28 December 2005

In a belated celebration of Christmas here are two pieces from Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols:

This little babe so few days old,
Is come to rifle Satan's fold;
All hell doth at his presence quake,
Though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak, unarmed wise,
The gates of hell he will surprise.

With tears he fights and wins the field,
His naked breast stands for a shield;
His battering shot are babish cries,
His arrows made of weeping eyes,
His martial ensigns cold and need,
And feeble flesh his warrior's steed.

His camp is pitched in a stall,
His bulwark but a broken wall;
The crib his trench, hay stalks his stakes,
Of shepherds he his muster makes;
And thus as sure his foe to wound,
The angels' trumps alarum sound.

My soul with Christ join thou in fight,
Stick to the tents that he hath pight;
Within his crib is surest ward,
This little babe will be thy guard;
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from the heavenly boy.

From Robert Southwell’s “New Heaven, New War”



There is no rose of sych vertu
As is the rose that bare Jesu,
Alleluia.

For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in lytle space,
Res miranda.

By that rose we may well see
That He is God in persons three,
Pares forma.
The aungels sungen the shepherds to:
Gloria in excelsis Deo,
Gaudeamus.

Leave we all this werldly mirth,
And follow we this joyful birth,
Transeamus.

Alleluia, res miranda,
Pares forma, gaudeamus,
Transeamus.

Anonymous, 14th Century

21 December 2005

For Those Girls To Whom "Modesty" Means Nothing...

...perhaps they will be convinced not to wear these skimpy clothes if they realize they are actually putting their health at risk, at least in the winter. I'm not sure about the assertion that the author makes that the young lady's kidney infection was actually caused by being cold, but certainly having a low body temperature makes it more difficult for your body to resist infection. I see so many girls around our college campus who don't wear coats, who wear crop-top sweatshirts instead, or who wear their coats unbuttoned. Button up, girls! You who disdain the women of the 19th Century who wore corsets that altered their body shape, don't put your own bodies at risk in the name of fashion.

19 December 2005

Hardly surprising:

chef jpeg
You are the the Swedish Chef.You are a talented individual, nobody understands
you. Perhaps it's because you talk funny.
FAVORITE EXPRESSION:"Brk! Brk! Brk!"HOBBIES:Kokin' der yummee-yummers
FAVORITE MOVIE:"Wild Strawberries...and Creme"
LAST BOOK READ:"Der Swedish Chef Kokin' Bokin'"
QUOTE:"Vergoofin der flicke stoobin mit der brk-brk
yubetcha!"

What Muppet are you?
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16 December 2005

Sing for Your Supper

Last night, most of the Schola celebrated the end of the semester with dinner at Fearless Leader's house--the first invite to a professor's home for most of us. You can tell it's finals week when the college students enter the house and immediately spend five minutes staring in near-silence at the two moving ornaments on the Christmas tree. Dinner was quite lovely, quite loud, and full of laughter. Catholic college students really know how to enjoy a meal together--especially if they dodn't have to pay, cook, or clean up.

When we sat down at the dinner table, we noticed the sheets of paper at each end which contained some very familiar notation (he uses the St. Meinrad fonts for everything he types up for us, like our Vespers books), and a lot of words in Latin. Yeah, we chanted grace. Actually, Fearless Leader did most of the work; I think we only had to say "Amen" two or three times. A couple of the schola members--freshmen--expressed surprise, but those of us who are more experienced were not phased in the least. One of the freshman said, "I wish my fiance sang! This could become a family tradition. But he doesn't sing. Oh, that makes me sad. It's so cool." My sentiments exactly, except that my sweetheart does sing.

10 December 2005

At this point of the semester...

...I think I need one of these.