A Couple of Things

Every day I leave the house without my coat in the firm belief that if I don't wear a coat, it won't be cold. Every day, I'm proved wrong. We've had some warmish afternoons but every morning is chilly and damp and even though I was determined to get through the daylight hours without turning the heat on, I just gave in. Still, it looks like Spring outside. There are lots of daffodils, the forsythia is blooming, the fields are purple with henbit and purple deadnettle, and the pear trees are showing white. After the ice and snow and record cold of this winter, I thought it would be the perfect time to post this hopeful song by Gillian Welch.

I can't really complain too much about the winter because even though it did get very, very cold, and though we had snow and ice far more often than usual (usual is once--maybe twice), we seem to have had it pretty easy in comparison to those both north and south of us. We only missed one day of work, and the electricity never went off, so I'm quite thankful.

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During the time that St. Martin de Porres was alive, there were five now-canonized saints living in Peru: St. Francis Solano, St. John Macias, St. Rose of Lima, St. Martin, and the man on the left, St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, Archbishop of Lima. It was St. Turibius who baptized both St. Martin and St. Rose. I first read about St. Turibius when I read my daughter St. Martin's biography about 20 years ago, but I always forget his feast day until I see it on the calendar after it has passed. Today, the folks at DivineOffice.org apparently forgot that this being Sunday, they should have removed the page that says that it's an optional memorial of St. Turibius, but that's okay with me because it refreshed my memory. The paragraph there also states that he founded the first seminary in the New World, and that he had a great concern for the indigenous peoples. He learned their language, Quechua, and required all his priests to learn it also. 

BTW, for those of you who are in my book club, this was the language that the Elliots learned to prepare themselves to do missionary work in Ecuador. I wonder if they had any idea that they were following in the footsteps of this Catholic bishop.

AMDG