Calendar Class of November 18, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Buona Festa! Before the clock struck 9, our intrepid group had already been to Mass in the crypt of St. Peter's and begun class at St. Paul's!

Liturgical: Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time

Today is the Optional Memorial of the Dedication of the Basilicas of Sts. Peter and Paul. The whole Church celebrates the dedication of the two great Roman basilicas of St. Peter at the Vatican and of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls. The Basilica of St. Peter stands on the site of the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, where Nero's Circus stood. It was here that St. Peter was executed. Recent excavations have shown that the present basilica which, in the seventeenth century replaced the ancient Constantinian basilica, was built over the tomb of St. Peter, just as the previous basilica. It was consecrated by Urban VIII on November 18, 1626. St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls, situated at the other end of the city on the Ostian Way, is built near the place St. Paul was martyred. It was almost completely destroyed by fire in 1823 and was rebuilt in sumptuous fashion by Gregory XVI and Pius IX and consecrated by the latter on December 10, 1854. The celebration of the anniversary of these two dedications has been kept, nevertheless, on November 18.

An audio.

Sanctoral: In the USA it is also the Optional Memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (1769-1852). Rose was born in Grenoble, France in 1769, and became a Visitation nun during the French Revolution. After her convent was closed during the reign of terror, she joined the Society of the Sacred Heart. She was sent to the Louisiana territory as a missionary and founded a boarding school for daughters of pioneers near St. Louis and opened the first free school west of Missouri. She also began a school for Indians. She died in 1852 in St. Charles, Missouri, and was canonized in 1988.

Human: Ancient Rome--Trade fairs started, which lasted until November 20. Cicero mentions that Numa Pompillius, the semi-legendary king of Rome, established a mercatus to facilitate trade and linked it with the ludi Cereales. From then on, Romans began to gather at the markets for social and economic purposes.

401 AD – Visigoths, led by Alaric, crossed the Alps and invaded Northern Italy. In Rome itself, the city walls were strengthened in preparation. Alaric’s troops joined the siege of Milan, in which emperor Honorius was hiding. Stilicho, who had arrived with the reinforcements, fought with the Visigoths the battle of Polentia on 6 April 402 AD. After this clash, Alaric promised to leave Italy.

Natural: Key materials gathered and donated for the massive rebuilding of the Basilica of St Paul's outside the walls, reconsecrated in 1851: salvaged ancient marbles, donated alabaster columns and windows from Egypt, lapis lazuli from Russia, and other new materials like granite, Carrara marble, and travertine. 

Book of the Day:

Rebuilding St. Paul’s Outside the Walls: Architecture and the Catholic Revival in the 19th Century by Richard Wittman

Italian: Edera (ivy)

Ivy, which is known as edera in Italian, is an evergreen climbing plant (pianta rampicante) that thrives on walls, rocks and trees. The name comes from the Latin hedera.

Quote: "The beauty and harmony of the churches, destined to give praise to God, also draws us human being, limited and sinful, to convert to form a 'cosmos,' a well-ordered structure, in intimate communion with Jesus".

--Pope Benedict XIV