburg ( 1719); Johann van Beethoven, German musician, Ludwig van Beethoven's father and first teacher, born in Mechelen, Habsburg Netherlands (d. 1740 ); Charles Lyell, Scottish geologist (Principles of Geology), born in Kinnordy, Angus, Scotland 1797; 1812 Maria Christina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies and saint, born in Cagliari, Kingdom of Sardinia (d. 1836); 1816 John Curwen, English Congregationalist minister and founder of Tonic sol-fa music system, born in Heckmondwike, Yorkshire, England (d. 1880); 1889 Jawaharlal Nehru 1st Prime Minister of India (1947-64) and important leader of the Indian independence movement, born in Allahabad, North-Western Provinces, British India; 1893 Carlo Emilio Gadda, Italian writer (La Madonna dei filosofi - The Philosoper's Madonna; Giornale di guerra e di prigionia - War and Prison Diary), poet, and engineer (Vatican City power station), born in Milan, Italy (d. 1973); 1907 Astrid Lindgren Swedish children book author (Pippi Longstocking), born in Vimmerby, Sweden; 1907 Pedro Arrupe, Spanish Jesuit priest (1st responder after the bombing of Hiroshima), born in Bilbao, Spain (d. 1991); 1935 Hussein bin Talal, King of Jordan (1952-99), born in Amman, Jordan (d. 1999); 1948 Charles III King of the United Kingdom (2022-) Prince of Wales (1958-2022), born in London, England

Natural: How the mother pelican became an artistic symbol of Christ. A theological article on this symbolism here. And a longer, visually rich article on the pelican in Catholic art right here.

Italian: Rugiada (dew)

• goccia / gocciolina di rugiada = dewdrop

• temperatura di rugiada = dew point

• rugiadoso = dewy

Etc.: Beauty and the Moral Imagination - Jared Zimmerer

What a find this video was for me! I know Jared and his work (first at Word on Fire and now at Benedictine College) but somehow had missed this video, released two years ago now. Thank you, Jared, for describing and articulating the moral imagination so well.

Just for Fun: Mesopotamian Beauty and Hairstyles

Quote: "The moral imagination is the principal possession that man does not share with the beasts. It is man’s power to perceive ethical truth, abiding law, in the seeming chaos of many events. Without the moral imagination, man would live merely day to day, or rather moment to moment, as dogs do. It is the strange faculty—inexplicable if men are assumed to have an animal nature only—of discerning greatness, justice, and order, beyond the bars of appetite and self-interest." –Russell Kirk, Enemies of the Permanent Things