The Steller's jays haven't been at my window at all, and their cousins have been scarcer than usual. Ah, doubtless the occasional reader knows nothing of 'the incident': one of the Steller's jays managed to get itself stuck between the sliding window and the sliding storm window and tried to fly about in that confined space for what seemed to be half an hour altogether. I moved the sliding windows slowly back and forth and was resolving to reach into the space (with a gloved hand) and pull the bird out. Happily, it managed itself to get away without my intervention-- it sped to the East, from whence comes all our hope, after all-- faster than I've ever seen them fly. I am glad to be forgiven.
It is the feast of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, whose body after her martyrdom was carried by the angels to the monastery at Sinai which now bears her name (CE, Introibo, Wiki). Whatever the actual details of the saint's life, we can assuredly pray her for her intercession with the great Lord of martyrs and virgins.
In the 'Concert Hall' of Klassikaraadio today, a recital of Beethoven lieder, recorded at the Engadin Festival in August; Daniel Behle is the tenor; 'Jan Schultsz plays the original hammer piano, made by Carl Strobel in Vienna in 1824'-- I expect that the machinae translatio means 'an original 1824 Strobel' but cannot know, nor do I find anything online anent a Carl Strobel or Stroebel in Vienna in 1824-- I expect that careful readers of Beethoven biographies know all about him.
Then at 1000, Holy Mass is livestreamed from Saint-Eugène in Paris. Tomorrow is the feast of Saint Geneviève du Miracle des Ardents. My version of part of that post.
In 1130, a terrible epidemic of 'mal des argents' ravaged Paris and parts of France, claiming thousands of victims.
In order to tame the plague, the bishop of Paris ordered fasts and public prayer, and then that the sick be carried from the Basilica of Sainte-Geneviève (formerly the ancient basilica of the Holy Apostles built at the Saint's request by Clovis-- she was buried there and eventually her title supplanted that of the Apostles) to Notre-Dame; this procession occured on November 26.
The sick who touched the reliquary of the Saint were healed immediately, and the chronicles of the time tell us that, of all the sick who were in Paris, only three sceptics died.
The following year... Pope Innocent II instituted the feast of Saint Geneviève des Ardents on that date of November 26 where it has remained in the proper calendar of Paris.
The mal des ardents is called ergotism or gangrenous ergotism these days.
Dr DiPippo posted yesterday an encomium of Saint-Eugène and her Schola Sainte Cécile at New Liturgical Movement.
Our good friends of the Schola Sainte-Cécile got to celebrate three major solemnities on Sundays this month: first, the feast of All Saints on November 1st, then the feast of St Eugenius, the principal patron of their home church in Paris, on November 15th, and then this past Sunday, the feast of the church’s other patron, St Cecilia, for whom the Schola is also named. The church was built in 1854, in the reign of the last French Emperor, Napoleon III, and named for St Eugenius, a 7th-century bishop of Toledo, Spain, partly to honor the emperor’s Spanish-born wife, Eugénie. In 1952, St Cecilia, the patron of musicians, was added as a second patron of the church because of its proximity to the Paris Conservatory.
The Mass for St Catherine's feast was (unexpectedly-- I presume that we are hearing low Masses during the week) sung quite well, with the Christus vincit at the end, after the Salve Regina. Lovely. Am on to a broadcast on France Musique of Shostakovich's Cello Concerto no 2 in G flat major (Xavier Phillips is the soloist) and then Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in Ravel's orchestration performed at the Auditorium de Radio France by its Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Aziz Shokhakimov.
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