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By now… you know.
Today is the Feast of St. Teresa of Avila (+4 Oct 1582).
Last year I posted – HERE – that the tomb of St. Teresa was opened for examination and her body was found to be incorrupt. More on that below.
St. Teresa is important for the calendar we now use, the Gregorian Calendar.
In 1582, the ancient Julian calendar (organized by, yes, Julius Caesar and still observed by many Orthodox Christians) officially was terminated on Thursday 4 October by the command of Gregory XIII (1572–1585, Ugo Boncompagni) via the papal bull Inter gravissimas.
At midnight of 3-4 October the calendar skipped automatically to a day named Friday 15 October.
The famed Jesuit mathematician Christopher Clavius (+1612) worked out the calculations for this change. He chose October for the moment of the jump because it had the fewest feast days.
He also did his calculations without the use of the decimal point!
St. Teresa of Avila died on the very night on which His Holiness had commanded that the calendar shift from 4 October to 15 October, which is why her feast is celebrated on the 15th rather than the 3rd or 4th.
Moreover, St Teresa bumped St. Hedwig from the 15th to the 16th. I’m sure St. Hedwig didn’t mind, given the circumstances.
St. Teresa is know, of course, for being a reformer of the Carmelites. Perhaps it is even more important that she is the Patroness of Chess Players… oh yeah… and she’s a Doctor of the Church, which is why she is often depicted with the doctoral biretta.
Welcome Registrant:
OKC Catholic Dad
This month, clergy shirts – 50% off – that includes Clergy Guayabera shirts!
This is GM Igor Kovalenko, who has just won the European Team Chess Championship as part of Team Ukraine, scoring 6.5 out of 8 with a 2800-rated performance. He is currently fighting in a war AND working on chess. Do you have any excuses for why you are not improving in chess? xD pic.twitter.com/4bGohZLWIW
— Greg Mustreader (@mustreader) October 14, 2025
Reconstruction of the face of St. Teresa of Avila at the age of 50, carried out by professors at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine at Monash University, Australia: pic.twitter.com/7KW9g4PXKo
— P. D’Angona, Sacerdos Romano-Catholicus (@RomanoSace57080) October 14, 2025
For those who don’t know the history, it may be relevant to recall that Le Barroux kept its character and flourished because its founder, Dom Calvet, refused to follow what he considered an ultra vires requirement from the pope of his day to abandon the traditional Roman liturgy. https://t.co/Fk8gwxsZy0
— Fr Thomas Crean OP (@crean_fr) October 14, 2025
NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.
Priestly chess players, drop me a line. HERE
Black to move and mate in…? It’s there!
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Mate is in 4. The first move by Black is not obvious, but that is the genius of this puzzle:
1. . . . Nd3!
2. Nc4 or Bc4 (or any other move — it doesn’t matter, due to Black’s threat, which is:) 2. . . . Qe1+
3. Kc2 Qc1+
4. Kb3 Qd1 mate
A.S. Haley: It seems to me that you are not forcing enough.
Why?
1…. Nd3??
2. Qe3+1
if 2… Rf7 then it’s lights out
3. Qxf7 etc.
if 2… Kh8 then you can get a perpetual or fight on.
I think your best bet is to follow the old rule and look for checks, captures and threats. Hence,
1…. Qd1+
2. Kf2 Qf1+! (Q sac!)
3. Kxf1 Ne3+
4. Kg1 Rf1#
4. Ke1 Rf1+
5. Kd2 Rd1#