Not just the anniversary of martyrdom of St. Bartholomew

Today is not just the anniversary of martyrdom of St. Bartholomew

In 79 A.D. — Vesuvius erupted, burying Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae

In 410 A.D. — Alaric sacked Rome

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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

  1. Tim Ferguson says:

    If I’m not mistaken, Alaric is the patron invoked by many liturgists and “worship space” renovators.

  2. Geremia says:

    I’m surprised no one has posted yet Michaelangelo’s The Last Judgment painting which includes St. Bartholomew displaying his flayed skin.

  3. Andrew says:

    St. Jerome gives us an insight to the situation in Rome in those days and truly “horret animus legendo ista”:

    Horret animus temporum nostrorum ruinas persequi. Viginti et eo amplius anni sunt, quod inter Constantinopolim, et alpes Julias, quotidie Romanus sanguis effunditur. Scythiam, Thraciam, Macedoniam, Dardaniam, Daciam, Thessaliam, Achaiam, Epiros, Dalmatiam, cunctasque Pannonias Gothus, Sarmata, Quadus, Alanus, Hunni, Wandali, Marcomanni vastant, trahunt, rapiunt. Quot matronae, quot virgines Dei, et ingenua nobiliaque corpora, his belluis fuere ludibrio? Capti Episcopi, interfecti Presbyteri, et diversorum officia Clericorum. Subversae Ecclesiae, ad altaria Christi stabulati equi, Martyrum effossae reliquiae: ‘ubique luctus, ubique gemitus , et plurima mortis imago’. Romanus orbis ruit, et tamen cervix nostra erecta non flectitur.
    Ecce tibi anno praeterito ex ultimis Caucasi rupibus immissi in nos, non jam Arabiae, sed Septentrionis lupi, tantas brevi provincias percurrerunt. Quot monasteria capta? quantae fluviorum aquae humano cruore mutatae sunt? Obsessa Antiochia, et urbes reliquae, quas Halis. Cydnus, Orontes, Euphratesque praeterfluunt. Tracti greges captivorum: Arabia, Phoenice, Palaestina, Aegyptus timore captivae.

    And we think we’ve got problems. For Jerome, when Rome has fallen, the world has come to an end.

  4. r.j.sciurus says:

    Bad day for Italians.

  5. ghp95134 says:

    Geremia: “I’m surprised no one has posted yet Michaelangelo’s The Last Judgment painting which includes St. Bartholomew displaying his flayed skin.

    Fr.Z did that earlier today at 2:57pm; check half-way down the page, right side:
    https://wdtprs.com/2010/08/24-aug-bartholomew-apostle/

  6. sejoga says:

    And the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, and the burning of the White House by the British during the War of 1812, and the day France became a nuclear power, and lots of other awful stuff.

    I know this because when you’re a little kid and you look up “on this day” stuff from history regarding your birthday, it’s pretty depressing when everything has to do with people dying horrifically. (Not in the case of France… but the potential is there!)

  7. DHippolito says:

    BURN, BABY, BURN!!!! :D

  8. Gabrielle says:

    Disaster…?
    Sometime in the 1930s Cardinal Murphy O’Connor was born.

    May he be blessed for all his good work.

  9. KatieL56 says:

    I love St. Bartholomew but it is HARD being born on August 24. As another poster mentioned, all the stuff that happened ‘on your birthday in year X’ seems to be disasters! Not to mention that wherever I may happen to be on my birthday, it turns cold and rains.

  10. The modern St.Bartholomew’s Day Massacre: On August 24, 2006, the FDA approved over-the-counter sales of the abortifacient “morning-after pill,” Plan B, as a non-prescription drug to anyone over 18.

  11. bookworm says:

    Speaking of inauspicious birthdays… I once read a newspaper column in which the writer mentioned a friend named Katrina whose birthday was September 11.

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