Montreal - Toronto - Louisville - Ellicott City

May 14, 2022 Peace and Good, This has been another couple of weeks of extensive travelling. One of the friars from Montreal drove us to Toronto via a place called Kashube (which is a lakeside resort that the friars run in northern Ontario). In Toronto, we visited the various apostolates run by the friars. Last Saturday we flew to Louisville. Sunday I celebrated the Mass at Mount St. Francis. It is great to celebrate with lay people, because most of the time I am involved with itnernal ministry to the friars. fr. Carlos was driven to Gethsemane, the monastery where Thomas Merton lived, for a week of prayer. I flew to Ellicott City for some dental care (a root canal, some oral surgery). I also used this time to get my second booster shot. Today I fly back to Louisville for the opening of the provincial chapter of Our Lady of Consolation Province on Monday afternoon. I will be there with fr. Carlos until next Saturday when we fly back to Baltimore for the opening of the chapter of Our Lady of Angels Province. I finished some reading: The Republic of Finland by Charles River Editors This is an account of the development of Finland from being a province of Sweden and Russia to being an independent nation. It especially deals with the Winter War, a war provoked by the Soviet Union in which Finland, although the loser, managed to bloody the Soviet Union so much that Hitler saw them as an impotent opponent, leading to his invasion of the Soviet Union later that year. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the Republic of Turkey by Charles River Editors This is a short biography of the father of the modern Turkish nation. It covers his rise from a rather insignificant army officer to the president of the nation who led Turkey into modernity (even if he did so with an iron fist at times). 20 Great Military Disasters of the Middle Ages by Anthony Holland This is a short account of twenty of the worst defeats experienced by various nations and peoples during the Middle Ages. None of the accounts are that profound, either for the causes of the war or the conduct of the war or its consequences, but the accounts do give enough information to get a general sense of what happened. Burying the Dead in Ancient Egypt by Charles River Editors Unlike most of Charles River Editors’ books, this one is an extensive coverage of the burial customs (the mummification, the tombs, the gods worshipped who were associated with death and the afterlife, etc.) in ancient Egypt, from its earliest days to the Roman period. It has enormous amounts of information, almost too much if one is not interested in diving into the topic profoundly. Michelangelo by Hourly History This is a relatively short biography of the artist Michelangelo, part of a series of artists by Hourly History. It gives an overview of his career as a sculptor and painter (a role that he never really wanted). The book does not go all that deep into his person and psychology, but it is a good overview. 1942: the Year that Tried Men’s Souls by Winston Groom In the beginning of 1942, the allies were losing the war all over the place. By the end of the year, the allies had scored their first victories and the axis powers were beginning to retreat (e.g. the Battle of Midway, North Africa, etc.). Groom has a good way of telling a story, including many stories of individuals within the context of the larger narrative. St. Theresa of Avila by Hourly History This is quite a pleasant biography of St. Theresa. While mentioning the doubts concerning her ecstatic phenomena, the author admits that we cannot be sure and that one’s final judgment is often determined by one’s starting point. I found the book informative and respectful. Critical Mass by Sara Peretsky This is the story of a family that started out as Jewish inhabitants in pre-war Vienna, and how a great scholar escapes to the US after the war. Her secrets are stolen by a man who makes a fortune off her ideas which lead to an early computer. The detective, V.I Warshawsky, has to sort through layers of identities and lies. Have a good week. Shalom fr. Jude

Rome

May 27, 2021 Peace and Good, I am still in Rome. We finished our General Definitory meeting this past Saturday. I did take a three day trip to Assisi to meet with some of the friars there. Going to Assisi is always like going home for a Franciscan. I spoke with all of the U.S. friars while I was there, along with the new Custos of Assisi (a man by the name of fr. Marco Moroni). The trains going to and coming from Assisi were all but empty. Going around Rome, I keep getting the sense that Italy is a few week behind the U.S. in its recovery. There is still a rule that only those over 50 can receive the vaccine. Furthermore, they are running into problems because instead of having to wait three weeks for the second dose, one has to wait six weeks (which is about the time when most Italians want to go on vacation). The weather here has been nice. It is not yet hot, but the rains have more or less ended. Next Tuesday I head to the States. I will start out in Atlanta, visiting three friaries in that area. Then I will go to Louisville, Baltimore, Buffalo and finally El Paso. I will head back to Rome at the end of the month of June. I hope by that time things have gotten better here. There was something in the news that the barriers for tourists in the EU were going to be relaxed for those vaccinated. I finished some books: Roman Arches by Charles River Editors This is a short treatment of the topic of the various arches that the Romans built throughout the empire. Unfortunately the author goes into great detail about individual arches which leaves the reader overwhelmed with detail. Probably the most useful thing in the story is the fact that while arches began as a sign of the triumph of a general into a sign of the power of the empire and the emperor. The Rise and the Fall of Alexandria by Howard Reid and Justin Pollard This is a masterful history of the great city of Alexandria from its founding by Alexandria to its downfall many centuries later. It especially deals with the importance of the library and associated centers of learning which created an intellectual flowering in the ancient world. I would highly recommend this particular volume. Sulla: the Controversial Life and Legacy of the Roman Dictator by Charles River Editors Sulla is famous as being the lst century BC dictator who established prescriptions, list of people who could be killed at will and the person doing the killing would receive a reward. This short treatment gives a more complete picture of Sulla and the reason why he began such a violent purge. It doesn’t quite wash his hands of the guilt, but it does put things in context. The Woman who would be King by Kara Cooney This is the story of Hatshepsut, the daughter of a Pharaoh of Egypt during the 18th dynasty. When her husband, who was also her brother, died, she became the regent for a young boy who was also Pharaoh. Over time, she accumulated more and more power and eventually had herself proclaimed co-Pharaoh. She even had statues with clearly masculine features carved to commemorate her reign. Her co-reign seems to have been peaceful, but many years after she died, her co-ruler had most of her monuments destroyed (probably because of something that was going on in that time and not because she was a woman). The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro This is a novel about a Jewish painter who is sponsored for an abstract mural by the WPA and through the intervention of Eleanor Roosevelt. She is also trying to save most of her family in Nazi occupied France and the Netherlands. The second level of the story is that of a great niece who is trying to find out more about her great aunt who at a certain time disappeared and was never heard from again. It is a well-organized, well written story. The Great Barrier Reef by Charles River Editors This is a quick study of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of eastern Australia. It deals with its discovery by European explorers, its significance, and the danger it faces with pollution and other forms of destruction. Stephen Fry by Audible Interviews This is an interview that speaks about Stephen Fry’s new show, Stephen Fry’s Victorian Secrets. While the Victorian period presents itself as a cultured and moral era, there was a lot of hypocrisy just under the surface. His views on morality are very libertarian, but his observations nevertheless have something to offer. The Chrysler Building by Charles River Editors This is an account of the construction of the Chrysler art deco building in New York. Unlike buildings like the Sears building in Chicago, this one was built not for the car company but from the wealth of the founder of that company. It was part of an effort to build the highest building in the world, which this was for a few months until the Empire State Building topped it. Dutch Painting in the Golden Age by OpenLearn This course deals with the height of Dutch Art in the 17th and 18th century. There is a big debate whether the artists were attempting to produce realistic art which mirrored what they actually saw, or whether there were hidden, often spiritual, lessons hidden in the choice of objects and their location in the paintings. While the symbolic interpretation has something to offer, one has to wonder how much, at times, the critic is reading into the object that might not be there. Keep safe. fr. Jude