Category: Arts & Culture

“The Dream of Gerontius” by Cardinal John Henry Newman

I joked a few days ago about taking a break from the daily news by listening to “The Dream of Gerontius” several times in an afternoon. I assure you that listening to it would have been time well spent. If you don’t have the gumption to get a recording of it, follow the link to the poem. It might take you a hour to read, probably less.

Edward Elgar took Newman’s poem and turned it into an oratorio. John posted some tidbits about it a couple of years ago.

It’s a story of a man who dies and is led by his guardian angel to his judgement. I won’t give away the surprise ending. But this part, which is the Angel of the Agony pleading with Jesus for mercy, is very moving:

JESU! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sickened Thee;
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrilled in Thee;
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;
Jesul by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee;
Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee;
Jesu! by that sanctity which reigned in Thee;
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;
Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee,
Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;
Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee,
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.

Back on 17th

Hope everyone is having a great Labor Day weekend. Sonya, the girls and I are now moved into Ottawa and I begin the JCD coursework this Thursday. Spoke with the telephone guy this past Thursday, and our phone and internet access should be hooked up on the 17th, at which point I will begin blogging and answering email again. In the meentime, here’s a little something to keep you going if you’re looking for a canon law fix: Surprised by Canon Law.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
A cleaner in the Tate Gallery threw out a bag of garbage because, after all, it was trash. But — you know where this is going, right? — it was part of a work of art.
Eventually the material was found, but it had to be replaced by the artist because — if you can believe this — it had been damaged.
Isn’t there something wrong with that concept: the notion of garbage being “damaged”? I don’t know if I can wrap my head around that. (“I’m sorry, sir, that garbage is not in good enough condition to throw out.”)
Anyway, the wire-service folks should save this story for re-use, since it tends to happen in some modern art museum every couple of years, and the piece will be just as good next time. All they’ll need to do is change the names.