(no subject)

I marked Oestera privately and then spent Saturday hiding out from all the bathroom de-struction that was going on down the hall and in the attic (stuck ceiling fan in a small, weird section of our attic, which resulted in pulled muscles on the part of the he-men who had to shimmy, climb, stretch to reach it). As a bonus, there is now a new faucet in the master bathroom - - - hot water! No drips! w00t!

Yesterday was lovely. It started early for me (2:30am) but that meant that when it was time for our Fighter's Practise at Mt. Trashmore, I was more than ready to leave the cave and venture into to sunlight. And so was a huge crowd of Scadians and an even bigger one of our neighbors. Wow. What a great afternoon!

I didn't get much embroidery done while folks were fighting - the wind was in full blow and having my hair flying in my face was too irritating. Besides, I was too busy flapping my jaws and listening to friends, especially one visitor from Lochmere who'd come down for the weekend for a surprise birthday party (which I had missed but the careful stance of some of our scadians indicated that they'd not missed it - or the drinks being made by the hostess).

The first days of Spring are always so refreshing but rarely as nice as these were. And the willow tree is already in full bloom.

(no subject)

Aphrodisius, bishop of Beziers (3rd or 4th century) This bishop, an Egyptian by birth, accompanied S. Paul of Narbonne, in his mission into Gaul. A foolish legend is to the effect that he was governor of Egypt at the time when S. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin went down thither with the Holy Child Jesus, to escape the persecution of Herod who sought the young child's life. On the arrival of the child Jesus in Egypt all the idols fell, and Aphrodisius, recognising in Him his God, bowed before him in adoration.

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Callinicus and Basilissa (d. 250 or 251) We know about them from Byzantine synaxary accounts, including one in the so-called Menologium of Basil II. In these Callinicus sometimes appears erroneously under the feminine name form Callinica; the latter was used in these saints' entry in the RM until the latter's revision of 2001, when its commemoration of them was also moved from March 24 to today's date. Basilissa is said to have been a wealthy woman who through donations distributed by Callinicus subvened Christians imprisoned during the Decian persecution; Callinicus' arrest and confession led to their joint martyrdom (in Galatia, according to the tradition followed by the RM; at Rome, according to a tradition followed by many Orthodox churches).

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Isnard of Chiampo (Blessed; d. 1244) was Italian. He studied under St. Dominic at Bologna. A spirited and pleasing preacher, he was sent first to Milan, where he led many to enlist in in the new Order of Friars Preacher. In 1230 he moved on to Pavia, where bishop Reginald II encouraged him to establish a Dominican convent. He did so and for the remainder of his life he was this house's prior. He preached widely in northern Italy and was credited with the return of many heretics to the fold.

He lived a thoroughly ascetic life, despite which he was extremely fat - people would make fun of him on the subject when he was preaching. Once during a sermon of his, a bystander called out, 'I could no more believe in the holiness of an old porpoise like Brother Isnardo than I could believe that that barrel there would jump up of itself and break my leg', which the barrel promptly did. Originally laid to rest in Pavia's Dominican church, he now reposes in that city's Chiesa di Santi Gervasio e Protasio.