Last Week In Life: August 16, 2021- August 22, 2021

Last Week’s SPECTACULAR STORY OF WEEK

Monks Monastic Mysterious Beverage

Monks do more then lead an austere existence of quiet contemplative prayer hidden away in a cloistered abbey. Some Monks like the men of  St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer Massachusetts  produce Trappist Preserves with such flavors as  Blueberry Preserve and Boysenberry Seedless Jam. The selling of this jelly helps to run and support the abbey and gives your toast something tasty to put in your mouth. They also produce Spencer Trappist Beer and liturgical vestments under the brand of The Holy Rood Guild.

While the cloistered Trappist monks of Spencer Mass, follow the Rule of St. Benedict and brew beer, the cloistered Carmelite monks of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel follow the rule of St. Albert and brew coffee. Their monastery is located in the Rocky Mountains of northwestern Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park. They started brewing Mystic Monk Coffee in 2007 as a way of supporting their monastery.

Mystic Monk Coffee has expanded to offer more than just bagged coffee. There are the single serve Monk-Shots, the Coffee of the Month subscription club, premium Mystica teas, monastic double-handled mugs and more.  We invite you to join the growing number of coffee drinkers who enjoy Mystic Monk Coffee every morning.

The wonder of Monk produced liquid is expanded to realm of Mystery with the Carthusian Monks famous green and yellow forms of Chartreuse liqueur. Chartreuse not to be confused with Chartreux which is  a rare breed of cat from France, and is recognised by a number of registries around the world. Chartreuse liqueur is made from a very top secret recipe that only 2 Monks know about at any one time. The recipe is inscribed on a 17th-century manuscript kept in a secret safe, to which ONLY the Superior of the Carthusians Has the Key. This monastery where this Elixir of Life mystery is kept safe from the world  is located at the heart of the Chartreuse mountains in southeastern France. It is the the head monastery for the Carthusian religious order Grande Chartreuse.

On the night of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, one of the proposed dishes for First class was a Chartreuse-based dessert. This is the same ship where three priests Fr. Thomas Byles (age 42) of England, Fr. Josef Benedikt Peruschitz, O.S.B. (age 41) of Bavaria, and Fr. Juozas Montvila (age 27) of Lithuania ministered to the unfortunate souls that were going down with the ship. 

Today the sales of this mysterious monastic beverage is around 17 million euros (about $20 million).  There is much more to the story than what is briefly talked about here.

Click on these links to read more.

The very origin of this “elixir of life,” which is made up of 130 medicinal plants, remains a mystery. The Carthusian Monks received the precious recipe for this tonic in 1605 from the Duke and Marshal of King Henry IV, François-Annibal d’Estrées, who never revealed where the parchment came from. In the face of the constant increase of their production, which amounts to more than one million bottles every year and uses 24 tons of plants, a company called Chartreuse Diffusion now handles the day-to-day operations, including packaging, advertisement and sales, but the trade secrets are still entrusted only to two Carthusian monks. The Story Behind Chartreuse, the Legendary Liqueur of the Carthusians| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartreuse_(liqueur)

Just a note: The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the name philosopher’s stone, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Although this elixir version made by the monks will not give you eternal life (like the wine turned into blood of Christ will) or cure you of Covid or Cancer or make you perpetually a teenager it will get you drunk if you drink too much of it. The elixir of life has been an inspiration, plot feature, or subject of artistic works such as Oz creator L. Frank Baum’s fantasy novel John Dough and the Cherub,  Doctor Who, and of course Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

FEAST DAYS ,HOLIDAYS AND LAST WEEK IN HISTORY

 Mon  August 16,  2021

Saint Stephen of Hungary– Optional Memorial

• 1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
• 1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day. Chapman was the second player to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game, the first being Doc Powers in 1909.
• 1954 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated is published.
• 2008 – The Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago is topped off at 1,389 feet (423 m), at the time becoming the world’s highest residence above ground-level.

Tuesday August 17, 2021

Blessed Angelus Augustine Mazzinghi, priest – Optional Memorial

• 682 – Pope Leo II begins his pontificate.
• 1740 – Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini, succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope.
• 1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched in Marietta, Georgia after a 13-year-old girl is murdered.
• 1945 – The novella Animal Farm by George Orwell is first published.

Wednesday August 18, 2021

Blesseds Jean-Baptiste Duverneueil, Michael Louis Brulard and James Gagnot, priests and martyrs – Memorial

• 1492 – The first grammar of the Spanish language (Gramática de la lengua castellana) is presented to Queen Isabella I.
• 1783 – A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
• 1958 – Vladimir Nabokov‘s controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
• 1990 – B. F. Skinner, American psychologist and philosopher, invented the Skinner box dies. (b. 1904)

Thursday August 19,  2021

Saint John Eudes, priest – Optional Memorial

• 1458 – Pope Pius II is elected the 211th Pope.
• 1612 – The “Samlesbury witches“, three women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, are put on trial, accused of practicing witchcraft, one of the most famous witch trials in British history.
• 1692 – Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
• 1848 – California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
• 1927 – Patriarch Sergius of Moscow proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet Union.

 Friday  August 20,  2021

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, abbot and doctor of the Church – Memorial

• 1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.
• 1926 – Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
• 1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez. 2020 – Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Saturday August 21,  2021

Saint Pius X, pope – Memorial

• 1888 – The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
• 1897 – Oldsmobile, an American automobile manufacturer and marque, is founded.
• 1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.
• 1959 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii’s admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day.

Sunday August 22,  2021

Queenship of Blessed Virgin Mary– Memorial

Bishop Barron’s Homily of the Week

 Last Week’s News of the World

Afghanistan & Haiti

Three stowaways ‘fall to their deaths’ from US military plane as thousands desperately try to flee Taliban in Kabul | The Irish Post

Kabul Catholic priest pleads for prayers as Taliban take over (aleteia.org)

Priest Who Consecrated Afghanistan to Our Lady of Fatima Begs for Prayers – Here’s 5 Prayers to Invoke Her Intercession | (churchpop.com)

Biden vows to evacuate all Americans — and Afghan helpers (apnews.com)

Taliban suppress more dissent as economic challenges loom (apnews.com)

Catholics: Haiti deserves your attention—earthquake or not | America Magazine

EWTN News In Depth’: The reaction to the humanitarian crises in Afghanistan and Haiti – A look at the events unfolding in Afghanistan and the U.S. response as well as the humanitarian aid for Haitians impacted by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake. Also, as the Delta variant of COVID-19 surges, Catholic schools face challenges for re-opening classrooms. Montse Alvarado speaks with the president of the National Catholic Education Association, Lincoln Snyder, on how school leaders are making sure classrooms are safe but also maintain their independence.-Catholic News Agency – Posts | Facebook

EWTN

EWTN Celebrates 40 Years: Witness to Providence| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

Poor Clare sister from Maryland is elected abbess, succeeds Mother Angelica | Crux Now

COVID

Garth Brooks cancels tour dates due to COVID surge (apnews.com)

Covid vaccine pass required for tourist visits to some Italian cathedrals (catholicnewsagency.com)

Cardinal Raymond Burke Taken Off Ventilator, to Leave ICU| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

Meanwhile in Other News

Mike Richards out as ‘Jeopardy!’ host after past scrutinized (apnews.com)

Tech billionaire gives New Hampshire hermit $180,000 (apnews.com)

Police chaplain gave non-Catholic Chicago mayor Communion at Ella French’s funeral (catholicnewsagency.com)

Meanwhile in Other Interesting News

Boston woman on a mission to stop at every MBTA station in record time – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

8th-graders lead effort to pardon wrongly convicted ‘witch’ (apnews.com)

Imagination, Skittles help boy, 5, conquer Appalachian Trail (apnews.com)

Mammal that existed after the dinosaurs given Hobbit-inspired name (msn.com)

Black Hole Megastructures May Be Powering Alien Civilizations, Scientists Say (vice.com)

POPE FRANCIS’S FAMOUS LAST WEEK’S WORDS 

An Afghan appeals to Pope Francis: Save a Catholic family stuck in Kabul (catholicnewsagency.com)

A Chance To Do A Work Of Mercy

Ntege Nasser is sick and running a high fever. He’s had COVID before and has had his first shot. But there are lots of other diseases, including typhoid, rampant in his community. He needs $150 to see the docs tomorrow (it’s midnight there right now). Please pray for him and give generously. In addition, we still need to pay down the $1000 on the vax costs. So whatever you can do would be hugely appreciated.

Please help! https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/mercyforlife

I had to make a dentist appointment, my impacted wisdom tooth broke, and I have a fear of infection. No idea how I will pay for it. But have put my GFM back up in pinned post. The $650 covers removal and Uber both ways, and a little extra for liquid based food for the aftermath. Cashapp $JayFischer1 Venmo @JayFischer Jay Fischer August 20 at 1:27 PM · 

Fundraiser by J Fischer : Help Save Heart Failure Jay, And His Home. (gofundme.com)

BLOG/ARTICLES POSTS OF THE WEEK

 Pondering Podcasts OF THE WEEK

Book Em, Dano on your reading list