PODCAzT 42: St. Augustine on St. Lawrence and how to be a Christian

Here is a fast, patristiblogger PODCAzT inspired by the second selection from today’s Office of Readings on this feast of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr in Rome. We hear St. Augustine of Hippo’s sermo 304, preached probably in Hippo Regius in 417 on St. Lawrence’s Day. The sermon is short enough that we can hear the whole thing. This time we have the English first, to get the content into your head, followed by the whole sermon in Latin, to get your Latin ears tuned to that content. I am using some new software to build these PODCAzTs. I discovered a new feature, which allows me to mix the whole thing and export it to an mp3 file in one click, which will save a lot of production time. I am trying to balance the amount of time it takes to make them against the download statistics I can track. The return on investment of time must inspire me to record these little offerings. So, the less time it takes to make them and the more times they are accessed, the more of them I will make. An improvement in software, possible because people used that donation button on the side bar, was a first step. Hardware comes next. Thanks for listening and contributing!

It is interesting to read the provisions of Summorum Pontificum in light of this book.  We get a glimpse of what His Holiness is trying to accomplish.
041 07-08-09 Ratzinger on liturgical silence; silent Eucharist Prayer
040 07-08-02 Eusebius of Vercelli in exile; my column in The Wanderer on detractors of Summorum Pontificum
039 07-07-27 St. Augustine on Christ the Mediator; “for all” or “for many”?

038 07-07-25 Ratzinger on “active participation”; The Sabine Farm; Merry del Val’s music

037 07-07-18 The position of the altar and the priest’s “back to the people”

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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9 Comments

  1. Father Z., do your statistics reflect downloads, too? I always download the mp3 and listen to it from my own computer. It just works better for me. If your statistics are kind of low, maybe it doesn’t count those of us who do that, even aside from the possibility of having lost the stats in an upgrade.

    Anyhow, your podcasts are extraordinary, and I wish more people who are talented, interesting, and no less importantly have a good “radio voice” would produce such podcasts. Yours are the only ones I listen to regularly. They show foresight and planning, depth of learning, a high quality of production, and are on fascinating and edifying topics. It’s a sign of respect for both the subject matter and the audience to put such quality work into such things that are distributed gratis. I hope you continue them.

  2. Kevin: Thanks for the kind words. My stats do reflect downloads. What they can’t reflect, of course, is what people do with them. I think some people share the files with others.

  3. You’re very welcome, Father. Anything that helps!

  4. Father, I’m sure you know about this already, though perhaps some of your other readers haven’t run into it: the Perseid meteor shower that peaks on or near this day annually is also called the Tears of St Lawrence. Here’s a picture of them from 2004, from the always picturesque Astronomy Picture of the Day. Not too surprisingly, the fail to mention Saint Lawrence.

    It’s too foggy here in the San Francisco Bay to see them tonight, but maybe some others will get a peek. I’ve seen some especially nice displays of the Perseids before, though I didn’t know about the St Lawrence connection before tonight. Neato!

  5. Kevin: Tonight I was outside with my mother, visiting me at The Sabine Farm. The sky is/was crystal clear and we are far from city lights. The Milky Way is so very so very distinct.

    We saw many “tears”.

    My deepest memory of this meteor shower….

    … was lying on my back on the terrace of a villa at ancient Cumae, north of the bay of Naples, where my room overlooked the amphitheater of that legendary place. I recall the lingering heat of the terrace through my cotton shirt. After the wine and music of the villa I watched the the shooting stars amidst my hand washed laundry and fell asleep till the cool of dawn.

    Tonight I have a new memory at the Sabine Farm with my mother.

  6. Those sound like beautiful memories to treasure, Father. I miss being able to see the night sky well, being in such a built up area now. It’s such a beautiful and calming thing. I’ll have to find myself a Sabine Farm of my own!

  7. Augustine says:

    Brilliant podcast as always.

    One thing in this reading stood out for me.

    I think Ratzinger’s suggestion for the priest to say the first words of each prayer of the Canon aloud is very interesting. This would likely help people follow along better, while not losing the silence of the Canon. It would also help to fulfill Vatican II’s ideal of more active participation in the Liturgy.

  8. Tom Seeker says:

    Father Z-

    Please let me know what hardware you might need…I believe I can help.

    in +JMJ+

    Tom Seeker

  9. martagarbarino says:

    Just a little information which appeared on MN,St. Paul Star Tribune Sunday, Aug. 12 edition, page B3 …”Overnight tonight, the sky will shed tears of fire. That’s what the followers of St. Lawrence thought was happening after his brutal martyrdom by Romans in 258 A.D. Today, the annual summer celestial cavalcade is known as the Perseid meteor shower ( it appears to emanate from the constellation Perseus in the northeast sky). I love the tears of fire interpretation.
    God,s majesty transcends all things.

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