Wishing All Our Readers A Happy and Blessed Christmas Season

(St Gall 376)


(St Gall 342)


(St Gall 338)

Rosary-making Query

Are there any rosary makers out there? If so, I have a question for you. How would you construct a rosary that didn't cost more than $40 in components, didn't take a glacial age or tons of experience to make, looked elegant, and was either virtually indestructible or really easy to repair?

My husband is very tough on his rosaries, and has broken every one he's owned with the exception of plastic ones (which don't look very nice) or nylon cord (slightly better, but still not as nice as glass or gemstone beads). Rosaries made of beads and chain links fall apart, and I find them very difficult to repair--and the repair jobs never last long. The only really nice rosaries I've found for sale that seem durable and elegant cost much more than I could reasonably spend.

I don't want him to have to be forever buying new rosaries, or be relegated only to the plastic kind that little kids use. I'd like to try my hand at making a rosary for him that I could repair or that wouldn't fall apart in the first place. I know where to get components--I've sourced beads and medals and crucifixes that are elegant and with in my price range, so no advice on that, please. I want advice on methods of construction. Chain takes up huge amounts of time, and as I've said, we haven't had good luck with that. I've looked into flexible wire and nylon string--I think the feel of beads on nylon string would be nicer, but I'm willing to try wire if that's the only option. Do you have experience with these? Are they durable? How do they feel under the fingers?

Vespers

If any of our readers are in the Los Angeles area, make a trip to St. Victor's in West Hollywood between December 15th and December 23rd. We are having a novena before Christmas of sung Vespers with Benediction. It will begin at 8pm every night except for Mondays, when Mass begins at 7:45 with the novena following. It promises to be pretty good, so please come!

Band Meme
Via The Shrine and Zadok

1. Band Name: Random Wikipeda Link
2. Album Title: Random quote generator (take the last four words from the first quote
on the page)
3. Album Art: Flickr Interesting Photo (pick one)

Like Zadok, I chose to do two. My skill in adding text to photos is very limited, so it's the same format both times, and I couldn't get them to be the right shape.

I think that "Prisoner of Love" write very sweet, sentimental ballads and no one is quite sure whether they are sincere or ironic. "1824 in Australia" must be a folk group; their new album has a "work" theme. They gave in to the cliché of including the important but overdone song "No Irish Need Apply" (it's track 6).

I can hardly believe it's been a year...

First Effort

I bought my husband a calligraphy set as an early anniversary present (the anniversary isn't for two weeks yet), so naturally the first thing I did was steal it back and experiment with it.

I had a little experience with calligraphy in eighth-grade art class, plus experiments on my own in the past with felt-tip calligraphy pens and fountain pens, but this was my first time using a proper pen that I actually had to dip into the ink. I am rather proud of myself that there are no splotches. I chose to copy the chant Resurrexi (introit for Easter Sunday) from St. Gall manuscript 339 (the whole manuscript is online, so it was easy to get). It is a famous 10th-11th century codex, and was the first manuscript published in facsimile in the Paléographie musicale.

The initial letter is traced, and the rest is free-hand. I only had black ink, so everything in red was done with an ordinary red pen--the same one I use to correct undergrad exams, in fact. The set that I bought seems to have been intended for rather large lettering, and the only tip small enough for the neumes was one of the pointy ones, rather than one with a flat end, so the neumes don't have the nice variable thickness as in the original manuscript. Also, I couldn't see the lines of the paper that I had under the vellum well enough, so my lettering is very crooked and not nice and even like the original scribe's. I will probably get better at that if I practice, though. Here are my effort and the original (click to see them larger):

GoodSearch

If you're looking for an alternative to Google, consider GoodSearch. It's powered by Yahoo!Search. For every search query, they give one cent to the charity of your choice. If you don't see the charity you want to give to listed, you can submit the name of another charity, and the GoodSearch folks will contact that charity to see if they want to participate.

Many excellent charities are already listed, including various Catholic parishes and schools around the country, Catholic Charities in several dioceses, and several religious congregations, including the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist, and the Little Sisters of the Poor in several states. My personal selection is Clear Creek Monastery. After you've made your selection, you can click the button that says "Amount raised" to see how much has been raised for that charity in the last three months. Poor Clear Creek, not even $6 since August! I think they may get a bit of a jump this month now that I've signed on, though--I do a lot of internet searches.

You can add it to your browser, as a toolbar if you use IE or integrated into your search box on IE7, Safari, or Firefox. Money is only raised through regular searches--video and image searches don't count. They also have a shop where you can buy things through their website, through another website (*scratches head*). I'm not sure how that works, as I haven't used it yet.

Remember Lepanto!

Say a Rosary today, and if I may suggest an intention, pray for peace and an end to violence perpetrated by Muslim extremists.

Then celebrate our long-ago victory with a dramatic reading of Chesterton's Lepanto.

Guts

We're all painfully aware that a lot of priests don't have the guts to tackle certain issues (especially so-called "pelvic" issues) from the pulpit.

I'd just like to send kudos to Msgr. George Parnassus of St. Victor's parish for the homily he gave last Saturday evening. He made it very clear that Catholics cannot support same-sex marriage. "I am telling you this not for my own enjoyment, or because I do not love you--I know it is difficult--but because I have an office to uphold. I must teach you what the Church teaches." Not words you would hear in many places in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The homily had a special impact because of the location of the parish, as well. St. Victor's is in West Hollywood, which has been a famously gay neighborhood for about thirty years.

CD Reviews: Some Traditional Irish Music

I obtained a little stack of CDs from the artists' consignment table at Catskills Irish Arts Week recently. I think some of our readers (if we have any left with our infrequent posting schedule) are interested in Irish music, so I thought I'd share my thoughts on my latest acquisitions.

Sliabh Notes: Along Blackwater's Banks (Ossian Publications)
Sliabh (pronounced like "sleeve") Notes consists of fiddler Matt Cranitch, accordion player Donal Murphy, and singer/guitarist Tommy O'Sullivan. The band gets its name from the region of Sliabh Luachra in the southwest of Ireland which is known for its distinctive repertoire of slides and polkas and the set dances that go with those tunes. Sliabh Notes are joined by some guests, including Kevin Burke, Steve Cooney, and Matt Molloy. There are three songs, one slow air, and nine sets of dance tunes on the CD. I didn't find the CD as thrilling as I find Sliabh Luachra-style playing to be in person--somehow the energy just didn't come across. It's ok, but not a must-have unless you're already a Sliabh Notes fan.


Fingal: Fingal (New Folk Records)
This is the group's first recording together. The band has exactly the same line-up of instruments as Sliabh Notes, but with very different players: James Keane on accordion, Randal Bays on fiddle, and Daithi Sproule on guitar and vocals (his first name is pronounced like "DA-hee"). The CD has four songs, two slow airs, seven tracks of tunes, and two mixed tracks--one is a song followed by a reel, the other is a slow air followed by a pair of reels. The trio has a nice dynamic, and the tunes are solidly played and interestingly arranged. Unfortunately, Daithi Sproule's singing, which is delightful in the quiet back room of a pub, falls a little flat in recording. His voice is light and pleasing, and it's always nice to hear good Irish-language singing, but I find him mesmerizing in person, and the recording fell short of that. Maybe my expectations were too high in that respect. Still, Fingal's maiden voyage is a success--I would definitely recommend it.


Lasairfhiona Ni Chonaola: Flame of Wine (publisher unknown)
Lasairfhiona (pronounced something like "Lahss-er-EE-na," I think) is a relatively young singer from the Aran Islands. Four of the tracks are in English, and ten are in Irish. Unfortunately, singing in Gaelic does not equal singing in the sean nos style; Lasairfhiona's vocal style is more in the vein of Enya and Emer Kenny, although her accompaniment involves fewer synthesizers, and to my great puzzlement, some big-name instrumentalists (Mary Bergin on whistles and Johnny McDonagh on bodhran). Despite her impressive back-up, I find the recording to be lacking in taste, and I can honestly say that I know a dozen amateur singers that have better voices (and more stage presence). She sings like a breathless school-girl, although she is clearly at least in her mid-twenties, and if you're expecting anything like traditional Irish singing, don't buy this CD.


Kathy Ludlow, Mary Coogan and guests: The Big Ship Sails (Trutone)
This is a recording of nursery rhymes and songs for children. There are 38 tracks on the hour-long CD, and every one of them is a gem. It is easy to tell that Kathy and Mary have many years' experience working with children. The playing and singing are of very high quality--there was no stinting just because the songs are simple or made to appeal to children. A lot of folks of my generation missed out on traditional children's songs (not me, thanks to Wee Sing tapes), and I'm glad to know that people like Kathy are still working to make sure that this generation of children don't miss out. Many of the songs here are familiar, but some of them are new to me--I didn't know "First Comes a Butterfly" or "The Fox and the Goose," for instance. If you like folk music and have kids, you absolutely MUST buy this CD. Even if you don't have kids, buy it anyway--the innocent joy of this music will keep you thoroughly entertained on your morning commute.