Fra' Andrew Bertie, 1929-2008

Fra' Andrew died on Thursday. A great article about him on Andrew Cusack's blog here

The Lost Suit

I am a devotee of thrift shops. You will frequently find me skulking up and down isles of Am-Vets, Goodwill, the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul or the Ladies Zionist Guild. It was in thrift-store-ville here amongst the defunct 8-track tapes, the undressed baby-dolls, the 1970’s coffee tables and broken hairdryers that I found the thing which slipped from my grasp.

While checking out the men’s suits I came across something that stood out from the rest. It was a 1960’s era safari suit. Yes, a safari suit. I am talking about a three piece khaki wonder with full sized breast pockets (perfect for storing extra ammo for that elephant gun.) What a thing! I panicked. I was breaking into a cold sweat.

This thing was bursting with a style not sported by anyone since Fred C. Dobbs in Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This was Proffesor Challenger, this was Gunga Din, this was the most bad-ass suit ever fashioned by hands of men.

“What a suit!” I thought to myself. Here it was, the Holy Grail of suits. My first thought was me wearing this three piece while camping in the Adirondacks. Oh other campers would be wearing “shorts” and “t-shirts”, but I, oh, I would be dressed to the hilt and roasting my weenies in style!

Then doubt crept into the back of my mind. What if people think I am some sort of a weirdy walking around dressed like Alan Quatermain. Would my wife take to my new garb with the same enthusiasm as I? Would they be after me with a net? Ought not I really be spending my money on something more useful? Quickly I went from hearing the calls of tropical birds in the treacherous jungle to bad 1970’s soft-rock music on the thrift-store sound system.

I left that suit there that day. I probably went home to watch T.V. and my twelve dollars likely got spent on snack cakes and beer instead of that suit, that cloth big game hunting piece of pure potential adventure.

Lets hope whoever did buy it is using it well today.

Lets cover it in VINYL, baby!!!

Yeah, here is a stunning and important historic Hartford home on Fairfield Avenue which the owners have decided to encase in plastic. What a nightmare! There is not much else to say here, the owners have simply succumbed to the pressure of the siding salesmen. I managed to get this snapshot before the siding went up. Watch this space to witness the mummification of an important historical landmark.

Traditional Latin Mass returns to Boston

After being booted because Holy Trinity was slated to be inexplicably closed, the old Mass is back and they will have a Midnight Mass this Christmas.

Here was the announcement:

This morning Fr. Connolly announced (to the throngs in attendance at
the 10 o'clock Mass) [NOTE: He is being ironic; seven attended the
Mass, due to the snowstorm] that after his consultations with His
Eminence, he (Fr. Connolly) has decided that the Tridentine Latin
Mass will again be celebrated weekly at Holy Trinity. He mentioned
that it remains for us to work out a schedule of clergy to enable us
to have the priests necessary to ensure proper coverage. There also
will be careful consideration as to the time the Mass will be
celebrated. The possibility of having the Latin Mass take place
before the Novus Ordo one [NOTE: 10 AM] is under active
consideration.

Peter Cooper
Holy Trinity Business Manager

These Animal Men

I had to fight not to turn this blog into a showcase for all of the gegakiana that I find on youtube, but there is too much and I can no longer fight it.

Here is an amazing musical video from a revolutionary 1990's Britpop band These Animal Men (the tag given to the unruly British by Julius Caesar).

The SOUND OF YOUTH:

Thrift Store Adventures

I need to devote a post to a great blog I stumbled on: Thrift Store Adventures. I love thrift store shopping and have been at it forever. I always loved the mad assortment of bizzare things one could find there. There are certain wonderful and strange things in thrift stores, things you would never buy but the owner of Thrift Store Adventures has an eye for them and very clerverly chronicles his finds blog-style. Excellent! Check out some of the things they have on there:













Head on over there, its amazing!

A Yankee Doodle Dandy

One of my all time favorite guys, Brian Dewan, here playing an early rendition of Yankee Doodle Dandy (actually our state song). Mr. Dewan did a N.Y. cable access program playing an assortment of political songs, they are great and you can find the rest on youtube. I'll post some Dewan audio sometime soon, too.

Vatican Soldiers

Churchill once tried to explain the political importance of the Vatican and the importance of having the Church as an ally against Germany and Stalin gave the oft quoted reply "How many divisions has Pius XII?"

In truth, Pius XII had at least one according to a Time magazine report I stumbled across from 1944. It says the Vatican had:

Mobilized a "special defense corps" estimated at 2,000 men to guard Vatican property in Rome.

Acquired a fleet of 21 coastal ships to bring food to the "hard-pressed people of Rome and Vatican City." The ships will operate between Rome and Genoa, flying the Vatican flag.†

Other defense measures taken during the past six months: 1) increase of the efficient, well-equipped Swiss Guards from 100 to 600 men; 2) increase of the Pontifical Military Guard (papal gendarmes, who ordinarily police palace and gardens) from 800 to 3,300 men; 3) quadrupling the Palatine Guard of Honor to 2,000 men. This small army has been equipped with modern weapons. The Vatican walls have been prepared for machine-gun defense "should the occasion arise."

†The small Vatican flag has two equal vertical stripes, yellow and white, carries the papal insignia. Until 1860 the Vatican had a small armed navy, used chiefly against pirates. (AWESOME!! VATICAN NAVY VS. PIRATES!!)

I couldn't find too many photos of these soldiers online, all but the Swiss Guard were abolished by Paul VI in 1970 (oh brother) so here are some for you (click for a larger view):

The Papal Gendarmes (being inspected by Charles de Gaulle:




The Noble Guard (as the name suggests made up of only Noblemen) they were also a horse guard I believe:



The Palatine Guard, the main body of the Pope's forces, all volunteers:



and of course, the Swiss guard: