FEATURE IMAGE (left to right): Louis IX with his counselors and Blanche de Castile (1188-1252), Louis’s mother, miniature, 15th century (NOTRE DAME IS ON FIRE!); Franz Jägerstätter on a motorbike in St. Radegund, Austria, summer 1940 (BL. FRANZ JÄGERSTÄATER, AUSTRIAN FARMER CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR MARTYR); Civil Rights leaders in photograph at the Lincoln Memorial after the March on Washington, August 28, 1963 (CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS MARCH ON WASHINGTON FOR JOB AND FREEDOM); El Castillo, Chichén-Itzá, 700 CE and 1100 CE (CHICHÉN-ITZÁ ANCIENT MAYAN CITY IN MEXICO’S YUCATÁN); Aerial view pyroclastic flow emerging from Mount St. Helens crater, USGS Photo #22 taken at 7:01 p.m., on July 22, 1980, by Harry Glicken (AMAZING NATURAL EVENT MAY 18, 1980 ERUPTION OF MOUNT ST. HELENS).
FEATURE Image: Black Lives Matter March, June 7, 2020, Downers Grove, Illinois (BLM MARCH 2020).
21 Posts.
A Thousand-Year-Old-Plus Tradition Says, “Rain On Saint Swithun’s Day (July 15), Rain 40 Days More.” The Legend is so Famous that English Novelist Jane Austen Wrote Her Last Poem About It.
FEATURE image: The shrine of Saint Swithun (or Swithin) in Winchester Cathedral in England, The official name of the old minster or mynster ( from monasterium) is the Cathedral Church of Holy Trinity, Saint Peter, Saint Paul, and Saint Swithun. Since July 15, 971 the shrine at the grave of St. Swithun has been inside…
MONTFORT L’AMAURY, France. Thirty miles west of Paris, the 1000-year-old fortified royal town showcases its 11th century crusaders’ castle, 16th century flamboyant Gothic church with 37 intact Renaissance stained-glass windows and the homes of 20th century playwright Jean Anouilh and music composer Maurice Ravel.
FEATURED image: Manuscript 16th century (detail): Queen consort Anne of Brittany (1477-1514) receiving a Book of Hours from her Dominican confessor, Antoine Dufour (d.1509). Montfort L’Amaury returned to the crown of France after Anne of Brittany married Charles VIII “the Affable” (1470-1498) in 1491. At the north edge of the Rambouillet forest the city of…
Ten miles west of Chicago: A Miraculous Crucifix in Hillside, Illinois, where the Virgin Mary is reported to have appeared in the 1980s and other unexplained “miracles.”
FEATURE Image: Old Testament prophets window, Mausoleum, Queen of Heaven Cemetery, Hillside, Illinois. This is one of scores of original stained glass and artifacts in the mausoleum in Chicago’s near western suburbs. The crucifix today is located in a southern section of Queen of Heaven cemetery in Hillside, Illinois. The cemetery is almost 500 acres…
Last battles, death mask of NAPOLEON BONAPARTE (1769-1821) at the 200th anniversary of his death on remote Saint Helena island on May 5, 1821.
FEATURED image: Napoleon near Borodino, Vasily Vereshchagin (1842–1904), 1897, oil on canvas, State Historical Museum, Moscow. Major facts of the life of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) are well known. Known as Napoleon I, the French Emperor who died two centuries ago was a shrewd, ambitious and skilled military leader who conquered much of Europe in the…
Long Live Freedom! HANS SCHOLL AND SOPHIE SCHOLL and The White Rose in Germany (1942-1943).
FEATURE image: Hans and Sophie Scholl, painting –“Hans and Sophie Scholl, painting” by Ralf van Bühren is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 By John P. Walsh On February 18, 1943, following the illegal distribution of anti-Nazi leaflets by the White Rose at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München—the leaflets instructing students and all others to actively resist the 10-year-old Nazi regime—three young German…
August 28, 1963: the 72-minute MEETING AT THE WHITE HOUSE OF CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS WITH PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY following the historic March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
FEATURE image: Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. (Leaders of the march posing in front of the statue of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Memorial.) by Rowland Scherman (b. 1937), for the U.S. Information Agency. Press and Publications Service. Public Domain/U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. By John P. Walsh President John F. Kennedy watched the march—and…
Two hours by car from Cancún’s beaches, the ancient Mayan city of CHICHÉN-ITZÁ in Mexico’s Yucatán jungle offers a view into a lost civilization’s temples, pyramids, and astronomical observatories.
FEATURE image: Chichén-Itzá serpent head sculptures guard a staircase. Author’s photograph. By John P. Walsh Cancún’s sandy spit of land at the northern tip of the Yucatán peninsula was uninhabited by the ancient Mayans. It was trodden by the conquistadores and used by pirates as a hide-out. Today, oozing like wet plaster into the Caribbean…
Dachau Prisoner and Martyr: Blessed TITUS BRANDSMA, O. Carm., Catholic scholar and journalist.
FEATURE image: Titus Brandsma, a Dutch educator, journalist and priest, had been appointed by the Catholic Bishops in Holland as their chief spokesman to defend the freedom of Catholic education and the press. The 60-year-old Carmelite was arrested in Holland by the Nazis in early 1942 and killed by lethal injection (carbolic acid) in Dachau…
St. Francis of Assisi and the plenary PORTIUNCULA INDULGENCE: since 1216, from sunset of August 1 to sunset of August 2.
FEATURE image: Detail from St. Francis Receiving the Franciscan Order from Pope Honorius III by Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494). The fresco, painted in the mid1480s (1483-85), was originally for Santa Trinita in Florence, Italy. It is today in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. Ghirlandaio’s complete fresco image is included in this post below. Giotto (1267-1337),…
Politics of Inclusion: ROBERT F. KENNEDY, 50 years Later (1968-2018).
FEATURE image: “‘Some men see things as they are, and say ‘Why?’ — I dream of things that never were, and say, ‘Why not?”” by gwilmore is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. PHOTO CREDIT: “No Known Restrictions: Robert Kennedy Speaks to Civil Rights Demonstrators at Justice Department by Warren K. Leffler, 1963 (LOC)” by pingnews.com is marked with CC PDM 1.0. By John…
RAY KROC’S VERY FIRST MCDONALD’S FRANCHISE RESTAURANT started in 1955 in Des Plaines, Illinois, is slated to meet the wrecking ball.
FEATURE image: McDonald’s, 1967. “Toledo, McDonald’s 1967” by DBduo Photography is marked with CC BY-SA 2.0. By John P. Walsh A closed-down weather-beaten replica of the very first McDonald’s franchise restaurant started by Ray Kroc (1902-1984) on April 15, 1955 standing on its original site in Des Plaines, Illinois, is slated to be demolished by McDonald’s Corporation with its…
Prison Meditations of German Pastor and Nazi Resister ALFRED DELP, S.J. (1907-1945) who was executed by the Nazis in Berlin’s Tegel Prison at the end of World War II.
FEATURE image: Alfred Delp, S.J, FIRST SUNDAY IN ADVENT. During World War II in Germany, Alfred Delp, S.J. (September 15, 1907 – executed, Berlin, February 2, 1945) was a member of the Kreisauer Kreis (The Kreisau Circle) composed of German men and women from a variety of backgrounds who opposed Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime. Fr.…
BL. FRANZ JÄGERSTÄTTER (1907-1943): Austrian Farmer, Husband and Father, Conscientious Objector, and Martyr.
FEATURE image: Detail of Franz Jägerstätter on a motorbike in St. Radegund, Austria, in 1940. By John P. Walsh October 26, 2017/updated July 15, 2021. In his 17-minute speech at the TED conference in April 2017, Pope Francis talked about the importance of human interdependence, equality, and inclusion. Perhaps surprisingly, the pope stressed the power…
INTERNATIONAL CRISES ACROSS A NUCLEAR AGE: On Donald Trump’s North Korea Crisis (2017) and John F. Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis (1962).
FEATURE image: Hawker-Siddeley Blue Steel was started privately in 1954. A contract was placed in 1956 for a stand-off missile to carry a thermonuclear device with a 1 megaton yield by the British Ministry of Supply. Blue Steel was powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Motors that were ignited on launch and enabled the missile to…
PART 3 – MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND THE CHICAGO FREEDOM MOVEMENT: Marches and Rallies of Summer 1966.
FEATURE image: At Chicago’s City Hall, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Chicago Freedom Movement leaders, July 10, 1966. Following a speech in front of thousands at Soldier Field and a march downtown, Dr. King presented Mayor Daley with fourteen demands for a racially open city. August 5, 2016 – by John P. Walsh. Released…
History and reportage of the amazing natural event of May 18, 1980: the eruption of MOUNT ST. HELENS, Washington.
FEATURE image: Phreatic or steam-blast eruption from the summit crater of Mount St. Helens on April 6, 1980. USGS/Public domain. By John P. Walsh, May 18, 2016. “Nobody lies about her lodestone any more. She burned and destroyed the whole park! Killed people too – what a pity! Only scientists are out there now. What’s there to see,…
The 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, and Portraits of 14 IRISH LEADERS who were executed for proclaiming the Irish Republic.
FEATURE image: Cú Chulainn dying in battle, 1911, bronze, by Oliver Sheppard (1865 – 1941), General Post Office (G.P.O.), Dublin, Ireland. Public Domain. By John P. Walsh. May 12, 2016. Today marks the centenary of the final executions of Irish rebel leaders by British firing squads in connection with the 1916 Easter Rising which proclaimed an…
The role of SUPERDELEGATES in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Primaries. Does the party establishment win the battle and lose the war?
FEATURE image: “Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton – Caricatures” by DonkeyHotey is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. By John Walsh – 4:00 pm Chicago time, April 27, 2016. Despite the corporate media’s unabashed favoritism for Hillary Clinton when reporting the news – it is reminiscent of the Cold War days when Americans were told about the partisan propaganda at Pravda (a frightening…
PARTS 1 & 2 – MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. AND THE CHICAGO FREEDOM MOVEMENT: Coming to Chicago and the Start of the Campaign in 1966.
FEATURE image: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1965. By John P. Walsh The first nonviolent civil rights campaign in the North led by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) started in Chicago, Illinois, on January 5, 1966—50 years ago this month. The multi-pronged campaign was Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s first major effort outside…
Nation Divided: Violent Crime and the “Renaissance of GUN OWNERSHIP” IN THE USA.
FEATURE image: “and more guns… 121228.223” by Patrick Feller is licensed under CC BY 2.0. By John P. WalshPosted December 6, 2014. updated: October 2, 2015;updated: February 14, 2018 (Parkland high school shooting — at least 17 killed, suspect in custody, Florida sheriff says). On a typical day in the United States, not all firearms (a.k.a. guns) are…
God Cherishes Simplicity: A Brief Account of the Life of SAINT THÉRÈSE OF LISIEUX (French, 1873-1897).
FEATURE image: Thérèse Martin (St. Thérèse of Lisieux) at 15 years old in a photograph taken in October 1887. By John P. Walsh October 1 is the feast day of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (French, 1873-1897), one of only four women “doctors” in the Roman Catholic Church, and popularly known as The Little Flower of Jesus.…
Young Scottish KING JAMES IV (1473-1513) who walked the world stage is killed at the Battle of Flodden Field (September 9, 1513) in northernmost England.
FEATURE image: Portrait of James IV, after 1578, artist unknown, 41.2 x 33 cm, National Galleries Scotland. Public Domain. The earliest Middleton church was dedicated to Saint Cuthbert around 880 as pagan Danes were then attacking the north of England. Following William the Conqueror in 1066, the Normans built a larger church dedicated to Saint…
