This Month in Life July 2024

Monday July 1, 2024
USA: Saint Junípero Serra, Priest; BVM

Day 182: The Inescapable God — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 182: The Signs of Bread and Wine — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1523 – Jan van Essen and Hendrik Vos become the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels.
• 1770 – Lexell’s Comet is seen closer to the Earth than any other comet in recorded history, approaching to a distance of 0.0146 astronomical units (2,180,000 km; 1,360,000 mi).
• 1862 – The Russian State Library is founded as the Library of the Moscow Public Museum.
• 1870 – The United States Department of Justice formally comes into existence.
• 1873 – Prince Edward Island joins into Canadian Confederation.
• 1878 – Canada joins the Universal Postal Union.
• 1946 – Crossroads Able is the first postwar nuclear weapon test.
• 1966 – The first color television transmission in Canada takes place from Toronto.
• 1978 – The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government.
• 1979 – Sony introduces the Walkman.
• 1980 – “O Canada” officially becomes the national anthem of Canada.
• 2007 – Smoking in England is banned in all public indoor spaces.
• 2023-Twitter users report problems accessing the site in latest outage : NPR

Tuesday  July 2, 2024

Day 183: Israel Falls to Assyria — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
 Day 183: The Mass of All Ages — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1613 – The first English expedition (from Virginia) against Acadia led by Samuel Argall takes place.
• 1839 – Twenty miles off the coast of Cuba, 53 kidnapped Africans led by Joseph Cinqué mutiny and take over the slave ship Amistad.
• 1962 – The first Walmart store, then known as Wal-Mart, opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.
• 2005 – The Live 8 benefit concerts takes place in the G8 states and in South Africa. More than 1,000 musicians perform and are broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.
• 2013 – The International Astronomical Union names Pluto’s fourth and fifth moons, Kerberos and Styx.
• 2023-Violence appears to be lessening in French protests over teen’s killing : NPR

Wednesday  July 3, 2024
Saint Thomas, Apostle

 Day 184: Hezekiah Reigns — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 184: The Movement of the Mass — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1608 – Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.
• 1767 – Norway’s oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.
• 1839 – The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today’s Framingham State University, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with three students.
• 1884 – Dow Jones & Company publishes its first stock average.
• 1886 – The New-York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
• 1890 – Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
• 1947 – Humorist newspaper and book author Dave Barry arrives on planet earth.
• 1952 – The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the United States Congress.
• 1973 – David Bowie retires his stage persona Ziggy Stardust with the surprise announcement that it is “the last show that we’ll ever do” on the last day of the Ziggy Stardust Tour.

 Thursday July 4, 2024
U.S.A. Independence Day
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (April 6, 1901 –  July 4, 1925)

Day 185: Hezekiah’s Prayer — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 185: Thanksgiving, Memorial, Presence — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 993 – Ulrich of Augsburg is canonized as a saint. He was Prince-Bishopric of Augsburg in Germany. He was the first saint to be canonized not by a local authority but by the Pope.
• 1776 – American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.
• 1802 – The United States Military Academy opens at West Point, New York.
• 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.
• 1831 – Samuel Francis Smith writes “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee” for the Boston, Massachusetts July 4 festivities.
• 1832 – John Neal delivers the first public lecture in the US to advocate the rights of women.
• 1838 – The Iowa Territory is organized.
• 1845 – Henry David Thoreau moves into a small cabin on Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau’s account of his two years there, Walden, will become a touchstone of the environmental movement.
• 1855 – The first edition of Walt Whitman‘s book of poems, Leaves of Grass, is published in Brooklyn.
• 1862 – Lewis Carroll tells Alice Liddell a story that would grow into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequels.
• 2004 – The cornerstone of the Freedom Tower is laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City.
• 2009 – The Statue of Liberty‘s crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.
• 2023-3 killed, 8 injured in Forth Worth shooting (msn.com)
• 2023-5 people dead, 2 children injured in Philadelphia mass shooting, police say (msn.com)
• 2024-BACK TO THE FUTURE was released 39 years ago today.

Friday  July 5, 2024
[Saint Anthony Zaccaria, Priest; USA: Saint Elizabeth of Portugal]

Day 186: Struggles with Self-Interest — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 186: The Sacrificial Memorial — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1687 – Isaac Newton publishes Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica.
• 1852 – Frederick Douglass delivers his “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” speech in Rochester, New York.^[1]
• 1859 – The United States discovers and claims Midway Atoll.
• 1865 – The United States Secret Service begins operation.
• 1915 – The Liberty Bell leaves Philadelphia by special train on its way to the Panama–Pacific International Exposition. This is the last trip outside Philadelphia that the custodians of the bell intend to permit.
• 1937 – Spam, the luncheon meat, is introduced into the market by the Hormel Foods Corporation.
• 1954 – Elvis Presley records his first single, “That’s All Right“, at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee.
• 1984 – The United States Supreme Court gives its United States v. Leon decision providing a good-faith exception from the Fourth Amendment exclusionary rule against use of evidence obtained through defective warrants in criminal trials.
• 2012 – The Shard in London is inaugurated as the tallest building in Europe, with a height of 310 metres (1,020 ft).

Saturday July 6, 2024

Day 187: Praying for Time — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 187: The Church’s Sacrificial Unity — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1348 – Pope Clement VI issues a papal bull protecting the Jews accused of having caused the Black Death.
• 1751 – Pope Benedict XIV suppresses the Patriarchate of Aquileia and establishes from its territory the Archdiocese of Udine and Gorizia.
• 1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T. E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
• 1939 – Anti-Jewish legislation in prewar Nazi Germany closes the last remaining Jewish enterprises.
• 1942 – Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
• 1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial.
• 1957 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.
• 1962 – The Late Late Show, the world’s longest-running chat show by the same broadcaster, airs on RTÉ One for the first time.
• 2022 – The Georgia Guidestones, a monument in the United States, are heavily damaged in a bombing, and are dismantled later the same day

Sunday  July 7, 2024
[Saint Maria Goretti, Virgin and Martyr] FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Day 188: The Book of the Law — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
 Day 188: Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1520 – Spanish conquistadores defeat a larger Aztec army at the Battle of Otumba.
• 1865 – Four conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
• 1946 – Howard Hughes nearly dies when his XF-11 reconnaissance aircraft prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood.
• 1958 – US President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
• 2007 – The first Live Earth benefit concert was held in 11 locations around the world.

Monday July 8, 2024
Sts Prisca and Aquilla

Day 189: Follow the Lord — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 189: Worship of the Eucharist — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.
• 1776 – Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States.
• 1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
• 1898 – The death of crime boss Soapy Smith, killed in the Shootout on Juneau Wharf, releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
• 1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975.
• 1994 – Kim Jong Il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il Sung.

Tuesday July 9, 2024
Saint Augustine Zhao Rong, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs]

Day 190: Judah is Overrun — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 190: Receiving Holy Communion — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 381 – The end of the First Council of Christian bishops convened in Constantinople by the Roman Emperor Theodosius I
• 1540 – King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
• 1572 – Nineteen Catholics suffer martyrdom for their beliefs in the Dutch town of Gorkum.
• 1762 – Catherine the Great becomes Empress of Russia following the coup against her husband, Peter III.
• 1763 – The Mozart family grand tour of Europe began, lifting the profile of prodigal son Wolfgang Amadeus.
• 1850 – U.S. President Zachary Taylor dies after eating raw fruit and iced milk; he is succeeded in office by Vice President Millard Fillmore.

Wednesday  July 10, 2024

• Day 191: The Babylonian Exile — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
  Day 191: The Eucharist Changes Us — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
• 1890 – Wyoming  is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
• 1921 – Belfast’s Bloody Sunday occurs with 20 killings, at least 100 wounded and 200 homes destroyed during rioting and gun battles in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
• 1925 – Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, the so-called “Monkey Trial” begins of John T. Scopes, a young high school science teacher accused of teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act.
• 1938 – Howard Hughes begins a 91-hour airplane flight around the world that will set a new record.
• 1991 – The South African cricket team is readmitted into the International Cricket Council following the end of Apartheid.
• 2012 – The Episcopal Church USA allows same-sex marriage.
• 2019 – The last Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the line in Puebla, Mexico. The last of 5,961 “Special Edition” cars will be exhibited in a museum.
• 2023-1440 Daily Digest@Join1440 (July 11, 2023) According to a new report, the USPS is in possession of 452 cremated remains that it cannot identify, with one remaining unclaimed for over eight years. 1440 Daily Digest on Twitter

Thursday July 11, 2023
Saint Benedict, Abbot

Day 192: The Prophet Isaiah — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 192: Unity in the Eucharist — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 813 – Byzantine emperor Michael I, under threat by conspiracies, abdicates in favor of his general Leo the Armenian, and becomes a monk (under the name Athanasius).
• 1616 – Samuel de Champlain returns to Quebec.
• 1735 – Mathematical calculations suggest that it is on this day that dwarf planet Pluto moved inside the orbit of Neptune for the last time before 1979.
• 1796 – The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
• 1804 – A duel occurs in which the Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
• 1889 – Tijuana, Mexico, is founded.
• 1893 – The first cultured pearl is obtained by Kōkichi Mikimoto.
• 1977 – Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
• 2015 – Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán escapes from the maximum security Altiplano prison in Mexico, his second escape.
• 2021 – Richard Branson becomes the first civilian to be launched into space via his Virgin Galactic spacecraft.^[
• 2023–Deaths from xylazine are on the rise. The White House has a new plan to tackle it

Friday 12, 2024

 Day 193: The Book of Tobit — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 193: Communion Forever in Heaven — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1543 – King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace.^[4]
• 1580 – The Ostrog Bible, one of the early printed Bibles in a Slavic language, is published.
• 1862 – The Medal of Honor is authorized by the United States Congress.
• 1962 – The Rolling Stones perform for the first time at London‘s Marquee Club.
• 1963 – Pauline Reade, 16, disappears in Gorton, England, the first victim in the Moors murders.
• 1979 – The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
• 2023-A former Manson Family member is free, after her parole was reversed 5 times

Saturday  July 13, 2024
Saint Henry

Day 194: Holy Is the Lord — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 194: Summary of the Sacrament of the Eucharist — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1863 – American Civil War: The New York City draft riots begin three days of rioting which will later be regarded as the worst in United States history.
• 1923-The Hollywood sign, was officially dedicated to the Hollywood Hills atop Mount Lee in Los Angeles, California.
• 1956 – The Dartmouth workshop is the first conference on artificial intelligence.
• 1977 – New York City: Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting.
• 1985 – The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Moscow and Sydney.
• 1985 – Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.
• 2023-Last month was the hottest June ever recorded on Earth

Sunday  July 14, 2024
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha,
FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Day 195: Tobias and Sarah Pray — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 195: Penance and Reconciliation — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1430 – Joan of Arc, taken by the Burgundians in May, is handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais.
• 1874 – The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago’s city council.
• 1933 – Nazi eugenics programme begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.
• 1943 – In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
• 1983 – Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise.
• 2023-Suspect arrested in Gilgo Beach serial killings searched updates on police probe— A man connected to the Long Island murders that inspired the 2020 Netflix film Lost Girls was arrested in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday night.

Monday July 15, 2024
Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

 Day 196: Destruction of Israel — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 196: Conversion of the Baptized — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1838 – Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring Jesus a great man, but not God. The Protestant community reacts with outrage.
• 1870 – Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
• 2006 – Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.
• 2023- 988 mental health crisis line gets 5 million calls, texts and chats in first year
• 2023-Vatican grants plenary indulgence for St. Thomas Aquinas jubilee celebrations | Catholic News Agency

 Tuesday  July 16, 2024
Our Lady of Mount Carmel

National Ice Cream Day
World Snake Day

Day 197: Woe and Consolation — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 197: Forms of Penance — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1251 – Celebrated by the Carmelite Order–but doubted by modern historians–as the day when Saint Simon Stock had a vision of the Virgin Mary.
• 1769 – Father Junípero Serra founds California‘s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, California.
• 1790 – The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
• 1915 – At Treasure Island on the Delaware River in the United States, the First Order of the Arrow ceremony takes place and the Order of the Arrow is founded to honor American Boy Scouts who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law.
• 1935 – The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
• 1941 – Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as an MLB record.
• 1945 – Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
• 1945 – World War II: The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco with parts for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” bound for Tinian Island.
• 1954-On This Day She@OnThisDayShe

#OTD in 1854, teacher Elizabeth Jennings refused to get off a NY streetcar when told to by the conductor. She was forcibly removed & left with her “bonnet smashed and her dress soiled”. Jennings took the streetcar company to court & won for desegregation.

• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
• 1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, die when the aircraft he is piloting crashes into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
• 2004 – Millennium Park, considered Chicago’s first and most ambitious early 21st-century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
• 2019 – A 100-year-old building in Mumbai, India, collapses, killing at least 10 people and leaving many others trapped.
• 2023– Meet Carmen Wilkey, a 10-year-old amputee who became a successful track star and is now on her way to competing nationally. 1440 Daily Digest on Twitter: 

Wednesday  July 17, 2024

 Day 198: The Day of the Lord — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 198: Reconciliation with God — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1674 – Isaac Watts is born. (July 17, 1674 – November 25, 1748) If you don’t recognize his name perhaps you recognize one of his hymns. Songs you sing in church such as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross“,  and “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past“. Or most notably at Christmas time “Joy to the World“. The “Godfather of English Hymnody” wrote about 750 hymns. It’s an offer a church can’t refuse.
• 1955 –Walt Disney the creator of Mickey Mouse and the first full length animated movie, Snow White, opens a amusement park named after him.  Disneyland opens its doors to the world in Anaheim, California on July 17, 1955. This is the same year Tolkien published the concluding book in the Lord of the Rings trilogy called The Return of the King and the same year Marty McFly went back in time and meet his parents.

2023

Taylor Swift is the first female artist with 4 Billboard Top 10 albums at once : NPR

Today marked the birth of Watts and a record for Swift and a departure for Brazilian jazz and bossa nova pianist João Donato(August 17, 1934 –  July 17, 2023) from Rio Branco.

At the weekend box office..

Then there’s this Ducky Story
World’s Largest Rubber Duck coming to Maryland (wmar2news.com)

Llama drama: Escaped llama found blocking traffic, standing in middle of road – Boston 25 News

Thursday July 18, 2024
USA: Saint Camillus de Lellis, Priest

Day 199: Times for War — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 199: The Sacrament of Forgiveness — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1723 – Yesterday we brought you the hymns of Watts and today we bring you the music of Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136, in Leipzig on the eighth Sunday after Trinity.
• 1870 – The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility.
• 1925 – Adolf Hitler publishes Mein Kampf. This is the same year that Charlie Chaplin releases his comedy masterpiece ‘The Gold Rush’. Chaplin was  born on April 16, 1889  and lived until  December 25, 1977. Hitler was born 4 days later on April 20, 1889  and lived until April 30, 1945.

2023

In the wonderful Pro-Life state of Texas,

The governor of Texas has ordered  Texas troopers to push back migrants into Rio Grande River and ordered not to give water amid soaring temperatures, report says | CNN.

Archbishop Gustavo@ABishopGustavo (July 18, 2023) Migrants are people like everybody else. Push people to die is a Crime. God, intervene in the hearts of people’s egos who make decisions for people’s lives. You are God, they are not. God , we need you. We entrust to you those who have lost their lives at Rio Grande(Bravo).

Over in Spain

21-year-old terminally ill Spanish Carmelite dies on eve of feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel | Catholic News Agency

Since the end of World War II, historians and artists alike have been fascinated by the brilliant, enigmatic J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who led the Manhattan Project laboratory that developed the atomic bomb. Beginning as early as 1946, documentaries, television miniseries, plays, books, graphic novels, feature films and even an opera have explored the scientist’s life, work and legacy. In recent years, however, much of that complexity has been reduced to a single popular image: the broken genius, haunted by his own invention, reciting a line from the Bhagavad Gita in a 1965 NBC News documentary. “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds,” Oppenheimer intones.

James Martin, SJ@JamesMartinSJ (July 19, 2023)  Gospel: Guides in the Holy Land often note that almost all the towns from Jesus’s time are thriving (Jericho, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Cana, etc.) The only ones in ruins today are the three Jesus cursed for their lack of faith: Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum (Mt 11). Just sayin.

Friday July 19, 2023

Day 200: Egypt, Assyria, and Israel — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 200: The Confession of Sins — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1894 – Percy Spencer (July 19, 1894 – September 8, 1970) a man who affects our lives still today in 2023 was born.  He invented Chief Mike or the microwave oven (d. 1969) the same year we landed on the moon.
• 1942– George Washington Carver (c. 1864  – January 5, 1943) although born into slavery became an American agricultural scientist, inventor and genius who promoted alternative crops to cotton and methods to prevent soil depletion. Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the founder of Ford Motor Company and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. On this day the two legends met  where they worked on creating synthetic rubber to help compensate for wartime rubber shortages during World War 2.

July 19th is also a good day to start the olympics.

1952 – Opening of the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
1980 – Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Saturday   July 20, 2024
Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr

Day 201: Keys to the Kingdom — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 201: The Confessor’s Role — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1903 – Henry Ford was not content to occupy one historical footnote this week. His Ford Motor Company shipped out its first automobile in the same year the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane flight. Pope Leo XIII (b. 1810) also died on this day. He was at the first Vatican Council.
• 1944 – During World War II Mein Kampf author Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg who was portrayed by Mission Impossible 7 star Tom Cruise in the film Valkyrie (2008).
• 1969 – American Apollo 11 Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin make history by becoming  the first humans, that we know of,  to land on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. The video talks about the Apollo 11 connection to why we have microwaves in our homes. Also did you know that Buzz Aldrin Took Holy Communion on the Moon? But NASA Kept it Quiet | HISTORY
• 2021 – American businessman Jeff Bezos becomes the first person from Amazon to fly into space on the anniversary of the first moon landing aboard his fancy shmancy New Shepard NS-16 operated by his very own private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

Sunday July 21, 2024
SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest and Doctor of the Church

Day 202: God’s Judgment — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
 Day 202: How Confession Heals — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 230 –Long before Pope Benedict XVI resigned his papal throne, Pope # 18 who was called Pontian, who succeeded Pope # 17: Urban I, became the first pontiff to resign office.
• This day marks some historic days in the Old West.
• 1865 – In the year that the Civil War ended, in the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.
• 1873 – Several years later at Adair, Iowa, Notorious western outlaw Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.
• 1925 –Days after Hitler publishes his best selling book in Dayton, Tennessee, a verdict is reached in the Scopes Monkey Trial. High school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching human evolution in class and fined $100.
• 1969 – Yesterday they landed on the moon. Today at 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.
• 1979 – Jay Silverheels, (May 26, 1912 – March 5, 1980)  a Mohawk actor who played Tonto in the iconic The Lone Ranger series, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As of today the writers and actors of Hollywood are on strike.

2023

Tony Bennett@itstonybennett (July 21, 2023) Tony left us today but he was still singing the other day at his piano and his last song was, “Because of You,” his first #1 hit. Tony, because of you we have your songs in our heart forever.

Tony Bennett (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023)
May his soul and all the souls of the departed rest in peace.
For the sake of his sorrowful passion, Have Mercy On Us

Paul McCartney@PaulMcCartney (July 22, 2023)  Very sad to hear that Tony Bennett has died. He was a special singer and a good friend. I was privileged to work with him on a few occasions and he was always a wonder to behold. Thanks Tony for the joy you brought to our world. Love Paul

Monday July 22, 2024
Saint Mary Magdalene

Day 203: Rejoice in the Lord — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 203: The Purpose of Indulgences — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

Today is a good day for merry ol England.

• 1598 – William Shakespeare‘s play, The Merchant of Venice, is entered on the Stationers’ Register. By decree of Queen Elizabeth, the Stationers’ Register licensed printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material.
• 1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act passes in the British House of Commons, initiating the gradual abolition of slavery in most parts of the British Empire.

Meanwhile in France

• 1894 – The first ever motor race is held in France between the cities of Paris and Rouen. The fastest finisher was the Comte Jules-Albert de Dion, but the “official” victory was awarded to Albert Lemaître driving his three-horsepower petrol engined Peugeot.
• 1934- Actor Bill Bixby, (My Favorite Martian, Incredible Hulk) is born. (d. 1993)
• 1955– Not long after Disneyland opened future Disney actor and Spider-Man Villain Green Goblin  Willem Dafoe (Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Togo) was born.
• 1973
• The Supreme Court of the United States delivers its decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, legalizing elective abortion in all fifty states.
• The crew of Apollo 17 addresses a joint session of Congress after the completion of the final Apollo moon landing mission.

2023

A diaper company has released an ad celebrating the beauty of life. EveryLife specializes in baby products, including diapers and wipes, and prides itself on providing “premium products for every baby. Because every baby is a miracle from God who deserves to be loved, protected, and supported,” according to its website.
Pro-life diaper company releases ad celebrating ‘every miracle from God’ | Catholic News Agency

Tuesday July 23, 2024
Saint Bridget, Religious

Day 204: Zephaniah’s Warnings — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 204: Summary of Sacrament of Reconciliation — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1903 – Things are looking good for Henry Ford as The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
• 1926 – The shape of things to come for Hollywood comes into focus as Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.
• 1982 – Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.
• 1989 – Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter, Weird Al) is born.
• 1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later.
• 2010 – In the Week that started off with Watts and Bach, English-Irish boy band One Direction is formed by judge Simon Cowell on The X Factor (British series 7), later going on to finish at third place. It would go on to become one of the biggest boy bands in the world, and would be very influential on pop music of the 2010s.
• 2015 – NASA continues doing extraordinary things this week as it announces the discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler.

2023

President Biden will designate a national monument at three sites in honor of Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley — both of whom served as catalysts for the civil rights movement.

Biden is expected to sign a proclamation on Tuesday, which will be the 82nd anniversary of Till’s birth.

Biden designates a national monument honoring Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley : NPR

Wednesday July 24, 2024
Saint Sharbel Makhlūf, Priest

 Day 205: Promise to Zion — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 205: Christ the Physician — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
• 1901 – O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
• 1946-Courage of Lassie is released in theaters.
• 1952- The Classic Movie Western ‘High Noon’ with Gary Cooper is released.
• 1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a “Kitchen Debate“.
• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
• 1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.

2023

‘ALF’ is coming back on Ryan Reynolds’ Maximum Fun Channel | EW.com

Meta Appears to Hold the Rights to ‘X,’ Could Complicate Twitter Rebrand (businessinsider.com)

Thursday July 25,  2024
Saint James, Apostle

Day 206: The Book of Baruch — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 206: Healing the Sick — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550).
• 1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone.
• 1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established.
• 1968- Pope Paul VI‘s encyclical Humanae vitae (Of Human Life) is released. It reaffirms the Catholic Church’s view of marriage and marital relations and still forbids the use of “artificial” birth control.

2023

Biden’s dog, Commander, has been biting Secret Service agents

Friday July 26, 2024
Saints Joachim and Anne, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Day 207: The Lord Will Come — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 207: Celebrating the Anointing of the Sick — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1745 – The first recorded women’s cricket match takes place near Guildford, England.
• 1788 – New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
• 1990 – The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.
• 2016 – Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for President of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

Saturday 27, 2024

Day 208: The Futility of Idols — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 208: Completing the Earthly Pilgrimage — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier‘s ship reaches Japan.
• 1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
• 1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
• 1974 – Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
• 2003 – Funny Man Bob Hope dies. (b. 1903)

2023

Actors take to the internet to show their residual checks, with some in the negative

Sunday July 28, 2024
SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Day 209: God Comforts His People — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 209: Summary of the Anointing of the Sick — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1540 – Henry VIII of England marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day his former Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell, is executed on charges of treason
• 1655-Death of Cyrano de Bergerac (March 1619 –July 28, 1655)
• 1868 – The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
• 1896 – The city of Miami is incorporated.
• 1915 – The United States begins a 19-year occupation of Haiti.
• 1996 – The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.

2023

Singapore has executed a woman for the first time in nearly two decades

Singaporean national Saridewi Djamani, 45, was convicted in 2018 of trafficking over 30 grams of heroin. She is first woman to be hanged since 2004. May God have had mercy on her soul and given her the grace of knowing Him before she died.

Monday July 29, 2024
Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus

 Day 210: Speaking God’s Word — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 210: The Sacrament of Holy Orders — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
• 1901 – Land lottery begins in Oklahoma.
• 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened.
• 1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
• 1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London.
• 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
• 1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the “Son of Sam”) kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.
• Were the Son of Sam Killings a Conspiracy? (David Berkowitz) – 
• 1981 – A worldwide television audience of around 750 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.
• 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.

Tuesday July 30, 2024
Saint Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church] Blessed Solanus Casey, OFM Cap. (November 25, 1870 – July 31, 1957)

Diocese of Brooklyn@BrooklynDiocese (July 30,2023)#SaintOfTheDay: Blessed Solanus Casey became one of Detroit’s best-known priests. Difficulties with studies limited his ministry but he was a beloved friar and a modern-day example of humility and perseverance. To learn more, visit Franciscan Media:  Franciscan Media

Day 211: Called by Name — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 211: The One Priesthood of Christ — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1619 – In Jamestown, Virginia, the first Colonial European representative assembly in the Americas, the Virginia General Assembly, convenes for the first time.
• 1756 – In Saint Petersburg, Bartolomeo Rastrelli presents the newly built Catherine Palace to Empress Elizabeth and her courtiers.
• 1932 – Premiere of Walt Disney‘s Flowers and Trees, the first cartoon short to use Technicolor and the first Academy Award winning cartoon short.
• 1971 – Apollo program: On Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin on the Apollo Lunar Module Falcon land on the Moon with the first Lunar Rover.
• 1975 – Jimmy Hoffa disappears from the parking lot of the Machus Red Fox restaurant in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, at about 2:30 p.m. He is never seen or heard from again.
• 2003 – In Mexico, the last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line.

2023

In Peru, discovery of ancient ruins outpaces authorities’ ability to care for them

Everywhere you dig, you will find something — because Lima was home to great civilizations,” says a museum director in the capital. “But it’s impossible to save everything in a poor country.”

Paul Reubens (August 27, 1952 – July 30, 2023) better known by his character Pee-wee Herman has passed on to the big heavenly playhouse, with perhaps a stop in purgatory!

Wednesday July 31, 2024
Saint  Ignatius of Loyola, priest – Memorial
National Avocado Day

Ignatius had to become both spiritually and physically poor before Christ would make him rich in holiness. Through tremendous personal sacrifice, he became a saint and spiritual master. Christ used Ignatius’ gifts on behalf of the reform and renewal of the Church. Soon a community had formed around Ignatius—a community we know today as the Society of Jesus—the Jesuits.

The Jesuits were on the front lines of the reform and renewal of the Church. It was due in large part to their efforts that the vision of the Council of Trent became a concrete reality. Jesuit missionaries carried the faith throughout the world, and their efforts at bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the faithful of Europe revitalized the Church.-The Bold Witness of St. Ignatius of Loyola – Word on Fire

Day 212: God’s Instrument — The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube
Day 212: In Persona Christi — The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) – YouTube

• 1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to “submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question.”
• 1971 – Apollo program: the Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.

Bishop Robert Reed �@BpRobertReed (Jul 31, 2023)
Take Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will,
all that I have and possess.
You have given all to me.
To You, O Lord, I return it. Give me only Your love and Your grace,
this is sufficient for me.
– St. Ignatius Loyola