Monday, September 28, 2015

Project BLACK MAMBA

Today is the Optional Memorial of Saint Wenceslaus, Martyr (c. 097-935, A.K.A. Duke Wenceslaus I of Bohemia): Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

Commentary: Wayback Machine. Quoth the Holy Redeemer Parish bulletin:
His martyrdom, & the popularity of several biographies, quickly gave rise to a reputation for heroic goodness, resulting in his being elevated to sainthood, posthumously declared king, & seen as the patron saint of the Czech state. He is the subject of "Good King Wenceslas," a Saint Stephen's Day carol written over nine hundred years later, in 1853.
Quoth the Holy Family Parish bulletin:
Wenceslaus was a Christian ruler of Bohemia; he was martyred near Prague in the year 929. He is the first Slav to be canonized.
'Tis also the Optional Memorial of Saint Lorenzo Ruiz & Companions, Martyrs (d. 1633-1637), martyred under the Tokugawa Shogunate: Martyrs-link, Martyr-link Lima Romeo, Wikipedia-link Lima Romeo, & Wikipedia-link Sixteen.

Commentary: Quoth the Holy Redeemer Parish bulletin:
Lorenzo Ruiz is the first Filipino saint. He is also the first Filipino martyred for the Christian Faith. After two days of agony, he died of bleeding & suffocation. He & fifteen companions, martyred in the same persecution, were beatified by Pope Saint John Paul II (22 October).
Quoth the Holy Family Parish bulletin:
Lorenzo Ruiz was a Filipino layman who was martyred with fiften companions at Nagasaki, Japan in 1637. He was the father of a family who went to Japan with the Dominican missionaries in order to avoid arrest for a crime of which he was accused. In the presence of the Japanese judges he said: "I am a Christian. I shall die for God, & for Him I would give many thousands of lives. So do with me what you please."
Scripture of the Day
Personal Reading
The Book of Wisdom, chapter four, verse twenty thru chapter five (all, verses one thru twenty-three);
The Book of Ecclesiastes, chapter three.

Mass Readings
The Book of Zechariah, chapter eight, verses one thru eight;
Psalm One Hundred Two, verses sixteen thru twenty-three, twenty-nine;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter nine, verses forty-six thru fifty.

Bonus! Song of the Day
The Klezmonauts, "Good King Wenceslas" from Oy to the World: A Klezmer Christmas (Mike Papa Whiskey)

This Week in Motorsport
I find it pleasing that we honor sixteen of the Martyrs of Japan a day after the Formula One Japanese Grand Prix, run at mighty Suzuka, the second greatest circuit in the whole of the world. I have a deep & abiding fondness for the Nihonese, & I hope one day to visit the Land of the Rising Sun, most certainly Honshu, but 'tis hoped also Hokkaido, Kyushu, & Shikoku.

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