Lest BREXIT go unnoticed, a Martyrology entry: “Pridie Kalendas Februarii Luna sexta Anno Domini 2020…”

I received this from a reader.

Pridie Kalendas Februarii Luna sexta Anno Domini 2020

Britanniae, anno LXVIII regni Elizabethae Reginae, Imperium, splendore radians, ab illo comitio diabolico scilicet, Unione Europaea, post annos dolorosos XLVII, (br)exiit.

‘In Britain, the 65th year in the reign of Elizabeth Regina, the Empire, bedecked with splendour, after 47 dolorous years, left that diabolical assembly, the European Union.’

This is what Beans tweeted today, in a fit of Euronostalgia.

Perhaps the best thing that he could do is return to Europe, there to help his fellow Europeans get over their loss.

Next… Uscitalia?

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

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

  1. jaykay says:

    Ut inscriberetur magnis litteris auri in hoc foro publico quod “Trafalgar” vocatur.

  2. Kathleen10 says:

    He’s against it, now I’m sure it’s a good thing for the UK.
    I don’t understand remainers at all. I hope they don’t want to see GB fail so they could say they were right. Democrats in the states think that way, to the detriment of all. They want to see things go sour for the US in every way so they can try to use it against Trump and regain power. Very weird.
    Don’t do that, Great Britain, work together now and Make Great Britain Great Again.

  3. robtbrown says:

    Non Europeaus sed Germanicus fieri vult “Faba” ut Germaniae cliens nunc sit Italia.

  4. In June of 2016 I found myself almost wishing…almost…that I was a British subject, so that I too could vote YES for Brexit. The whole European super-state idea is nothing more than the Soviet Union with velvet upholstery.

    But I was still able to do my bit to strike a blow against leftist statism in November of 2016. And it was a joy to do so.

  5. veritas vincit says:

    Too bad Latin is unsuited for modern colloquial phrases like this one:
    “Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

  6. pedantic_prof says:

    The regnal years of Elizabeth II are incorrect; Her Majesty acceded on February 6, 1952.

  7. pedantic_prof says: regnal years of Elizabeth II are incorrect

    I take it it should be LXVII… or rather LXVIII, since there is no “zeroeth” year.

  8. robtbrown says:

    veritas vincit

    Just as in the 1940s Great Britain doesn’t want to be part of the German Empire.

  9. Semper Gumby says:

    robtbrown: “Hitler, your empire’s a dog’s dinner, right then, off you go.”

  10. Semper Gumby says:

    Congratulations to Britain, now Catechisms and Churchill biographies all ’round.

    And blimey, get a handle on those Islamists.

    Our cousins across the Pond found the following EU intrusions not their cup of tea, and who can blame them? Not I, not even after a fortnight binge watching BBC News.

    The EU law on bananas: “free from abnormal curvature”, “a cleanly cut crown, not beveled or torn, with no stalk fragments.”

    https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:31994R2257:EN:HTML

    EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration

    EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.

    Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.

    Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity writ large.

    “The euro is burning, the EU is falling apart and yet here they are: highly-paid, highly-pensioned officials worrying about the obvious qualities of water and trying to deny us the right to say what is patently true.

    “If ever there were an episode which demonstrates the folly of the great European project then this is it.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim-that-water-can-prevent-dehydration.html

    EU to ban selling eggs by dozen

    Under the draft legislation, to come into force as early as next year, the sale of groceries using the simple measurement of numbers will be replaced by an EU-wide system based on weight.

    It would mean an end to packaging descriptions such as eggs by the dozen, four-packs of apples, six bread rolls or boxes of 12 fish fingers.

    The changes would cost the food and retail industries millions of pounds as items would have to be individually weighed to ensure the accuracy of the label.

    Trade magazine, The Grocer, said food industry sources had described the move as “bonkers” and “absolute madness”. Its editor, Adam Leyland, said the EU had “created a multi-headed monster”.

    Caroline Spelman said: “This goes against common sense. Shopkeeping is a long standing British tradition and we know what customers want. They want to buy eggs by the dozen and they should be allowed to – a point I shall be making clear to our partners in Europe.”

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/7857516/EU-to-ban-selling-eggs-by-dozen.html

  11. Grabski says:

    Ms Moore. You get to vote a la Brexit come November…

  12. Josephus Corvus says:

    Congratulations to the United Kingdom on their Independence Day and becoming a sovereign nation once again.

  13. jaykay says:

    Semper G: Interestingly, the UK never brought in metric road measurements – all their signposts continued in miles. And now will so continue. I’m over there fairly frequently, and it’s a joy, because I’ve never really taken to the Km thingy, despite the fact that here in Ireland all ours converted to Km some time ago. Dividing by 8 and multiplying by 5 to get the “real” measurement is a pain, but everyone still refers to miles, feet, yards, inches. I have no idea how many cm in height I am, and I don’t want to know. Similarly, I know I’m about a stone overweight – eheu – but what that might be in Kgs I have no idea (a “stone” is 14 lbs, only used in UK and – unofficially now- Ireland).

    But we still have pints. Oh yes.

  14. veritas vincit says:

    “In June of 2016 I found myself almost wishing…almost…that I was a British subject, so that I too could vote YES for Brexit.”

    Anita Moore, I am no more a British subject than are you. But I was very happy at the outcome of the Brexit vote, and a certain British patriotic song came to mind:

    “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves!
    Britons never never never will be slaves!”

  15. Pingback: SATVRDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit

  16. Suburbanbanshee says:

    Faggioli… dude… Didn’t you mean “Civis Europaeus sum”?

    Oh, wait, you don’t want to exclude illegal immigrants. I see.

  17. pedantic_prof says:

    Semper_gumby lists many complaints about EU bureaucracy straight out of the Brexit Handbook of Misleading or Inaccurate Claims about Europe, not least of which is the grossly misreported and now discredited story purporting that the “EU bans claim that water can prevent dehydration” (https://marketinglaw.osborneclarke.com/retailing/water-aids-hydration-claim-misleading/). The misleading stories were published in the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail and I note semper quotes from the former. The banana regulations, often cited to claim that the EU tried to prohibit curved bananas are, in fact, straightforward standards that one might easily find in FDA or the UK Food Standards Agency. It’s necessary, as with any legislation, to state the obvious since original sin makes us rather prone to stupidity.

    I did, quite naturally as a scholar working in French, vote to remain within the EU in the 2016 referendum. In a few years time, when Britons realize that they are less safe, are paying more for food, have less restricted travel, and a poor education and health service, I look forward to voting to rejoin it. Whatever disagreements that Brexiters and Remainers have, it would be churlish not to recognize the achievements of the EU in maintaining post-WWII peace within the continent for the past six decades, something of an historical aberration. And God save the Queen!

  18. pedantic_prof says:

    Semper Gumby’s other chestnuts include the fake news about the EU banning eggs by the dozen (https://www.bbc.com/news/10461548 and https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2010/jun/30/mailonsunday-eu). I fear that many voters participated in the referendum “informed” by such nonsense and falsehoods and it’s a pity that Semper is spreading them again, though I suspect perhaps a tad tongue in cheek!

  19. Grabski says:

    Doubtful Brits will be less safe, or have worse education, without the Eurocrats. That’s nonsense, Professor.

    What is also nonsense is banning national flags in the Parliament of Sovereign Members. Sounds like the EUSSR /s…

  20. jaykay says:

    As to the EU “maintaining peace”, and speaking of misleading claims, I wonder at what stage, precisely, were the two principal candidates for such supposed aggression, Germany and France, likely to have gone to war? Again? Given the division of Germany, the relative weakness of France, and the overwhelming reality of the Red Threat in the East, there was no possibility of an old-style intra-European war between 1945 and 1990, even had the EEC/EC/EU not been there. When war did break out “within the continent” – albeit outside the EC as it then was – it didn’t do much to prevent it. The US eventually stepped in. As it had done since 1945, as the real maintainer of peace.

  21. Grabski says:

    As for education under the Erasmus program more Germans French Spanish students study in UK that vice versa

    Per UK data c 140,000 EU students were in UK vs c 20,000 in EU.

    Seems the educational hit falls on EU, in reality

  22. Semper Gumby says:

    Anita Moore O.P. (lay) wrote:

    “The whole European super-state idea is nothing more than the Soviet Union with velvet upholstery.”

    Bingo. One day there will probably be an iron fist under that “progressive” velvet.

    In the early 1950s several European statesmen, mostly Catholic, formed the European Coal and Steel Commission to strengthen economic ties between France and Germany. Over the decades it transmogrified into the EU. St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI criticized the EU Constitution as it refused to recognize Christianity or even Europe’s Christian heritage.

    jaykay: “But we still have pints.” That’s right. Only a Modernist heretic, after an afternoon trekking the moors in the Old Sod clad in the latest offerings from J. Peterman, would walk into a pub, slap the bar, and say, “Barkeep! A liter of Guinness!”

    Good point about peace in Europe. The threat to peace was from the Warsaw Pact armies. There was zero chance the West German government was going to send the few panzer divisions they had roaring back into France.

    pedantic_prof: Thank you for proving the point of Brexiters everywhere.

    “I did, quite naturally as a scholar working in French, vote to remain within the EU in the 2016 referendum.”

    Yes, yes, quite. Now, pedantic_prof, I pray thee steel thyself. Set down thy soy-latte-tea and repair to thy fainting couch:

    There are productive, educated and well-adjusted Brits who speak French and voted for Brexit. If you care, you could find them (and other Brexiters from all walks of life) at museums (the kind where toilets and a brick are not gazed at in awe) and the theater (the kind where the actors and actresses do not disrobe or where vulgarities stand in for dialogue).

    “…it would be churlish not to recognize the achievements of the EU in maintaining post-WWII peace…”

    Incorrect. What would be “churlish” is to fail to understand that what kept the peace in Europe was not preening and malcontent intellectuals or fuzzy notions of “containment.” Actual, real-live men and women who resisted totalitarianism- who by their actions forced totalitarians to consider the consequences of their actions- kept the peace. And, finally, by careful design and resolute action they ejected the Soviet tyrants from Europe without World War III.

    As for your EUrophiliac articles from the BBC, Guardian, and OsborneClarke- they are strawmen. Read the articles I provided you, they report on actual people with actual grievances. Your harangue against these articles and Brexiters (“fake news” “misleading” “nonsense” “falsehoods” “”informed””) is the attitude that Brexiters are revolting against.

    “And God save the Queen.”

    You bet. Prince Charles, who, among other things, uses private jets to meet up with Greta Thuneberg and her Global Warming Anger Tour, will probably be a train wreck as King.

    “In a few years time, when Britons realize that they are less safe, are paying more for food, have less restricted travel, and a poor education and health service, I look forward to voting to rejoin it.”

    Well, no sign of graciousness in defeat there. And your sentiment does sound familiar.

    pedantic_prof, you have something in common with a certain political party in America. That political party believes many other Americans are “deplorable” “ignorant” and “bitter clingers.” That party also lost in 2016.

    May I guide you to the words of Thomas Sowell:

    “Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.”

  23. Now the next thing the subjects of the United Kingdom need to do is to return to the Catholic Faith that their forefathers ought never to have left.

  24. pedantic_prof says:

    Grabski, “Doubtful Brits will be less safe, or have worse education, without the Eurocrats. That’s nonsense, Professor.” Nonsense? Not according to most academics and institutions within the UK: https://www.thenewfederalist.eu/brexit-spells-trouble-for-british-universities?lang=fr (there are many, many items out there discussing the brain-drain effect of Brexit, the impact on subjects such as foreign languages, and the difficulties imposed on collaborative research, not to mention the EU funding and grants that institutions will lose). As to the number of Eramus students, you quote “Per UK data c 140,000 EU students were in UK vs c 20,000 in EU.” The UK is one country; the EU is 27. I’m also not sure where you obtained thesefigures from, but they don’t seem accurate (https://fullfact.org/europe/british-students-and-eu/).

    No, national flags were never banned in the EU Parliament; they were never allowed in the first place with banners. Semper Gumby quotes St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI’s critiques of the the European Constitution without noting that both were enthusiastic supporters of the EU project and spoke to the European Parliament on a number of occasions. I won’t comment on Semper Gumby’s refusal to acknowledge deceptive news reporting nor will I reply to his ad hominem comments because I am a Christian.

  25. pedantic_prof says:

    Grabski, “Doubtful Brits will be less safe, or have worse education, without the Eurocrats. That’s nonsense, Professor.” Nonsense? Not according to most academics and institutions within the UK: https://www.thenewfederalist.eu/brexit-spells-trouble-for-british-universities?lang=fr (there are many, many items out there discussing the brain-drain effect of Brexit, the impact on subjects such as foreign languages, and the difficulties imposed on collaborative research, not to mention the EU funding and grants that institutions will lose). As to the number of Eramus students, you quote “Per UK data c 140,000 EU students were in UK vs c 20,000 in EU.” The UK is one country; the EU is 27. I’m also not sure where you obtained thesefigures from, but they don’t seem accurate (https://fullfact.org/europe/british-students-and-eu/).

    No, national flags were never banned in the EU Parliament; they were never allowed in the first place with banners. Semper Gumby quotes St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI’s critiques of the the European Constitution without noting that both were enthusiastic supporters of the EU project and spoke to the European Parliament on a number of occasions. I won’t comment on Semper Gumby’s refusal to acknowledge deceptive news reporting nor will I reply to his ad hominem remarks since strawman arguments seem to be his forte.

    [First Pete and now Re-Pete. You might reconsider throwing elbows under the net … twice.]

  26. Semper Gumby says:

    pedantic_prof: Er, you seem unaware of the widespread reporting, for about a decade or two, in media outlets across the political spectrum, about European brain drain to the US. Have no fear, Brexit will not turn the UK into an island colony of morons.

    As for JP II and BXVI, you’re missing the big picture. Of course they’re interested in a peaceful and prosperous Europe, and with the EU active in Europe they certainly want to influence its direction. But, note their objections to an atheistic EU, an EU only a few years old that refuses to acknowledge Europe’s Christian heritage. That’s a problem.

    Now, pedantic_prof, you were kind enough to offer two endings to your comment:

    “I won’t comment on Semper Gumby’s refusal to acknowledge deceptive news reporting nor will I reply to his ad hominem…

    1. “…comments because I am a Christian.”

    So am I. We are at an impasse.

    2. “…remarks since strawman arguments seem to be his forte.”

    Is this the “soy-latte-tea” and “fainting couch” crack? I pray thee do not swoon at such a device, unless thou has never cracked a joke about Brexiters, conservatives, Margaret Thatcher, etc., etc.

    You wrote: “Semper Gumby’s refusal to acknowledge deceptive news reporting.”

    Which conjures up an amusing film noir image: It’s 2027, springtime, Paris. At an outdoor cafe near the Seine a sharp-eyed pedantic_prof, resplendent in his EU uniform with lightning-bolt flash on his collars indicating Intellectual, spots a table of tourists reading the Daily Telegraph. Clearly, enemies of the state under the influence of deceptive news reporting. A snap of his fingers. A window-less van screeches to a halt at the curb and the tourists are chucked in. As the van speeds away, pedantic_prof picks up a half-eaten croissant and bites into it with satisfaction.

    Okey-dokey pedantic_prof, with our host’s permission, your turn: Semper Gumby the film noir villian of 2027.

  27. pedantic_prof says:

    Semper Gumby, you do well to remind me of our common faith. You and I worship the man-God at the same altar. All that I ask is that you understand that I am not a rampant liberal in my support of the EU and sadness at Brexit. I did not support Secretary Clinton, I have taken the Daily Telegraph for three decades, and I have voted Conservative in three recent European elections. However, as someone who works in the fields of language, literature, and history, the decision to leave the EU leaves me sad. No body in the world has done more for minority and endangered languages than the EU. I see the EU as having preserved traditions such as raw milk under terroir legislation whereas such things are largely illegal in North America. The EU enabled me to spend three years in seminary in France and I spend four months in every year there today, something that is going to have to be reviewed depending on visa restrictions. In short, not every Catholic or traditionally-minded Catholic is happy with Brexit. Some are happy, some are not. The essential thing is that we are united in one communion. I do not believe that Brexit will serve the mission of our faith any better but nor do I see view the Freemasonic influences of central EU bureaucracy with rose-tinted spectacles. I shall say a prayer for you, Semper Gumby, whose comments I always enjoy, and ask you to do the same for me. Our common faith means more than any political differences we so obviously have.

    Fr. Z, my sincere apologies for double posting and let me here thank you for your ministry. I’ve been reading your blog since 2003.

  28. Semper Gumby says:

    pedantic_prof: Thank you for your reply.

    May I kindly suggest a re-consideration of enthusiasm for the atheist EU project. This new EU State is not the European Coal and Steel Commission formed mainly by Catholics in the early 1950s.

    May I also suggest reducing the intake of EUrophiliac and leftist media such as BBC and the Guardian.

    Compare “the EU has kept the peace in Europe” with jaykay’s comment of 2 Feb. Compare “ever-closer union” with Anita Moore’s comment of 31 Jan. Compare “EU education will promote equity, social cohesion and active citizenship” with Grabski’s comments.

    Your support for the EU out of personal interest in endangered languages, raw milk, and travel is understandable. So is sadness, irritability and disdain over the Brexit vote results.

    That said, in this Fallen World those politicians, and their followers, who advance “ever-closer union” via an atheist and socialist EU project should have their ambitions restrained by Christians.

    Socialism, in its many guises, is seductive to those of an angry disposition who thirst for power and believe that Socialism is The Future, The Answer to Mankind’s Predicament, and The Enlightened Vanguard Shall Lead The Masses. The socialist tyrannies of the 20th century illustrate the error of that malevolent belief.

    pedantic_prof, in this Fallen World we Catholics do indeed worship at the same altar. The altar of God, not the State. Pax.

  29. jaykay says:

    SG: “Only a Modernist heretic, after an afternoon trekking the moors in the Old Sod clad in the latest offerings from J. Peterman, would walk into a pub, slap the bar, and say, “Barkeep! A liter of Guinness!”

    Aaargh! such a creature, the swab, would be doubly heretical, which it’s that a litre be (almost) 2 pints. ‘Tis told that in far-off parts in the Holy Roman Empire well-set-up young maidens do be a-portin’ them around at their October carryings-on. Romanism, for sure. Aaargh.

  30. Semper Gumby says:

    jaykay: Someone who could use a liter of beer and calm down is Guy Verhofstadt.

    Verhofstadt is a Belgian politician, member of the European Parliament, Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (now known as Renew Europe), and was the head honcho in the EU Parliament for coordinating Britain’s departure from the EU.

    Verhofstadt is really ticked off about Brexit. Brexit is a “crisis.”

    Two examples. In 2018 he ranted, “This is a crisis because member states are reluctant to transfer sovereignty and powers to the EU. And we all know the only way out of this crisis is a transfer of power to the EU.”

    Last week after Brexit Verhofstadt posted a pro-EU video titled “It’s not over.” The video has the usual suspects: Greta Thuneberg, PDA scenes by the LGBT crowd, etc.

    By the way, Verhofstadt fully agrees with Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission 2014-19, who said that the EU needs an Army “to be taken seriously.”

    Presently, there are several small EU “battlegroups” and a “EuroCorps”- a headquarters of about a thousand personnel based in Strasbourg. Strasbourg is also the location of the EU Parliament.

  31. jaykay says:

    ’tis said that the ex-Pres was…erm… not averse to a beverage or two (dozen). The “Philosophers’ song” comes to mind. Ahh yes, the EU army fantasy. Well then again, some Member States do have a good tradition of designing pretty cool uniforms.

  32. jaykay says:

    And of course a litre is more than two pints (Imperial). Silly me. After 40+ years of practice I should know…

  33. Semper Gumby says:

    jaykay: You raise a good point about possible EU Army uniforms. It will be interesting to see how that develops, particularly what type of insignia and patches are affixed to the uniforms. Additionally, it will be of interest to see if the prospective EU Army will have military chaplains and, if so, who they will be and what faith they will profess.

    Another solid reason for Brexit was the statement by French President Macron in 2018 that the EU needed an Army to defend against the U.S.

    Meanwhile, it was announced three days ago that as a deterrent against further aggression by the regime in Moscow (that said, there are areas of cooperation between the West and Moscow) the U.S. Army V Corps, deactivated in Germany a few years ago, is being reactivated in Europe.

    This is, of course, 2020 not the 1930s or the 1970s.

    Though, take a look at Russia’s “Youth Army”- nicknamed by others the “PutinJugend.” Among other things, schoolchildren- boys and girls beginning at age 8- are taught to field-strip and reassamble military rifles in the classroom. There are also after-school meetings three or four times a week and the number of children in Putin’s Youth Army may reach one million this year.

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