St. James Matamoros

 

Today's the Feast of St. James, Apostle and martyr. A close friend of of Lord, James was present at the raising of Jairus' daughter, the Transfiguration and the Garden of Gethsemane. He waas the first of the Apostles to be martyred, at the orders of Herod Agrippa.

Tradition has it that James evangelized in Spain before his return to Judea and martyrdom, and that his body was buried in Galicia. His tomb was discovered in the 9th century AD and a great church, Santiago de Compostela, built on the site, where it remains today.

In 844, the Apostle appeared to Pedro Marcio appeared to Pedro Marcio, whose Christian war band were fighting numerically superior Moslem invaders, and said:

Did not you know that my Lord Jesus Christ, while distributing the other provinces in the world to my brothers, the other apostles, luckily entrusted me the guardianship of all Spain and placed it under my protection? (…) Keep your courage, because I will come to assist you tomorrow, God willing, to vanquish all that big crowd of enemies surrounding you. However, many of your soldiers will be destined for eternal rest and will receive the crown of martyrdom during your struggle for the name of Christ. And so that there is no doubt you will see me dressed in white on a white horse, holding in my hand a white banner. Therefore, at dawn, after receiving the sacrament of penance with the confession of sins, after receiving the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord in the Mass, do not be afraid to challenge the Saracens’ squadrons, invoking God’s name and mine, and taking for certain they will fall to the edge of the sword.

 

The Apostle wasn't lying. The Reconquista was victorious and St. James is invoked as Matamoros, Moor Slayer. Here's the BCP Collect:

GRANT, O merciful God, that, as thine holy Apostle Saint James, leaving his father and all that he had, without delay was obedient unto the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him; so we, forsaking all worldly and carnal affections, may be evermore ready to follow thy holy commandments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Never, ever surrender the Faith,

LSP

Boxing Day Pie

 

Spot the Etonian flag :)

After the festive fun and family conviv. of Christmas, Boxing Day comes as pleasant "breather," time to relax and take it easy. 

Walk the dog to the nearest Pick 'n Steal, reflect on Stephen the Martyr, it's his Feast today, as you stroll down the boulevards of Olde Dallas, and return to HQ for an easy lunch. Warm bread, cheese, dates and grapes, raise a glass to the Incarnate Word, slumber over books on antedeluvia and then...

Return to the fray to make pie. Yes, beef and mushroom pie from the leftovers of yesterday's feast, it's not hard. Cut the beef off the bone(s), chop up an onion, some garlic and celery and saute in 3 Tbs butter till tender and fragrant. Add three Tbs of flour and stir it up, then add beef stock. Well done, you've got this far, but you're not there yet.

A typical Dallas Light Cavalry Mess scene. Keen-eyed readers will spot LL, WSF, Old NFO, drjim, Jim, Wild, 

Ed, Doktor Swankenstein, DOS, Ed. C, Mike C, Manhattan Infidel, Seamus, GenX, Paul M, 

RHT, Adrienne (out of frame) and so many more.

Let everything simmer and stir, like a faculty revolt at Harvard, and add the beef. This is key, obviously. While the meat's simmering in the mix, saute some mushrooms in butter till golden and add those too, along with some red wine, and let it all cook to desired consistency. 

That done, turn off the heat, add yesterdays cooked carrots to the mix and allow the delicious pie filling to rest and cool. Have a glass of the right stuff, listen to Handel, shoot some 5.56, sharpen a kukri, whatever, your call, no rule, and in God's good time roll out some pastry. Good work, fill a pie dish with its filling, cover with jolly old pastry and fire it all into the oven at 400.

Let that beast cook for 20 minutes or so until golden brown, you can even glaze the pastry with an egg yolk if you like, then fall upon your scoff.

Like a Warrior,

LSP

St. George's Day

 

It's the Feast of St. George today, the patron Saint of England, and what a saint he was, a Roman officer who was martyred in Diocletian's persecution and won fame for rescuing the people of a Middle Eastern town from a ferocious dragon. He stands for the fight of good v. evil, of light versus dark and the triumph of the Church Militant over the raging forces of Hell.

George never visited England, that we know of, but became beloved of its Kings and people, a model of Christian valor and chivalry. He was canonized by Pope Gelasius in 494 AD as the city of Rome still stood, imperial grandeur intact. A testimony, when you think on it, to the triumph of the Cross.

St. George, a Christian warrior who did not bow down to the heathen secular power of his age, pray for us.

For St. George and England,

LSP

Guilty

A Mountebank Crook

 

Maxine Waters, for inciting race hatred, and being a corrupt, hypocritical fraud of a Millionaire Socialist.

A George Floyd Juror

Our legal system, which is clearly broken.

A Martyr Angel Saint God

George Floyd, for breaking into a woman's house and pointing a gun at her stomach while an accomplice searched her home for drugs and money.

A Cop

And Dereck Chauvin.

Speaking of which, I was fishing with a couple of semi-retired LEOs when George Floyd became a beautiful, martyr saint, holy angel. One of them asked the other, "Is that the kind of hold you teach your students?"

A Dindu

Regardless, now that the show trial's over, will Minneapolis burn to the ground? Maybe the MPD should stand down if it does, while the Guard enjoys rainbow diversity training.

Maxine Waters' net worth is a paltry $2 million, low by #MillSoc standards. Don't say race baiting mountebank.

Your Pal,

LSP

Ash Wednesday Valentines

It's Ash Wednesday and Valentine's Day, when we celebrate a martyr, love, and mark our foreheads with an ashen cross as a sign of penance; remember, O man, that thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return.

Love is the unifying factor in this apparent clash of Feasts. The love of the martyr for Christ, even to death, the love of a man for a woman and the love of our Lord, supremely manifested on Calvary. So perhaps the calendar isn't as confusing as it seems but I'll spare you the sermon. Here's the Collect instead.

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made, and dost forgive the sins of all those who are penitent; Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of thee, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless you all this Lent,

LSP 

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Do you remember that Cardinal Schonboern had the sheer, wrongheaded, Islamophobic temerity to suggest that Europe was facing a new Muslim invasion? Read on, from Ignatius His Conclave:

The Pummerin (‘Boomer’) in the steeple of the Stephansdom in Vienna is the third largest swinging bell in Europe. It was cast in 1705 from cannon captured from the Turks at the Second Siege of Vienna , and refounded in 1951, using the metal of the old bell with the addition of bronze from Turkish cannon in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum.

On Easter Day, shaking the steeple, the great bell rings out announcing the Lord’s Resurrection and recalling again the defeat of the city’s most formidable enemy. No sound could more delight the Christian people.

Except…the words of their own Archbishop, in his Cathedral Church, on the 333rd anniversary of Sobieski’s great victory. He was bold enough to say what every inhabitant of the continent knows: that a concerted Islamic invasion of Europe is once again underway. ‘Will there now be a third attempt at an Islamic conquest of Europe? Many Muslims think so and long for it and say: This Europe is at an end.’

Except… having spoken the truth (boldly going where no politician dares to tread) the Archbishop unaccountably lost his nerve and issued a retraction. This ‘has absolutely nothing to do with Islam… It is clear that many Islamists would like to take advantage of our weakness, but they are not responsible for it. We are.’ Apparently what he was really intending to say was that the violence being experienced in almost every country in Europe is not to be attributed to Muslim malice, but to Christian infidelity. We have brought this upon ourselves.

Tell that to Fr Jacques Hamel.

Cardinal Schoenborn is a charming and cultured man, and a theologian of considerable distinction. So it is a tragedy that he has succumbed to the pressures of the zeitgeist in this demeaning way.

And the more tragic still that he should have done so in the former capital of the Habsburg lands, where the pressure of Islamic invasion was most acutely felt and most heroically resisted.

Sobieski routes the Jihad at Vienna

Tell that to Fr. Jacques Hamel, well said.

Wake up.

LSP 

Dallas Saint

Archbishop Dmitri died in 2011 and was buried, unembalmed. His body was transferred yesterday to St. Saraphim's Cathedral in Dallas. The body was found to be incorrupt.

Rod Dreher comments.

When the cemetery personnel opened his coffin, they found Vladyka Dmitri incorrupt.

That is to say, his body had not decayed. He has been buried for four and a half years under the Texas ground, and his body looks like it did the day he died.

This is a miracle. In Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christianity, it is seen as a sign that the deceased was, and is, a saint.

If you read The Brothers Karamazov, you may remember that whether or not the deceased Elder Zosima was incorruptible was a feature of the narrative.

I believe Dmitri was a genuinely holy man. He had a great love of Fr. Homer Rogers, some will know who I mean, and as I understand it was brought to catholicism (Anglican) by him, and then moved to Orthodoxy. But perhaps I'm wrong, they were certainly friends.

Dmitri shares the same name as the martyred Tsarevitch, who was also found incorrupt. And at the risk of irreverence, in strong contradistinction to our establishment pay-to-play ruling elites.

Let's have more sanctity, please, and less corruption.

You can and should read Dreher's article here.

God bless,

LSP

St. Thomas Becket

The Archbishop of Canterbury, no, not Justin, Thomas Becket!, died today in 1170, killed by 4 knights in Canterbury Cathedral. I used to offer prayers at his shrine when I was very young.

Here's an excerpt from New Advent: 

Four knights who came from France demanded the absolution of the bishops.St. Thomas would not comply. They left for a space, but came back at Vesper time with a band of armed men. To their angry question, "Where is the traitor?" the saint boldly replied, "Here I am, no traitor, but archbishop andpriest of God." They tried to drag him from the church, but were unable, and in the end they slew him where he stood, scattering his brains on the pavement. His faithful companion, Edward Grim, who bore his cross, was wounded in the struggle.

A tremendous reaction of feeling followed this deed of blood. In an extraordinary brief space of time devotion to the martyred archbishop had spread all through Europe. The pope promulgated the bull of canonization, little more than two years after the martyrdom, 21 February, 1173. On 12 July, 1174, Henry II did public penance, and was scourged at the archbishop's tomb.

That was then, this is now.

Good luck, Church of England, and who knows, perhaps St. Thomas Becket will intercede for the soul of Mr. Kilminster.

LSP