Words 1.23

 Words Twice a Week        1.23

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is available, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

First the answer from last week – the other inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was, of course, Elvis!

And as for that Thesaurus poem – I didn’t get anywhere with that.  You?

Some days from the church calendar -

Jan 24  Florence Li Tim-Oi  She was the first woman to be ordained to the priesthood in the Anglican Communion, on 25 January 1944.  She was in the Macau region of China during the Japanese occupation.  As there were no priests available to give the sacraments, Bishopo Ronald Hall authorized her to give communion to her fellow Anglicans.   Hall explained to the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, William Temple: "I have given her permission to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. If I could reach her physically I should ordain her priest rather than give her permission … I'm not an advocate for the ordination of women. I am, however, determined that no prejudices should prevent the congregations committed to my care having the sacraments of the Church."  It was another 30 years before any Anglican church regularized the ordination of women.

Jan 25  The Conversion of Saint Paul – on the Damascus Road.  

Jan 26  Sarah Louise Delany and Annie Elizabeth Delany  -  they were educators and civil rights pioneers.  Sarah  was the first African-American permitted to teach domestic science at the high-school level in the New York public schools.  Elizabeth earned a Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS) degree from Columbia University in 1923. She was the second black woman licensed to practice dentistry in New York State.  Sarah died in 1999 at the age of 109, Elizabeth in 1995 at age 104.  They were two of ten children of Rev Henry Beard Delany, first African-American elected bishop in the Episcopal Church in the United States.  “Sadie” and “Bessie” were the subjects of a best selling biography Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years, by journalist Amy Hill Hearth. 

Also on Jan 26 – Timothy, Titus, Silas – companions of Paul

Jan 27  Lydia, Dorcas, and Phoebe  -  witnesses to the faith

Also on Jan 27  John Chrysostom -  an important Early Church Father who served as archbishop of Constantinople. He is known for his preaching and public speaking, by both ecclesiastical and political leaders. His “name” comes from the term for “golden mouthed” in Greek.  Unfortunately, as we look back, his life seems to be something of a mixture of good and not so.

Jan 28 Thomas Aquinas – a Dominican friar, philosopher, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church.

Jan 29  Andrei Rublev  -  He was an artist and a monk.  He painted in cathedrals and churches and ended his life painting icons.

Jan 30  Charles   -   Actually, Charles I, who was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1625.  He was put on trial for attempting to rule as an absolute monarch rather than in combination with Parliament, and executed on January 30, 1649.  Charles is regarded by many members of the Church of England as a martyr because, it is said, he was offered his life if he would abandon the historic episcopacy in the Church of England. It is said he refused, however, believing that the Church of England was truly "Catholic" and should maintain the Catholic episcopate.  And then this is a little weird - “In an unprecedented gesture, one of the prominent leaders of the revolutionaries, Oliver Cromwell, allowed the King's head to be sewn back on his body so the family could pay its respects.” 

Some days from the world/earth calendar -

Jan 24

+ In 1946 he UN General Assembly passed it’s first resolution – founding the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission.

+ In 1984 the Apple Macintosh computer went on sale.  It was the first personal computer to use a graphical interface and a mouse!

+ Thurgood Marshall died in 1993.  He was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.

+ Winston Churchill died in 1965

Jan 25

+ the first Winter Olympics opened in Chamonix, France, in 1924.

+ the first solar power plant opened in Odeillo, France in 1969.

+ Robert Burns was a Scottish poet, born on this day in 1759.  He wrote "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "Tam o' Shanter", "Ae Fond Kiss", and of course, “Auld Lang Syne.”  “Burns Night”, in effect a second national day, is celebrated on his birthday, with Burns Suppers around the world, and is more widely observed in Scotland than the official national day, St. Andrew's Day.  Here’s the traditional “Selkirk Grace” for the meal -

  Some hae meat and canna eat,

  And some wad eat that want it,

  But we hae meat and we can eat,

  Sae let the Lord be Thankit!

I always think we should have some kind of a supper – maybe with a pasty instead of a haggis!  We could do it on zoom and each person read a Burns poem.

+ the League of Nations was founded in 1919.  It held it’s first meeting on Jan 16, 1920.

Jan 26

+ it’s the birthday (1904) of Sean MacBride, co-founder of Amnesty International

+ the world’s largest diamond – the Cullinan - was found in South Africa in 1905.  It weighed 1.37 lbs.  It was cut in to a number of stones, of various cuts and sizes, the largest of which is named Cullinan I or the Great Star of Africa, and at 530.4 carats (106.08 g) (3.74 ounces) it is the largest clear cut diamond in the world. 

Jan 27

+ Giuseppe Verdi died in 1901.  Mahalia Jackson in 1972.  Pete Seeger in 2014.  Music in the heavenly spheres that day.

+ a cabin fire during a launch rehearsal test at Cape Kennedy Air Force Station Launch Complex 34 on January 27 killed all three crew members—Command Pilot Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee—and destroyed the command module. The name Apollo 1, chosen by the crew, was made official by NASA in their honor after the fire.

+ Mozart was born in 1756, Lewis Carrol in 1832

Jan 28

+ the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded shortly after take off in 1986, killing all seven passengers.

+ the Lego brick was patented in 1958.

+ USA For Africa recorded “We Are The World” in 1985.

+ Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813.

Jan 29

+ Robert Frost died in 1963.  Have a favorite?  Nope – too many to choose from.

+ The Raven was published in 1845, and “quoth the raven……….”

+ German engineer Carl Benz patented the first gas-driven car in 1886.

Jan 30

+ Gandhi was assassinated, trying to mediate a dispute between Muslims and Hindus in India and Pakistan.

+ the last public performance by the Beatles in 1969

+ Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933.

+ a German cruise ship/hospital ship/military transport ship – the William Gustloff – was sunk by a Russian submarine during WWII, killing 9,400 people in 1945.  It was the deadliest maritime disaster in history.

That’s what I got for now…..

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