Clare of Assisi, Nun. 11 August 1253

Clare Offreduccio, born in 1194, was the daughter of a wealthy family in Assisi (43:04 N 12:37 E). When she was eighteen years old, she heard a sermon by Francis of Assisi, and was moved by it to follow the example of the Franciscan brothers and vow herself to a life of poverty. Her family was horrified, and brought her back home by force; but one night, in a gesture both tactical and symbolic, she slipped out of her house through "the door of the dead" (a small side door that was traditionally opened only to carry out a corpse) and returned to the house of the Franciscans. Francis cut off her hair, and placed her in a nearby convent. Later a house was found for her, and she was eventually joined by two of her sisters, her widowed mother, and several members of the wealthy Ubaldini family of Florence. Clare's best friend, Pacifica, could not resist, and joined them, too.

The sisters of her order came to be known informally as Minoresses (Franciscan brothers are Friars Minor = "lesser brothers") or as Poor Clares. When the order was formed, Francis suggested Clare for the Superior. But she refused the position until she turned twenty-one. They devoted themselves to prayer, nursing the sick, and works of mercy for the poor and neglected.

They adopted a rule of life of extreme austerity (more so than of any other order of women up to that time) and of absolute poverty, both individually and collectively. They had no beds. They slept on twigs with patched hemp for blankets. Wind and rain seeped through cracks in the ceilings. They ate very little, with no meat at all. Whatever they ate was food they begged for. Clare made sure she fasted more than anyone else. Despite this way of life, or perhaps because of it, the followers of Clare were the most beautiful young girls from the best families of Assisi.

The community of Poor Clares continues to this day, both in the Roman and in the Anglican communions.

The biographies were written by James Kiefer

LinK: http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/home.html

Laurence, Deacon and Martyr. 10 August 258

Laurence (or Lawrence) was chief of the seven deacons of the congregation at Rome, the seven men who, like Stephen and his companions (Acts 6:1-6), were in charge of administering the church budget, particularly with regard to the care of the poor. In 257, the emperor Valerian began a persecution aimed chiefly at the clergy and the laity of the upper classes. All Church property was confiscated and meetings of Christians were forbidden. The bishop of Rome, Sixtus II, and most of his clergy were executed on 7 August 258, and Laurence on the 10th. This much from the near-contemporary records of the Church.

The accounts recorded about a century later by Ambrose (see 7 Dec) and the poet Prudentius say that, as Sixtus was being led to his death, Laurence followed him, saying, "Will you go to heaven and leave me behind?" and that the bishop replied, "Be comforted, you will follow me in three days." They go on to say that the Roman prefect, knowing that Laurence was the principal financial officer, promised to set him free if he would surrender the wealth of the Church. Laurence agreed, but said that it would take him three days to gather it. During those three days, he placed all the money at his disposal in the hands of trustworthy stewards, and then assembled the sick, the aged, and the poor, the widows and orphans of the congregation, presented them to the prefect, and said, "These are the treasures of the Church." The enraged prefect ordered him to be roasted alive on a gridiron. Laurence bore the torture with great calmness, saying to his executioners at one time, "You may turn me over; I am done on this side." The spectacle of his courage made a great impression on the people of Rome, and made many converts, while greatly reducing among pagans the belief that Christianity was a socially undesirable movement that should be stamped out.

The details of these later accounts have been disputed, on the grounds that a Roman citizen would have been beheaded. However, it is not certain that Laurence was a citizen, or that the prefect could be counted on to observe the law if he were. More serious objections are these:

1.     The detailed accounts of the martyrdom of Laurence confuse the persecution under Decius with the persecution under Valerian, describing the latter, not as an emperor, but as the prefect of Rome under the emperor Decius.

2.     We have early testimony that Bishop Sixtus and his deacons were not led away to execution, but were summarily beheaded on the scene of their arrest.

For these reasons, the Bollandist Pere Delahaye and others believe that Laurence was simply beheaded in 258 with his bishop and fellow deacons. On this theory, it remains unexplained how he became so prominent and acquired so elaborate an account of his martyrdom.

Lawrence's emblem in art is (naturally) a gridiron.

The biographies were written by James Kiefer

LinK:http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/home.html

Biografía de Justo Arosemena

(Panamá, 1817-Colón, 1896) Abogado, político y escritor colombiano. Presidió la Convención de Rionegro (1863) y fue presidente del estado de Istmo (Panamá) de la Gran Colombia en 1863. Entre sus obras destacan Examen de la franca comunicación entre los dos océanos por el istmo de Panamá (1846) y Estudios constitucionales(1878).

Nacido en Panamá cuando el país formaba parte de Colombia, estudió derecho y ejerció como abogado desde 1838. En 1840 apareció en Estados Unidos su libro Apuntamientos para la introducción a las ciencias morales y políticas. Entre 1841 y 1845 vivió en Perú, donde trabajó en los diarios El Tiempo, El Peruano y La Guardia Nacional. A partir de 1845 ocupó diversos cargos al servicio de Colombia (entre otros, el de ministro de Relaciones Exteriores) y fue diputado al Congreso de 1852. Elegido en 1857 senador de la República, tres años más tarde fue ministro plenipotenciario en varios países latinoamericanos. Desde 1864 desempeñó esa función en Europa y Estados Unidos.

Justo Arosemena participó en el levantamiento contra la dictadura de Melo (derrocado en 1854), y también en la revolución de 1860, que acabó con el periodo conservador de Mariano Ospina. Pero su actividad política se orientó principalmente hacia la reivindicación de una mayor autonomía para Panamá, logrando que en 1855 se convirtiese en estado federal, con amplio margen de independencia respecto al gobierno de Colombia. La Convención de Rionegro (1863), que el propio Arosemena presidió, consagró el estado colombiano como república federal. Ese mismo año Arosemena fue nombrado primer presidente del estado de Panamá.

Además de los libros citados, Justo Arosemena redactó el código de comercio de Colombia y escribió, entre otras obras, Principios de moral política, Estado federal de Panamá, Código moral y El matrimonio ante la ley.

Fuente: https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/a/arosemena_justo.htm

Andreve, Guillermo (1879-1940).

Narrador, ensayista, periodista, historiador, educador y político panameño, nacido en la Ciudad de Panamá el 8 de agosto de 1879 y fallecido en Los Ángeles (Estados Unidos de América) el 1 de octubre de 1940. Fue una de las figuras más brillantes de la intelectualidad centroamericana de la primera mitad del siglo XX, y uno de los grandes divulgadores de la cultura nacional panameña.

Hombre de vivas inquietudes humanísticas y acendrada curiosidad intelectual, se vio privado en su infancia y juventud de la formación académica que hubiera deseado recibir; sin embargo, merced a su firme voluntad se procuró por su cuenta una envidiable educación autodidacta que, con el paso del tiempo, habría de permitirle codearse con los más destacados intelectuales de su tiempo.

En su faceta de erudito y hombre de Letras, mostró desde su adolescencia una especial inclinación hacia la creación literaria, que le llevó a escribir cuentos, ensayos, discursos, artículos periodísticos y la novela titulada Una punta del velo (1929). Su obra de ficción se puede encuadrar dentro de la corriente modernista en la que tienen cabida otros autores panameños como Darío Herrera, Salomón Ponce de Aguilera, Simón Rivas, Adolfo García, León A. Soto y Nicolle Garay. Entre sus libros estrictamente literarios cabe mencionar, además de la recién citada novela, los titulados El poema del Pacífico (Panamá, 1925), A la sombra del arco (1925), Sobre el agua (1925), Cuatro cuentos (1933), Sorteos de todos los domingos. Cuentos de lotería (1936) -obra publicada bajo el pseudónimo de Mario Marín Mirones-, y la publicación póstuma El milagro de la navidad (1946).

Como ensayista, Guillermo Andreve brilló especialmente por su célebre trabajo titulado Breves consideraciones sobre la poesía en Panamá, presentado por el propio Andreve en el Segundo Congreso Internacional de Catedráticos de Literatura Iberoamericana, celebrado en Los Ángeles en 1940. Este escrito, sumado a otros muchos artículos y ensayos que, publicados en diferentes medios de comunicación, pretendían divulgar las Letras panameñas dentro y fuera de su país, le convirtió en uno de los más destacados promotores de la cultura del bello país istmeño.

Además de estos trabajos de crítica, ensayo y divulgación literaria, escribió otros muchos textos centrados en la realidad política, social y económica de su tiempo. Como muestra de la amplitud temática de su producción ensayística, cabe citar sus escritos titulados "Justo Arosemena, un patriota inmaculado", "Cuestiones Legislativas", "La Reforma Electoral", "Consideraciones sobre el Liberalismo", "Alfonso López y el Liberalismo Panameño" y "Breves Consideraciones sobre la poesía en Panamá".

Miembro de las Academias de la Historia y de la Lengua, Guillermo Andreve fue, además, el creador de la no menos aplaudida "Biblioteca de Cultura Nacional", una esmerada colección de libros con la que, desde 1918, divulgó numerosas obras de autores panameños y extranjeros, en ediciones populares al alcance de todos los bolsillos. Particularmente acertada fue la inclusión, en el catálogo de esta colección, de las obras dispersas de algunos escritores de Panamá que, por aquel tiempo, eran poco o mal conocidos por sus compatriotas, como Tomás Martín Feuillet o los ya citados Adolfo García y León A. Soto.

Particularmente fructífera fue, asimismo, su dedicación al periodismo, plasmada en algunos medios fundados por él mismo, como las revistas El Cosmos (1896) y El Heraldo del Istmo (1904-1906). Esta última se convirtió en una especie de órgano "oficioso" de todos los escritores panameños de la generación modernista. Además, publicó sus artículos de crítica y actualidad en los rotativos La Prensa y El Tiempo.

Conviene subrayar, por último, la dimensión política de este ilustre prohombre panameño, quien, a pesar de no haber recibido una formación académica reglada, llegó a ocupar los cargos de Secretario de Instrucción Pública y Secretario de Gobierno (equivalentes a los de ministro). Al frente de ellos, Andreve abordó importantes reformas sociales y educativas. Militante en el Partido Liberal, se encontró, en muchas ocasiones, con el recelo que sus posturas nacionalistas despertaban en las autoridades de los Estados Unidos de América, por lo que no le resultó fácil sacar adelante sus proyectos reformistas. La fase más crítica de su carrera política tuvo lugar durante la denominada "Guerra de los Mil Días", cuando fue encarcelado por protestar airadamente por el fusilamiento del guerrillero colombiano-panameño Victoriano Lorenzo.

Fue, asimismo, en diferentes etapas, diputado en la Asamblea Nacional; y completó su dedicación a la vida pública con diversos cargos diplomáticos que le condujeron, en sucesivas etapas, a Francia, Inglaterra, España, Colombia, Cuba y México.

Autor: J. R. Fernández de Cano.

Fuente: http://www.mcnbiografias.com/app-bio/do/show?key=andreve-guillermo

Franz Jägerstätter, Martyr. 9 August 1943

(guest biography by Paul Bellan-Boyer)

Franz Jägerstätter was an Austrian Christian executed for his refusal to serve in the armies of the Third Reich. He was born out of wedlock in 1907 in the small town of St. Radegund (47:11 N 15:29 E), about 13 kilometers north of Graz. His natural father was killed in World War I. His mother married Herr Jägerstätter, a small farmer, who adopted Franz. After gaining a reputation as a rather wild young man, perhaps fathering an illegitimate child, Franz married and settled down to a typical peasant life.

In addition to his farm and household duties, Jägerstätter became sexton of the parish church, and was known for his diligent and devout service, particularly in refusing donations for conducting bereavement services, and for joining the bereaved as a fellow mourner. After taking up this work, he began to receive Holy Communion daily.

He also became known for his opposition to the Nazi regime, casting the only local vote against the Anschluss (the annexation of Austria by Germany in March 1938), eschewing the local taverns and political argument, but typically responding "Pfui Hitler" when greeted by a "Heil." He also engaged in long discussions with his cousin, a J--'s Witness, having strong theological disagreements, but gaining great respect for the J--'s Witnesses' stand against service to Hitler.

When Jägerstätter was called to active duty in the military, he sought counsel from at least three priests and his bishop. Each tried to counter his conscience and assure him that this military service was compatible with his Christianity. His earlier experiences left him with a great horror of lies and double-dealing, and Jägerstätter reconciled his church's advice of subservience to the governing authorities with his conscience by reporting to the induction center but refusing to serve. Imprisoned in Linz (48:19 N 14:18 E) and Berlin (53:32 N 13:25 E), he was convicted in a military trial and beheaded on August 9th, 1943. He was survived by his wife and three daughters, the eldest of whom was six. He also left behind a small and moving set of essays and letters from prison.

His sacrifice was uniformly regarded as foolish by his neighbors, and his story almost forgotten, but for a book written by an American, Gordon Zahn, who heard of Jägerstätter when researching the subject of German Roman Catholics' response to Hitler. This book, In Solitary Witness, influenced Daniel Ellsberg's decision to stand against the Vietnam War by bringing the Pentagon Papers to public attention. It is also the source for this report, and of the following quote, taken from one of Jägerstätter's last letters.

"Just as the man who thinks only of this world does everything possible to make life here easier and better, so must we, too, who believe in the eternal Kingdom, risk everything in order to receive a great reward there. Just as those who believe in National Socialism tell themselves that their struggle is for survival, so must we, too, convince ourselves that our struggle is for the eternal Kingdom. But with this difference: we need no rifles or pistols for our battle, but instead, spiritual weapons--and the foremost among these is prayer.... Through prayer, we continually implore new grace from God, since without God's help and grace it would be impossible for us to preserve the Faith and be true to His commandments....

"Let us love our enemies, bless those who curse us, pray for those who persecute us. For love will conquer and will endure for all eternity. And happy are they who live and die in God's love."

VIII CONGRESO IBEROAMERICANO SOBRE DESARROLLO Y AMBIENTE

Dominic, Preacher, Friar, Missionary. 8 August 1221

Dominic was born in Castile, in Spain, in 1170. He entered the priesthood, and eventually became prior of the canons of the cathedral chapter (the clergy who formed the staff of the cathedral and conducted the daily worship services) at Osma (42:52 N 3:03 W). The turning point of his life came in 1206, when he was chosen to accompany the bishop on a visit to southern France, to an area held by the Albigenses. These were a heretical sect more or less directly descended from the early Gnostics and Manichees. They were dualists, holding that there are two gods, one the god of goodness, light, truth, and spirit, and the other the god of evil, darkness, error, and matter. The material universe is the creation of the bad god. The good god made the souls of men, and the bad god kidnapped them and imprisoned them in bodies of flesh. On their first night in Albigensian country, they stayed at an inn where the innkeeper was an Albigensian. Dominic engaged him in conversation, they sat up all night talking, and by dawn the man was ready to become an orthodox Christian. From then on, Dominic knew what his calling in life was. Dominic and his bishop undertook to study the Albigensian beliefs and to engage in public debates with their opponents. They seemed to be making some progress, but in 1207 the bishop died, and in the same year the murder by Albigenses of the papal legate moved the pope to declare a crusade against the Albigenses, which lasted about five years.

Dominic continued to preach and to debate where he could, and in 1215 he founded an order of preachers, who were to live in poverty, and devote themselves to studying philosophy and theology and to combatting false doctrine by logical argument rather than by the use of force. He was convinced that a major obstacle to the conversion of heretics was the material wealth of some of the clergy, which made plausible the accusation that they were concerned for their purses and not for the glory of God, and made workers indisposed to hear them. He therefore determined that the brothers of his order should live lives of poverty and simplicity, being no better off materially than those they sought to convert. When he was in Rome, seeking authorization for his order from the Pope, the Pope gave him a tour of the treasures of the Vatican, and remarked complacently (referring to Acts 3:6), "Peter can no longer say, 'Silver and gold have I none.'" Dominic turned and looked straight at the Pope, and said, "No, and neither can he say, 'Rise and walk.'" He got the permission he was seeking, and the order grew and flourished. Officially known as the Order of Preachers (hence the letters O.P. after the name of a member), it was informally known as the Dominicans, or the Blackfriars (from the color of their cloaks). Two of their best-known members are Albertus Magnus (Albert the Great, 1200-1280, see 15 Nov), who was famous for his learning in numerous fields, and his pupil Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274, see 28 Jan), who wrote reconciling Christian theology with the philosophy of Aristotle, which was then being rediscovered in western Europe, and was thought by many to be a threat to Christianity. In later years, the Order forgot its commitment to "logic and persuasion, not force" as the means of bringing men to Christian truth, and many of its members were active in the Inquisition.

Dominic was three times offered a bishopric, and refused, believing that he was called to another work. He died in 1220 in Bologna, Italy (44:30 N 11:20 E), after a preaching mission to Hungary. His emblem in art is a dog with a torch in its mouth, a pun on his name (the Dominicans are sometimes called the "Domini canes", the hounds of the Lord), and a reference to his relying on the power of preaching.

The biographies were written by James Kiefer

LinK:http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/home.html

Manipulación y distorsiones

¿Por qué tiene que ir al escenario de los hechos el ministro o jefe superior?

Ernesto A. Holder
opinion@laestrella.com.pa

Sean McBride pudo haber sentido pena cuando el informe de su comisión fue rechazado en 1980. El documento llamaba, entre otras cosas, al establecimiento de ‘nuevas tareas sociales para los medios de comunicación' y también a ‘aminorar (…) las distorsiones que se producen en el momento de la difusión de la información'.

Independientemente de nuestro entendimiento sobre las causas actuales de la situación social y, el indudable poder que sobre ella ejercen los medios no me deja de asombrar —realmente asombrar— cuando las prácticas para difundir información han evolucionado hacia otros fines lejos de los objetivos generales de informar. Y muchos sectores de la población que pensaríamos ejercerían mejor juicio para contrarrestar esta desviación social (incluyendo el Gobierno nacional), han caído en la trampa mediática: la lucha por el rating y elevar el puntaje en las encuestas.

Subrayo dos eventos ocurridos en un espacio de ocho días. Carlos Jaramillo, molesto (por no decirlo en buen panameño) por las repetidas boletas que le han aplicado por violar las normas del tránsito, provocó la movilización de todos los estamentos de seguridad del Estado cuando subió al Puente de Las Américas para suicidarse. No era un terrorista, ya había protestado antes. Jaramillo, cantante de reggae que se hace llamar ‘Big Charlie ', se tomó un ‘selfie ' y lo subió a las redes sociales. Se apersonaron al área el ministro de Seguridad Pública, Alexis Bethancourt, y José Donderis, director del Sistema Nacional de Protección Civil. También llegaron agentes del Servicio Nacional Aeronaval, del Cuerpo de Bomberos de Panamá y de la Policía Nacional.

Días después, en la tarde del martes 25 de julio, se dio un incendio en el complejo comercial Los Pueblos. Además de los bomberos, todos los estamentos de seguridad acudieron al área nuevamente para ocuparse de las responsabilidades inherentes. Creo que hay una diferencia notable entre el fuego y el caso del puente con lo que respecta a la movilización de tantos recursos para atender y resolver cada uno de estos asuntos.

Probablemente pocas personas ven estos evento desde mi perspectiva, pero lo que me llamó la atención por una parte, fue la cobertura que le dieron los medios televisivos: en vivo y directo y ahora con toda la tecnología que tienen a su disposición. Y por la otra, en el proceso de comunicación de las autoridades. Percibo una desviación inusual y desafortunada.

En eventos que de alguna manera afectan la seguridad civil, la responsabilidad es la de orientar a la comunidad que puede ser afectada inmediatamente y por las consecuencias. Lo que percibí fue la ya conocida lucha por el rating y, peor aún, el interés de algunas de las autoridades por puntualizar y enaltecer su desempeño. En medio del esfuerzo por sofocar el incendio, el encargado de los bomberos tenía cifras muy puntuales de la cantidad de personal atendiendo el fuego, carros especializados, ambulancias, equipos, etc., además de varias líneas bien exactas sobre ‘lo rápido que han respondido las Fuerzas de Tarea Conjunta, los estamentos de seguridad… y otros mensajes puntuales ( talking points ) diseñados por los supuestos estrategas de comunicación y que en ese momento no venían al caso.

Podemos ser condescendientes y darle espacio para divulgar mensajes específicos, pero durante el desarrollo de una actividad peligrosa, la propaganda institucional no me parece. hicieron lo mismo con el sujeto del Puente de las Américas, resumir los objetivos de la institución en el marco de una situación difícil. ¿Por qué tiene que ir al escenario de los hecho el ministro o jefe superior?

No hay manera de evitarlo: si estamos considerando seriamente llevar adelante las reformas necesarias para ‘arreglar' los asuntos nacionales en los que la desmesurada corrupción es lo que nos indigna, debemos echar un vistazo a los medios de comunicación y el papel que juega en todo el sistema social.

Los famosos estrategas de comunicación solo funcionan para la propaganda y para desviar la atención. La única estrategia que cabe para los que nos gobiernan debe ser: decir la verdad, eso estamos esperando del caso Odebrecht y los otros temas de corrupción que nos acechan desde las esferas oficiales y los grupos de poder. Si hay que ‘patear la mesa', como dice Pedro Rivera, o revolucionar todo el sistema, indudablemente tenemos que redefinir los procesos de comunicación y el papel de los medios de comunicación.

COMUNICADOR SOCIAL.

John Mason Neale, Priest, Scholar, and Translator. 7 August 1866

John Mason Neale was born in London in 1818, studied at Cambridge, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1842. He was offered a parish, but chronic ill health, which was to continue throughout his life, prevented him from taking it. In 1846 he was made warden of Sackville College, a position he held for the rest of his life. Sackville College was not an educational institution, but an almshouse, a charitable residence for the poor.

In 1854 Neale co-founded the Sisterhood of St. Margaret, an order of women in the Anglican Church dedicated to nursing the sick. Many Anglicans in his day, however, were very suspicious of anything suggestive of Roman Catholicism. Only nine years earlier, John H. Newman had encouraged Romish practices in the Anglican Church, and had ended up joining the Romanists himself. This encouraged the suspicion that anyone like Neale was an agent of the Vatican, assigned to destroy the Anglican Church by subverting it from within. Once Neale was attacked and mauled at a funeral of one of the Sisters. From time to time unruly crowds threatened to stone him or to burn his house. He received no honor or preferment in England, and his doctorate was bestowed by an American college (Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut). However, his basic goodness eventually won the confidence of many who had fiercely opposed him, and the Sisterhood of St. Margaret survived and prospered.

Neale translated the Eastern liturgies into English, and wrote a mystical and devotional commentary on the Psalms. However, he is best known as a hymn writer and translator, having enriched English hymnody with many ancient and mediaeval hymns translated from Latin and Greek, including the following:

A great and mighty wonder
All glory, laud and honor
Alleluia, song of gladness
Blessed city, heavenly Salem
Blessed feasts of blessed martyrs
Brief life is here our portion
Christ is made the sure foundation
Christian, dost thou see them
Come, Holy Ghost, with God the Son
Come, ye faithful, raise the strain
Creator of the stars of night
Draw nigh and take the Body of the Lord
For thee, O dear, dear country
Jerusalem the golden
Jesus, Name all names above
Let us now our voices raise
Light's abode, celestial Salem
Now that the daylight fills the sky
O blest Creator of the light
O God, creation's secret force
O God of truth, O Lord of might,
O sons and daughters, let us sing
O Trinity of blessed light
O what their joy and their glory must be
O wondrous type! O vision fair
Of the Father's love begotten
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle
Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright
The day is past and over
The day of resurrection
Those eternal bowers
Thou hallowed chosen morn of praise
To thee before the close of day 

and many others. More than anyone else, he made English-speaking congregations aware of the centuries-old tradition of Latin, Greek, Russian, and Syrian hymns.
A portion of an article by him follows:

Among the most pressing of the inconveniences consequent on the adoption of the vernacular language in the office-books of the Reformation, must be reckoned the immediate disuse of all the hymns of the Western Church. That treasury, into which the saints of every age and country had poured their contributions, delighting, each in his generation, to express their hopes and fears, their joys and sorrows, in language which whould be the heritage of their Holy Mother until the end of time--those noble hymns, which had solaced anghorets on their mountains, monks in their cells, priests in bearing up against the burden and heat of the day, missionaries in girding themslves for martyrdom--henceforth became as a sealed book and as a dead letter. The prayers and collects, the versicles and responses, of the earlier Church might, without any great loss of beauty, be preserved; but the hymns, whether of the sevenfold daily office, of the weekly commemoration of creation and redemption, of the yearly revolution of the Church's seasons, or of the birthdays to glory of martyrs and confessors--those hymns by which day unto day had uttered speech, and night unto night had taught knowledge--could not, by the hands then employed in ecclesiastical matters, be rendered into another, and that a then comparatively barbarous, tongue. One attempt the Reformers made--the version of the Veni Creator Spiritus in the Ordinal; and that, so far perhaps fortunately, was the only one. Cranmer, indeed, expressed some casual hope that men fit for the office might be induced to come forward; but the very idea of a hymnology of the time of Henry VIII may make us feel thankful that the prelate's wishes were not carried out.

The Church of England had, then, to wait. She had, as it has well been said, to begin over again. There might arise saints within herself, who, one by one, should enrich her with hymns in her own language; there might arise poets, who should be capable of supplying her office-books with versions of the hymns of earlier times. In the meantime the psalms were her own; and grievous as was the loss she had sustained, she might be content to suffice herself with those, and expect in patience the rest.
J M Neale, "English Hymnology: Its History and Prospects," in the periodical The Christian Remembrancer, 1849.

Neale died on 6 August 1866 (age 48). Since 6 August is the Feast of the Transfiguration, he is remembered on 7 August.

The biographies were written by James Kiefer

LinK:http://elvis.rowan.edu/~kilroy/JEK/home.html

ACUERDO DE COLABORACIÓN EFICAZ

Por: Miguel Antonio Bernal

Con el descaro propio de quienes obstruyen la construcción de un Estado Constitucional y Democrático en Panamá, se nos comunica que "Odebrecht Panamá ha suscrito un Acuerdo de Colaboración Eficaz con el Ministerio Público..."

       Este "Acuerdo para acordar" reasegura a la cleptocracia gubernamental (mezcla de autocracia con impunidad), y continuar así su actuar para que Panamá no sea un país y, sea un negocio para coimeados y coimeadores.

      Mientras los coimeados por Odebrecht se regordean con el "Misterio Público", sus coimeadores cínicamente, "piden disculpas a la sociedad panameña". El comunicado de marras, igual que la Procuradora y su relacionista pública, nos piden que confiemos en ellos, para que puedan así, seguir actuando irracionalmente de espaldas a la ciudadanía.

   La voragine que vivimos -desde hace tres lustros, en materia social y de política de Estado, pisotea las grandes mayorías nacionales. Cada día hay menos diálogo, menos debate pero, eso si, más manipulación mediática, más imposiciones, más arbitrariedades, más abusos de autoridad y de extralimitación de funciones.

    Ya he señalado que: "El debido proceso es pisoteado a diario, las garantías fundamentales irrespetadas, mientras que los Derechos Humanos son, cada vez más, un espejismo. El país político vive un carnaval permanente de farsa en farsa, mientras construye su próximo escenario para la tragedia, que les sirva de pretexto para permanecer en el poder, monopolizando todo, destruyendo –cual comejen-cualquier vestigio de institucionalidad y reforzando la camisa de fuerza que les permita mantener secuestrada cualquier aspiración democrática.  

   El "Acuerdo de Cooperación Eficaz" nos debe llenar de vergüenza pues, pisotea los principios básicos del Derecho constitucional y, manipula el caso Odebrecht para impedir que la población pueda saber la verdad y los nombres de los coimeados y ladrones, de los más de tres mil millones de balboas, que nos pertenecen a todos.