Calendar Class of September 16, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

What a catch-- Carpe Salmo! The Latin word for salmon is salmo, which is also the root of the English word "salmon". The word likely comes from the Latin verb salire, meaning "to leap," a fitting description of the fish's behavior. We caught this snapshot of a King or Chinook salmon outside Manistee recently, thanks to our friend and guide Tim, an expert salmon fisherman. Knowing that I try to capture as many seasonal phenomena as possible for this blog, he led us on a local tour of salmon related spots as they are gathering for their "run" upstream right now. Read about the life cycle of the Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan here! After this spot we visited the Little Manistee River Wier, where we were able to see a plethora of salmon gathered at the fish ladder, waiting for their turn to head upstream. This facility was built to harvest salmon eggs in the Fall and Steelhead eggs in the Spring, as part of Michigan's salmon stocking program (and other fish, but salmon are tastiest).

Liturgical: Tuesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time

As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town.

When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.”

Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

Luke 7:11-17

Sanctoral: Saint Cornelius (d. 253)

There was no pope for 14 months after the martyrdom of Saint Fabian because of the intensity of the persecution of the Church. During the interval, the Church was governed by a college of priests. Saint Cyprian, a friend of Cornelius, writes that Cornelius was elected pope “by the judgment of God and of Christ, by the testimony of most of the clergy, by the vote of the people, with the consent of aged priests and of good men.”

The greatest problem of Saint Cornelius’s two-year term as pope had to do with the Sacrament of Penance and centered on the readmission of Christians who had denied their faith during the time of persecution. Two extremes were finally both condemned. Cyprian, primate of North Africa, appealed to the pope to confirm his stand that the relapsed could be reconciled only by the decision of the bishop.

In Rome, however, Saint Cornelius met with the opposite view. After his election, a priest named Novatian (one of those who had governed the Church) had himself consecrated a rival bishop of Rome—one of the first antipopes. He denied that the Church had any power to reconcile not only the apostates, but also those guilty of murder, adultery, fornication, or second marriage! Cornelius had the support of most of the Church (especially of Cyprian of Africa) in condemning Novatianism, though the sect persisted for several centuries. Saint Cornelius held a synod at Rome in 251 and ordered the “relapsed” to be restored to the Church with the usual “medicines of repentance.”

The friendship of Cornelius and Cyprian was strained for a time when one of Cyprian’s rivals made accusations about him. But the problem was cleared up.

A document from Cornelius shows the extent of organization in the Church of Rome in the mid-third century: 46 priests, seven deacons, seven subdeacons. It is estimated that the number of Christians totaled about 50,000. He died as a result of the hardships of his exile in what is now Civitavecchia.

Human: Sam Ackerman (age 101) married Eva Powers (age 95), New Rochelle, New York – 1990; 1620 The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England, with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World [O.S. Sep 6]; 1795 British capture Cape Town, South Africa, from the Dutch; 1810 Priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rings the church bells in Dolores, Mexico, issuing a call to arms known as the "Grito de Dolores" (Cry of Dolores), calling for the end of Spanish rule. Celebrated today as Mexican Independence Day; 1848 Slavery is abolished in all French territories; 1862 Future Queen of Hawaii Lili'uokalani (24) weds American secretary John Owen Dominis (29) until his death in 1891

Natural: Many people reported seeing lake monster Ogopogo in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia – 1926

Italian: Baraonda (confusion / chaos / disorder)

Baraonda is an evocative Italian word used to describe the confusion caused by the comings and goings of numerous people.

The word entered the Italian language from the Spanish barahunda, which likely had onomatopoeic origins.

Quote: The greatest oaks have been little acorns.