Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee…

As I sat in bed this morning, hearing the bells of St. Salvator’s summoning the studentry from their cozy chambers to the hebdomadal chapel service, the fifteen minutes of tolling summoned naught but two thoughts from the deep recesses of my brain: doom and misery. The reader will forgive this rather grim introduction, but grim was precisely the feeling in the ascendant this morning. I shall continue by retreating to the beginning.

The merriment began at about one o’clock in the afternoon in the Central bar, as have many a session of merriment and good laddery. My good friend Chris C. was visiting the Royal Burgh for the weekend and we decided to head to the Central for a smooth, satisfying pint of John Smith’s, which is the preferred tipple for joint C./Cusack operations. Making our way to that public house, we chanced upon none other than Manuel Pantelias Garces, the little fellah who packs a tremendous punch, and invited him to join in our imbibing of Yorkshire ale.

And imbibe we did. We had one pint of John Smith’s, followed by another, then another, and then another until I swept over to Step Rock Cottage to be fashionably late for Jon and Abby’s engagement party. There, for some unknown reason, I declined copious amounts of Louis Jadot instead deciding to drink down a mighty torrent of Bucks Fizz. In a jocular and celebratory mood, I decided to purchase a ticket to tommorrow’s charity polo tournament off Richard Holtum, and discussed various things with Adrian and young Miss Tori Truett who had popped up from London to grace us with her beauty and wit. (more…)

Spring has come late to Fife this year, but I do think we’re all the better for it. One appreciates so much more these spriteful spring days after a longer dark season, though in all honesty I already partly miss the many snowy days we enjoyed in St Andrews this winter. How splendid it is to warm oneself by the fire on a cold winter’s day, with a cup of coffee or a pint of ale and some Washington Irving to read. None of that today, however!

Quite a decent day, really. The eleven o’clock Mass saw a good friend received into the Church, followed by her Confirmation along with another friend of mine. After the post-Mass tea and coffee, myself, young McMorrin, Tom Howard, Adrian, Miss Brennan, Michelle, and Miss Dempsey got sandwiches from Cherries and enjoyed the sun-soaked ruins of the Cathedral cloister. I had a delicious honey mustard chicken and stuffing brown-bread baguette, splendidly washed down with a bottle of Old Speckled Hen. (more…)

A young lass of Ulster claims I look “adorably marriageble” in this photograph. (more…)

Piero della Francesca, Resurrection
Mural in fresco and tempera, 88″ x 86″
1463-1465, Sansepolcro

I do miss my library. In a perfect world, I would spend half the day wandering through various libraries of lower Westchester and the City. Of course we have a university library here in St Andrews, but its selection is fairly poor, especially in the subjects in which I am particularly interested. (more…)

A very pleasant Easter here in St Andrews. The vigil last night was rather nice, and practically by accident. We all got roped into doing some of the readings, much to our own collective chagrins since we’re not real participatory type when it comes to liturgy. But it ended up being appropriate since this is, for a number of us, our last Easter in St Andrews. Alex Harrod did the first reading, Matt Gorrie the second, Amanda ‘Commanda’ Brennan the third, yours truly the fourth, Abby the fifth, Jon Burke the sixth, and Clare the seventh reading. Naturally we all went to the Russell afterwards for a pint, and it was generally decided that Burke read the best.

Then this morning to Step Rock Cottage for a classic fry-up. Toast, sausages, pancakes, and potato waffles, liberally buttered and doused in maple syrup. An absolute delight and perfect for Easter morning. We made gluttons of ourselves while browsing the Sunday papers, then watched the Urbi et Orbi message and blessing (for which, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos informed us, we received an indulgence!), followed by Charlton Heston and Rex Harrison in The Agony and the Ecstasy. Tonight, dinner at Canmore, hopefully followed by the penultimate installment of The Scarlet Pimpernel in our weekly counter-revolutionary film series at the Chaplaincy. Vive le Roi!

Speaking of which, in addition to being the feast of the Resurrection, this day is also blessed with the anniversaries of the birth of two of Europe’s remaining sovereigns: Pope Benedict XVI himself and dear Margrethe II, the Queen of Denmark. We hope and pray they both have many more returns on the day, in happiness, peace, and prosperity.

The Army Institute of Heraldry on 7 April 2006 approved a new coat-of-arms (left) and Distinctive Unit Insignia (right) for the 104th Military Police Battalion. According to the information provided by TIOH (as the Institute goes by), the red in the shield represents the unit’s role as a Field Artillery Battalion during World War II, while the green signifies the military police. The taro leaf represents the unit’s service in Hawai’i during the Spanish-American War, while the fleur-de-lis stands for service in France during both World Wars.

The black silhouette of the World Trade Center, a unique heraldic innovation, honors members of the unit who died in the Twin Towers on September 11, as well as the members of the battalion deployed to Manhattan. The service of earlier component units are represented in the canton. The red cross of St George symbolizes the War of Independence, while the blue saltire of St Andrew (akin to that of the Confederate battle flag) symbolizes the Civil War.

In blazonry, the language of heraldry, the shield is “per bend Gules and Vert, a bend wavy Argent, to chief a taro leaf and fleur-de-lis in bend Or; issuing from base the silhouette of the Twin Towers Sable edged of the fourth; on a canton of the last a cross Gules surmounted by a saltire Azure”. The crest is that which is standard to all New York Army National Guard units, depicting the Halve Maen on which Hudson explored New York harbor and his eponymous river. It is blazoned “from a wreath Argent and Gules, the full rigged ship “Half Moon” all Proper”.

Meanwhile, the President of the Senate of North Carolina petitioned the College of Arms in London for a coat of arms for the upper house of the state legislature. The devisal by Letters Patent of Arms, Crest, and Supporters was made 25 November 2005 by Garter, Clarenceux, and Norroy and Ulster Kings of Arms. The eight little shields (known as escutcheons in blazonry) on the main shield allude to the eight proprietary Lords of the Province of Carolina. The colonial grant for Carolina was one of the most feudal, allowing the Lords of Carolina to grant minor hereditary titles of nobility, and in terms of heraldry allowed for the appointment of a Carolina Herald to grant arms independently of the College of Arms in England. The noble coronet atop the shield is apparently one of the heraldic ornaments worked out in 1705 for landgraves and cassiques in the Province of Carolina.

The shield of the coat of arms of the Senate of North Carolina is blazoned as “Argent on a Cross between four Escutcheons bases inwards Gules four Escutcheons bases also inwards Argent” while the crest is “Issuant from a Coronet of a Noble of the former Province of Carolina Or a Cap of Liberty Gules raised upon a Pole Or between two Cornucopiae in saltire Argent replenished proper”. The supporters are “On each side an Aborigine of North Carolina as depicted by John White in the reign of Queen Elizabeth the First that on the dexter a Warrior supporting with his exterior hand a Long Bow and holding an Arrow girded at his back a Quiver that on the sinister a Woman holding in her exterior hand a Gourd all proper”.

An interesting note: the lower house of North Carolina’s General Assembly was known as the House of Commons until the conquest of the South during the Civil War.

Images from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry and the College of Arms respectively.

These photos of Czar Nicholas II and his son, the Czarevich Alexei, are from the Romanov family photo album which somehow ended up in the Beinecke Library at Yale University. Nicholas and Alexei, along with their entire family, were murdered by the Communists in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg, Russia on the night of July 17, 1918. The family having since been canonised (or ‘glorified’, as it’s called in the Russian church) as saints, a cathedral now stands on the site of their murders. (more…)

Chinatown’s Fung Wah bus is famously one of the cheapest ways to get to Boston, costing only only $15 to get to New York’s most northerly suburb. The preferred mode of transport between home and university for many a student and an economical mode of transport for the traveller-in-the-know, the chief deficiency of the ‘China bus’ as it is known is that in New York it just lets you off on a random street corner at the eponymous end of the Manhattan Bridge. Wendan Tang, a graduate student at Notre Dame’s School of Architecture (arguably the best in the country), produces his solution to the problem with a hypothetical design for a bus terminal in Chinatown, nudged between the bland modern Confucius Plaza and the beautiful classical entrance collonade and arch of the Manhattan Bridge.

(more…)

Above, the Los Angeles ‘Religious Education’ Congress. Below, the Berlin Olympics. No comment!

Hot dang, what a break! I am now safely entrenched in my humble little chamber in St. Salvator’s Hall, North Street, Royal Burgh of St. Andrews, Kingdom of Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, God’s Own English-Speaking World, the Planet Earth, the Milky Way, the Universe, the Mind of God. The first week of my two-week vacation, you will no doubt recall, was spent in the Eternal City: Roma, Caput Mundi. I had not been to Europe in six years, I believe, and since that time the entire continent has adopted Monopoly Money as the official currency. Johnny Foreigner, what will he do next! Despite being in Europe, it is Rome after all, and thus both the birthplace and font of Western Civilization. A suitably humbling experience. Brilliant.

Then an exceedingly brief foray to Trinity College Dublin in our neighbourly Republic to have a few pints and some damn good laughs with one of the leaders of Youth Defence, Ireland’s main pro-life group, (I would give his name but it’s Gaelic and thus impossible to spell) and to hear an update on the general state of things large and small in Éire. Despite being civilised English-speakers over there, they seem to have adopted the Monopoly Money as well. Odd.

Then to Somerset (or ‘Zomerzet’ as the endearing locals call it) to the great Basilica and Monastery of Saint Gregory the Great, founded at Douai in France, removed to Acton Burnell in England to escape the nefarious and ungodly French Revolution, and currently located at a place most commonly called Downside. Our good friends Robert and Maria O’Brien upheld their usual high standard of entertainment. A week in the English countryside is a most enjoyable thing after having spent week on the Continent, perhaps even necessary. Last night, Jon and Abby joined us since they were in nearby Bristol and we all got drunk as lords. To top it all off, Pop called heralding the birth of Master Finn Daniel Larson, thus elevating me to Unclehood. Well, as you can imagine, we had even more to drink after hearing that news. Splendid!

Well friends, you can appreciate the need for a little rest and relaxation, even though I just spent a week resting and relaxing at Downside, so I will bid you adieu for now. You can expect a full report on our amazing Roman expedition within the next few days.

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