top of page
Search

Calendar Class of November 8, 2025

  • Writer: Andrea Kirk Assaf
    Andrea Kirk Assaf
  • 2 hours ago
  • 3 min read

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

Carpe septem ecclesia peregrinatio! The students' Carpe Diem moment today will be a very long moment indeed as they are undertaking the famous seven church pilgrimage begun by St. Philip Neri, illustrated here with the cheery cartoons of Miss Hannah O'Connor. St. Philip, whose prayer card is visible in the upper left hand corner of the photo, had the brilliant idea to organize a long walk around Rome, all the way outside the walls to the catacombs and back, with stops at all of the four major papal basilicas and three of the most ancient minor ones to boot. St. Philip undertook each of his evangelical efforts with a certain flair and dose of good humor. He made sure to add in an al fresco picnic along the Appia Antica to the 25 km (15.5 miles) long itinerary, where musicians and singers would refresh the weary walkers with some entertainment during the meal. Beati ambulantes, peregrini!
Carpe septem ecclesia peregrinatio! The students' Carpe Diem moment today will be a very long moment indeed as they are undertaking the famous seven church pilgrimage begun by St. Philip Neri, illustrated here with the cheery cartoons of Miss Hannah O'Connor. St. Philip, whose prayer card is visible in the upper left hand corner of the photo, had the brilliant idea to organize a long walk around Rome, all the way outside the walls to the catacombs and back, with stops at all of the four major papal basilicas and three of the most ancient minor ones to boot. St. Philip undertook each of his evangelical efforts with a certain flair and dose of good humor. He made sure to add in an al fresco picnic along the Appia Antica to the 25 km (15.5 miles) long itinerary, where musicians and singers would refresh the weary walkers with some entertainment during the meal. Beati ambulantes, peregrini!

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much."

Luke 16:9-15 


Sanctoral: Blessed John Duns Scotus (1266-1308), a Scottish Franciscan priest and theologian who died in 1308. He was beatified in 1993 and the the founder of the Scotistic School in Theology, and until the time of the French Revolution his thought dominated the Roman Catholic faculties of theology in nearly all the major universities of Europe. He is chiefly known for his theology on the Absolute Kingship of Jesus Christ, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and his philosophic refutation of evolution. He is also known as the "Doctor of Mary Immaculate" because of his defense of the Immaculate Conception.


Holy Four Crowned Martyrs (d. 305), a group of five Christian sculptors of Hungary, martyred under Diocletian in 306. Their bodies were taken to Rome, where a biographer's error confused them with four martyrs of Albano. The basilica of the four crowned saints, built on the Coelian Hill, is one of the most characteristic of medieval Rome.


Human: 392 Roman Emperor Theodosius I declares Christianity the state religion


1431 Birthday of Vlad the Impaler (Wallachian Prince). More on the complicated life of Vlad here.


ODDLY ENOUGH, it is also the birthday of Bram Stoker (1847), the author of the novel Dracula, inspired by Vlad the Impaler (It often has been thought that Stoker based the title character of his novel Dracula on Vlad the Impaler. Though Stoker’s notes for the novel do include mentions of “Dracula,” the historical account from which the notes were taken mentions only the appellation, not the deeds for which its bearer was known. Some scholars have speculated that Stoker’s conversations with a noted historian, Hermann Bamburger, may have provided him with information on Vlad’s violent nature, though there is no concrete evidence to support that theory.)



1519 First meeting of Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II and Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés in Tenochtitlan, Mexico


1701 William Penn presents the Charter of Privileges, guaranteeing religious freedom for the colony of Pennsylvania


1897 Birthday of Doris Day


2005 Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia, the first woman to lead an African country


Natural: With Thanksgiving looming, it's time to Talk Turkey-- What is that wobbly little thing on the turkey’s beak called?

The snood is the flap of skin above a turkey’s beak, but don’t confuse it with the dewlap which is also wobbly. It connects the head to the neck, under the beak.


Italian: 19 Ways to Say “Cold” in Italian

  • Fa freddo is what you’ll use for weather-related cold. A popular phrase you’ll hear a lot is Ma che freddo fa! (What cold weather!)

  • È freddo, on the other hand, is used to describe something cold, like a drink, a room, or even a person. For example: Questo cappuccino è freddo (This cappuccino is cold) — yes, it’s just as disappointing as it sounds!


Quote: “Do you not think that there are things which you cannot understand, and yet which are; that some people see things that others cannot? But there are things old and new which must not be contemplate by men´s eyes, because they know -or think they know- some things which other men have told them. Ah, it is the fault of our science that it wants to explain all; and if it explain not, then it says there is nothing to explain.”


― Bram Stoker, Dracula

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page