Introducing cusack.norumbega.co.uk, my new blog over at Norumbega. One of the inherent problems I always faced with andrewcusack.com was that once I had a nice, handsome post up top, I rarely wanted to disturb it with any further posts. This was especially so if I had just a very brief blog post in mind, given that once a post is made it has sometimes been weeks before I can make another one.

Part of the thinking behind Norumbega is that I will have the fortnightly features section for the somewhat swankier blog posts with my own side-blog for little things that can be updated whensoever I feel the need. So does this mean that andrewcusack.com — Banned by the Scottish Executive! Tori Truett's lunchtime reading! Repository of miscellaneous arcana! — is like to die? Nay, good Sir. It is still here and so it shall remain. Some of the longer articles will be improved and then regurgitated over at Norumbega; everything that is here shall remain here. It's a bit like the Lord Great Chamberlain... I'm not entirely sure what function it will serve but I have no doubt it should not be gotten rid of.

Perhaps now would be the appropriate time to thank certain people.

Firstly, Alex Singleton, founder of the Globalisation Institute, who first thought up the idea of yours truly having a proper blog and obtained andrewcusack.com for me when my technical expertise in that department was nil.

Secondly, Col. & Mrs. Matthew G. Cusack. My aunt and uncle were kind enough to pay for two whole years of this site while I was but a poor, penniless student in Scotland. I am grateful to them for much more than I can ever possible enunciate, but I thought this was at least one thing that I could mention specifically.

And I hope you are grateful to them as well!

And you thought Norumbega was dead. It hath risen from the flames and you can see it in all its newfound glory at norumbega.co.uk instead of the old address (still there) of norumbega.us. The main idea behind Norumbega is this: update of the central features every fortnight with the news review on the left and the blogosphere review on the right being updated whenever I see fit. There are a number of features which I have yet to add and they will be rolled into Norumbega at the most opportune moment in the future.

Of course there are still little things here and there, mostly behind the scenes, that need working out but I hope to tackle them over the next few days. If you notice any spelling or grammatical errors, do mention them to me here so I can fix them. This is an entirely amateur effort and none of those involved get paid, and so my editing (and writing) is purely in my own time and thus probably not as great as it ought to be. But no doubt you have noticed this on this website already. I am very tired and have worked hard, and so to bed!

Saturday was the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of the brilliant Herbert Ritter von Karajan of Salzburg, conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker for thirty-five years. There is a famous (and probably apocryphal) anecdote of Karajan leaping into a taxicab and, when being asked as to his destination, replying "No matter. I am in demand everywhere." He is of course very well known for his Wagner, but here we present the latter half of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9:

The decline of the British newspaper, continued

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH is asking its readers to believe that Gordon Brown is going to repeal the Act of Settlement barring Catholics from the throne and that furthermore this would make Franz, Duke of Bavaria the heir to the throne of England (c.f. "Act repeal could make Franz Herzog von Bayern new King of England and Scotland", by Richard Alleyne and Harry de Quetteville, Daily Telegraph, 7 April 2008). In reality, the British Parliament does not have the authority to unilaterally repeal the Act, since by convention it must consult with the sixteen commonwealth realms. (Hence why Edward VIII had only the options of either dumping Wallis Simpson or giving up the throne; London had consulted the dominion governments and they said they would not accept Mrs. Simpson as Queen, end of story). Thus Gordon Brown would actually need to consult with and receive unanimous approval from the governments of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Granada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu, in addition to that of the United Kingdom.

Why, then, does the Daily Telegraph neglect to point out this necessity, seemingly obvious to anyone with more than a passing knowledge of the British constitution? Was the newspaper simply ignorant about the subject? If so, why did they choose to print an article about it without seeking further information from the plethora of readily-available sources? Or perhaps the newspaper did know but decided to ignore it in the interests of sensationalism? Either way, the proof is in the pudding: standards at the Daily Telegraph are not what they used to be.

The Blessed Emperor Charles at the funeral of the late Emperor Franz Joseph, the saint's great uncle, in November 1916. Between the Blessed Charles and his Empress, Zita of Bourbon-Parma, is Crown Prince Otto. Otto lives today, and is the head of the Hapsburg family.

Category: Monarchy | Previously: Our Holy Emperor

The steps of St. Paul's Chapel, Broadway, looking towards Park Row, March 1937.

I am back already, which seems far too soon, and yet I had an immensely splendid time. It felt like more than just a week and I am sure that is due to the extraordinary generosity of my numerous hosts and friends in Scotland and England. I present to you two photographs I took during my recent trip: alas they are both in England, and indeed both in Kent, which is not terribly representative as I covered territory as far up as the choppy white waves of the North Sea and as far down as the White Cliffs of Dover. Above is an action shot of Dover Castle taken from the car, and below is the gatehouse to the cathedral close in Canterbury.

Why no Caledonian pix, you ask? I was simply too busy enjoying the place. Besides, it is a not-widely-known fact that photography does not actually function north of the Tweed. In a mandatory practice originating in a nineteenth-century labour dispute, all photographs smuggled out of Scotland are actually clever reproductions created by a secret guild of gremlins. This ensures both full employment amongst the gremlin population, and their complete separation from the ordinary human world (though a quick glance at the Scottish Labour party might cause one to doubt this is still enforced).

The spirit of Churchill lives on

I'm off to the bonnie shores of Scotland and the crowded streets of London for a week. Keep things nice and tidy while I'm gone!

April 26, 2008 (Saturday)
The Birthday of Rome: 753 B.C. - 2003 A.D.
The Roman Forum Spring Ball

7:00pm - midnight
Catholic Center at New York University
238 Thompson Street
(between Washington Square South & West 3rd Street)
A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4th St.; R to 8th St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

7-Piece Rich Siegel Ballroom Orchestra
Grand Imperial Buffet and Dessert

Well Done Roma! Festivities and Spontaneous Outburst of Joy, 10:00 pm.

According to tradition, Romulus took up his trusty plow and marked out a sulcus around "Shepherds' Hill" on the twelfth day before the Kalends of May, i.e., a.d. XII Kal. Mai-a date which, give or take eleven or twelve days, roughly corresponds to what we call April 21st. Conveniently, the date was also the festival of the shepherd goddess Pales (the Parilia), in whose honor the hill, chosen by Romulus, had been named the Palatine.

When the festival was adopted by city dwellers, the date was set to coincide with the date of the traditional founding of Rome. Each area of Rome set up festivities, much like a block party. Bonfires were set onto which offerings were thrown. The event concluded with a bountiful feast set up out of doors. Catholics can also commemorate the day due to Rome’s Christian meaning.

Two songs will be sung at the 10:00 P.M. festivities: The papal hymn, Roma Immortale, and Rome’s Birthday Song, the latter to the tune of Oklahoma, with lyrics by Judy Hallet.

For further information please contact the Roman Forum (dvhinstitute@aol.com or call 212-645-2971).

COST
$50 per person
(Children 16 and under, free)
Reserve by April 21

ATTIRE
Suit and tie or dinner jacket for the men

Checks payable to:
The Roman Forum
11 Carmine Street, 2C
New York, NY, 10014

May 3, 2008 (Saturday)
The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game
Part two of the Roman Forum’s Modern Image & Catholic Truth series

9:00am - 5:00pm
Catholic Center at New York University
238 Thompson Street
(between Washington Square South & West 3rd Street)
A, B, C, D, E, F, V trains to West 4th St.; R to 8th St.; 6 to Bleecker St.

Modern man has a positive image of himself that has been shaped and very effectively propagandized since the time of the Renaissance. The Roman Forum’s Modern Image and Catholic Truth series explores the gap between this image and the true predicament in which both the individual and contemporary society as a whole now find themselves imprisoned.

Part Two: The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game

This year’s series began in November with a conference called The Sleep of Reason, designed to underline the fact that modern naturalism ends with the destruction of the rational in man, achieved in a variety of different ways depending upon the particular approaches of the thinkers and activists concerned.

The Glass of Absinthe and The Rules of the Game were originally intended to be two separate conferences---the first focusing on the destructive aspects of the naturalist separation of the individual from society and his own past; the second on the intellectual, artistic, psychological and socio-political obstacles placed in the path of identification of the disease that afflicts us. These have now been combined into one session--- the last Roman Forum event in the United States in the 2007-2008 academic year.

9:00 - 10:00 am
Registration and coffee hour

10:00 - 11:00 am
The Glass of Absinthe and the Rules of the Game
Dr. John C. Rao
St. John’s University, Director of Roman Forum

11:15 am - 12:15 pm
The Empire of Nothingness
Christopher A. Ferrara, Esq.
President, American Catholic Lawyers Association

12:15 - 1:45 pm
Luncheon

1:45 - 2:45 pm
Citycraft and Soulcraft
Dino Marcantonio, AIA
Architect and Lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture

3:00 - 4:00 pm
Reason Gone Mad
James Kalb, Esq.
International Catholic lecturer and writer; author of The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command (Fall, 2008, ISI Books).

4:00 - 5:00 pm
General Discussion

For further information please contact the Roman Forum (dvhinstitute@aol.com or call 212-645-2971).

COST
$35: Reserve by April 28, entrance & luncheon
$10: Pay at the door, entrance alone

Checks payable to:
The Roman Forum
11 Carmine Street, 2C
New York, NY, 10014

Northumbrian, Art Expert, Veteran of the Grenadier Guards is Seventy-Ninth Prince & Grand Master of the Order of Malta

FRA' MATTHEW FESTING, the Grand Prior of England, was today elected Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta. The new grand master was chosen in a secret ballot by the Complete Council of State. After receiving the approval of the Pope, His Most Eminent Highness swore the Oath before the council and the Cardinal Patronus of the Order, Cardinal Pio Laghi. Fifty-eight years old, Fra' Matthew was, up to this point, an art expert for the auction house Sotheby's. The Prince is the son of Field Marshal Sir Francis Festing who, as Chief of the Imperial General Staff, was the effective head of the British Army. Sir Francis converted to Catholicism and married a member of the Riddells of Swinburne Castle, a prominent recusant family. Through his mother, Fra' Matthew is descended from the Blessed Sir Adrian Fortescue, an English Knight of Malta who was martyred for the Faith in 1539. The grand master's brother Andrew Festing, RP is a noted portraitist.

As a child, Fra' Matthew lived in Egypt and Singapore where his father held army postings, and was educated at Ampleforth Abbey in Yorkshire and St. John's College, Cambridge. Passing out from Sandhurst, he was commissioned an officer in the Grenadier Guards, Britain's most senior infantry regiment. (The Coldstream Guards are actually older, but their seniority was reduced for backing Cromwell in the Civil War). Currently holding the rank of Colonel in the Territorial Army, Fra' Matthew served the Queen as Deputy Lieutenant for Northumberland for many years, and was appointed OBE.

"The new Grand Master affirms his resolve to continue the great work carried out by his predecessor," an official statement from the Order of Malta said, noting Fra' Matthew's "wide range of experience in Order affairs". Having joined the Order of Malta in 1977, Fra' Matthew took solemn vows in 1991 and was appointed Grand Prior of England in 1993, when the Grand Priory was resurrected after 450 years in abeyance. In that post he led humanitarian missions to Kosovo, central Serbia, and Croatia, and has attended the annual British pilgrimage to Lourdes with the handicapped and the disabled. "As well as his passion for the decorative arts," the official announcement continued, "and for history, for which his encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of the Order is legendary, as is his very British sense of humour, Fra' Matthew spends any free time possible in his beloved Northumberland countryside."

This election is a most welcome one, and I would go so far as to say the councillors have chosen very wisely. It is an immense honour for we English-speaking Catholics that yet another Grand Master has been chosen from our ranks. But of course Fra' Matthew was not chosen for being an Anglophone but rather for being Matthew Festing. Like Pope Benedict, he is a friend of the old rite of the Mass, and he was among the many prominent British Catholics (whose number included James MacMillan, Michael Ancram, Damian Thompson, Jamie Bogle, and others) who signed the 'Appeal from the British Isles' to Pope Benedict imploring a liberalization of the restrictions on the Tridentine rite (duly granted by the Holy Father in his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of July 2007).

While certainly an ardent respecter of tradition, Fra' Matthew is by no means a stuffy man but rather, as the Order's official statement noted, is known for his sense of humour. On the only occasion on which I met Fra' Matthew, I introduced him to Mrs. Burke (then Fraulein Hesser). Upon discovering that Abby hailed from the great state of California, Fra' Matthew regaled us with his memories of driving from Denver all the way to the Pacific coast of California. Upon reaching the great ocean (the Grand Prior very enthusiastically informed us), he took off his shoes, rolled up his trousers and went straight in!

The Order of Malta has been remarkable in that it has had no qualms about modernization while at the same time unabashedly keeping to its ancient traditions. In this, it is a shining beacon in a world which too often and too easily disregards the time-tested ways of our ancestors. The very prompt election of Fra' Matthew shows that the Order is of a firm mind and on a sound footing. We have no doubt that Fra' Matthew will continue the great centuries-long tradition of the Order of Malta: to defend the Faith, to serve the Poor.

May God Grant Long Life to

FRATER
Matthew Festing
Prince and Grand Master
of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John
of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
Most Humble Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ

Category: Order of Malta

U.S.-backed Terrorists Complete Their Takeover of Serbian Province

ANOTHER STRIKE AGAINST Christendom's fragile frontiers: the assembly of the UN-administered Serbian province of Kosovo has unilaterally and illegally declared independence. The United States government, which is bound by its own law to deny recognition to the putative country, nonetheless swiftly extended official recognition to the Kosovar assembly's declaration. The U.S., which claims to currently be fighting a "Global War on Terror", has backed the Albanian Muslim UÇK terror group that has run Kosovo for nearly a decade now, and continually encouraged it because Washington views any defeat for the Serbs as by extension a defeat for a Russians; and in Washington's point-of-view, no matter how irrelevant it is to the actual safety and well-being of we Americans, any defeat for the Russians is a victory for Washington — or "the United States", as the clique of insipid upper-middle-class bureaucrats supported by the taxes of hard-working Americans likes to style its rule. (Naturally, a complete inversion of this attitude — in which any defeat for America is regarded as a victory for Russia — now reigns in Moscow. After a decade of Washington kicking Mother Russia while she was down, the Ruskies finally took the hint and so we once more have nuclear missiles aimed at our shores.)

BELGRADE, 18 February 2008 – Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander II and Crown Princess Katherine attended this afternoon at St. Sava Temple a public prayer for the salvation of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.

On behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Pavle of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the public prayer was led by His Eminence Archbishop Amfilohije of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and Littoral, with the Vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch, His Grace Bishop of Hvostno Atanasije, priests and deacons from Belgrade churches. The performance of the Mokranjac Choir, in the presence of thousands of citizens who came to pray for the well-being for Kosovo’s Serbs and for Kosovo and Metohija, the heart and soul of Serbia, to remain in Serbia.

Many bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church were present at the public prayer, as well as various officials: HE Mr. Slobodan Samardzic, Minister for Kosovo and Metohija, HE Mr. Radomir Naumov, Minister of Religion, HE Archbishop Eugenio Sbarbaro, Apostolic Nuncio, and others.

After the Holy Liturgy and the Holy Oration, His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije and His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander addressed the present.

In his speech, the Crown Prince emphasized:

"We are here today in the great Saint Sava Temple. In disbelief and horror. United in pain at a time of great tragedy for our people. I am deeply hurt and shocked. What has happened is a big injustice. What was thrust on our Serbian people is very painful and illegal.

"My wife and I visited Kosovo on Saturday. It was very emotional and sad seeing our dear people. His Grace Bishop Artemije of Raska and Prizren led the prayers in Saint Dimitri Church in Kosovska Mitrovica.

"I stand, as Karadjordjevic, with all my heart by our people in Kosovo and by our Serbian Orthodox Church.

"It is very important that we remain united. Our actions must be peaceful, dignified, diplomatic and legal. We all pray to dear God for negations to continue and that a solution and compromise will be found. Therefore I appeal again for unity and responsibility of all our authorities. Violence or destruction of property will only damage our efforts. Therefore there must not be any violence - this is not Christian, it is not courageous, it is not in our tradition.

"May the Good Lord answer our prayers for the wellbeing of the Serbian people and all others!

"May Almighty God give our Serbia and our people strength and wisdom!”

Source: The Public Relations Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander II

From the funeral of the late Fra' Andrew Bertie.

Tip o' the hat: Fr. Guy Sylvester

Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Guardian of the Poor of Jesus Christ, Veteran of the Scots Guards, Humanitarian, Teacher for 23 Years, Cultivator of Oranges

THE DEATH OF Fra' Andrew Bertie brings to a close one of the most successful reigns of any Grand Master of the Order of Malta. Fra' Andrew was admitted to the Order in 1956, took solemn religious vows in 1981, and was elected head of the Order in 1988. His reign as Prince and Grand Master witnessed continued modernization, as the oldest chivalric order in the world adapted to contemporary needs of humanitarian aid and the relief of suffering around the globe. Despite the continual adaptation and modernization, the Order refused to unnecessarily disregard tradition, and has continued to recall the primacy of the spiritual over the temporal. Fra' Andrew was the first Grand Master of the Order called forth from the English-speaking world since Hugh Revel in 1258, and he oversaw the commemoration of the 900th anniversary of the Order in 1999.

MAGISTRAL PALACE, ROME, 8-FEB-2008 — The death is announced of His Most Eminent Highness the 78th Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta, Fra' Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie, in Rome on 7 February 2008. The Grand Commander of the Order of Malta, Baillif Frà Giacomo dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, has been sworn in as Lieutenant ad interim of the Order, and remains acting head of the Sovereign Order until a new Grand Master is elected.

Andrew Willoughby Ninian Bertie was the first Englishman to be elected to the post of Grand Master in the Order’s 900-year history. Born 15 May 1929, he was educated at Ampleforth College, Christ Church Oxford and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. After military service in the Scots Guards, he worked as a financial journalist in the City of London, before taking up the senior post in Modern Languages (French and Spanish) at Worth School, Sussex. Admitted to the Order in 1956, he took solemn religious vows in 1981 and served on the Sovereign Council (the government of the Order) for the following seven years before being elected Grand Master on 8th April 1988.

This property in the Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires was once a residential apartment until a multi-generational family of lawyers bought and transformed it into a law office.

A PROPERTY IN Sniffen Court coming on the market is a rare event, but two up for grabs at the same time must be a first. Like Grove Court, MacDougal Alley, or Washington Mews, this little alleyway is one of the most desirable of those little nooks and crannies that hide amidst the hurly-burly of Manhattan. Tradition holds that Sniffen Court was built as stables by one John Sniffen around the time of the Civil War, but there is no record of any Sniffen ever having owned the properties (some therefore presume he was the architect). They were converted, like many mews around the city, from stables to residences in the 1920s and all have gradually adapted and changed since then.

Son of Blessed Charles, U.S. Army Veteran, Fought at Normandy

A READER WAS kind enough to bring to my attention the recent death of His Imperial & Royal Highness, Archduke Carl Ludwig Maria Franz Joseph Michael Gabriel Antonius Robert Stephan Pius Gregor Ignatius Markus d'Aviano of Austria, one of the sons of Blessed Charles, the last (up to this point) Emperor of Austria, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, etc. Carl Ludwig's birth in 1918 was hailed with a 101-gun salute from the imperial field artillery, but the Habsburgs were soon overthrown by a republican element in Vienna and forced into exile. The Archduke studied at the University of Louvain until the outbreak of the Second World War, when the Habsburgs fled to the safety of Quebec.

There, the family were so poor they sometimes had to survive off a soup the Empress Zita cheerfully prepared from dandelions picked in the park. Carl Ludwig, however, was able to complete his studies at the Université Laval, the oldest university in Canada, before being allowed to join the United States Army in 1943. On June 6, 1944, he took part in the D-Day landings in Normandy, and later became aide-de-camp to the Comte de Hauteclocque, a general in the Free French Forces (later known as Maréchal Leclerc), and served with the Algerian spahis. He was discharged from the U.S. Army with the rank of Major in 1947, and in 1950 married Princess Yolande de Ligne.

SINCE BOBBY JINDAL, a traditional Catholic and sometime New Oxford Review contributor, today became the eighty-fourth Governor of Louisiana (sixty-first of the republican era), we decided to share with you the interesting development regarding the Louisiana state flag. Louisiana's flag consists of a pelican displayed with a scroll bearing the state motto of "Union, Justice, and Confidence". Heraldically, the pelican is known as a "pelican-in-her-piety" depicting the mother pelican piercing her breast to offer her own blood as sustenance to her children. The "pelican-in-her-piety" is a traditionally Christian symbol meant to parallel Christ's sacrifice, and so this is why you sometimes see representations of pelicans in churches.

It seems that from about the 1900s onwards, the droplets of blood on the pelican's breast gradually ceased to be displayed, somewhat diminishing the Christological nature of the state emblem. However, one astute eighth-grader at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma, the parish seat of Terrebonne Parish (remember that in la Louisiane counties are called parishes), noticed this problem and informed his representative in the state's lower house. In April 2006, the Louisiana State Legislature passed an act requiring three drops of blood to be depicted on the pelican, both in the flag and the state seal, and so the significance of the the pelican-in-her-piety is now restored.

My Uncle Matt and I share a joke outside Fraunces Tavern while the 218th Annual Mess Dinner of the Veteran Corps of Artillery takes place inside.

And before anyone comments, yes I know I need a haircut! (Photo courtesy of Mike Leventhal)

ÉTIENNE-LOUIS BOULLÉE was an architect whose great influence can chiefly be attributed more to his unexecuted designs than to those that were actually constructed. His most famous creation is the Cenotaph to Isaac Newton of 1784, conceived but never built. Many of his designs — especially his plan for a metropolitan basilica — exude a certain feeling as cold and soulless as can be expressed within the welcome restraints of classicism. One of his museum designs is almost proto-secessionist. But I am rather fond of his design for an opera house.