Former Sacramento deputy kills 11-year-old son, is fatally shot after I-5 chase, officials say

Former Sacramento deputy kills 11-year-old son, is fatally shot after I-5 chase, officials say

Marvin Morales, 40, was previously found to have lied about a 2023 fentanyl overdose on the job.

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Updated: 9:43 PM PST Dec 2, 2025 Editorial Standards ⓘ

Jonathan Ayestas 

Senior Digital Producer

Daniel Macht 

Digital Media Manager

LODI, Calif. —

A former Sacramento County deputy suspected of fatally stabbing his 11-year-old son was fatally shot after multiple law enforcement officers fired their weapons, following a chase on Interstate 5, officials said Tuesday.

Elk Grove police and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office confirmed with KCRA 3 that the father is 40-year-old Marvin Morales, a former deputy who was found to have lied about a 2023 fentanyl overdose following an investigation.

Leer en español.

Elk Grove police said they got a call after 8 a.m. from a mother concerned about the safety of her two children. There are cameras in their home, and the mother saw the father, later identified as Morales, assaulting his 11-year-old son, and then saw her son lying on the ground unresponsive. That prompted her to call the police out of concern.

Officers went to the 7600 block of Ferrell Way near Whitelock Parkway and Bruceville Road and found an 11-year-old boy who had multiple stab wounds. The boy died from his injuries after he was taken to the hospital.

The father was gone by the time officers arrived.

Elk Grove police said there was also a 6-year-old girl present, but she was unharmed. She was later evaluated at a hospital and released to her mother.

At a news conference, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Office spokesperson said Sheriff Jim Cooper was one of the first law enforcement officials who spotted the suspect vehicle on southbound I-5 and Pocket Road. Tyler Eccles, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol, said officers deployed a spike strip, and Morales crashed afterward.

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The pursuit ended at I-5 south of the Highway 12 junction in San Joaquin County.

Elk Grove man wanted for killing son is shot during I-5 chase

Hearst Owned

Sacramento County Sheriff Spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi said at least two deputies were involved in the shooting. Elk Grove police said one of their officers was also involved. No deputies or officers were hurt.

Officials said Morales had died after being taken to the hospital.

CHP said it does not have details on whether Morales fired at law enforcement.

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Elk Grove police said they can't release details about what was found in Morales' vehicle but said the gun safe at his home was empty.

Traffic is delayed in the area where the shooting happened.

Who is Marvin Morales?

In 2025, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office released a 468-page internal affairs report along with video footage related to Morales' overdose investigation.

Marvin Morales

Sacramento County Sheriff's Office

You can see all the documents here and our previous coverage here.

According to the investigation, Morales suffered fentanyl poisoning and was revived with Narcan by fellow deputies in the bathroom of the central station after smoking fentanyl that he thought was methamphetamine he had seized from a suspect.

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Among the findings in the report was that Morales had also taken home a methamphetamine pipe he had confiscated in August 2023. This was despite writing in crime reports that he disposed of pipes at the station.

Prior to the internal investigation, the sheriff’s office had said investigators suspected the deputy was handling evidence when he started feeling sick and then became unconscious.

The sheriff's office ordered Morales to be fired, days after he submitted a letter of resignation that cited "personal reasons," according to documents posted on its website. A state database showed Morales voluntarily disqualified himself from eligibility to be a peace officer.

Cristina Gonzalez with Elk Grove police said she was personally impacted by the suspect's past connection to law enforcement.

"As someone who is in law enforcement I can tell you this is the absolute worst thing I could have ever imagined," she said. "This is not something that we stand for. We want to protect people. We want to make sure everyone is safe and especially children. And seeing it happen like this, it’s completely heartbreaking. We never want this to happen."

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This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 as we work to gather more information.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text 'START' to 88788.

https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-deputy-shooting-interstate-5-thornton-road/69609754

ANNO LUCIS - The Year of Light

Email from a Mason concerning Anno Lucis

"During my ascension through the ranks of Freemasonry (I will be exhalted in the Royal Arch in a few weeks), one of the things that I am researching vigorously is the origins of the Mason Calendar of Light, or "Anno Lucis" timetable.

I came across an interesting book in the Masonic library last month, refuting the claim (often made by non-Masons or uninformed brethren) that the start of the AL dating, 4000 BC, is due to the Bishop Usher calculation of Genesis.

Usher, you might know, counted backwards using the alleged ages of people in the Old Testament, and came up with the year 4004 BC for the date of creation. Just because the Usher date is close to the AL start date- 4004 instead of 4000 - many people just assume (due to Freemasonry's connections to Christianity) that the Masonic calendar is based on Usher.

However this old book, written in the 1700s, instead asserts that the A.L. date is based on a calendar created by an Isis cult from ancient Egypt. In the year 4000 the star Vela went supernova, and for months, if you were located near in the lattitudes of Egypt, you would have seen two suns.

The Vela explosion effectively created a "year of  Light" by blazing away and preventing any night for most of the year 4000. The Isis priests apparently took this as a sign for a new era being born and started their calendar accordingly."

This quote, from Bill Cooper's writings on the subject, refers to this theory:

"According to many, the great pyramids were built to commemorate and observe a supernova explosion that occurred in the year 4000 B.C.  Dr. Anthony Hewish, 1974 Nobel Prize winner in physics, discovered a rhythmic series of radio pulses which he proved were emissions from a star that had exploded around 4000 B.C.

The Freemasons begin their calendar from A.L., "In the Year of Light," found by adding 4000 to the modern year. Thus 1990 + 4000 = 5990 A.L.

George Michanowsky wrote in The Once and Future Star that;

"The ancient Sumerian cuneiform...described a giant star exploding within a triangle formed by...Zeta Puppis, Gamma Velorum, and Lambda Velorum...located in the southern sky....[An] accurate star catalogue now stated that the blazing star that had exploded within the triangle would again be seen by man in 6000 years."

According to the Freemason's calendar it will occur in the year 2000, and indeed it will."

http://illuminati-news.com/secret-societies-nwo.htm

Cooper seems to be generally "right on", however his last bit, claiming that the star would appear again, obviously turned out to not be true. I have looked (extensively) and not found anything in any official Masonic writings on the subject referring to this prophecy, or the Calendar supposedly being oriented to the year 2000 for this purpose, so maybe he made that up or got it from a spurious conspiracy source.

What seems beyond question is that the Masonic calendar is in fact based on the Egyptian source, and not Usher. You just can't explain away those missing four years, or the fact that both Egyptians and Masons call 4000 BC the "year of Light", the capper being that it actually WAS a "year of Light" if you were in Egypt.

Another website offers more on the Vela stellar explosion, and also contains stuff from Sitchin about how it impacted the Sumerian culture:

"The Vela supernova most likely occurred 6,000 years ago (although estimates range from 5,000 to 11,000 years). At a distance of 1,300 light years from earth the Vela X pulsar is three to four times closer than the Crab Nebula. The supernova would have hung low on the horizon over the Mediterranean, a brilliant star shining as bright as the moon (-12.5 losing brightness at 4.5% per day). Due to defects in the cornea of the eye, a person viewing the supernova would see spikes a quarter to a third the diameter of the full moon (7.5 to 9 minutes of arc).

It would appear as an endlessly dancing, varying mass of fire, shooting spears of intense color every way like a fountain. The landscape and the observer would be flooded with pulsing illumination. Tossed flocks of shadow bands would animate the landscape, moving eerily through forest and town."

- Sources include Science Digest, Mar '81

http://www.mystae.com/restricted/streams/vela/vela.html

_______________________________________________

What Cooper was referring to that didn't happen in 2000 was Project Lucifer.

They had planned a reenactment of 'The Year of Light', and wanted to make us a binary star system,  complete with a capstone ceremony at Giza, but the plans for NWO weren't advanced far enough at the time....

It was cancelled for 1/1/2000 with the Galileo probe and Jupiter, and then attempted in September 2003, and then again with the Cassini probe and Saturn in June 2008

2003 - http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/ciencia/ciencia_luciferproject08.htm

2008 - http://www.optcorp.com/edu/articleDetailEDU.aspx?aid=32

http://theuniversalseduction.com/articles/will-the-cassini-space-probe-be-used-as-a-nuclear-trigger-to-ignite-saturn-and-terraform-its-moons-for-human-colonization

Fortunately is was bad science.

I picked this up from a Masonic site near the end of 1999 when there was the attempt to

create fear and panic with the Y2K bug.

https://reality101blog.blogspot.com/2010/11/anno-lucis-year-of-light.html

James Cooper (born January 5, 1964) is the current Sheriff of Sacramento County[1] and politician who served in the California State Assembly. He is a Democrat who represented the 9th Assembly District, which encompassed portions of Sacramento and San Joaquin counties.

Cooper was a member of the California Legislative Black Caucus and Assistant Majority Floor Leader.[2] Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2014, he was an Elk Grove Founding Mayor and 15-year City Councilmember and 30-year Sacramento County Sheriff's Captain.

On March 3, 2022, Cooper was stopped by TSA officers at the Sacramento airport for having a loaded gun in his carry on.[3] Cooper was sworn in as the sheriff of Sacramento County, California on December 16, 2022.

Political positions

Cooper was graded an “F” in 2020 by the California Rifle and Pistol Association for his positions associated with the Second Amendment.[4]

Cooper has also been described as a "crusader against criminal justice reform".[5] Examples of this include his opposition to Proposition 47 and support for Proposition 20.[6]

Cooper is opposed to fossil fuel divestment and played a key role in halting the progression of SB 1173, a bill that would have forced CalPERS and CalSTRS to divest from most fossil fuel holdings.[7][8][9][10][11]

Sacramento County Sheriff 2010

Cooper unsuccessfully ran for Sheriff of Sacramento County, California in 2010 and lost against Scott Jones. Before running, he had a thirty-year career in various positions at the Sheriff's office.[12]

He ran again in 2022, where he won the election and currently serves as Sheriff for the County of Sacramento.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Cooper_(California_politician)

Sumerian Anti-Armageddon Device 4,000 Years Older Than Believed

The British Museum’s ongoing Girsu Project discovered the true function of a mysterious structure. Source: British Museum/Dr. Sébastien Rey

ashley cowie

November

18

/ 2023

Drone mappers identified a 19 kilometer (12-mile) long canal in rural Iraq. Built over it, archaeologists excavated what was at first thought to be a bizarre-shaped temple. However, it turns out that ,4,000-years-ago, ancient Sumerians built “a one-of-a-kind anti-drought machine.”

Located near the modern city of Nasiriyah, in southern Iraq, the ancient city of Girsu was occupied by the Sumerian civilization from the 3rd millennium BC. Dedicated to the war and agriculture god Ningirsu, artifacts recovered from the site have illustrated both the religious and political history of early Mesopotamian society.

A recent dig by the British Museum at Girsu revealed “a mysterious structure,” which in the 1920s was interpreted as an unusually shaped temple. However, members of the  museum’s Girsu Project have now announced that the curious discovery was a 4,000-year-old “innovative civilization-saving machine.”

Aerial view of the structure in the ancient city of Girsu (modern Tello). (British Museum)

Aerial view of the structure in the ancient city of Girsu (modern Tello). (British Museum)

A One-Of-A-Kind “Anti-Drought Machine”

The British Museum describe the ancient lifesaving device as a “flume” that was used to deliver water to distant locations for agriculture. Ebru Torun, an architect and conservationist working with the British Museum archeologists in Iraq, said “no other example of it exists in history, really, until the present day. It’s absolutely one-of-a-kind.”

4,500-Year-Old Sumerian Palace Uncovered in Iraqi Desert

Ritual Site Dedicated to Mesopotamian War God Discovered in Iraq

Torun said that what is most surprising about the find is that until now archaeologists thought such technologies didn’t appear until the 18th century AD! However, the ancient Sumerians had invented “an anti-drought machine,” in what was a desperate attempt to save their canals from drying up, to avoid agricultural Armageddon.

The Unique Device Is Also An “Anti-Collapse Bridge”

Ancient Sumer is associated with the emergence of the world’s first civilization and writing. As the civilization expanded, increasing populations depended on more water for sustained survival. This was achieved by redirecting water from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers into canals, which fed wells and reservoirs in population centers.

In a Telegraph article, Dr. Sébastien Rey, an archaeologist and the project’s leader in Iraq, explained that the people “saw the canals drying up, silting up, one by one.” He added that “It is not just a bridge, it’s an anti-drought machine, anti-collapse.” Furthermore, all of the inscribed stone tablets speak of “a water crisis, and one last desperate attempt to save themselves,” added Rey.

A digital reconstruction of the flume, which once straddled a 12-mile canal. (The Girsu Project/British Museum)

A digital reconstruction of the flume, which once straddled a 12-mile canal. (The Girsu Project/British Museum)

The Day The Gods Got Up And Left

Ancient Sumerian writings describe complex sacrifice and libation rituals made in honor of fertility and water gods. Sacrifices involved offering animals to seek divine assistance, while libations included pouring liquids like water or beer as symbolic gestures of nourishment. These rituals, integral to daily temple routines and major festivals, aimed to maintain the favor of the gods and establish a harmonious connection between the Sumerians and their deities.

Sometime around 2000 BC, however, the gods stopped responding to the Sumerians’ traditional rituals. Seeing their canals and wells drying up, the people of Girsu were inspired into inventing, designing, and then building two symmetrical mud-brick structures. Measuring 40 meters (130 feet) long, 10 meters (33 feet) wide, and 3.3 meters (11 feet) tall walls, the structures feature two opposing outward facing curved channels.

Excavating The World’s Oldest Bridge

The team of scientists have been flying drones around the village of Nasr, on the British Museum’s Girsu Project, and they determined that the “life-saving machine” was positioned upon a 19 kilometer (12-mile) long canal. And because the device spans a waterway it’s being called “the world’s oldest known bridge.” Until now, the title of the world's oldest bridge is most often associated with the Jisr al-Hajar Hajirah, or Caravan Bridge, in the ancient city of Edessa, or present-day Urfa, in Turkey, which dates back to around 850 BC.

Looted Iraqi Antiquities Can Finally Return Home After Simple Identification by British Museum

The Mythical Dilmun and The Island of the Dead

The life-saving structure channeled the long canal into a 5-meter (13-foot) wide passage, creating what the researchers refer to as the “Venturi” effect, which wasn’t formally described by scientists until the late 18th century. The Girsu flume was built by the last people living in Girsu, who attempted to push water to distant downstream farming regions, including the administrative capital of Lagash, in a last-ditch attempt to avoid agricultural armageddon.

Changing climate in the second millennium BC altered the traditional courses of Mesopotamian rivers around which communities flourished. However, in the face of being abandoned by the gods, Sumerian ingenuity increased, and this discovery represents the birth of a new generation of hydraulic technologies.

Top Image: The British Museum’s ongoing Girsu Project discovered the true function of a mysterious structure. Source: British Museum/Dr. Sébastien Rey

By Ashley Cowie

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/sumerian-technology-0019841

The Gilgamesh flood myth is a partial narrative of the Gilgamesh Epic. It is one of three Mesopotamian flood myths alongside the one included in the Eridu Genesis, and an episode from the Atra-Hasis Epic. Many scholars believe that the Gilgamesh flood myth was added to Tablet XI in the "standard version" of the Gilgamesh Epic by an editor who used the flood story, which is described in the Epic of Atra-Hasis.[1] A short reference to the flood myth is also present in the much older Sumerian Gilgamesh poems, from which the later Babylonian versions drew much of their inspiration and subject matter.

History

Gilgamesh's supposed historical reign is believed to have been approximately 2700 BC,[2] shortly before the earliest known written stories. The discovery of artifacts associated with Aga and Enmebaragesi of Kish, two other kings named in the stories, has lent credibility to the historical existence of Gilgamesh.[3]

The earliest Sumerian Gilgamesh poems date from as early as the Third dynasty of Ur (2100–2000 BC).[4] One of these poems mentions Gilgamesh’s journey to meet the flood hero, as well as a short version of the flood story.[5] The earliest Akkadian versions of the unified epic are dated to ca. 2000–1500 BC.[6] Due to the fragmentary nature of these Old Babylonian versions, it is unclear whether they included an expanded account of the flood myth; although one fragment definitely includes the story of Gilgamesh's journey to meet Utnapishtim. The "standard" Akkadian version included a long version of the story and was edited by Sin-liqe-unninni,[7] who lived sometime between 1300 and 1000 BC.

Tablets

The first Gilgamesh flood tablet was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in Nineveh and was in the collection of the British Museum but had not been translated. In 1872, George Smith, an assistant at the British Museum, translated the tablet from the seventh-century B.C Akkadian. Reportedly, he exclaimed, "I am the first man to read that after more than two thousand years of oblivion".

While on a subsequent archeological expedition to Nineveh in Iraq, Smith found on May 7, 1873 a portion of a tablet containing the missing part of the flood story, describing the provisioning of the ark: "Into the midst of it thy grain, thy furniture, and thy goods, thy wealth, thy woman servants, thy female slaves...the animals of the field all, I will gather and I will send to thee, and they shall be enclosed in thy door."[8][9]

A much older Cuneiform tablet dating to 1646-1626 B.C., about one thousand years before the Book of Genesis is believed to have been written, and known as the Epic of Atra-Hasis describing a great flood was discovered in 1898. J. P. Morgan acquired it and today it is in the Morgan Library & Museum.[citation needed]

In 2007, Andrew George translated a 3,200 year old tablet dating to around 1200 B.C. found during excavations at Ugarit. The tablet contains a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh, including parts of the story of Utnapishtim and the flood.[10]

Tablet 11

The Gilgamesh flood tablet 11 (XI) contains additional story material besides the flood. The flood story was included because in it, the flood hero Utnapishtim is granted immortality by the gods and that fits the immortality theme of the epic. The main point seems to be that Utnapishtim was granted eternal life in unique, never-to-be-repeated circumstances. As if to demonstrate this point, Utnapishtim challenges Gilgamesh to stay awake for six days and seven nights. However, as soon as Utnapishtim finishes speaking Gilgamesh falls asleep. Utnapishtim instructs his wife to bake a loaf of bread for every day he is asleep so that Gilgamesh cannot deny his failure. Gilgamesh, who wants to overcome death, cannot even conquer sleep.

As Gilgamesh is leaving, Utnapishtim's wife asks her husband to offer a parting gift. Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh of a boxthorn-like plant at the very bottom of the ocean that will make him young again. Gilgamesh obtains the plant by binding stones to his feet so he can walk on the bottom of the sea. He recovers the plant and plans to test it on an old man when he returns to Uruk. Unfortunately, when Gilgamesh stops to bathe it is stolen by a serpent that sheds its skin as it departs, apparently reborn. Gilgamesh, having failed both chances, returns to Uruk, where the sight of its massive walls provokes him to praise this enduring work of mortal men. The implication may be that mortals can achieve immortality through lasting works of civilization and culture.

Flood myth section

This section is in list format but may read better as prose. You can help by converting this section, if appropriate. Editing help is available. (February 2021)

Lines 1-203, Tablet XI[11] (note: with supplemental sub-titles and line numbers added for clarity)

Ea leaks the secret plan

Utnapishtim tells Gilgamesh a secret story that begins in the old city of Shuruppak on the banks of the Euphrates River.

The "great gods" Anu, Enlil, Ninurta, Ennugi, and Ea were sworn to secrecy about their plan to cause the flood.

But the god Ea (Sumerian god Enki) repeated the plan to Utnapishtim through a reed wall in a reed house.

Ea commanded Utnapishtim to demolish his house and build a boat, regardless of the cost, to keep living beings alive.

The boat must have equal dimensions with corresponding width and length and be covered over like Apsu boats.

Utnapishtim promised to do what Ea commanded.

He asked Ea what he should say to the city elders and the population.

Ea tells him to say that Enlil has rejected him and he can no longer reside in the city or set foot in Enlil's territory.

He should also say that he will go down to the Apsu "to live with my lord Ea".

Note: 'Apsu' can refer to a freshwater marsh near the temple of Ea/Enki at the city of Eridu.[12]

Building and launching the boat

Carpenters, reed workers, and other people assembled one morning.

[missing lines]

Five days later, Utnapishtim laid out the exterior walls of the boat of 120 cubits.

The sides of the superstructure had equal lengths of 120 cubits. He also made a drawing of the interior structure.

The boat had six decks [?] divided into seven and nine compartments.

Water plugs were driven into the middle part.

Punting poles and other necessary things were laid in.

Three times 3,600 units of raw bitumen were melted in a kiln and three times 3,600 units of oil were used in addition to two times 3,600 units of oil that were stored in the boat.

Oxen and sheep were slaughtered and ale, beer, oil, and wine were distributed to the workmen, like at a new year's festival.

When the boat was finished, the launch was very difficult. A runway of poles was used to slide the boat into the water.

Two-thirds of the boat was in the water.

Utnapishtim loaded his silver and gold into the boat.

He loaded "all the living beings that I had."

His relatives and craftsmen, and "all the beasts and animals of the field" boarded the boat.

The time arrived, as stated by the god Shamash, to seal the entry door.

The storm

Early in the morning at dawn a black cloud arose from the horizon.

The weather was frightful.

Utnapishtim boarded the boat and entrusted the boat and its contents to his boat master Puzurammurri who sealed the entry.

The thunder god Adad rumbled in the cloud and storm gods Shullat and Hanish went over mountains and land.

Erragal pulled out the mooring poles and the dikes overflowed.

The Anunnaki gods lit up the land with their lightning.

There was stunned shock at Adad's deeds which turned everything to blackness. The land was shattered like a pot.

All day long the south wind blew rapidly and the water overwhelmed the people like an attack.

No one could see his fellows. They could not recognize each other in the torrent.

The gods were frightened by the flood and retreated up to the Anu heaven. They cowered like dogs lying by the outer wall.

Ishtar shrieked like a woman in childbirth.

The Mistress of the gods wailed that the old days had turned to clay because "I said evil things in the Assembly of the Gods, ordering a catastrophe to destroy my people who fill the sea like fish."

The other gods were weeping with her and sat sobbing with grief, their lips burning, parched with thirst.

The flood and wind lasted six days and six nights, flattening the land.

On the seventh day, the storm was pounding [intermittently?] like a woman in labour.

Calm after the storm

The sea calmed and the whirlwind and flood stopped. All-day long there was quiet. All humans had turned to clay.

The terrain was as flat as a rooftop. Utnapishtim opened a window and felt fresh air on his face.

He fell to his knees and sat weeping, tears streaming down his face. He looked for coastlines on the horizon and saw a region of land.

The boat lodged firmly on mount Nimush which held the boat for several days, allowing no swaying.

On the seventh day he released a dove that flew away but came back to him. He released a swallow, but it also came back to him.

He released a raven that was able to eat and scratch, and did not circle back to the boat.

He then sent his livestock out in various directions.

The sacrifice

He sacrificed a sheep and offered incense at a mountainous ziggurat where he placed 14 sacrificial vessels and poured reeds, cedar, and myrtle into the fire.

The gods smelled the sweet odour of the sacrificial animal and gathered like flies over the sacrifice.

Then the great goddess arrived, lifted up her flies (beads), and said

"Ye gods, as surely as I shall not forget this lapis lazuli [amulet] around my neck, I shall be mindful of these days and never forget them! The gods may come to the sacrificial offering. But Enlil may not come, because he brought about the flood and annihilated my people without considering [the consequences]."

When Enlil arrived, he saw the boat and became furious at the Igigi gods. He said "Where did a living being escape? No man was to survive the annihilation!"

Ninurta spoke to Enlil saying "Who else but Ea could do such a thing? It is Ea who knew all of our plans."

Ea spoke to Enlil saying "It was you, the Sage of the Gods. How could you bring about a flood without consideration?"

Ea then accuses Enlil of sending a disproportionate punishment and reminds him of the need for compassion.

Ea denies leaking the god's secret plan to Atrahasis (= Utnapishtim), admitting only sending him a dream and deflecting Enlil's attention to the flood hero.

The flood hero and his wife are granted immortality and transported far away

Enlil then boards a boat and grasping Utnapishtim's hand, helps him and his wife aboard where they kneel. Standing between Utnapishtim and his wife, he touches their foreheads and blesses them. "Formerly Utnapishtim was a human being, but now he and his wife have become gods like us. Let Utnapishtim reside far away, at the mouth of the rivers."

Utnapishtim and his wife are transported and settled at the "mouth of the rivers".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilgamesh_flood_myth

Epic is the largest electronic medical record system in the nation. With Epic, Carson Tahoe Health will employ a single, fully-integrated electronic application for managing patient care that can be accessed throughout our healthcare system. For our staff, no more struggling with numerous programs. We'll be transforming care delivery through a seamless flow of patient care information, MyChart Patient Portal for easy access to your medical records, and streamlined patient/doctor communications ... all in partnership with our affiliate, University of Utah Health.

We appreciate your patience and understanding as we learn this new system. Wait times for scheduling & registration may be longer than normal - but we promise that in the end, it will all be worth it!

MyChart

Manage your healthcare online, anytime.

Have you ever wanted to refer back to your most recent test results? Or thought about how nice it would be to send a quick question to your provider, instead of calling the office? What about being able to review and pay your medical bill online?

MyChart is a single patient portal for all your Carson Tahoe Health & Carson Tahoe Medical Group needs and will act as a gateway to your complete health record. The secure online platform will give you convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information and can act as a quick resource for you and your provider so you have the best possible care experience. Having your medical information right at your fingertips puts YOU in control of your health.

With the MyChart Patient Portal, you’ll have access to:

Messages - Ask your provider questions and receive an answer in a timely and thoughtful manner

Medical Records - View visit summaries and doctor's notes from past visits and admissions, or request your complete personal health record

Test Results - Review your test results as they come in

Billing - View billing statements and pay outstanding balances for dates of service after October 10, 2020

• In MyChart, you will be automatically enrolled in paperless billing statements and will be notified by email when a new bill is available. If you choose you may go to your MyChart app to opt-out of future e-billing.

• Temporarily, you may receive separate individual statements as older balances (10/09 and prior) won’t be integrated with MyChart.

• One Bill – One Plan. All charges directly rendered through Carson Tahoe Health will be included in one statement. Note: You will continue to receive separate bills for care provided by those physicians who operate from their own private practice.

Medications - View your current medications and dosages and request a new prescription or refill

Please note: Although MyChart replaced our three existing patient portals (Follow My Health, CTMG, and CTC), your old data is available through Medical Records. We apologize for any inconvenience or confusion this may cause. Each patient portal was run through a different platform, so old data did not automatically transfer over. We recognize the importance of accessing your historical medical information, though, so please contact Medical Records and they'd be happy to assist you.

https://www.carsontahoe.com/epic-is-coming.html

SARA DOUGLAS, NP – NPI #1295190304

Family

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SARA DOUGLAS, NP

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https://npidb.org/doctors/physician_assistants/family_363lf0000x/1295190304.aspx

In Hebrew, the word saraph means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "serpent",[4] twice in the Book of Numbers, once in the Book of Deuteronomy, and four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5][6][7] The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, seraphim, occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to only as the plural seraphim – Isaiah later uses the singular saraph to describe a "fiery flying serpent", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the Tanakh.

There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in Hyksos-era Canaan had their original sources in Egyptian uraeus iconography.[8] In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, divinity and divine authority, and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of Israel and Judah, Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites en masse, as a plethora of personal seals belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the winged sun, ankh, the hedjet and deshret crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, scarabs, and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two.[9] These images have been connected with the seraphim angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine seraphim clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned seraphim with heads, legs, and arms – although, on the second matter, some scholars have proposed that the covered "feet" of the seraphim should be identified as genitals, as "feet" are often used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for the penis.[10][11]

The vision in Isaiah Chapter 6 of seraphim in an idealized version of Solomon's Temple represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.[12] "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)[13] And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)[14] One seraph carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)[15] "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

The text describes the "seraphim" as winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work.[16] Notwithstanding the wording of the text itself, at least one Hebrew scholar claims that in the Hebrew Bible the seraphim do not have the status of angels, and that it is only in later sources (like De Coelesti Hierarchia or Summa Theologiae) that they are considered to be a division of the divine messengers.[17]

Seraphim appear in the 2nd-century BC Book of Enoch,[18] where they are mentioned, in conjunction with cherubim, as the heavenly creatures standing nearest to the throne of God. In non-biblical sources they are sometimes called the Akyəst (Ge'ez: አክይስት "serpents", "dragons"; an alternate term for Hell).[19][20][21]

In the Second Book of Enoch, two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the phoenixes and the chalkydri (Ancient Greek: χαλκύδραι khalkýdrai, compound of χαλκός khalkós "brass, copper" + ὕδρα hýdra "hydra", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 7th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.[22][23]

In the Book of Revelation (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the Gnostic text, On the Origin of the World.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (née Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is an English Anglican prelate and former nurse. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold this office. By virtue of her office she is also a Lord Spiritual, one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. On 3 October 2025, it was announced that Mullally would become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in January 2026; she will be the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Mullally received clinical training in nursing from St Thomas' Hospital. She practised nursing primarily in South London, where she also began her study for ministry in the Church of England. In 1999 she became Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for the English National Health Service. She left these roles in 2004 to pursue full-time ministry. For her service in nursing, Mullally was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and began her ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She served in various London churches, and in 2012 became a canon of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2015 she was consecrated as bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Mullally

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

◄ 2 Corinthians 11:14 ►

1 In the year of the death of king Uzziah, [a]I saw also the Lord sitting upon an [b]high throne, and lifted up, and the lower [c]parts thereof filled the Temple.

2 The [d]Seraphims stood upon it, every one had six wings: with twain he covered his [e]face, and with twain he covered his [f]feet, and with twain he did [g]fly.

3 And one cried to another, and said, [h]Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole [i]world is full of his glory.

Isaiah 6:1-3

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206&version=GNV

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle of budh "to awake, know, perceive," which is related to Sanskrit bodhati "is awake, observes, understands," from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware." Title given by his adherents to the man who taught this path, Siddhartha Gautama, also known to them as Sakyamuni "Sage of the Sakyas" (his family clan), who lived in northern India 5c. B.C.E."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gautama

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Exodus 32

1599 Geneva Bible

32 4 The Israelites impute their deliverance to the calf. 14 God is appeased by Moses’ prayer. 19 Moses breaketh the Tables.

1 But when the people saw, that Moses tarried long ere he came down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together against Aaron, and said unto him, Up, [a]make us gods to go before us: for of this Moses (the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt) we know not what is become of him.

2 And Aaron said unto them, [b]Pluck off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

3 Then all the people plucked from [c]themselves the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and they brought them unto Aaron.

4 Who received them at their hands, and fashioned it with the graving tool, and made of it a [d]molten calf: then they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.

5 When Aaron saw that, he made an Altar before it: and Aaron proclaimed, saying, Tomorrow shall be the holy day of the Lord.

6 So they rose up the next day in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings: also the people sat them down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.

7 ¶ Then the Lord said unto Moses, Go get thee down: for thy people which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, hath corrupted their ways.

8 They [e]are soon turned out of the way, which I commanded them: for they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have offered thereto, saying, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt.

9 Again the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

10 Now [f]therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, for I will consume them: but I will make of thee a mighty people

11 But Moses prayed unto the Lord his God, and said, O Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, with great power and with a mighty hand?

12 Wherefore shall the Egyptians [g]speak, and say, He hath brought them out maliciously for to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the earth? turn from thy fierce wrath, and [h]change thy mind from this evil toward thy people.

13 Remember [i]Abraham, Isaac, and Israel thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidest unto them, I will multiply your seed, as the stars of heaven, and all this land, that I have spoken of, will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.

14 Then the Lord changed his mind from the evil, which he threatened to do unto his people.

15 So Moses returned and went down from the mountain with the two Tables of the Testimony in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides, even on the one side and on the other were they written.

16 And these Tables were the work of God, and [j]this writing was the writing of God graven in the Tables.

17 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people, as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the host.

18 Who answered, It is not the noise of them that have the victory, nor the noise of them that are overcome: but I do hear the noise of singing.

19 Now, as soon as he came near unto the host, he saw the calf and the dancing: so Moses’ wrath waxed hot, and he cast the Tables out of his hands, and brake them in pieces beneath the mountain.

20 After, he took the calf, which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it unto powder, and strowed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel [k]drink of it.

21 Also Moses said unto Aaron, What did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them?

22 Then Aaron answered, Let not the wrath of my Lord wax fierce: Thou knowest this people, that they are even set on mischief.

23 And they said unto me, Make us gods to go before us: for we know not what is become of this Moses (the man that brought us out of the land of Egypt).

24 Then I said to them, Ye that have gold, pluck it off: and they brought it me, and I did cast it into the fire, and thereof came this calf.

25 Moses therefore saw that the people were [l]naked (for Aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies)

26 And Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who pertaineth to the Lord? let them come to me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves unto him.

27 Then he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: Put every man his sword by his side, go to and fro, from gate to gate, through the host, and [m]slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.

28 So the children of Levi did as Moses had commanded: and there fell of the people the same day about three thousand men.

29 (For Moses had said, Consecrate your hands unto the Lord this day, even every man upon his [n]son, and upon his brother, that there may be given you a blessing this day.)

30 And when the morning came, Moses said unto the people, Ye have committed a grievous crime: but now I will go up to the Lord, if I may pacify him for your sin.

31 Moses therefore went again unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

32 Therefore now if thou pardon their sin, thy mercy shall appear: but if thou wilt not, I pray thee, raise me [o]out of thy book, which thou hast written.

33 Then the Lord said to Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, I will put him out of my [p]book.

34 Go now therefore, bring the people unto the place which I commanded thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee, but yet in the day of my visitation I will visit their sin upon them.

35 [q]So the Lord plagued the people, because they caused Aaron to make the calf which he made.

Footnotes

Exodus 32:1 The root of Idolatry is, when men think that God is not at hand, except they see him carnally.

Exodus 32:2 Thinking that they would rather forego idolatry, than to resign their most precious jewels.

Exodus 32:3 Such is the rage of idolaters, that they spare no cost to satisfy their wicked desires.

Exodus 32:4 They smelled of their leaven of Egypt, where they saw calves, oxen and serpents worshipped.

Exodus 32:8 Whereby we see what necessity we have to pray earnestly to God, to keep us in his true obedience, and to send us good guides.

Exodus 32:10 God showeth that the prayers of the godly stay his punishment.

Exodus 32:12 Or, blaspheme.

Exodus 32:12 Or, repent.

Exodus 32:13 That is, thy promise made to Abraham.

Exodus 32:16 All these repetitions show how excellent a thing they defrauded themselves of by their idolatry.

Exodus 32:20 Partly to despite them of their idolatry, and partly that they should have none occasion to remember it afterward.

Exodus 32:25 Both destitute of God’s favor, and an occasion to their enemies to speak evil of their God.

Exodus 32:27 This fact did so please God, that he turned the curse of Jacob against Levi to a blessing, Deut. 33:9.

Exodus 32:29 In revenging God’s glory we must have no respect to person, but put off all carnal affection.

Exodus 32:32 So much he esteemed the glory of God, that he preferred it even to his own salvation.

Exodus 32:33 I will make it known that he was never predestinated in mine eternal counsel to life everlasting.

Exodus 32:35 This declareth how grievous a sin idolatry is, seeing that at Moses’ prayer God would not fully remit

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2032&version=GNV

The head priest of the Roman state religion was the Pontifex Maximus, or the greatest of the college of pontifices. While an obviously important and prominent position within the ranks of the Roman system, the Pontifex Maximus was not considered a magistrate comparable to a Consul, Praetor, etc.

During the Republic, the Pontifex was elected by the Comitia Tributa and served for life, while during the Empire, the position was generally held by the Emperor himself.

Originally, the Ponifices were Patrician only, but the social conditions and changes during the late Republic allowed for Plebeian election as well. These men were responsible for the oversight of the state religious cult as a whole and didn't really oversee particular godly cults, though they could if necessary.

AD

By the Imperial period there were 16 pontifices under the high priest, 15 flamines, who were special priests of the main deities, and the Rex Sacrorum (king of the sacrifices) who performed the religious acts that the king had usually done. Perhaps most importantly, he was he was also responsible for the 18 Vestal Virgins.

The main duty of the pontifices was to provide the pax deorum, or the 'peace with the gods'. Interpreting omens, sometimes through augures, controlling and keeping the official calendar, and the oversight of funerals all fell under the domain of the Pontifex Maximus.

He was responsible for an enormous collection of omens (annales maximi); that would be recorded and collected on a nearly constant basis. These heavenly signs would be written down along with accompanying events, and used to determine the divine favor of the gods. Doing so allowed following generations of priests and magistrates to understand the historic will of the gods and interpret future events against past patterns.

Today, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope, is still called the Pontifex Maximus. It's a political or governing office that has been in existence and in perpetual use for nearly 3,000 years.

Pontifex Maximus List

Roman Office of the Pontifex Maximus

Year

Pontifex

Notes

712 BC

Numa Pompilius

The office was said to begin during the tenure of the Kings of Rome. However, very little recorded evidence exists. This name has been recorded as Numa Marcius and it is difficult to determine if it was a different person, or the actual second king of Rome.

509 BC

Papirius

Complete dates in office unknown.

449 BC

Furius

Complete dates in office unknown.

431 BC

Cornelius Cossas

Complete dates in office unknown.

420 BC

Minucius

Complete dates in office unknown.

390 BC

Follius Flaccinator

Complete dates in office unknown.

332 - 304 BC

Cornelius Callissa

 

304 - ? BC

Cornelius Scipio Barbatus

Complete dates in office unknown.

254 - 243 BC

Tib. Coruncanius

First Plebeian Pontifex Maximus

243 - 221 BC

Caecilius Metellus

 

217 - 213 BC

Cornelius Lentulus Caudinus

 

212 - 183 BC

Licinius Crassus Dives

 

183 - 180 BC

Servilius Geminus

 

180 - 152 BC

Aemilius Lepidus

 

152 -150 BC

No Pontifex Maximus

 

150 - 141 BC

Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum

 

141 - 132 BC

Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Serapio

Described by Plutarch as the first Pontifex to break the religious law not allowing him to leave Italy.

132 - 130 BC

Licinius Crassus Dives Mucianus

Also noted as the first to leave Italy, during the social disorder of the Gracchi Brothers. After which, it became increasingly common and certainly not against the law for the Pontifex to leave Italy.

? - 115 BC

P. Mucius Scaevola

Complete dates in office unknown, but assumedly shortly after his predecessor.

114 - 103 BC

Caecilius Metellus Delmaticus

 

103 - 89 BC

Domitius Ahenobarbus

 

89 - 82 BC

Q. Mucius Scaevola

 

81 - 63 BC

Caecilius Metellus Pius

 

63 - 44 BC

Gaius Julius Caesar

 

44 - 13 BC

Aemilius Lepidus

 

12 BC

Augustus

With the accession of Augustus, the election of the Pontifex Maximus ceased as each successive emperor held the office. In 382 AD, when the Eastern emperor Theodosius established Christianity as the official religion of the empire, the Western Emperor Gratian relinquished the office to the Christian Popes of Rome, who have held it since that time.

Did you know...

Julius Caesar was elected pontifex maximus in 63 BCE and kept the office until his death. The house where he spent the night before he was killed, was the domus publica.

https://www.unrv.com/culture/pontifex-maximus.php

The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film[7] produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. It is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd and Scatman Crothers. The film presents the descent into insanity of a recovering alcoholic and aspiring novelist (Nicholson) who takes a job as winter caretaker for a mountain resort hotel with his wife (Duvall) and clairvoyant son (Lloyd). Production took place almost exclusively in England at EMI Elstree Studios, with sets based on real locations. Kubrick often worked with a small crew, which allowed him to do many takes, sometimes to the exhaustion of the actors and staff. The then-new Steadicam mount was used to shoot several scenes, giving the film an innovative and immersive look and feel.

The film was released in the United States on May 23, 1980, by Warner Bros., and in the United Kingdom on October 2 by Columbia Pictures through Columbia-EMI-Warner Distributors. There were several versions for theatrical releases, each of which was cut shorter than the preceding cut; about 27 minutes was cut in total. Reactions to the film at the time of its release were mixed; King criticized the film due to its deviations from the novel. The film received two controversial nominations at the 1st Golden Raspberry Awards in 1981—Worst Director and Worst Actress—the latter of which was later rescinded in 2022 due to Kubrick's alleged[8] treatment of Duvall on set.

However, the film has since been critically reappraised and is now often cited as one of the best horror films and one of the greatest films of all time. The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 2018.[9] A sequel titled Doctor Sleep, based on King's 2013 novel of the same name, was adapted to film and released in 2019.

Plot

Jack Torrance takes a caretaker position to look after the remote Overlook Hotel in the Colorado Rocky Mountains, while it is closed for the winter. After his arrival, hotel manager Stuart Ullman informs Jack that a previous caretaker, Charles Grady, killed his wife, two young daughters, and himself in the hotel a decade prior.

In Boulder, Jack's son, Danny, has a premonition and seizure. Jack's wife, Wendy, tells the doctor about a past incident when Jack accidentally dislocated Danny's shoulder during a drunken rage. Jack has been sober ever since. Before leaving for the seasonal break, the Overlook's head chef, Dick Hallorann, informs Danny of a telepathic ability the two share, which his grandmother called "shining". Hallorann tells Danny that the hotel also "shines" due to residue from unpleasant past events and warns him to avoid Room 237.

A month passes, and Danny starts having frightening visions, including of the murdered Grady sisters. Meanwhile, Jack's mental health deteriorates; he suffers from writer's block, is prone to violent outbursts, and has dreams of killing his family. Danny gets lured to room 237 by unseen forces, and Wendy later finds him with signs of physical trauma, for which she blames Jack. Jack sulks in the ballroom, where ghostly bartender Lloyd entices him back to drinking. Wendy tells him that Danny was attacked by a "crazy woman" in room 237. Jack investigates and encounters a hideous female ghost in the bathroom, but tells Wendy he saw nothing. He blames Danny for inflicting the bruises on himself and reacts angrily when Wendy suggests leaving the hotel. Danny enters a trance and telepathically contacts Hallorann. Returning to the ballroom, Jack finds it filled with ghostly figures, including waiter Delbert Grady, who urges Jack to "correct" his wife and child.

Wendy finds Jack's manuscript written with nothing but countless repetitions of the proverb "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". When Jack threatens her life, Wendy knocks him unconscious with a baseball bat and locks him in the kitchen pantry, but she and Danny cannot leave because Jack previously sabotaged the hotel's two-way radio and snowcat. Back in their hotel room, Danny says "redrum" repeatedly and writes the word in lipstick on the bathroom door. Wendy sees the word in the mirror and realizes that it is actually "murder" spelled backward.

Jack is freed by Grady and goes after Wendy and Danny with an axe. Danny escapes outside through the bathroom window, and Wendy fights Jack off with a knife when he tries to break through the door. Hallorann, having flown back to Colorado from his Florida winter home, reaches the hotel in another snowcat. Jack ambushes and murders him with the axe, then pursues Danny into an expansive hedge maze on the hotel grounds. Wendy runs through the hotel looking for Danny, encountering the hotel's ghosts, Hallorann's bloody corpse, and a vision of cascading blood from an elevator similar to Danny's premonition.

Danny carefully backtracks to mislead Jack and hides behind a snowdrift. While Jack rushes ahead without a trail to follow and becomes lost, Danny exits the maze and is found by Wendy. The two depart the Overlook in Hallorann's snowcat, leaving Jack to freeze to death in the maze.

In the film's last shot, a photograph in the hotel hallway pictures Jack standing amidst a crowd of party revelers from July 4, 1921.

Cast

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance

Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance, Jack's wife

Danny Lloyd as Danny "Doc" Torrance, Jack and Wendy's son

Scatman Crothers as Dick Hallorann

Barry Nelson as Stuart Ullman

Philip Stone as Delbert Grady

Joe Turkel as Lloyd

Anne Jackson as Doctor

Tony Burton as Larry Durkin

Lia Beldam as young woman in bath

Billie Gibson as old woman in bath

Barry Dennen as Bill Watson

Lisa and Louise Burns as the Grady "twins"

In the European cut, all of the scenes involving Jackson and Burton were removed but the credits remained unchanged. Dennen is on-screen in all versions of the film, albeit to a limited degree (and no dialogue) in the European cut.

The actresses who played the ghosts of the murdered Grady daughters, Lisa and Louise Burns, are identical twins.[10] The characters in the book and film script are sisters, but not twins. In the film's dialogue, Ullman says that he thinks that they were "about eight and ten". Nonetheless, they are frequently referred to in discussions about the film as "the Grady twins".

There is a resemblance in the staging of the Grady girls and the Identical Twins, Roselle, New Jersey, 1967 photograph by Diane Arbus according to Arbus' biographer, Patricia Bosworth,[11] the Kubrick assistant who cast and coached them, Leon Vitali,[12] and by numerous Kubrick critics.[13][14] Kubrick both met Arbus personally and studied photography under her during his time as a photographer for Look magazine; Kubrick's widow says he did not deliberately model the Grady girls on Arbus' photograph, in spite of widespread attention to the resemblance.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shining_(film)

THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER AND PROJECT SANGUINE

In 1953, the Soviets set up seven radio transmitters and began pulsing the American Embassy in Moscow with an ELF signal measuring 3.26–17.54 MHz. Embassy workers had no idea they were being pulsed while developing emotional and behavioral problems, leukemia (a 40 percent higher than average white blood cell count), cancer, and cataracts. Ambassadors Charles Bohlen and Llewellyn Thompson died; Ambassador Walter Stoessel, Jr. developed a rare blood disease and bled from the eyes. The Moscow Embassy “experiment” would run for thirty years, a full generation.

Meanwhile in the United States under DARPA’s Project Pandora, scientists were studying how low-intensity microwaves might be used to induce heart attacks, blood/brain barrier leaks, auditory hallucinations, etc. This was the MK-ULTRA mind control era whose overarching electromagnetic question was, Can a microwave signal control the mind at a distance? In 1962, the CIA dedicated Project Bizarre to studying the Moscow signal and made a crucial discovery: it was not the strength of the signal that was responsible for loss of biological health—a tiny fraction of the U.S. military (very high) “safe” exposure level—but the pulsing. This information was immediately classified and Pandora went black, along with other projects.

By July 1969, the U.S. had 71,524 microwave towers spaced according to the geometric harmonics of the world magnetic grid. SECOM II’s16 five towers broadcast in the 3–12 MHz range—within the Schumann range—in a round robin from Idaho and New Mexico to Missouri, South Carolina, and Maryland.

In 1968, the secretive JASON Group mounted Project Sanguine’s 6,400-mile buried cable antenna for long radio wave transmissions (SLF 30–300Hz) out of upper Wisconsin. A transmitter on one side would pump ELF waves through the ground and out the other side so that, as bioelectromagnetics expert Robert O. Becker, MD, put it, “ELF waves issuing from it and resonating between the earth’s surface and the ionosphere could be picked up anywhere on the globe.”17 Supposedly, Sanguine was for submarine communication (much like HAARP was sold to the public), but the antenna length produced minuscule frequencies (.3 kHz), which was odd, given that the best frequencies for defense purposes are much higher. The truth is that Sanguine was to be set in sync with the three Soviet Duga antennas at Chernobyl, eastern Siberia, and Ukraine/Croatia.18

Per the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act, U.S. Navy Captain Paul E. Tyler asked Dr. Becker to be on the scientific committee overseeing Sanguine. In 1984, Captain Tyler would author “The Electromagnetic Spectrum in Low-Intensity Conflict,” a watershed paper which the International Committee on Offensive Microwave Weapons (ICOMW) described as “so important in the chain of evidence establishing the existence of an Electronic Concentration Camp System that if our Archive consisted of only two documents, the Tyler paper would surely be one of them!”19

In his 1985 book The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life, Dr. Becker detailed the committee’s disturbing Project Sanguine findings: stress responses, desynchronized bio-cycles, cellular metabolism interference, increased cancer rates in hundreds of thousands of people living inside the antenna field, etc. What would happen when the longwave signals resonated throughout the world? The committee recommended that Project Sanguine be shelved and that the 60 Hz power lines carrying far more power than the Sanguine antenna into homes across the nation be reexamined.

Under An Ionized Sky: From Chemtrails To Space Fence Lockdown

by Elana Freeland

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oneu_kEMMH5AeAffiWOR_7NJ0HptHJrC/view?usp=sharing

Peckerwood is a racial epithet used against white people, especially poor rural whites.[2] Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been reclaimed by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs.[3][4][5][6] The term was in use as an inversion of woodpecker in the Southern United States by the 1830s; it is also with the sense referring to white people documented from the 1850s.[2] African-American folklore in the 1920s contrasted the white "peckerwood" bird with the African-American blackbird.[6][7] The word became a common term in Jive.

History

Use of the term, an inversion of woodpecker, dates to the early 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest printed use to an Alabama newspaper in 1835.[2] Peckerwood was in use in reference to white people by 1859; it often suggested a white person who was rustic or poor.[2][3] The shortened form peck was in use in the same sense in the 1920s.[8] In African American folklore during the 1920s, the woodpecker symbolically represented White Americans, in contrast to the blackbird that represented African Americans.[3][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckerwood

The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa, pronounced [ˈkaɾtel ðe sinaˈloa], CDS, after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Federation, the Sinaloa Cartel,[14][15][16] or the Pacific Cartel,[17] is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized crime syndicate and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico,[18] that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.

The cartel's history is marked by evolution from a small crime syndicate to one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world. Founded in the late 1960s by Pedro Avilés Pérez in Sinaloa, the cartel initially focused on smuggling marijuana into the United States. Pérez is credited with pioneering the use of aircraft for drug smuggling, laying the groundwork for large-scale trafficking operations. His organization was a training ground for the second generation of Sinaloan traffickers.

The Guadalajara Cartel was co-founded by Félix Gallardo between 1978 and 1980, marking the next phase in the cartel's history.[19][20][13] Under Gallardo's leadership, the cartel controlled much of Mexico's drug trafficking corridors along the US border throughout the 1980s. Following Gallardo's arrest in 1989, the cartel splintered into smaller organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Sinaloa Cartel, under the leadership of figures like Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, significantly expanded its operations, establishing itself as one of the most powerful and influential criminal organizations in the world. The cartel was heavily involved in violent conflicts with rival groups such as the Tijuana Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and later, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), as well as with Mexican federal forces.

During this period, the Sinaloa Cartel diversified its drug portfolio, becoming a major player in the global trade of cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin. It developed sophisticated trafficking networks spanning across the Americas, Europe, and Asia, utilizing methods such as underground tunnels, maritime shipments, and corrupt border officials to smuggle narcotics into the United States and other markets. The cartel also became known for its strategic alliances, brutal enforcement tactics, and the ability to infiltrate local governments and law enforcement agencies, particularly in key trafficking corridors, further solidifying its position as a dominant force in the drug trade. Despite numerous arrests and seizures by law enforcement, the cartel has continued to operate, often employing sophisticated smuggling techniques, including tunnels under the US-Mexico border. It has operations in many world regions but primarily in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua.[14][21] and presence in other regions in Latin America, as well as cities across the U.S.[22][23] The United States Intelligence Community considers the cartel to be the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, perhaps more influential than Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel of Colombia during its prime.[24][25] According to the National Drug Intelligence Center and other sources within the U.S. the Sinaloa Cartel is primarily involved in the distribution of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis and MDMA.[26]

As of 2024, the cartel remains Mexico's most dominant drug cartel.[24][27] After the arrest of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and his son Ovidio Guzmán López in 2016 and 2023 respectively, the cartel was headed by old-school leader Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada,[28] as well as Guzmán's other sons, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, Joaquín Guzmán López and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar,[29][30] until 2024 when both Zambada and Joaquín Guzmán López were arrested by US authorities in El Paso, Texas.[31] The cartel has had a significant impact on the War on drugs, both international and local politics, as well as in popular culture. Its influence extends beyond Mexico, with operations in the United States, Latin America, and as far as the Philippines. Despite the arrest of key leaders, the cartel remains a significant player in international drug trafficking, driven by demand for narcotics in the US and around the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaloa_Cartel

What is a SIN?

A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number that you need to work and be paid in Canada and access government programs and benefits. It is also used to file taxes.

If you are not eligible for a SIN, you can apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) for tax purposes.

You are responsible for protecting your SIN. Ensure that you store documents containing your SIN and personal information in a safe place. For more information about protecting your SIN, please visit here.

International students get a SIN starting with the number ‘9,’ which lets employers know that you are a temporary resident in Canada.

https://international.northeastern.edu/ogs/student-support/global-campuses/canada/social-insurance-number/

As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#

A novena (from Latin: novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Civil Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise.  Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.

Nautical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.  In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions.  Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.

Astronomical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.  In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution.  Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky.  But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon.  Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight.  But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.

https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

What is the meaning of 666?

Answer

At the close of Revelation 13, which discusses the beast (the Antichrist) and his false prophet, we read, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). Somehow, the number 666 is a clue to the identity of the beast. Revelation 13 also mentions the “mark of the beast” (verses 16–17), and popular thought often links 666 with the mark; however, the mark of the beast and 666 appear to be two different things. The mark of the beast is something people must receive in order to buy and sell. The number 666 is somehow associated with the beast/Antichrist as “his” number.

The meaning of 666 is a mystery, and it appears that the apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, intended it to be that way. Calculating it, John says, requires “wisdom.” Some, using gematria (assigning a number value to each letter of a name or word and then combining the number values to arrive at a total number), have identified the Antichrist as various people in world history. Some of the popular targets have been “Caesar Nero,” “Ronald Wilson Reagan,” “Mikhail Gorbachev,” and various popes in Roman Catholic history. The lengths some will go to in order to get a person’s name to add up to 666 are amazing. Virtually any name can add up to 666 if enough mathematical gymnastics are employed.

Six hundred, sixty-six will somehow identify the beast, but precisely how 666 is connected to the beast is not the main point of Revelation 13:18. The Bible often uses the number 7 to refer to God and His perfection. Traditionally, 6 is thought to be the number of man, created on the sixth day and always “falling short” of God. The beast/Antichrist will strive to be like God. He will likely even claim to be God. But, just as the number 6 falls short of the number 7, so will the beast/Antichrist, with his “trinity” of 6’s, ultimately fail in his effort to defeat God.

Addendum: Interestingly, in some ancient Greek manuscripts of the Book of Revelation, the number is given as 616 instead of 666. The manuscript evidence is strongly in favor of 666, but the alternate reading of 616 should give us pause before we start pounding away on the calculators.

https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-666.html

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

18 U.S. Code § 666 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds

U.S. Code

Notes

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(a)Whoever, if the circumstance described in subsection (b) of this section exists—

(1)being an agent of an organization, or of a State, local, or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof—

(A)embezzles, steals, obtains by fraud, or otherwise without authority knowingly converts to the use of any person other than the rightful owner or intentionally misapplies, property that—

(i)is valued at $5,000 or more, and

(ii)is owned by, or is under the care, custody, or control of such organization, government, or agency; or

(B)corruptly solicits or demands for the benefit of any person, or accepts or agrees to accept, anything of value from any person, intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more; or

(2)corruptly gives, offers, or agrees to give anything of value to any person, with intent to influence or reward an agent of an organization or of a State, local or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof, in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b)The circumstance referred to in subsection (a) of this section is that the organization, government, or agency receives, in any one year period, benefits in excess of $10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal assistance.

(c)This section does not apply to bona fide salary, wages, fees, or other compensation paid, or expenses paid or reimbursed, in the usual course of business.

(d)As used in this section—

(1)the term “agent” means a person authorized to act on behalf of another person or a government and, in the case of an organization or government, includes a servant or employee, and a partner, director, officer, manager, and representative;

(2)the term “government agency” means a subdivision of the executive, legislative, judicial, or other branch of government, including a department, independent establishment, commission, administration, authority, board, and bureau, and a corporation or other legal entity established, and subject to control, by a government or governments for the execution of a governmental or intergovernmental program;

(3)the term “local” means of or pertaining to a political subdivision within a State;

(4)the term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and

(5)the term “in any one-year period” means a continuous period that commences no earlier than twelve months before the commission of the offense or that ends no later than twelve months after the commission of the offense. Such period may include time both before and after the commission of the offense.

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1104(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2143; amended Pub. L. 99–646, § 59(a), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3612; Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §§ 1205(d), 1209, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4831, 4832; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330003(c), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2140.)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666

Revelation 13:11-18

1599 Geneva Bible

11 [a]And I beheld, another beast coming out of the earth, [b]which had two horns like the Lamb, but he spake like the dragon.

12 [c]And he did all that the first beast could do before him, and he caused the earth and them which dwell therein, [d]to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 [e]And he did great wonders, so that he made fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [f]image of the [g]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

15 [h]And it was permitted to him to give a [i]spirit unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 [j]And he made all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive [k]a [l]mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.

17 And that no man might [m]buy or sell, save he that had the [n]mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 [o]Here is wisdom. Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast: for it is the [p]number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:11 The second member of the vision, concerning the ecclesiastical dominion, which in Rome succeeded that which was politic, and is in the power of the corporation of false Prophets, and of the forgers of false doctrine. Wherefore the same body or corporation is called of S. John by the name of false prophet, Rev. 6:13, 19 and 20. The form of this beast is first described in this verse, then his acts, in the verses following, and the whole speech is concluded in the last verse. This beast is by his breed a Son of the earth (as they say) obscurely born, and by little and little creeping up out of his abject estate.

Revelation 13:11 That is, in show he resembled the Lamb (for what is more mild or more humble than to be the servant of the servants of God) but in deed he played the part of the Dragon, and of the Wolf, Matt. 7:15. For even Satan changeth himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14, and what should his honest disciples and servants do?

Revelation 13:12 The history of the acts of this beast containeth in sum three things, hypocrisy, the witness of miracles and tyranny: of which the first is noted in this verse, the second in the 3 verses following: the third in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses. His hypocrisy is most full of leasing, whereby he abuseth both the former beast and the whole world: in that albeit he hath by his cunning, as it were by lime made of the former beast a most miserable … or anatomy, usurped all his authority unto himself and most impudently exerciseth the same in the sight and view of him: yet he carrieth himself so, as if he honored him with most high honor, and did in very truth cause him to be honored of all men.

Revelation 13:12

For unto this beast of Rome, which of civil Empire is made an Ecclesiastical hierarchy, are given divine honors, and divine authority so far as he is believed to be above the Scriptures, which the gloss upon the Decretals declareth by this devilish verse,

Articulos solvit, synodumque facit generalem,

That is,

He changeth the Articles of faith, and giveth authority to general Counsels.

Which is spoken of the Papal power. So the beast is by birth, foundation, feat, and finally substance, one: only the Pope hath altered the form and manner thereof being himself the head both of that tyrannical Empire, and also of the false Prophets, for the Empire hath he taken unto himself, and thereunto hath added this cunning device. Now these words, whose deadly wound was cured are put here for distinction sake, as also sometimes afterwards: that even at that time the godly readers of this prophecy might by this sign be brought to see the things as present: as if it were said, that they might adore this very Empire that now is, whose head we have seen in our own memory to have been cut off, and to be cured again.

Revelation 13:13 The second point of the things done by the beast, is the credit of great wonders or miracles, appertaining to the strength of this impiety: of which signs some were given from above, as it is said, that fire was sent down from heaven by false sorcery, in this verse. Others were showed here below in the sight of the beast to establish idolatry, and deceive souls, which part S. John setteth forth beginning (as they say) at that which is last, in this manner: First the effect is declared in these words, He deceiveth the inhabitants of the earth, Secondly the common manner of working in two sorts, one of miracles. For the signs that were given him to do in the presence of the beasts: the other of the words added to the signs, and teaching the idolatry confirmed by those signs, Saying unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they should make an image unto the beasts which, etc. Thirdly, a special manner is declared: That is given unto him to put life into the image of the beast: and that such a kind of quickening, that the same both speaketh by answer unto those that ask counsel of it, and also pronounceth death against all those that do not obey nor worship it: all which things oftentimes by false miracles through the procurement and inspiration of the Devil, have been effected and wrought in images. The histories of the Papists are full of examples of such miracles, the most of them feigned, many also done by the devil in images: as of old in the serpent, Gen. 3:1. By which examples is confirmed, not the authority of the beast, but the truth of God, and of these prophecies.

Revelation 13:14 That is, images by enallage or change of the number: for the worship of them ever since the second Council of Nice, hath been ordained in the Church by public credit, and authority contrary unto the Law of God.

Revelation 13:14 In the Greek the word is in the Dative case, as much to say, as unto the worship, honor and obeying of the beast: for by this maintenance of images this Pseudoprophetical beast doth mightily profit the beast of Rome, of whom long ago he received them. Wherefore the same is hereafter very fitly called the image of the beast, for that images have their beginning from the beast, and have their form or manner from the will of the beast, and have their end and use fixed in the profit and commodity of the beast.

Revelation 13:15 And of this miracle of the images of the beast (that is, which the beast hath ordained to establish idolatry) which miraculously speak and give judgment, or rather marvelously, by the fraud of the false prophets, the Papists books are full fraughted.

Revelation 13:15 To give life as Jannes and Jambres imitated the wonders that Moses wrought.

Revelation 13:16 The third place, is a most wicked and most insolent tyrrany as was said before, usurped over the persons of men in this verse: and over their goods and actions, in the next verse. For he is said, both to bring upon all persons a tyrannous servitude, that as bondslaves they might serve the beast: and also to exercise over all their goods and actions, a peddler-like abuse of indulgences and dispensations (as they term them) amongst their friends, and against others to use most violent interdictions, and to shoot out cursings, even in natural and civil, private and public contracts, wherein all good faith ought to have place.

Revelation 13:16 That is, their Chrism, by which in the Sacrament (as they call it) of Confirmation, they make servile unto themselves, the persons and doings of men, signing them in their forehead and hands: and as for the sign left by Christ (of which Rev. 7:3) and the holy Sacrament of Baptism they make as void. For whom Christ hath joined unto himself by Baptism, this beast maketh challenge unto them by her greasy Chrism, which he doubteth not to prefer over Baptism, both in authority and efficacy.

Revelation 13:16 The mark of the name of the beast.

Revelation 13:17 That is, have any traffic or intercourse with men, but they only those which have this anointing and consecration of Clearkely tonsure, as they call it. Read Gratian de Consecratione, distinct. s. c. omnes, cap. Spiritus, etc. of these matters.

Revelation 13:17 Here the false Prophets do require three things, which are set down in the order of their greatness, a character, a name and the number of the name. The meaning is, that man that hath not first their anointing and clerical tonsure or shaving: secondly holy orders, by reserving whereof is communicated the same of the beast: or finally hath not attained that high degree of Pontifical knowledge, and of the Law (as they call it) Canonical, and hath not as it were made up in account and cast the number of the mysteries thereof: for in these things consisteth the number of that name of the beast. And this is excellently set forth in the next verse.

Revelation 13:18 That is in this number of the beast consisteth that Popish wisdom, which unto them seemeth the greatest of all others. In these words S. John expoundeth that saying which went before of the number of the beast, what it hath above his mark or acconisance and his name. These things, saith S. John, the mark and the name of the beast, do easily happen unto any man: but to have the number of the beast, is wisdom: that is, only the wise and such as have understanding, can come by that number for they must be most illuminated doctors that attain thereunto, as the words following do declare.

Revelation 13:18 How great and of what denomination this number of the beast is, by which the beast accounted his wisdom, S. John declareth in these words. Dost thou demand how great it is? it is so great, that it occupieth the whole man: he is always learning, and never cometh to the knowledge thereof: he must be a man indeed that doth attain unto it. Askest thou of what denomination it is? verily it standeth of six throughout and perfectly ariseth of all the parts thereof in their several denominations (as they term them) it standeth of six by units, tens, hundreds, etc. so as there is no one part in the learning and order Pontifical, which is not either referred unto the head, and as it were the top thereof, or contained in the same: so fitly do all things in this hierarchy agree one with another, and with their head. Therefore that cruel beast Boniface the eighth doth commend by the number of six those Decretals which he perfected, in the proem of the sixth book. Which book (saith he) being to be added unto five other books of the same volume of Decretals, we thought good to name Sextum the sixth: that the same volume by addition thereof containing a senary, or the number of six books (which is a number perfect) may yield a perfect form of managing all things, and perfect discipline of behavior. Here therefore is the number of the beast, who poureth from himself all his parts and bringeth them all back again unto himself by his discipline in most wise and cunning manner. If any man desire more of this, let him read the gloss upon that place. I am not ignorant that other interpretations are brought upon this place: but I thought it my duty, with the good favor of all and without the offense of any, to propound mine opinion in this point. And for this cause especially, for that it seemed unto me neither profitable, nor like to be true, that the number of the beast, or of the name of the beast should be taken as the common sort of interpreters do take it. For this number of the beast teacheth, giveth out, imprinteth, as a public mark of such as be his, and esteemeth that mark above all others as the mark of those whom he loveth best. Now those other expositions seem rather to be far removed from this property and condition of that number: whether you respect the name Latinus or Titan, or another. For these the beast doth not teach, nor give forth nor imprint, but most diligently forbiddeth to be taught, and audaciously denieth: he approveth not these, but reproveth them: and hateth them that think so of this number, with an hatred, greater than that of Vatinius.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A11-18&version=GNV

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0Qn8JXif8yRfB9tyS7iAhU8ASs9hRfDyWti5uPN9MdoPfiJUFxmi1VgFyKD8TEgVMl

Sheriff Jim Cooper 

Thursday, November 27, 2025 at 1:29 PM

Ran into Deputies LONG and Munroe from North Patrol today while they were handling a call for service. Two young, hard-working deputies toward the end of their shift before heading home to enjoy Thanksgiving with their families.

I’m thankful for the men and women who work for me who sacrifice, show up, and work hard every single day to keep this county safe.

What are you thankful for this year?

https://www.facebook.com/SheriffJimCooper/posts/pfbid02JKXz3M21Ee5NiYc4tE88szNZvRPUVvqSRR8RPFG4G2fteGSfsesuwCXLtM8jzPCQl

Sheriff Jim Cooper

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 6:45AM

Hustlin'  · Rick Ross

After a LONG day yesterday, I stopped by the Main Jail last night to say hi to the Deputies on A-Nights, who are all chomping at the bit to get out to patrol. Seeing that kind of drive and focus from our Deputies makes me proud and I know our department will be in great hands for years to come.

https://www.facebook.com/SheriffJimCooper/posts/pfbid0uj85mXxFj6uXALmkXHeu3z4cPG288iMagTrhnyFtMTg1SoVHAjPHHtoTVY1U8aVZl

California's new sex ed guidelines encourage teachers to talk to students about gender identity, masturbation

Critics say the new guidelines are an assault on parental rights and expose children to ideas about sexuality and gender that should be taught at home.

May 8, 2019, 7:54 PM PDT

By Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has overhauled its sex education guidance for public school teachers, encouraging them to talk about gender identity with kindergartners and give advice to LGBT teenagers for navigating relationships and having safe sex.

LGBT advocates praised the new recommendations for giving attention to a community that is often left out of sex education policies. But some parents and conservative groups assailed the more than 700-page document as an assault on parental rights, arguing it exposes children to ideas about sexuality and gender that should be taught at home.

The guidance approved Wednesday by the California State Board of Education does not require educators to teach anything. It is designed as a guide for teachers to meet state standards on health education, such as nutrition, physical activity and combating alcohol and drug abuse.

But it’s the parts about sex that got the most attention during a public hearing Wednesday. The framework tells teachers that students in kindergarten can identify as transgender and offers tips for how to talk about that, adding “the goal is not to cause confusion about the gender of the child but to develop an awareness that other expressions exist.”

It gives tips for discussing masturbation with middle-schoolers, including telling them it is not physically harmful, and for discussing puberty with transgender teens that creates “an environment that is inclusive and challenges binary concepts about gender.”

“As the parent of three kids, we’re on a careful trajectory here not to be introducing things as though they are endorsed in some way,” board president Linda Darling-Hammond said.

But Patricia Reyes, a 45-year-old mother of six, doesn’t believe that. She traveled more than 400 miles from her home in Southern California to attend Wednesday’s hearing, bringing her 4-year-old daughter, Angeline, who held a sign that read: “Protect my innocence and childhood.”

“It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” she said. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.”

Much of the pushback focused not on the framework, but on the books it recommends students read. An earlier draft of the document suggested high schoolers read “S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties.” It includes descriptions of anal sex, bondage and other sexual activity.

Several parents read from the book and held it up so board members could see the pictures, which many described as “obscene.” The board responded by removing the book, plus a few others, from the guidance.

“It’s important to know the board is not trying to ban books. We’re not saying that the books are bad,” board member Feliza I. Ortiz-Licon said. “But the removal will help avoid the misunderstanding that California is mandating the use of these books.”

More than 200 people signed up to speak during a public hearing Wednesday that lasted for several hours. Supporters and opponents mingled together in the lobby of the California Department of Education, where parents handed out snacks to appease their young children while waiting for their number to appear on dry-erase board telling them it was their turn to get one minute of time at the microphone.

Speakers included 16-year-old Phoenix Ali Rajah, a transgender boy who said he is rarely taught information for people like him during sex education classes at his Los Angeles area high school.

“I’m never taught about how to be in a relationship with gay men,” he said, adding that the “conversation with sex starts from a different place.”

Michele McNutt, 49, focused on the framework’s attention to healthy relationships and consent, something she said is never too soon to teach her two daughters in public school, ages 11 and 9.

“Withholding medically accurate, scientific information from them actually causes more harm and does not actually protect innocence,” she said while wearing a purple T-shirt that read “protect trans students. “If you don’t give kids accurate information about their own body ... how are they able to make good choices?”

The guidance was developed with input from teachers across the state, and several spoke in favor of the recommendations on Wednesday. But not Tatyana Dzyubak, an elementary school teacher in the Sacramento area.

“I shouldn’t be teaching that stuff,” she said. “That’s for parents to do.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/california-s-new-sex-ed-guidelines-encourage-teachers-talk-students-n1003596

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

Have a Question About the CIA? Ask Molly!

February 4, 2019

Meet Molly Hale. She’s been the CIA’s public voice since 2002, responding to faxes, phone calls, emails, and snail mail sent to the Agency. Now she’s gone digital.

But who, exactly, is this mysterious Molly Hale, you might wonder…

“Molly Hale,” as you may have guessed, is a pseudonym. Over the years, there have been several different “Mollys,” including a few men! All are real people, who work at the Agency. Some were Molly for only a short time, while others served as Molly for years. It’s a unique role and one that we are excited has expanded into the social media sphere.

How to Submit a Question:

The easiest way to submit a question for Molly is on our official @CIA Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages using the hashtag #AskMollyHale.

You can also send an email to us via our comment form on CIA.gov (see the “Contact Us” option located at the bottom of the drop down navigation menu). Just be sure to use our hashtag if you want your question featured.

A Few Ground Rules:

As anyone who follows us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook knows, we get tons of comments and questions that span the gamut from recruitment to conspiracy theories to history to policy.

There’s a lot that Molly can answer, and she’s always excited to see the questions you send in. Unfortunately, there are also a few things she can’t write about. Here’s what kinds of questions Molly will not respond to:

She won’t answer general recruitment questions (all of that information is available on the cia.gov/careers portal). Nor can she check your application status.

She won’t respond to conspiracy theories, trolls, or spam.

She cannot comment on FOIA requests. All FOIA inquires will still have to go through the usual FOIA request process (see our FOIA Electronic Reading Room for more information).

This one should be obvious, but… she won’t answer anything classified.

If we receive several similar questions, we may combine them into a single question for Molly to answer. We may edit and shorten questions for clarity and brevity. We may also pull questions from other sources, such as those asked at recruitment events, during public panel discussions, in the media, and the like.

First Question:

Now that you’re familiar with the guidelines and how to submit questions, Molly wanted to take a minute and answer the question most often asked whenever anyone meets her (virtually) for the first time:

Dear Molly,

Who are you?

~ Pseudōnymos

Dear Pseudōnymos,

Great question! Molly’s not my real name. It’s my persona, and I guess also my informal job title.

My surname “Hale” is a tribute to Nathan Hale, the first American executed for spying on behalf of our country. You may remember his famous last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” We have a life-size statue of him outside our Headquarters building.

No one remembers exactly why “Molly” was chosen as my first name, other than it’s a common American girl’s name. I wasn’t always “Molly” though. Years before “Molly Hale,” CIA’s Office of Public Affairs used the name “Grace Sullivan” – inspired by the “GS” level government worker—to respond to public queries.

Many different “Mollys” have come before me, and I’m honored to be among this long line of distinguished public servants. One thing all of us have in common (besides working for one of the world’s most famous spy agencies, of course!) is our commitment to engaging with you, the American public, and helping you understand your intelligence agency better.

As for my real name: That’s classified.

~ Molly

#AskMollyHale

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/have-a-question-about-the-cia-ask-molly/

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which President Truman signed on July 26, 1947. The CIA officially came into existence on September 18th that same year, which is when we celebrate our birthday.

With the passage of the 1947 Act, Truman achieved his goals of modernizing and unifying America’s armed services, and, by creating a centralized intelligence agency, reformed our intelligence capabilities. To protect American’s civil liberties, he made sure to clearly divide intelligence roles between domestic and foreign: FBI would handle anything domestic, while CIA was limited to foreign intelligence only. Furthermore, the Act specified that CIA would have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers.

President Truman appointed Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the first CIA director, known as the Director of Central Intelligence. He had been the Director of one of our immediate “ancestors,” called the Central Intelligence Group. The CIG was a bureaucratic anomaly with no independent budget, no statutory mandate, and staffers assigned from other departments of the government. America needed a peacetime, centralized intelligence agency with its own budget and mandate. That’s why Truman replaced the CIG and created the CIA.

The 1947 Act loosely defined CIA’s mission into four broad tasks:

The 1947 Act was relatively unchanged until 2004. President Bush, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made major updates to the 1947 act, including the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about what is called “the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004” on the DNI’s website.

The importance of the 1947 National Security Act cannot be overstated. It created our Nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency, reflected America’s acceptance of its position as a world leader, and it remained a cornerstone of our national security policy for 75 years… and counting.

~ Molly

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/ask-molly-the-national-security-act-of-1947/

Molly

fem. proper name, a diminutive of Moll, which is a familiar form of Mary.

molly (n.1)

a common 18c. colloquial term for "homosexual man" or "man who is deemed effeminate, a sissy," by 1707, perhaps 1690s. The fem. proper name Molly or Moll served as a type-name of a low-class girl or prostitute in old songs and ballads (perhaps in part for the sake of the easy rhymes).

But the colloquial word also resembles Latin mollis "soft," which also had been used classically in a specific pejorative sense in reference to men, "soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak," in Cicero, Livy, etc. A 1629 publication from the Catholic-Protestant theological disputes, "Truth's triumph ouer Trent," written in English with swerves into Latin, at one point describes the denizens of Hell as fideles fornicarios, adulteros, molles, and so forth, and molles is translated parenthetically in the text as "effeminate." Molly House as a term for a brothel frequented by gay men is attested in a court case from 1726.

also from 18c.

molly (n.2)

seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, mallemuck, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."

also from 1857

https://www.etymonline.com/word/molly

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

2 And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, [c]saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great city, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2 The prediction or foretelling of her ruin, containing both the fall of Babylon, in this verse, and the cause thereof uttered by way of allegory concerning her spiritual and carnal wickedness, that is, her most great impiety and injustice, in the next verse: her fall is first simply declared of the Angel: and then the greatness thereof is showed here by the events, when he saith it shall be the seat and habitation of devils, of wild beasts and of cursed souls, as of old, Isa. 13:21, and often elsewhere.

1599 Geneva Bible

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2018&version=GNV

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

Lunar Day

The duration of a single day on the Moon, from sunrise to sunrise, is approximately 29.5 Earth days. However, this is broken down into roughly 14.75 days of daylight followed by 14.75 days of nighttime, due to the Moon's synchronous rotation with Earth.

When we refer to the "life of one lunar day" in the context of a moon mission, it usually pertains to the duration of sunlight (daytime) that the mission equipment can operate within. This is because most moon missions, including rovers and landers, rely on solar panels for power. During the lunar night, temperatures can drop drastically (to below minus 200 degrees Celsius), and without sunlight, there's no power generation from solar panels. This extreme cold can also be damaging to equipment.

So, when a mission states its operational life as "one lunar day," it typically means it is designed to function during the approximately 14 Earth days of sunlight on the Moon, after which it may go into a dormant state during the lunar night, or it might cease operations altogether due to the harsh conditions.

https://www.sriramsias.com/upsc-daily-current-affairs/lunar-day/

Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility. By about 2400 bce, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king’s son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. The god Seth was considered the murderer of Osiris and adversary of Horus.

According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch, Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to Osiris, who thenceforth remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. His son Horus successfully fought against Seth, avenging Osiris and becoming the new king of Egypt.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Osiris-Egyptian-god

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

POPE JOHN PAUL II AND THE WORK OF THE CIA

Document Type:

CREST

Collection:

General CIA Records

Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):

CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3

Release Decision:

RIPPUB

Original Classification:

K

Document Page Count:

1

Document Creation Date:

December 22, 2016

Document Release Date:

September 2, 2010

Sequence Number:

4

Case Number:

Publication Date:

May 20, 1981

Content Type:

OPEN SOURCE

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STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3 MINNESOTA DAILY 20 May 1981 Pope John Paufli. and the wore By Harold H. Dorland border. ` ... ..,._ The pope's next "crime" was his speaking out against the rising probability of nuclear war. Just recently he visited Hiroshima and Nagasa ki. Although he did not explicitly direct his con- cern to the U.S. government, he was, in effect, saying to us, "Do not start a nuclear war.. -While on the Asian trip, the pope also lectured Philippine President Marcos about his domestic- authoritarianism. Here is Marcos doing precise ly what the CIA wants done within the United' Statesand in every other "non-communist'-: nation in the world, and the pope lectures him,., ,against it. ii1'` *a: Finally, we oughtto weigh carefully the role of .4. 'the Catholic Church in stopping cold the recent` ,beginnings of a Vietnam-type venture in El Saf valor-one undertaken by the CIA. White most t of us assumed the moving force in reversing El Salvador was the U. S. Catholic Church under - .the very able leadership of Minnesota's own- `Archbishop Roach, the pope himself may have, played a private role, which I and others hadn't noticed, but which the CIA may have been cog- nizant of. Thirty-six years ago, the CIA took up the "anti- communist" campaign that Hitler "bungled" and that was relinquished by British intelli-:. genre. Here we are, hundreds of CIA political assassinations later, in the worst crisis America has been in. We simply have to stop CIA assas sinations and begin to solve our domestic and . . international political problems using the tools of democracy and maturity: negotiation, bar- - gaining, campaigning, debating policies, etc- Who.will stop CIA political assassinations?Ypu` and 1, and nobody else. The way to achieve this k..is to force. the realityof, assassinations out into- the open. If we citizens fail to do this, we'll run the risk of total nuclear war up to near certainty. . Meanwhile,.wwe'II continue suffering as our economy worsens and as the forces of covert authoritarianism tighten in America. Maybe-,-'_: Europe-will come to believe ikmust war against. America to put an end to the virulent fascism that migrated from Germany to the United -States in 1945. % One prediction I can safely make is thatweare going to see hundreds more CIA political assas-, sinations, domestic andforeign: TheCIAwill riot stop killing until Americans stop the CIA. - The attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul is - probably the work of the CIA and its rightist as- sociates. From what I can tell, the CIA has de- cided to go on a rampage of political assassinations here. in the United States and overseas. What-I want to do in this article is point out to readers what the possible political motives are The CIA is now in fhe control-of a group of ex- tremely paranoid right-wingers who believe that we must fight the Soviet Union in an all-out showdown-the sooner the better. Within the last seven days, we've witnessed Vice President - (Mr. CIA). Bush attack Cuba in some of the harshest language used by an American poli- tician since the Bay of Pigs. Meanwhile, Secre- tary of State Haig (long known as a "CIA general" when he was in the Pentagon and on Nixon's staff) is fanning the flames of hatred against the Soviet Union in speech after speech. Domestically, the economy is rushing toward complete collapse, and even while this is hap- - pening; Reagan et al: are pushing for extremely. large increases in military and CIAspending. Europe, meanwhile, is pushing far ahead of the United States. It is becoming unified, its wealth is growing, it is going socialist, and it is expand- ing its democratic base. , But why would the CIA try to assassinate the pope? A couple of years ago the CIA assassi nated Aldo Mora in Italy because he was "guilty" of reaching an agreement with the Ital- ian communists. The agreement was to bring them into the Italian government (for the first time). Very soon this issue of official communist participation in the executive offices of a NATO government will again arise in France, with the election of Socialist Mitterrand as president. In the eyes of the CIA, what political crimes is the pope guilty of? First of all, he played a very significant role in preventing a Soviet invasion -' of Poland. The CIA has long wanted the USSR to march in, perhaps to start an all-out war be- ?'tween the Soviets and the West. I suspect we'll soon begin to learn of numerous "dirty tricks" the CIA has been carrying out in Poland to suck the Soviets into precipitous action. And we may also find out that if it had not been for the pope, the Soviets would have moved across they Harold H. Dorland was a member of the..;' board of directors of the Washington.. based Committee to Investigate Assassi=- nations and was president of the Minna: sofa Action Council for Political "Assassination Disclosures.. .w:., Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00806r000100210004-3

THE SALESMAN AND A CHEMIST

WHO BECAME POPE

"Karol Wojtyla - Pope John Paul II

WHEN HE WAS A BOY

WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG MAN

WHEN HE WAS AN OLD MAN AND A POPE

Billions of people around the world are practically unaware that Karol Wojtyla who became Pope John Paul II representing the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world with headquarter at Vatican Roma was a Salesman of the I.G. Farben (German Chemical Company).

RECORD OF PAST EMPLOYMENT: John Paul II 1978-2005 "In the early 1940's, the I.G. Farben Chemical Company employed a Polish salesman who sold cyanide to the Nazis for use in Auschwitz. The same salesman also worked as a chemist in the manufacture of the poison gas. This same cyanide gas along with Zyklon B and Malathion was used to exterminate millions of Jews and other groups. Their bodies were then bumed to ashes in the ovens. After the war the salesman, fearing for his life, joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest in 1946. One of his closest friends was Dr. Wolf Szmuness, the mastermind behind the Nov./78 to Oct./79 and March/80 to Oct/81 experimental hepatitis B vaccine trials conducted by the Center for Disease Control in New York, San Francisco and four other American cities that loosed the plague of AIDS upon the American people. The salesman was ordained Poland's youngest bishop in 1958. After a 30-day reign his predecessor was assassinated and our ex-cyanide gas salesman assumed the papacy as POPE JOHN PAUL II." - William Cooper, BEHOLD A PALE HORSE, (Light Technology Publishing, 1991), pp. 89-90.

"In his book 'Behold a Pale Horse,' former US Naval Intelligence Officer William Cooper relates a story associated with the IG Farben Chemical Company. In the early 1940s, that company employed a Polish chemist and salesman who sold cyanide gas, Zyklon B and Malathion to the Nazis for extermination of groups of people in Auschwitz. After the war the salesman joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest.

In 1958 he became Poland's youngest bishop and after Pope John Paul I's mysterious death, the ex-cyanide gas salesman Karol Wojtyla was elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II in October 1978. In March 2000, he publicly apologized not for his war effort, but for the wickedness of the Christian religion. The plea for forgiveness also sought to pardon the use of 'violence in the service of truth' an often used fragile and troubling reference to the Inquisition.

https://www.herbogeminis.com/revista/IMG/pdf/the_salesman_and_a_chemist_who_became_pope.pdf

The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959; several were confirmed to be former members of the Nazi Party, including the SS or the SA.

The effort began in earnest in 1945, as the Allies advanced into Germany and discovered a wealth of scientific talent and advanced research that had contributed to Germany's wartime technological advancements. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff officially established Operation Overcast (operations "Overcast" and "Paperclip" were related, and the terms are often used interchangeably) on July 20, 1945, with the dual aims of leveraging German expertise for the ongoing war effort against Japan and to bolster US postwar military research. The operation, conducted by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), was largely actioned by special agents of the US Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC). Many selected scientists were involved in the Nazi rocket program, aviation, or chemical/biological warfare. The Soviet Union in the following year conducted a similar program, called Operation Osoaviakhim, that emphasized many of the same fields of research.

The operation, characterized by the recruitment of German specialists and their families, relocated more than 1600 experts to the US. It has been valued at US$10 billion in patents and industrial processes. Recruits included such notable figures as Wernher von Braun, a leading rocket-technology scientist. Those recruited were instrumental in the development of the US space program and military technology during the Cold War. Despite its contributions to American scientific advances, Operation Paperclip has been controversial because of the Nazi affiliations of many recruits, and the ethics of assimilating individuals associated with war crimes into American society.

The operation was not solely focused on rocketry; efforts were directed toward synthetic fuels, medicine, and other fields of research. Notable advances in aeronautics fostered rocket and space-flight technologies pivotal in the Space Race. The operation played a crucial role in the establishment of NASA and the success of the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Operation Paperclip was part of a broader strategy by the US to harness German scientific talent in the face of emerging Cold War tensions, and ensuring this expertise did not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union or other nations. The operation's legacy has remained controversial in subsequent decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

Pope Francis shares views on sex and masturbation as he kisses feet of prisoners

Twelve inmates at a juvenile prison on the outskirts of Rome, Italy, sat in a row as the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, kneeled in front of them and bathed and kissed their feet

By

Ryan Fahey News Reporter

08:28, 07 Apr 2023

Updated 08:39, 07 Apr 2023

Pope Francis has shared views on sex and masturbation as he was seen kissing the feet of prisoners.

In a Holy Thursday ritual symbolising humility, Pope Francis washed and dried the feet of a dozen residents of a Rome juvenile prison, assuring them of their dignity and telling them "any of us" can fall into sin.

It comes after he made a rare comment about his views on sex as he was quizzed on controversial topics during a Disney+ documentary on Wednesday.

The head of the conservative institution said it was "one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person".

But while he's in favour of sex, masturbation remains a big no-no for the pope.

"Sex is one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person," the pope said during "The Pope: Answers".

Referring to masturbation, he added: "To express yourself sexually is a richness. So anything that detracts from real sexual expression lessens you and depletes this richness."

Meanwhile, at the Casal del Marmo juvenile lock-up on the outskirts of Rome yesterday, Pope Francis performed a feet-washing ritual, demonstrating his belief that the Church should pay attention and care for those living on society's margins.

On Thursday, Francis repeated the ritual on 10 male and two female residents who are serving time at the facility. He leaned over and poured water on one foot of each, then used a white towel to gently pat the foot dry before kissing it.

When Francis looked up at them in turn to smile, they shook his hand and kissed it. Many of the young people whispered into the pope's ear, and he chatted with them briefly in return.

The ritual recalls the foot-washing Jesus performed on his 12 apostles at their last supper together before he would be taken away to be crucified.

Jesus "washes all our feet," Francis told several dozen residents assembled in the prison chapel. "He knows all our weaknesses," the pope said in a completely improvised homily.

Among the 12, six were minors while the others had become adults while serving their sentences. The dozen included a Muslim from Senegal, as well as young people from Romania, Russia and Croatia, the Vatican said.

Francis explained that the foot-washing was "not folklore" but a "gesture which announces how we should be toward one another." He lamented that "others profit off each other, (there is) so much injustice...so many ugly things."

Still, he said, "any one of us can slip" and fall from grace. The foot-washing "confers on us the dignity of being sinners." The lesson, he added, should be to "help one another, so life becomes better."

The pontiff, who has a chronic knee problem, navigated the small spaces of the chapel either unaided or with the help of a cane, although he used a wheel chair to leave after the roughly 90-minute appearance.

On Saturday, Francis was discharged from a Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis. The Vatican said at the time that he would carry out the complete Holy Week schedule, including the Good Friday late-night Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum and Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.

Earlier Thursday, he presided over Mass in St. Peter's Basilica as part of his stamina-testing Holy Week appointments.

At Thursday's basilica Mass, dozens of rows of priests in simple white cassocks sat in front of rank-and-file Catholics in the packed church.

Francis used the homily as a pep talk to priests, after decades of scandals involving sex abuse of children by clergy caused many faithful to lose trust in their pastors.

The pope didn't cite the scandals or church hierarchy cover-ups. But, he spoke of "crisis" affecting priests.

"Sooner or later, we all experience disappointment, frustration and our own weaknesses," Francis said. "Our ideals seem to recede in the face of reality, a certain force of habit takes over, and the difficulties that once seemed unimaginable appear to challenge our fidelity."

The basilica ceremony traditionally includes the blessing of ointments and priests' renewal of promises made when they were ordained to the priesthood.

Highlighting the spirit of renewal that the pope indicated the priesthood needs, added to the ointments at this year's Mass was bergamot perfume that came from trees in southern Italy on land confiscated by authorities from mobsters.

In off-the-cuff remarks during the homily, Francis admonished priests not to "forget being pastors of the people."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pope-francis-shares-views-sex-29652125

The Pope 'meets Spider-Man' in the Vatican City

The sight of the pontiff shaking hands with the web-slinger would understandably make most people do a double take... but it turns out the visitor wasn't Peter Parker at all - it was a real life superhero.

Tom Gillespie

News reporter @TomGillespie1

Wednesday 10 May 2023 16:44, UK

The Pope would have felt the Vatican was in safe hands on Wednesday when the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man swung by after the pontiff's weekly audience.

Those visiting the holy city would have been forgiven for thinking the web-slinger had arrived to save Pope Francis from Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, Kingpin or the Green Goblin.

But the more observant among them would have noticed it wasn't Peter Parker who was paying a visit to St Peter's Square.

The costumed arrival who appeared to be Spider-Man was in fact a real life superhero - a man named Mattia Villardita who visits paediatric hospitals in Italy to entertain child patients.

Mr Villardita, who had removed his mask to reveal his true identity, bowed as he shook the pontiff's hand in the square opposite St Peter's Basilica.

The Pope smiled and spoke enthusiastically to Mr Villardita before they parted ways.

The pontiff had earlier delivered a joint blessing with the Orthodox Coptic Pope Tawadros II to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of their predecessors.

https://news.sky.com/story/the-pope-meets-spider-man-in-the-vatican-city-12877861

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Person - "Help, I'm being robbed!" Spider-Man - "*Frantically rubs his wrist and moans* Come on you son of a bitch!" Person - "Is he jacking off?"

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Vatican reaffirms 'grave sin' of Freemasonry, says Catholics cannot join the world's largest secret society

Freemasonry has been prohibited for Catholics since 1738, when Pope Clement XII called the secret society 'depraved and perverted'

By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News

Published November 15, 2023 12:25pm EST

https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/vatican-reaffirms-grave-sin-freemasonry-catholics-cannot-join-worlds-largest-secret-society

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:

FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

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Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)"

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615041607/http://www.traversecityscottishrite.com/scottish-rite-history.html

Note 370.—"Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite, and for many years, or until the institution of the 33d degree, this was the highest degree, or ne plus ultra of Masonry. The body is styled a Consistory, and should be held in a building of two stories. The officers are, a Thrice Illustrious Commander, First and Second Lieutenants, a Minister of State, a Grand Chancellor, a Grand Treasurer, a Grand Secretary, and a Grand Captain of the Guard. In the East a throne, elevated on seven steps, which is the seat of the Thrice Illustrious Commander, who wears a robe of royal purple, and he and the Lieutenants, wear swords. The collar of this degree is black, lined with scarlet, and in the center, at the point, a double-headed eagle, of silver or gold, on a red Teutonic cross. The apron is of white satin, with a border of gold lace, one inch wide, lined with scarlet; on the flap is a double-headed eagle, on each side of which is the flag of the country in which the body is located, the flag of Prussia and the Beause- -ant of the Kadosh degree; on the apron is the camp of the Crusaders, , which is thus explained; it is composed of an enneagon, within which is ' inscribed a heptagon, within that a pentagon, and in the center an equilateral triangle, within which is a circle. Between the heptagon and pentagon are placed five standards, in the designs of whigjl are five letters, which form a particular word. The first standard is purple, on which is emblazoned the ark of the covenant, with a palm, tree on each side; the ark has the motto Laus Deo. The second is blue, on which is a lion, of gold, couchant, holding in his mouth a golden key, with a collar of the same metal on his neck, and on it is the device, Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The third is white, and displays a heart in flames, with two wings; it is surmounted by a crown of laurels. The fourth is green, and bears a double-headed black eagle, crowned, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bleeding heart in his left. The fifth bears a black ox. on a field of gold. On the sides of the enneagon are nine tents, with flags, representing the divisions of the Masonic army; on the angles are nine pinions, of the same color as the flag of the tent that precedes it. The hall of the Consistory is hung with black, strewed with tears of silver. The jewel is a double-headed white and black eagle, resting on a Teutonic cross, of gold, worn attached to the collar or ribbon. ^The members are called Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. The moral of the degree teaches opposition to bigotry, superstition, and all the passions and vices which disgrace human nature."—Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Pictionary of Freemasonry, Article Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

32 Let Christ the king of Israel now come down from the cross, that we may see, and believe. They also that were crucified with him, reviled him.

Mark 15:32

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2015&version=GNV

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successors of Peter[32]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

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Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office

 is with Sheriff Jim Cooper.

Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at 8:14PM

FATHER WHO KILLED HIS 11-YEAR-OLD SON DIES IN OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING

Just after 8 AM, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office was notified of a homicide on the 7600 block of Ferrell Way in Elk Grove, where the Elk Grove Police Department discovered that an 11-year-old boy had been murdered. The suspect was identified as the child’s father, 40-year-old Marvin Morales.

Morales was formerly employed as a Deputy Sheriff with our agency and was terminated in February 2024.

Elk Grove Police broadcast the suspect’s vehicle description to surrounding law enforcement agencies. Shortly thereafter, Sheriff Jim Cooper observed the suspect vehicle traveling southbound on Interstate 5 near Pocket Road and immediately alerted dispatch. Detectives from another agency had also independently located the vehicle moments earlier but had not yet broadcast their observation.

Sheriff Cooper, Deputies from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, and officers from multiple allied agencies attempted to conduct a vehicle stop. Morales fled, leading them on a vehicle pursuit that ended near Interstate 5 and Highway 12, where an officer-involved shooting ensued. Two Sacramento County Sheriff’s Deputies, along with officers from other agencies, fired at Morales. Morales was struck, transported to a local hospital, and later pronounced deceased. No law enforcement personnel were injured during the incident.

The California Highway Patrol is conducting the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, along with Detectives from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Bureau and Professional Standards Division. Per Department protocols, the two Deputies involved have been placed on administrative leave.

@sheriffjimcooper 

@elkgrovepolice

https://www.facebook.com/SacSheriff/posts/pfbid0ZXxGa8B9teewLN9937MW2UoWCpUvf7AdGoxSH7PsTMkEGxBW5b8B9ccnvksBBTSvl

Former Sacramento deputy kills 11-year-old son, is fatally shot after I-5 chase, officials say

Marvin Morales, 40, was previously found to have lied about a 2023 fentanyl overdose on the job.

KCRA logo

Updated: 9:43 PM PST Dec 2, 2025 Editorial Standards ⓘ

Jonathan Ayestas 

Senior Digital Producer

Daniel Macht 

Digital Media Manager

LODI, Calif. —

A former Sacramento County deputy suspected of fatally stabbing his 11-year-old son was fatally shot after multiple law enforcement officers fired their weapons, following a chase on Interstate 5, officials said Tuesday.

Elk Grove police and the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office confirmed with KCRA 3 that the father is 40-year-old Marvin Morales, a former deputy who was found to have lied about a 2023 fentanyl overdose following an investigation.

Leer en español.

Elk Grove police said they got a call after 8 a.m. from a mother concerned about the safety of her two children. There are cameras in their home, and the mother saw the father, later identified as Morales, assaulting his 11-year-old son, and then saw her son lying on the ground unresponsive. That prompted her to call the police out of concern.

Officers went to the 7600 block of Ferrell Way near Whitelock Parkway and Bruceville Road and found an 11-year-old boy who had multiple stab wounds. The boy died from his injuries after he was taken to the hospital.

The father was gone by the time officers arrived.

Elk Grove police said there was also a 6-year-old girl present, but she was unharmed. She was later evaluated at a hospital and released to her mother.

At a news conference, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Office spokesperson said Sheriff Jim Cooper was one of the first law enforcement officials who spotted the suspect vehicle on southbound I-5 and Pocket Road. Tyler Eccles, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol, said officers deployed a spike strip, and Morales crashed afterward.

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The pursuit ended at I-5 south of the Highway 12 junction in San Joaquin County.

Elk Grove man wanted for killing son is shot during I-5 chase

Hearst Owned

Sacramento County Sheriff Spokesperson Sgt. Amar Gandhi said at least two deputies were involved in the shooting. Elk Grove police said one of their officers was also involved. No deputies or officers were hurt.

Officials said Morales had died after being taken to the hospital.

CHP said it does not have details on whether Morales fired at law enforcement.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Elk Grove police said they can't release details about what was found in Morales' vehicle but said the gun safe at his home was empty.

Traffic is delayed in the area where the shooting happened.

Who is Marvin Morales?

In 2025, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office released a 468-page internal affairs report along with video footage related to Morales' overdose investigation.

Marvin Morales

Sacramento County Sheriff's Office

You can see all the documents here and our previous coverage here.

According to the investigation, Morales suffered fentanyl poisoning and was revived with Narcan by fellow deputies in the bathroom of the central station after smoking fentanyl that he thought was methamphetamine he had seized from a suspect.

Play Video

Among the findings in the report was that Morales had also taken home a methamphetamine pipe he had confiscated in August 2023. This was despite writing in crime reports that he disposed of pipes at the station.

Prior to the internal investigation, the sheriff’s office had said investigators suspected the deputy was handling evidence when he started feeling sick and then became unconscious.

The sheriff's office ordered Morales to be fired, days after he submitted a letter of resignation that cited "personal reasons," according to documents posted on its website. A state database showed Morales voluntarily disqualified himself from eligibility to be a peace officer.

Cristina Gonzalez with Elk Grove police said she was personally impacted by the suspect's past connection to law enforcement.

"As someone who is in law enforcement I can tell you this is the absolute worst thing I could have ever imagined," she said. "This is not something that we stand for. We want to protect people. We want to make sure everyone is safe and especially children. And seeing it happen like this, it’s completely heartbreaking. We never want this to happen."

Play Video

This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 as we work to gather more information.

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. You can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text 'START' to 88788.

https://www.kcra.com/article/sacramento-deputy-shooting-interstate-5-thornton-road/69609754

California's new sex ed guidelines encourage teachers to talk to students about gender identity, masturbation

Critics say the new guidelines are an assault on parental rights and expose children to ideas about sexuality and gender that should be taught at home.

May 8, 2019, 7:54 PM PDT

By Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California has overhauled its sex education guidance for public school teachers, encouraging them to talk about gender identity with kindergartners and give advice to LGBT teenagers for navigating relationships and having safe sex.

LGBT advocates praised the new recommendations for giving attention to a community that is often left out of sex education policies. But some parents and conservative groups assailed the more than 700-page document as an assault on parental rights, arguing it exposes children to ideas about sexuality and gender that should be taught at home.

The guidance approved Wednesday by the California State Board of Education does not require educators to teach anything. It is designed as a guide for teachers to meet state standards on health education, such as nutrition, physical activity and combating alcohol and drug abuse.

But it’s the parts about sex that got the most attention during a public hearing Wednesday. The framework tells teachers that students in kindergarten can identify as transgender and offers tips for how to talk about that, adding “the goal is not to cause confusion about the gender of the child but to develop an awareness that other expressions exist.”

It gives tips for discussing masturbation with middle-schoolers, including telling them it is not physically harmful, and for discussing puberty with transgender teens that creates “an environment that is inclusive and challenges binary concepts about gender.”

“As the parent of three kids, we’re on a careful trajectory here not to be introducing things as though they are endorsed in some way,” board president Linda Darling-Hammond said.

But Patricia Reyes, a 45-year-old mother of six, doesn’t believe that. She traveled more than 400 miles from her home in Southern California to attend Wednesday’s hearing, bringing her 4-year-old daughter, Angeline, who held a sign that read: “Protect my innocence and childhood.”

“It’s just scary what they are going to be teaching. It’s pornography,” she said. “If this continues, I’m not sending them to school.”

Much of the pushback focused not on the framework, but on the books it recommends students read. An earlier draft of the document suggested high schoolers read “S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-to-Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties.” It includes descriptions of anal sex, bondage and other sexual activity.

Several parents read from the book and held it up so board members could see the pictures, which many described as “obscene.” The board responded by removing the book, plus a few others, from the guidance.

“It’s important to know the board is not trying to ban books. We’re not saying that the books are bad,” board member Feliza I. Ortiz-Licon said. “But the removal will help avoid the misunderstanding that California is mandating the use of these books.”

More than 200 people signed up to speak during a public hearing Wednesday that lasted for several hours. Supporters and opponents mingled together in the lobby of the California Department of Education, where parents handed out snacks to appease their young children while waiting for their number to appear on dry-erase board telling them it was their turn to get one minute of time at the microphone.

Speakers included 16-year-old Phoenix Ali Rajah, a transgender boy who said he is rarely taught information for people like him during sex education classes at his Los Angeles area high school.

“I’m never taught about how to be in a relationship with gay men,” he said, adding that the “conversation with sex starts from a different place.”

Michele McNutt, 49, focused on the framework’s attention to healthy relationships and consent, something she said is never too soon to teach her two daughters in public school, ages 11 and 9.

“Withholding medically accurate, scientific information from them actually causes more harm and does not actually protect innocence,” she said while wearing a purple T-shirt that read “protect trans students. “If you don’t give kids accurate information about their own body ... how are they able to make good choices?”

The guidance was developed with input from teachers across the state, and several spoke in favor of the recommendations on Wednesday. But not Tatyana Dzyubak, an elementary school teacher in the Sacramento area.

“I shouldn’t be teaching that stuff,” she said. “That’s for parents to do.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/education/california-s-new-sex-ed-guidelines-encourage-teachers-talk-students-n1003596

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

Have a Question About the CIA? Ask Molly!

February 4, 2019

Meet Molly Hale. She’s been the CIA’s public voice since 2002, responding to faxes, phone calls, emails, and snail mail sent to the Agency. Now she’s gone digital.

But who, exactly, is this mysterious Molly Hale, you might wonder…

“Molly Hale,” as you may have guessed, is a pseudonym. Over the years, there have been several different “Mollys,” including a few men! All are real people, who work at the Agency. Some were Molly for only a short time, while others served as Molly for years. It’s a unique role and one that we are excited has expanded into the social media sphere.

How to Submit a Question:

The easiest way to submit a question for Molly is on our official @CIA Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages using the hashtag #AskMollyHale.

You can also send an email to us via our comment form on CIA.gov (see the “Contact Us” option located at the bottom of the drop down navigation menu). Just be sure to use our hashtag if you want your question featured.

A Few Ground Rules:

As anyone who follows us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook knows, we get tons of comments and questions that span the gamut from recruitment to conspiracy theories to history to policy.

There’s a lot that Molly can answer, and she’s always excited to see the questions you send in. Unfortunately, there are also a few things she can’t write about. Here’s what kinds of questions Molly will not respond to:

She won’t answer general recruitment questions (all of that information is available on the cia.gov/careers portal). Nor can she check your application status.

She won’t respond to conspiracy theories, trolls, or spam.

She cannot comment on FOIA requests. All FOIA inquires will still have to go through the usual FOIA request process (see our FOIA Electronic Reading Room for more information).

This one should be obvious, but… she won’t answer anything classified.

If we receive several similar questions, we may combine them into a single question for Molly to answer. We may edit and shorten questions for clarity and brevity. We may also pull questions from other sources, such as those asked at recruitment events, during public panel discussions, in the media, and the like.

First Question:

Now that you’re familiar with the guidelines and how to submit questions, Molly wanted to take a minute and answer the question most often asked whenever anyone meets her (virtually) for the first time:

Dear Molly,

Who are you?

~ Pseudōnymos

Dear Pseudōnymos,

Great question! Molly’s not my real name. It’s my persona, and I guess also my informal job title.

My surname “Hale” is a tribute to Nathan Hale, the first American executed for spying on behalf of our country. You may remember his famous last words, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.” We have a life-size statue of him outside our Headquarters building.

No one remembers exactly why “Molly” was chosen as my first name, other than it’s a common American girl’s name. I wasn’t always “Molly” though. Years before “Molly Hale,” CIA’s Office of Public Affairs used the name “Grace Sullivan” – inspired by the “GS” level government worker—to respond to public queries.

Many different “Mollys” have come before me, and I’m honored to be among this long line of distinguished public servants. One thing all of us have in common (besides working for one of the world’s most famous spy agencies, of course!) is our commitment to engaging with you, the American public, and helping you understand your intelligence agency better.

As for my real name: That’s classified.

~ Molly

#AskMollyHale

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/have-a-question-about-the-cia-ask-molly/

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was created under the National Security Act of 1947, which President Truman signed on July 26, 1947. The CIA officially came into existence on September 18th that same year, which is when we celebrate our birthday.

With the passage of the 1947 Act, Truman achieved his goals of modernizing and unifying America’s armed services, and, by creating a centralized intelligence agency, reformed our intelligence capabilities. To protect American’s civil liberties, he made sure to clearly divide intelligence roles between domestic and foreign: FBI would handle anything domestic, while CIA was limited to foreign intelligence only. Furthermore, the Act specified that CIA would have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers.

President Truman appointed Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter as the first CIA director, known as the Director of Central Intelligence. He had been the Director of one of our immediate “ancestors,” called the Central Intelligence Group. The CIG was a bureaucratic anomaly with no independent budget, no statutory mandate, and staffers assigned from other departments of the government. America needed a peacetime, centralized intelligence agency with its own budget and mandate. That’s why Truman replaced the CIG and created the CIA.

The 1947 Act loosely defined CIA’s mission into four broad tasks:

The 1947 Act was relatively unchanged until 2004. President Bush, after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, made major updates to the 1947 act, including the creation of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

If you’re interested, you can find out more about what is called “the National Security Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of December 2004” on the DNI’s website.

The importance of the 1947 National Security Act cannot be overstated. It created our Nation’s first peacetime intelligence agency, reflected America’s acceptance of its position as a world leader, and it remained a cornerstone of our national security policy for 75 years… and counting.

~ Molly

https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/ask-molly-the-national-security-act-of-1947/

Molly

fem. proper name, a diminutive of Moll, which is a familiar form of Mary.

molly (n.1)

a common 18c. colloquial term for "homosexual man" or "man who is deemed effeminate, a sissy," by 1707, perhaps 1690s. The fem. proper name Molly or Moll served as a type-name of a low-class girl or prostitute in old songs and ballads (perhaps in part for the sake of the easy rhymes).

But the colloquial word also resembles Latin mollis "soft," which also had been used classically in a specific pejorative sense in reference to men, "soft, effeminate, unmanly, weak," in Cicero, Livy, etc. A 1629 publication from the Catholic-Protestant theological disputes, "Truth's triumph ouer Trent," written in English with swerves into Latin, at one point describes the denizens of Hell as fideles fornicarios, adulteros, molles, and so forth, and molles is translated parenthetically in the text as "effeminate." Molly House as a term for a brothel frequented by gay men is attested in a court case from 1726.

also from 18c.

molly (n.2)

seabird, 1857, short for mollymawk, mallemuck, from Dutch mallemok, from mal "foolish" + mok "gull."

also from 1857

https://www.etymonline.com/word/molly

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

2 And he cried out mightily with a loud voice, [c]saying, It is fallen, it is fallen, Babylon that great city, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of all foul spirits, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2 The prediction or foretelling of her ruin, containing both the fall of Babylon, in this verse, and the cause thereof uttered by way of allegory concerning her spiritual and carnal wickedness, that is, her most great impiety and injustice, in the next verse: her fall is first simply declared of the Angel: and then the greatness thereof is showed here by the events, when he saith it shall be the seat and habitation of devils, of wild beasts and of cursed souls, as of old, Isa. 13:21, and often elsewhere.

1599 Geneva Bible

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2018&version=GNV

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

Lunar Day

The duration of a single day on the Moon, from sunrise to sunrise, is approximately 29.5 Earth days. However, this is broken down into roughly 14.75 days of daylight followed by 14.75 days of nighttime, due to the Moon's synchronous rotation with Earth.

When we refer to the "life of one lunar day" in the context of a moon mission, it usually pertains to the duration of sunlight (daytime) that the mission equipment can operate within. This is because most moon missions, including rovers and landers, rely on solar panels for power. During the lunar night, temperatures can drop drastically (to below minus 200 degrees Celsius), and without sunlight, there's no power generation from solar panels. This extreme cold can also be damaging to equipment.

So, when a mission states its operational life as "one lunar day," it typically means it is designed to function during the approximately 14 Earth days of sunlight on the Moon, after which it may go into a dormant state during the lunar night, or it might cease operations altogether due to the harsh conditions.

https://www.sriramsias.com/upsc-daily-current-affairs/lunar-day/

Osiris, one of the most important gods of ancient Egypt. The origin of Osiris is obscure; he was a local god of Busiris, in Lower Egypt, and may have been a personification of chthonic (underworld) fertility. By about 2400 bce, however, Osiris clearly played a double role: he was both a god of fertility and the embodiment of the dead and resurrected king. This dual role was in turn combined with the Egyptian concept of divine kingship: the king at death became Osiris, god of the underworld; and the dead king’s son, the living king, was identified with Horus, a god of the sky. Osiris and Horus were thus father and son. The goddess Isis was the mother of the king and was thus the mother of Horus and consort of Osiris. The god Seth was considered the murderer of Osiris and adversary of Horus.

According to the form of the myth reported by the Greek author Plutarch, Osiris was slain or drowned by Seth, who tore the corpse into 14 pieces and flung them over Egypt. Eventually, Isis and her sister Nephthys found and buried all the pieces, except the phallus, thereby giving new life to Osiris, who thenceforth remained in the underworld as ruler and judge. His son Horus successfully fought against Seth, avenging Osiris and becoming the new king of Egypt.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Osiris-Egyptian-god

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

POPE JOHN PAUL II AND THE WORK OF THE CIA

Document Type:

CREST

Collection:

General CIA Records

Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):

CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3

Release Decision:

RIPPUB

Original Classification:

K

Document Page Count:

1

Document Creation Date:

December 22, 2016

Document Release Date:

September 2, 2010

Sequence Number:

4

Case Number:

Publication Date:

May 20, 1981

Content Type:

OPEN SOURCE

File:

Attachment Size

PDF icon CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3.pdf 98.1 KB

Body:

STAT Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3 MINNESOTA DAILY 20 May 1981 Pope John Paufli. and the wore By Harold H. Dorland border. ` ... ..,._ The pope's next "crime" was his speaking out against the rising probability of nuclear war. Just recently he visited Hiroshima and Nagasa ki. Although he did not explicitly direct his con- cern to the U.S. government, he was, in effect, saying to us, "Do not start a nuclear war.. -While on the Asian trip, the pope also lectured Philippine President Marcos about his domestic- authoritarianism. Here is Marcos doing precise ly what the CIA wants done within the United' Statesand in every other "non-communist'-: nation in the world, and the pope lectures him,., ,against it. ii1'` *a: Finally, we oughtto weigh carefully the role of .4. 'the Catholic Church in stopping cold the recent` ,beginnings of a Vietnam-type venture in El Saf valor-one undertaken by the CIA. White most t of us assumed the moving force in reversing El Salvador was the U. S. Catholic Church under - .the very able leadership of Minnesota's own- `Archbishop Roach, the pope himself may have, played a private role, which I and others hadn't noticed, but which the CIA may have been cog- nizant of. Thirty-six years ago, the CIA took up the "anti- communist" campaign that Hitler "bungled" and that was relinquished by British intelli-:. genre. Here we are, hundreds of CIA political assassinations later, in the worst crisis America has been in. We simply have to stop CIA assas sinations and begin to solve our domestic and . . international political problems using the tools of democracy and maturity: negotiation, bar- - gaining, campaigning, debating policies, etc- Who.will stop CIA political assassinations?Ypu` and 1, and nobody else. The way to achieve this k..is to force. the realityof, assassinations out into- the open. If we citizens fail to do this, we'll run the risk of total nuclear war up to near certainty. . Meanwhile,.wwe'II continue suffering as our economy worsens and as the forces of covert authoritarianism tighten in America. Maybe-,-'_: Europe-will come to believe ikmust war against. America to put an end to the virulent fascism that migrated from Germany to the United -States in 1945. % One prediction I can safely make is thatweare going to see hundreds more CIA political assas-, sinations, domestic andforeign: TheCIAwill riot stop killing until Americans stop the CIA. - The attempt to assassinate Pope John Paul is - probably the work of the CIA and its rightist as- sociates. From what I can tell, the CIA has de- cided to go on a rampage of political assassinations here. in the United States and overseas. What-I want to do in this article is point out to readers what the possible political motives are The CIA is now in fhe control-of a group of ex- tremely paranoid right-wingers who believe that we must fight the Soviet Union in an all-out showdown-the sooner the better. Within the last seven days, we've witnessed Vice President - (Mr. CIA). Bush attack Cuba in some of the harshest language used by an American poli- tician since the Bay of Pigs. Meanwhile, Secre- tary of State Haig (long known as a "CIA general" when he was in the Pentagon and on Nixon's staff) is fanning the flames of hatred against the Soviet Union in speech after speech. Domestically, the economy is rushing toward complete collapse, and even while this is hap- - pening; Reagan et al: are pushing for extremely. large increases in military and CIAspending. Europe, meanwhile, is pushing far ahead of the United States. It is becoming unified, its wealth is growing, it is going socialist, and it is expand- ing its democratic base. , But why would the CIA try to assassinate the pope? A couple of years ago the CIA assassi nated Aldo Mora in Italy because he was "guilty" of reaching an agreement with the Ital- ian communists. The agreement was to bring them into the Italian government (for the first time). Very soon this issue of official communist participation in the executive offices of a NATO government will again arise in France, with the election of Socialist Mitterrand as president. In the eyes of the CIA, what political crimes is the pope guilty of? First of all, he played a very significant role in preventing a Soviet invasion -' of Poland. The CIA has long wanted the USSR to march in, perhaps to start an all-out war be- ?'tween the Soviets and the West. I suspect we'll soon begin to learn of numerous "dirty tricks" the CIA has been carrying out in Poland to suck the Soviets into precipitous action. And we may also find out that if it had not been for the pope, the Soviets would have moved across they Harold H. Dorland was a member of the..;' board of directors of the Washington.. based Committee to Investigate Assassi=- nations and was president of the Minna: sofa Action Council for Political "Assassination Disclosures.. .w:., Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210004-3

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp90-00806r000100210004-3

THE SALESMAN AND A CHEMIST

WHO BECAME POPE

"Karol Wojtyla - Pope John Paul II

WHEN HE WAS A BOY

WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG MAN

WHEN HE WAS AN OLD MAN AND A POPE

Billions of people around the world are practically unaware that Karol Wojtyla who became Pope John Paul II representing the Roman Catholic Church throughout the world with headquarter at Vatican Roma was a Salesman of the I.G. Farben (German Chemical Company).

RECORD OF PAST EMPLOYMENT: John Paul II 1978-2005 "In the early 1940's, the I.G. Farben Chemical Company employed a Polish salesman who sold cyanide to the Nazis for use in Auschwitz. The same salesman also worked as a chemist in the manufacture of the poison gas. This same cyanide gas along with Zyklon B and Malathion was used to exterminate millions of Jews and other groups. Their bodies were then bumed to ashes in the ovens. After the war the salesman, fearing for his life, joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest in 1946. One of his closest friends was Dr. Wolf Szmuness, the mastermind behind the Nov./78 to Oct./79 and March/80 to Oct/81 experimental hepatitis B vaccine trials conducted by the Center for Disease Control in New York, San Francisco and four other American cities that loosed the plague of AIDS upon the American people. The salesman was ordained Poland's youngest bishop in 1958. After a 30-day reign his predecessor was assassinated and our ex-cyanide gas salesman assumed the papacy as POPE JOHN PAUL II." - William Cooper, BEHOLD A PALE HORSE, (Light Technology Publishing, 1991), pp. 89-90.

"In his book 'Behold a Pale Horse,' former US Naval Intelligence Officer William Cooper relates a story associated with the IG Farben Chemical Company. In the early 1940s, that company employed a Polish chemist and salesman who sold cyanide gas, Zyklon B and Malathion to the Nazis for extermination of groups of people in Auschwitz. After the war the salesman joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a priest.

In 1958 he became Poland's youngest bishop and after Pope John Paul I's mysterious death, the ex-cyanide gas salesman Karol Wojtyla was elected to the papacy as Pope John Paul II in October 1978. In March 2000, he publicly apologized not for his war effort, but for the wickedness of the Christian religion. The plea for forgiveness also sought to pardon the use of 'violence in the service of truth' an often used fragile and troubling reference to the Inquisition.

https://www.herbogeminis.com/revista/IMG/pdf/the_salesman_and_a_chemist_who_became_pope.pdf

The Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from former Nazi Germany to the US for government employment after the end of World War II in Europe, between 1945 and 1959; several were confirmed to be former members of the Nazi Party, including the SS or the SA.

The effort began in earnest in 1945, as the Allies advanced into Germany and discovered a wealth of scientific talent and advanced research that had contributed to Germany's wartime technological advancements. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff officially established Operation Overcast (operations "Overcast" and "Paperclip" were related, and the terms are often used interchangeably) on July 20, 1945, with the dual aims of leveraging German expertise for the ongoing war effort against Japan and to bolster US postwar military research. The operation, conducted by the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency (JIOA), was largely actioned by special agents of the US Army's Counterintelligence Corps (CIC). Many selected scientists were involved in the Nazi rocket program, aviation, or chemical/biological warfare. The Soviet Union in the following year conducted a similar program, called Operation Osoaviakhim, that emphasized many of the same fields of research.

The operation, characterized by the recruitment of German specialists and their families, relocated more than 1600 experts to the US. It has been valued at US$10 billion in patents and industrial processes. Recruits included such notable figures as Wernher von Braun, a leading rocket-technology scientist. Those recruited were instrumental in the development of the US space program and military technology during the Cold War. Despite its contributions to American scientific advances, Operation Paperclip has been controversial because of the Nazi affiliations of many recruits, and the ethics of assimilating individuals associated with war crimes into American society.

The operation was not solely focused on rocketry; efforts were directed toward synthetic fuels, medicine, and other fields of research. Notable advances in aeronautics fostered rocket and space-flight technologies pivotal in the Space Race. The operation played a crucial role in the establishment of NASA and the success of the Apollo missions to the Moon.

Operation Paperclip was part of a broader strategy by the US to harness German scientific talent in the face of emerging Cold War tensions, and ensuring this expertise did not fall into the hands of the Soviet Union or other nations. The operation's legacy has remained controversial in subsequent decades.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence used existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

Pope Francis shares views on sex and masturbation as he kisses feet of prisoners

Twelve inmates at a juvenile prison on the outskirts of Rome, Italy, sat in a row as the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, kneeled in front of them and bathed and kissed their feet

By

Ryan Fahey News Reporter

08:28, 07 Apr 2023

Updated 08:39, 07 Apr 2023

Pope Francis has shared views on sex and masturbation as he was seen kissing the feet of prisoners.

In a Holy Thursday ritual symbolising humility, Pope Francis washed and dried the feet of a dozen residents of a Rome juvenile prison, assuring them of their dignity and telling them "any of us" can fall into sin.

It comes after he made a rare comment about his views on sex as he was quizzed on controversial topics during a Disney+ documentary on Wednesday.

The head of the conservative institution said it was "one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person".

But while he's in favour of sex, masturbation remains a big no-no for the pope.

"Sex is one of the beautiful things that God has given to the human person," the pope said during "The Pope: Answers".

Referring to masturbation, he added: "To express yourself sexually is a richness. So anything that detracts from real sexual expression lessens you and depletes this richness."

Meanwhile, at the Casal del Marmo juvenile lock-up on the outskirts of Rome yesterday, Pope Francis performed a feet-washing ritual, demonstrating his belief that the Church should pay attention and care for those living on society's margins.

On Thursday, Francis repeated the ritual on 10 male and two female residents who are serving time at the facility. He leaned over and poured water on one foot of each, then used a white towel to gently pat the foot dry before kissing it.

When Francis looked up at them in turn to smile, they shook his hand and kissed it. Many of the young people whispered into the pope's ear, and he chatted with them briefly in return.

The ritual recalls the foot-washing Jesus performed on his 12 apostles at their last supper together before he would be taken away to be crucified.

Jesus "washes all our feet," Francis told several dozen residents assembled in the prison chapel. "He knows all our weaknesses," the pope said in a completely improvised homily.

Among the 12, six were minors while the others had become adults while serving their sentences. The dozen included a Muslim from Senegal, as well as young people from Romania, Russia and Croatia, the Vatican said.

Francis explained that the foot-washing was "not folklore" but a "gesture which announces how we should be toward one another." He lamented that "others profit off each other, (there is) so much injustice...so many ugly things."

Still, he said, "any one of us can slip" and fall from grace. The foot-washing "confers on us the dignity of being sinners." The lesson, he added, should be to "help one another, so life becomes better."

The pontiff, who has a chronic knee problem, navigated the small spaces of the chapel either unaided or with the help of a cane, although he used a wheel chair to leave after the roughly 90-minute appearance.

On Saturday, Francis was discharged from a Rome hospital where he was treated for bronchitis. The Vatican said at the time that he would carry out the complete Holy Week schedule, including the Good Friday late-night Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Colosseum and Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square.

Earlier Thursday, he presided over Mass in St. Peter's Basilica as part of his stamina-testing Holy Week appointments.

At Thursday's basilica Mass, dozens of rows of priests in simple white cassocks sat in front of rank-and-file Catholics in the packed church.

Francis used the homily as a pep talk to priests, after decades of scandals involving sex abuse of children by clergy caused many faithful to lose trust in their pastors.

The pope didn't cite the scandals or church hierarchy cover-ups. But, he spoke of "crisis" affecting priests.

"Sooner or later, we all experience disappointment, frustration and our own weaknesses," Francis said. "Our ideals seem to recede in the face of reality, a certain force of habit takes over, and the difficulties that once seemed unimaginable appear to challenge our fidelity."

The basilica ceremony traditionally includes the blessing of ointments and priests' renewal of promises made when they were ordained to the priesthood.

Highlighting the spirit of renewal that the pope indicated the priesthood needs, added to the ointments at this year's Mass was bergamot perfume that came from trees in southern Italy on land confiscated by authorities from mobsters.

In off-the-cuff remarks during the homily, Francis admonished priests not to "forget being pastors of the people."

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/pope-francis-shares-views-sex-29652125

The Pope 'meets Spider-Man' in the Vatican City

The sight of the pontiff shaking hands with the web-slinger would understandably make most people do a double take... but it turns out the visitor wasn't Peter Parker at all - it was a real life superhero.

Tom Gillespie

News reporter @TomGillespie1

Wednesday 10 May 2023 16:44, UK

The Pope would have felt the Vatican was in safe hands on Wednesday when the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man swung by after the pontiff's weekly audience.

Those visiting the holy city would have been forgiven for thinking the web-slinger had arrived to save Pope Francis from Doctor Octopus, the Sandman, Kingpin or the Green Goblin.

But the more observant among them would have noticed it wasn't Peter Parker who was paying a visit to St Peter's Square.

The costumed arrival who appeared to be Spider-Man was in fact a real life superhero - a man named Mattia Villardita who visits paediatric hospitals in Italy to entertain child patients.

Mr Villardita, who had removed his mask to reveal his true identity, bowed as he shook the pontiff's hand in the square opposite St Peter's Basilica.

The Pope smiled and spoke enthusiastically to Mr Villardita before they parted ways.

The pontiff had earlier delivered a joint blessing with the Orthodox Coptic Pope Tawadros II to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a historic meeting of their predecessors.

https://news.sky.com/story/the-pope-meets-spider-man-in-the-vatican-city-12877861

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When Spider-Man rubs his wrist using his hand until a white sticky substance is released, often called, "His Webbing". Spidey often uses this "Webbing" as a form of transportation among other things in order to save the day. This is why when Spider-Man isn't horny, the day does not get saved.

Person - "Help, I'm being robbed!" Spider-Man - "*Frantically rubs his wrist and moans* Come on you son of a bitch!" Person - "Is he jacking off?"

by Zaza the Crazy Rogue June 28, 2007

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rubbing your boner for insane sexual pleasure masturbation

I'm jacking off as I type this sentence.

by lolwhatisthis March 31, 2009

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Vatican reaffirms 'grave sin' of Freemasonry, says Catholics cannot join the world's largest secret society

Freemasonry has been prohibited for Catholics since 1738, when Pope Clement XII called the secret society 'depraved and perverted'

By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi Fox News

Published November 15, 2023 12:25pm EST

https://www.foxnews.com/faith-values/vatican-reaffirms-grave-sin-freemasonry-catholics-cannot-join-worlds-largest-secret-society

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:

FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)"

https://web.archive.org/web/20190615041607/http://www.traversecityscottishrite.com/scottish-rite-history.html

Note 370.—"Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret. The 32nd degree of the Ancient and Accepted rite, and for many years, or until the institution of the 33d degree, this was the highest degree, or ne plus ultra of Masonry. The body is styled a Consistory, and should be held in a building of two stories. The officers are, a Thrice Illustrious Commander, First and Second Lieutenants, a Minister of State, a Grand Chancellor, a Grand Treasurer, a Grand Secretary, and a Grand Captain of the Guard. In the East a throne, elevated on seven steps, which is the seat of the Thrice Illustrious Commander, who wears a robe of royal purple, and he and the Lieutenants, wear swords. The collar of this degree is black, lined with scarlet, and in the center, at the point, a double-headed eagle, of silver or gold, on a red Teutonic cross. The apron is of white satin, with a border of gold lace, one inch wide, lined with scarlet; on the flap is a double-headed eagle, on each side of which is the flag of the country in which the body is located, the flag of Prussia and the Beause- -ant of the Kadosh degree; on the apron is the camp of the Crusaders, , which is thus explained; it is composed of an enneagon, within which is ' inscribed a heptagon, within that a pentagon, and in the center an equilateral triangle, within which is a circle. Between the heptagon and pentagon are placed five standards, in the designs of whigjl are five letters, which form a particular word. The first standard is purple, on which is emblazoned the ark of the covenant, with a palm, tree on each side; the ark has the motto Laus Deo. The second is blue, on which is a lion, of gold, couchant, holding in his mouth a golden key, with a collar of the same metal on his neck, and on it is the device, Ad majorem Dei gloriam. The third is white, and displays a heart in flames, with two wings; it is surmounted by a crown of laurels. The fourth is green, and bears a double-headed black eagle, crowned, holding a sword in his right claw, and a bleeding heart in his left. The fifth bears a black ox. on a field of gold. On the sides of the enneagon are nine tents, with flags, representing the divisions of the Masonic army; on the angles are nine pinions, of the same color as the flag of the tent that precedes it. The hall of the Consistory is hung with black, strewed with tears of silver. The jewel is a double-headed white and black eagle, resting on a Teutonic cross, of gold, worn attached to the collar or ribbon. ^The members are called Sublime Princes of the Royal Secret. The moral of the degree teaches opposition to bigotry, superstition, and all the passions and vices which disgrace human nature."—Macoy's Encyclopaedia and Pictionary of Freemasonry, Article Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret

32 Let Christ the king of Israel now come down from the cross, that we may see, and believe. They also that were crucified with him, reviled him.

Mark 15:32

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark%2015&version=GNV

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successors of Peter[32]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

SECTION 4:

POVERTY CERTAIN GENERAL PRINCIPLES

157 Voluntary religious poverty is the attempt of fallen human beings, in the radical following of the humble and poor Christ, to achieve that freedom from every inordinate attachment which is the condition for a great and ready love of God and neighbor.[39]

158 The principle and foundation of our poverty is found in a love of the Word of God made flesh and crucified.[40] Therefore in the Society that way of life is to be maintained which is as far as possible removed from all infection of avarice and as like as possible to evangelical poverty, which our first fathers experienced as more gratifying, more undefiled, and more suitable for the edification of the neighbor.[41]

159 §1. Our poverty in the Society is apostolic: our Lord has sent us to preach in poverty. [42] Therefore our poverty is measured by our apostolic purpose, so that our entire apostolate is informed with the spirit of poverty.[43] §2. Efficiency in the apostolate and the witness of apostolic poverty are two values that are closely united and must be held in an ongoing tension; this is a rule for apostolic institutes as well as for individuals.[44]

160 Our poverty is the condition of our apostolic credibility,[45] as the total expression of our trust in God and our freely given service to others,[46] when we are made witnesses of the freely bestowed love of God, who gave his Son for us in the total emptying of the incarnation and the cross.[47]

161 The forms of our poverty must truly suit the mentality, life, and apostolate of our times and give a visible witness to the Gospel. Therefore, our contemporary poverty must be especially characterized by these qualities: sincerity, by which our lives are really poor; devotion to work, by which we resemble workers in the world; and charity, by which we freely devote ourselves and all we have for the service of the neighbor.[48]

162 Let our poverty, sincerely and profoundly renewed,

be simple in community expression and joyous in the following of Christ,

happy in sharing all goods among ourselves and with others,

apostolic in its active indifference and readiness for any service,

inspiring our selection of ministries and turning us to those most in need,

spiritually effective, proclaiming Jesus Christ in our way of life and in all we do.[49]

163 The preferential option for the poor, as proposed by the Church, which the Society wishes to make its own, should find some concrete expression directly or indirectly in the life of every companion of Jesus, as well as in the orientations of our existing apostolic works and in our choice of new ministries.[50]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Freemason Karl Heinrich Marx, 1818 – 1883 #155

Karl Marx, “the Father of Modern Communism” was himself an occultist and high-level Jewish Freemason, intimately associated with Rome’s Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872)—the foremost Freemason on the Continent and founder of the Mafia—and Albert Pike (1809-1891), the foremost Freemason in Fourteenth Amendment America and a leader of the first Ku Klux Klan. He was privately tutored by Jesuits in the huge Reading Room of the British Museum while writing The Communist Manifesto based upon the ten maxims or “planks” the Order had perfected on its Paraguayan Reductions (1609-1767) and its Maryland Reductions (1650-1838). His writings (including The Jewish Question in promoting the Company’s European “Jewish Question Agitation,” Marx claiming, “behind every tyrant stands a Jew, as a Jesuit stands behind every Pope,” and exhorting “the workers of the world to fight and eliminate such a cancer”) were financed by the Society’s wealthy, White Gentile cartel-capitalists, such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and J. P. Morgan, also 33rd Degree Freemasons who, being in their doctrines and deeds, were in fact the revived old Order of the crusading Papal Knights Templars. Brought to international fame in 1870 via the Order’s Paris Commune, Marx, a racial Jew, was chosen for this task, the Order intending to blame all the brutal and savage evils of their absolutist, Communist Inquisition on the Semitic/Hebrew/Israelitic/Jewish Race. This masterstroke of Jesuit genius was fulfilled by the Black Pope’s Third Reich with its invasion of Russia during “Operation Barbarossa,” followed by the Order’s SS “extirpation” of “infidel” European and Russian Jewry with the aid of Stalin, Churchill, and FDR pursuant to the bigoted and accursing Council of Trent. Marx and Satan, Richard Wurmbrand, (Westchester, Illinois: Crossway Books, 1986) p. 41. Karl Marx: A Life, Francis Wheen, (New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1999).

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

https://ia802505.us.archive.org/28/items/EricJonPhelpsVaticanAssassins3rdEdition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf

The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious until the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants, Charlemagne's death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Name

The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] Incidentally, the US states of North and South Carolina are also based on the name Charles, having been named after King Charles II of England. The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'FREEMAN'.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty

Pope Alexander VI[Note 2] (born Rodrigo de Borja[Note 3]; 1 January 1431 – 18 August 1503) (epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian")[6] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503. Born into the prominent Borgia family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon (now Spain), Rodrigo studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.

Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]

Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

Francis Borgia SJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Borgia

Borja (Borgia)

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Zaragoza province named from Arabic burj ‘tower’. See also Borgia .

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=borja

One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and erroneously as the Freedom Tower,[note 1] is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. It is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east.

The construction of below-ground utility relocations, footings, and foundations for the new building began on April 27, 2006. One World Trade Center became the tallest structure in New York City on April 30, 2012, when it surpassed the height of the Empire State Building. The tower's steel structure was topped out on August 30, 2012. On May 10, 2013, the final component of the skyscraper's spire was installed, making the building, including its spire, reach a total height of 1,776 feet (541 m). Its height in feet is a deliberate reference to the year when the United States Declaration of Independence was signed. The building opened on November 3, 2014;[12] the One World Observatory opened on May 29, 2015.[13]

On March 26, 2009, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) confirmed that the building would be officially known by its legal name of "One World Trade Center", rather than its colloquial name of "Freedom Tower".[15][16][17] The building has 94 stories, with the top floor numbered 104.

The new World Trade Center complex will eventually include five high-rise office buildings built along Greenwich Street, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, located just south of One World Trade Center where the original Twin Towers stood, and the World Trade Center Transportation Hub to its east. The construction of the new building is part of an effort to memorialize and rebuild following the destruction of the original World Trade Center complex.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center

Pope John XXIII's coat of arms.

Of gules, a silver sash, a silver tower mazonada and clarified with sable especially, accompanied chiefly by two fleurs-de-lis of the same, a silver chief with a winged leopard lion, holding a gospel with the front right leg open with the text "PAX TIBI MARCE EVANGELISTA MEUS", all in gold and saber letters.

https://br.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restr:C_o_a_John_XXIII.svg

Pope John XXIII (Latin: Ioannes XXIII; Italian: Giovanni XXIII [dʒoˈvanni ventitreˈɛːzimo]; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, Italian: [ˈandʒelo dʒuˈzɛppe roŋˈkalli];[a] 25 November 1881 – 3 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 1963.

Roncalli was among 13 children born to Marianna Mazzola and Giovanni Battista Roncalli in a family of sharecroppers who lived in Sotto il Monte, a village in the province of Bergamo, Lombardy.[8] He was ordained to the priesthood on 10 August 1904 and served in a number of posts, as nuncio in France and a delegate to Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey. In a consistory on 12 January 1953 Pope Pius XII made Roncalli a cardinal as the Cardinal-priest of Santa Prisca in addition to naming him as the Patriarch of Venice. Roncalli was unexpectedly elected pope on 28 October 1958 at age 76 after Pope Pius XII's death. Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), the first session opening on 11 October 1962, which is now his feast.

John XXIII made many passionate speeches during his pontificate. His views on equality were summed up in his statement, "We were all made in God's image, and thus, we are all Godly alike."[9][10] He made a major impact on the Catholic Church, opening it up to dramatic unexpected changes promulgated at the Second Vatican Council and by his own dealings with other churches and nations. In Italian politics, he prohibited bishops from interfering with local elections, and he helped the Christian Democracy party to cooperate with the Italian Socialist Party. In international affairs, his Ostpolitik engaged in dialogue with the communist countries of Eastern Europe. He especially reached out to the Eastern Orthodox churches.

His overall goal was to modernize the Church by emphasizing its pastoral role, and its necessary involvement with affairs of state. He dropped the traditional rule of 70 cardinals, increasing the size to 85. He used the opportunity to name the first cardinals from Africa, Japan, and the Philippines. He promoted ecumenical movements in cooperation with other Christian faiths. In doctrinal matters, he was a traditionalist, but he ended the practice of automatically formulating social and political policies on the basis of old theological propositions.[11]

He did not live to see the Second Vatican Council to completion. In September 1962, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died eight months later on June 3, 1963. His cause for canonization was opened on 18 November 1965 by his successor, Pope Paul VI, who declared him a Servant of God. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000. On 5 July 2013, Pope Francis – bypassing the traditionally required second miracle – declared John XXIII a saint, based on his virtuous, model lifestyle, and because of the good which had come from his opening of the Second Vatican Council. He was canonized alongside Pope John Paul II himself on 27 April 2014.[12][13] John XXIII today is affectionately known as "the Good Pope" (Italian: il papa buono).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_XXIII

Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]

Trained in jurisprudence, Borghese was made Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Eusebio and the Cardinal Vicar of Rome by Pope Clement VIII. He was elected as Pope in 1605, following the death of Pope Leo XI. Pope Paul V was known for being stern and unyielding, defending the privileges of the Church. He met with Galileo Galilei in 1616 and was involved in the controversy over heliocentrism. He canonized and beatified several individuals during his papacy and created 60 cardinals in ten consistories.

His insistence on ecclesiastical jurisdiction led to conflicts with secular governments, notably with Venice, which resulted in an interdict on the city in 1606. This disagreement was eventually mediated by France and Spain in 1607. Pope Paul V's diplomacy also strained relations with England, as his actions were perceived as undermining moderate Catholics in the country.

In Rome, he financed the completion of St. Peter's Basilica, improved the Vatican Library, and restored the ancient Roman aqueduct Aqua Traiana. Pope Paul V established the Banco di Santo Spirito in 1605 and is also known for fostering the rise of the Borghese family through nepotism. He died on 28 January 1621, after suffering from a series of strokes and was succeeded by Pope Gregory XV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_V

Facade of St. Peter's

On February 10, 1608 the first stone was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentattion.

The inscription (1m high) states: "Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in the year 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [erected] in honour of the Prince of Apostles".

From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter.

https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm

AFA-27 [recorded 03/15/87] | The CIA, the Military & Drugs Part IV

Developing a line of inquiry presented in the preceding broadcast, this program focuses on narco-terrorism in Latin America. Particular emphasis is on intelligence-related elements that figured in the Iran-Contra scandal, anti-Castro Cubans in particular. Much of the discussion centers on activities that took place when George Bush was in charge of the CIA.

After reviewing the Latin American narcotics network of Corsican gangster and Third Reich collaborator Auguste Ricord, the broadcast focuses on the role of Ricord associate Klaus Barbie in the 1980 “Cocaine Coup” in Bolivia. The Gestapo chief of Lyons (France) during the war, Barbie found post-war employment with American intelligence, first with the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, and later with the CIA.

With the aid of elements of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, Barbie and a group of fascist terrorists associated with the narcotics trade overthrew the Bolivian government and established a dictatorship under General Garcia-Meza. Under this regime, the business of cocaine kingpin Roberto Suarez thrived, aided by Barbie and his “bridegrooms of death.” Doubling as para-fascist terrorists and enforcers for the government, Barbie and his cutthroats aided the bloody suppression of trade unions and the political left in the coup’s aftermath.

Barbie’s cocaine mercenaries included some interesting individuals. German-born Joachim Fiebelkorn (a neo-Nazi and informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency) was joined with Italian fascists, such as Pierluigi Pagliai (a member of the infamous P‑2 lodge discussed in AFAs 18,19) and the notorious fascist Stefano Delle Chiaie, a principal architect of the “strategy of tension.”

The strategy of tension (a major focal point of AFA-19) was an out-cropping of what Danish journalist Henrik Kruger termed “the International Fascista.” (Kruger is the author of The Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence and International Fascism, published in softcover by the South End Press of Boston, copyright 1980. Mr. Emory views the work as the best individual volume ever written on the subject of the intelligence community and the narcotics trade.) A consortium of fascists in Europe and Latin America, International Fascista included numerous Latin death squad elements, elements of U.S. intelligence and the Paladin mercenary group (funded by Libyan dictator Khadafy, as well as the weapons empire of SS officer and sometime CIA operative Otto Skorzeny.) A principal figure in the postwar ODESSA organization, Skorzeny is discussed at considerable length in AFA-22.

One of the major cogs of the International Fascista was CORU, arguably the most militant and deadly of the anti-Castro Cuban organizations. CORU was involved in a string of bombings, assassinations and terrorist attacks in the mid 1970’s, including the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. CORU’s reign of terror took place when George Bush was director of the CIA, and an element of the agency appears to have been involved with it.

Program Highlights Include: “Operation Condor” (an international assassination consortium of Latin American dictatorships); a number of assassinations and attempted assassinations conducted under “Condor;” Argentine fascist and P‑2 lodge member Jose Lopez Rega; Italian fascist and Skorzeny associate Prince Justo Valerio Borghese; former Goebbels Propaganda Ministry official Gerhard Hartmut Von Schubert (the operating manager of the Paladin group); Paladin’s overlap with Spanish intelligence and the CIA; Operation Condor’s attempts at disguising its acts as left-wing terror; the position of the World Anti-Communist League in the milieu set forth in this broadcast

For more related content, please visit:

http://ourhiddenhistory.org/

https://archive.org/details/@altviewstv-fanclub

https://rumble.com/v4e2vto-dave-emory-anti-fascist-archives-27-the-cia-the-military-and-drugs-part-4-o.html

Le Cercle is a secret transnational intelligence and direct action group, that, according to all accounts, is funded by the CIA. . . . Before the 1990s, it was called Cercle Violet, or initially, Cercle Pinay, in both cases after its (French) chairman. In later times, chairmanship of Le Cercle went on to the British. The Pinay Circle used to fight the spread of communism worldwide, at all costs, even in our own backyard. . . . [The] Cercle was created in the 1950s . . . by Antoine Pinay, Jean Violet and Otto von Habsburg . . . with the German chancellor Konrad Adenauer . . . building up a united Europe [in fulfillment of the Word of God], allied with the United States. Pinay and at least representatives of Adenauer were visiting Bilderberg and Jean Violet was already working for Habsburg on projects [involving a Jesuit-fascist] . . . Pan-European society. They also shared another very interesting commonality: they were all faithful Catholics. And not just that; Pinay, Habsburg, and Adenauer were members of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM). Pinay, Habsburg and the less prominent Jean Violet have also been accused of involvement with Opus Dei. This is all the more interesting because Joseph Rettinger, who recruited [Knight of Malta and former SS officer Prince] Bernhard and others to set up Bilderberg [the super-secret Bilderbergers], was another Vatican agent; a Jesuit and likely a Knight of Malta [and 33rd Degree Freemason according to former MI6 officer John Coleman]. At the end of WWII, the Knights of Malta have been involved with smuggling Nazis out of Germany with the help of the OSS (later CIA), an organization they themselves helped to establish. In turn, the CIA funded the covert anti-communist war in Europe, including Radio Free Europe, the Economist, the European Council of Princes, the Gehlen Organization, the Stay-Behind networks, the Pinay Circle, and the overall [pro-fascist, anticommunist] European movement [while the Order was secretly building Soviet Russia and Communist China, both never intended to have been used for the purported invasion of Europe]. A lot of this money was funneled through the American Committee on United Europe (ACUE), which was established at the direction of Duncan Sandys, Joseph Rettinger, Allen Dulles, and William Donovan. Dulles and Donovan were top CIA chiefs and Knights of Malta, Rettinger a Vatican agent, and Duncan Sandys a son-in-law of [33rd Degree Freemason and Druid Winston] Churchill. Besides the CIA’s clandestine efforts, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Institute were the prime sponsors of the ACUE [the great CFR financiers of the Society of Jesus]. . . . A couple of examples of people that have (or had) a close relationship with the Circle [Le Cercle] are George Ball, Stephen Bechtel, [SMOM] William Buckley, [SMOM] George H. W. Bush, [SMOM] Frank Carlucci, [SMOM] William Casey, [SMOM] Alexander Haig, [SMOM and ex-SS Nazi] Fritz Kraemer, Victor Krulak, [CFR member and JFK assassin] General Lansdale, [SMOM] Vernon Walters, and John Hay Whitney. These are right-wing oriented people involved with known Circle members, the Institute for the Study of Conflict, different intelligence agencies, and/or the Knights of Malta.” {23} [Emphasis added]

Joel van der Reijden,

2005 Dutch Conspiratorial Historian “Project for the Exposure of Hidden Institutions: Le Cercle"

Vatican Assassins Third Edition by Eric Jon Phelps

https://ia902607.us.archive.org/17/items/EricJonPhelpsVaticanAssassins3rdEdition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf

It was while investigating the Little Rock integration incident in 1957 that I first learned of Pike’s rapid advance in Freemasonry, and knowing that Weishaupt, using Thomas Jefferson and Moses Holbrook, had infiltrated Illuminists into the Masonic Lodges of America, I decided I would find out if the fact that Pike’s mansion in Little Rock had thirteen rooms had any significance. “Thirteen’ figures prominently in Satanic, Luciferian and Cabalistic rituals, codes, and writings, etc. My investigations produced documentary evidence to show that, because of Pike’s exceptional mental ability, he came under the notice of professors in Harvard who were members of the Illuminati, who developed in his mind the ‘idea that a One World Government, a One World Religion and a One World financial and economic system was the ONLY solution to the world’s many and varied problems. I next discovered that his departure from Harvard was not due to lack of finances, or because of a misunderstanding with the faculty over tuition fees, but because of his ‘radical’ ideas and teachings. When he returned home determined that he would ‘fight’ his way to the top despite all opposition, he was in a suitable frame of mind to be recruited as a ‘Minerval’ or ‘apprentice’ into the lower degrees of the Illuminati."

Satan Prince of This World

by William Guy Carr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view?usp=sharing

Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (IATA: LIT, ICAO: KLIT, FAA LID: LIT), also known as Adams Field, is a joint civil-military airport on the east side of Little Rock, Arkansas.[3][4] It is operated by the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission.[5]

The largest commercial airport in Arkansas, it served more than 2.1 million passengers in the year spanning from March 2009 through to February 2010.[6] While Clinton National Airport does not have direct international passenger flights, more than 50 flights arrive or depart at Little Rock each day, with nonstop service to 14 cities.[7] The airport is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023, in which it is categorized as a small-hub primary commercial service facility.[8]

Clinton National Airport - Wikipedia

The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site is located in HOPE, Arkansas.[2] Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, in this house the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life, having been born on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in HOPE, Arkansas.[3][4] The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and they cared for him when his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans.[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_William_Jefferson_Clinton_Birthplace_Home_National_Historic_Site

Tragedy and HOPE: A History of the World in Our Time is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor and historian Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focuses on Western civilization."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_and_Hope

In his first year (1965) in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown, Bill Clinton took Quigley's course, receiving a 'B' as his final grade in both semesters (an excellent grade in a course where nearly half the students received D or lower).[1]: 94, 96 In 1991, Clinton named Quigley as an important influence on his aspirations and political philosophy, when Clinton launched his presidential campaign in a speech at Georgetown.[1]: 96 He said he learned from Quigley that “The future can be better than the past, and that each of us has a personal, moral responsibility to make it so.” Bill Clinton told his audiences, “that is what the new choice is all about....We are not here to save the Democratic party. We are here to save the United States of America.” It was Clinton's most effective speech, and he repeated variations time and time again as the blueprint for his campaign message in winning the Democratic nomination and the general election for President of the United States in 1992.[21][22]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carroll_Quigley

Theorists also cite the inclusion of Bill Clinton at the meetings in 1991 before he was president and Tony Blair’s presence in 1993 before he became the British prime minister as examples of the group’s power. Past attendees have included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (who will also be attending this year), former Chase Manhattan chief executive David Rockefeller, and British Prime Minister David Cameron."

Bilderberg Group: What To Know About the Secretive Meetings

https://time.com/4362872/bilderberg-group-meetings-2016-conspiracy-theories/

Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner October 20, 2016 Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Henry Kissinger Gayle King Cardinal Dolan Katie Couric Chuck Schumer Mayor Bill de Blasio"

https://www.facebook.com/MariaBartiromo/posts/alfred-e-smith-memorial-foundation-dinner-october-20-2016-donald-trump-hillary-c/1353937201283479/

Bill Clinton ‘Encouraged’ Trump to Run

SLICK WILLY

Updated Apr. 14, 2017 10:12AM EDT /

Published Aug. 05, 2015 3:33PM EDT

Bill Clinton called Donald Trump this spring and “encouraged Trump’s efforts to play a larger role in the Republican Party,” The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing five people familiar with the exchange. Clinton’s personal office confirmed the call occurred. Trump aides claim their boss was “candid about his political ambitions and his potential interest in seeking the White House during the talk....” Clinton “analyzed Trump’s prospects and his desire to rouse the GOP base,” according to Trump allies.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/cheats/2015/08/05/bill-clinton-encouraged-trump

I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

The university has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in red and blue lights.

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

SCRANTON, Pa. — In preparation for President Joe Biden's visit, a university lit up their lights in his honor.

The University of Scranton has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in blue and red with the number 46 prominently displayed to welcome the 46th president."

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/university-of-scranton-welcomes-president-biden-gateway-lights/523-cdba68b1-822b-4747-94be-4cd7e4de9d67

"His son, Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton PA. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for this university. Senator Biden himself has lectured at the Jesuit University of Scranton, and received an honorary degree from the same university, in 1976."

Codeword Barbelon

by P.D. Stuart

HOPE: all hope is to be placed in God, and with what degree of perfection [67]; eternal life alone is to be hoped for as a reward [82]; the extent to which this hope should be of assistance [288]; how hope should be shown by the dying | 595]; hope in the preservation and growth of the Society [812]. See also Faithfulness

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

AI Overview

The Chinese surname Sūn (孙/孫) has ancient origins dating back over 2,500 years to the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC) of Chinese history. It is not a single origin story but a name that developed independently from several different lineages. The Chinese character Sūn means "grandchild" or "descendant".

Here are the four primary origins of the surname Sūn:

From Hui Sun of the Wey State: During the Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BC), a descendant of King Wen of Zhou named Sun Yi adopted the character Sūn as his surname to honor his grandfather, Hui Sun.

From Sun Shu'ao of the Chu State: The prime minister of the Chu State during the Spring and Autumn period, Sun Shu'ao (630–593 BC), had the character Sūn as part of his courtesy name. His descendants adopted the character as their surname to honor his legacy.

From Sun Shu of the Qi State: In 523 BC, an official named Sun Shu was granted the surname Sūn by the Duke of Qi for his military achievements. His descendants include the famous military strategist Sun Tzu, author of The Art of War.

From Prince Bigan of the Shang Dynasty: Following the execution of Prince Bigan during the Shang Dynasty (1600–1046 BC), some of his family members adopted the name Sūn as a tribute to their ancestry.

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A famous Jesuit General Michael Angelo Tambourini once boasted, in 1720, to the Duke of Brissac: " See, My Grace  [my Lord], from this room, I govern not only Paris, but China; not only China, but the whole world, without anyone knowing how it is managed."

"Andrew Steinmetz, History of the Jesuits, Vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Lea and Blanchard Publ.,/New York: Richard Bentley, 1848), pp.107, 168-169; see also, Constitution of the Jesuits, edited by Paris Paulin (1843); Eugene Sue (Marie Joseph), The Wandering Jew, (London: Chapman and Hall, 1844/ New York; Harper & Brothers,, 1845), Bk I, Chap. XV, P. 183; see also, p. 618, and Bk. II, p. 21; Abrige de I'Hist. Eccles. de Racine, Chap. xii. P. 77." page 129 Chapter XII "Unhesitating Obedience: The General And The Holy Office" Codeword Barbelon book One by P.D. Stuart

"Steinmetz was fourteen years a Jesuit; see also, Constitutions of the Jesuits, ed. by P. Paulin (1843); Morale Pratique Des Jesuites: Histoire De La Persecution De deux Saints, Vol. I (Cologne, 1669), pp. 50 and 51." "Epilogue-For Such A Time As This"

Pope Francis Lord of the World

by P.D. Stuart

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the late Spring and Autumn period (roughly 5th century BC). The work, which is attributed to the ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu ("Master Sun"), is composed of 13 chapters. Each one is devoted to a different set of skills or art related to warfare and how it applies to military strategy and tactics. For almost 1,500 years, it was the lead text in an anthology that was formalized as the Seven Military Classics by Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1080. The Art of War remains the most influential strategy text in East Asian warfare,[1] has influenced both East Asian and Western military theory and thinking, and has found a variety of applications in myriad competitive non-military endeavors across the modern world including espionage,[2] culture, politics, business, and sports.[3][4][5][6]

The book contains a detailed explanation and analysis of the 5th-century BC Chinese military, from weapons, environmental conditions, and strategy to rank and discipline. Sun also stressed the importance of intelligence operatives and espionage to the war effort. Considered one of history's finest military tacticians and analysts, his teachings and strategies formed the basis of advanced military training throughout the world.

The book was translated into French and published in 1772 by the French priest Jesuit Jean Joseph Marie Amiot; it was re-published in 1782. A partial translation into English was attempted by British officer Everard Ferguson Calthrop in 1905 under the title The Book of War. The first annotated English translation was completed and published by Lionel Giles in 1910.[7] Military and political leaders such as the Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong, Japanese daimyō Takeda Shingen, Vietnamese general Võ Nguyên Giáp, is cited along with American military generals Douglas MacArthur and Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. as having drawn inspiration from the book.[8]

Outside of military use, The Art of War has also become a source of inspiration in business, politics, sports and esports, and its usage has extended to film and television.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War

St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome is considered the mother church of all the Catholic churches in the Western world; inscribed on the church facade for all to see are the Latin words “omnium urbis et orbis ecclesiarum mater et CAPUT,” meaning, “The mother and HEAD of all the churches of the city and of the world.”

https://www.simplycatholic.com/st-john-lateran-basilica/

Caput Mundi is a Latin phrase which literally means "Head of the world" whereas Roma Caput Mundi means "Rome capital of the world" and is one of the many nicknames given to the city of Rome throughout its history.[1]

The phrase is related to the enduring power of the city first as the capital of the Republic and the Empire, and later as the centre of the Catholic Church.[2]

Although it is not known for sure when it was first used, Rome was already named in this way by the poet Ovid in 1st century BC.[3]

Along with "Eternal City" and the "City of Seven Hills", Caput Mundi remains as one of the most commonly used names to refer to the city of Rome.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caput_Mundi

France’s Macron and Pope Francis hold unusually long meeting

Reuters

26 June 2018

Macron and Pope Francis spoke for nearly an hour in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace

The two discussed “protection of the environment, migration, and commitment to conflict prevention and resolution"

VATICAN CITY: French President Emmanuel Macron, accused at home of straining France’s secular foundations by seeking to mend ties with the Catholic Church, had an unusually long and cordial meeting with Pope Francis on Tuesday.

They spoke for nearly an hour in the official papal library in the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, about twice as long as Francis usually spends with heads of state or government.

A Vatican statement said the two discussed “protection of the environment, migration, and multilateral commitment to conflict prevention and resolution, especially in relation to disarmament.”

They also spoke about prospects for resolving conflicts in the Middle East and Africa and the future of Europe, it said.

At the end of the private part of the audience, Macron gave Francis a rare copy of Goerges Bernanos 1936 book “Diary of a Country Priest.”

“I’ve read this book many times and it has done me good. It is a book that I have always loved very much,” the pope told Macron, 40, who was accompanied in the public parts of the meeting by his wife Brigitte, 65.

Francis gave Macron a medallion depicting Martin of Tours, a 4th century saint who is depicted cutting his cloak in half to give it to a beggar in winter.

“This means the vocation of those who govern is to help the poor. We are all poor,” Francis told Macron as he was giving him the medallion.

As Macron left the library, he and Francis exchanged a two-cheek kiss, another very usually gesture between a pope and a visiting head of state.

The Vatican was expected to issue a statement later on the themes discussed during the private talks.

Two months ago, Macron called for stronger ties between the state and the Catholic Church, a move critics said blurred a line that has kept French government free of religious intervention for generations.

The issue is particularly sensitive in historically Catholic France, where matters of faith and state were separated by law in 1905 and which is now home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities.

France’s guiding principles also hold that religious observance is a private matter, for all faiths.

Macron was raised in a non-religious family and was baptized a Roman Catholic at his own request when he was 12.

On Tuesday afternoon Macron was due to be installed as the “First and Only Honorary Canon” of the Rome Basilica of St. John’s in Lateran, which is the pope’s cathedral in his capacity as bishop of Rome.

Under a tradition that began in the 15th century when France was a monarchy, French leaders are automatically given the title.

https://www.arabnews.com/node/1328511/amp

Xi Jinping Exchanges Congratulatory Messages with French President Emmanuel Macron on the 60th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between China and France

2024-01-27 19:00

On January 27, 2024, President Xi Jinping exchanged congratulatory messages with French President Emmanuel Macron on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Xi Jinping pointed out that 60 years ago, China and France broke the ice of the Cold War and bridged the divide between different blocs to establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level. This historical event has pushed the global landscape to evolve in the right direction of dialogue and cooperation, which still offers inspiration for today. Over the past 60 years, the two countries have adhered to making strategic choices independent of external influence and have always been committed to achieving common development through mutually beneficial cooperation, promoting mutual learning among civilizations through exchanges on an equal footing, and jointly addressing global challenges through multilateral coordination. Bilateral relations have created many firsts and yielded fruitful results, which have not only benefited the people of both countries but also played a vital role in maintaining global peace and stability, promoting a multipolar world, and advancing greater democracy in international relations.

Xi Jinping stressed that the world today has once again reached a critical crossroads. Facing the question of the times and of history on where the world should be headed, China and France, both as independent major countries and permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, should stay true to the original aspiration of establishing diplomatic relations, shoulder their responsibility, undertake their mission, and jointly open up a path of peace, security, prosperity, and progress for human development. Attaching great importance to the development of bilateral relations, Xi Jinping said he stands ready to work with President Emmanuel Macron to take the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations as an opportunity to uphold fundamental principles, break new ground, build on past achievements, open up a new future, and make China-France comprehensive strategic partnership more solid and dynamic, so as to make greater contributions to improving the well-being of the people of the two countries and the world.

Emmanuel Macron said in his congratulatory message that the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and China 60 years ago was a visionary and historic decision. In the face of unprecedented global challenges today, it is all the more important for France and China, as well as Europe and China, to work together in search of common solutions for global challenges. The year 2023 witnessed a comprehensive revitalization of France-China relations, and in 2024, cooperation between the two countries is expected to be further enhanced. Emmanuel Macron said he looks forward to working with President Xi Jinping to promote bilateral economic, trade, cultural, youth, and other exchanges and cooperation, strengthen communication and coordination on global issues, and continually deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between France and China so as to embrace the new 60 years of France-China relations with positive vitality.

https://www.mfa.gov.cn/eng/zxxx_662805/202401/t20240128_11234702

Donald Trump 'left off-balance' after crushing 'death grip' handshake with Emmanuel Macron

Story by Zahra Khaliq • 18h • 3 min read

Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron both attempted to "dominate" and "fight their own corner" in US discussions, culminating in a "death grip" handshake, says a body language expert. The two global leaders greeted each other as Macron arrived at the White House for a meeting on Monday, February 24 - marking the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/donald-trump-left-off-balance-after-crushing-death-grip-handshake-with-emmanuel-macron/ar-AA1zJqhF

Orange (French pronunciation: [ɔʁɑ̃ʒ] ⓘ; Provençal: Aurenja (classical norm) or Aurenjo (Mistralian norm)) is a commune in the Vaucluse department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France.[3] It is about 21 km (13 mi) north of Avignon, on the departmental border with Gard, which follows the Rhône and also constitutes the regional border with Occitania. Orange is the second-most populated city in Vaucluse, after Avignon.

Name

The settlement is attested as Arausio and Arausion in the first and second centuries AD, then as civitas Arausione in the fourth century, civitas Arausicae in 517 (via a Germanized form *Arausinga), Aurengia civitatis in 1136, and as Orenga in 1205.[4][5]

The name Arausio can be explained as the Gaulish ar-aus(i)o- ('temple, cheek'), itself derived from an earlier Proto-Celtic *far-aws(y)o-, which literally means 'in front of the ear' (cf. Old Irish ara, arae; Ancient Greek pareiaí, parauai < *par-ausiā).[5][6] It is cognate with the name of other ancient settlements, including Arausa, Arausia, Arausona (Dalmatia) and the nearby Oraison (Alpes-de-Haute-Provence).[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orange,_Vaucluse

Agent Orange: This nickname gained traction during Trump's presidency, alluding to his controversial policies and the color of his trademark hair. It has a dual meaning, referencing both his hair color and the herbicide of the same name used during the Vietnam War.

https://abatul.com/

History of the Orange Order

The Loyal Orange Institution was formed on 21st September 1795 shortly after the ‘Battle of the Diamond’ outside Loughgall, Co. Armagh. Three well-known local men of the area, James Wilson, Dan Winter, and James Sloan, established the institution. Whilst much is made of these ‘founding fathers’ within Orange circles; from a spiritual perspective we see no evidence that any of them had evangelical credentials. History, in fact, shows that all three men were dedicated Freemasons and two of the three were actually proprietors of licensed premises.

The Bible addresses such people, saying, “Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!” (Habakkuk 2:15). The Rev. Allan Dunlop, addressing this passage of Scripture in his book ‘Where Shadows Fall’ (p. 37), says, “The curse of God is upon the drink trade for what profits it brings are wrung from widows tears, children’s terror, women’s virtue and young men’s strength; and of wives and mothers broken hearts.”

It is true to say that Dan Winter came from a Quaker background, although his ungodly lifestyle shows he was anything but a dedicated Quaker. Firstly, Quakers have always practised strict ‘total abstinence’ and have always opposed the devilish influence of alcohol. Winter was the proprietor of a public house. Secondly, Quakers have always been opposed to the heathenish practices and teachings of Freemasonry. Winter was a zealous Freemason. Thirdly, Quakers have always been pacifists, opposing all type of fighting. Winter was the leader of the local ‘Peep O’ Day Boys’ (an illegal Protestant militia group of the day), and he was also a well-known ‘cock fighter’ in the area.

The ‘Battle of the Diamond’ itself lasted only fifteen minutes and was centred on Dan Winter’s public house, which was located at the Diamond crossroads. This battle (or skirmish) resulted in Winter’s premises being burnt to the ground by the attacking Roman Catholics who were ironically known as ‘the Defenders’. This place was the special focus of the attack as it was the gathering house for the local ‘Peep O’ Day Boys’. Prior to the battle, the authorities had made several arrests and various arms seizures relating to this illegal group.

Winter’s supporters, many of whom were Freemasons, gathered around the debris of the public house and pledged themselves to form a new secret society, made up wholly of Protestant men. Now that they no longer had Winter’s premises as a meeting place the men retired to James Sloan’s public house in the local village of Loughgall. Here the Orange Institution was properly organised.

The founders of the Orange Institution were known as ‘unwarranted masons’, ‘clandestine masons’ or ‘hedge’ Masons. These Masons were a rebellious group who would not accept the existing degree format of the ruling Masonic Grand Lodge of the day. Belinda Loftus, in her book ‘Mirrors’ (p.24) confirms that the clandestine or hedge Masons were “unwarranted by the Grand Lodge in Dublin” because Irish Masonry “refused to recognise any degrees but craft.” Up until the early 1800s the Grand Masonic Lodge of Ireland only accepted three degrees, – Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason, collectively known as the ‘Craft degrees’ or the ‘Blue Lodge’. All other degrees were held to be illegal.

Read a detailed exposure of the Royal Arch Purple by W P Malcomson:

The Unwarranted Masons were the more zealous (or esoteric) Masons who adhered to the many mystical degrees, which today are accepted within the domain of higher degree Freemasonry. These degrees are found under the auspices of the Red Lodge, known as the Chapter and the Chivalry degrees, known as the Preceptory.

The Irish Masonic publication ‘History of Freemasonry in the Province of Antrim’ alludes to these clandestine Masons. It explain how these men would ascend to “the top of some neighbouring hill, and there, towards the close of a summers evening, after the manner of the ancient Druids, perform their rites and ceremonies, the meeting being properly tyled and guarded…They were unwarranted and recognised no authority and no authority recognised them” (p.143&144).

Winter, Sloan and Wilson, accompanied by others, felt the great need to instigate a ceremony of initiation into the new body and not surprisingly Freemasonry was chosen as the model. They used the Masonic template to formulate their degree structure. That is why the Loyal Orders teaching, titles, symbols and rituals so closely resembles that of Freemasonry.

Initially the Orange had one sole degree known simply as the ‘Orange degree’. As the months progressed the founding fathers introduced a further degree somewhere around late 1796. The ‘Orange Marksman’ degree as it was originally designated, became better known as the ‘Purple degree’. It was constructed in Portadown, in the home of prominent Freemason, John Templeton – a location frequently used for Masonic ceremonies. Orange historian (and well known Freemason of his day) Colonel R.H. Wallace outlined in his ‘History of the Orange Order’ (1899) how the founders “were observed going into and out of a house in which a Masonic Lodge held its meetings,” and that, “He [Mr Templeton] invited them into the Masonic room, and there and then satisfactory arrangements were made.” He concluded by saying, “the influence of the place and its associations can be discerned in the results” (p. 50). Another Orange historian R.M. Sibbett in ‘Orangeism in Ireland and Throughout the Empire’ (1938) explained how, “The subject uppermost in their minds was touched upon and discussed, and, at the request of Mr. Templeton, they adjourned to a room which had been used for other ceremonies. Here the warrant was produced, the lodge was reopened, and a higher Order was added.”

A further degree was added as Orangeism consolidated itself. The Royal Arch Purple Chapter book states that, “Probably late in the year 1796 or early 1797 a third degree known as Purple Marksman was added to the ritual. It is likely to have been composed by the same hands, probably in the same room as that of the Orange Marksman or Purpleman” (History of the Royal Arch Purple Order p. 39).

Whilst little is known of the exact content of these three degrees it seems certain that they were highly ritualistic in character, being modelled on the first three degrees of Freemasonry, namely, Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. The Royal Arch Purple Chapter book testifies that these three initial Orange degrees were “elaborate degrees” (p. 59).

Orange degree – Entered Apprentice degree

Orange Marksman degree – Fellowcraft degree

Purple Marksman degree – Master Mason degree

These were the three main degrees that were worked within the Order between 1795 and 1798, although many other ritualistic degrees were finding their way into Orangeism throughout the island of Ireland. Most of these degrees can today be found within the Royal Black Institution.

During this early period each individual Orange lodge administered its own control over the working of degrees, as no controlling authority existed to govern the degree system. A Grand Lodge of Ulster, as it were, was formed on 12th of July 1797, although it seemed to exercise little power over the whole island of Ireland.

The prevailing confusion within the Order, coupled with a large influx of new members, due to the deteriorating political situation in the form of the Republican uprising of the ‘United Irelanders’, resulted in the formation of a Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland on 21st April 1798. This brought much needed stability and leadership to the Order at a strategic period in its history.

Grand Lodge immediately addressed the bewildering amount of unnecessary ritualism that had found its way into Orangeism, and here began a process of reform which purged out all the ritualistic baggage which had settled itself within the Order. This resulted in the disposal of the original three (elaborate) degrees of the Orange. These were replaced with two simplified degrees of ‘Orange’ and ‘Plain Purple’. Out with the old degrees went the old leadership of James Wilson, Dan Winter, and James Sloan.

Wasting little time, Grand Lodge released a strong statement on 13th December 1798 which reflected the hierarchy’s strong desire to separate themselves from former error, stating: “That many persons having introduced various Orders into the Orange Society which will very much tend to injure the regularity of the institution. The Grand Lodge disavows any Order but Orange and Purple and there can be none other regular unless issuing and approved by them.”

From this date forward, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland accepted only two degrees within the Order – ‘Orange’ and ‘Plain Purple’. Between 1798 and 1800 Grand Lodge began a process of implementing this simplification by standardising procedures throughout every lodge in Ireland. That they might eradicate any lingering injurious behaviour by spurious characters, they abolished the old Orange Order in 1800, with its ritualistic connections, obliging every Orangeman to rejoin a now simplified new Orange Institution.

Grand Lodges opposition to Royal Arch Purple and Black degrees

1798-1801

1802-1828

1834-1875

1876-1878

1880-1913

1925

Those ritualistic Orangemen inside the Order who bore allegiance to the former neo-Masonic degrees were far from happy at this radical reform. Some continued to practise these illegal degrees in a clandestine manner, in blatant violation of the rules of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland.

Facing strong persecution from a now powerful Grand Lodge and realising their beleaguered position, they merged the three old degrees into one large ritualistic degree. The Arch Purple Chapter’s book ‘History of the Royal Arch Purple Order’ explains: “Sometime between 1800 and 1811, possibly in 1802, a new degree was devised by the Brethren who valued and loved the old traditions and who were concerned by the turn of events” (p. 58). This degree was ” developed from the three pre 1798 ‘old degrees’ ” (p. 59). This elaborate degree became known as the ‘Royal Arch Purple degree’.

Orange degree

Orange Marksman degree – Royal Arch Purple degree

Purple Marksman degree

The Arch Purple Chapter’s book also confirms its composition, how that it was designed to “include as much as possible of the travel and ritual of the original three.”

The draft to the Arch Purple Chapter’s book diplomatically traces the roots of the Royal Arch Purple degree, stating that, “In light of the evidence available it would appear that the degree given today evolved from certain practices which had their origin in the Masonic Order, together with some innovations which had been introduced by those brethren conferring the degree in different areas being added to the original theme of the pre 1800 degrees to form a new ritual.” Even this guarded statement was omitted from the published book!

Nevertheless, in their book ‘The Orange Order: An Evangelical Perspective’ Grand Chaplain of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland (which owns the Royal Arch Purple as its third degree) Rev. Ian Meredith and Irish Arch Purple man Rev. Brian Kennaway comment on the Arch Purple degree. They state, “It has to be admitted that this is the most ‘Masonic-like’ part of our ceremony.” They later describe it as “a Christianised or ‘Reformed Freemasonry’ ” (pp. 12, 25).

From its inception, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland looked upon this neo-Masonic Royal Arch Purple degree with understandable abhorrence. It was viewed as being incompatible with, and contrary to, both Protestantism and Orangeism. Those ritualistic Orangemen who practised the degree were persecuted by Grand Lodge, forcing them to practise the degree in great secrecy for fear of expulsion from the Order. Grand Lodge maintained this position throughout the whole of the 1800s and into the early 20th century. The hard line assumed by the Orange Institution in Ireland mirrored the resolute stance of Orangeism throughout Great Britain.

The history of the Royal Black Institution

The history of the Royal Black degrees

Royal Black Institution, the Crusades and the Jesuits

https://www.evangelicaltruth.com/royal-black-institution-crusades-the-jesuits/

Sacramento County Sheriff's Office

Contact Us

4500 Orange Grove Avenue

Sacramento, CA 95841

Non-Emergency: 916-874-5115

TDD Non-Emergency: 916-874-7128

https://www.sacsheriff.com/pages/contact_us.php

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0qhjviS5soYRyHvWvFSsVMJ6rBfxcVHDyMKidDyWRxsvyembyH7AEyrusBtQUptGpl

Mardi Gras (UK: /ˌmɑːrdi ˈɡrɑː/, US: /ˈmɑːrdi ɡrɑː/;[1][2] also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.[3] Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being the last day of consuming rich, fatty foods, most notably red meat, in preparation for the Christian fasting season of Lent, during which such foods are avoided.[4]

Related popular practices are associated with Carnival celebrations before the fasting and religious obligations associated with the penitential season of Lent. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Mardi Gras is more usually known as Pancake Day or (traditionally) Shrove Tuesday, derived from the word shrive, meaning "to administer the sacrament of confession to; to absolve".[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras

Before the discoveries of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Dagobert's assassination was

regarded as the end of the Merovingian dynasty. At least this is what the Catholic Church wanted

the world to believe. In its place in 754 A.D. Rome established the Carolingian dynasty with

Pepin II. The name "Carolingian" derives from Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, the

61

first designated "Holy Roman Emperor." This title, by virtue of the pact with Clovis three

centuries before, should have been reserved exclusively for the Merovingians.

The authors of Holy Blood discovered, however, that Dagobert's son (Sigisbert IV) by his second

wife had survived. His sister had rescued him and smuggled him southward to the domain of his

mother, the Visigoth princess Giselle de Razes. Arriving in the Lanquedoc (southern France) in

681 A.D., he shortly thereafter inherited his uncle's titles - Duke of Razes and Count of Rhedae.

Sigisbert also adopted the surname "Plant-Ard" (subsequently Plantard), which means "ardently

flowering shoot" of the Merovingian vine. Under this name, and under the titles acquired from

his uncle, he perpetuated his lineage. By 886 A.D. one branch of that lineage culminated in a

certain Bernard Plantavelu (which name is a derivative of Plant-Ard or Plantard), whose son

became the first Duke of Aquitaine.18

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

At the time of his father's death at the Battle of Brissarthe in 866, Odo and his brother Robert were still young, and thus king Charles the Bald appointed Hugh the Abbot (d. 886) to govern over counties previously held by Robert the Strong.[9] Since 882, Odo was the Count of Paris,[10] and gained prominence during the reign of Charles the Fat (884–887).[11]. Odo was also the lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours.[12][13]

In 882 or 883 Odo married Théodrate of Troyes.[14] The eleventh-century chronicler Adémar de Chabannes wrote that they had a son, Arnoul (c.882–898)[citation needed], who died shortly after his father. Guy is named as one of the couple's children in an Alan I's charter dated 28 August 903, but genealogist Christian Settipani has argued that the document is false.[15] The genealogical work Europäische Stammtafeln refers to Raoul as a son of Odo by Théodrate, but its primary source is not known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odo_of_France

AI Overview

Charlemagne and Constantinople | Bridging East and West - mythist

Charlemagne, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, was in direct rivalry with the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople due to his assumption of the imperial title, which was still held by the Byzantine emperor. This led to a "problem of two emperors," where both sides claimed the sole right to the title, resulting in diplomatic strain and rivalry that lasted for centuries. The conflict arose when Charlemagne's imperial coronation occurred while Constantinople's ruler, Empress Irene, was a woman, a fact the Pope and Charlemagne used to justify the transfer of imperial power to the West.  

The Coronation of Charlemagne

The Context: In 797, the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople experienced a crisis when Emperor Constantine VI was overthrown by his mother, Empress Irene.

The Transfer of Power: Pope Leo III, in an act known as translatio imperii, crowned Charlemagne, king of the Franks, as "Emperor of the Romans" on Christmas Day 800 AD.

Justification: The coronation was partly justified by Irene's rule as a woman, which was not accepted in Western Europe. Charlemagne's position was also a strategic move to assert his authority.

The Rivalry with Constantinople

Two Emperors: Charlemagne's coronation created a situation with two claimants to the Roman imperial title, one in the West (Charlemagne) and one in the East (the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople).

Denial of Legitimacy: The Byzantine Empire continued to view the Western imperial title as illegitimate, referring to the Western emperor as the "emperor of the Greeks" or "emperor of the Franks".

Diplomatic Tensions: This dispute over the imperial title soured diplomatic relations and remained a significant factor in the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire for centuries.

Recognition and Outcome

Limited Recognition: While a formal war was not fought over it, the Byzantine emperor eventually recognized Charlemagne as emperor in 812.

A Personal Title: However, this recognition was limited; Charlemagne was acknowledged as an "emperor," but the Byzantine emperor maintained his claim to be the sole legitimate Roman Caesar.

Enduring Rivalry: The rivalry continued even after Charlemagne's death, becoming an important aspect of imperial history until the fall of Constantinople in 1204.

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

The Ottoman Empire[l] (/ˈɒtəmən/ ⓘ), also called the Turkish Empire,[24][25] was an empire[m] that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe, between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.[26][27][28]

The empire emerged from a beylik, or principality, founded in northwestern Anatolia in c. 1299 by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. His successors conquered much of Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans by the mid-14th century, transforming their petty kingdom into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. With its capital at Constantinople and control over a significant portion of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Middle East and Europe for six centuries. Ruling over so many peoples, the empire granted varying levels of autonomy to its many confessional communities, or millets, to manage their own affairs per Islamic law. During the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire became a global power.[29]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire

Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

Ignatius of Loyola: Apostle to the Muslims

Posted on: 26th July 2016  |Author: Damian Howard SJ

Category: The Jesuits

Tags: Feast of St Ignatius, Ignatius, Islam, interreligious, Jesuit history

To educate the youth of Europe? To fight the spread of Protestantism? While many people would guess that one or both of these ambitions drove Ignatius of Loyola to found the Jesuits, he actually had something else in mind: a mission to the Muslim world. For the feast of St Ignatius, Damian Howard SJ considers how ‘Islam haunted Ignatius’s understanding of his calling’ and celebrates the fruitful work of the many Jesuits who have tried to realise Ignatius’s vision in their engagement with Muslims.

Ask the average Catholic why St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus and they will likely say one of two things. First, remembering the Jesuits as bastions of the Counter-Reformation they might assume that Ignatius, militant Catholic that he was, had set out with a dream of a new religious order capable of defeating Protestantism. But whilst it was the case that the Jesuits would be active in efforts to reform the Catholic Church from within and to take on the growing power of Protestant theology and culture as it spread across Europe, this was never Ignatius’s underlying vision. Second, they might suppose that Ignatius had planned from the start a vast network of new schools which would revolutionise education throughout the continent. It’s true that this is indeed what Jesuit schools ended up doing, earning the order’s members the epithet of the ‘schoolmasters of Europe’, but this huge and innovative project came about as the result of a proposal made to Ignatius after he had already become Superior General of the new order; it was never education per se that he saw as its prime mission.

So the following claim may be unexpected: Ignatius’s original apostolic orientation was actually defined in relation to the Muslim world.

This shouldn’t be entirely surprising given the state of Europe at that time in history. Ignatius was born in the Basque country in 1491. Just one year later, the Reconquista reached its conclusion with the Catholic Kings finally ousting the last Muslim rulers from their vestigial Andalusian states, giving Christian princes possession of the whole Iberian Peninsula. The year 1492 was also notable for another major geopolitical event involving Spain: the European discovery of the New World. It was all but impossible to avoid the thought that America was the reward for Spanish triumph against the Moors. Now, the energy which had propelled the Spanish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula would be released outwards; the colonial age of conquest and exploitation was dawning for a new Catholic Spain and it was to be a golden age for Spanish Catholicism. We may rightly harbour ambiguous feelings about this aggressively Christian state but this was a moment when Spanish Catholics must have felt like masters of the world.

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/ignatius-loyola-apostle-muslims

I began by attending Fordham University in the Bronx, mostly because I wanted to be close to home. I got along very well with the Jesuits who ran the school, but after two years, I decided that as long as I had to be in college, I might as well test myself against the best. I applied to the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania and I got in. At the time, if you were going to make a career in business, Wharton was the place to go. Harvard Business School may produce a lot of CEOs—guys who manage public companies— but the real entrepreneurs all seemed to go to Wharton: Saul Steinberg, Leonard Lauder, Ron Perelman—the list goes on and on."

Donald Trump The Art of the Deal

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DLcbnLrl6moQT7nGj1JitG6AiQ6qgK0y/view?usp=sharing

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden

The university has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in red and blue lights.

Author: WNEP Web Staff

Published: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

Updated: 10:52 PM EDT October 19, 2021

SCRANTON, Pa. — In preparation for President Joe Biden's visit, a university lit up their lights in his honor.

The University of Scranton has illuminated its Class of 2020 Gateway in blue and red with the number 46 prominently displayed to welcome the 46th president."

University of Scranton welcomes President Biden | wnep.com

https://www.wnep.com/article/news/local/lackawanna-county/university-of-scranton-welcomes-president-biden-gateway-lights/523-cdba68b1-822b-4747-94be-4cd7e4de9d67

"His son, Hunter Biden, 38, is a longtime federal lobbyist for the Jesuit university located in his father's hometown, Scranton PA. According to federal disclosures, Hunter Biden has been earning about $80,000 a year since 2006 to lobby for this university. Senator Biden himself has lectured at the Jesuit University of Scranton, and received an honorary degree from the same university, in 1976."

Codeword Barbelon

by P.D. Stuart

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Archbasilica_of_Saint_John...

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler

In this German propaganda newsreel, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, meets Hitler for the first time. During the meeting, held in in the Reich chancellery, Hitler declined to grant al-Husayni’s request for a public statement—or a secret but formal treaty—in which Germany would: 1) pledge not to occupy Arab land, 2) recognize Arab striving for independence, and 3) support the “removal” of the proposed Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Führer confirmed that the “struggle against a Jewish homeland in Palestine” would be part of the struggle against the Jews. Hitler stated that: he would “continue the struggle until the complete destruction of Jewish-Communist European empire”; and when the German army was in proximity to the Arab world, Germany would issue “an assurance to the Arab world” that “the hour of liberation was at hand.” It would then be al-Husayni’s “responsibility to unleash the Arab action that he has secretly prepared.” The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/hajj-amin-al-husayni-meets-hitler

CHAPTER SEVEN – SHABTAI, SHIMON AND SHARON – DESTROYING THE JEWS

ALM 1 - THE DEUTSCH DEVILS

Rabbi Marvin Antelman was right all along. Way back in 1974, he identified the source of all the evil against Jews and humanity but his message and style were too unaccessible to get through to anyone but the most advanced students of antisemitism. What he lacked most was simplicity, a common enough failure of thinkers decades in advance of their contemporaries. What he needed was someone to put out a Cliff's Notes simplified explanation of his thesis...and someone, without intention, just did. The name of the book is, 50 Jewish Messiahs by Jerry Rabow (Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem). It is an informative but shallow overview of just what the title says, but in its shallowness lies vital depth. We begin with Chapter 17, about the "most damaging messiah to the Jewish people," Shabbatai Zvi. First we'll read Rabow and then add commentary opening Rabbi Antelman's work to the wide world. Recall that there are various accepted English spellings for Shabtai Tzvi, and the Sabbataians. The spelling presented depends on the writer:

pp 91 - Shabbatai Zvi was born in Smyrna, Turkey on the ninth of Av, 1626. The ninth day of Av is the day of a triple tragedy for the Jewish nation. According to tradition, the First Temple, the Second Temple and Bar Kokhba's Betar fortress all fell on this day.

pp 93 - He changed the holiday celebrations and violated the dietary prohibitions. All of this followed from his declaration that the usual rules were inapplicable to messianic times.

pp 95 - He declared that the coming of the messianic era meant that the biblical commandments were no longer binding. He proclaimed that God now permitted everything. ** This is Rabbi Antelman's central assertion; that Shabbataism was the polar opposite of Judaism. That Shabbatai Zvi's program was to destroy all the tenets of the Torah and replace them with their opposites. Incredibly, more than half the Jews of the world at the time, believed he would be revealed as their promised messiah: **

pp 101 - Then he finally made the announcement for which the Jewish community had been waiting for 1600 years - he would begin the Redemption on the 15th day of the month of Sivan, June 18, 1666. ** There are many who will recognize the significance of the date. June is the sixth month, 18 divided by three is 6+6+6 and 1666 is clear enough. Either he knew what he was doing or the prophesies of the emergence of an evil false messiah or anti-Christ are right, and Shabbatai Zvi was him. **

pp 110 - Through all of this, Shabbatai continued to issue proclamations of the theological changes wrought by the coming of the messianic age. Shabbatai's new prayer was, "Praised be He who permits the forbidden." Since all things would be permitted in the age of the messiah, Shabbatai declared many of the old restrictions of the Torah no longer applicable. He abolished the laws concerning sexual relationships. He eventually declared that all of the thirty six major biblical sins were now permitted and instructed some of his followers that it was their duty to perform such sins in order to hasten the Redemption.

Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust

by Barry Chamish

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66Pc9x2hkIrV2Y3QWxPbkpKYWc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-5ak831cRNQohyyjZYfFKvw

Nova music festival massacre

On 7 October 2023, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist organization Hamas, initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed and many more wounded at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re'im. Hamas also took 40 people hostage, and men and women were reportedly subject to sexual and gender-based violence.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_music_festival_massacre

A nova (pl. novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white dwarfs in close binary systems, but causes of the dramatic appearance of a nova vary, depending on the circumstances of the two progenitor stars. The main sub-classes of novae are classical novae, recurrent novae (RNe), and dwarf novae. They are all considered to be cataclysmic variable stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova

Revelation 16:8

1599 Geneva Bible

8 [a]And the fourth Angel poured out his vial on the sun, and it was given to him to torment men with heat of fire,

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A8-10&version=GNV

SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat. The name "Roadster" refers to the type of car that is used as the payload for the Falcon Heavy, while "SpaceX" is the name of the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

https://theskylive.com/roadster-info

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses (M☉)) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around 5,000 K [K] (4,700 °C; 8,500 °F) or lower. The appearance of the red giant is from yellow-white to reddish-orange, including the spectral types K and M, sometimes G, but also class S stars and most carbon stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant

In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries the gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction

2 Peter 3:10

1599 Geneva Bible

10 [a]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a [b]noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

2 Peter 3:10 A very short description of the least distinction of the world, but in such sort as nothing could be spoken more gravely.

2 Peter 3:10 With the violence as it were of a hissing storm.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A10&version=GNV

Avril Ramona Lavigne CM (/ˈævrɪl ləˈviːn/ AV-ril lə-VEEN; French: [avʁil ʁamɔna laviɲ]; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include ten Juno Awards and eight Grammy Awards nominations.

At age 16, Lavigne signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut album, Let Go (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. It yielded the successful singles "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", which emphasized a skate punk persona and earned her the title "Pop-Punk Queen", "Pop Punk Princess" and "Teen-Pop Slayer" from music publications.[1] Her second album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.

Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing (2007), reached number one in seven countries worldwide and saw the international success of its lead single "Girlfriend", which became her first single to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Her next two albums, Goodbye Lullaby (2011) and Avril Lavigne (2013), saw continued commercial success and were both certified gold in Canada, the United States, and other territories. After releasing her sixth album, Head Above Water (2019), she returned to her pop punk roots with her seventh album, Love Sux (2022).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avril_Lavigne

Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Latin for To the Government of the Church Militant) was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regimini_militantis_Ecclesiae

"The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957[1] and aired December 8 of that year.[2][3] Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.

Its local re-broadcast in 2004[4] and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.[2]

On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight",[5][6] and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

410 §1. As a sign of gratitude and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let that feast be solemnly celebrated; and on that day is to be renewed the consecration by which the Society on January 1, 1872, dedicated and consecrated itself totally and perpetually.

§2. The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be renewed each year on the feast of the Immaculate Heart.[1]

411 The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.[2]

412 §1. All our members should have at heart a shared concern for attracting new members to the Society, especially by prayer and the example of their lives as individuals and in community.[3]

§2. Therefore, we must do everything possible actively to present the Society in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are and what is our distinctive way of proceeding in the following of Christ.[4]

§3. We must also promote vocations as widely as possible, in order to reflect the culture and experience of those we seek to serve, including minority cultures, immigrants, and indigenous people.[5]

413 The Society should always show itself bound to its benefactors in charity and gratitude. Superiors should ensure that prayers are offered for them and other appropriate signs of our gratitude are shown them.[6]

414 In the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute, our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.[ 7]

415 All by earnest reading and meditation (in particular, at the time of the annual Spiritual Exercises, renewal of vows, monthly recollection, beginning of the year, and so forth) should strive ever to know, esteem, and love better our Constitutions and the special nature of our Institute,[ 8] which are to be faithfully observed, and which for each and all of us are the one, true, and safe way that surely leads to the perfection to which our Lord calls and invites all sons of the Society.[9] §2. Major superiors, especially at the time of the annual visitation, should see that this is faithfully observed.

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Trump, Vance meet with Pope Leo's Florida brother, 'a major MAGA fan', at White House

Kim Luciani

USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

May 22, 2025, 12:58 p.m. ET

Key Points AI-assisted summary

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's brother, Louis Prevost, at the White House.

Trump publicly praised Prevost, a Florida resident, for being a "major MAGA fan."

Louis Prevost acknowledged his political views and stated his intention to "tone it down" to avoid causing issues for the pope.

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's Florida brother Louis Prevost at the White House on May 20, after praising Prevost to reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day, calling him a "major MAGA fan."

Trump told reporters he likes the pope and both of his brothers, but spotlighted the eldest brother, Navy veteran and Port Charlotte resident Louis Prevost.

"I like the new pope and I like the pope's brother. You know, one of the pope's brothers – actually both of them – but one in particular is a major MAGA fan. Did you know that? He lives in Florida," Trump said.

"And I look forward to getting him to the White House. I want to shake his hand, I want to give him a big hug."

Later that day, the White House visit happened. Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah met with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.

"Great meeting between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and @Pontifex’s brother, Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah," Special Assistant to the President and Communications Advisor Margo Martin posted on X, along with a photo of the meeting.

Louis Prevost excited and happy about brother Pope Leo XVI's papacy

The Prevost brothers — Louis, John and Robert (Pope Leo XIV) — grew up in Chicago in a traditional Catholic family.

Louis Prevost said his youngest brother Robert wanted to "play priest" when he was 6 and set his sights on the priesthood as a freshman in high school. Their parents, neighbors and even strangers told Robert, "You're going to be pope someday," he said.

Robert Prevost's election as Pope Leo XIV left Louis Prevost excited, happy, mind blown and a little worried about how the papacy would impact their relationship.

“I just freaked out and said ‘It’s Rob, OMG.’ I was up, dressed, out, just going nuts,” he told WBBH.

“We can only hope that we can maintain that closeness, and we don't do anything to embarrass him,” he said.

Louis Prevost attended Pope Leo's inaugural mass at the Vatican on May 18. The brothers shared a hug after the service.

Pope Leo's Florida brother Louis Prevost is a MAGA, Trump supporter

Trump told reporters Louis Prevost is a "major MAGA fan."

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Louis Prevost said, "I don’t want to create waves that don’t need to be there because I’m a MAGA type and I have my beliefs,” he said. “I don’t need to create heat for him. He’s going to have enough to handle as it is without the press going ‘the pope’s brother says this.’ He doesn’t need that.”

Asked about his reposts of controversial social media memes, including one calling Nancy Pelosi a drunk (expletive), and how they might affect the pope, Louis Prevost said he will "tone it down."

"He knows I am who I am," he said of the pope. "He's well aware of my position. He knows I'm probably not going to change and I don't think I will, other than to, just like you say, tone it down."

Contributing: Melissa Pérez-Carrillo, Herald-Tribune, Ashley Ferrer, USA TODAY Network-Florida

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2025/05/22/trump-pope-leo-florida-maga-brother-louis-prevost-white-house-visit/83773944007/

All historians acknowledge the ascendancy of the popes began in 308 A.D., when King Clovis of the Salian or Merovingian Franks (later France), won the decisive battle in the Catholic and Arian religious war, thereby settling the dispute in favor of the Catholics. But the popes' temporal reign officially began in the year 538 A.D. when Roman Emperor Justinian subdued the last of the three kingdoms, or "horns," that opposed the rise of the Papacy."

-page 137

Chapter 19 "Exposed (Again): 1260 Years of World Domination

Codeword Barbelon book 2

by P.D. Stuart

Clovis is the modern conventional French (and thence English) form of the Old Frankish name ᚺᛚᛟᛞᛟᚹᛁᚷ (in runic alphabet) or *"Hlōdowik" or "Hlōdowig" (in Latin alphabet), equivalent to the modern forms Louis (French), Lodewijk (Dutch), Lewis (English), and Ludwig (German).

Etymology

The name *Hlōdowik or *Hlōdowig is traditionally considered to be composed of two elements, deriving from both Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz ("loud, famous") and *wiganą ("to battle, to fight") respectively, resulting in the traditional practice of translating Clovis' name as meaning "famous warrior".

However, scholars have pointed out that Gregory of Tours consequently transcribes the names of various Merovingian royal names containing the first element as chlodo-. The use of a close-mid back protruded vowel (o), rather than the expected close back rounded vowel (u) which Gregory does use in various other Germanic names (i.e. Fredegundis, Arnulfus, Gundobadus, etc.) opens up the possibility that the first element instead derives from Proto-Germanic *hlutą ("lot, share, portion"), giving the meaning of the name as "loot bringer" or "plunder (bringing) warrior". This hypothesis is supported by the fact that if the first element is taken to mean "famous", then the name of Chlodomer (one of Clovis' sons) would contain two elements (*hlūdaz and *mērijaz) both meaning "famous", which would be highly uncommon within the typical Germanic name structure.[1][2]

Frankish royalty

Clovis I (c. 466 – 511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler

Clovis II (637 – c. 658), king of Neustria and Burgundy

Clovis III (reigned 675–676), the king of Austrasia

Clovis IV (682–695), the sole king of the Franks from 691 until 695

Clovis (died 580), son of Chilperic I and Audovera, assassinated by his father and stepmother

Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, King of Aquitaine from 781 and sole ruler of the Franks 814–840, but counted as "Louis I of France" even though West Francia (the nucleus of the later kingdom of France) was formed only after his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_(given_name)

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

Archeparch

A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected Sako Archeparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002. Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk, André Sana.[8]

In August 2009, and at the beginning of Ramadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives of Ali Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

Marduk (/ˈmɑːrdʊk/;[2] cuneiform: 𒀭𒀫𒌓 dAMAR.UTU; Sumerian: amar utu.k "calf of the sun; solar calf"; Hebrew: מְרֹדַךְ, Modern: Merōdaḵ, Tiberian: Mərōḏaḵ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In Babylon, Marduk was worshipped in the temple Esagila. His symbol is the spade and he is associated with the Mušḫuššu.[3]

By the 1st millennium BC, Marduk had become astrologically associated with the planet Jupiter. He was a prominent figure in Babylonian cosmology, especially in the Enūma Eliš creation myth.

Name

The name of Marduk was solely spelled as dAMAR.UTU in the Old Babylonian Period, although other spellings such as MES and dŠA.ZU were also in use since the Kassite Period. In the 1st millennium BC, the ideograms dŠU and KU were regularly used.[4] The logogram for Adad is also occasionally used to spell Marduk.[5]

Texts from the Old Babylonian period support the pronunciation Marutu or Marutuk, with the shortened spelling Martuk or Marduk attested starting from the Kassite period. His name in Hebrew, Merodak, supports the longer version,[6] and First Millennium Assyrian and Babylonian texts employ the long spelling when the circumstances call for the precise form of the name.[7] The personal name Martuku is not to be confused with the god Marduk.[8] Marduk was commonly called Bēl (lord) in the First Millennium BC.[9]

The etymology for the name Marduk is generally understood to be derived from damar-utu-(a)k, meaning "bull-calf of Utu".[7] Sommerfield suggests this is used to explain the name Marduk in the Enuma Elish as "He is the 'son of the sun[a]' of the gods, radiant is he."[11] While the name may suggest a relationship with Shamash, Marduk has no genealogy with the sun god.[12] However, Babylon was closely associated with the city of Sippar in this period, which may have been the reason for the name.[13]

History

3rd millennium BC

Marduk, along with the city of Babylon, was unimportant[14] and sparsely attested in the 3rd millennium BC. The earliest mention of Marduk comes from a fragmentary inscription, most likely dating to the Early Dynastic II period (ED II). It is left by an unnamed ruler of the city of BAR.KI.BAR (likely Babylon[15]) who constructed a temple for Marduk.[16] A text from the Fara period (ED IIIa) seems to mention Marduk without the divine determinative, and a fragment of a contemporary god list from Abu Salabikh contains dutu-ama[r], likely Marduk written with reversed sign order.[17] A dubious reference to Marduk from the subsequent Ur III period comes from the possible personal name "Amar-Sin is the star of Marduk",[18] although Johandi suggests that the god Martu who appeared together with Enki and Damgalnuna in the Ur III period could possibly refer instead to the similarly named Marduk who is otherwise missing in Ur III documentation, as Martu is later attested to have a different parentage (Anu and Urash) and Marduk is later considered the son of Enki/Ea.[19] If so, this could be evidence that Marduk was already part of the pantheon of Eridu during the Ur III period.

Old Babylonian period

Main article: Old Babylonian period

During the First Dynasty of Babylon under the king Sumu-la-El, Marduk appeared in oaths and several year names,[20] namely year name 22, which recorded fashioning a throne for Marduk, and year name 24, which recorded making a statue for the goddess Zarpanitum, his spouse.[21] Marduk also started to appear in theophoric names, which would become more frequent in the following decades but would remain rare, appearing in less than 1% of names, although it would grow to 1-2% under Hammurabi.[22] During the reigns of Sabium, Apil-Sin and Sin-muballit, Marduk started to be mentioned outside of the city of Babylon and was invoked alongside local gods in cities subject to the Babylonian kings.[23] Starting from the reign of Hammurabi, sanctuaries to Marduk were found in other cities.[24]

In the Old Babylonian Period, while Marduk is acknowledged to be the ruler of the people,[25] there is no evidence that Hammurabi or his successors promoted Marduk at the expense of other gods.[26] Enlil was still recognized as the highest authority, and Marduk was far from being the pantheon head,[27] instead appearing to be a mediator between the great gods and Hammurabi.[28] This is also expressed in inscriptions from Hammurabi's successor Samsu-iluna, expressing that he receives Enlil's orders through the other gods, such as Ishtar, Zababa, Shamash and of course Marduk.[29]

A key development during the Old Babylonian period was the association of Marduk with the pantheon of Eridu. Marduk was syncretized with Asalluhi in the later half of the Old Babylonian period, and the opening of the Code of Hammurabi identify Ea as the father of Marduk,[30] a genealogy that would remain canonical. God lists from the Old Babylonian period sometimes place him within the circle of Enki.[31] TCL 15 10 lists Asalluhi and Marduk as separate gods, but close together in the list. Lambert suggests that this may be an intrusion by another scribe, and that the editor scribe did so under the belief that Marduk and Asalluhi were the same god.[31] Johandi on the other hand suggests that Marduk and Asalluhi were not seen as the same god, but were viewed to be related to one another.[32] The Nippur God List also lists Asalluhi and Marduk separately, with Marduk appearing seventy names before Asalluhi.[33] In the Weidner god list, however, it appears that Marduk and Asalluhi were viewed as the same god.[34]

According to the Marduk prophecy and inscriptions of Agum II, the statue of Marduk and Zarpanitum were removed from Babylon by Mursili I during his raid on Babylon (middle chronology 1595 BC), which was returned during the reign of Agum II.[35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marduk

In Memphis, where people fear Elon Musk’s supercomputer is making them ill

Colossus, an xAI computer facility, is blamed for worsening air pollution in a historic black community

Batsell Booker in front of his home.

Batsell Booker, whose daughter is recovering from cancer, said Musk’s operation brought more pollution to an already polluted area

KAREN PULFER FOCHT FOR THE TIMES

George Grylls

, Memphis

Friday November 28 2025, 1.10pm GMT, The Times

On the banks of the Mississippi, a sulfurous stench hits the back of the throat near Elon Musk’s Colossus, the largest artificial intelligence supercomputer in the world.

Housed in a warehouse guarded by CCTV cameras and an imposing fence, with a row of Tesla cybertrucks parked outside, Colossus is named after a 1970 dystopian film about a computer that seizes control of the United States nuclear codes and enslaves humanity.

Inside, hundreds of thousands of processing units, the systems used to power AI, are whirring away on neatly stacked shelves to produce Grok, a chatbot which Musk hopes will soon overtake ChatGPT as the most advanced large language model.

Early versions of Grok have had troubling issues, parroting racist language from social media and praising Adolf Hitler. The chatbot’s successes include the creation of an anime-style girlfriend named Ani, designed to chat to lonely men.

When completed, Colossus will require 1.1 gigawatts of power, about 40 per cent of the energy consumption of Memphis on an average summer’s day. It will pump one million gallons of water, equivalent to one and a half Olympic-sized swimming pools, to cool its processors each day.

Elon Musk in a dark blue jacket and white shirt, looking to the right with arms crossed, against a clear blue sky.

Elon Musk has planned a second AI supercomputer to be built about 6 miles to the west of the current Colossus

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Although these statistics seem extraordinary, what is happening in south Memphis is a vision of America’s economic future.

Despite fears of a 2008-style financial crash, investors are pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into AI, and big tech tycoons are competing to build data centres at a frenetic pace across the country.

It was after the release of ChatGPT in 2022 that Musk, 54, realised the OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman, his former friend turned competitor, had stolen a march in the AI race.

• Does the world really want what Sam Altman is selling?

Desperate to catch up, Musk created xAI and looked for a city in need of investment. He chose Memphis, whose authorities were willing to waive planning regulations to help him build his supercomputer. In just 122 days he turned a former appliance factory into Colossus.

Construction of the Colossus supercomputer with a yellow crane, electrical infrastructure, and an orange lift behind a chain-link fence.

The site of Colossus

KAREN PULFER FOCHT FOR THE TIMES

In Boxtown, a 90 per cent black neighbourhood first settled by freed slaves in 1863, residents believe the fumes from Colossus, about a mile away, have made a polluted suburb even more noxious.

The surrounding forest has turned shades of saffron and pumpkin, yet these days Sarah Gladney, 71, seldom opens her windows and she has given up on her daily constitutionals.

“Prior to xAI, we were dealing with more of a waste smell. Like poop,” Gladney, a retired postal worker, said. “This is more like a chemical-type smell.”

Sarah Gladney opening her front door to speak about the Colossus supercomputer, with a political sign for "Justin J. Pearson U.S. Congress" on her storm door.

Sarah Gladney asked Grok when xAI would invest in the community

KAREN PULFER FOCHT FOR THE TIMES

• Louisa Clarence-Smith: Americans are fighting back against data centres and Big Tech

Each question posed to an AI chatbot such as Grok requires far more power than an ordinary Google search — possibly up to ten times more.

When the Memphis grid was unable to offer sufficient power for Colossus to churn out chatbot responses, Musk installed 35 methane gas turbines for his data centre.

While Shelby County has recorded the dirtiest air in Tennessee for many years — half the state’s admissions for childhood asthma come from there — local residents say the arrival of Colossus has made things worse.

WillieJoe Stafford in a field with trees, a fence, and houses in the background.

Willie Joe Stratford at the home in which he was born. He blames pollution from Musk’s AI for his ailments

KAREN PULFER FOCHT FOR THE TIMES

Willie Joe Stafford, 81, a retired Boxtown resident who used to work in the city’s transport department, explained his conviction that the mucus he now regularly coughed up was a result of the xAI pollution in Boxtown. To illustrate the ill effects, he turned on his cold water tap to show a slow trickle falling into his sink, blaming the pathetic flow on the insatiable thirst of Colossus.

“The people who live round here are blacks,” Stratford said. “So they think they can do what they want. Why did Musk pick this area down here to put that computer thing that ain’t nobody down here need?”

Batsell Booker, 66, has a daughter who is recovering from cancer. Boxtown has abnormally high rates of the disease.

“We have to put our lungs up in exchange for profit. It’s just not fair, it’s not morally right. I’m all for technology. My grandson works in cybersecurity. My battle is over them bringing more pollution into a small already polluted black neighbourhood,” he said.

Musk has promised not to drain the city’s aquifer and has committed to building an $80 million wastewater plant, an investment that residents have long been campaigning for.

The hope is that Musk’s spending will spur further economic growth in a city with the second highest poverty rate in the US, even though no one is expecting Colossus to create many jobs.

“I think it was understood early on that this wasn’t going to be an operation that would be a large producer of jobs,” John Zeanah, the city’s chief of development and infrastructure, said. “My recollection is that it was somewhere between 200 and 300 that they were anticipating.”

The pace of the construction is unrelenting and a few miles inland from Colossus, just south of Elvis Presley’s Graceland, Musk is well under way with the construction of a larger data centre, Colossus 2.

When the Times approached xAI for comment to ask about Memphis residents’ concerns about the effects on air quality, Musk’s company gave a three-word response: “Legacy media lies.”

Frustrated by the lack of answers, some residents have turned to Musk’s own chatbot for a response. On a rainy day in November, Gladney asked Grok: “When will xAI invest some money in the Boxtown community?”

After a few seconds of computing, Grok produced a small essay with a devastating conclusion. “There is no public announcement or evidence that xAI plans to make direct investments or financial contributions specifically into the Boxtown community in Memphis, Tennessee,” it said.

Illustration of hands holding a smartphone displaying the Grok logo.

RAFAEL HENRIQUE/SOPA IMAGES/SHUTTERSTOCK/REX

Laudable though it may be for its self-awareness, Grok’s response was not quite correct.

The city, which has been supportive of Musk’s plans, has collected $13 million in taxes from Colossus in its first year of its operation, a quarter of which has been ring-fenced for community projects in Boxtown.

“They are the largest taxpayer now in the city and the county,” Zeanah said.

Residents’ claims about the pollution are also disputed. While Colossus did install 35 turbines at one stage, xAI has reduced that figure to less than half that number and Musk only has plans to have 15 permanently installed. A University of Memphis study found that the amount of formaldehyde and nitrogen dioxide emitted from xAI’s turbines fell below the national standard, although campaigners dismissed that investigation and installed their own pollutant monitors to collect data for a separate study.

“I’ve never used Grok and never will,” said Justin Pearson, 31, the state representative for Tennessee’s 86th district. “And to people who do, I remind them, that’s my air.”

Rep. Justin Pearson sitting in front of a bookshelf with his hands clasped.

Justin Pearson, a Democratic member of the Tennessee House of Representatives

KAREN PULFER FOCHT FOR THE TIMES

A Democrat, Pearson and his brother, Keshaun, have led the protests against Colossus. At the risk of appearing like Luddites, the brothers want to hold back the tide of AI investment in Memphis, challenging Silicon Valley’s mantra that entrepreneurs must “move fast and break things”.

“What happens when what’s being broken are people?” Justin said at his home in south Memphis, batting away the attentions of his two Maltese dogs. “There’s a cost to using this technology. Anytime I’ve used ChatGPT I’ve thought about the environmental effect … There’s a question. Do you really need it? More times than not, no I don’t. I’ve got lots of books, I’ve got lots of people. Google still works and so do conversations with folks to figure out answers to things.”

On Pearson’s bookshelves are volumes of black history. In Memphis, the city where Martin Luther King was assassinated, many residents believe their battle with Musk is a continuation of 1950s and 1960s civil rights struggles.

“If the headquarters is in Seattle, in Silicon Valley and in Los Angeles, what part have we got? We’ve got the hindquarters,” Pearson said. “So give us the headquarters. Give us that level of investment that helps to transform our community. Hire people in this city.”

https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-today/article/grok-elon-musk-ai-memphis-super-computers-ppv9vpk8s

Elon Musk: “We’re going straight to Mars. The Moon is a distraction.”

Eric Berger – Jan 3, 2025 9:28 AM |  1.1k

Although SpaceX founder Elon Musk is known for outspokenness and controversial comments on his social media site X, he has been relatively restrained when it comes to US space policy in recent years.

https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/01/elon-musk-were-going-straight-to-mars-the-moon-is-a-distraction/

In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Mars (Latin: Mārs, pronounced [maːrs])[4] is the god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome.[5] He is the son of Jupiter and Juno, and was pre-eminent among the Roman army's military gods. Most of his festivals were held in March, the month named for him (Latin Martius), and in October, the months which traditionally began and ended the season for both military campaigning and farming.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_(mythology)

Mar Raphael I Bidawid (Syriac: ܪܘܦܐܝܠ ܩܕܡܝܐ ܒܝܬ ܕܘܝܕ, Arabic مار روفائيل الاول بيداويد) (April 17, 1922 – July 7, 2003) was the Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 1989–2003. He was also a Syriac scholar.

Life

He was born on April 17, 1922, in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul into an ethnic Assyrian family, and took his school and seminar training in Mosul. He was ordained a priest on October 22, 1944 in Rome and in 1946 he obtained the academic degrees of doctor of philosophy and theology. Between 1948 and 1956, he worked as a professor of philosophy and theology in Mosul. On October 6, 1957, at the age of 35, he was ordained Bishop of Amadiya, by Patriarch Yousef VII Ghanima,[1] becoming the youngest Catholic bishop in the world.[2] As bishop of Amadiya he experienced the mass exodus of Christians from Iraq. Mar Raphael Bidawid was then appointed bishop of Beirut, Lebanon in 1966 and served in this capacity for 23 years.

On March 21, 1989 Raphael I Bidawid was elected Patriarch of Babylon, head of the Chaldean Catholic Church. His election was confirmed by Pope John Paul II in June of 1989. During his patriarchate, in agreement with the Chaldean Synod, he established The Pontifical Babel College for Philosophy and Theology in 1991. The Babel College is situated in Baghdad, Dora, El-Mekaniek, next to St. Peter Chaldean Seminary. The Babel College became an instrumental educational institution for the Chaldean Catholic Church.[3][4] Patriarch Bidawid could speak 13 languages. He died in Beirut, Lebanon, on July 7, 2003, at the age of 81.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_I_Bidawid

Pope John Paul II[b] (born Karol Józef Wojtyła;[c] 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history, after Pius IX and St. Peter.[d]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_John_Paul_II

The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious till the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Name

The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'freeman'.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty

Theologian: John Paul II wanted to show respect by kissing the Koran

Bonn - John Paul II kissed the Koran as a gesture of respect. The picture went around the world. In an interview with katholisch.de, Islamic scholar Felix Körner talks about the sign of the Polish head of the Church and looks at the following pontificates.

Published  on 14.05.2024 at 00:01  – by Mario Trifunovic

The picture of 14 May 1999 of Pope John Paul II kissing the Koran went around the world and sparked discussions within the Church. At that time, the Polish Pope received a Muslim delegation of Shiites and Sunnis as well as the Chairman of the Iranian Ministry of Religion in the Vatican. Among them was the then Archbishop of Baghdad, Raphael I. Bidawid. The Polish church leader received a copy of the Koran as a gift from the Muslim visitors. As a sign of respect, John Paul II kissed the book, which is sacred to Muslims. In an interview with katholisch.de, the Islam expert and Jesuit Felix Körner talks about the gesture 25 years ago and takes a look at the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis.

Question: Mr Körner, it is now 25 years since John Paul II kissed the Koran. Why was this event so controversial?

Körner: Behind it was the big theological question: what is the Koran for us? For in Christ are hidden all the treasures of knowledge. That's what it says in Colossians. But for the Koran, Jesus is just one of many prophets. So if the Pope kisses the Koran, does that mean that the Catholic Church no longer sees Jesus as the all-important Saviour? Of course not! The dispute about the kiss only arises if you want to misunderstand John Paul II.

Question: What was the significance of this gesture? Does it still have an effect on the dialogue between Christians and Muslims?

Körner: What did the Pope want to say with it in 1999? Firstly, that he was happy about the gift; and secondly, that he respects the faith of others. In other words, a gesture that was completely in line with the Second Vatican Council. And it went even further: Benedict XVI prayed in the Blue Mosque in Istanbul. No press spokesperson said afterwards that it was a silent meditation. Benedict prayed in the mosque and Francis said to the Muslim guests: "Pray for me. In an atmosphere like this, we can also say clearly today where we disagree, what we expect from each other - and how we can work together.

Question: Have there been similar actions, whether by John Paul II or his predecessors?

Körner: Yes, there certainly were. As Apostolic Envoy to Turkey, John XXIII already made the Muslims feel that he liked them. Then Paul VI - he introduced the word dialogue into the vocabulary of the Church, also for Islamic-Christian relations. John Paul II later brought real experts on Islam into the dialogue council. Networks were established, texts written - the 1984 document "Dialogue and Mission" was already outstanding. And John Paul II himself then in his encyclical "Redemptoris missio" that the Holy Spirit also touches cultures and religions. In doing so, he opened doors.

Bild: ©KNA/Stefano dal Pozzolo/Romano Siciliani

The Jesuit Felix Körner is Professor of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He is considered one of the Catholic Church's best experts on Islam.

Question: What was the headwind like in this regard?

Körner: Sometimes the headwind seemed to slam the doors of dialogue shut again. But now there are the texts, the relationships and above all the institutions - and ever more courageous signs. In the Holy Year 2000, we saw the Pope praying in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. At the time, his press spokesman said he had to deny it afterwards, saying it was just a moment of quiet meditation.

Question: Fundamentalist Christians criticised John Paul II for his gesture. Some said at the time that he was confirming the Islamic faith. What can be said in response?

Körner: There are fundamentalists on all sides, because they want to establish a firm identity for themselves. The Christian faith is much more exciting. You can always discover something new there! If you look into the world with the gospel, you can see how the kingdom of God is already growing, how the spirit of Christ is already at work. When I say that I see the good in you, your faithfulness, your seriousness, I am not saying that I am adopting your view. Sometimes we agree to disagree. But there are things that we find exemplary in each other, and in the end we learn from each other.

Question: Benedict XVI was criticised for his Regensburg speech, while Francis was criticised for the Abu Dhabi document on brotherhood between people, which he signed in 2019 together with Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Sheikh of Azar University and therefore one of the most respected representatives of Sunni Islam. What is the current mood on both sides?

Körner: I am interested in the arguments of the critics. Those who are worried are often right, because there is cause for concern. But the crucial question is not how bad it is, but what we do now. After Regensburg, we have started a new, serious series of Christian-Islamic encounters. This has become theologically serious. There are now even Islamic theology programmes at German universities. I have respectful and curious encounters with students and colleagues on an almost daily basis. You can also bear witness to your own faith.

Joint declaration by Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmad Mohammad Al-Tayyeb

Bild: ©picture alliance/AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmad Mohammad Al-Tayyeb sign a joint declaration on "Human Fraternity" on 4 February 2019.

Question: The so-called Abu Dhabi Document provided a new impetus in the Church's dialogue with Islam. How did this come about?

Körner: The document is also based on the Second Vatican Council. There it said: We condemn all discrimination based on skin colour or religion. In 2019, it now said: Differences are willed by God. In the case of religious differences, this means that if the other person believes differently, then the encounter can also be purifying and enriching for me - and that is God's will.

Question: Francis has been sharply criticised for this God-ordained pluralism. Why?

Körner: Well, almost everything a pope does gets a shitstorm, including a Catholic one. Good theology helps here too. The question behind such voices is usually whether the Gospel is still really being emphasised. And we can use it to make that clear. In any case, these gestures are a testimony to the Gospel.

„Wir haben nach Regensburg eine neue, ernsthafte Reihe christlich-islamischer Begegnungen begonnen. Das ist theologisch seriös geworden.“

—  Zitat: Jesuit und Islamkenner Felix Körner zum interreligiösen Dialog

Question: In what way do these gestures serve to clarify?

Körner: Pope Francis aptly said in the programmatic letter "Evangelii gaudium" at the beginning of his pontificate: evangelising means making the kingdom of God present in the world. When people come closer to God and to one another, then what the Good News of Jesus promises happens: then God's kingdom grows among us. A sign of this can also be a courageous word of fraternity, or a respectful kiss on a book that is sacred to Muslims and which they present to a pope.

Question: In your opinion, what else should Francis do to advance the dialogue?

Körner: Francis knows that Christian-Islamic dialogue is not about agreement on matters of faith. Rather, he is talking about the courage to be different and to deal with each other as people of different religions. He is now moving from friendship to institutions, from the atmospheric to the legal. Because living in dialogue also requires political freedom.

by Mario Trifunovic

https://english.katholisch.de/artikel/53269-theologian-john-paul-ii-wanted-to-show-respect-by-kissing-the-koran

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02aqrSiXBFqbefdHAQDif5tcThiiVx5mm3XpeF5VfqCTWtDhGiMCjhW36cb61KZSKYl

KTVN 2 News

Tuesday, December 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM

CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING: 

Silver Belle is now lit for everyone to see... and local 4th grader Grady got to flip the switch! 

Click the link in the comments to watch today's ceremony!

https://www.facebook.com/KTVN2/posts/pfbid0hJt6jhqVHo7CShDUcmYb9VX1agy2wMeC9fYgzG2QJWXZjc7wrpiWZrBWgcrYCo1ml

The Mystery of the Pope's Stone

Washington, D.C.

By Ariel Veroske

Published July 16, 2013

Updated March 3, 2021

View inside Washington Monument. (Source: National Park Service)

A few commemorative stones on the 160-ft. level inside the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, the Pope's Stone never got to make it's debut. (Photo source: National Park Service)

On the evening of March 5, 1854, nine men associated with the Know-Nothing party snuck up to the base of the Washington Monument and made off with a rather hefty hunk of stone. The men carried the stone to a boat waiting on the tidal basin, smashed it into pieces and dumped it in the middle of the Potomac.

You may be curious as to why they (or we!) were interested in an old — and probably really heavy — rock. Where exactly did this stone come from and why was it such a big deal when it was stolen and destroyed? Maybe it was the fact that it came from the Pope... Just a guess.

In 1833, the Washington National Monument Society put out a call for donations, either in money or stones, to aid in the building and decorating of the upcoming monument. “The request produced an odd assortment of almost 200 memorial stones that now adorn the inside walls of the monument for 400 of its 555 feet.”[1]

One of the most unique stones came to be known as the Pope’s Stone, a gift from Pope Pius IX and the Vatican. The three-foot slab of “costly variegated marbles” was originally from ruins of the Temple of Concord in Rome, built in 366 B.C. Engraved on the face of the stone were the words “From Rome.” This wasn’t your average rock.[2]

That’s probably why flocks of people were seen searching for fragments of the stone on the banks of the Potomac in the days after the heist. According to one account, “Five dollars an inch was offered for pieces of the genuine.”[3] There was also a $500 reward for information about the perpetrators.[4]

But, despite these incentives, no one was ever convicted of the crime. It would be almost 30 years before the story came out and even then there was a realm of secrecy. Perhaps that’s not too surprising considering the Know-Nothings were known for being very secretive in addition to being anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic.

In 1883, a man known only as "the saloon keeper" came forward to The Washington Post and described what happened to the stone.

Nine of us did the job on Sunday night, the 5th of March, 1854. We attended a meeting of the Know-nothing order, to which we all belonged, on the Tuesday night previous at Thorn’s hall, next door to the Odd Fellows hall on Seventh Street. There was a good deal of speaking going on about the shame of having a stone from any king or potentate inserted in the monument of a man who had found against royal tyranny, and finally it was agreed that nine men should be selected by lot to destroy the stone.

He detailed how the men had tied up the night watchman at gunpoint, rolled the stone to the river, and at the sight of a red lantern signal from co-conspirators stationed on the Long Bridge, pushed it over the side of the boat. The saloon keeper also mentioned that on the way to the river, many of the men had broken off small chunks of the stone to keep as prizes. “That’s the true story of the whole transaction,” he boasted and predicted that “if the dredges at work in the Potomac strike the right spot, they will fish up some thing that will create a sensation.”[5]

True to the saloon keeper’s word, the famous rock turned up in 1892 while divers were digging holes for new piers for Long Bridge. On his third trip down that day, diver Harry Edwards uncovered an interesting chunk of stone which he described as “a sharply cut and beautifully polished piece of variegated marble, striated in veins of pink and white.” He noticed a deep Gothic engraving, of which he could make out the letters “Ro- t- merica.” It was almost certainly the Pope’s Stone![6]

That would’ve made a tidy end to the story except that the stone, which authorities set aside for “safe keeping,” was stolen again a few days later.[7] Would it ever resurface again?

In 1972, a woman came forward with a unique donation to the Smithsonian. It was an 18-inch marble obelisk, supposedly carved from a fragment of the Pope’s Stone. Could it really be authentic? No one was quite sure, but the Smithsonian put it on display anyway.

A Roma Americae stone. (Source: National Park Service)

The replacement Pope's Stone, located on the 340-ft. level. (Photo Source: National Park Service)

The donor, Kathryn Wells, reported that she had kept the obelisk hidden in her closet for 60 years after receiving it as a gift from Joseph A. Ridgway, one of her neighbors in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. According to Wells, Ridgway (who, by the way, was a saloon keeper, himself) had received the obelisk from his brother who was supposedly one of the nine Know-Nothings who carried out the Pope’s Stone heist in 1854.

Hmmm… interesting.

At any rate, a new “Pope’s Stone” was commissioned by a priest in Spokane, Washington and installed in the monument by the National Park Service in 1982. Although it’s not the original, it’s a good stand-in and reminder of the mysterious mayhem, which began in 1854.[8]

Footnotes

^ Hodge, Paul. "Pope’s Stone Mystery: Is The Evidence in Smithsonian?." The Washington Post, June 1, 1978.

^ Ibid.

^ Jacob, Judith M. National Park Service-U.S. Department of Interior, "The Washington Monument: A Technical History and Catalog of the Commemorative Stones." p. 222 Last modified 2005. Accessed July 16, 2013.

^ "The Pope’s Stone: How the Pontiff’s Gift was Stolen and Sunk in the Potomac." The Washington Post, September 30, 1883.

^ Ibid.

^ "Romance on the River: The Potomac Gives Up Its Long Hidden Secrets." The Washington Post, June 19, 1892.

^ "Stole the Pope’s Stone: The Mysterious Tablet Disappears a Second Time." The Washington Post, June 21, 1892.

^ Jacob, Judith M. National Park Service-U.S. Department of Interior, "The Washington Monument: A Technical History and Catalog of the Commemorative Stones." p. 16 Last modified 2005. Accessed July 16, 2013.

https://boundarystones.weta.org/2013/07/16/mystery-popes-stone

Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun[1] (US: /ˈvɜːrnər vɒn ˈbraʊn/ VUR-nər von BROWN;[4] German: [ˈvɛʁnheːɐ̯ fɔn ˈbʁaʊn]; 23 March 1912 – 16 June 1977) was a German-American aerospace engineer[1] and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and later the Allgemeine SS which supported his rocket work. He became the leading figure in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany, and later a pioneer of rocket and space technology in the US.[5]

As a young man, von Braun worked in Nazi Germany's rocket development program. He helped design and co-developed the V-2 rocket at Peenemünde Army Research Center during World War II. The V-2 became the first object to travel rapidly from ground level to the higher atmosphere on 20 June 1944.

Following the war, he was moved to the United States, along with about 1,600 other German scientists, engineers, and technicians, as part of Operation Paperclip.[6] He worked for the United States Army on an intermediate-range ballistic missile program, and he developed the rockets that launched the United States' first space satellite Explorer 1 in 1958. He worked with Walt Disney on a series of films, which popularized the idea of human space travel in the US and beyond from 1955 to 1957.[7]

In 1960, his group was assimilated into NASA, where he served as director of the newly formed Marshall Space Flight Center and as the chief architect of the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.[8][9] In 1967, von Braun was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering, and in 1975, he received the National Medal of Science.

Von Braun is seen by some as escaping justice for his awareness of Nazi war crimes due to the Americans' desire to beat the Soviets in the Cold War.[10][11][5] He is also sometimes described by others as the "father of space travel",[12] the "father of rocket science",[13] or the "father of the American lunar program".[10] Towards the end of his career, he also advocated a human mission to Mars.

Early life

Wernher von Braun was born on 23 March 1912, in the small town of Wirsitz in the Province of Posen, Kingdom of Prussia (then part of the German Empire, now part of Poland).[14]

His father, Magnus Freiherr von Braun (1878–1972), was a civil servant and conservative politician; he served as Minister of Agriculture in the federal government during the Weimar Republic. His mother, Emmy von Quistorp (1886–1959), traced her ancestry through both parents to medieval European royalty and was a descendant of Philip III of France, Valdemar I of Denmark, Robert III of Scotland, and Edward III of England.[15][16] He had an older brother, the West German diplomat Sigismund von Braun, who served as Secretary of State in the Foreign Office in the 1970s, and a younger brother, Magnus von Braun, who was a rocket scientist and later a senior executive with Chrysler.[17]

The family moved to Berlin, Brandenburg, in 1915, where his father worked at the Ministry of the Interior. After his Confirmation, his mother gave him a telescope, and he developed a passion for astronomy.[18] Von Braun learned to play both the cello and the piano at an early age and at one time wanted to become a composer. He took lessons from the composer Paul Hindemith. The few pieces of von Braun's youthful compositions that exist are reminiscent of Hindemith's style.[19]: 11  He could play piano pieces of Beethoven and Bach from memory. Beginning in 1925, he attended a boarding school at Ettersburg Castle near Weimar, Free State of Thuringia, where he did not do well in physics and mathematics. There he acquired a copy of Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (1923, By Rocket into Planetary Space)[20] by rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth. In 1928, his parents moved him to the Hermann-Lietz-Internat (also a residential school) on the East Frisian North Sea island of Spiekeroog. Space travel had always fascinated him, and from then on he applied himself to physics and mathematics to pursue his interest in rocket engineering.[21][22]

In 1928 the Raketenrummel or "Rocket Rumble" fad initiated by Fritz von Opel and Max Valier was highly influential on von Braun as a teenage space enthusiast. He was so enthusiastic after seeing one of the public Opel-RAK rocket car demonstrations, that he constructed his own homemade toy rocket car and caused a disruption in a crowded sidewalk by launching the toy wagon, to which he had attached the largest firework rockets he could purchase. He was later taken in for questioning by the local police, until released to his father for disciplinary action. The incident highlighted the young von Braun's determination to "dedicate his life to space travel".[1]: 62-64 

In 1930, von Braun attended the Technische Hochschule Berlin, where he joined the Spaceflight Society (Verein für Raumschiffahrt or VfR), co-founded by Valier, and worked with Willy Ley in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests in conjunction with others such as Rolf Engel, Rudolf Nebel, Hermann Oberth or Paul Ehmayr.[23] In spring 1932, he graduated with a diploma in mechanical engineering.[24] His early exposure to rocketry convinced him that the exploration of space would require far more than applications of the current engineering technology. Wanting to learn more about physics, chemistry, and astronomy, von Braun entered the Friedrich-Wilhelm University of Berlin for doctoral studies and graduated with a doctorate in physics in 1934.[25] He also studied at ETH Zürich for a term from June to October 1931.[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun 

The Phoenix Lights (sometimes called the "Lights Over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over the southwestern U.S. states of Arizona and Nevada on March 13, 1997.[2]

Lights of varying descriptions were seen between 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm MST, in a space of about 300 miles (480 km), from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson. Some witnesses described seeing what appeared to be a huge carpenter's square-shaped UFO containing five spherical lights. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area.[3][4]

Both sightings were due to aircraft participating in Operation Snowbird, a pilot training program operated in winter by the Air National Guard out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. The first light group was later identified as a formation of A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft flying over Phoenix while returning to Davis-Monthan. The second group of lights were identified by Robert Sheaffer as illumination flares dropped by another flight of A-10 aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona.[5] Fife Symington, governor of Arizona at the time, years later recounted witnessing the incident, describing it as "otherworldly."[3][4]

Reports of similar lights arose in 2007 and 2008 and were attributed to military flares dropped by fighter aircraft at Luke Air Force Base,[6] and flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian, respectively.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights

The bird deity Bennu, which was probably the inspiration for the phoenix, was venerated at Heliopolis, where it was said to be living on the Benben stone or on the holy willow tree.

According to Barry Kemp, the connection between the benben, the phoenix, and the sun may well have been based on alliteration: the rising, weben, of the sun sending its rays towards the benben, on which the bennu bird lives. Utterance 600, § 1652 of the Pyramid Texts speaks of Atum as you rose up, as the benben, in the Mansion of the Bennu in Heliopolis.[1]

Historical development

From the earliest times, the portrayal of Benben was stylized in two ways; the first was as a pointed, pyramidal form, which was probably the model for pyramids and obelisks. The other form was round-topped; this was probably the origin of Benben as a free standing votive object and an object of veneration.[2]

During the Fifth Dynasty, the portrayal of benben was formalized as a squat obelisk. Later, during the Middle Kingdom, this became a long, thin obelisk.

In the Amarna Period tomb of Panehesy, the benben is seen as a large, round-topped stela standing on a raised platform.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benben

A mound is a heaped pile of earth, gravel, sand, rocks, or debris. Most commonly, mounds are earthen formations such as hills and mountains, particularly if they appear artificial. A mound may be any rounded area of topographically higher elevation on any surface. Artificial mounds have been created for a variety of reasons throughout history, including habitation (see Tell and Terp), ceremonial (platform mound), burial (tumulus), and commemorative purposes (e.g. Kościuszko Mound).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound

Bennu /ˈbɛnuː/[1] is an ancient Egyptian deity linked with the Sun, creation, and rebirth. He may have been the original inspiration for the phoenix legends that developed in Greek mythology.

According to Egyptian mythology, Bennu was a self-created being said to have played a role in the creation of the world. He was said to be the ba (personality component of the soul) of the sun deity Ra, and to have enabled the creative actions of Atum.[2] The deity was said to have flown over the waters of Nun that existed before creation, landing on a rock and issuing a call that determined the nature of creation. He was also a symbol of rebirth and, therefore, was associated with Osiris.[3]

Some of the titles of Bennu were "He Who Came Into Being by Himself",[2] and "Lord of Jubilees"; the latter epithet referring to the belief that Bennu periodically renewed himself like the sun was thought to do.[3] His name is related to the Egyptian verb wbn, meaning "to rise in brilliance" or "to shine".[2]

Depiction

The Pyramid Texts, which date to the Old Kingdom, refer to the 'bnw' as a symbol of Atum, and it may have been the original form of Bennu. In this word the shape of a bird used is definitely not that of a heron, but a small singing bird. The German Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache (Dictionary of the Egyptian Language) surmised that this might have been a Yellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava), but no clear reason is given.[2] However, the same bird is used in the spelling of a word 'bn.t' in a painted limestone relief wall fragment from the suntemple of the Vth Dynasty Old Kingdom king Niuserre. This hieroglyph clearly shows traces of blue-grey paint on much of the bird body, indicating that it referenced a different bird species. The shape and colour seem to point rather to a (Mediterranean) Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) for which, however, another name was in use: 'hn.t<y' (lit. 'the one of the canal'). It could be surmised that a Kingfisher flying low over water and shrieking loudly would be a reasonable mythical basis for the creator deity Atum of Heliopolis as having risen from the first dark waters, called Nun, in order to start his creation of the world. If so, the Kingfisher 'bnw' or 'bn.t' is a good match for the mythical and cultic Nile goose (I.e. 'smn') of the creator deity Amun in later periods, imagined to have been honking loudly in the primeval dark above the still waters in order to bring forth all creation by its voice.[citation needed]

New Kingdom artwork shows Bennu as a huge grey heron with a long beak and a two-feathered crest. Sometimes Bennu is depicted as perched on a benben stone (representing Ra and the name of the top stone of a pyramid) or in a willow tree (representing Osiris). Because of the connection with Osiris, Bennu sometimes wears the Atef crown,[3] instead of the solar disk.

Possible animal model

Remains of a giant, human-sized heron species, thought to have gone extinct around 1500 BC, were discovered in the United Arab Emirates in 1977.[4][5] It lived on the Arabian Peninsula and shared many characteristics with Bennu, and scientists believe it may have been the animal model for the deity. In reference to this, archaeologist Dr. Ella Hoch from the Geological Museum at Copenhagen University named it the Bennu heron (Ardea bennuides).[6]

Worship

Like Atum and Ra, Bennu was probably worshipped in the deitys’ cult centre at Heliopolis.[3] Bennu also appears on funerary scarab amulets as a symbol of rebirth.[2]

Connection with the Greek phoenix

The Greek historian Herodotus, writing about Egyptian customs and traditions in the fifth century BC, wrote that the people at Heliopolis described the "phoenix" to him. They said it lived for 500 years before dying, resuscitating, building a funerary egg with myrrh for the paternal corpse, and carrying it to the temple of the Sun at Heliopolis.[7] His description of the phoenix likens it to an eagle with red and gold plumage, reminiscent of the sun.[3]

Long after Herodotus, the theme of the fire, pyre, and ashes of the dying bird, ultimately associated with the Greek phoenix, developed in Greek traditions.

The name "phoenix" could be derived from "Bennu", and its rebirth and connections with the sun resemble the beliefs about Bennu; however, Egyptian sources do not mention a death of the deity.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bennu

Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster,[1][2] and, by extension, for the clock tower itself,[3] which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England.[4] Originally known simply as the Clock Tower, it was renamed Elizabeth Tower, in 2012, to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The clock is a striking clock, with five bells.[2]

The tower was designed by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin in a Perpendicular Gothic Revival style and was completed in 1859. It is elaborately decorated with stone carvings and features symbols related to the four nations of the United Kingdom and the Anglo-Welsh Tudor dynasty. A Latin inscription celebrates Queen Victoria, in whose reign the palace was built.[5] The tower stands 316 feet (96 m) tall, and the climb from ground level to the belfry is 334 steps. Its base is square, measuring 40 feet (12 m) on each side. The dials of the clock are 22.5 feet (6.9 m) in diameter.

The clock uses its original mechanism and was the largest and most accurate four-faced striking and chiming clock in the world upon its completion.[6] It was designed by Edmund Beckett Denison and George Airy, the Astronomer Royal, and constructed by Edward John Dent and Frederick Dent. It is known for its reliability, and can be adjusted by adding or removing pre-decimal pennies from the pendulum. The Great Bell was cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and weighs 13.5 long tons (13.7 tonnes; 15.1 short tons).[4] Its nickname is derived from that of Sir Benjamin Hall, who oversaw its installation, although it is sometimes attributed to heavyweight boxing champion Benjamin Caunt. There are four quarter bells, which chime on the quarter hours.

Big Ben is a British cultural icon. It is one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom and parliamentary democracy,[7] and it is often used in the establishing shot of films set in London.[8] The clock tower has been part of a Grade I listed building since 1970 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.[9] The clock and tower were renovated between 2017 and 2021, during which the bells remained silent with few exceptions.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Ben

The Royal Family

Yesterday at 8:22 AM  ·

VE Day 1945 ➡️ #VEDay80 2025

A spectacular flypast by the RAF Red Arrows! 🤩

https://www.facebook.com/TheBritishMonarchy/posts/1253761849641565

The 80th anniversary of bombing of Buckingham Palace during the Blitz

Sunday 13th September marks 80 years since the bombing of Buckingham Palace during the raids of The Blitz in 1940. To mark the anniversary we are sharing accounts of the raid as recorded by Members of the Royal Family, from the Royal Archives.

A letter written by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother to Queen Mary tells of the moment of the bombing.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother

“…at this moment we heard the unmistakable whirr-whirr of a german plane…and before anything else could be said, there was the noise of aircraft diving at great speed, and then the scream of a bomb - It all happened so quickly, that we had only time to look foolishly at each other, when the scream hurtled past us, and exploded with a tremendous crash in the quadrangle.

“I saw a great column of smoke & earth thrown up into the air, and then we all ducked like lightning into the corridor - There was another tremendous explosion, and we & our 2 pages who were outside the door, remained for a moment or two in the corridor away from the staircase, in case of flying glass. It is curious how one’s instinct works at those moments of great danger, as quite without thinking, the urge was to get away from the windows. Everybody remained wonderfully calm, and we went down to the shelter.”

An extract from the diaries of King George VI from the 13th September – His Majesty’s personal account of the attack.

King George VI

“All of a sudden we heard an aircraft making a zooming noise above us, saw 2 bombs falling past the opposite side of the Palace, & then heard 2 resounding crashes as the bombs fell in the quadrangle about 30 yds away. We looked at each other, & then we were out into the passage as fast as we could get there. The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds….

“…6 bombs had been dropped. The aircraft was seem coming straight down the Mall below the clouds having dived through the clouds & had dropped 2 bombs in the forecourt, 2 in the quadrangle, 1 in the Chapel & the other in the garden.”

https://www.royal.uk/80th-anniversary-bombing-buckingham-palace-during-blitz

The Masonic King of England

Edward VIII was crowned both king and Grand Master of English Freemasonry on January20, 1936. Edward, however, married a divorced commoner from the United States and was forced to abdicate eleven months later on December 10th. His younger brother ascended the throne the next day and downgraded Edward's title to the Duke of Windsor. In July1940 the Duke assumed the governorship of the Bahamas.127 Edward VIII not only supported Hitler, he did so loudly. From the time of Hitler's rise to power, the Windsors were fascinated by the Fuehrer and his New Order in Europe. Speaking in Masonic 480 terms, the King expressed the views of the Brotherhood concerning Hitler: "What-ever happens, he said, "whatever the outcome, a New Order is going to come into the world.... It will be buttressed with police power.. ..When peace comes this time, there is going to be a New Order of Social Justice. It cannot be another Versailles." 128 During his short reign, King Edward VIII made every effort to promote Nazism. As a result some of the most prominent aristocrats in England joined the Nazi Party.129

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January 1936 until his abdication in December of the same year.[a]

Edward was born during the reign of his great-grandmother Queen Victoria as the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George V and Queen Mary. He was created Prince of Wales on his 16th birthday, seven weeks after his father succeeded as king. As a young man, Edward served in the British Army during the First World War and undertook several overseas tours on behalf of his father. The Prince of Wales gained popularity due to his charm and charisma, and his fashion sense became a hallmark of the era. After the war, his conduct began to give cause for concern; he engaged in a series of sexual affairs that worried both his father and the British prime minister, Stanley Baldwin.

Upon his father's death in 1936, Edward became the second monarch of the House of Windsor. The new king showed impatience with court protocol, and caused consternation among politicians by his apparent disregard for established constitutional conventions. Only months into his reign, a constitutional crisis was caused by his proposal to marry Wallis Simpson, an American who had divorced her first husband and was seeking a divorce from her second. The prime ministers of the United Kingdom and the Dominions opposed the marriage, arguing a divorced woman with two living ex-husbands was politically and socially unacceptable as a prospective queen consort. Additionally, such a marriage would have conflicted with Edward's status as titular head of the Church of England, which, at the time, disapproved of remarriage after divorce if a former spouse was still alive. Edward knew the Baldwin government would resign if the marriage went ahead, which could have forced a general election and would have ruined his status as a politically neutral constitutional monarch. When it became apparent he could not marry Simpson and remain on the throne, he abdicated. He was succeeded by his younger brother, George VI. With a reign of 326 days, Edward was one of the shortest-reigning British monarchs to date.

After his abdication, Edward was created Duke of Windsor. He married Simpson in France on 3 June 1937, after her second divorce became final. Later that year, the couple toured Nazi Germany, which fed rumours that he was a Nazi sympathiser. During the Second World War, Edward was at first stationed with the British Military Mission to France. After the fall of France, he was appointed Governor of the Bahamas. After the war, Edward spent the rest of his life in France. He and Wallis remained married until his death in 1972; they had no children.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VIII

Nicole Brown Simpson (née Brown; May 19, 1959 – June 12, 1994) was the second wife of American professional football player, actor, and media personality O. J. Simpson. She was murdered outside her Brentwood home, along with her friend Ron Goldman, in 1994.

Brown was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, and moved to the U.S. early in her life. Brown and Simpson met in 1977 and married in 1985, five years after Simpson had retired from professional American football. Their marriage lasted for eight years, and they had a daughter and a son together. Reports suggest that Simpson emotionally, verbally, and physically abused Brown throughout their relationship, which continued after their divorce. They made an attempt at reconciliation, but later broke up again, seemingly permanently, in May 1994.

In June 1994, Brown and Goldman were stabbed to death, and Simpson was tried for the murders. Following a highly publicized criminal trial, Simpson was acquitted of all charges, though he was later found liable for the wrongful deaths in a civil lawsuit in 1997. No other suspects have ever been identified, and the killings remain unsolved, although Brown's family has expressed the belief that Simpson committed the murders and was the sole perpetrator.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Brown_Simpson

Shanksville is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It has a population of 197 as of the 2020 U.S. census.[2] It is part of the Somerset, Pennsylvania Micropolitan Statistical Area and is located 78 miles (126 km) southeast of Pittsburgh and 226 miles (364 km) west of Philadelphia.

Shanksville garnered global attention during the September 11 attacks when United Airlines Flight 93, bound from Newark, New Jersey, for San Francisco, crashed in adjacent Stonycreek Township after its passengers rebelled against the flight's al-Qaeda terrorist hijackers. It was the only one of the four hijacked planes that failed to reach the terrorists' intended target.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanksville,_Pennsylvania

A shiv, also chiv, schiv, shivvie or shank,[1][2] is a handcrafted bladed weapon resembling a knife that is commonly associated with prison inmates.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiv_(weapon)

There are multiple matches for Shiva, including a Hindu god and a Jewish mourning period.

Shiva (Hindu god)

Shiva is a major god in Hinduism, known as the god of destruction.

His name means "auspicious one".

He is also known as Mahadeva, which means "the great god".

Shiva is part of the Hindu trinity, the Trimurti, along with Brahma and Vishnu.

He is worshipped at many shrines in India and around the world.

Shiva is said to live in the Himalayas with his wife, Parvati.

Shiva (Jewish mourning period)

Shiva is a seven-day period of mourning that begins after the burial of a loved one.

The word "shiva" comes from the Hebrew word sheva, which means "seven".

During shiva, mourners traditionally stay home or at the home of the deceased.

They also wear torn clothing or a black ribbon pinned to their clothes.

Shiva is a time to remember, accept death, and return to life.

Generative AI is experimental.

AI Overview

Shiva Shakti | Jai Maa Vaishno Devi

In Hinduism, Devi (the Mother Goddess) is the Shakti (energy) and creative power of Shiva, and her various forms, including Parvati, Sati, and Durga, are often depicted as his consort and the embodiment of the divine feminine.

Here's a more detailed look at the relationship between Devi and Shiva:

Devi as Shiva's Shakti:

In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord, while Devi is regarded as his energy and creative power, the Shakti, and an equal complementary partner.

Parvati as a Form of Devi:

Parvati is a well-known form of Devi and is considered Shiva's eternal wife.

Sati and her Significance:

Sati was the first wife of Shiva, and her story, including her self-immolation, is significant in shaping the traditions of Shaivism and Shaktism.

Durga as a Fierce Aspect of Devi:

Durga is a prominent female deity in Hindu mythology, often depicted as a warrior goddess, and is considered an avatar of Devi.

The Cosmic Union:

The union of Shiva and Devi, or Shiva and his various forms of Devi, represents the intertwining of feminine and masculine energies, the dance of creation and destruction.

Symbolism:

Parvati and Shiva are often symbolized by a yoni and a linga, respectively, representing origin, source, and regenerative power.

Devi's Many Roles:

Devi is portrayed as the ideal wife, mother, and householder, and her statues and iconography grace ancient and medieval era Hindu temples.

Ardhanarishvara:

In Indian art, the vision of the ideal couple is derived from Shiva and Parvati as being half of the other, represented as Ardhanarishvara.

Generative AI is experimental

Kamala Devi Harris (English: /ˈkɑːmələ ˈdeɪvi/ ⓘ,[1] born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who has been the 49th and current vice president of the United States since 2021, serving under President Joe Biden. Harris is the Democratic presidential nominee in the 2024 United States presidential election. She is the first female vice president of the United States, making her the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history. She is also the first African American and first Asian American vice president. From 2017 to 2021, she represented California in the United States Senate. Before that, she was Attorney General of California from 2011 to 2017.

Born in Oakland, California, Harris graduated from Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. She began her law career in the office of the district attorney of Alameda County. She was recruited to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office and later to the office of the city attorney of San Francisco. She was elected district attorney of San Francisco in 2003 and attorney general of California in 2010, and reelected as attorney general in 2014. As the San Francisco district attorney and the attorney general of California, Harris was the first woman, the first African American, and the first Asian American to hold each office.

Harris was the junior U.S. senator from California from 2017 to 2021. She won the 2016 Senate election, becoming the second Black woman and first South Asian American U.S. senator. As a senator, Harris advocated for stricter gun control laws, the DREAM Act, federal legalization of cannabis, and reforms to healthcare and taxation. She gained a national profile for her pointed questioning of Trump administration officials during Senate hearings, including Trump's second Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

Harris sought the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in 2019, but withdrew from the race before the primaries. Biden selected her as his running mate, and their ticket defeated the incumbent president and vice president, Donald Trump and Mike Pence, in the 2020 election. Presiding over an evenly split Senate upon entering office, Harris played a crucial role as president of the Senate. She cast more tie-breaking votes than any other vice president, which helped pass bills such as the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 stimulus package and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. After Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential election, Harris launched her campaign with Biden's endorsement and soon became the presumptive nominee. On August 6, 2024, she chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.

In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]

Background

See also: 2024 United States elections

The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]

Electoral system

Main article: United States Electoral College

See also: United States presidential primary and Primary elections in the United States

The president and vice president of the United States are elected through the Electoral College, determined by the number of senators and representatives with an additional three representatives for Washington, D.C. A majority of 270 votes is needed to win the election. Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all system, in which states award all of their electors to the winner of the popular vote. In Maine and Nebraska, two votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, while each of the individual congressional districts have one vote. Electoral votes are certified by state electors in December and by Congress on January 6.[12] Presidential candidates are selected in a presidential primary, conducted through primary elections run by state governments or caucuses run by state parties which bind convention delegates to candidates.[13] A brokered convention occurs when a candidate does not receive a majority of votes on the first round of voting,[14] or when a candidate withdraws.[15]

Election Day in the United States has been held on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday in November.[16] Previously, states could determine their own Election Day prior to the first Wednesday in December. The 2028 presidential election will occur on November 7, 2028.[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were created with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet..."[1][2][3] – while tackling climate change and working to preserve oceans and forests. The SDGs highlight the connections between the environmental, social and economic aspects of sustainable development. Sustainability is at the center of the SDGs.[4][5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_Development_Goals

2030: The Year of the Metal Dog

In addition to being associated with a zodiac animal, each new lunar year also aligns with one of the five traditional Chinese elements. These elements are known in Chinese as the 五行 (wǔxíng).

While we won’t delve into the details of this aspect of zodiac philosophy due to its complexity, keep in mind that each lunar year consists of a combination of 10 heavenly stems (干 gàn) and 12 earthly branches (支 zhī). These unite to form a system of 60 stem-branch combinations. Each combination is symbolized by one of the five elements (fire, water, wood, metal and earth).

According to this system, 2030 is the Year of the Metal Dog.

For anyone interested in diving deeper into doctrines of Chinese astrology, the internet provides a great database of resources for continued study.

https://studycli.org/chinese-zodiac/year-of-the-dog/

One of the many names for Sirius is the 'Dog Star'.  Of course Sirius is the primary star of the constellation Canis Major, the large dog, but this is far from the entire story.  Sirius seems to have a very ancient and a very wide spread association with dogs and wolves.  The most familiar of these traditions come from ancient Rome and Greece.  For example, the familiar term 'Dog Days of Summer' has a Roman origin that refers to the long hot days of late summer which the Romans associated with the arrival of Sirius in the morning sky at that time of year.  The Greeks also had numerous beliefs and legends which linked dogs and Sirius.  For example, on the Greek island of Ceos coins were imprinted with the image of a dog surrounded by radiant spikes, again commemorating the late summer arrival of Sirius in the morning sky.

A 3rd Century BC coin from Ceos showing a canine Sirius (Sear 3079, Michael Molnar Collection)

There are other much older traditions of Sirius and dogs which originate in places seeming unrelated to Greece and Rome.  For example, the ancient Chinese called Sirius Tsien Lang, the 'Heavenly Wolf'.   It was associated with an old constellation called the Bow and Arrow, with the arrow pointed at Sirius, the wolf.   This same constellation, with virtually the same stars, was also known in ancient Mesopotamia, where Sirius had names associated with dogs.  Perhaps most intriguing of all such traditions is found among many of the native peoples of North America.   Here there exist a remarkable number of occurrences of names for Sirius and legends about the star having to do with dogs and wolves.   A few examples include: 'Moon Dog' (Alaskan Inuit); 'dog-face' (Blackfoot); 'Wolf Star' (Pawnee); and 'Wolf that hangs by the side of Heaven' (Northern Osage).   Such appellations are not universal, many counter examples exist from other Native American groups.  Nevertheless, it is intriguing to wonder if perhaps many of these canine-related names and stories involving Sirius could have a common origin from some long forgotten source on the Eurasian Continent, perhaps as long ago as the last Ice Age.  Then again it could all be coincidence, we will probably never know.

http://vega.lpl.arizona.edu/sirius/A1.html

Anubis (/əˈnjuːbɪs/;[3] Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ, romanized: Anoup), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.[4]

Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BC) he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart", in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead. Anubis is one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods in the Egyptian pantheon; however, few major myths involved him.[5]

Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized regeneration, life, the soil of the Nile River, and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming. Anubis is associated with Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dog's head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined.[6] Anubis' female counterpart is Anput. His daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis

The Roman historian Phlegon is mentioned by Origen who describes a darkening of the sun in the eighteenth year of Tiberius on Nisan 14-Passover which would be 30 AD. A few people have used this Roman history report stating the year of the Crucifixion is 33 AD. They mistakenly start Tiberius’ reign in 14 AD after the death of Augustus instead of the start of his joint reign in 11 AD.

On the Gregorian-Hebrew solar calendar found in ESC, the date of the Crucifixion is Friday April 5-Nisan 14, 30 AD. On this Hebrew solar calendar Nisan 14-Passover always falls on April 5 in a non-leap year and April 3 in a leap or special year on the Gregorian calendar we use today. This is clearly new information about the accuracy and inerrancy of the specific dates in Scripture.

This type of assessment of the Bible’s accuracy was only possible in recent years with computers, Excel spreadsheets, Bible software, and calendar converters like www.rosettacalendar.com.

Resources:

ESC = Earth’s Sacred Calendar: The Dated Events of the Old Testament by Jim Liles; Pub 2014.

CARM: Is there non-biblical evidence of a day of darkness at Christ’s death?

Bible History.net The Crucifixion Darkness

https://thecreationclub.com/historical-basis-for-believing-jesus-was-crucified-in-ad-30/

AI Overview

Learn more

When someone says "2000 years of age," it means a period of time spanning 2,000 years, often used in historical or astrological contexts to refer to a specific era or "age" like the "Age of Pisces" which is considered to have lasted for 2,000 years in some interpretations.

Key points about "2000 years of age":

Astrological usage:

In astrology, different "ages" are associated with different zodiac signs, and each age is often calculated as lasting around 2,000 years based on the Earth's axial precession.

Example:

Currently, many astrologers consider the "Age of Aquarius" to be starting around the year 2000, signifying a new era.

Not perfectly accurate:

While 2,000 years is often used for simplicity, the actual length of an astrological age based on precession is closer to 2,160 years.

https://www.google.com/search?q=age+meaning+2000+years&sca_esv=813837a4ab300c6b&sxsrf=ADLYWIIlFsM6w2q46pw2FDIKPtl6eHh4KA%3A1735980154611&ei=evR4Z4uCJdejkPIP2Oay2A4&ved=0ahUKEwiLp8-D1tuKAxXXEUQIHVizDOsQ4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=age+meaning+2000+years&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiFmFnZSBtZWFuaW5nIDIwMDAgeWVhcnMyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBDIIEAAYgAQYogQyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEjKEVCTCVjSDXACeAGQAQCYAW6gAf8CqgEDMy4xuAEDyAEA-AEBmAIGoAKRA8ICChAAGLADGNYEGEfCAggQABgHGAgYHsICCBAAGAgYDRgewgILEAAYgAQYhgMYigXCAgoQIRigARjDBBgKmAMAiAYBkAYIkgcDNS4xoAfoFA&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

Pope Francis[b] (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Easter in 2030

Date: April 21, 2030

Day: Sunday

Avril Ramona Lavigne CM (/ˈævrɪl ləˈviːn/ AV-ril lə-VEEN; French: [avʁil ʁamɔna laviɲ]; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include ten Juno Awards and eight Grammy Awards nominations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avril_Lavigne

Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Latin for To the Government of the Church Militant) was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regimini_militantis_Ecclesiae

The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957[1] and aired December 8 of that year.[2][3] Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.

Its local re-broadcast in 2004[4] and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.[2]

On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight",[5][6] and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27

SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat.

https://theskylive.com/roadster-info

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

410 §1. As a sign of gratitude and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let that feast be solemnly celebrated; and on that day is to be renewed the consecration by which the Society on January 1, 1872, dedicated and consecrated itself totally and perpetually.

§2. The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be renewed each year on the feast of the Immaculate Heart.[1]

411 The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.[2]

412 §1. All our members should have at heart a shared concern for attracting new members to the Society, especially by prayer and the example of their lives as individuals and in community.[3]

§2. Therefore, we must do everything possible actively to present the Society in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are and what is our distinctive way of proceeding in the following of Christ.[4]

§3. We must also promote vocations as widely as possible, in order to reflect the culture and experience of those we seek to serve, including minority cultures, immigrants, and indigenous people.[5]

413 The Society should always show itself bound to its benefactors in charity and gratitude. Superiors should ensure that prayers are offered for them and other appropriate signs of our gratitude are shown them.[6]

414 In the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute, our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.[ 7]

415 All by earnest reading and meditation (in particular, at the time of the annual Spiritual Exercises, renewal of vows, monthly recollection, beginning of the year, and so forth) should strive ever to know, esteem, and love better our Constitutions and the special nature of our Institute,[ 8] which are to be faithfully observed, and which for each and all of us are the one, true, and safe way that surely leads to the perfection to which our Lord calls and invites all sons of the Society.[9] §2. Major superiors, especially at the time of the annual visitation, should see that this is faithfully observed.

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

Archeparch

A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected Sako Archeparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002. Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk, André Sana.[8]

In August 2009, and at the beginning of Ramadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives of Ali Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr.[9]

Patriarch

The Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church, convoked in Rome on 28 January 2013, elected Sako to succeed Emmanuel III Delly as Patriarch of Babylon. He chose Louis Raphael I as his regnal name. Pope Benedict XVI gave his assent to the election on 1 February[2] and granted him ecclesiastica communio (ecclesiastical communion) as required by the canon law for Eastern-rite Catholic churches in recognition of their unity with the wider Catholic church.[10]

That same year, Iraq's President Jalal Talabani issued a decree recognizing Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldean Church.[11]

In July 2014 Sako led a wave of condemnation for the Sunni Islamists who demanded Christians either convert, submit to their radical rule and pay a religious levy or face death by the sword.[12] In September 2014 Sako said “The U.S. is indirectly responsible for what is going on in Iraq as it said it would ensure democracy and the well-being of the people, but 10 years have passed and on the contrary we have gone backward." He was responding to a question following remarks attributed to him in the local daily Ad-Diyar in which he accused the U.S. of supporting ISIS. Sako had also criticized Muslim countries for lack of support: "Our Muslim neighbours did not help us." He urged Muslim preachers to issue a religious ruling against the killing of all innocent people and said that "Issuing a fatwa preventing Muslims from killing fellow Muslims is not enough."[13]

In 2014, Sako ordered ten priests who had fled Iraq to return there by 22 October; he suspended them when they failed to comply. The priests, all living in the United States, some for as long as twenty years, appealed to Pope Francis for relief from the order.[14] In January 2015, Pope Francis granted them permission to remain in the United States.[15] Sako later renewed his order despite the pope's decision.[16]

In 2015, Sako proposed a "merger" or reunion of his own Chaldean Catholic Church with the Ancient Church of the East and the Assyrian Church of the East to create one united "Church of the East" with a single patriarch in union with the pope. His proposal would have required both his own resignation and that of Mar Addai II, followed by a joint synod of the bishops of all three churches to elect a new patriarch for the reunited Church of the East. (The patriarchate of the Assyrian Church of the East was vacant at the time, following the death of Mar Dinkha IV.)[17] He wrote that "Unity does not mean uniformity, nor the melting of our own church identity into one style, but it maintains unity in diversity and we remain one apostolic universal church, the Oriental Church, that maintains its independence of administration, laws and liturgies, traditions and support."[18] The Assyrian Church of the East respectfully declined this proposal citing "ecclesiological divergences still remaining" and proceeded with its election of a new patriarch.[19]

On 14 November 2015, the Synod of Bishops announced that Pope Francis had named Sako as one of his three appointments to that body's council.[20]

Cardinal

Pope Francis made Sako a cardinal in a consistory on 28 June 2018.[21] Later that year, Pope Francis named him one of the four cardinals to preside over sessions of the Synod of Bishops on Youth in October.[22]

On 6 October 2018 Sako was named a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches,[23] on 22 February 2019 a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,[24] and on 29 September 2021 a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education.[25] On 4 January 2022, Pope Francis made him a member of the Council for the Economy.[26]

Sako was a cardinal elector in the 2025 papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.[27] Patriarch Sako was also the first Chaldean Catholic Patriarch ever to participate in a papal conclave.[28][a] Sako opted not to wear the shash, the traditional headgear of East Syriac Christian bishops, and wore only his scarlet zucchetto.[32]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

The Phoenix Program (Vietnamese: Chiến dịch Phụng Hoàng) was designed and initially coordinated by the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War, involving the American, South Vietnamese militaries, and a small amount of special forces operatives from the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam. In 1970, CIA responsibility was phased out, and the program was put under the authority of the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS).[1]

The program, which lasted from 1968 to 1972, was designed to identify and destroy the Viet Cong (VC) via infiltration, assassination, torture, capture, counter-terrorism, and interrogation.[2][3][4][5] The CIA described it as "a set of programs that sought to attack and destroy the political infrastructure of the Viet Cong."[6] The Phoenix Program was premised on the idea that North Vietnamese infiltration had required local support within noncombat civilian populations, which were referred to as the "VC infrastructure" and "political branch" that had purportedly coordinated the insurgency.[7]

Throughout the program, Phoenix "neutralized" 81,740 people suspected of VC membership, of whom 26,369 were killed, and the rest surrendered or were captured. Of those killed 87% were attributed to conventional military operations by South Vietnamese and American forces, while the remaining 13% were attributed to Phoenix Program operatives.[8]: 17–21

The Phoenix Program was heavily criticized on various grounds, including the number of neutral civilians killed, the nature of the program (which critics have labelled as a "civilian assassination program,"[7]) the use of torture and other coercive methods, and the program being exploited for personal politics. Nevertheless, the program was very successful at suppressing VC political and revolutionary activities.[7] Public disclosure of the program led to significant criticism, including hearings by the US Congress, and the CIA was pressured into shutting it down. A similar program, Plan F-6, continued under the government of South Vietnam.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02avSWEGWtfoqUafayWJ8jGaigwpbjE7T3FDPnXvYFEfGc4ayngjVmBxsMRKgtDGSGl

Trump Inauguration Monday

All the work you did in the November election will finally be realized on Monday when Donald Trump takes office. Hearings on Trump's nominees have already begun and will continue. Trump's team has prepared countless executive orders that will go into effect on Day 1. The beginning of America's golden age will be at noon this Monday.

Our enemies are aware. One of the largest drone manufacturers - DJI - is a Chinese company. Just this week, leading right up to the inauguration, DJI happened to turn off geofencing on their American drones, allowing them to travel into no-go zones. This is not a mistake. Our enemies know that our new golden age is beginning.

But Donald Trump and his incredible team won't be stopped. Reports suggest that hundreds of deep state employees are planning to resign in protest - because they know that Trump's team will hold them accountable for what they've done to our country.

https://secure.winred.com/tarrant-county-republican-party/donate-today

Cox Report and the Threat from China

by Joseph Cirincione

published byCarnegie on June 7, 1999

program

Nuclear Policy

The Nuclear Policy Program aims to reduce the risk of nuclear war. Our experts diagnose acute risks stemming from technical and geopolitical developments, generate pragmatic solutions, and use our global network to advance risk-reduction policies. Our work covers deterrence, disarmament, arms control, nonproliferation, and nuclear energy.

Learn More

Source: Carnegie

by Joseph Cirincione

Non-Proliferation Project, Carnegie Endowment

Presentation to the CATO Institute, June 7, 1999

                                                                       

Everyone who wants to talk about Chinese nuclear forces will have to start for at least the next year with a discussion of the Cox Report. In brief, the Cox Committee report, like the Rumsfeld Commission before it, has taken a real problem and hyper-inflated it for political purposes.

I had the privilege of serving on the professional national security staff of the House of Representatives for over nine years. I know congressional reports. I have written congressional reports. This is no congressional report. It is a propaganda piece. With it’s unprecedented, expensive, glossy publication style it is much more like the "Soviet Military Power" series produced by the Reagan Administration than it is like any other committee report.

It compares unfavorably, for example, with the sober, serious, balanced report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, on the same subject, released a few weeks before the Cox report. This is what a congressional report should be. The Shelby report is hard-hitting and critical of the Administration.  But it is not hysterical and not, as Cox Committee member Congressman Norm Dicks admitted about his report, a "worst case assessment."

Turning to the substance, House Majority Leader Dick Armey summarizes the report for us when he says, "It’s very scary, and basically what it says is the Chinese now have the capability of threatening us with our own nuclear technology."

He gets that information directly from the Report’s overview, which states:

"These thefts of nuclear secrets from our national weapons laboratories enabled the PRC to design, develop and successfully test modern strategic nuclear weapons sooner than would otherwise have been possible."

"The stolen US nuclear secrets give the PRC design information on thermonuclear weapons on a par with our own….the stolen information includes classified information on seven US thermonuclear warheads."

Then, later on p. 60 of Volume I of the report, "The stolen US secrets have helped the PRC fabricate and successfully test modern strategic thermonuclear weapons."

These are dramatic statements. The are also not true, at least according to the combined judgement of all of our national intelligence agencies and an independent review panel led by Adm. David Jeremiah and including Brent Scowcroft. It is understandable that the Cox Committee made mistakes. After all, according to Committee Member John Spratt, they only turned to the matter of Chinese espionage on October 21, and concluded taking testimony on the issue on November 15 and filed their report Jan. 3.

The Committee had spent most of its time in 1998 investigating charges that critical technology was transferred to the PRC by major US corporations while using Chinese rockets to launch American satellites. Many in the Republican leadership had hoped this investigation would lead to impeachment charges against the President. A number of Republican leaders went to the floor of the House and Senate and accused the President of treason for allegedly facilitating this transfer of information. These charges could not be substantiated. The Cox Committee then hurriedly took testimony from only three witnesses on the nuclear weapons security issue: DOE intelligence official Notra Trulock, a CIA analyst, and a Los Alamos employee. The Cox report basically presents the Notra Trulock view of China, unchallenged and unbalanced.

China’s Changing Nuclear Posture

Let’s take a step back and review what China’s nuclear capabilities are.

Deep in China’s Henan province, a hundred miles from the ancient city of Xi’an, China has deployed in silos and in caves about 20 Dong Feng-5 missiles. They are deployed with their liquid fuel tanks empty and with their 4- and 5-Megaton nuclear warheads detached and stored separately. Though each has enough explosive power to vaporize an average city, the force pales in comparison to the 5,500 warheads the United States deploys on its modern, highly accurate missiles, or even the 144 warheads the United Kingdom carries on its Trident sea-launched ballistic missiles.

Of the five recognized nuclear powers (the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China), China has the oldest, least capable, and most stable nuclear deterrent force. China deployed the first Dong Feng-5 (or "East Wind") in 1981. Slowly, over the years, the numbers have grown to the current 20 missiles deployed. For two decades, this atomic arsenal, along with dozens of intermediate- and short-range nuclear missiles and air-dropped bombs, has served China’s strategic interests.

China has plans to modernize the missile force, and actually has been trying to implement those plans for well over a decade. They are worried about the survivability of their force, and, thus, China’s military and political leaders want new, modern, solid-fueled missiles like their nuclear peers. The force may increase in number and will likely be more accurate. Like the other powers, China may opt for multiple warheads atop each missile. Like the other powers, China uses a variety of methods to acquire the information it needs to develop its weaponry, including espionage.

Earlier this year, the Cox committee report—then classified—recommended that the Executive branch conduct a comprehensive damage assessment on the implications of China’s acquisition of US nuclear weapons information. The Administration did so, forming a team of officials from the CIA, DIA, DOD, NSA, INR, FBI and other agencies and the nuclear laboratories. An independent panel of nuclear experts, Chaired by Admiral David Jeremiah and including General Brent Scowcroft, Dr. John Foster and others then reviewed their damage assessment. In April, they issued their report. This net assessment has been lost in the political firestorm generated by recent congressional hearings and reports. It deserves to be read carefully. They reached two critical conclusions.

The Damage Assessment team concluded:

"China's technical advances have been made on the basis of classified and unclassified information derived from espionage, contact with US and other countries' scientists, conferences and publications, unauthorized media disclosures, declassified US weapons information, and Chinese indigenous development. The relative contribution of each cannot be determined."

This means that we do not know, and may never know, whether the Chinese got most of their information from spying or from the Internet.

The tip-off that China had at least some classified information on US weapons designs came from an unusual 1995 incident. In an apparent attempt to establish a double-agent, a Chinese national walked into a US office in Asia with an armful of top-secret Chinese documents. One of these was a paper dated 1988 listing the characteristics of a number of deployed US nuclear weapons. While much of this information, such as yield, weight, and accuracy was readily available, one tidbit was not—the radius of the primary stage of the W-88 warhead. This sent alarm bells ringing, and it is the basis for the charge that China has design information on all our current nuclear warheads. But the suspect nature of this double agent and the documents he produced make it difficult to evaluate the seriousness of the situation.

The discovery this March that critical nuclear design data was illegally moved from a classified to an unclassified computer at Los Alamos National Laboratory is much more serious. Even here, it is still not known if any of the information actually reached China.

We do know, however, that whatever information China accessed has had little impact on their nuclear weapons. The Damage Assessment panel concluded:

"Significant deficiencies remain in the Chinese weapons program…. To date, the aggressive Chinese collection effort has not resulted in any apparent modernization of their deployed strategic force or any new nuclear weapons deployment."

"China has had the technical capability to develop a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle (MIRV) system for its large, currently deployed ICBM for many years, but has not done so. "

This assessment directly contradicts the central message of the Cox report. China will modernize its nuclear forces and its conventional military forces. But it is so far behind the United States and our allies that America’s military leaders conclude unanimously, as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Command Admiral Dennis Blair testified this year, "China would not represent a serious military threat to the U.S. for at least 20 years."

Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency General Patrick Hughes concludes bluntly in his annual threat assessment, "There is no indication that China will field the much larger number of missiles necessary to shift from a minimalist, retaliation strategy to a first-strike strategy." This did not square with the views of the majority members of the Senate Intelligence Committee who pushed him on the issue in a series of questions for the record. General Hughes response (just released by the Committee) is that he has "high confidence" in this assessment and further, that "China’s defense expenditures are not expected to increase significantly for nuclear defense modernization."

This DIA assessment is consistent with the policy of a minimum deterrence force that China has pursued since it first began its nuclear weapons program. China has never had any intention of making the same mistake the Soviet Union and the United States made during the Cold War: engaging in an expensive race that produce over 125,000 nuclear weapons (at the cost on the U.S. side alone of over $5 trillion). China has sought a minimum force, adequate to deter a nuclear adversary from attacking first, knowing that there would be a nuclear launch in response.

The overall situation encapsulated by James Mulvenon, a RAND Corporation military analyst, who says:

"The US is no more at threat now than before this alleged espionage. It is only half the battle to steal technology. China has not fielded any weapon—and does not appear to be planning to—that has any technology said to be stolen."

Mr. Mulvenon testified before the Cox panel, but apparently he was not asked for his assessment of the espionage impact and his views or the views of the majority of intelligence and military experts on this issue are not reflected in the panel report.

Obviously, China’s plans could accelerate. If the United States and Japan increase their military presence on China’s borders by deploying missile defenses, if the US enters into a de facto military alliance with Taiwan over missile defenses, or if India were to deploy nuclear-armed missiles in significant numbers, China’s military could well demand and get a greater share of China’s scarce resources.

The overall Chinese strategic vision remains the same: China wants 20 to 30 years of international peace and stability in order to modernize its economy and raise the standard of living for its population. Only then would true military modernization be possible. During this economic modernization process much could change in China, including the very nature of the regime. In fact, some would say that democratization is essential for China’s sustained economic growth.

Much depends on how America handles this critical relationship. Campaign agendas or political hyperbole should not overrule the sound judgements of our military leadership nor stampede us into reckless confrontations or expensive new military programs.

Joseph Cirincione is the Director of the Carnegie Non-Proliferation Project. He served for nine years on the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee and Government Operations Committee.

Link to The Cox Committee Report

https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/1999/06/cox-report-and-the-threat-from-china?lang=en

1

2

Case No. 25 PO 00002 3G

PO Rec No.: 323314

254400044

FILED

2025 JAN-7 PM 4:58 JUSTICE PEACE

IN THE JUSTICE COURT OF DAYTON TOWNSHIP

3

4

JOSHUA JAMES COX

5

Applicant,

VS.

6

BILLY DUNN

7

Adverse Party.

8

COUNTY OF LYON, STATE OF NEVADA

TEMPORARY PROTECTION ORDER AGAINST STALKING OR HARASSMENT

9

Expiration: This order was issued by the Court above on January 7, 2025 and will expire

10

on FEBRUARY 21, 2025 at 11:59 pm unless the Court orders otherwise. Hearing to Extend:

There will be a hearing to determine whether to extend this order on FEBRUARY 18, 2025 at 3:00 pm at the Court listed above.

If you do not attend, the court may rule against you.

The Applicant filed a verified application for a protective order. The Court has jurisdiction over this matter. See NRS 200.591, et seq. The Court finds that stalking, aggravated stalking and/or harassment has occurred. Accordingly, and good cause appearing, it is the ORDER of the Court that the following orders apply to the Adverse Party:

1. YOU ARE PROHIBITED from threatening, physically injuring, or harassing the

Applicant and/or the following persons:

Protected Parties: The following persons are protected under this order: Applicant: JOSHUA JAMES COX

2. YOU ARE ORDERED to not contact the protected parties at all in any way,

including but not limited to in person, by phone/text, by email, or through social

media.

3. YOU ARE ORDERED to stay away from Applicant's residence located at: 2024 LONNIE LANE, DAYTON, NV 89403

20

02020 Nevada Supreme Court

Temporary Protection Order Against Stalking or Harassment (Revised October 2020)

Page 1 of 3

8.

7.

6.

How do you know the person you need protection from (check all that apply)?

We are related by blood or marriage. Explain We are or used to be friends/acquaintances.

We are

neighbors

or reside in the same

We are or were co-workers.

Other: (specify relationship):

in any court?

neighborhood.

Are there any other current or prior court cases that involve you and the Adverse Party

No.

Yes. If you know, please list the case type, county, state, and case number:

Firearms/Guns.

Does the Adverse Party own a gun or have a gun in his/her possession or control?

No

Yes

I don't know.

Most Recent Event. Think about the most recent event. These questions ask about the most recent event only.

Approximate date it happened:

City/State/Location where it happened:

Did the other person use or threaten to use a weapon? No Yes.

What Happened? Explain the most recent event and describe any injuries. Give specific and detailed information about the event. You can list past events on the next page. If you are filing on behalf of a child, include details about who happened to the child.

I WAS LEAVING CALIFORNIA ON JANUARY 2ND WHEN THE CFO

AT MY JAR MESSAGED ME AND

ASKED ME TO MEET HER IN HER OFFICE SOMETIME THAT WEEK. I INFORMED HER THAT I WAS OUT OF TOWN BUT WOULD BE THERE IN THE MORNING (JANUARY 3RD). I ASKED WHAT IT WAS ABOUT AND

02020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Order

(Revised October 2020)

Page 3 of 8

SHE SAID THAT SOMEONE THAT SHE DIDN'T KNOW WAS TEXTING HER AND 14 OTHER PHONE NUMBERS. AND THEY SENT HER A VIDEO ALSO, BILLY DUNN who RESIDES AT 2031 LONNIE LANE WAS THE PERSON THE OWNERS SENDING THE TEXTY AND VIDEO, HE SENT THESE TO AND FAMRY MEMBERS THAT HE IS STALKING, HARASSING AND CYBER BULLYING ME AND OTHER PEOPLE ONLINE. HE MIGHT DO: IT IS ESCALATING AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE

EMPLOY ME.

Attach more pages if you need more room (pages 4a, 4b, 4c).

C2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Order (Revised October 2020)

Page 4 of 8

9.

Past Event(s).

Think about any other times the person you want protection from threatened or abused you happened. and/or the child/children. The following questions ask about any past events that may have

Approximate Date:

What Happened:

JUNE 12TH 2024 I GOT HOME

FROM WORK AND MY NEIGHBOR APPROACHED WE AND ASKED IF I SAW A POST THAT BILLY SUNN HAD POSTED ON A TACEBOOK GROUP (RE DAYTON NEVADA JOB SEEKERS). I TOLD HIM NO I HAVEN'T SEEN IT AND ASKED TO SEE IT HE HAD AN A. I., APP ASE TO MAKE A STORY ABOUT ME COMMITTING SUICIDE. I HAVE REPORTED THE VIDEOS ONLINE, BUT I KNOW IT ISN'T ENDUGH AND MY FAMILY AND EMPLOYERS AFE WORRIED FOR ME AND WHAT HE MIGHT DO NEXT!

Approximate Date: What Happened:

10. Law enforcement involvement.

Was law enforcement informed?

No

Yes

a. If so, please provide a copy of the police incident report Was anyone arrested? No Yes (Who),

Is the Adverse Party in jail? A No

Yes

C2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Onder (Revised October 2020)

Page 5 of 8

Case No. 25 PO 00002 3G

If you want to dispute this order or have it changed, you can request a

hearing by filing a written request with this court. Court staff will give you information about how to file your request. The court will set a hearing on your request as quickly as

possible.

ORDER TO LAW ENFORCEMENT

Any law enforcement officer, with or without a warrant, may arrest and take into custody the Adverse Party, when the law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that (a) an Order has been issued pursuant to NRS 33.270 against the Adverse Party; (b) the Adverse Party has been served with a copy of the Order; and (c) the Adverse Party is acting or has acted in violation of the Order. This arrest may occur regardless of whether the violation occurred in the officer's presence.

Any law enforcement agency in this state may enforce a Court Order issued pursuant to NRS 33.270 without regard to the county in which the Order is issued.

8

9

10

11

January 7, 2025

121

12

13

14

14

15

16

17

18

19

amil

CAMILLE VECCHIARELLI Justice of the Peace

(Revised October 2020)

Temporary Protection Order Against Stalking or Harassment

20

20

©2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Page 3 of 3

About Extended Protection Orders: This application automatically asks the judge to issue up to a 45-day temporary protection order without notifying the other person first.

You can also ask for an extended order that could last for up to 2 years.

If you do, the judge will set a hearing. You and the other person will have to appear in court and explain your side before the judge can extend the protection order.

12.

Length of Protection Order.

X

I want an order up to 45 days only.

I want an order up to 45 days PLUS an extended order that could last up to 2

years.

13. Other Exhibits. You may attach documents, pictures, or anything else that you would like the judge to look at and consider when reviewing your application. The Adverse Party will receive a copy of all documents/evidence you provide.

Describe what you are attaching: Phoras OF TEXTS TO MY EMPLOYER AND PICTURES POSTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA OF ME ALONG WITH THE FICTITIOUS STORY HE HAD MADE AND POSTED. POLICE REPORT FILED ONLINE ALSO.

14. This document does not contain the personal information of any person as defined by NRS 603A.040.

I declare under penalty of perjury under the law of the State of Nevada that the foregoing is true and correct.

Dated MONDAY JAMY 6, 2025.

Submitted by:

Adh

Toster

(your signature)

Joshut J. Cox

(print your name)

VERIFICATION

I declare that I am the applicant in the above-entitled action; that I have read the foregoing application and know the contents thereof; that the pleading is true of my own knowledge, except for those matters therein contained stated upon information and belief, and that as to those matters, I believe them to be true. I declare under penalty of perjury under the law of the State of Nevada that the foregoing is true and correct.

Dated MONDAY ANUARY 6, 2025.

Submitted

by: Vacher

©2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Page 8 of 8

(your signature)

Joshua J. Cox

(print your name)

Application for Protection Order (Revised October 2020)

Work. The Adverse Party should stay away from my workplace.

Do you and the Adverse Party work at the same place?

No Yes

Is your work address confidential? No Yes (do not write details below)

HODGES TRANSPORTATION INC.

Employer

605 FORT CHURCHILL RD.

Address

SILVER SPRINGS, NV 89429 2YON

City, State, Zip Code

County

Employer

Address

City, State, Zip Code

School/Daycare. The Adverse Party should stay away from my school and/or the child's school/daycare.

County

Is the school/daycare address confidential? No Yes (do not write details below)

School/Daycare

Address

City, State, Zip Code

County

School/Daycare

Address

City, State, Zip Code

Other Places. The Adverse Party should stay away from the following places that I and/or the minor children go to regularly.

Location

Why?

Address

Location

Why?

Address

County

City, State, Zip Code

County

City, State, Zip Code

County

©2020 Nevada Supreme Court

Application for Protection Order (Revised October 2020)

Page 7 of 8

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.cox.777

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.swanick

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Engineering Coordinator at Nevada Automotive Test Center

Nevada Automotive Test Center

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-hitz-natc-hodges-91563813/

In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. "The Mother of God" was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat. "Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honoring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe. "As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic." A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious show biz and the world swallowed it. "Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a BLUE Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin. "But we haven't seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.

"What has this got to do with Islam?

Note Bishop Sheen's statement: "Our Lady's appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world's 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she "is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary."

"He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ's virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.

"Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church."

How the Vatican created Islam (remnantofgod.org)

http://www.remnantofgod.org/books/docs/how-the-vatican-created-islam.pdf

The star of the Chaldean Church

The Church of the East of the Chaldeans uses ancient symbolism with historical meanings that are not always clear to everyone. An unfortunate fact, because behind symbols lie very valuable cultural elements that have often formed the basis of our thinking, our faith, our traditions, etc.

In this article we deal with the star that the Chaldean Church uses as its hallmark. The star we see in many churches is originally a pagan symbol dating back to ancient Babylonian times.

Picture 1: Shamash tablet

This star is depicted on the ‘Shamash tablet’ (see picture 1), a stone tablet excavated in 1881 by Hormizd Rassam in southern Iraq. The site of the archaeological find corresponded to the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar and was said to date from the 8th century BC.

The shamash tablet is on display today in the British Museum. Shamash, (sureth: ‘shemsha’) was known as the sun god in ancient times and the star symbolized the sun. But why does the Church of the East use this star?

To answer this, we go back to the story of the ‘ three magicians’, also known as ‘the three wise men’ or ‘the three kings’, who had followed the star to visit the baby Jesus.

According to the gospel of Matthew (2, 1-12) these three magicians came from the east, geographically referring to Mesopotamia (Beth Nahrin).

Picture 2: logo Chaldean patriarchate

These three persons were associated with magic, hence the term ‘magicians’ or ‘sages’, because they were engaged in astronomy (astronomy) and had also acquired a certain knowledge in it.

This argument, together with the geographical origin of the three magicians, would indicate that these men were Chaldeans, since Chaldeans were known as astronomers and were also called magicians.

This is why the Chaldean Church uses the star as a symbol. Also in the coat of arms (logo) of the Chaldean patriarchate these three magicians with a star during the visit to the infant Jesus are depicted (see picture 2).

The Church of the East has chosen the star, which is depicted on the ‘shamash tablet’, because of the link with antiquity.

 

Explanation on the use of pagan symbols within the Church, written by Nas David

 

Picture 3: Chaldean Church in Mardin, Turkey

The reason why this originally pagan symbol is still valid today is because many pagan symbols and customs were Christianized in the first centuries. Think, for example, of the Christmas tree or certain Hellenistic terms used by the apostles in their proclamation to make Christianity understandable. Also the first apologists used Greek (and thus pagan) terms and ideas to facilitate their proclamation. For example, Saint Justine the Martyr implemented the Greek ‘Logos’ concept – which stated that the ‘Logos’ was the origin and principle of all things – within the prologue of the Gospel of John to designate Christ as the eternal ‘Logos’, which is translated in English as ‘Word’, although this English term does not make a direct reference to the originally Greek ‘Logos’.

By analogy, we can say that the sun (Shamash) also refers to Christ as the Light of the world.

Thus, pagan symbols were often ‘desecrated’ and Hellenistic notions ‘deshelled’.

https://chaldeans.be/en/the-star-of-the-chaldean-church/

Trump, Vance meet with Pope Leo's Florida brother, 'a major MAGA fan', at White House

Kim Luciani

USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

May 22, 2025, 12:58 p.m. ET

Key Points AI-assisted summary

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's brother, Louis Prevost, at the White House.

Trump publicly praised Prevost, a Florida resident, for being a "major MAGA fan."

Louis Prevost acknowledged his political views and stated his intention to "tone it down" to avoid causing issues for the pope.

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's Florida brother Louis Prevost at the White House on May 20, after praising Prevost to reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day, calling him a "major MAGA fan."

Trump told reporters he likes the pope and both of his brothers, but spotlighted the eldest brother, Navy veteran and Port Charlotte resident Louis Prevost.

"I like the new pope and I like the pope's brother. You know, one of the pope's brothers – actually both of them – but one in particular is a major MAGA fan. Did you know that? He lives in Florida," Trump said.

"And I look forward to getting him to the White House. I want to shake his hand, I want to give him a big hug."

Later that day, the White House visit happened. Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah met with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.

"Great meeting between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and @Pontifex’s brother, Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah," Special Assistant to the President and Communications Advisor Margo Martin posted on X, along with a photo of the meeting.

Louis Prevost excited and happy about brother Pope Leo XVI's papacy

The Prevost brothers — Louis, John and Robert (Pope Leo XIV) — grew up in Chicago in a traditional Catholic family.

Louis Prevost said his youngest brother Robert wanted to "play priest" when he was 6 and set his sights on the priesthood as a freshman in high school. Their parents, neighbors and even strangers told Robert, "You're going to be pope someday," he said.

Robert Prevost's election as Pope Leo XIV left Louis Prevost excited, happy, mind blown and a little worried about how the papacy would impact their relationship.

“I just freaked out and said ‘It’s Rob, OMG.’ I was up, dressed, out, just going nuts,” he told WBBH.

“We can only hope that we can maintain that closeness, and we don't do anything to embarrass him,” he said.

Louis Prevost attended Pope Leo's inaugural mass at the Vatican on May 18. The brothers shared a hug after the service.

Pope Leo's Florida brother Louis Prevost is a MAGA, Trump supporter

Trump told reporters Louis Prevost is a "major MAGA fan."

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Louis Prevost said, "I don’t want to create waves that don’t need to be there because I’m a MAGA type and I have my beliefs,” he said. “I don’t need to create heat for him. He’s going to have enough to handle as it is without the press going ‘the pope’s brother says this.’ He doesn’t need that.”

Asked about his reposts of controversial social media memes, including one calling Nancy Pelosi a drunk (expletive), and how they might affect the pope, Louis Prevost said he will "tone it down."

"He knows I am who I am," he said of the pope. "He's well aware of my position. He knows I'm probably not going to change and I don't think I will, other than to, just like you say, tone it down."

Contributing: Melissa Pérez-Carrillo, Herald-Tribune, Ashley Ferrer, USA TODAY Network-Florida

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2025/05/22/trump-pope-leo-florida-maga-brother-louis-prevost-white-house-visit/83773944007/

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

Archeparch

A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected Sako Archeparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002. Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk, André Sana.[8]

In August 2009, and at the beginning of Ramadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives of Ali Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr.[9]

Patriarch

The Synod of Bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church, convoked in Rome on 28 January 2013, elected Sako to succeed Emmanuel III Delly as Patriarch of Babylon. He chose Louis Raphael I as his regnal name. Pope Benedict XVI gave his assent to the election on 1 February[2] and granted him ecclesiastica communio (ecclesiastical communion) as required by the canon law for Eastern-rite Catholic churches in recognition of their unity with the wider Catholic church.[10]

That same year, Iraq's President Jalal Talabani issued a decree recognizing Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldean Church.[11]

In July 2014 Sako led a wave of condemnation for the Sunni Islamists who demanded Christians either convert, submit to their radical rule and pay a religious levy or face death by the sword.[12] In September 2014 Sako said “The U.S. is indirectly responsible for what is going on in Iraq as it said it would ensure democracy and the well-being of the people, but 10 years have passed and on the contrary we have gone backward." He was responding to a question following remarks attributed to him in the local daily Ad-Diyar in which he accused the U.S. of supporting ISIS. Sako had also criticized Muslim countries for lack of support: "Our Muslim neighbours did not help us." He urged Muslim preachers to issue a religious ruling against the killing of all innocent people and said that "Issuing a fatwa preventing Muslims from killing fellow Muslims is not enough."[13]

In 2014, Sako ordered ten priests who had fled Iraq to return there by 22 October; he suspended them when they failed to comply. The priests, all living in the United States, some for as long as twenty years, appealed to Pope Francis for relief from the order.[14] In January 2015, Pope Francis granted them permission to remain in the United States.[15] Sako later renewed his order despite the pope's decision.[16]

In 2015, Sako proposed a "merger" or reunion of his own Chaldean Catholic Church with the Ancient Church of the East and the Assyrian Church of the East to create one united "Church of the East" with a single patriarch in union with the pope. His proposal would have required both his own resignation and that of Mar Addai II, followed by a joint synod of the bishops of all three churches to elect a new patriarch for the reunited Church of the East. (The patriarchate of the Assyrian Church of the East was vacant at the time, following the death of Mar Dinkha IV.)[17] He wrote that "Unity does not mean uniformity, nor the melting of our own church identity into one style, but it maintains unity in diversity and we remain one apostolic universal church, the Oriental Church, that maintains its independence of administration, laws and liturgies, traditions and support."[18] The Assyrian Church of the East respectfully declined this proposal citing "ecclesiological divergences still remaining" and proceeded with its election of a new patriarch.[19]

On 14 November 2015, the Synod of Bishops announced that Pope Francis had named Sako as one of his three appointments to that body's council.[20]

Cardinal

Pope Francis made Sako a cardinal in a consistory on 28 June 2018.[21] Later that year, Pope Francis named him one of the four cardinals to preside over sessions of the Synod of Bishops on Youth in October.[22]

On 6 October 2018 Sako was named a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches,[23] on 22 February 2019 a member of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue,[24] and on 29 September 2021 a member of the Congregation for Catholic Education.[25] On 4 January 2022, Pope Francis made him a member of the Council for the Economy.[26]

Sako was a cardinal elector in the 2025 papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.[27] Patriarch Sako was also the first Chaldean Catholic Patriarch ever to participate in a papal conclave.[28][a] Sako opted not to wear the shash, the traditional headgear of East Syriac Christian bishops, and wore only his scarlet zucchetto.[32]

Government recognition dispute

On 15 July 2023, Iraq's President Abdul Latif Rashid announced the revocation of the government's 2013 decree recognizing Sako as Patriarch. In response that same day Sako announced he was leaving Baghdad to take up residence in Iraqi Kurdistan. He called the revocation "unprecedented in the history of Iraq".[11] Rashid said his action "does not affect the religious or legal status of patriarch Sako" and said it was based on the fact that Sako's office is not recognized by the Iraqi Constitution; Sako viewed as an extension of the government's ongoing "deliberate and humiliating campaign" against him and its wider failure to protect Iraqi Christians.[33] Rashid had recently rejected requests for comparable decrees from the Patriarchs of the Assyrian Church and the Old Assyrian Church. Others cited complex political manoeuvering.[34]

On 15 July 2023, Sako announced his intention to "retire from the Patriarchal See in Baghdad and move to a church, a mission, in one of the monasteries of Iraqi Kurdistan". His announcement followed a decision by the President of Iraq, Abdul Latif Rashid, to revoke a decree established in 2013 by the former Iraq's President, Jalal Talabani, recognising Sako as Patriarch of the Chaldean Church. The revocation "is unprecedented in Iraq's history," Sako said, highlighting "the government's silence" about the incident and the suffering of the Christian community.[35] For months, Sako had been embroiled in a war of words with a Shia lawmaker and militia leader, Rayan al-Kildani. Both accused each other of exploiting their influence to illegally seize Christian-owned properties. Al-Kildani is the leader of the Babylon Movement, whose militia fought ISIS within the state-linked Popular Mobilisation Forces, a network of largely pro-Iran paramilitaries. Since then, al-Kildani forged strong alliances with powerful Tehran-allied Shiite militias. Sako criticized the Babylon Movement as falsely Christian, noting most of its members and supporters are Shia Muslims using the label for political gain.[36][37] Furthermore, the Babylon Movement, led by al-Kildani, is accused of pillaging homes, unlawful confiscation of land, coercion, extortion, abuse of women, persecution of religious minorities, and torture of detainees. As a result, in 2019, the US imposed sanctions on al-Kildani and another Shiite militia leader, calling them "perpetrators of serious human rights abuse and corruption", and penalizing entities that interact with them.[38]

Cardinal Sako has accused Archbishop Bashar Warda of collaborating and conspiring with Rayan al-Kildani in an effort to subvert his authority and push for his resignation as head of the Chaldean Church. Warda is criticized for supporting al-Kildani despite his horrendous actions, and for not supporting Sako's efforts to counter the Babylon Movement's seizure of Christian assets. This has led to accusations that Warda prioritizes benefits from al-Kildani's support over protecting church interests. Sako has referred to Warda as the "Godfather" of the Babylon Movement.[39][40][41]

On 7 August 2023, Sako told an interviewer that "Withdrawing the decree is very bad. For 15 centuries, there were decrees recognising the Patriarch as head of the Church and administrator of the properties of the Church. Revoking it is a humiliation for the Church. Those behind this move want to put their hands on the properties of the Church and administer them separately from the ecclesiastical authorities. We cannot accept that."[42]

In April 2024, after nine months of exile, Sako returned to Baghdad with the assistance of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani.[43][44]

On 28 August 2024, Sako demanded a public apology from five bishops based on perceived disunity in the Chaldean Catholic Church, including absence from a mandatory July episcopal synod, setting a deadline of September 5. The five bishops, led by Bashar Warda, the Archbishop of Erbil, also withdrew from an August spiritual retreat and pulled their students from the Chaldean Seminary. The bishops refused to apologize, citing dissatisfaction with Sako's leadership style and unilateral decision-making. As a result, he would suspend them and ask Pope Francis to impose canonical penalties, including excommunication.[45][46] The actions of Bashar Warda and the other bishops have been described by the Chaldean Patriarchate as a "dangerous precedent" that goes against their episcopal vows to support the patriarch. The 17 bishops who attended the July 2024 synod issued a communiqué, calling for "appropriate legal measures" against the "clear violations" committed by the boycotting group of Warda.[47]

The rivalry between Louis Sako and Bashar Warda is driven by a fierce personal conflict, with Sako perceiving Warda as ruthlessly ambitious to seize the patriarchate. This perception has led Sako to backtrack on his initial plans to retire at 75, driven by a determination to thwart Warda's power grab. Warda's actions are seen as a betrayal of Sako's leadership.[48]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

Cort Ellefson

Age 38, Born October 1987

Lives in Dayton, NV

(775) 600-5601

Also Seen As

Includes all names used in any public records filings for Cort Ellefson.

Cort Anders Ellefson, Cort C Ellefson

Current Address

This is the most recently reported address for Cort Ellefson.

2028 Lonnie Ln

Dayton, NV 89403

$354,000 | 3 Bed | 2 Bath | 1,152 Sq Ft | Built 2005

Lyon County

(Jun 2024 - Dec 2025)

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Includes the current and past phone numbers for Cort Ellefson.

(775) 600-5601 - Wireless

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Last reported Nov 2025

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(719) 683-5919 - Landline

Last reported Aug 2012

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ellefsoncort@yahoo.com

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2028 Lonnie Ln

Dayton, NV 89403

Bedrooms

3

Bathrooms

2

Square Feet

1,152

Year Built

2005

Estimated Value

$354,000

Estimated Equity

$-21,190

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$360,000

Last Sale Date

06/11/2024

Occupancy Type

Owner Occupied

Ownership Type

Multiple

Land Use

Single Family

Property Class

Residential

Subdivision

Canyon Estates Sub Ph 10b

Lot Square Feet

11,979

APN

019-991-18

School District

Lyon County School District

Previous Addresses

All previously reported addresses for Cort Ellefson.

3611 Lakeview Rd

Carson City, NV 89703

Carson City County

(Aug 2021 - Aug 2024)

3459 Long Dr

Minden, NV 89423

Douglas County

(Jun 2015 - Sep 2025)

16626 Canal Rd

Valley Center, CA 92082

San Diego County

(Nov 2007 - Mar 2014)

2902 Hill Valley Dr

Escondido, CA 92029

San Diego County

(Sep 2006 - Nov 2018)

4205 S Meridian Rd

Colorado Springs, CO 80929

El Paso County

(Nov 2007 - Jan 2010)

11120 W Van Buren St #1098

Avondale, AZ 85323

Maricopa County

(Sep 2025 - Dec 2025)

4205 N Meridian Rd

Peyton, CO 80831

El Paso County

(Jul 2006 - Jul 2019)

Rm 419 #140169

Camp Pendleton, CA 92055

San Diego County

(Jul 2013 - Oct 2013)

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Cheryl Weaver

Age 71

Heather Ellefson

Age 33

Keith Ellefson

Age 61

Kira Cordingly

Age 38

Kirk Ellefson

Age 64

Lacie Evans

Age 39

Lynn Ellefson

Age 66

Timothy Ellefson

Age 79

Arlo Ellefson

Age 85

Austin Ellefson

Age 26

Beverly Ellefson

Age 77

Hagen Ellefson

Age 21

Linda Ellefson

Age 84

Timothy Ellefson

Age 79

Possible Associates

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Clay Evans

Age 42

Richard Barnhurst

Age 64

Barbara Crawford

Age 61

Donald Henderson

Age 70

Dwight Cordingly

Age 71

Indee Gilmore

Age 49

Kari Taylor

Age 23

Kimberly Cordingly

Age 45

Nick Cordingly

Age 46

Patricia Reed

Age 63

Robert Taylor

Age 90

Robert Taylor

Age 60

Sharon Taylor

Age 83

Vicky Cordingly

Age 71

William Weaver

Age 79

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Company

United States Marine Corps

Job Title

Diesel Technician

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PRESENT

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Background Profile on Cort Ellefson

Cort Ellefson, 38 years old, was born in October 1987. His current address is 2028 Lonnie Ln in Dayton, NV, where he's resided since June 2024. Cort's phone number is (775) 600-5601, a mobile number through Verizon Wireless.

Cort's prior residences include Carson City, NV, Minden, NV, Valley Center, CA, Escondido, CA, and Colorado Springs, CO, plus 3 other locations. Cort's previously reported phone number includes (719) 683-5919, a landline number through The El Paso County Telephone Company, which was last active as of August 2012. Cort has email addresses including ellefsoncort@yahoo.com and ralo@elpasotel.net plus 2 others.

Social media links, property ownership & more can be found at our partner site.

Cort has worked at United States Marine Corps as a Diesel Technician for 17 years 1 month. This company is associated with the Government industry.

Cort's relatives include Cheryl Weaver, Heather Ellefson, Keith Ellefson, Kira Cordingly and 10 others. Cort's associates include Clay Evans, Richard Barnhurst and others.

A full criminal records report for Cort Ellefson can be found at our partner site.

Cort's current residence at 2028 Lonnie Ln in Dayton, NV 89403 is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,152 sq feet. It appears Cort owns this property. This property is valued at approximately $354,000. The property was purchased in June 2024 for $360,000. It was built in 2005 (20 years ago).

A more in-depth report can be found at our partner site.

https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/find/person/pxr4ll6n4l29r206ll628 

Saylorsburg is a census-designated place and unincorporated community in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, United States. Saylorsburg is located off Pennsylvania Route 33, 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Wind Gap. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,126.[2] The village is located in both Ross Township and Hamilton Township.[4]

Saylorsburg is in the Pocono Mountains.[5]

Wildlife

Saylorsburg is home to some species of wildlife, including American black bear, gray & red fox, white-tailed deer, groundhog, Virginia opossum, raccoon, and fisher. Saylorsburg is also home to several bird species including great blue heron, wild turkey, and bald eagle. Although only few sightings have been reported, it is commonly known that elk reside in higher elevations in the Pocono Mountains.[citation needed]

Education

The Hamilton Township side of the CDP is in Stroudsburg Area School District while the Ross Township side is in Pleasant Valley School District.[6]

Notable person

Fethullah Gülen, founder of the Gülen movement

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saylorsburg,_Pennsylvania

Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (27 April 1941 – 20 October 2024) was a Turkish Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement[7][8] who as of 2016 had millions of followers.[9] Gülen was an influential neo-Ottomanist,[10] Anatolian panethnicist,[clarification needed][11][12] Islamic poet, writer,[13] social critic, and activist–dissident developing a Nursian theological perspective[14] that embraces democratic modernity.[12] Gülen was a local state imam from 1959 to 1981[15][16] and he was a citizen of Turkey until his denaturalization by the Turkish government in 2017.[17] Over the years, Gülen became a centrist political figure in Turkey prior to his being there as a fugitive. From 21 March 1999 until his death on 20 October 2024, Gülen lived in self-exile in the United States near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.[18][19][20] Gülen's body was buried in a plot of land near the Chestnut Retreat Center in Pennsylvania due to the political situation in Turkey.[21]

Gülen said his social criticisms are focused upon individuals' faith and morality and a lesser extent toward political ends,[22] and self described as rejecting an Islamist political philosophy, advocating instead for full participation within professions, society, and political life by religious and secular individuals who profess high moral or ethical principles and who wholly support secular rule, within Muslim-majority countries and elsewhere.[23] Gülen was described in the English-language media as an imam "who promoted a tolerant Islam which emphasises altruism, hard work, and education" and as "one of the world's most important Muslim figures".[24][25]

In 2003, a number of Gülen movement participants allied with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's right wing Justice and Development Party (AKP), providing the AKP political and sorely-needed administrative support.[26][27][28] This political alliance worked together to weaken left-of-center Kemalist factions, but fractured in 2011. Turkish prosecutors accused Gülen of attempts to overthrow the government by allegedly directing politically motivated corruption investigations by Gülen-linked investigators then in the judiciary,[29][30] who illegally wiretapped the executive office of the Turkish president,[8] and Gülen's alleged instigations of the 2016 coup attempt.[31][32] Gülen denied the accusations.[33][34]

A Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen in 2016,[35][36] and Turkey demanded his extradition from the United States.[37][38][39] U.S. government officials did not believe he was associated with any terrorist activity, and requested evidence to be provided by the Turkish government to substantiate the allegations in the warrant requesting extradition, frequently rejecting Turkish calls for his extradition.[40][41][42]

Gülen was wanted as a terrorist leader in Turkey[43] and Pakistan,[44] as well as by the OIC[45][46] and GCC.[47]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fethullah_G%C3%BClen

Poppy Fields in the Tora Bora Region of Afghanistan

405027 04: An Afghan farmer cuts into a poppy bulb to extract the sap, which will be used to make opium, in a field May 6, 2002 in the village of Markhanai in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan. Afghanistan once supplied 70 percent of the world's opium. The country's former Taliban rulers banned poppies in 2000, but farmers quickly planted the lucrative crop again after a U.S. bombing campaign helped push the Islamic militia from power late last year. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/an-afghan-farmer-cuts-into-a-poppy-bulb-to-extract-the-sap-news-photo/1540301

The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from November 30 – December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora (Pashto: تورا بورا; Black Cave) is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.

Background

In Operation Cyclone during the early 1980s, CIA officers had assisted the mujahideen fighters in extending and shoring up the caves to use for resistance during the Soviet–Afghan War.[8] The U.S. then supported their effort. Several years later, the Taliban formed and took control of most of the country, enforcing Islamic fundamentalist rule. Several cave areas were used in much earlier periods, as the difficult terrain formed a natural defensive position and had been used by tribal warriors fighting foreign invaders.

In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom to dismantle the Taliban regime that had sheltered Osama bin Laden. To achieve this goal, the U.S. military joined forces with the Northern Alliance, a group of rebels who had long been waging a guerrilla war against the Taliban. Through a combination of air strikes and ground operations, the U.S. and its allies quickly gained the upper hand, seizing control of key Taliban strongholds and toppling the regime's grip on power. By November 13, 2001, the Northern Alliance had captured the capital city of Kabul.

The CIA was closely tracking Osama bin Laden's movements, hoping to locate and catch him. On November 10, 2001, he had been spotted near Jalalabad traveling in a convoy of 200 pick-up trucks heading in the direction of his training camp in Tora Bora mountain.[12] The U.S. had expected bin Laden to make a last stand at Tora Bora, hoping to repeat his success against the Soviets in the Battle of Jaji in 1987. Vice President Dick Cheney revealed in a November 29, 2001 television interview that bin Laden was believed to be in the general area of Tora Bora, surrounded by a sizable force of loyal fighters.[4] The CIA lead in the Panjshir, Gary Berntsen, sent a detachment to team up with Afghan tribal militias around Jalalabad who opposed the Taliban.[12] The Americans climbed the mountains guided by the locals who knew the terrain. After a few days of climbing, they arrived at the training camp in Tora Bora where hundreds of Al-Qaeda fighters could be spotted.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

Early life

A portrait of Martin Luther in 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Her father sent then five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]

Plaque on the ruins of Nimbschen Abbey, commemorating von Bora's time there and her escape.

After years of being a nun, von Bora became interested in the growing reform movement and grew dissatisfied with cloistered life. Conspiring with several other sisters, she contacted Luther and begged for his assistance.[13] On 4 April 1523, Holy Saturday, Luther sent Leonhard Köppe, a merchant and councillor of Torgau who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns escaped by hiding in his covered wagon among the fish barrels, and fled to Wittenberg.[14]

Luther asked the family of the nuns to admit them into their houses, but they declined, possibly because this would have made them accomplices to a crime under canon law.[15]

Within two years, Luther was able to arrange marriages or find employment for all of the escaped nuns except von Bora. She was first housed with the family of Philipp Reichenbach, the municipal clerk of Wittenberg, then with Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. Von Bora had a number of suitors, including Hieronymus Baumgartner from Nuremberg, and a pastor, Kaspar Glatz from Orlamünde, but none of the proposals resulted in marriage. She told Luther's friend and fellow reformer, Nicolaus von Amsdorf, that she would be willing to marry only Luther or von Amsdorf.[16]

Marriage to Luther

Three depictions of Katharina von Bora

Martin Luther, as well as many of his friends, was at first unsure of whether he should marry. Philip Melanchthon thought that this would hurt the Reformation by causing scandal. Luther eventually decided that his marriage would 'please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep'.[16] 26-year-old Von Bora and 41-year-old Luther married on 13 June 1525, before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Barbara and Lucas Cranach.[17] A small wedding breakfast was held the next morning, and a more formal, public ceremony on 27 June, presided over by Bugenhagen.[18]

The couple took up residence in the former dormitory and educational institution of Augustinian friars studying in Wittenberg (known as the 'Black Monastery'), a wedding gift from John, Elector of Saxony, brother of Luther's protector Frederick III, Elector of Saxony.[19] Katharina immediately took on the task of managing the monastery's vast holdings. She bred and sold cattle and ran a brewery to provide for their family, the numerous students who boarded with them, and her husband's visitors. In times of epidemics, she operated a hospital with nurses, working alongside them. Luther called her the 'boss of Zulsdorf', after the farm they owned, and the 'morning star of Wittenberg' for her habit of rising at 4 a.m.[2]

Based on Luther's descriptions, his wife, whom he nicknamed 'Herr Käthe', exerted much control over his life. She might have even influenced his decisions to a degree; Luther said that his wife 'convince[d] [him] of whatever' she pleased', and explicitly afforded her 'complete control' over the household, as long as 'his rights' were 'preserved', since '[f]emale government has never done any good'.[20] She thus assisted her husband with running their estate and directed renovations when necessary.[21] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Katharina Luther played a wife's role as taught by her husband's movement: she depended on him financially (although she also increased their estate's profits), and respected him as a 'higher vessel', always calling him 'Herr Doktor'. He reciprocated by occasionally consulting her on church matters.[22]

Katharina bore six children: Hans (1526–1575), Elisabeth (1527–1528), Magdalena (1529–1542), Martin (1531–1565), Paul (1533–1593), and Margarete (1534–1570). She also suffered a miscarriage on 1 November 1539. The Luthers raised four orphaned children, including Katharina's nephew, Fabian.[23]

Significance of the marriage

The marriage of von Bora to Luther is very important in the history of Protestantism, specifically in regard to the development of its views on marriage and gender roles. While Luther was not the first cleric to marry because of Reformation ideas, he was one of the most prominent. As he argued publicly for clerical marriage and produced much anti-Catholic propaganda, his marriage became a natural target for his enemies.[24]

After Luther's death

von Bora in 1546

von Bora's gravestone engraving at Saint Mary's Church in Torgau, Germany

When Martin Luther died in 1546, Katharina was left in difficult financial straits without Luther's salary as professor and pastor, even though she owned land, properties, and the Black Cloister. She had been counselled by Martin Luther to move out of the old abbey and sell it after his death, and move into much more modest quarters with the children who remained at home, but she refused.[25] Luther had named her his sole heir in his last will. His will could not be executed, however, because it did not conform with Saxon law.[26]

Almost immediately after, Katharina had to leave the Black Cloister, now called Lutherhaus, by herself, at the outbreak of the Schmalkaldic War, fleeing to Magdeburg. After she returned, the approaching war forced another flight in 1547, this time to Braunschweig. In July 1547, at the close of the war, she was able to return to Wittenberg.[citation needed]

After the war, the buildings and lands of the monastery had been torn apart and laid waste. Cattle and other farm animals had been stolen or killed. If she had sold the land and the buildings, she could have had a good financial situation. Financially, they could not remain there. Katharina was able to support herself thanks to the generosity of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, and the princes of Anhalt.[27]

She remained in Wittenberg in poverty until 1552, when an outbreak of the Black Plague and a harvest failure forced her to leave the city once again. She fled to Torgau, where she was thrown from her cart into a watery ditch near the city gates. For three months, she went in and out of consciousness, before dying in Torgau on 20 December 1552, at the age of 53. She was buried at Torgau's Saint Mary's Church, far from her husband's grave in Wittenberg. She is reported to have said on her deathbed, 'I will stick to Christ as a burr to cloth.'[28]

By the time of Katharina's death, the surviving Luther children were adults. After Katharina's death, the Black Cloister was sold back to the university in 1564 by his heirs.[citation needed]

Margareta Luther, born in Wittenberg on 27 December 1534, married into a noble, wealthy Prussian family, to Georg von Kunheim (Wehlau, 1 July 1523 – Mühlhausen [now Gvardeyskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast], 18 October 1611, the son of Georg von Kunheim [1480–1543] and wife Margarethe, Truchsessin von Wetzhausen [1490–1527]) but died in Mühlhausen in 1570 at the age of thirty-six.[29]

Commemoration

Katharina von Bora is commemorated on 20 December in the Calendar of Saints of some Lutheran churches in the United States.[30] In 2022, she was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day on 20 December.[31]

In addition to a statue in Wittenberg and several biographies, an opera of her life now keeps her memory alive.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

 Augustinians and Cistercians | Church and Society in the Medieval West

One newly founded order broke with the rule of Benedict, finding its inspiration in a letter of Augustine is that prescribed simply that monks share all their property, pray together at regular intervals, dress alike, and obey a superior. Some of the “Augustinians,” as they called themselves, interpreted these general rules severely, living in silence, performing manual labor, eating and drinking sparingly, and singing psalms; others ate meat, conversed among themselves, and did not insist on manual labor.

Often beginning as small informal foundations, the Augustinians attracted modest donations from relatively modest donors. Unlike Cluny, with its vast collections of buildings crowned by a great and splendid church, the Augustinian foundations were simple and humble. The Augustinians preached, baptized, heard confessions, and helped the poor unobtrusively. They multiplied rapidly, and in the thirteenth century there were thousands of Augustinian houses in England and on the Continent.

Founded only a little later, the Cistercians abandoned the world instead of living in it. Their original house, Citeaux (Cistercium) in Burgundy, lay in a dismal wasteland far from the distractions of the world. There they pioneered land reclamation and launched a period of agricultural expansion. By the twelfth century the Cistercians were looked to for their knowledge of how to make previously uncultivated lands, often swamps, productive. They considered themselves the only true Benedictines, vet the self-denial, poverty, and wholly spiritual life that the Cistercians adopted was often seen by their contemporaries as arrogant, worldly, and even greedy.

Perhaps the best-known Cistercian leader was Bernard of Clairvaux (c. 1091-1153), who in 1115 led a band of Cistercians to a new and remote site from which he influenced worldly affairs to a remarkable degree, preaching for a Second Crusade and attacking the scholastic method of teaching. As he wrote, “There are many who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: that is curiosity. There are others who desire to know in order that they themselves be known: that is vanity. Others seek knowledge in order to sell it: that is dishonorable. But there are also some who seek knowledge in order to edify others. That is love.” He launched significant reforms in teaching, the observance of church rules, and attitudes toward worship.

In the end, the Cistercians, too, changed. Display conquered austerity, and aristocratic traditions quenched humility. By the thirteenth century, great Cistercian monasteries were wealthy centers of production. The expensive arts of architecture and sculpture were lavished on their buildings. These Cistercian monasteries had become great corporations, thoroughly tied into the increasingly complex web of medieval economic life.

https://bigsiteofhistory.com/augustinians-and-cistercians-church-and-society-in-the-medieval-west

 The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Gehlen Organization or Gehlen Org (often referred to as The Org) was an intelligence agency established in June 1946 by U.S. occupation authorities in the United States zone of post-war occupied Germany, and consisted of former members of the 12th Department of the German Army General Staff (Foreign Armies East, or FHO). It was headed by Reinhard Gehlen who had previously been a Wehrmacht Major General and head of the Nazi German military intelligence in the Eastern Front during World War II.

The agency was a precursor to the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND or Federal Intelligence Service) which was formed in 1956.

Establishment

Reinhard Gehlen in 1943

After World War II, Reinhard Gehlen acted under the tutelage of US Army G-2 (intelligence), but he wished to establish an association with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). In 1947, in alliance with the CIA, the military orientation of the organization turned increasingly toward political, economic and technical espionage against the Eastern bloc and the moniker "Pullach" became synonymous with secret service intrigues.[1]

According to one report, the Org was for many years "the only eyes and ears of the CIA on the ground in the Soviet Bloc nations" during the Cold War. The CIA kept close tabs on the Gehlen group: the Org supplied the manpower while the CIA supplied the material needs for clandestine operations, including funding, cars and airplanes.[citation needed]

Every German POW returning from Soviet captivity to West Germany between 1947 and 1955 was interviewed by Org agents. Those returnees who were forced to work in Soviet industries and construction, and who were willing to participate, represented an incomparable source of information: a post-war, up-to-date picture of the Soviet Union as it evolved.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gehlen_Organization

Operation Mockingbird is an alleged large-scale program of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that began in the early years of the Cold War and attempted to manipulate domestic American news media organizations for propaganda purposes. According to author Deborah Davis, Operation Mockingbird recruited leading American journalists into a propaganda network and influenced the operations of front groups. CIA support of front groups was exposed when an April 1967 Ramparts article reported that the National Student Association received funding from the CIA.[1] In 1975, Church Committee Congressional investigations revealed Agency connections with journalists and civic groups.

In 1973, a document referred to as the "Family Jewels"[2] was published by the CIA containing a reference to "Project Mockingbird", which was the name of an operation in 1963 which wiretapped two journalists who had published articles based on classified material.[3] The document does not contain references to "Operation Mockingbird".[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Mockingbird

Kodashim (Hebrew: קׇדָשִׁים‎, romanized: Qoḏāšim, lit. 'holy things') is the fifth of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and deals largely with the services within the Temple in Jerusalem, its maintenance and design, the korbanot, or sacrificial offerings that were offered there, and other subjects related to these topics, as well as, notably, the topic of kosher slaughter.

Topics

This Seder (order, or division) of the Mishnah is known as Kodashim (“sacred things” or “sanctities”), because it deals with subjects connected with Temple service and ritual slaughter of animals (shehitah). The term kodashim, in the Biblical context, applies to the sacrifices, the Temple and its furnishings, as well as the priests who carried out the duties and ceremonies of its service; and it is with these holy things, places and people that Kodashim is mainly concerned. The title Kodashim is apparently an abbreviation of Shehitat Kodashim ("the slaughter of sacred animals") since the main, although not the only subject of this order is sacrifices.[1][2][3]

The topics of this Seder are primarily the sacrifices of animals, birds, and meal offerings, the laws of bringing a sacrifice, such as the sin offering and the guilt offering, and the laws of misappropriation of sacred property. In addition, the order contains a description of the Second Temple (tractate Middot), and a description and rules about the daily sacrifice service in the Temple (tractate Tamid). The order also includes tractate Hullin, which concerns the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial use, as well as other dietary laws applying to meat and animal products. Although Hullin is about the slaughter of animals for non-sacrificial, and therefore unsanctified purposes, because the rules about the proper slaughter of animals and birds, and their ritual fitness for use were considered to be an integral part of the concept of holiness in Judaism, they were also included in the order regarding “holy things”.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

Revelation 18:2

Zevachim (“Sacrifices”), with FOURTEEN chapters, and originally called Shehitat Kodashim ("slaughtering of the holy animals") deals with the sacrificial system of the Temple period, namely the laws for animal and bird offerings, and the conditions which make them acceptable or not, as specified in the Torah, primarily in the book of Leviticus (Lev 1:2 and on).[1][2][4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kodashim

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]"

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [t]image of the [u]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

Revelation 13:14

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lateran#Lateran_Palace

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler

In this German propaganda newsreel, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, meets Hitler for the first time. During the meeting, held in in the Reich chancellery, Hitler declined to grant al-Husayni’s request for a public statement—or a secret but formal treaty—in which Germany would: 1) pledge not to occupy Arab land, 2) recognize Arab striving for independence, and 3) support the “removal” of the proposed Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Führer confirmed that the “struggle against a Jewish homeland in Palestine” would be part of the struggle against the Jews. Hitler stated that: he would “continue the struggle until the complete destruction of Jewish-Communist European empire”; and when the German army was in proximity to the Arab world, Germany would issue “an assurance to the Arab world” that “the hour of liberation was at hand.” It would then be al-Husayni’s “responsibility to unleash the Arab action that he has secretly prepared.” The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/hajj-amin-al-husayni-meets-hitler

The ratlines (German: Rattenlinien) were systems of escape routes for German Nazis and other fascists fleeing Europe from 1945 onwards in the aftermath of World War II. These escape routes mainly led toward havens in the Americas, particularly in Argentina, though also in Paraguay, Colombia,[1] Brazil, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Bolivia, as well as the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, and Switzerland.

There were two primary routes: the first went from Germany to Spain, then Argentina; the second from Germany to Rome, then Genoa, then South America. The two routes developed independently but eventually came together.[2] The ratlines were supported by rogue elements in the Vatican, particularly an Austrian bishop and four Croatian clergy of the Catholic Church who sympathized with the Ustaše.[3][4][5] Starting in 1947, U.S. Intelligence utilized existing ratlines to move certain Nazi strategists and scientists.[6]

While consensus among Western scholars is that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler died by suicide in 1945, in the late 1940s and 1950s the U.S. investigated claims that he survived and fled to South America..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(World_War_II)

20. It is better and safer to make alliance and amity with [Moslem] Turks, [Communist] Infidels, or [Talmudic and anti-Torah, Zionist] Jews, than with [Reformation Bible-believing] Heretic Protestants [and Baptists], because they may draw us into the errors of their novelties. {1}

Absolutist Papal Maxims of the Jesuits

AI Overview

Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing, was raised in the Catholic faith and baptized in the Catholic Church. However, he stopped practicing later in life and described himself as agnostic. He was also quoted as saying his only religion was science.

Despite his later agnosticism, according to CNN and The Oklahoman, he did request and receive last rites from a priest before his execution. Father Ron Ashmore of St. Margaret Mary Church in Terre Haute stated that McVeigh knew the significance of the sacrament, interpreting it as an act of asking God's forgiveness. However, he remained publicly unrepentant at the time of his execution, choosing to issue a defiant statement rather than express remorse.

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Explore the SOSA Neighborhood in Oklahoma City

South of St Anthony, referred to as SOSA by those who live there, offers a modern take on neighborhoods in Oklahoma City.

Welcome to SOSA - South of St Anthony

South of St Anthony, referred to as SOSA by those who live there, offers a modern take on neighborhoods in Oklahoma City. With an urban and hip environment and many eclectic restaurants and shops to visit, this community is fun and inviting. There are many modern-style homes that have been built in recent years, increasing their size and bringing more members into the fold.

 

What to Love

Many new builds allowing for growth

An inviting and fun atmosphere

Many eclectic shops and eateries

Extremely close to the midtown area of Oklahoma City

Local Lifestyle

The nearby St. Anthony Hospital helped give this neighborhood its namesake. This inner-city community is home to many urban influencers, developers, and prominent architects, which is why you will find many interesting and creative modern architecture in the homes and buildings here. Make your way through the Cottage District and see the beauty that surrounds you.

 

Dining, Entertainment & Shopping

Many eclectic eateries fill the community, including places like McNellie's OKC. This Irish pub offers more than 350 beer choices and sometimes hosts tasting events.

 

Brown's Bakery nearby has a seating area so you can enjoy a donut, bread slice, cake, cookie, or another treat. Insomnia Cookies is known for its delightful desserts and is open late. Neighborhood JAM is a hip spot for breakfast and lunch.

 

Visit Elemental Coffee when you want a brew that's roasted in-house. Craft coffee, tea, and pastries fill the menu. The Collective Kitchens and Cocktails allows you to dine on a rooftop terrace. With a trendy food court and bar, you have an assortment of menu options.

 

Fassler Hall is a highly-rated German restaurant, while Barrios serves fine Mexican dishes. Many make their way to the Midtown Plaza Court for shopping. You get more options, however, if you make your North to Penn Square Mall past Uptown. Various department stores, service centers, and a food court make up the vicinity.

 

Things to Do

Red Andrews Park provides a place to play and relax for residents of the area. Provided benches give you a space to sit as you watch your kids enjoy their time on the play structure. The Johnie L. Williams Municipal Gymnasium is located here. It's a great spot for basketball. Many prefer to make their way Northeast of SOSA to Oklahoma City's Midtown Mutts Dog Park. The fenced-in area gives your pup a safe place to play. You get a great view of Midtown from here.

 

Right outside of SOSA, you'll find the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This can't-miss locale features a memorial sculpture garden for the 1995 bombing that hit the Murrah Building. The outside space is complete with a scenic water backdrop. While the grounds are gorgeous to look at, the interior of the space offers various collections and archives, as well as video explanations to learn about what happened.

 

Schools

The Millwood School District operates in the area.

John W Rex Charter Elementary School, Pre-K-4th Grade

Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Grades 11-12

https://westrealestatecompany.com/neighborhoods/sosa-south-of-st-anthony

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

AI Overview

As of September 2025, there has been no 37th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. The most recent assembly was the 36th General Congregation (GC 36), which met in Rome in October 2016.

What is a General Congregation?

A General Congregation (GC) is the highest governing body of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order. A GC can be called for two main reasons:

To elect a new Superior General: This happens when the previous Superior General resigns or dies. In 2016, GC 36 was called after Father Adolfo Nicolás announced his resignation.

To address important matters: A GC can be called by the Superior General to discuss and act on significant issues concerning the order, the Church, and the world.

Key outcomes of the 36th General Congregation (GC 36)

The last General Congregation made two major decisions for the Society of Jesus:

Election of a new Superior General: The delegates elected Father Arturo Sosa Abascal of Venezuela as the 31st Superior General.

Declaration on reconciliation and justice: The assembly released a decree titled "Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice," which recommitted the order to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, continuing a priority first established at the 32nd General Congregation.

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1987 Slammy Awards

The Slammy Awards returned a year later, now honoring the events and individuals involved within the professional wrestling aspect of the World Wrestling Federation. The second edition of the ceremony (referred to in commercials and on-air as the 37th annual Slammy Awards) took place on December 16, 1987, from Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It aired in syndication on December 19, 1987.[11][14][13] The ceremony was hosted by Jesse Ventura and Gene Okerlund.[15] Musical numbers were performed by Vince McMahon (singing the song "Stand Back")[16] and Jimmy Hart (singing "Girls in Cars"), with the entire WWF roster performing "If You Only Knew" as the show's closing number.[16][15]

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface.[11][14][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slammy_Award

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

Templar Military Lodges

The Templars also stealthily entered America through military lodges. Of particular significance are those chartered by the Irish Grand Lodge, which offered the higher degrees of Jacobite Masonry. Later these lodges incorporated the French Templar Scottish Rite degrees, further dividing colonial America between two rival forms of Freemasonry. While British politics in the colonies was dominated by English Masons in the Northeast, her military was under the influence of French Templar Field Lodges throughout the colonies - not a stable union for governing "13" rebellious colonies.25

European Templars Settle America

Another identifying characteristic of the Beast's revived Roman empire, according to our analysis of Daniel 7:7-8 in chapter 26, is that it must be populated by immigrants from the territory governed by the old Roman empire. Of course colonial America was populated by peoples from a Europe shaped by ancient Rome and later by the Holy Roman Empire. Templar influence in America began after Prince Charles Edward, the Young Stuart Pretender, failed to regain his British throne. As you recall, in 1746 he was soundly defeated, forever dashing the hopes of Scottish Templars recapturing England. As a result, many Irish and Scottish Templar Jacobites who had fought with Charles Stuart fled to America. Those who returned to France with the Prince founded the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Between 1745 and 1753, the British and European Templar population in the New World had increased dramatically. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin attempted to relieve population pressure by proposing a plan for the union of all 13 colonies. The British government rejected Franklin's proposal, fearing a united America would be difficult to control. Subsequently, the exploding population was forced to move west into French territory, which precipitated the French and Indian War in America, a phase of the Seven Years War on the continent of Europe. During this war the French military brought to the New World the Templar Scottish Rite, first setting up base at Boston, then Charleston, S.C.26 Michael Baigent, in The Temple and The Lodge, explains: 565 Prior to the Seven Years War, most of the Freemasonry in North America was orthodox pro- Hanoverian, warranted by Grand Lodge [London]. During the Seven Years War, however, "higher degree" [Templar] Freemasonry, by means of regimental field lodges, was transplanted on a large scale to the American colonies and quickly took root. Boston - the soil from which the American Revolution was to spring - exemplifies the process of transplantation and the friction that sometimes arose from it.27

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

79) Helyas “The Swan-Knight”, epic-hero of the First Crusade 1096-99, the 40th and last Grail-King, who, upon entering Jerusalem [accompanying his son, Geoffrey of Bouillon, the crusade’s leader] following the First Crusade (1096-99) returned The Holy Grail to The Church of The Holy Sepulchre and placed it himself on the high-altar (1099). Helyas “The Swan-Knight” married thrice, and, by each wife had a son: his eldest son inherited the French fiefdom of Bouillon from his mother; his second son married the heiress of Oldenburg [Oldcastle] and inherited the Dutch county through her; and, his third son inherited the German fiefdom of Kleve (Cleves) from his mother, hence, founding three great families. The legend of Helyas “The Swan-Knight” takes place during the last half of the eleventh century. He arrives on the scene when the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV (1056-1106) held court at Neumagen to decide a claim by the Count of Frankfort for the duchy of Bouillon, then held by Ida of Louvain, the widow of the Duke of Bouillon, its duchess. The matter was decided by hand-to-hand combat between the Count of Frankfort and Helyas of Lorraine, who championed the duchess, who legend says sailed up the Meuse on a boat drawn by a swan by means of a silver chain, whence his epithet. He won the battle, married her, and became the Duke of Bouillon in right of his wife, by whom he begot Geoffrey of Bouillon, Leader of the First Crusade 1096-99; Protector of The Holy Sepulchre 1099-1100. The legend was embellished by medieval romance that says before their marriage Helyas warned the duchess that if she ever asked his identity he would have to leave her. As the story goes she later tempted disregarding her husband’s warning asked him his identity. [The wife’s desire to know her husband’s “true self” appears here to parallel the myth of Cupid and Psyche.] He rebuked her sorrowfully, and, instantly the boat drawn by the swan re-appeared on the river next to where they were, Helyas stepped into the boat, and the swan swam off with him in the boat out of sight of his sorrowing wife. That is medieval romance, but the fact is Helyas divorced Ida of Louvain, soon after the birth of their son, Geoffrey, and she [his ex-wife] married thirdly Eustace II, Count of Boulogne. Helyas, meanwhile, had come to the aid of Elsa of Brabant, divorced wife of Regnier, Count of Hainault, against a suitor, Frederic de Telramund, who claimed she had promised to marry him. Instead, Elsa of Brabant married Helyas of Lorraine. It was his second marriage, as well as hers. The marriage produced a son, Elimar [Egilmar], who married Rixa [Rikissa], the heiress of Oldenburg, and became the Count of Oldenburg [“Oldcastle”] in “right of his wife”. Helyas divorced Elsa of Brabant soon after the birth of their son, Elimar, and, she married thirdly Hajo, Count of Uprustringen. Helyas, meanwhile, married thirdly Beatrix of Cleves [identified with Belayne of Lizaborye in medieval romance], daughter of Rutger II, Count of Cleves, and, widow of the Count of Lizaborye. The marriage produced a son, Dietrich [II]. Soon after, Helyas divorced Beatrix of Cleves, who married thirdly Dietrich I, Count of Cleves. Hence, Helyas “The Swan-Knight”, the last in the long-line of “Grail-Kings”, was the ancestor of three great noble European houses, those of Oldenburg [Oldcastle], Bouillon, and Cleves. Legend says that Helyas was murdered by armed men sent by his ex-wife [not by her parents as one romance says, who had already dead by that time], circa 1100. The three sons of Helyas, all born out of wedlock & were reared by their mothers, who were:

(80A) Geoffrey of Bouillon, Leader of the First Crusade 1096-99, &, “Protector of The Holy Sepulchre” 1099, called “First” Grand-Master of the Knights-Templars, whose mother, Ida of Louvain, widow of the Duke of Bouillon, married 3rdly Eustace II, Count of Boulogne

(80B) Egilmar I, Count of Oldenburg [Oldcastle], 1091, [by virtue of his marriage to Rixa, the heiress of Oldenburg] (d1108), whose mother, Elsa of Brabant, divorced wife of Regnier, Count of Hainault, married 3rdly Hajo, Count of Uprustringen. [note: Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince-Consort of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, is a male-line descendant of Helyas “The Swan-Knight” through the Counts of Oldcastle (Oldenburg), though his official genealogy is traced through the royal house of Greece, which may trace its descent from ancient Greek kings.]

(80C) Dietrich II, Count of Cleves 1085/92 (d1114/19?), whose mother, Beatrix (Belayne) of Cleves, daughter of Rutger II, Count of Cleves, widow of the Count of Lizaborye, married 3rdly Dietrich I, Count of Cleves (d1056)

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LIST: GRAND MASTERS of the KNIGHTS-TEMPLARS

01. Geoffrey of Bouillon ……………………. 1099-1100

02. Ursus of Calabria ………………………… 1100-1118

03. Hugh de Payens……………………………… 1118-1136

04. Robert I de Craon…………………………… 1136-1146

05. Everard des Barres………………………….. 1146-1149

06. Bernard de Tormelai………………………… 1149-1153

07. Andre de Montbard…………………………… 1153-1156

08. Bertrand de Blanchefort ………………… 1156-1169

09. Philippe I de Milly ……………………….. 1169-1171

10. Eudes de St. Amand………………………….. 1171-1179

11. Arnold de Toroga……………………………. 1179-1184

12. Gerard de Ridfort…………………………… 1185-1189

X. vacant……………………………………………. 1189-1191

13. Robert II de Sable……………………………… 1191-1193

14. Gilbert Erail …………………………………….. 1193-1200

X. vacant …………………………………………… 1200-1201

15. Philippe II de Plessiez ……………………… 1201-1208

X. vacant…………………………………….. 1208-1209

16. Guillaume I de Chartres ……………………… 1209-1219

17. Pierre de Montaigu ………………………….. 1219-1230

X. vacant…………………………………….. 1230-1231

18. Herman de Perigord ………………………… 1231-1244

X. vacant…………………………………….. 1244-1245

19. Richard de Bures ……………………………. 1245-1247

20. Guillaume II de Sonnac ………………………. 1247-1250

21. Reynald de Vichiers …………………………. 1250-1256

22. Thomas Berard ………………………………. 1256-1273

23. Guillaume III de Beaujeu …………………….. 1273-1291

took the “Holy Grail” to Antioch and entrusted it into the care of Tibald de Gaudin, the city’s bishop, who became the next Grand-Master

24. Tibald de Gaudin ……………………………. 1291-1293

25. Jacques de Molay, last Grand-Master………… 1293-1314, executed by the King of France

note: the Knights-Templars were scattered in 1314 by the King of France

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POST-SCRIPT

The Holy Grail came to symbolize Christianity and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem just like the “Ark-of-the-Covenant” came to symbolize Judaism and the ancient Judaic kingdom of Israel/Judah. The Holy Grail was taken out of Jerusalem to Acre at the time of Jerusalem’s fall to the Muslims either in 1187 and/or 1244, and there remained at Acre until 1291 when it was taken by the Knight-Templar Guillaume [III] de Beaujeu to Antioch and entrusted into the care of Tibald de Gaudin, the city’s bishop. The Holy Grail after that disappears from recorded history until 1910 when there was found in the ruins of a church at Antioch, a cup, containing an inner cup, that is thought by able scholars to be the Holy Grail. The inner cup is plain silver, however, its container, the outer cup, is exquisitely carved silver with the figures of Christ and His disciples at the “Last Supper”. The outer cup was obviously made to hold the inner cup, as a sacred, precious object older than itself. The artistic style and workmanship is considered to be of first century date. The Holy Grail, now called “The Chalice of Antioch”, eventually came into the possession of the Cloister’s Museum in New York City and is privately owned today by the Metropolitan Museum, New York, NY.

—————————————————————————————————————Knight of the Swan

Last updated 1 month agoFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

A tapestry of 1482 showing episodes from the Knight of the Swan story: at the bottom puppies are substituted for babies.The story of the Knight of the Swan, or Swan Knight, is a medieval tale about a mysterious rescuer who comes in a swan-drawn boat to defend a damsel, his only condition being that he must never be asked his name. The earliest variants of the story appear in French chansons de geste attached to the family of Godfrey of Bouillon, the first ruler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Later, the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach included a version in his Grail epic Parzival. One of the Old French romances inspired a late-fourteenth century version in Middle English.[1] Wolfram von Eschenbach’s version inspired two later romances and the opera Lohengrin by Richard Wagner. A German text, written by Konrad von Würzburg in 1257, features a Swan Knight but without any other name.

Contents [hide]

1 Crusade cycle

1.1 Swan Children

1.2 Swan Knight

2 Lohengrin

3 Notes

4 External links

[edit] Crusade cycleThe Knight of the Swan story first appears in French chansons de geste of the Crusade cycle, where they figure into tales of the ancestry of Godfrey of Bouillon.[2] As the first ruler of the newly-established Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, Godfrey loomed large in the medieval Christian imagination, and his shadowy genealogy became a popular subject for writers of the period. Knight of the Swan stories attached to Godfrey fall into two major versions, identified by Gaston Paris as “I” and “II”. Each version has its own variants.[3]

[edit] Swan Children

Helias, Brabant (16th-century)Version I describes the Swan Children and appears to have been originally separate from the Godfrey cycle and the Swan Knight story generally.[3] Paris identifies four groups of variants, which he classifies usually by the name of the mother of the Swan Children.[4]

In the Dolopathos group, named after the oldest variant, a lord finds a mysterious woman — clearly a swan maiden or fairy — in an enchanted forest and marries her.[4] She bears seven children, six boys and a girl, with golden chains about their necks, but her evil mother-in-law has them quickly removed and abandoned and replaces them with dogs.[5] The father blames the mother for their disappearance and punishes her; in turn, the boys lose their gold chains and turn into swans. Through the efforts of the sister, after seven years the truth is revealed, the mother is redeemed, and the boys are restored to their human form, with the exception of one whose chain has been melted down. The poet asserts that he becomes the swan in the Swan Knight tale.[5] The Eloixe group tells a courtlier version of the same story, in which the mother is less mysterious in origin and dies in childbirth, so she does not suffer before her children are restored.[6] In the Isomberte variants, the woman is a princess fleeing a hated marriage.[7] In the Beatrix variants, the woman had taunted another woman over her alleged adultery, citing a multiple birth as proof of it, and was then punished with a multiple birth of her own.[7] In the Beatrix versions, the mother is also an avenging justice.[8] This makes the tale resemble not only such chivalric romances as The Man of Law’s Tale and Emaré, but such fairy tales as The Girl Without Hands.[9] It also bears resemblance to the fairy tale The Six Swans, where brothers transformed into birds are rescued by the efforts of their sister.[10]

[edit] Swan KnightVersion II involves the Swan Knight himself. These stories are sometimes attached to the story of the Swan Children, but sometimes appear independently, in which case no explanation of the swan is given. All of these describe a knight who appears with a swan and rescues a lady; he then disappears after a taboo is broken, but not before becoming the ancestor of an illustrious family.[11] Sometimes this is merely a brief account to introduce a descendant.[12] The second version of this tale is thought to have been written by the Norman trouvère Jean Renart.

In Brabant the name of the Knight of the Swan is Helias. It has been suggested[by whom?] that this connects him to the Greek solar god, Helios,[13] but the name is in fact a common variant of the name of the prophet Elijah.

[edit] Lohengrin

Lohengrin postcard around 1900 by unknown artistMain article: Lohengrin

In the early 13th century, the German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach adapted the Swan Knight motif for his epic Parzival. Here the story is attached to Loherangrin, the son of the protagonist Parzival and the Grail maiden Condwiramurs. As in other versions Loherangrin is a knight who arrives in a swan-pulled boat to defend a lady, in this case Elsa of Brabant. They marry, but he must leave when she breaks the taboo of asking his name.

In the late 13th century, the poet Nouhusius (Nouhuwius) adapted and expanded Wolfram’s brief story into the romance Lohengrin. The poet changed the title character’s name slightly and added various new elements to the story, tying the Grail and Swan Knight themes into the history of the Holy Roman Empire.[14] In the 15th century an anonymous poet again took up the story for the romance Lorengel.[15] This version omits the taboo against asking about the hero’s name and origins, allowing the knight and princess a happy ending.

In 1848, Richard Wagner adapted the tale into his popular opera Lohengrin, probably the work through which the Swan Knight story is best known today.[16]

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Sam wrote: “Greg Presco: I know the synagogue of Charleston.” He was second na formal synagogue in the USA. The first was in RI and the second Bull of Charleston. The two were Portuguese (Sephardic). There is a book of “Elzas” called “The Early Jews of South Carolina”. Listed in 1793 estava Abraão de Mattos. We are the Portuguese/Dutch Amsterdam of the TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS line. They have com WEST INDIES COMPANY, hicieram nel Caribbean and after sugar cane plantations is was to the North of Brazil, precisely, for province of for. They planted canaviales and had açúcar powerhouses. Then on the eternal theme of “assimilacion”, my branch lathe Mattos YUSEF and the other side will continue TEIXEIRA DE MATTOS. The Mattos Yusef if aportuguesaran for the name José DE MATTOS. All the men in my family are José de Mattos, all. Since he likes da Sephardic history in the USA, read this book. In the mentioned FRANCIS SALVADORr. NASCAR in London she went to Charleston and acquired vast plantations of mais and algidon in an area today called CORONACA. I had a House nel Lake Anderson regarding Coronaca. The mother of el Salvador was a Mendes de Mattos. FRANCIS SALVADOR was the first martyr of the independence of the United States, fighting against the English. He was killed in his plantation by a side of Indians allied to British troops. On the road, 56, close to the city of ANDERSON, SC, I think there is a framework historic briefly speaking of Francis Salvador, the first Jewish martyr of da American Revolution. “Goodnight, Sam.”

https://rosamondpress.com/2012/06/25/merovingian-grail-lineage-of-the-swan-knight/

https://www.facebook.com/joshua.swanick

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10225468328290154&set=a.1308029555858

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was created in 1098, when the members of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem and elected Godfrey of Boulogne, or Godefroi de Bouillon, duke of Lower-Lorraine, as king of Jerusalem. The city was itself finally taken back by the Muslims in 1291, although the title continued to be claimed for centuries.

The Corpus Inscriptionum Crucesignatorum is online, listing inscriptions from the Crusader times that have been found in the Middle East.

The Arms

The Arms of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem are well-known: Argent a cross potent between four crosses or. It is the most well-known violation of the rule of tinctures.

Insignia or the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Insignia of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (from Diderot's Encyclopédie. They are A cross potent between four crosslets gules.

Whether these arms were ever used by the kings of Jerusalem is another matter. According to an article by Hervé Pinoteau in the Cahiers d'Héraldique, vol. 4, the earliest representation of the cross potents between crosslets is on the seal of a nephew and ward of John of Brienne, king from 1210 (the seal is from 1227). The arms of Jerusalem also appear on a reliquary called "la cassette de Saint-Louis" which he dates to 1236. (See also an article by Elliot Nesterman on early evidence of the Cross of Jerusalem).

Claimants to the Throne

The arms of Jerusalem pop up in a number of places. The reason for this is the rather tortuous history of the throne and title. The short version is this: three lines stemmed from Queen Isabeau (d. 1206), the eldest of which ruled in absentia until 1268, at which time the two other lines entered in dispute over the succession. From this dispute stems the claims of (1) the kings of Cyprus and (2) the kings of Sicily. The claim to Cyprus (1) became object of dispute in 1474 as the result of an usurpation: the claims of the usurper (1a) passed to Venice, while those of the displaced ruler (1b) passed to Savoy. As for the claims of the kings of Sicily (2), it became part of the dispute in 1434 between the duke of Anjou and the king of Aragon. The claims of the former (2a) passed briefly to the kings of France (1494-1515) and were later resurrected by the dukes of Lorraine in 1700 (whose descendants became emperors of Austria), while the the claims of the latter (2b) passed along with Sicily itself to the kings of Spain (1506-1700), then becoming the object of yet another dispute until returning to a younger son of the king of Spain in 1738; henceforth the title was used both by the kings of Spain and those of the Two Sicilies.

The kingdom of Jerusalem was founded as a consequence of the 1st crusade of 1099. Godefroi de Bouillon died in 1100 and was succeeded by his brother Baudoin I (+ 1118) and a great-nephew Baudoin II (+ 1131), who left an eldest daughter Mélissende. She passed the throne to her husband Foulques d'Anjou (+ 1147), and to her sons Baudoin III (+ 1163) and Amaury or Amalric (+ 1173). Amaury had a son and successor Baudoin IV (d. 1185), and two daughters, Sybille and Isabeau (1169-1206).

Sybille married in 1176 William of Montferrat (+ 1177), by whom she had a posthumous son Baudoin. She was then married in 1180 to Guy de Lusignan (d. 1194), count of Jaffa and Ascalon who was also appointed regent of the kingdom by the invalid Baudoin IV. But Baudoin IV then changed his mind, took away the regency, and abdicated in 1182 in favor of Sybille's son Baudoin V. This child died in 1186, soon after his uncle, and Sybille became queen of Jerusalem, and was crowned with her husband Guy de Lusignan. However, a rival in the person of Conrad of Montferrat, brother of Sybille's first husband, rose up. In the end an agreement was reached: Guy would retain the title for his life, Conrad would marry Sybille's sister Isabeau and succeed as well as his posterity. By that time, the city itself had actually been lost. Sybille had died in 1190, Conrad was murdered in 1192, leaving only a daughter Marie (1191-1212), and Guy renounced his claim in 1192 and bought the island of Cyprus from Richard Lionheart who had just conquered it from the Byzantine empire.

This left only Isabeau as the heir, and she became queen in 1192. All subsequent claims to the throne of Jerusalem stem from her. She married the same year Henri de Champagne (1166-97), who became king with her and died in 1197, leaving two daughters Alix and Philippa. Queen Isabeau next married Amaury de Lusignan (1145-1205), elder brother of Guy and his successor as king of Cyprus, by whom she had Sybille (married to Leo II of Armenia) and Mélissande. Isabeau died in 1205 and was succeeded by her eldest daughter Marie (1191-1212), married to Jean de Brienne (d. 1237) in 1209. Their only daughter Isabeau (1211-28) was married to the Emperor Frederic II who forced his parents-in-law to turn over the throne to him in 1225. Frederic was succeeded as Emperor and king of Jerusalem by his only child of that marriage, Conrad (1228-54), himself succeeded by his only child Conradin of Hohenstaufen 1252-68), who lost his throne of Naples and his life to Charles of Anjou. With him the issue of queen Isabeau's first daughter died out.

The Hohenstaufens were ruling in absentia, and their rule was not liked. The local barons managed to induce various people to claim the regency. Alix de Brienne, second daughter of queen Isabeau, had married Hughes de Lusignan (d. 1218), son of Amaury by a previous wife, and king of Cyprus. Alix died in 1246 and her son Henri (1218-53) succeeded her as regent of Jerusalem. At his death, his son grandson Hugues II (1252-67) was a minor and the widow Plaisance (d. 1261) was regent of both Cyprus and Jerusalem. At her death, a new regent was required; the late king Henri had two sisters Marie (d. 1252) married to Gauthier de Brienne, and Isabelle (d. 1264), married to Henri de Poitiers. The elder one's son, Hugues de Brienne, was passed over in favor of the younger one's son Hugues d'Antioche as regent of Cyprus, while Isabelle herself was accepted as regent for Jerusalem. On her death in 1267, Hugues de Brienne's attempt to claim his rights was rebuffed and the throne of Cyprus, along with the regency of Jerusalem, passed to Hugues d'Antioche, whose descendants assumed the name of Lusignan and reigned over Cyprus.

At the death of Conradin, the issue of Queen Isabeau's eldest daughter became extinct. Hugues III of Cyprus, descended from her second daughter and already regent, now claimed the throne. But another claim emerged through the third daughter of Queen Isabeau, Mélissende, who married Bohémond IV of Antioch (uncle of Hugues III) and whose only daughter Marie of Antioch claimed the throne as being closer in kinship to Isabeau. She was unsuccessful and Hugues III was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1269. She went to Rome to plead her case with the Pope, and was eventually induced to cede her rights in 1277 to Charles of Anjou, whom the pope had established as king of Naples and Sicily (the same who had defeated Conradin in 1268). Henceforth there were two lines of claimants, the kings of Cyprus and the kings of Naples.

The kings of Cyprus continued to be crowned kings of Jerusalem, although from 1277 to 1282 the remnants of the kingdom (Acre) were actually under Charles d'Anjou's control, and the kings of Cyprus only gradually restored their authority. But soon after, with the fall of Acre in 1291, there was nothing left of the kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1458 Jean III, last male of the line, died without male heirs. His only sister Anne had (d. 1462) married Louis I de Savoie. His only daughter Charlotte (d. 1487) was recognized as queen of Cyprus, Armenia and Jerusalem, and married to her first cousin Louis de Savoie. But she was dethroned in 1460 by a bastard son of her father, namely Jacques II (d. 1473), and fled to Italy. Ultimately, in 1485, she ceded her rights to her husband's nephew Charles I, duke of Savoie, and his successors; at that point the dukes of Savoie (later kings of Sardinia and kings of Italy) added the title of king of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia to their titles and the arms to their achievement. The kings of Italy used the title until 1946.

Jacques II died in 1473, leaving a widow Caterina Cornero (1454-1510), from the Venitian aristocracy. His posthumous son Jacques III soon died. The city of Venice turned Cyprus into a protectorate, and, in 1489, forced Caterina Cornero to return to Venice and cede her rights to the Republic. From then on, the Republic of Venice also added the title and arms of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia to its own, until 1797 when the Republic was abolished and its territories handed over to Austria by the Treaty of Campo-Formio. Cyprus was under Venetian control until 1571 when it was conquered by the Turks. Venice became part of the kingdom of Italy in 1866.

Meanwhile, the kings of Sicily also claimed the title of king of Jerusalem. In 1282, Charles d'Anjou lost Sicily and his descendants reigned in Naples only (albeit under the title of kings of Sicily) while Sicily itself was ruled by branches of the house of Aragon. When the descendants of Charles d'Anjou became extinct in 1434, the two claimants were René d'Anjou and Alfonso, king of Aragon and Sicily, and the latter won, at which point his successors the kings of both Sicilies added the claim of Jerusalem to their own. René's claim was resurrected by his grand-nephew king Charles VIII of France in 1494, who managed to conquer and briefly hold Naples, and who used the title of Jerusalem, as did his successor Louis XII (but no other French king did so). In 1506 the Two Sicilies was finally regained by king Ferdinand of Aragon, and henceforth possessed, along with the claim to Jerusalem, by the kings of Spain, descendants of Fernando's daughter Juana and her husband Philip of Habsburg, until their extinction in male line in 1700.

As a result of the war of Spanish Succession (1701-13), Naples and Sicily were ceded by Spain to the Habsburg emperor Charles VI in 1720, and the pope duly invested the emperor with the titles of king of Sicily and Jerusalem on June 5, 1722 (the kingdom being a papal fief). In the course of the war of Polish Succession (1733-38), the younger son of the king of Spain, Don Carlos, managed to conquer the Two Sicilies, a conquest recognized by the peace of Vienna of 1738, and by the pope in the same year. Carlos became king of Spain in 1759 and left Naples and Sicily to his younger son Ferdinand, whose descendants reigned until 1860. The kings of Spain continued to use the title of Jerusalem until 1931, as did the kings of Two-Sicilies.

On the other hand, René's daughter Yolande married Ferry de Vaudémont, one of whose sons became duke of Lorraine. The modern house of Lorraine took up the claim to Jerusalem in 1700 (although it wasn't the best claimant from a genealogical point of view, as pointed out by W. A. Reitwiesner) when duke Leopold returned to his duchy after 28 years of French occupation, and adopted a closed royal crown and the style of king of Jerusalem. His son François, duke of Lorraine, married the Empress Maria-Theresa, and their descendants as rulers of Austria inherited the claim. The arms of Jerusalem could be seen in the grand arms of State of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century and the title was used until 1918.

Other Crusader States

There is very little evidence on the arms of the Crusader states. The traditional arms of the kingdom of Jerusalem are not known before the 1230s, when the city had already been lost. Numismatic evidence is scant, epigraphic evidence even more so (there are very little heraldic traces of the Crusaders in the Middle East, outside Cyprus; see an interesting exception).

Numismatic evidence

The best work is Gustave Schlumberger's Numismatique de l'Orient Latin (Paris, 1878; reprint Graz 1954). In a coin auction catalogue I recently received, coins from Tripoli feature:

Obverse: horse with cross above, Reverse: a cross between four roundels (bronze, Raymond II 1137-52)

Obv: cross patty, Rev: eight-point star (Bohemond VI, 1251-75, silver gros)

Obv: cross slightly patty, Rev: three-towered castle (Bohemond VII, 1275-87, silver gros)

I believe the 8-pt star was a recurrent motif on Tripoli coins.

Coins of Antioch feature:

Raymond Roupen (1216-19): helmeted head between crescent and 5-pt star, Rev: cross patty with crescent in one quarter. (coins from early 12th c. have a bust of St Peter and inscriptions, or the Mother of God facing nimbate).

Interestingly, coins from Cyprus (1306-1473) constantly feature on the reverse a cross potent between four crosses, never crosslets but sometimes patty or formy. But what is peculiar is that the main cross is "quadrat in the centre", that is, its center is thickened by a square. This is, according to Parker's Glossary, called a cross of S. Chad, because it features in the arms of the see of Lichfield and Coventry, of which S. Chad was the first bishop. The quadrating on the Cyprus coins is much less pronounced than in the drawing in Parker, but this is nevertheless quite intriguing.

Other evidence

monuments (carved arms, epitaphs, etc): two or three epitaphs with arms are known; some graffiti carved on marble columns of the church of the Nativity in Bethleem were made by 14th-15th c. pilgrims. That's all that survived. One notable exception: the tomb of Philippe d'Aubigni in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.

Monuments in the West: Marguerite, daughter of Louis d'Acre, vicomte de Beaumont, himself son of Jean de Brienne, king of Jerusalem, was married to Bohemond VII, count of Tripoli (d. 1287) and eldest son of Bohemond VI, last prince of Antioch. She died in France in 1328, and her tomb in the abbey of Maubuisson was described as "parsemée de croix de Jérusalem dans des losanges de gueules, et de lions rampants dans des losanges de sable fleurdelisés" in Du Cange's Familles d'Outremer (Paris, 1869, p. 486). The tomb was destroyed in 1793 (reference to Dulaure, Environs de Paris, vol. 2, p. 331, n. 2, which I have not checked).

objects: a handful survive, mainly from Cyprus.

seals: Gustave Schlumberger's Sigillographie de l'Orient Latin (Paris, 1943) is probably quite comprehensive, and there is little heraldry to glean from it. Lots of seals of the kings of Jerusalem, princes of Antioch, counts of Tripoli are known, but they bear no arms. See for example the seals of Baudoin II (1118-31), Amalric (1162-75), Jean de Brienne (1212-37). In Antioch, Raymond of Poitiers (1136-49) is shown riding a horse and bearing a cross on his shield and banner, but that's it. Among lesser barons, the Ibelin family, lords of Arsur and Beyrut apparently had "Or a cross patty gules". The device certainly appears on their shields and banners as shown on their seals. Aside from that, there are arms here and there: Hugues de Giblet (Biblos) has a 8-pointed star, the Porcellet family has a boar passant, the lordship of Loron or Thoron was a lion rampant.

There is more armory from Cyprus and Constantinople; but then, those arms are well known. The Courtenay arms appear on Philippe de Courtenay's seal (d. 1283). Interestingly, the earlier emperors of Constantinople, Baudoin of Flanders (d. 1205), Henri I (d. 1216), Baudoin II (d. 1261) all use the lion of Flanders, although one contemporary cronicler describes Henri riding in battle with a coat-armour gules semy of crosses or. Villehardouin, princes of Achaia, use the family arms of a cross recercelee; later, Louis a cadet of Burgundy who claimed Achaia added a quarter of Villehardouin to his arms of Burgundy ancient (14th c.). Achaia was also claimed by a junior branch of Savoy, who differenced with a bend.

https://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/jerusale.htm

Do you wish to know what the effect of Popery in America will be once she populates all its great cities? Look at the 'enlightened' people of Spam, of Portugal, of Italy, of Ireland, of South America, and the native Indians of Canada!

Speaking of Canada. Well, popery is the established religion of one province, and is liberally assisted in the others. And in that province where she has the greatest influence, the facts speak for themselves What are the facts? On Thursday, October 22, 2009 evidence given to the Canadian Federal Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights revealed that organised crime is more rampant in Quebec than in any other Canadian province. That Montreal-the largest city in the province of Quebec, originally called Ville-Marie, or "City of Mary"-is in fact an "Italian malia hub." Reader, there's something peculiar about Quebec. What is it? According to Journalist André Noel of La Presse for 25 years, Quebec "stands apart from the rest of Canada for the same reasons that Sicily or Vatican City stands apart from the rest of Italy" - the Malia, it seems, opens and closes the doors of city hall in Montreal. There was, not long ago, a headline in one of that city's newspaper Le Devoir-"Break the omerta," "Malia at the doors of city hall?"" Testifying before the above-mentioned Parliamentary Committee. Mr. Daniel Petit, M.P. for Charlesbourg-Haute-Saint-Charles, Quebec posed the following intriguing question to Dr. Margaret Shaw, a Sociologist and Criminologist from Quebec: "Across Canada in the 1950s, Montreal was considered an open city, a sin city, as they say. A clean-up was done. Afterwards we had major mob problems.... Then we had the Commission of Inquiry on Organized Crime,... Then there

8. See verbatim quote from the Canadian Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, 2nd SESSION, 40th PARLIAMENT, Thursday. October 22, 2009, at paragraph 1054 of the "Evidence": www2.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?Docid=4167421&

Language=E&Mode=1&Parl=40&Ses=2

9 See verbatim quote from the Standing Committee, ibid.

10 Omertà is a code of honor among the Mafia organizations in Italy.

442

Romanizing America: Take Over By Illegal Emigration re the biker wars. It's always Montreal-Quebec City, Quebec City-

You live in Montreal.... Why has it been so big in Montreal

Morcal... Y

explan that to me? Is there something in the water we don't know and for such a long time and we can't solve the problem? Can you I would opine to say, that perhaps, if Mr. Petit could read this Book and Book I too) he may yet lind an answer to his conundrum. Campion, prostitution, and the Hells Angels are the norm m Quebee! There is the "Hells Angels Quebec City," the "Hells Angels Mocal," the "Hells Angels Trois-Rivières," and last but not least the Hells Angels Nomads And while law enforcement struggles to keep rol, it is the Italian Mafia who are the real umpires in Quebec." The the Catholic Church backs the Hells Angels is seen in the owing Each spring, the Rev. Joseph Bacevice of St. George's Roman Cabolic Lithuanian Parish, USA, with the acquiescence of the Vatican, ses the motorcycles outside of the Hells Angels clubhouse at the nd of East 67th Street: see Church's website." Frankly, it won't surprise a all if one day it were to be proved conclusively that not only Hell's Als but the Mafia have connections to the "God" "Father"in Rome. At this stage we pose the following interrogatories for His Holiness: Why have the popes been so silent about the Mob? Why, as Dr. Panl Williams writes in his book The Vatican Exposed: Money, Murder, the Mafia, is "the Vatican Bank... under the direct supervision of e pope who has no financial training!"? Why is the pope the one and stockholder? Why, unlike any other financial institution, is the Bank audited by neither internal nor outside agencies? Why is at not even Vatican's ecclesiastical financial agencies can attest to the k's assets or accounts? Why does "the internal auditor of the Holy have no knowledge of its operations. Would 'His Holiness not ee that these are just the 'right' kind of financial 'arrangements (viz.

d) that suit the Mob?

Who readeth let him understand.

See, André Noël, journalist with La Presse for 25 years, giving dence before the Federal Standing Committee on Justice, loc cit.

www.saintgeorgeparish.org

According to Cardinal Edmund Szoka, the internal auditor of the ly See, speaking to investigators in 1996; and as confirmed by the uit Priest Thomas J. Reese in his book, Inside the Vatican... (First mer Editor in Chief of America, a weekly Catholic magazine and a d University Press, Pbk edn., 1998/2003), p. 209. Reese is the or Fellow at Woodstock Theological Center.

443

Codeword Barbelon book Two

by P.D. Stuart

AI Overview

As of September 2025, there has been no 37th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. The most recent assembly was the 36th General Congregation (GC 36), which met in Rome in October 2016.

What is a General Congregation?

A General Congregation (GC) is the highest governing body of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order. A GC can be called for two main reasons:

To elect a new Superior General: This happens when the previous Superior General resigns or dies. In 2016, GC 36 was called after Father Adolfo Nicolás announced his resignation.

To address important matters: A GC can be called by the Superior General to discuss and act on significant issues concerning the order, the Church, and the world.

Key outcomes of the 36th General Congregation (GC 36)

The last General Congregation made two major decisions for the Society of Jesus:

Election of a new Superior General: The delegates elected Father Arturo Sosa Abascal of Venezuela as the 31st Superior General.

Declaration on reconciliation and justice: The assembly released a decree titled "Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice," which recommitted the order to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, continuing a priority first established at the 32nd General Congregation.

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

1987 Slammy Awards

The Slammy Awards returned a year later, now honoring the events and individuals involved within the professional wrestling aspect of the World Wrestling Federation. The second edition of the ceremony (referred to in commercials and on-air as the 37th annual Slammy Awards) took place on December 16, 1987, from Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It aired in syndication on December 19, 1987.[11][14][13] The ceremony was hosted by Jesse Ventura and Gene Okerlund.[15] Musical numbers were performed by Vince McMahon (singing the song "Stand Back")[16] and Jimmy Hart (singing "Girls in Cars"), with the entire WWF roster performing "If You Only Knew" as the show's closing number.[16][15]

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface.[11][14][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slammy_Award

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

Montreuil (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃tʁœj] ⓘ), also known unofficially as Montreuil-sous-Bois (pronounced [mɔ̃tʁœj su bwa]), is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.6 km (4.1 mi) from the centre of Paris, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department and in the Métropole du Grand Paris. With a population of 111,367 as of 2020, Montreuil is the third most populous suburb of Paris after Boulogne-Billancourt and Saint-Denis. It is located north of Paris's Bois de Vincennes (in the 12th arrondissement), on the border with Val-de-Marne.

Name

The name Montreuil was recorded for the first time in a royal edict of 722 as Monasteriolum, meaning "little monastery" in Medieval Latin. The settlement of Montreuil started as a group of houses built around a small Merovingian monastery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreuil,_Seine-Saint-Denis

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.

Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143

The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious till the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Name

The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'freeman'.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army. It also had responsibility for naval affairs from 1794 until the establishment of the Department of the Navy in 1798, and for most non-naval air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947.

The secretary of war, a civilian with such responsibilities as finance and purchases and a minor role in directing military affairs, headed the War Department throughout its existence.

The War Department existed for 158 years, from August 7, 1789, to September 18, 1947,[1] when, under the National Security Act of 1947, it split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force (which, together with the Department of the Navy, formed the National Military Establishment). In 1949, the National Military Establishment was renamed the Department of Defense.

History

See also: History of the United States Army

The seal of the Board of War and Ordnance, which the U.S. War Department's seal is derived from. The War Department used this seal until 1880

The emblem of the Department of the Army, derived from the seal of the U.S. War Department

18th century

The Department of War traces its origins to the committees created by the Second Continental Congress in 1775 to oversee the Revolutionary War. Individual committees were formed for each issue, including committees to secure ammunition, to raise funds for gunpowder, and to organize a national militia. These committees were consolidated into the Board of War and Ordnance in 1776, operated by members of Congress. A second board was created in 1777, the Board of War, to operate separately from Congress.[2] The Congress of the Confederation eventually replaced the system of boards with the Department of War.[3] Only five positions were created within the department upon its creation: the secretary at war, an assistant, a secretary, and two clerks.[4]

Shortly after the establishment of a government under President George Washington in 1789, Congress reestablished the War Department as a civilian agency to administer the field army under the president (as commander-in-chief) and the secretary of war.[5] Retired senior General Henry Knox, then in civilian life, served as the first United States secretary of war.[6] When the department was created, the president was authorized to appoint two inspectors to oversee the troops. Congress created several additional offices over the course of the 1790s, including the major general, brigadier general, quartermaster general, chaplain, surgeon general, adjutant general, superintendent of military stores, paymaster general, judge advocate, inspector general, physician general, apothecary general, purveyor, and accountant.[7]

Forming and organizing the department and the army fell to Secretary Knox, while direct field command of the small Regular Army fell to President Washington.[citation needed] In 1798, Congress authorized President John Adams to create a second provisional army under the command of former president Washington in anticipation of the Quasi-War, but this army was never utilized.[8] The Department of War was also responsible for overseeing interactions with Native Americans in its early years.[9]

On November 8, 1800, the War Department building with its records and files was consumed by fire.[10]

19th century

The United States Military Academy at West Point and the Army Corps of Engineers were established in 1802.[11] The Department of War was reduced in size following the end of the Quasi-War in 1802, but it was subsequently expanded in the years leading up to the War of 1812.[12] To accommodate this expansion, sub-departments were created within the department, with each one led by a general staff officer.[13] These sub-departments were reformed into a modern system of bureaus by Secretary of War John C. Calhoun in 1818.[14] Secretary Calhoun created the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1824, which served as the main agency within the War Department for addressing the issues regarding Native Americans until 1849, when Congress transferred it to the newly founded Department of the Interior.[15][16] The U.S. Soldiers' Home was created in 1851.[17]

During the American Civil War, the War Department responsibilities expanded. It handled the recruiting, training, supply, medical care, transportation and pay of two million soldiers, comprising both the regular army and the much larger temporary volunteer army. A separate command structure took charge of military operations.

In the late stages of the war, the department took charge of refugees and freedmen (freed slaves) in the American South through the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands.[18] During the Reconstruction era, this bureau played a major role in supporting the new Republican governments in the southern states. When military Reconstruction ended in 1877, the U.S. Army removed the last troops from military occupation of the American South, and the last Republican state governments in the region ended.

The picture of a map with the weather conditions during the War of the Pacific.

U.S. War Department weather map depicting weather conditions on October 21, 1879, over New England at 7:35 am. Produced for the U.S. Army during the War of the Pacific.

The Army comprised hundreds of small detachments in forts around the West, dealing with Indians, and in coastal artillery units in port cities, dealing with the threat of a naval attack.[19]

1898–1939

The United States Army, with 39,000 men in 1890 was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France had an army of 542,000.[20] Temporary volunteers and state militia units mostly fought the Spanish–American War of 1898. This conflict demonstrated the need for more effective control over the department and its bureaus.[21]

Secretary of War Elihu Root (1899–1904) sought to appoint a chief of staff as general manager and a European-type general staff for planning, aiming to achieve this goal in a businesslike manner, but General Nelson A. Miles stymied his efforts. Root enlarged the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and established the United States Army War College and the General Staff. He changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line. Concerned about the new territories acquired after the Spanish–American War, Root worked out the procedures for turning Cuba over to the Cubans, wrote the charter of government for the Philippines, and eliminated tariffs on goods imported to the United States from Puerto Rico.

Root's successor as Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, returned to the traditional secretary-bureau chief alliance, subordinating the chief of staff to the adjutant general, a powerful office since its creation in 1775. Indeed, Secretary Taft exercised little power; President Theodore Roosevelt made the major decisions. In 1911, Secretary Henry L. Stimson and Major General Leonard Wood, his chief of staff, revived the Root reforms. The general staff assisted them in their efforts to rationalize the organization of the army along modern lines and in supervising the bureaus.[22]

World War I

The Congress reversed these changes in support of the bureaus and in the National Defense Act of 1916 reduced the size and functions of the general staff to few members before America entered World War I on April 6, 1917. President Woodrow Wilson supported Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, who opposed efforts to control the bureaus and war industry until competition for limited supplies almost paralyzed industry and transportation, especially in the North. Yielding to pressure from Congress and industry, Secretary Baker placed Benedict Crowell in charge of munitions and made Major General George W. Goethals acting quartermaster general and General Peyton C. March chief of staff. Assisted by industrial advisers, they reorganized the supply system of the army and practically wiped out the bureaus as quasi-independent agencies. General March reorganized the general staff along similar lines and gave it direct authority over departmental operations. After the war, the Congress again granted the bureaus their former independence. The Commission on Training Camp Activities addressed moral standards of the troops.[23]

In the 1920s, General John J. Pershing realigned the general staff on the pattern of his American Expeditionary Force (AEF) field headquarters, which he commanded. The general staff in the early 1920s exercised little effective control over the bureaus, but the chiefs of staff gradually gained substantial authority over them by 1939, when General George C. Marshall assumed the office of Army chief of staff.

World War II

During World War II, General Marshall principally advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt on military strategy and expended little effort in acting as general manager of the Department of War. Many agencies still fragmented authority, burdening the chief of staff with too many details, making the whole Department of War poorly geared toward directing the army in a global war. General Marshall described the chief of staff then as a "poor command post." President Roosevelt brought in Henry L. Stimson as Secretary of War; after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Stimson supported Marshall in reorganizing the army under the War Powers Act of 1941. He divided the Army of the United States (AUS) into three autonomous components to conduct the operations of the War Department: the Army Ground Forces (AGF) trained land troops; the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) developed an independent air arm; and the Services of Supply (later Army Service Forces) directed administrative and logistical operations. The Operations Division acted as general planning staff for Marshall. By 1942, the Army Air Forces gained virtual independence in every way from the rest of the army.[24]

Postwar

After World War II, the Department of War abandoned Marshall's organization for the fragmented prewar pattern while the independent services continually parried efforts to reestablish firm executive control over their operations. The National Security Act of 1947 split the War Department into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force, and the secretary of the Army and secretary of the Air Force served as operating managers for the new secretary of defense.

Office space

The State, War, and Navy Building in 1917

In the early years, between 1797 and 1800, the Department of War was headquartered in Philadelphia; it moved with the other federal agencies to the new national capital at Washington, D.C., in 1800. In 1820, headquarters moved into a building at 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, adjacent to the Executive Mansion, part of a complex of four matching brick Georgian/Federal style buildings for Cabinet departments with War in the northwest, Navy in the southwest and to the other side: State to the northeast and Treasury in the southeast. The War Department building was supplemented in the 1850s by a building across the street to the west known as the Annex and became very important during the Civil War with President Abraham Lincoln visiting the War Office's telegraph room for constant updates and reports and walking back and forth to the "Residence". The original 1820 structures for War and Navy on the west side of the now famous White House was replaced in 1888 by construction of a new building of French Empire design with mansard roofs, the "State, War, and Navy Building" (now the Old Executive Office Building, and later renamed to honor General and President Dwight D. Eisenhower), built in the same location as its predecessors.

By the 1930s, the Department of State squeezed the War Department from its office space, and the White House also desired additional office space. In August 1939, Secretary of War Harry H. Woodring and Acting Chief of Staff of the Army George C. Marshall moved their offices into the Munitions Building, a temporary structure built on the National Mall during World War I. In the late 1930s, the government constructed the War Department Building (renamed in 2000 as the Harry S Truman Building) at 21st and C Streets in Foggy Bottom, but upon completion, the new building did not solve the space problem of the department, and the Department of State ultimately used it.[25]

Coming into office with World War II raging in Europe and Asia, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson faced with the situation of the War Department spread through the overcrowded Munitions Building and numerous other buildings across Washington, D.C., and suburban Maryland and Virginia.[26][27] On July 28, 1941, Congress authorized funding for a new Department of War building in Arlington, Virginia, which would house the entire department under one roof.[28] When construction of the Pentagon was completed in 1943, the secretary of war vacated the Munitions Building and the department began moving into the Pentagon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_War

The new pope was at the 2005 World Series

May 9th, 2025

Jeffrey Lutz

Pope Leo XIV makes broadcast in 2005 World Series

May 9, 2025 · 0:11

Pope Leo XIV makes broadcast in 2005 World Series

The baseball world has been buzzing this week upon the revelation that Robert Prevost (now officially known as Pope Leo XIV) is a White Sox fan. And as the world is finding out, he's pretty serious about the Pale Hose.

https://www.mlb.com/news/pope-leo-xiv-robert-prevost-white-sox-fan-2005-world-series

World, the: 1. It is proper to our vocation: to go to diverse places and live in whatever part of the world and to be sent wherever the greater service of God and the help of souls can be hoped for [82, 92, 304, 308, 588, 603, 605, 626, 749]; to this purpose is directed the vow of special obedience to the supreme pontiff regarding missions, FI no. 3 [603, 605], 2 §1; consequently a complete availability, mobility, and universality are necessary, 110, 121 4°, 242 §3, 246 7°, 248, 259, 411; at the service of which is chastity, 144 §2; consequently our community is a community for dispersion, 255 §1, 312, 314 §2, 315, 317; thus also the need for communicating with different cultures of the world and for insertion into them, 99 §2, 106 §2, 110, 111, 246 2°; and for promoting that perfect and open cooperation among the members of the entire Society, of whatever province or region they may be, 396 §2. See also Cooperation, interprovincial and supraprovincial; Culture(s); Insertion 2. God is present in the world: exercising the ministry of healing and reconciliation, 246 4°; thus he is there to be sought and found, 223 §§3-4; the world, in great part afflicted with atheism and injustice and increasingly divided by diverse economic, social, and ethnic systems and by other sources of division and opposition, 59 §2, 223 §3, 246 4° 3. The world, as distinguished from religious life: is to be left behind, trampled underfoot, and renounced [30, 50, 53, 61, 66, 297]; it is to be despised because of the love for and imitation of Christ [101]; contempt for it assists in the union of minds and hearts [671]: customs which smack of the world are not to be introduced, 322.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

Archeparch

A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected Sako Archeparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002. Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk, André Sana.[8]

In August 2009, and at the beginning of Ramadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives of Ali Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

Deo optimo maximo, often abbreviated D.O.M. or Deo Opt. Max., is a Latin phrase which means "to the greatest and best god", or "to God, most good, most great".[1] It was originally used as a pagan formula addressed to Jupiter.[2][3]

D. O. M. abbreviation followed by an inscription, on the Fawwara Gate, Gżira

Its usage while the Roman Empire was a polytheistic state referred to Jupiter, the chief god of the Roman pantheon polytheists: Iovi Optimo Maximo (I.O.M.). When the Roman Empire adopted monotheism in the form of Christianity as the state religion, the phrase was used in reference to the Christian God. Its use continued long after the fall of the Roman Empire as Latin remained the ecclesiastical and scholarly language in the West.[3]

Thus the phrase, or its abbreviation, can be found on many Renaissance-era churches and other buildings, especially over sarcophagi, particularly in Italy and Malta.[4]

It is also inscribed on bottles of Bénédictine liqueur.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deo_optimo_maximo

ACTIVE ORDERS

"Active" orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Jesuits, Missionaries of Charity, etc.) are those who tend to have more direct interaction with the world than contemplative orders. In addition to prayer, active orders may devote some of their "work" time to external apostolates (teaching, preaching, soup kitchens, missions, youth retreats, media apostolates, etc.) rather than to self-supportive ends (gardening, bee farming, candle making, etc.). In this sense, they tend to follow Scripture in a more literal way; to "feed the hungry", "give drink to the thirsty"; to be in the world, but not of the world. Active orders tend to be less bound by the walls of a monastery, and may reassign its members to different locations abroad. Some of the most active orders, such as the Jesuits, may not even be required to live in community, and are thus the most "free" in terms of possible assignments within the Church. Just as a sparrow requires only a few moments of rest on a small branch before taking to flight again, so too are such members called to obediently go where they are told, be it a professor in a school, a spiritual director in a seminary, a manager of a retreat house, or a missionary in a far off land. Typically, active orders are also Mendicant orders, meaning; they live off of the charity of others, rather than trying to be self-supportive (note; Carmelites and Poor Clares are technically mendicants as well).

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate

It is really "Active-Contemplative"

It may be worth noting most active orders are not "active" in the strictest sense of the word, just as many contemplative orders are not strictly cloistered. Rather, they are more precisely active-contemplative, comprising a relative balance between prayer and their apostolates. Saint Thomas Aquinas believed that these mixed orders (orders that have both an active and contemplative dimension) are the most perfect form of religious life--though it is important to again stress the wide variance within orders, with some placing more emphasis on prayer (closer to being strictly cloistered) while others placing more emphasis on work (closer to being strictly active), and everything in between. Much depends on the community; in how much religious fervor they possess, and how well they guard themselves against the spirit of the world, which can be more influential in active life. As Saint Francis of Assisi noted, one cannot be in the world without getting "a little dust on his shoulders". It is thus that mixed orders need to be all the more vigiliant in keeping prayer in its proper place. Padre Pio, for example, was a Capuchin friar--the most active branch of the Franciscans--and yet he spent much of his free time in prayer; even skipping meals to remain in prayer. It was through prayer that he was able to draw on the graces of God, and go out into the world to distribute those graces according to the needs of souls. Even Saint Francis retreated to the mountains to be alone in prayer. In this sense, the heart of the life of every religious--whether active or contemplative--is prayer. As Saint Maximilian Kolbe said, "only prayer obtains the grace of conversion" [...] "All the fruit of our labors directed to the conversion and sanctification of souls depends on prayer".

Author's Note: The following summaries were compiled as general overviews of some of the more prominent religious orders. The content is not intended to be exhaustive, but only provide a basic introduction to some religious orders. We have thus excluded organizations that do not take consecrated vows, such as priestly societies, and lay organizations.

FRANCISCANS: The Franciscans were founded in the 13th century by Saint Francis, who, in a vision, was charged by God to rebuild My Church, which as you see is falling into ruin. These words proved not only to be true, but also prophetic; the Church indeed was falling into ruin, and Saint Francis indeed saved it; for he sparked a wave of new fervor that swept across the world that lasted for generations (Just read any papal encyclical from this time period. They are all about regularizing the Franciscans).

            Franciscans are typically characterized by their lives of simplicity, penance, poverty, and love for the poor. In a testament written by Saint Francis, the very first sentence contains the following; "The Lord granted me, Br. Francis, to begin to do penance in this way." It is thus fitting that the Franciscan order be regarded as the Order of Penitents. The Franciscan school tends to follow the thought of Franciscan saints, such as St. Bonaventure and Bl. John Duns Scotus, and was responsible for defending the Immaculate Conception in a time when it was still contested, even by St. Thomas Aquinas himself. For this reason, Franciscans and Dominicans have often shared a healthy (and not so healthy at times) competition with one another. Tragically, this has often resulted in a polarization of their two schools, Franciscans vs. Dominicans, where the former avoids Aquinas and the latter avoids Bonaventure and Scotus. Such exclusivity, unforutnately, causes much harm to the Church, and is not unique to these two orders alone; it is common for orders to read only saints within their own tradition and avoid others (And, by doing so, communities today are failing in their own formation. It is not unlike reading five chapters of the Bible for ones life, or contemplating a detail of a painting without ever seeing the whole painting. To be Catholic is to be universal, open to all the gifts of God to the Church. If the Church, for example, places such great importance on the theology of Aquinas, then it is lamentable that religious orders do not also do so in their theology programs).

               Being a mendicant order, the Franciscans live solely off of the generosity of others, entrusting all to the hands of God. Like the Benedictines, the Franciscans also underwent a number of reforms throughout history, but were consolidated in 1897 into three main bodies; Friars Minor, the Conventuals, and the Capuchins. Some Franciscan communities may be more contemplative in nature, similar to that of monastics. Venerable Mary of Agreda, for instance, a 17th century cloistered Franciscan nun and mystic, received messages from Our Lady on how to live out her religious state;

Mystical City of God, Book VI, Chp V: "But I...find so few who console with me and try to console my Son in His sorrows....Consider then thy duty, my dearest, and raise thyself above all earthly things and above thyself; for I am calling thee and choose thee to imitate and follow me into the solitude in which I am left by man....Flee from the dangerous intercourse with creatures....I remind thee that there is no exercise more profitable and useful to the soul than to suffer....Therefore, my daughter, embrace the cross, and do not admit any consolation outside of it in this mortal life. By contemplating and feeling within thyself the sacred Passion thou wilt attain the summit of perfection and attain the love of a spouse."

Franciscan Capuchin Sisters of Narareth

Friars Minor: The Order of Friars Minor (O.F.M.) were the result of a large consolidation of various branches (Observants, Discalced, Recollects, Riformati, etc.) by Pope Leo XII in 1897. Today the Friars Minor compose the largest body of the Franciscan order, and are criticized as being the most lenient and divorced from the spirit of Saint Francis--an unfortunate exigency considering the OFM's prominent place in the history of the Franciscan order; with roots dating back to first years of the order through the aggregation of the Observants.

Friars Minor Conventual: Next to the Observants, the Conventual Franciscans were one of the first reforms of the Franciscan order. They desired to apply the Franciscan spirit to new applications (such as urban city apostolates, rather than remaining in rural areas). As such, the Conventuals were granted various dispensations to relax certain rules in order to carry out specific apostolates. The conventuals tended to take on a more academic spirit than, say, Capuchins for instance. Today, the Conventuals have also suffered from a spirit of laxity, as most communities. However, there have also been great fruits that originated from Conventual communities, such as St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Bonaventure, and Saint Maximilian Kolbe, known for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Friars Minor Capuchin. The Capuchin reform (O.F.M. Cap.) dates to about 1525, and not unlike the first Observants, they also desired a return to a stricter observance of the Franciscan rule--though, like most reforms, certain elements of its initial fervor declined with time. The Capuchins are more likely to be seen feeding the poor or street evangelizing, rather than writing a book on the liturgy or studying mystical theology. Today, the Capuchin Franciscans tend to be considerably more divorced from their origins. However, there also exists renewed efforts to restore the original spirit of the order. In 1968, Padre Pio--a Capuchin Franciscan and one of the greatest mystics in the Church--wrote a letter to Pope Paul VI in which he stated; "I pray to God that [the Capuchin order] may continue in its tradition of religious seriousness and austerity, evangelical poverty and faithful observance of the Rule and Constitution, certainly renewing itself in the vitality and in the inner spirit, according to the guides of the Second Vatican Council". We have yet to see if such a renewal, which is so desperately needed in all orders, will take root or not.

Author's note: Like many of the major religious orders, the Franciscans and Dominicans have suffered greatly in recent times. It is not uncommon today to see friars watching television, or going to the movies and eating ice cream on a Friday night. The spirit of sacrifice, a hallmark of religious life, has largely been obscured over years, as the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction to a kind of secularized love, absent of any austerities. However, like the Benedictines, the communities of lax traditions tend to be dying away, as new young communities take their place, devoted to a more authentic renewal that Vatican II called for.

DOMINICANS: The Dominican Order (or "Order of Preachers") was founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century, who saw the need for greater education and engagement of society. As the name implies, the charism of the Dominicans is primarily preaching and teaching "to combat heresy and propagate religious truth". Saint Dominic possessed a great love for Our Lady, and is considered the founder of the Holy Rosary. He was also renown for his theological disputations against heretics, particularly the Albigensians, to which he won many to the faith. In fact, his preaching was so effective, that the enemies of the Church soon resorted to insults and threats, seeing that they were unable to refute his arguments. During this time the Inquisition was also established, for which the popes appointed mostly Dominicans as Inquisitors due to their superior theological training and impeccable virtue.

              Saint Dominic also possessed a great love for souls, which (as Jesus reveals to Saint Catherine of Siena) was the primary reason why he founded the order. This is quite special, since most orders until then were more hermetical in spirit, meaning; they focused more on the self and not so much on charity due to neighbor. It was because of Saint Dominic that the focus of monasticism gradually shifted (or developed?) to include both precepts of love, not just love of God but also love of neighbor. Saint Dominic teaches us the power that words can have on people, especially when they are supported by prayer and sacrifice. Although he practiced many austere penances to the bewilderment of his followers, he also loved heretics deeply and sought to understand their positions in order to effectively engage them. As the Catholic Encyclopedia tells us; "If he abominated heresy and labored untiringly for its extirpation, it was because he loved truth and loved the souls of those among whom he labored. He never failed to distinguish between sin and the sinner. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if this athlete of Christ, who had conquered himself before attempting the reformation of others, was more than once chosen to show forth the power of God."

                The Dominican order is also responsible for producing arguably (or perhaps not arguably) the greatest theologian in history, Saint Thomas Aquinas, who the Church has adopted virtually wholesale. No saint is relied upon more by popes in the formulation of dogma or advancement of doctrine than Aquinas. And no saint is recommended more in encyclicals for proper theological formation in priestly studies. In fact, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the sum of Catholic theology is based, in large part, on this one saint alone. To put it quite simply, Catholic theology is Thomistic. To dispute this claim is to dispute a fact of history (It is therefore unfathomable today that Aquinas is not required reading in many seminaries).

               

Dominican Sisters of Saint CeciliaSaint Catherine of Siena, also a doctor of the Church (one of four female doctors), was also a Dominican nun. Although less known than Saint Thomas, she can be considered his compliment. Where Thomas is generally regarded as the greatest theologian, one could make the argument that Catherine was the greatest mystic, surpassing even the desert Fathers in her austerities and continually accompanied by Jesus, Mary, and the saints throughout the day, and receiving---without any education---infused knowledge of the most sublime truths. Her Dialogue is one of the greatest works of mystical theology ever written, and ought to be required reading for anyone who desires to become holy (We recommend starting with the biography written by her spiritual director, Bl. Raymond of Capua, as it is a much easier read and provides the necessary background and context to reading the Dialogue). Perhaps most notably, she shared Dominic's profound longing for the salvation of souls, and was one of the first to write extensively on this, pleading before the throne of God to have mercy on the world (indeed, God regularly encourages her, "never cease offering to Me the incense of fragrant prayers for the salvation of souls; for I want to be merciful to the world.") For this reason, Saint Faustina's diary might be considered very Catherinian in spirit.

                Although the Dominicans today have largely suffered the same lot as most other orders, and are no longer distinguished as zealous defenders and apologists of the Church, nonetheless there are still signs of hope within the order, especially within the female branch (who are often found within the context of the school system, devoting themselves to the education and formation of the young). Indeed, these communities have been especially flourishing with many vocations, often more than the walls of the enclosure can contain. While most Dominicans are active, few communities may also live a strictly cloistered life.

JESUITS: The Jesuits (or the Society of Jesus) was founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1540 A.D., thus being one of the youngest of the major orders of history. The original name of the Jesuits was the "Company of Jesus", to denote the soldier-like spirit of the order. Due to its thorough and rigorous formation process, the Jesuits quickly garnered a reputation throughout Europe of impeccable virtue, excellence in spiritual direction. In fact, the Jesuits merited such high repute, that their priests were the most revered and respected priests in the world, and regarded as masters in the spiritual life.

              In fact, some of the greatest saints in history were formed by Jesuit priests. Saint Teresa of Avila once said that she would not even consider a woman entrance into her order unless she had a Jesuit as her spiritual director, "They are my fathers, and it is to them, after Our Lord, that my soul owes all the good it possesses."  (Indeed, Teresa's reform of the Carmelite order was heavily influenced by the spirit of Ignatius, with how often she stressed the need for spiritual direction and daily accountings of her nuns progress in prayer, more so than externals). Saint Faustina, likewise, had Jesuits for spiritual directors. According to her, it was God Himself who hand-picked Jesuit priests to be her confessors and directors. The Jesuits also were known for taking a fourth vow of fidelity and service to the pope, and were once regarded by many as the "black popes", due to their prestige. Since the Jesuits do not require their members to live strictly in community, they are more free to engage society at almost any level. Some of the greatest scientists in history were Jesuits, responsible for significant advances in modern science. Jesuits were also known to be great missionaries, and almost single-handedly established the faith in numerous regions of the world.

                  And yet, despite such a radiant history, this magnificent order is has fallen very far from the heights it once enjoyed (perhaps further than the others), to the point where it has become a dim shadow of what it was. It is lamentable that many Jesuit-run schools have lost much of their Catholic identity, and contradict the Church's teachings on many levels. One of the holiest priests this author has ever met was a Jesuit priest. And yet this priest was persecuted and exiled by his own order for believing the Church's teachings on contraception and abortion. Such is the regrettable state of the order today.

                 On the positive side, there has been a movement among the younger generation to reform the order and restore its former splendor. (Signs of hope still remain in Ignatian retreat houses. One of the greatest retreats a Catholic can make today, is to visit an Ignatian retreat house and--through imposed silence--learn first-hand the transformative power of silence.) Just like the Carmelites, there is certainly no lack of reading material for a true and proper reform. The shear number of Jesuit textbooks written throughout its history is astounding, and no doubt there are many gems to be found from these former intellectual giants.

OTHER ORDERS / BRANCHES

The above orders are considered "main body" of major religious orders, due in large part to their historical prominence. Yet there are many new orders emerging in recent history with unique charisms offering wide and rich panapoly of options for those seeking to live a religious vocation. Some of these new orders are quite striking in their charisms; some focus on the Passion of Our Lord for example, others on Christ as Bridegroom, still others to Our Eucharistic Lord in perpetual Adoration, or to promoting the culture of life, or to devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Certainly there is much need in the Church today, and many of these new orders are seeking to fill that need.

Missionaries of Charity: The Missionaries of Charity was founded by Mother Teresa, who in 1948, received permission to leave her convent to serve God among the "poorest of the poor". Mother Teresa began working in the slums of Calcutta, India, to care for the needs of the sick, crippled, and lepers, and in 1950, established the Missionaries of Charity. In addition to the three vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience), the missionaries take a fourth vow to give "Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor". In an interview, Mother Teresa stated; "The fruit of prayer is love, the fruit of love is action, the fruit of action is peace." The Missionaries of Charity seek to satiate the thirst of Christ for souls by putting love into action through the external work of service to the poor. For more information on the spirit of Mother Teresa and her sisters, it is recommend to view the documentary produced by the Petrie sisters, which contains hours of actual footage of Mother Teresa over the course of many years [link].

Sisters of Life: The Sisters of Life are a community of female religious, founded in 1991 by Cardinal O’Connor. As the name suggests, their charism is namely for the protection of the sacredness of human life, and the promotion of the culture of life in our society. This unique charism directs their efforts towards working with such ministries as pregnancy care centers, pro-life rallies and lobbying, etc.. The sisters also host many retreats and conferences on related topics.

Marians of the Immaculate Conception: The Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception are an order of priests founded originally in poland in 1673 by Bl. Stanislaus Papczynski, who answered the call to found a Marian order devoted especially to the Immaculate Conception. In America, the Marians have carried on the spirit of its founder primarily through the Message of Divine Mercy. The Marians are the publishers and promoters of the diary of Saint Faustina in English, and the caretakers of the National Shrine of Divine Mercy in Stockbridge, Mass.

Passionist Nuns: The Passionist nuns were founded in the 19th century by Saint Paul of the Cross, who, in a vision, saw himself clothed in the black habit and insignia they now wear today. Tradition has it that the Blessed Virgin Herself appeared to Saint Paul with the habit and expressed Her desire that more souls contemplate the Passion of Our Lord, to meditate on His sorrows--hence the black color of the habit. This is a very fitting development in a new religious order, since the saints have said that nothing benefits the soul more than contemplation of the Passion of Our Lord. It communicates God's abounding love for us in a way that nothing else can, and can therefore spur the soul to make rapid progress in the spiritual life. Saint Paul was also known to be a prolific writer, and had unique gifts in spiritual direction as well. He originally founded an order for men, but we focus especially on the female branch here, which today seems to be swelling with many new vocations.

Norbertines: The Norbertine canons and canonesses were founded by Saint Norbert in the 12th century, and are based on the Rule of Saint Augustine. Being canons, they have particular focus on the liturgical action (although not all communities today share in this focus, but some do). The Norbertines almost went into exctinction for a time, following the Reformation and persecution of the Church during the French revolution and conquests of Napolean. However, a new resurgence has been happening over the last 100 years, more than doubling its monasteries worldwide.

https://www.religious-vocation.com/differences_religious_orders.html#.ZEc2f87MJD9

John Duns Scotus OFM (/ˈskoʊtəs/ SKOH-təs; Ecclesiastical Latin: [duns ˈskɔtus], "Duns the Scot"; c. 1265/66 – 8 November 1308)[5] was a Scottish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, university professor, philosopher and theologian. He is considered among the most important philosopher-theologians in Western Christendom during the last part of the medieval period, together with Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure and William of Ockham.[6]

Duns Scotus has had considerable influence on both Catholic and secular thought. The doctrines for which he is best known are the "univocity of being", that existence is the most abstract concept we have, applicable to everything that exists; the formal distinction, a way of distinguishing between different formalities of the same thing; and the idea of haecceity, the property supposed to be in each individual thing that makes it an individual (i.e. a certain "thisness"). Duns Scotus also developed a complex argument for the existence of God, and argued for the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The intellectual tradition derived from Scotus' work is called Scotism.

Duns Scotus was given the scholastic accolade Doctor Subtilis ("the subtle doctor") for his penetrating and subtle manner of thought. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duns_Scotus

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law. It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party".[2] In 1803, the court asserted itself the power of judicial review, the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution. It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law.[3]

Under Article Three of the United States Constitution, the composition and procedures of the Supreme Court were originally established by the 1st Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789. The court consists of nine justices—the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices—who meet at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Justices have lifetime tenure, meaning they remain on the court until they die, retire, resign, or are impeached and removed from office.[3] When a vacancy occurs, the president, with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoints a new justice.[4]

Each justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before the court. When in the majority, the chief justice decides who writes the opinion of the court; otherwise, the most senior justice in the majority assigns the task.[5] A justice may write an opinion in concurrence with the court, or they may write a dissent, and these concurrences or dissents may also be joined by other justices. On average, the Supreme Court receives about 7,000 petitions for writs of certiorari each year, but only grants about 80.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States

Simon Peter and Andrew: Lesson in Sibling Rivalry

If you grew up with brothers and sisters, you probably experienced a few tense moments of sibling rivalry. As the older brother of two sisters, I can remember incidents of fighting, but the reasons why are long forgotten. Fortunately, today I have a great relationship with both of my younger sisters.

The Bible is filled with stories of sibling rivalry--Joseph and his brothers, Jacob and Esau--but one pair of siblings rarely discussed is Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. While reading John 1:35-42, I was struck how Andrew met Jesus first, before his brother Peter, yet it's Peter, not Andrew, who becomes the star disciple in the gospels. In fact, the Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary states bluntly, "The New Testament shows little interest in Andrew." So, was there a sibling rivalry between Andrew and Peter?

We know the disciples were prone to jealousy and envy (Matthew 20:20-28; Mark 9:33-37), yet it appears that Andrew and Peter enjoyed a harmonious relationship. After Andrew encountered Jesus, John 1:41-42 tells us, "the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, 'We have found the Messiah' (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus." Notice that when Andrew had become convinced of Jesus' special nature (John 1:39), the first person Andrew wanted to tell was his brother Peter. That's brotherly love!

If you're familiar with the New Testament, you know that Peter goes on to have a prominent role in relationship to Jesus. While Andrew and Peter were both among Jesus' 12 disciples (Mark 3:16-19), Jesus did not give Andrew and Peter equal attention. Peter, along with James and John, received extra time and training (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). Interestingly, there is one incident in Mark 13:3--when Jesus discusses the end times--where Andrew seems to be butting in as he listens to Jesus along with Peter, James, and John. The last time we see Andrew's name in the Bible is in Acts 1:13. There, Andrew, Peter, and many other disciples are a unified fellowship of believers awaiting the arrival of the Holy Spirit.

Unlike the story of Jacob and Esau, the Bible doesn't tell us whether Peter or Andrew was the older brother. If I were to guess, Peter's bold personality and strong leadership style suggests someone first born. If true, then the younger brother introduced the older brother to Jesus. Peter learns from Jesus in the gospels, preaches Jesus in Acts, and writes of Jesus in 1 and 2 Peter. But in contrast to Peter's major role, Andrew is relegated to a minor character (John 6:8-9). Was Andrew envious of his older brother? Who knows? Maybe Andrew, who spent time with John the Baptist (John 1:40), took to heart one of the Baptist's lessons: "He must become greater; I must become less" (John 3:30).

https://livingthebiblios.blogspot.com/2012/05/simon-peter-and-andrew-lesson-in.html

A Templar American Revolution

The war for American independence was a continuation of the battle between English and French Freemasonry. The conflict over the control of "New Atlantis" originated in Boston between two adversarial lodges, Sionist St. John's and Templar St. Andrew's. Among the members of St. Andrew's were John Hancock and Paul Revere. To the south in Virginia were two other Templar Masons, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee, who in 1769 prompted the Virginia Assembly to formally condemn the British government. Events swiftly accelerated toward open conflict between England and her American colonies. In 1770 the famous Boston Massacre occurred when British sentries killed five rioters. In 1771 thirteen rebels were executed for treason in North Carolina. In 1772 two prominent Freemasons, John Brown and Abraham Whipple, had attacked a customs ship off Rhode Island and burned it. In 1773 the British government increased the tax on tea to keep the British East India Company solvent. In retaliation, Templar Masons from St. Andrew's Lodge dressed as Mohawk Indians, boarded the Dartmouth in Boston harbor and dumped its tea overboard. This was the famous "Boston Tea Party" that is said to have triggered the American Revolution.32

It took three months for the news of the "Boston Tea Party" to reach London, whereupon the British Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. Not realizing the significance of the Masonic division in the colonies, the Crown's action was swift and misguidedly drastic. The "Boston Port Bill," which placed an embargo on all trade with Boston, for example, effectively closed the port,33 and stiffened colonial resolve against the Crown.

On September 5, 1774, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia to plan action against the British. The Congress was under the presidency of Templar Freemason Peyton Randolph, a prominent attorney and Provincial Grand Master of Virginia. Boston delegates included Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. In February 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress met and announced plans for armed resistance. Within a month Templar Freemason Patrick Henry made his famous speech - "Give me liberty, or give me death" - to Virginia's Provincial Assembly. On April 18, 1775, 700 British troops were dispatched outside Boston. Templar Freemason Paul Revere made his famous ride, announcing "The Red Coats are coming!" The Templar bid to take America from Rosicrucian England had begun.34

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was the Space Transportation System (STS), taken from the 1969 plan led by U.S. vice president Spiro Agnew for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development.[8]: 163–166 [9][10]

The first (STS-1) of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights (STS-5) beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. They launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the Shuttle-Mir program with Russia, and participated in the construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS). The Space Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1,323 days.[11]

Space Shuttle components include the Orbiter Vehicle (OV) with three clustered Rocketdyne RS-25 main engines, a pair of recoverable solid rocket boosters (SRBs), and the expendable external tank (ET) containing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The Space Shuttle was launched vertically, like a conventional rocket, with the two SRBs operating in parallel with the orbiter's three main engines, which were fueled from the ET. The SRBs were jettisoned before the vehicle reached orbit, while the main engines continued to operate, and the ET was jettisoned after main engine cutoff and just before orbit insertion, which used the orbiter's two Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engines. At the conclusion of the mission, the orbiter fired its OMS to deorbit and reenter the atmosphere. The orbiter was protected during reentry by its thermal protection system tiles, and it glided as a spaceplane to a runway landing, usually to the Shuttle Landing Facility at KSC, Florida, or to Rogers Dry Lake in Edwards Air Force Base, California. If the landing occurred at Edwards, the orbiter was flown back to the KSC atop the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), a specially modified Boeing 747 designed to carry the shuttle above it.

The first orbiter, Enterprise, was built in 1976 and used in Approach and Landing Tests (ALT), but had no orbital capability. Four fully operational orbiters were initially built: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, and Atlantis. Of these, two were lost in mission accidents: Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003, with a total of 14 astronauts killed. A fifth operational (and sixth in total) orbiter, Endeavour, was built in 1991 to replace Challenger. The three surviving operational vehicles were retired from service following Atlantis's final flight on July 21, 2011. The U.S. relied on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft to transport astronauts to the ISS from the last Shuttle flight until the launch of the Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission in May 2020.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle

Pope Benedict XVI[a] (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger;[b] 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2005 until his resignation in 2013. Following his resignation, he chose to be known as "pope emeritus", a title he held until his death on 31 December 2022.[1][2]

Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger embarked on an academic career and established himself as a highly regarded theologian by the late 1950s. He was appointed a full professor in 1958 when aged 31. After a long career as a professor of theology at several German universities, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977, an unusual promotion for someone with little pastoral experience. In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia. In 2002, he also became Dean of the College of Cardinals. Before becoming pope, he had been "a major figure on the Vatican stage for a quarter of a century"; he had had an influence "second to none when it came to setting church priorities and directions" as one of John Paul II's closest confidants.[3] Following the death of John Paul II on 2 April 2005, a conclave elected Ratzinger as his successor on 19 April; he chose Benedict XVI as his papal name in honour of Benedict XV and Benedict of Nursia.

Benedict's writings were prolific and generally defended traditional Catholic doctrine, values, and liturgy.[4] He was originally a liberal theologian but adopted conservative views after 1968.[5] During his papacy, Benedict advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many Western countries. He viewed relativism's denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular, as the central problem of the 21st century. Benedict also revived several traditions and permitted greater use of the Tridentine Mass.[6] He strengthened the relationship between the Catholic Church and art, promoted the use of Latin,[7] and reintroduced traditional papal vestments, for which reason he was called "the pope of aesthetics".[8] He also established personal ordinariates for former Anglicans and Methodists joining the Catholic Church. Benedict's handling of sexual abuse cases within the Catholic Church and opposition to usage of condoms in areas of high HIV transmission was criticized by public health officials, anti-AIDS activists, and victims' rights organizations.[9][10]

Citing health reasons due to his advanced age, Benedict resigned as pope on 28 February 2013. He became the first pope to resign from office since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first without external pressure since Celestine V in 1294. He subsequently moved into the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City for his retirement. The 2013 conclave elected Francis as his successor on 13 March. In addition to his native German language, Benedict had some proficiency in French, Italian, English, and Spanish. He also knew Portuguese, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Greek.[11][12][13] He was a member of several social science academies, such as the French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI

Featured Artifact: A Scottish Rite Flag that Went to the Moon

 In the above video, Bro. Joshua Aaron Poole, 32°, House of the Temple Museum Curator and Archival Associate, discusses the history of this unique piece that traveled to the moon with astronaut “Buzz” Aldrin on Apollo XI in 1969 and the flag’s significance to Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite. (Having trouble viewing the video? Watch it on Vimeo.)

https://scottishrite.org/scottish-rite-myths-and-facts/featured-artifact-scottish-rite-flag-went-moon/

Pope Paul VI watched arrival Apollo 11's on the moon and sent a message

Other Popes

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19/07/2019

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Pope Paul VI visited the Vatican Astronomical Observatory to follow the arrival of the first man on the moon.

There, he observed the moon with the the space telescope and followed the landing on television.

Afterward, he sent a greeting praising the work of those involved in this project.

Very few know, but the astronauts of Apollo 11 left on the moon messages from heads of states. On behalf of Pope Paul VI they brought Psalm 8:

“When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place— What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?”

Ever since, popes and astronauts have often been in contact with each other.

Benedict XVI connected in 2011 with the International Space Station, and had fun seeing the effects of no gravity.  

Additionally, Pope Francis had a similar encounter in 2017.

A few months later, he met them at the Vatican. The astronauts brought him a surprise gift: an authentic and personalized space suit.

“We have decided that to begin with, as you are what you wear, to make you one like ours ...”

“Ah okay! And you plan the trip for me...”

It is a story that all began one night in Castel Gandolfo, when the pope wanted to watch the arrival of the first man on the moon.

https://www.romereports.com/en/2019/07/19/pope-paul-vi-watched-arrival-apollo-11s-on-the-moon-and-sent-a-message/

Tranquility Base (Latin: Statio Tranquillitatis) is the site on the Moon where, in July 1969, humans landed and walked on a celestial body other than Earth for the first time. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed their Apollo Lunar Module Eagle at approximately 20:17:40 UTC. Armstrong exited the spacecraft six hours and 39 minutes after touchdown, followed 19 minutes later by Aldrin. The astronauts spent two hours and 31 minutes examining and photographing the lunar surface, setting up several scientific experiment packages, and collecting 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of dirt and rock samples for return to Earth. They lifted off the surface on July 21 at 17:54 UTC.

Tranquility Base was named by Aldrin and Armstrong, and first announced by Armstrong when the Lunar Module Eagle landed. It is located in the south-western corner of the dark lunar plain Mare Tranquillitatis ("Sea of Tranquility").[1]

Due to involvement of facilities within the U.S. states of California and New Mexico with the Apollo program, the relevant government bodies in these states have registered Tranquility Base as a historic site associated with the heritage of the respective state: the California State Historical Resources Commission in the California Register of Historical Resources,[2] and the New Mexico Historic Preservation Division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs in the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties site #1946. However, Texas, the U.S. National Park Service, and UNESCO have declined to do so, citing the procedural technicality that it is not located within their borders (which according to common convention don't extend thousands of miles beyond the Earth's surface).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tranquility_Base

The Latin word mare ('sea') was a pun upon the name Mary, and the phrase Stella maris is an mistranslation of the Hebrew form of her name, Miriam.

Mary as a star, giving guidance to sailors on a stormy ocean, became a popular metaphor for the help she gave to mankind on earth. The great fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch, wrote a powerful lyric on the subject:

Bright virgin, steadfast in eternity /

Star of this storm-tossed sea, /

Trusted guide of every trustful pilot, /

Turn your thoughts to the terrifying squall /

In which I find myself, alone and rudderless...

Interestingly, Stella maris was originally an epithet of the goddess Isis in Roman religion. Like Mary, Isis was a divine mother with a very popular cult, and representations of her with her baby son Horus in Egyptian art to some extent influenced the way early artists showed the Virgin and Child.

Here is an example in the Fitzwilliam, dating from between 715 and 525 BCE [E.122.1954].

https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/context/sign-and-symbols/the-star-of-mary

2 Marine Officers Shot at Camp Pendleton

By TONY PERRY

March 6, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

CAMP PENDLETON — Two high-ranking officers at Camp Pendleton were shot Tuesday, one fatally, and a sergeant in their unit was arrested for what the base spokesman called the most “unthinkable” act in the Marine Corps: a Marine attacking fellow Marines.

Lt. Col. Daniel W. Kidd, 40, executive officer of Marine Air Logistics Squadron 39, was pronounced dead within minutes of the shooting at the base hospital.

Lt. Col. Thomas A. Heffner, 43, commander of the unit, was taken by helicopter to Palomar Medical Center in nearby Escondido and was listed in serious but stable condition after emergency chest surgery.

Arrested at the scene was Sgt. Jessie A. Quintanilla, 28, a native of Guam who joined the corps in 1989 and was assigned to the supply section of the squadron. He did not try to flee or resist.

A spokesman said Quintanilla shot Kidd at point-blank range in the chest with a .45-caliber pistol and then shot Heffner when he rushed into the room to investigate.

No motive was established, but a base spokesman said that the possibility that Quintanilla’s name might have surfaced in connection with gang activities and that he was angry at his superior officers as a result is under investigation.

Gang affiliation can lead to discharge or rejection of a reenlistment application. The base has carried on an education campaign for Marines and their families about the dangers of joining off-base gangs.

The shooting occurred about 2:50 p.m. in the huge hangar where the squadron’s helicopters are housed and where Kidd and Heffner had adjoining offices. Four shots were fired.

Like many a small town, the sprawling base--with 37,000 active-duty Marines and sailors--has had its share of shootings. Some of them have been accidental and some intentional, but Tuesday’s incident left many at Camp Pendleton shaken.

The base was closed to all traffic for an hour while investigators searched for Quintanilla’s car. The result was a sizable traffic jam for cars trying to leave or enter the base, just south of Orange County.

“For a Marine to do such a heinous thing to other Marines is the most unthinkable thing imaginable,” Lt. Col. Jerry Broeckert said. “As Marines, we talk about leadership, about being a team, then something like this happens. It just doesn’t come together.”

Quintanilla, who lived in Riverside with his wife and 7-year-old son, had a clean record and never had been disciplined, Broeckert said.

Broeckert said that the incident was witnessed by another Marine.

Since the Marines have not issued .45-caliber pistols for many years, preferring instead the newer 9-millimeter weapons, Broeckert said investigators believe that the murder weapon was privately owned. Base rules allow private weapons only if they are registered with officials and not carried as concealed weapons.

Camp Pendleton, established to train Marines to fight in the South Pacific during World War II, is home to units that fought in Operation Desert Storm and were part of the peacekeeping mission in Somalia.

Marines receive advanced infantry and amphibious training at the base. In fact, one of its slogans, meant to show that Marines can strike anywhere in the world if ordered by the commander-in-chief, is “no beach beyond reach.”

As a sergeant, Quintanilla probably would not have worked directly with Kidd or Heffner. Instead he would have reported through a chain of command involving lower-ranking officers and noncommissioned officers.

Still, the executive officer is a more visible figure who carries out orders from superiors and makes many career decisions for subordinates.

Squadron 39, mainly a maintenance group, had 600 Marines so Kidd was “the dad for the people here,” Broeckert said. “He touched a lot of lives.”

Within 72 hours, Quintanilla will face a magistrate’s hearing, much like a civilian arraignment. Because the incident occurred on base, the case will be handled by a military court. Historically, such courts have meted out swifter and harsher penalties on criminal defendants than civilian courts.

Heffner is a native of Philadelphia, Kidd of Middleton, Ky. Heffner’s wife and children rushed to the hospital within minutes of the helicopter landing.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-06-me-43821-story.html

Cort Ellefson

Age 38, Born October 1987

Lives in Dayton, NV

(775) 600-5601

Also Seen As

Includes all names used in any public records filings for Cort Ellefson.

Cort Anders Ellefson, Cort C Ellefson

Current Address

This is the most recently reported address for Cort Ellefson.

2028 Lonnie Ln

Dayton, NV 89403

$354,000 | 3 Bed | 2 Bath | 1,152 Sq Ft | Built 2005

Lyon County

(Jun 2024 - Dec 2025)

Phone Numbers

Includes the current and past phone numbers for Cort Ellefson.

(775) 600-5601 - Wireless

Possible Primary Phone

Last reported Nov 2025

Verizon Wireless

(719) 683-5919 - Landline

Last reported Aug 2012

The El Paso County Telephone Company

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ellefsoncort@yahoo.com

ralo@elpasotel.net

cellefson@msn.com

erose@erols.com

Current Address Property Details

Property record details for the current residence of Cort Ellefson.

2028 Lonnie Ln

Dayton, NV 89403

Bedrooms

3

Bathrooms

2

Square Feet

1,152

Year Built

2005

Estimated Value

$354,000

Estimated Equity

$-21,190

Last Sale Amount

$360,000

Last Sale Date

06/11/2024

Occupancy Type

Owner Occupied

Ownership Type

Multiple

Land Use

Single Family

Property Class

Residential

Subdivision

Canyon Estates Sub Ph 10b

Lot Square Feet

11,979

APN

019-991-18

School District

Lyon County School District

Previous Addresses

All previously reported addresses for Cort Ellefson.

3611 Lakeview Rd

Carson City, NV 89703

Carson City County

(Aug 2021 - Aug 2024)

3459 Long Dr

Minden, NV 89423

Douglas County

(Jun 2015 - Sep 2025)

16626 Canal Rd

Valley Center, CA 92082

San Diego County

(Nov 2007 - Mar 2014)

2902 Hill Valley Dr

Escondido, CA 92029

San Diego County

(Sep 2006 - Nov 2018)

4205 S Meridian Rd

Colorado Springs, CO 80929

El Paso County

(Nov 2007 - Jan 2010)

11120 W Van Buren St #1098

Avondale, AZ 85323

Maricopa County

(Sep 2025 - Dec 2025)

4205 N Meridian Rd

Peyton, CO 80831

El Paso County

(Jul 2006 - Jul 2019)

Rm 419 #140169

Camp Pendleton, CA 92055

San Diego County

(Jul 2013 - Oct 2013)

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Possible Relatives

May include parents (mother, father), spouse (wife, husband), exes, brothers, sisters and children of Cort Ellefson.

Cheryl Weaver

Age 71

Heather Ellefson

Age 33

Keith Ellefson

Age 61

Kira Cordingly

Age 38

Kirk Ellefson

Age 64

Lacie Evans

Age 39

Lynn Ellefson

Age 66

Timothy Ellefson

Age 79

Arlo Ellefson

Age 85

Austin Ellefson

Age 26

Beverly Ellefson

Age 77

Hagen Ellefson

Age 21

Linda Ellefson

Age 84

Timothy Ellefson

Age 79

Possible Associates

May include current and past roommates, friends, and extended family of Cort Ellefson.

Clay Evans

Age 42

Richard Barnhurst

Age 64

Barbara Crawford

Age 61

Donald Henderson

Age 70

Dwight Cordingly

Age 71

Indee Gilmore

Age 49

Kari Taylor

Age 23

Kimberly Cordingly

Age 45

Nick Cordingly

Age 46

Patricia Reed

Age 63

Robert Taylor

Age 90

Robert Taylor

Age 60

Sharon Taylor

Age 83

Vicky Cordingly

Age 71

William Weaver

Age 79

Education and Employment

May include education and employment history for Cort Ellefson.

Company

United States Marine Corps

Job Title

Diesel Technician

From

PRESENT

To

PRESENT

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Background Profile on Cort Ellefson

Cort Ellefson, 38 years old, was born in October 1987. His current address is 2028 Lonnie Ln in Dayton, NV, where he's resided since June 2024. Cort's phone number is (775) 600-5601, a mobile number through Verizon Wireless.

Cort's prior residences include Carson City, NV, Minden, NV, Valley Center, CA, Escondido, CA, and Colorado Springs, CO, plus 3 other locations. Cort's previously reported phone number includes (719) 683-5919, a landline number through The El Paso County Telephone Company, which was last active as of August 2012. Cort has email addresses including ellefsoncort@yahoo.com and ralo@elpasotel.net plus 2 others.

Social media links, property ownership & more can be found at our partner site.

Cort has worked at United States Marine Corps as a Diesel Technician for 17 years 1 month. This company is associated with the Government industry.

Cort's relatives include Cheryl Weaver, Heather Ellefson, Keith Ellefson, Kira Cordingly and 10 others. Cort's associates include Clay Evans, Richard Barnhurst and others.

A full criminal records report for Cort Ellefson can be found at our partner site.

Cort's current residence at 2028 Lonnie Ln in Dayton, NV 89403 is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 1,152 sq feet. It appears Cort owns this property. This property is valued at approximately $354,000. The property was purchased in June 2024 for $360,000. It was built in 2005 (20 years ago).

A more in-depth report can be found at our partner site.

https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/find/person/pxr4ll6n4l29r206ll628 

THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER AND PROJECT SANGUINE

In 1953, the Soviets set up seven radio transmitters and began pulsing the American Embassy in Moscow with an ELF signal measuring 3.26–17.54 MHz. Embassy workers had no idea they were being pulsed while developing emotional and behavioral problems, leukemia (a 40 percent higher than average white blood cell count), cancer, and cataracts. Ambassadors Charles Bohlen and Llewellyn Thompson died; Ambassador Walter Stoessel, Jr. developed a rare blood disease and bled from the eyes. The Moscow Embassy “experiment” would run for thirty years, a full generation.

Meanwhile in the United States under DARPA’s Project Pandora, scientists were studying how low-intensity microwaves might be used to induce heart attacks, blood/brain barrier leaks, auditory hallucinations, etc. This was the MK-ULTRA mind control era whose overarching electromagnetic question was, Can a microwave signal control the mind at a distance? In 1962, the CIA dedicated Project Bizarre to studying the Moscow signal and made a crucial discovery: it was not the strength of the signal that was responsible for loss of biological health—a tiny fraction of the U.S. military (very high) “safe” exposure level—but the pulsing. This information was immediately classified and Pandora went black, along with other projects.

By July 1969, the U.S. had 71,524 microwave towers spaced according to the geometric harmonics of the world magnetic grid. SECOM II’s16 five towers broadcast in the 3–12 MHz range—within the Schumann range—in a round robin from Idaho and New Mexico to Missouri, South Carolina, and Maryland.

In 1968, the secretive JASON Group mounted Project Sanguine’s 6,400-mile buried cable antenna for long radio wave transmissions (SLF 30–300Hz) out of upper Wisconsin. A transmitter on one side would pump ELF waves through the ground and out the other side so that, as bioelectromagnetics expert Robert O. Becker, MD, put it, “ELF waves issuing from it and resonating between the earth’s surface and the ionosphere could be picked up anywhere on the globe.”17 Supposedly, Sanguine was for submarine communication (much like HAARP was sold to the public), but the antenna length produced minuscule frequencies (.3 kHz), which was odd, given that the best frequencies for defense purposes are much higher. The truth is that Sanguine was to be set in sync with the three Soviet Duga antennas at Chernobyl, eastern Siberia, and Ukraine/Croatia.18

Per the requirements of the Environmental Protection Act, U.S. Navy Captain Paul E. Tyler asked Dr. Becker to be on the scientific committee overseeing Sanguine. In 1984, Captain Tyler would author “The Electromagnetic Spectrum in Low-Intensity Conflict,” a watershed paper which the International Committee on Offensive Microwave Weapons (ICOMW) described as “so important in the chain of evidence establishing the existence of an Electronic Concentration Camp System that if our Archive consisted of only two documents, the Tyler paper would surely be one of them!”19

In his 1985 book The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life, Dr. Becker detailed the committee’s disturbing Project Sanguine findings: stress responses, desynchronized bio-cycles, cellular metabolism interference, increased cancer rates in hundreds of thousands of people living inside the antenna field, etc. What would happen when the longwave signals resonated throughout the world? The committee recommended that Project Sanguine be shelved and that the 60 Hz power lines carrying far more power than the Sanguine antenna into homes across the nation be reexamined.

Under An Ionized Sky: From Chemtrails To Space Fence Lockdown

by Elana Freeland

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oneu_kEMMH5AeAffiWOR_7NJ0HptHJrC/view?usp=sharing

Peckerwood is a racial epithet used against white people, especially poor rural whites.[2] Originally an ethnic slur, the term has been reclaimed by a subculture related to prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle clubs.[3][4][5][6] The term was in use as an inversion of woodpecker in the Southern United States by the 1830s; it is also with the sense referring to white people documented from the 1850s.[2] African-American folklore in the 1920s contrasted the white "peckerwood" bird with the African-American blackbird.[6][7] The word became a common term in Jive.

History

Use of the term, an inversion of woodpecker, dates to the early 19th century. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the earliest printed use to an Alabama newspaper in 1835.[2] Peckerwood was in use in reference to white people by 1859; it often suggested a white person who was rustic or poor.[2][3] The shortened form peck was in use in the same sense in the 1920s.[8] In African American folklore during the 1920s, the woodpecker symbolically represented White Americans, in contrast to the blackbird that represented African Americans.[3][6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peckerwood

The Sinaloa Cartel (Spanish: Cártel de Sinaloa, pronounced [ˈkaɾtel ðe sinaˈloa], CDS, after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the Guzmán-Loera Organization, the Federation, the Sinaloa Cartel,[14][15][16] or the Pacific Cartel,[17] is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized crime syndicate and U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization based in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico,[18] that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering.

The cartel's history is marked by evolution from a small crime syndicate to one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world. Founded in the late 1960s by Pedro Avilés Pérez in Sinaloa, the cartel initially focused on smuggling marijuana into the United States. Pérez is credited with pioneering the use of aircraft for drug smuggling, laying the groundwork for large-scale trafficking operations. His organization was a training ground for the second generation of Sinaloan traffickers.

The Guadalajara Cartel was co-founded by Félix Gallardo between 1978 and 1980, marking the next phase in the cartel's history.[19][20][13] Under Gallardo's leadership, the cartel controlled much of Mexico's drug trafficking corridors along the US border throughout the 1980s. Following Gallardo's arrest in 1989, the cartel splintered into smaller organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel.

Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Sinaloa Cartel, under the leadership of figures like Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, significantly expanded its operations, establishing itself as one of the most powerful and influential criminal organizations in the world. The cartel was heavily involved in violent conflicts with rival groups such as the Tijuana Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, and later, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), as well as with Mexican federal forces.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinaloa_Cartel

What is a SIN?

A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number that you need to work and be paid in Canada and access government programs and benefits. It is also used to file taxes.

If you are not eligible for a SIN, you can apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) for tax purposes.

You are responsible for protecting your SIN. Ensure that you store documents containing your SIN and personal information in a safe place. For more information about protecting your SIN, please visit here.

International students get a SIN starting with the number ‘9,’ which lets employers know that you are a temporary resident in Canada.

https://international.northeastern.edu/ogs/student-support/global-campuses/canada/social-insurance-number/

As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#

A novena (from Latin: novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Civil Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise.  Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.

Nautical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.  In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions.  Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.

Astronomical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.  In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution.  Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky.  But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon.  Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight.  But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.

https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

What is the meaning of 666?

Answer

At the close of Revelation 13, which discusses the beast (the Antichrist) and his false prophet, we read, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). Somehow, the number 666 is a clue to the identity of the beast. Revelation 13 also mentions the “mark of the beast” (verses 16–17), and popular thought often links 666 with the mark; however, the mark of the beast and 666 appear to be two different things. The mark of the beast is something people must receive in order to buy and sell. The number 666 is somehow associated with the beast/Antichrist as “his” number.

The meaning of 666 is a mystery, and it appears that the apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, intended it to be that way. Calculating it, John says, requires “wisdom.” Some, using gematria (assigning a number value to each letter of a name or word and then combining the number values to arrive at a total number), have identified the Antichrist as various people in world history. Some of the popular targets have been “Caesar Nero,” “Ronald Wilson Reagan,” “Mikhail Gorbachev,” and various popes in Roman Catholic history. The lengths some will go to in order to get a person’s name to add up to 666 are amazing. Virtually any name can add up to 666 if enough mathematical gymnastics are employed.

Six hundred, sixty-six will somehow identify the beast, but precisely how 666 is connected to the beast is not the main point of Revelation 13:18. The Bible often uses the number 7 to refer to God and His perfection. Traditionally, 6 is thought to be the number of man, created on the sixth day and always “falling short” of God. The beast/Antichrist will strive to be like God. He will likely even claim to be God. But, just as the number 6 falls short of the number 7, so will the beast/Antichrist, with his “trinity” of 6’s, ultimately fail in his effort to defeat God.

Addendum: Interestingly, in some ancient Greek manuscripts of the Book of Revelation, the number is given as 616 instead of 666. The manuscript evidence is strongly in favor of 666, but the alternate reading of 616 should give us pause before we start pounding away on the calculators.

https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-666.html

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

18 U.S. Code § 666 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds

U.S. Code

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666

Revelation 13:11-18

1599 Geneva Bible

11 [a]And I beheld, another beast coming out of the earth, [b]which had two horns like the Lamb, but he spake like the dragon.

12 [c]And he did all that the first beast could do before him, and he caused the earth and them which dwell therein, [d]to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 [e]And he did great wonders, so that he made fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [f]image of the [g]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

15 [h]And it was permitted to him to give a [i]spirit unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 [j]And he made all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive [k]a [l]mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.

17 And that no man might [m]buy or sell, save he that had the [n]mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 [o]Here is wisdom. Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast: for it is the [p]number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:11 The second member of the vision, concerning the ecclesiastical dominion, which in Rome succeeded that which was politic, and is in the power of the corporation of false Prophets, and of the forgers of false doctrine. Wherefore the same body or corporation is called of S. John by the name of false prophet, Rev. 6:13, 19 and 20. The form of this beast is first described in this verse, then his acts, in the verses following, and the whole speech is concluded in the last verse. This beast is by his breed a Son of the earth (as they say) obscurely born, and by little and little creeping up out of his abject estate.

Revelation 13:11 That is, in show he resembled the Lamb (for what is more mild or more humble than to be the servant of the servants of God) but in deed he played the part of the Dragon, and of the Wolf, Matt. 7:15. For even Satan changeth himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14, and what should his honest disciples and servants do?

Revelation 13:12 The history of the acts of this beast containeth in sum three things, hypocrisy, the witness of miracles and tyranny: of which the first is noted in this verse, the second in the 3 verses following: the third in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses. His hypocrisy is most full of leasing, whereby he abuseth both the former beast and the whole world: in that albeit he hath by his cunning, as it were by lime made of the former beast a most miserable … or anatomy, usurped all his authority unto himself and most impudently exerciseth the same in the sight and view of him: yet he carrieth himself so, as if he honored him with most high honor, and did in very truth cause him to be honored of all men.

Revelation 13:12

For unto this beast of Rome, which of civil Empire is made an Ecclesiastical hierarchy, are given divine honors, and divine authority so far as he is believed to be above the Scriptures, which the gloss upon the Decretals declareth by this devilish verse,

Articulos solvit, synodumque facit generalem,

That is,

He changeth the Articles of faith, and giveth authority to general Counsels.

Which is spoken of the Papal power. So the beast is by birth, foundation, feat, and finally substance, one: only the Pope hath altered the form and manner thereof being himself the head both of that tyrannical Empire, and also of the false Prophets, for the Empire hath he taken unto himself, and thereunto hath added this cunning device. Now these words, whose deadly wound was cured are put here for distinction sake, as also sometimes afterwards: that even at that time the godly readers of this prophecy might by this sign be brought to see the things as present: as if it were said, that they might adore this very Empire that now is, whose head we have seen in our own memory to have been cut off, and to be cured again.

Revelation 13:13 The second point of the things done by the beast, is the credit of great wonders or miracles, appertaining to the strength of this impiety: of which signs some were given from above, as it is said, that fire was sent down from heaven by false sorcery, in this verse. Others were showed here below in the sight of the beast to establish idolatry, and deceive souls, which part S. John setteth forth beginning (as they say) at that which is last, in this manner: First the effect is declared in these words, He deceiveth the inhabitants of the earth, Secondly the common manner of working in two sorts, one of miracles. For the signs that were given him to do in the presence of the beasts: the other of the words added to the signs, and teaching the idolatry confirmed by those signs, Saying unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they should make an image unto the beasts which, etc. Thirdly, a special manner is declared: That is given unto him to put life into the image of the beast: and that such a kind of quickening, that the same both speaketh by answer unto those that ask counsel of it, and also pronounceth death against all those that do not obey nor worship it: all which things oftentimes by false miracles through the procurement and inspiration of the Devil, have been effected and wrought in images. The histories of the Papists are full of examples of such miracles, the most of them feigned, many also done by the devil in images: as of old in the serpent, Gen. 3:1. By which examples is confirmed, not the authority of the beast, but the truth of God, and of these prophecies.

Revelation 13:14 That is, images by enallage or change of the number: for the worship of them ever since the second Council of Nice, hath been ordained in the Church by public credit, and authority contrary unto the Law of God.

Revelation 13:14 In the Greek the word is in the Dative case, as much to say, as unto the worship, honor and obeying of the beast: for by this maintenance of images this Pseudoprophetical beast doth mightily profit the beast of Rome, of whom long ago he received them. Wherefore the same is hereafter very fitly called the image of the beast, for that images have their beginning from the beast, and have their form or manner from the will of the beast, and have their end and use fixed in the profit and commodity of the beast.

Revelation 13:15 And of this miracle of the images of the beast (that is, which the beast hath ordained to establish idolatry) which miraculously speak and give judgment, or rather marvelously, by the fraud of the false prophets, the Papists books are full fraughted.

Revelation 13:15 To give life as Jannes and Jambres imitated the wonders that Moses wrought.

Revelation 13:16 The third place, is a most wicked and most insolent tyrrany as was said before, usurped over the persons of men in this verse: and over their goods and actions, in the next verse. For he is said, both to bring upon all persons a tyrannous servitude, that as bondslaves they might serve the beast: and also to exercise over all their goods and actions, a peddler-like abuse of indulgences and dispensations (as they term them) amongst their friends, and against others to use most violent interdictions, and to shoot out cursings, even in natural and civil, private and public contracts, wherein all good faith ought to have place.

Revelation 13:16 That is, their Chrism, by which in the Sacrament (as they call it) of Confirmation, they make servile unto themselves, the persons and doings of men, signing them in their forehead and hands: and as for the sign left by Christ (of which Rev. 7:3) and the holy Sacrament of Baptism they make as void. For whom Christ hath joined unto himself by Baptism, this beast maketh challenge unto them by her greasy Chrism, which he doubteth not to prefer over Baptism, both in authority and efficacy.

Revelation 13:16 The mark of the name of the beast.

Revelation 13:17 That is, have any traffic or intercourse with men, but they only those which have this anointing and consecration of Clearkely tonsure, as they call it. Read Gratian de Consecratione, distinct. s. c. omnes, cap. Spiritus, etc. of these matters.

Revelation 13:17 Here the false Prophets do require three things, which are set down in the order of their greatness, a character, a name and the number of the name. The meaning is, that man that hath not first their anointing and clerical tonsure or shaving: secondly holy orders, by reserving whereof is communicated the same of the beast: or finally hath not attained that high degree of Pontifical knowledge, and of the Law (as they call it) Canonical, and hath not as it were made up in account and cast the number of the mysteries thereof: for in these things consisteth the number of that name of the beast. And this is excellently set forth in the next verse.

Revelation 13:18 That is in this number of the beast consisteth that Popish wisdom, which unto them seemeth the greatest of all others. In these words S. John expoundeth that saying which went before of the number of the beast, what it hath above his mark or acconisance and his name. These things, saith S. John, the mark and the name of the beast, do easily happen unto any man: but to have the number of the beast, is wisdom: that is, only the wise and such as have understanding, can come by that number for they must be most illuminated doctors that attain thereunto, as the words following do declare.

Revelation 13:18 How great and of what denomination this number of the beast is, by which the beast accounted his wisdom, S. John declareth in these words. Dost thou demand how great it is? it is so great, that it occupieth the whole man: he is always learning, and never cometh to the knowledge thereof: he must be a man indeed that doth attain unto it. Askest thou of what denomination it is? verily it standeth of six throughout and perfectly ariseth of all the parts thereof in their several denominations (as they term them) it standeth of six by units, tens, hundreds, etc. so as there is no one part in the learning and order Pontifical, which is not either referred unto the head, and as it were the top thereof, or contained in the same: so fitly do all things in this hierarchy agree one with another, and with their head. Therefore that cruel beast Boniface the eighth doth commend by the number of six those Decretals which he perfected, in the proem of the sixth book. Which book (saith he) being to be added unto five other books of the same volume of Decretals, we thought good to name Sextum the sixth: that the same volume by addition thereof containing a senary, or the number of six books (which is a number perfect) may yield a perfect form of managing all things, and perfect discipline of behavior. Here therefore is the number of the beast, who poureth from himself all his parts and bringeth them all back again unto himself by his discipline in most wise and cunning manner. If any man desire more of this, let him read the gloss upon that place. I am not ignorant that other interpretations are brought upon this place: but I thought it my duty, with the good favor of all and without the offense of any, to propound mine opinion in this point. And for this cause especially, for that it seemed unto me neither profitable, nor like to be true, that the number of the beast, or of the name of the beast should be taken as the common sort of interpreters do take it. For this number of the beast teacheth, giveth out, imprinteth, as a public mark of such as be his, and esteemeth that mark above all others as the mark of those whom he loveth best. Now those other expositions seem rather to be far removed from this property and condition of that number: whether you respect the name Latinus or Titan, or another. For these the beast doth not teach, nor give forth nor imprint, but most diligently forbiddeth to be taught, and audaciously denieth: he approveth not these, but reproveth them: and hateth them that think so of this number, with an hatred, greater than that of Vatinius.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A11-18&version=GNV

Veronica Bruno>Billy Dunn

Friday, January 22, 2010 at 12:13PM

Oh my God!! Billy, First i want to say Thank You for making my week! I just looked through the &th grade yearbook you sent me and I cant stop laughing by far the funniest thing ever i dont know why you are embarrassed but me i cant believe i am willingly going to send anything with a picture that bad of me inside of it to anyone!!  by far my worst school photo ever.....lol im dying..oh my

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/1147039091197

TIM WHITE on the COLUMBINE HIGH COVER UP and WITNESS INTIMIDATION

Subject: Re: TIM WHITE on the COLUMBINE HIGH COVER UP and WITNESS INTIMIDATION

To: "Tim White" <phantom421366@yahoo.com>

Date: Monday, April 27, 2009, 8:28 PM

Hi Tim White,

 

I have never heard of you but I have heard of Devvy Kidd and I would not trust her or anything she has to say. She went to Columbine and is part of the problem. Her husband is/was in the military and she ran a scam here in Colorado where she got people arrested with her phony Right Way Law. She seems to run from state to state having now settled in Texas. If she thinks its  psyops operation, just why would they do that? Two, what about the students who failed polygraphs about their involvement? Also, I distinctly remember her saying in her blog that she only talked with three students. I have talked with over fifty and they say that they saw more than two suspects and that the FBI HRT team was inside the school as the shooting began. Also, I have an FBI Form 302 statement from an FBI agent who claims to have seen Harris and Klebold since April 20, 1999.

 

There is also an adult by the name of Nate Marshall who helped train Harris and Klebold and I have verifiable proof of this person's involvement in the Columbine affair having actually fired a weapon from the library at law enforcment that day!

 

Also this person was indentified by students including Ann Marie Hockhalter as being involved. The entire school knew who he was and that he was involved. Recently Nate Marshall has come very close to admitting to being involved and told a firefighter in New Mexico that, "The Columbine thing" was closing in on him.

 

During the Columbine mess Nate Marshall was a West Metro firefighter and was not noted as being on duty that even though almost all firefighters from West Metro were at Columbine.

 

West Metro also has its problems as it is completely staffed at the management level with former military intelligence members. When was the last time you saw a fire department staffed like this?

 

There are also missing students and parents that disappeared since that day.

 

No insult to you if you are friends with Kidd, but she is a fraud and now is hob nobbing around with the bigger fraud Alex Jones of Infofraud.com Anytime she wants to go up against me on this issue, she is welcome. Columbine High School is a true government school where the kids are taken right out of the classes and recruited into the military. Devvy Kidd knows exactly what this school is and goes along with it. I do not agree with many of her views and I think she works directly for the government most likely the CIA or NSA.

 

How did Kidd know that Klebold's liver was rotting from Luvox, they never released any of the information on Klebold and in fact his full autopsy has never been released and further I was at the opern records meeting in 2001 where Susan Klebold was asked by a reporter if her sone was on this or any other drug and she said no.

 

So if Kidd knows this, it is because she is a government hack. Also I have proof that Klebold's dad was involved in the form of a video taken by the BBC that day that shows Thomas Klebold dressed as a FBI HRT team member leaving the property and I should know I met him when the lawsuits were still at the federal courts in Denver and I looked him in the face and offered my condolensces. This of course before I had seen the video. Bree Pasquale also identified Thomas Klebold as being involved.

 

As far as Kidd's opinion is concerned she never did any indepth investigation, she was here for two days and talked with three kids who escaped early on and did not see anything. I don't trust her or her work and I once again beleive that she is the shill for the government.

 

Also I have been told that the entire Columbine area is what is called; "A Safe Commnity" by the U.S. Military and the CIA, NSA, DIA, etc. This kind of community is created specifically for former and reitred members of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Now not all people living there are ex-intel, but most are and every other family I talked to admits that the father or mother and in some cases both were ONI, G2, OSI, etc. There are also people in the community that were involved in the Denver International Airport land deals, total corruption there.

 

Also in the message below Devvy Kidd states that all the shooters were on these drugs and were white males?

 

Now what does that tell you? If these drugs are really dangerous, then is it possible they were meant to be that way? Once again it still brings the government back into it and her ascertain that the government is involved in everything. Bull crap! The government has made sure that they are invovled in everything and when it comes to public schools, they have a hand in everything either directly or indirectly and the fact that this white twit can not even get their names right. Yes she got Dylan's name right but calls the other suspect Kevin. There was nobody even accused  by the name, "Kevin" which shows that she does not go to the effort to ensure the names are right.

 

If she got that wrong, then what else has she got wrong?

 

Thanks,

 

Bill Zabel

 

P.S. - She talks about a conspiracy about Columbine, well I've got news for this pandering idiot, she and her fradulent Right Way Law that got people thrown in jail here in Colorado is dung!

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Tim White

To: BZ

Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 2:12 PM

Subject: TIM WHITE on the COLUMBINE HIGH COVER UP and WITNESS INTIMIDATION

 

--- On Wed, 1/21/09, Tim White <phantom421366@yahoo.com> wrote:

 

From: Tim White <phantom421366@yahoo.com>

Subject: TIM WHITE on the COLUMBINE HIGH COVER UP and WITNESS INTIMIDATION

To:  "Ron CO - Aigner"

Cc: "John DeCamp"

Date: Wednesday, January 21, 2009, 12:58 AM

 

Tim White on the Columbine High Cover Up and Witness Intimidation

----- Original Message -----

From: "Tim White" phantom469366@yahoo.com

Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2005 3:48 PM

Subject: Re: Reply/ COLUMBINE HIGH-HARRIS/KLEBOLD-PLATTSBURGH A.F.B

Devvy,

I happen to BE in Denver and have been for 35+years. I SAW the people in the crowd-in the very first video tape to come on air (on KGMH Channel 7, for the 11:00 A.M. news) who were OBVIOUS "suits" and I did indeed see the FEMA comm unit on several video tape scenes -from channels 4, 7, and 9- before it was removed and never seen again , but there are photos of this to prove that it was set-up on the school grounds. I know much more than you assume on this and with all due respect to you, I disagree 100% with your "assessment" from the interviewees that you were in contact with. Did you interview Bill Zabel?

Some of the very best information on the truth was gathered by him-he spoke numerous times on shortwave radio about what he discovered and his life (d family too) was threatened many times because of it. How about Dr. Bill Deagle?

Deagle was there with an EMT team from the Englewood CO area-the first on the scene- and he was about to enter the school to save lives when he was told in no uncertain terms by a Jefferson County sheriff deputy, "DO NOT enter or you will be SHOT DEAD".

Deagle took the remark to mean "by law enforcement", he told me this himself.

Ever see the research of Justin Tribble?

He and Bill Zabel collaborated and finally Justin-who was 18 years old in 1999- had to give it up, also because of threats. I have spoken to all three and you are totally unaware of what is indeed TRUE.

In January of 2001, I left a long message on recorder at the headquarters of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) -having to do with the murders of 4 people who I knew. The murders were all within a 16 month period. About 5 minutes later, I received a call from a CBI Agent, Richard K Griffith, who asked when I would be available to speak with him in person-I said, RIGHT NOW! In just 35 minutes after I left this message, Rick Griffith was at my shop to discuss details.

He and I spoke for about 1 3/4 hours and I very obviously made him very uncomfortable because of what I said, certain details involving organized assassinations were very much at the core of all these murders:

1) A close friend of mine, David Chase, murdered in Evergreen Colorado on 6-6-95 or shortly thereafter,and his body found 47 days later in Bear Creek in front of the GATES MANSION just downstrean from Kittredge....

2)The private investigator looking into David Chase's murder, Phil Harris,"heart-attacked" on 6-13-96 (this was on the TV show, Unsolved Mysteries),I also knew Phil....

3) The "plane crash" of a very prominent Denver aviation attorney, John Breit, who was a customer of mine at the time,7-9-96,his fully restored T-28B Trojan Naval Trainer 'Warbird' seems to have "crashed" in the middle of US 24 East of Colorado Springs...I had heard from sources of mine that John knew something that was CIA related that "certain people" in the Colorado aviation community couldn't chance John knowing about

4) and the murder of Rudy Maestas, "heart-attacked" on 10-13-96. Rudy and Doris Martinez were both former IRS revenue agents who were partners in a tax representative counseling business and as "tax court enrolled agents" that I was using to help me with my own IRS problems... Rudy's murder was intended to keep Doris from testifying (about IRS corruption) at the IRS hearings at the University of Denver on April 15th,1998 and chaired by Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell. In attendance on the hearing panel was IRS Commissioner Charles Rossotti, Norman Brownstein, Steve Farber, Steven Hyatt of Brownstein,Hyatt, Farber, Strickland & Norton (Gale Norton-the current Secretary of Interior), this lawfirm is as corrupt as corrupt can be...Sen Ted Kennedy calls Norman Brownstein "the 101st US Senator".

Six people were "allowed" to testify and I know two of them.

In the conversation that I was having with Rick Griffith-also known as "Griff", I find out from him that he was 22 years with Air Force Intelligence, OSI (Office of Special Investigations) and was at the time of my meeting with him, Chief of Criminal Intelligence for CBI. I discussed much more than these murders with him and part of that was the UK/USA AGREEMENTS. You do know about that-don't you?

Why do you think MI6 was at Columbine? Did you know that Denver has the 2nd largest British diplomatic mission in the U.S. and that Denver is LOADED with MI6 agents?

Did you know that the University of Denver is controlled by MI6 and has been since it's founding? How about the Aspen Institute and the Heritage Foundation? Yup, also controlled by MI6. Rick Griffith and I discussed all of this and then some. He knew damn well what I was talking about was absolutely TRUE. He really got uncomfortable towards the end of our conversation and then decided it was best for him to leave since he was about to blow a hemmorhoid-the guy was 6' 2" and about 500 pounds and was uncomfortable sitting down. I gave him a copy of John Coleman's book, "Conspirators" Hierarchy-The Story of the Committee of 300" , thanked me for it,and then left.

In the following few months,we spoke several times and the last time was a real corker, this was about May 10th of 2001. He on his office phone,and me on my REAL TIME LISTENED TO landline QWEST business phone, Rick Griffith told me that he and other INTELLIGENCE PERSONNEL were in Columbine High-BEFORE entry by ANY LAW ENFORCEMENT SWAT PERSONNEL-looking for BOMBS.

He was talking and sounding animated but in a friendly tone like we were buds or something.I am sure he did not realize that my phone was tapped or he sure didn't act like it-considering what he just told me.We spoke for a few more minutes and then he hung up. Just before Memorial day-2 1/2 weeks later, I called him back at CBI and I was told that Richard K Griffith was NO LONGER WITH THE COLORADO BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION! I had his cell phone number and called him-he was at home-and he told me that he was "suddenly and unexpectedly, MEDICALLY RETIRED". Within the span of 3 months following, Rick sold his home in Denver, liquidated other assets,and moved OUT OF THE U.S. and is now in Panama, with his wife and children. Do I REALLY need to connect the dots on this for a very smart lady such as yourself?

Devvy, you are absolutely WRONG here and needless to say, I was VERY surprised by your reply to me .Of anyone responding to me on this, I would have guessed that this type of response was not what I would get from you.I thought you were much more informed but I am wrong,as I now see. Do know that I am very informed and you can get this verified by a close contact and friend of mine, Ted Gunderson; I will be happy to give you his cell phone number should you be so inclined to speak with him.This is also being sent to Charlotte Iserbyt, who I believe you know. She can also verify who I am.The other addy is going to Lt Col Dan Marvin(USA-Special Forces, Ret. He also knows what I am saying here.

Tim White, Viet Nam Vet(Air Force),Concerned Citizen

--- Devvy Kidd <devvyk@earthlink.net> wrote:

Tim:

I also did an indepth investigation into Columbine and in fact, drove out there from California to interview students, get autopsy reports, etc. The information below is nothing but hysteria and counter intel to make people chase their tail around all day.

Both of those boys were on psychotropic drugs. Kleibold's liver was rotting from the Luvox. Once you know enough about those drugs, you will understand how Dylan and Kevin progressed to the point they did.

I have read this so called report when it first came out. As I said, it's a nifty little piece of disinformation. It caused a stir when it came out, but once people read all my material, hundreds of pages of it and compare it to the dung below, the perpetrators of such crap lost their credibility.

Not everything that happens is the govmint. Every school shooter from 1993-1999 were all white boys between the ages of 11 and 19. All were on

Prozac, Ritilan or Luvox.

Devvy Kidd

[Original Message]

From: Tim White <phantom469366@yahoo.com>

To:

Date: 3/11/2005 6:37:58 PM

Subject: COLUMBINE HIGH-HARRIS/KLEBOLD-PLATTSBURGH A.F.B

This is the TRUTH about what happened at Columbine-NOT the "offical story" which are LIES, LIES, LIES. I have met and spoken to Deputies from the Arapahoe County Sheriffs' Dept who were there that day within minutes-2 of them were off duty but less than a mile from the school when the first call came in on their cell phones and they were among the first 6 or 7 officers on the scene-before the Feds showed up UNUSUALLY FAST from the Denver Federal Center-approx 12 road miles N-N/W of Columbine,and can CONFIRM that the Feds were indeed involved BEFORE the official" start of this because there is NO WAY the Federal SWAT teams could have been THAT PREPARED and be there THAT QUICKLY on a "cold call",a dead giveaway of PRIOR KNOWLEDGE.Almost immediately,a special COMMAND and CONTROL unit-a very large bus like vehicle-from FEMA was set up on the school grounds to direct all law enforcement activities-the FEDS were in charge from the very beginning because it was indeed a FEDERAL BLACK OP from the beginning-the beginnng of which was at least 2 YEARS in advance of the shootings. I know personally the "Denver source" that is mentioned in this article-Jeffery W Swedenburg,now known as Jeff Sweet.I have much more I can write about him but not at this time.

Tim White,Viet Nam Vet(Air Force),Concerned Citizen

Cover-up begins to unravel

**Columbine Update**

September 2nd, 1999

New Columbine Witness Speaks Out

Columbine Massacre & Coverup

Date: Sun, 06 Jun 1999 23:49:23 -0600

Organization: EAGLES NEST HOLDINGS All facts appear to be absolutely correct. Not only was there a Major general at the scene, QUICKLY, but there where CIA, NSA, MI6, NATO and of course the Federal Bureau of Incompetence. Consider these points:

(1) I'm not convinced the two boys where the shooters, or the only shooters. Many of the statements taken from other students state that they DID NOT recognize the (shooters)!

(2) Why are the STUDENTS who witnessed the shootings talking about grenades, not Pipe Bombs? Because pipe bombs where not used! And it was NOT the two students using them, but black clothed terrorists from the ATF.

(3) They DID NOT commit sucicide. I believe, based on evidence I've seen, that they where executed at the end of the shooting spree by another operative.

(4) The ATF where OBSERVED planting two of the 30 lb. bombs found, by Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies (a SGT. and a Captain) who are scared witless by what they saw. And they WILL NOT come out and talk about it.

(5) Why where FBI, ATF, CIA, NSA and NATO spooks on the scene at Columbine literally within minutes of the (beginning of) shootings? BECAUSE they knew about it before hand and where prepared and ready to go, parked only a mile or two away. (6) Not one so-called law enforcement official entered the school during the shooting. Instead, they cowered outside behind fire engines like the compromised cowards and traitors that they really are. Not ONE round was fired by a Law Enforcement official. (7) In conjunction with item 6, WHY where Law Enforcement officials ORDERED, by FBI and ATF officers-in-charge, to NOT enter the building until AFTER the shooting stopped?

The before mentioned facts have been testified to by many people onsite - among them Law Enforcement officials, reporters and concerned citizens. Whom are ALL being completely ignored? As I've told you previously, I spent the day at Columbine, on the day following the shooting, walking through the school as well. The scene was horrific, and the affect was one of a very calculated, scripted event. Just like Oklahoma City. There is absolutely no doubt that this was a.........

http://fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/health/crime_hate_crimes/news.php?q=1247331404

Naval Station Great Lakes (NAVSTA Great Lakes) is the home of the United States Navy's only current boot camp, located near North Chicago, in Lake County, Illinois, along Lake Michigan. Important tenant commands include the Recruit Training Command, Training Support Center and Navy Recruiting District Chicago. Naval Station Great Lakes is the largest military installation in Illinois and the largest training station in the Navy. The base has 1,153 buildings situated on 1,628 acres (6.59 km2) and has 69 mi (111 km) of roadway to provide access to the base's facilities. Within the naval service, it has several different nicknames, including "The Quarterdeck of the Navy".[2] It is also referred to as "second boot camp" for those attending Training Support Command.[3]

The original 39 buildings built between 1905 and 1911 were designed by Jarvis Hunt.[4]

The base functions similarly to a small city, with its own fire department, Naval Security Forces (Police), and public works department.

One of the landmarks of the area is Building 1, also known as the clocktower building. Completed in 1911, the building is made of red brick, and has a tower over the third floor of the building. It faces a large ceremonial parade ground, Ross Field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Station_Great_Lakes

The Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Northern Jurisdiction oversees the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in fifteen states: Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Wisconsin and Vermont.[1] This territory has existed since 1827 when the NMJ gained jurisdiction "over the then 14 states situated east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Wisconsin was not yet a state, but part of Michigan."[2]

Formed in 1813, the Northern Jurisdiction is divided into "Valleys."[3] Each Valley has up to four subordinate bodies, and each body confers a set of degrees. The four subordinate bodies are the Lodge of Perfection, which confers degrees 4 through 14, the Council of Princes of Jerusalem, which confers degrees 15 and 16, the Chapter of Rose Croix which confers degrees 17 and 18, and the consistory which confers degrees from 19 to 32.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Council,_Scottish_Rite,_Northern_Jurisdiction,_USA

Parris Island is a district of the city of Port Royal, South Carolina on an island of the same name. It became part of the city with the annexation of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on October 11, 2002. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau previously defined Parris Island as a census-designated place (CDP) when it was an unincorporated area of Beaufort County. The population was 4,841 at the 2000 census. As defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, Parris Island is included within the Beaufort Urban Cluster and the larger Hilton Head Island–Beaufort Micropolitan Statistical Area.[2]

History

Parris Island was first colonized by Europeans in 1562, when members of a French expedition led by Jean Ribaut temporarily settled on the island. This was the first semi-permanent European settlement in what are now considered the United States. Four years later, a town named Santa Elena was founded here by Spanish Conquistador Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. It was the capital of La Florida from 1566 to 1587, during which time Spanish explorers sailed from Santa Elena to explore the Tennessee Valley and Chesapeake Bay. An expedition also traveled overland into the interior to western North Carolina and points west.

After coming under English control, the island was granted to Robert Daniell in 1706 and became known as Port Royal Island. It later came into the hands of Colonel Alexander Parris, sometimes spelled "Paris", Public Treasurer of South Carolina. After his death in 1736, it gradually became known as Parris Island (and the name Port Royal Island was applied to a different one to the north).[3][4][5]

Parris Island was captured by the Union Army in 1861 during the American Civil War. It became a coaling station during the war. After the war, through the efforts of African American Congressman Robert Smalls, it continued as a coaling station for the United States Navy and became known as the Port Royal Naval Station. The neighboring Port Royal Sound is the deepest natural harbor on the Atlantic coast of the United States south of New York. The island was purchased outright in 1883. In the early 1890s, a dry dock was constructed at the naval station. The dry dock was completed in 1895. The construction of the Charleston Naval Shipyard in 1901 resulted in the closing of the Port Royal Naval Station in 1903.[6]

In 1915, Parris Island became the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. In the early years of the Marine Corps presence it was referred to as Paris Island.[7]

The Charlesfort-Santa Elena Site and Parris Island Drydock and Commanding Generals House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parris_Island,_South_Carolina

On June 24, 1717, six months after the exile of the Stuarts, four lodges in London (names not given) met at Apple-Tree Tavern and united English Freemasonry under the name "United Grand Lodge," which has been nicknamed the Mother Grand Lodge, or Grand Mother Lodge.

The first French Templar Lodge was founded in 1725 by a contingent of exiled Stuart sympathizers. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, attempted to regain his Scottish throne and was soundly defeated in less than a year. Upon returning to France, the Scottish Templars founded the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, quickly developing it to 32 degrees by 1755. In 1801 all French lodges accepted the Templar Scottish Rite degrees. That same year the Scottish Rite of Charleston, S.C., created the 33rd and final degree in Templar Freemasonry.

On the continent of Europe, French Freemasonry is known as Scottish Rite, Grand Orient, French Grand Lodge, Continental, or Latin Freemasonry. The Templar York Rite in England was transported to America, where it remains to this day. English Freemasonry continued with the three Craft Degrees until 1860, when it adopted the thirty additional degrees of the Scottish Rite, but for competitive reasons refused to call it "Scottish."'

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

Valley of Traverse City

ANCIENT ACCEPTED SCOTTISH RITE

The History and Legend of Scottish Rite Origins

The Story Unfolds…

Like much of early Masonic history, the origins of the Scottish Rite are uncertain. This is primarily due to the lack of historic documentation prior to the early 1700’s and not to any great veiled mystery. The few records kept were subject to loss, fire, weather and aging. So we can at best only speculate on many of our origins by looking at the few documents, historical references and legends that remain.

What We Know

n 1754, near Paris, Chevalier de Bonneville established the Chapter of Clermont. The Chapter resided in the College of Jesuits of Clermont, hence the name. It is said to have been created to honor the Duc de Clermont, then Grand Master of the English Grand Lodge of France.

The Chapter of Clermont was a “Chapter of the Advanced Degrees” and initially entailed six degrees and was later extended to 25 known degrees. The six initial degrees were 1˚, 2˚ and 3˚ St John’s Masonry, 4˚ Knight of the Eagle, 5˚ Illustrious Knight or Templar, 6˚ Sublime Illustrious Knight.

Interestingly enough historically, prior to the time of the Rite’s creation, James II had been in residence at Clermont in exile from Britain from 1688 to his death in 1701. As noted by German Masonic historian, Lenning… “whilst in exile, James II residing at the Jesuit College of Clermont in France, allowed his closest associates to fabricate certain degrees in order to extend their political views.” Lenning believed this to have been an attempt on the part of James and his associates to regain control of the British throne for the House of Stuart. If Lenning is right, this places the origins of the “Rite of Perfection” in the hands of James II and the Jacobite (Stuart) Freemasons who at the time were in exile from Great Britain throughout France and Italy. Lenning also contends that these degrees were introduced into French Freemasonry under the name of the Clermont System.

James II died in exile in 1701. His son James III is said to have continued his father’s Masonic legacy and later created further higher degrees.

Perhaps James II saw in the Jesuit morality plays of the College of Clermont a vessel for passing on a set of moral lessons. Some of the world’s greatest playwrights had emerged from Clermont. Jesuit tutelage had previously produced great writers such as Lope de Vega, Moliere, Racine, and the Corneille brothers. Ensconced in exile, I believe James II did find the inspiration and the training to help produce what would later become the first six degrees. From out of the darkness… comes light.

To be continued… (Author’s note… An in depth look at the Templar influence in Scottish Rite masonry’s origins can be found by visiting the Rosslyn Templars’ website.)

https://web.archive.org/.../scottish-rite-history.html

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]

page 221

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

PART VI 1THE PERSONAL LIFE OF THOSE ALREADY ADMITTED AND INCORPORATED INTO THE BODY OF THE SOCIETY

SECTION 1: THE APOSTOLIC CHARACTER OF OUR VOWS IN GENERAL

143 §1. Our consecration by profession of the evangelical counsels, by which we respond to a divine vocation, is at one and the same time the following of Christ poor, virginal, and obedient and a rejection of those idols that the world is always prepared to adore, especially wealth, pleasure, prestige, and power. Hence, our poverty, chastity, and obedience ought visibly and efficaciously to bear witness to this attitude, whereby we proclaim the evangelical possibility of a certain communion among men and women that is a foretaste of the future kingdom of God.[1]

§2. Our religious vows, while binding us, also set us FREE:

FREE, by our vow of poverty, to share the life of the poor and to use whatever resources we may have, not for our own security and comfort, but for service;

FREE, by our vow of chastity, to be men for others, in friendship and communion with all, but especially with those who share our mission of service;

FREE, by our vow of obedience, to respond to the call of Christ as made known to us by him whom the Spirit has placed over the Church, and to follow the lead of all our superiors.[2] [1] See GC 32, d. 4, no. 16; see GC 31, d. 16, no. 4; d. 17, no. 2; d. 18, no. 3. [2] GC 32, d. 2, no. 20. 215

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

MISSIONS FROM THE SUPREME PONTIFF

252 §1. To be truly Christian, our service to the Church must be anchored in fidelity to Christ, who makes all things new; to be proper to the Society, it must be done in union with the successors of Peter[32]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Robert Rudolph Remus (born August 27, 1948), better known as Sgt. Slaughter, is an American voice actor and retired professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE in the ambassador program.[6]

From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Slaughter had success in the National Wrestling Alliance, American Wrestling Association, and the World Wrestling Federation. He won the WWF Heavyweight Championship and headlined WrestleMania VII in 1991. Slaughter also captured the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship twice. He is a WWE Hall of Famer, inducted as part of the class of 2004. As Sgt. Slaughter, Remus became known for his dark sunglasses, his campaign hat, and his Vietnam War-era military fatigues. In the 1980s, an alternate version of the Sgt. Slaughter character was incorporated into the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toy line as well as its animated series and comic books.

The gimmick of Sgt. Slaughter is that of a former U.S. Marine who fought in the Vietnam War. Remus himself never served in the military. He received several draft deferments and even opposed the war, often protesting and demonstrating within the antiwar movement. This has caused controversy because, at times, Remus has talked about military service while seeming to be speaking as himself, and not in character.[7][8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Slaughter

Triangle Of Terror

Members

Sgt Slaughter

Col. Mustafa

General Adnan

Promotions

WWF

Debuted

1990

Disbanded

1991

Triangle Of Terror were a stable in the World Wrestling Federation between 1990 and 1991. It consisted of Sgt Slaughter, Col. Mustafa and General Adnan

History

General Adnan, Slaughter and Mustafa were portrayed as Iraqi sympathizers during the first Gulf War and feuded with Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Following Slaughter's face turn after SummerSlam 1991 the team disbanded.

https://prowrestling.fandom.com/wiki/Triangle_Of_Terror

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

What is a SIN?

A Social Insurance Number (SIN) is a 9-digit number that you need to work and be paid in Canada and access government programs and benefits. It is also used to file taxes.

If you are not eligible for a SIN, you can apply for an Individual Tax Number (ITN) for tax purposes.

You are responsible for protecting your SIN. Ensure that you store documents containing your SIN and personal information in a safe place. For more information about protecting your SIN, please visit here.

International students get a SIN starting with the number ‘9,’ which lets employers know that you are a temporary resident in Canada.

https://international.northeastern.edu/ogs/student-support/global-campuses/canada/social-insurance-number/

As per numerology, 666 when added comes to 9, a tricky number that stands for greediness, and natural disasters. But 9 (6+6+6+18=1+8=90 is also the number of Mars (Mangal) which means extra energy which can either make or break. It is impulsive, restless, stubborn and inflexible,' adds Jumaani."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ahmedabad-times/666-the-devil-or-cupid/articleshow/1621141.cms#

A novena (from Latin: novem, "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks.[1] The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the disciples gathered in the upper room and devoted themselves to prayer, is often considered to be the first novena.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novena

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Civil Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Therefore morning civil twilight begins when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon, and ends at sunrise.  Evening civil twilight begins at sunset, and ends when the geometric center of the sun is 6 degrees below the horizon.  Under these conditions absent fog or other restrictions, the brightest stars and planets can be seen, the horizon and terrestrial objects can be discerned, and in many cases, artificial lighting is not needed. Civil Twilight is also known as Civil Dawn and Civil Dusk.

Nautical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 12 degrees below the horizon.  In general, the term nautical twilight refers to sailors being able to take reliable readings via well known stars because the horizon is still visible, even under moonless conditions.  Absent fog or other restrictions, outlines of terrestrial objects may still be discernible, but detailed outdoor activities are likely curtailed without artificial illumination. Nautical Twilight is also known as Nautical Dawn and Nautical Dusk.

Astronomical Twilight:

Begins in the morning, or ends in the evening, when the geometric center of the sun is 18 degrees below the horizon.  In astronomical twilight, sky illumination is so faint that most casual observers would regard the sky as fully dark, especially under urban or suburban light pollution.  Under astronomical twilight, the horizon is not discernible and moderately faint stars or planets can be observed with the naked eye under a non light polluted sky.  But to test the limits of naked eye observations, the sun needs to be more than 18 degrees below the horizon.  Point light sources such as stars and planets can be readily studied by astronomers under astronomical twilight.  But diffuse light sources such as galaxies, nebula, and globular clusters need to be observed under a totally dark sky, again when the sun is more than 18 degrees below the horizon.

https://www.weather.gov/fsd/twilight

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

What is the meaning of 666?

Answer

At the close of Revelation 13, which discusses the beast (the Antichrist) and his false prophet, we read, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666” (Revelation 13:18). Somehow, the number 666 is a clue to the identity of the beast. Revelation 13 also mentions the “mark of the beast” (verses 16–17), and popular thought often links 666 with the mark; however, the mark of the beast and 666 appear to be two different things. The mark of the beast is something people must receive in order to buy and sell. The number 666 is somehow associated with the beast/Antichrist as “his” number.

The meaning of 666 is a mystery, and it appears that the apostle John, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, intended it to be that way. Calculating it, John says, requires “wisdom.” Some, using gematria (assigning a number value to each letter of a name or word and then combining the number values to arrive at a total number), have identified the Antichrist as various people in world history. Some of the popular targets have been “Caesar Nero,” “Ronald Wilson Reagan,” “Mikhail Gorbachev,” and various popes in Roman Catholic history. The lengths some will go to in order to get a person’s name to add up to 666 are amazing. Virtually any name can add up to 666 if enough mathematical gymnastics are employed.

Six hundred, sixty-six will somehow identify the beast, but precisely how 666 is connected to the beast is not the main point of Revelation 13:18. The Bible often uses the number 7 to refer to God and His perfection. Traditionally, 6 is thought to be the number of man, created on the sixth day and always “falling short” of God. The beast/Antichrist will strive to be like God. He will likely even claim to be God. But, just as the number 6 falls short of the number 7, so will the beast/Antichrist, with his “trinity” of 6’s, ultimately fail in his effort to defeat God.

Addendum: Interestingly, in some ancient Greek manuscripts of the Book of Revelation, the number is given as 616 instead of 666. The manuscript evidence is strongly in favor of 666, but the alternate reading of 616 should give us pause before we start pounding away on the calculators.

https://www.gotquestions.org/meaning-of-666.html

Head:

1. See Illness, mental

2. The superior general, head of the Society [666]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

18 U.S. Code § 666 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds

U.S. Code

Notes

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(a)Whoever, if the circumstance described in subsection (b) of this section exists—

(1)being an agent of an organization, or of a State, local, or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof—

(A)embezzles, steals, obtains by fraud, or otherwise without authority knowingly converts to the use of any person other than the rightful owner or intentionally misapplies, property that—

(i)is valued at $5,000 or more, and

(ii)is owned by, or is under the care, custody, or control of such organization, government, or agency; or

(B)corruptly solicits or demands for the benefit of any person, or accepts or agrees to accept, anything of value from any person, intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more; or

(2)corruptly gives, offers, or agrees to give anything of value to any person, with intent to influence or reward an agent of an organization or of a State, local or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof, in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b)The circumstance referred to in subsection (a) of this section is that the organization, government, or agency receives, in any one year period, benefits in excess of $10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal assistance.

(c)This section does not apply to bona fide salary, wages, fees, or other compensation paid, or expenses paid or reimbursed, in the usual course of business.

(d)As used in this section—

(1)the term “agent” means a person authorized to act on behalf of another person or a government and, in the case of an organization or government, includes a servant or employee, and a partner, director, officer, manager, and representative;

(2)the term “government agency” means a subdivision of the executive, legislative, judicial, or other branch of government, including a department, independent establishment, commission, administration, authority, board, and bureau, and a corporation or other legal entity established, and subject to control, by a government or governments for the execution of a governmental or intergovernmental program;

(3)the term “local” means of or pertaining to a political subdivision within a State;

(4)the term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and

(5)the term “in any one-year period” means a continuous period that commences no earlier than twelve months before the commission of the offense or that ends no later than twelve months after the commission of the offense. Such period may include time both before and after the commission of the offense.

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1104(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2143; amended Pub. L. 99–646, § 59(a), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3612; Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §§ 1205(d), 1209, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4831, 4832; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330003(c), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2140.)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666

Revelation 13

1599 Geneva Bible

13 1 The beast with many heads is described 12 which draweth the most part of the world to idolatry. 13 The other beast rising out of the earth, 15 giveth power unto him.

1 And I [a]saw a beast rise [b]out of the sea, having seven heads, and [c]ten horns, and upon his horns were ten crowns, and [d]upon his head [e]the name of blasphemy.

2 And the beast which I saw was [f]like a leopard, and his feet like a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a Lion: [g]and the dragon gave him his power and his throne, and great authority.

3 [h]And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death, but his deadly wound was healed, and all the world wondered and followed the beast.

4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast! who is able to war with him!

5 [i]And there was given unto him a mouth, that spake great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him, [j]to do two and forty months.

6 And he opened his mouth unto blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his Name, [k]and his tabernacle, [l]and them that dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them, and power was given him over every kindred, and tongue, and nation.

8 Therefore all that dwell upon the earth, shall worship him, [m]whose names are not written in the book of life of that Lamb, which was slain from the beginning of the world.

9 [n]If any man have an ear let him hear.

10 If any lead into captivity, he shall go into captivity: if any kill with a sword, he must be killed by a sword: here is the patience and the faith of the Saints.

11 [o]And I beheld, another beast coming out of the earth, [p]which had two horns like the Lamb, but he spake like the dragon.

12 [q]And he did all that the first beast could do before him, and he caused the earth and them which dwell therein, [r]to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 [s]And he did great wonders, so that he made fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [t]image of the [u]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

15 [v]And it was permitted to him to give a [w]spirit unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 [x]And he made all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive [y]a [z]mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.

17 And that no man might [aa]buy or sell, save he that had the [ab]mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 [ac]Here is wisdom. Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast: for it is the [ad]number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

Footnotes

Revelation 13:1 The Apostle having declared the springing up of the Christian Church and the state of the Church from which ours taketh her beginning, doth now pass unto the story of the progress thereof, as I showed in the entrance of the former Chapter. And this history of the progress of the Church, and the battles thereof, is set down in this Chapter, but distinctly in two parts, one is of the civil Roman Empire, unto the tenth verse. Another of the body Ecclesiastical or prophetical, thence unto the end of the chapter. In the former part are showed these things: First the state of that Empire, in four verses: then the acts thereof in three verses: after the effect, which is exceeding great glory, verse 8. And last of all is commended the use: and the instruction of the godly against the evils that shall come from the same, verses 9, 10. The history of the state containeth a most ample description of the beast, first entire, verses 1, 2, and then restored after hurt, verses 3, 4.

Revelation 13:1 On the sand whereof stood the devil practicing new tempests against the Church, in the verse next beforegoing: what time the Empire of Rome was endangered by domestical dissensions, and was mightily tossed, having ever and anon new heads, and new Emperors. See in the seventeenth chapter and the eighth verse.

Revelation 13:1 Having the same instruments of power, providence, and most expert government which the Dragon is said to have had in Rev. 12:3.

Revelation 13:1 We read in chapter 12 and third verse, that the Dragon had seven crowns set upon seven heads: because the thief announceth himself to be proper Lord and Prince of the world: but this beast is said to have ten crowns set upon several, not heads, but horns: because the beast is beholden for all unto the Dragon, verse 2, and doth not otherwise reign them by law of subjection given by him, namely that he employ his horns against the Church of God. The speech is taken from the ancient custom and form of dealing in such case: by which they that were absolute kings did wear the diadem upon their heads: but their vassals and such as reigned by grace from them, wore the same upon their hoods: for so they might commodiously lay down their diadems when they came into the presence of their Sovereigns: as also their Elders are said, when they adored God which sat upon the throne, to have cast down their crowns before him, chap. 4, verse 10.

Revelation 13:1

Contrary to that which God of old commanded should be written in the head piece of the high Priest, that is, Sanctitas Jehova, Holiness unto the Lord. The name of blasphemy imposed by the Dragon, is (as I think) that which S. Paul saith in chapter 2 of his 2 Epistle to the Thessalonians, verse 4. He sitteth as God, and boasteth himself to be God. For this name of blasphemy both the Roman Emperors did then challenge unto themselves, as Suetonius and Dion do report of Caligula and Domitian: and after them the Popes of Rome did with full mouth profess the same of themselves, when they challenged unto themselves sovereignty in holy things: of which kind of sayings the sixth book of the Decretals, the Clementines, and the Extravagants, are very full. For these men were not content with that which Anglicus wrote in his Poetria (the beginning whereof is, Papa stupor mundi. The Pope is the wonder of the world. Nec Deus es, nec homo, sed neuter es inter utrunque. Thou art not God, nay art thou man, but neuter mixed of both: as the gloss witnesseth upon the sixth book: but they were bold to take unto themselves the very name of God, and to accept it given of other: according as almost an hundred and twenty years since, there was made for Sixtus the fourth, when he should first enter into Rome in his dignity Papal, a Pageant of triumph, and cunningly fixed upon the gate of the city he should enter at, having written upon it this blasphemous verse:

Oraclo vocis mundi moderaris habenas,

Et merito in terris crederis esse deus.

By oracle of thine own voice the world thou governest all,

And worthily a God on earth, men think, and do thee call.

These and six hundred the like who can impute unto that modesty whereby good men of old would have themselves called the servants of the servants of God, verily either this is a name of blasphemy, or there is none at all.

Revelation 13:2 Swift as the Leopard, easily clasping all things, as the bear doth with his foot, and tearing and devouring all things with the mouth as doth the Lion.

Revelation 13:2 That is, he lent the same unto the beast to use, when he perceived that himself could not escape, but must needs be taken by the hand of the Angel, and cast into the bottomless pit, Rev. 20, yet did not he abandon the same utterly from himself, but that he might use it as long as he could.

Revelation 13:3 This is the other place that pertaineth to the description of the beast of Rome: that besides that natural dignity and amplitude of the Roman Empire, which was shadowed in the two former verses, there was added this also as miraculous, that one head was wounded as it were unto death, and was healed again, as from heaven, in the sight of all men. This head was Nero the Emperor, in whom the race of the Caesars fell from imperial dignity, and the government of the Commonweal was translated unto others: in whose hands the Empire was so cured and recovered unto health, as he seemed unto all so much the more deeply rooted and grounded fast, than ever before. And hence followed those effects, which are next spoken of: First an admiration of certain power, as it were sacred and divine sustaining the Empire and governing it: Secondly the obedience and submission of the whole earth in this verse: Thirdly, the adoration of the Dragon, and most wicked worshipping of Devils, confirmed by the Roman Emperors: Lastly, the adoration of the beast himself, who grew into so great estimation, as that both the name and worship of a God was given unto him, the fourth verse. Now there were two causes which brought in the minds of men this religion: the show of excellency, which bringeth with it reverence: and the show of power invincible, which bringeth fear. Who is like (say they) unto the beast? Who shall be able to fight with him?

Revelation 13:5 The second member containing an history of the acts of the beast, as I said verse 1. The history of them is concluded in two points, the beginning and the manner of them. The beginning is the gift of the Dragon, who put and inspired into the beast both his impiety against God and his eminity and injustice against all men, especially against the godly and those that were of the household of faith, the fifth verse. The manner of the acts or actions done, is of two sorts both impious in mind, and blasphemous in speech against God, his Church and the godly, verse six, and also most cruel and injurious in deeds, even such as were done of most raging enemies and of most insolent and proud conquerors, the seventh verse.

Revelation 13:5 Namely his actions and manner of dealing. As concerning those two and forty months, I have spoken of them before in the twelfth Chapter and second verse.

Revelation 13:6 That is, the holy Church, the true house of the living God.

Revelation 13:6 That is, the godly in several who hid themselves from his cruelty. For this bloody beast surcharged those holy souls most falsely with innumerable accusations for the Name of Christ, as we read in Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Arnobius, Minutius, Eusebius, Augustine, and others: which example the latter times followed most diligently in destroying the flock of Christ and we in our own memory have found by experience to our incredible grief. Concerning heaven, see the eleventh Chapter and twelfth verse.

Revelation 13:8 That is, such as are not from everlasting elect in Christ Jesus. For this is that Lamb slain, of which the fifth Chapter, verse six. These words I do with Aretas distinguish in this manner: Whose names are not written even from the laying of the foundation of the world, in the book of life, of the Lamb slain. And this distinction is confirmed by a like place hereafter, Rev. 17:8.

Revelation 13:9 The conclusion of this speech of the first beast, consisting of two parts, An exhortation to attentive audience in this verse: and a foretelling, which partly containeth threatenings against the wicked, and partly comforts for those which in patience and faith shalt wait for that glorious coming of our Lord and Savior Christ, the tenth verse.

Revelation 13:11 The second member of the vision, concerning the ecclesiastical dominion, which in Rome succeeded that which was politic, and is in the power of the corporation of false Prophets, and of the forgers of false doctrine. Wherefore the same body or corporation is called of S. John by the name of false prophet, Rev. 6:13, 19 and 20. The form of this beast is first described in this verse, then his acts, in the verses following, and the whole speech is concluded in the last verse. This beast is by his breed a Son of the earth (as they say) obscurely born, and by little and little creeping up out of his abject estate.

Revelation 13:11 That is, in show he resembled the Lamb (for what is more mild or more humble than to be the servant of the servants of God) but in deed he played the part of the Dragon, and of the Wolf, Matt. 7:15. For even Satan changeth himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14, and what should his honest disciples and servants do?

Revelation 13:12 The history of the acts of this beast containeth in sum three things, hypocrisy, the witness of miracles and tyranny: of which the first is noted in this verse, the second in the 3 verses following: the third in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses. His hypocrisy is most full of leasing, whereby he abuseth both the former beast and the whole world: in that albeit he hath by his cunning, as it were by lime made of the former beast a most miserable … or anatomy, usurped all his authority unto himself and most impudently exerciseth the same in the sight and view of him: yet he carrieth himself so, as if he honored him with most high honor, and did in very truth cause him to be honored of all men.

Revelation 13:12

For unto this beast of Rome, which of civil Empire is made an Ecclesiastical hierarchy, are given divine honors, and divine authority so far as he is believed to be above the Scriptures, which the gloss upon the Decretals declareth by this devilish verse,

Articulos solvit, synodumque facit generalem,

That is,

He changeth the Articles of faith, and giveth authority to general Counsels.

Which is spoken of the Papal power. So the beast is by birth, foundation, feat, and finally substance, one: only the Pope hath altered the form and manner thereof being himself the head both of that tyrannical Empire, and also of the false Prophets, for the Empire hath he taken unto himself, and thereunto hath added this cunning device. Now these words, whose deadly wound was cured are put here for distinction sake, as also sometimes afterwards: that even at that time the godly readers of this prophecy might by this sign be brought to see the things as present: as if it were said, that they might adore this very Empire that now is, whose head we have seen in our own memory to have been cut off, and to be cured again.

Revelation 13:13 The second point of the things done by the beast, is the credit of great wonders or miracles, appertaining to the strength of this impiety: of which signs some were given from above, as it is said, that fire was sent down from heaven by false sorcery, in this verse. Others were showed here below in the sight of the beast to establish idolatry, and deceive souls, which part S. John setteth forth beginning (as they say) at that which is last, in this manner: First the effect is declared in these words, He deceiveth the inhabitants of the earth, Secondly the common manner of working in two sorts, one of miracles. For the signs that were given him to do in the presence of the beasts: the other of the words added to the signs, and teaching the idolatry confirmed by those signs, Saying unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they should make an image unto the beasts which, etc. Thirdly, a special manner is declared: That is given unto him to put life into the image of the beast: and that such a kind of quickening, that the same both speaketh by answer unto those that ask counsel of it, and also pronounceth death against all those that do not obey nor worship it: all which things oftentimes by false miracles through the procurement and inspiration of the Devil, have been effected and wrought in images. The histories of the Papists are full of examples of such miracles, the most of them feigned, many also done by the devil in images: as of old in the serpent, Gen. 3:1. By which examples is confirmed, not the authority of the beast, but the truth of God, and of these prophecies.

Revelation 13:14 That is, images by enallage or change of the number: for the worship of them ever since the second Council of Nice, hath been ordained in the Church by public credit, and authority contrary unto the Law of God.

Revelation 13:14 In the Greek the word is in the Dative case, as much to say, as unto the worship, honor and obeying of the beast: for by this maintenance of images this Pseudoprophetical beast doth mightily profit the beast of Rome, of whom long ago he received them. Wherefore the same is hereafter very fitly called the image of the beast, for that images have their beginning from the beast, and have their form or manner from the will of the beast, and have their end and use fixed in the profit and commodity of the beast.

Revelation 13:15 And of this miracle of the images of the beast (that is, which the beast hath ordained to establish idolatry) which miraculously speak and give judgment, or rather marvelously, by the fraud of the false prophets, the Papists books are full fraughted.

Revelation 13:15 To give life as Jannes and Jambres imitated the wonders that Moses wrought.

Revelation 13:16 The third place, is a most wicked and most insolent tyrrany as was said before, usurped over the persons of men in this verse: and over their goods and actions, in the next verse. For he is said, both to bring upon all persons a tyrannous servitude, that as bondslaves they might serve the beast: and also to exercise over all their goods and actions, a peddler-like abuse of indulgences and dispensations (as they term them) amongst their friends, and against others to use most violent interdictions, and to shoot out cursings, even in natural and civil, private and public contracts, wherein all good faith ought to have place.

Revelation 13:16 That is, their Chrism, by which in the Sacrament (as they call it) of Confirmation, they make servile unto themselves, the persons and doings of men, signing them in their forehead and hands: and as for the sign left by Christ (of which Rev. 7:3) and the holy Sacrament of Baptism they make as void. For whom Christ hath joined unto himself by Baptism, this beast maketh challenge unto them by her greasy Chrism, which he doubteth not to prefer over Baptism, both in authority and efficacy.

Revelation 13:16 The mark of the name of the beast.

Revelation 13:17 That is, have any traffic or intercourse with men, but they only those which have this anointing and consecration of Clearkely tonsure, as they call it. Read Gratian de Consecratione, distinct. s. c. omnes, cap. Spiritus, etc. of these matters.

Revelation 13:17 Here the false Prophets do require three things, which are set down in the order of their greatness, a character, a name and the number of the name. The meaning is, that man that hath not first their anointing and clerical tonsure or shaving: secondly holy orders, by reserving whereof is communicated the same of the beast: or finally hath not attained that high degree of Pontifical knowledge, and of the Law (as they call it) Canonical, and hath not as it were made up in account and cast the number of the mysteries thereof: for in these things consisteth the number of that name of the beast. And this is excellently set forth in the next verse.

Revelation 13:18 That is in this number of the beast consisteth that Popish wisdom, which unto them seemeth the greatest of all others. In these words S. John expoundeth that saying which went before of the number of the beast, what it hath above his mark or acconisance and his name. These things, saith S. John, the mark and the name of the beast, do easily happen unto any man: but to have the number of the beast, is wisdom: that is, only the wise and such as have understanding, can come by that number for they must be most illuminated doctors that attain thereunto, as the words following do declare.

Revelation 13:18 How great and of what denomination this number of the beast is, by which the beast accounted his wisdom, S. John declareth in these words. Dost thou demand how great it is? it is so great, that it occupieth the whole man: he is always learning, and never cometh to the knowledge thereof: he must be a man indeed that doth attain unto it. Askest thou of what denomination it is? verily it standeth of six throughout and perfectly ariseth of all the parts thereof in their several denominations (as they term them) it standeth of six by units, tens, hundreds, etc. so as there is no one part in the learning and order Pontifical, which is not either referred unto the head, and as it were the top thereof, or contained in the same: so fitly do all things in this hierarchy agree one with another, and with their head. Therefore that cruel beast Boniface the eighth doth commend by the number of six those Decretals which he perfected, in the proem of the sixth book. Which book (saith he) being to be added unto five other books of the same volume of Decretals, we thought good to name Sextum the sixth: that the same volume by addition thereof containing a senary, or the number of six books (which is a number perfect) may yield a perfect form of managing all things, and perfect discipline of behavior. Here therefore is the number of the beast, who poureth from himself all his parts and bringeth them all back again unto himself by his discipline in most wise and cunning manner. If any man desire more of this, let him read the gloss upon that place. I am not ignorant that other interpretations are brought upon this place: but I thought it my duty, with the good favor of all and without the offense of any, to propound mine opinion in this point. And for this cause especially, for that it seemed unto me neither profitable, nor like to be true, that the number of the beast, or of the name of the beast should be taken as the common sort of interpreters do take it. For this number of the beast teacheth, giveth out, imprinteth, as a public mark of such as be his, and esteemeth that mark above all others as the mark of those whom he loveth best. Now those other expositions seem rather to be far removed from this property and condition of that number: whether you respect the name Latinus or Titan, or another. For these the beast doth not teach, nor give forth nor imprint, but most diligently forbiddeth to be taught, and audaciously denieth: he approveth not these, but reproveth them: and hateth them that think so of this number, with an hatred, greater than that of Vatinius.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013&version=GNV

Gregory Wayne Abbott (/æbət/ ABB-ət; born November 13, 1957) is an American politician, attorney, and jurist who has served since 2015 as the 48th governor of Texas. A member of the Republican Party, he served from 2002 to 2015 as the 50th attorney general of Texas and from 1996 to 2001 as a justice of the Texas Supreme Court. As of 2025, Abbott is the longest-serving incumbent governor in the United States.

Born in Wichita Falls, Texas, Abbott graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration and from Vanderbilt University with a Juris Doctor. He went into private practice, working for Butler and Binion, LLP between 1984 and 1992, and began his judicial career in Houston, where he served as a state trial judge in the 129th District Court for three years. Before becoming attorney general, Abbott was a justice of the Texas Supreme Court, a position to which he was appointed in 1995 by Governor George W. Bush. Abbott won a full term in 1998 with 60% of the vote.

Abbott was elected Texas attorney general with 57% of the vote in 2002 and reelected with 60% in 2006 and 64% in 2010. He became the longest-serving attorney general in state history, with 12 years of service,[2] and was the third Republican to hold that office since the Reconstruction era. As attorney general, Abbott successfully advocated for the Texas State Capitol to display the Ten Commandments in the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case Van Orden v. Perry, and unsuccessfully defended the state's ban on same-sex marriage. He was involved in numerous lawsuits against the Barack Obama administration, seeking to invalidate the Affordable Care Act and the administration's environmental regulations.

Elected in 2014, Abbott is the first Texas governor and third governor of a U.S. state to use a wheelchair, the others being Franklin D. Roosevelt of New York and George Wallace of Alabama. As governor, Abbott supported the first Donald Trump administration and has promoted a conservative agenda, including maintaining Texas's total abortion ban, lenient gun laws, support for law enforcement funding, and election reform. In response to the power crisis following a February 2021 winter storm, Abbott called for reforms to Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and signed a bill requiring power plant weatherization. During the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas, Abbott opposed implementing face mask and vaccine mandates, while blocking local governments, businesses, and other organizations from implementing their own. He has also made a priority of fighting illegal immigration, starting Operation Lone Star in 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Abbott

At the time of his father's death at the Battle of Brissarthe in 866, Odo and his brother Robert were still young, and thus king Charles the Bald appointed Hugh the Abbot (d. 886) to govern over counties previously held by Robert the Strong.[9] Since 882, Odo was the Count of Paris,[10] and gained prominence during the reign of Charles the Fat (884–887).[11]. Odo was also the lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours.[12][13]

In 882 or 883 Odo married Théodrate of Troyes.[14] The eleventh-century chronicler Adémar de Chabannes wrote that they had a son, Arnoul (c.882–898)[citation needed], who died shortly after his father. Guy is named as one of the couple's children in an Alan I's charter dated 28 August 903, but genealogist Christian Settipani has argued that the document is false.[15] The genealogical work Europäische Stammtafeln refers to Raoul as a son of Odo by Théodrate, but its primary source is not known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odo_of_France

AI Overview

Charlemagne and Constantinople | Bridging East and West - mythist

Charlemagne, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, was in direct rivalry with the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople due to his assumption of the imperial title, which was still held by the Byzantine emperor. This led to a "problem of two emperors," where both sides claimed the sole right to the title, resulting in diplomatic strain and rivalry that lasted for centuries. The conflict arose when Charlemagne's imperial coronation occurred while Constantinople's ruler, Empress Irene, was a woman, a fact the Pope and Charlemagne used to justify the transfer of imperial power to the West.  

The Coronation of Charlemagne

The Context: In 797, the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople experienced a crisis when Emperor Constantine VI was overthrown by his mother, Empress Irene.

The Transfer of Power: Pope Leo III, in an act known as translatio imperii, crowned Charlemagne, king of the Franks, as "Emperor of the Romans" on Christmas Day 800 AD.

Justification: The coronation was partly justified by Irene's rule as a woman, which was not accepted in Western Europe. Charlemagne's position was also a strategic move to assert his authority.

The Rivalry with Constantinople

Two Emperors: Charlemagne's coronation created a situation with two claimants to the Roman imperial title, one in the West (Charlemagne) and one in the East (the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople).

Denial of Legitimacy: The Byzantine Empire continued to view the Western imperial title as illegitimate, referring to the Western emperor as the "emperor of the Greeks" or "emperor of the Franks".

Diplomatic Tensions: This dispute over the imperial title soured diplomatic relations and remained a significant factor in the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire for centuries.

Recognition and Outcome

Limited Recognition: While a formal war was not fought over it, the Byzantine emperor eventually recognized Charlemagne as emperor in 812.

A Personal Title: However, this recognition was limited; Charlemagne was acknowledged as an "emperor," but the Byzantine emperor maintained his claim to be the sole legitimate Roman Caesar.

Enduring Rivalry: The rivalry continued even after Charlemagne's death, becoming an important aspect of imperial history until the fall of Constantinople in 1204.

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The Ottoman Empire[l] (/ˈɒtəmən/ ⓘ), also called the Turkish Empire,[24][25] was an empire[m] that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe, between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.[26][27][28]

The empire emerged from a beylik, or principality, founded in northwestern Anatolia in c. 1299 by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. His successors conquered much of Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans by the mid-14th century, transforming their petty kingdom into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. With its capital at Constantinople and control over a significant portion of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Middle East and Europe for six centuries. Ruling over so many peoples, the empire granted varying levels of autonomy to its many confessional communities, or millets, to manage their own affairs per Islamic law. During the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire became a global power.[29]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire

Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

Ignatius of Loyola: Apostle to the Muslims

Posted on: 26th July 2016  |Author: Damian Howard SJ

Category: The Jesuits

Tags: Feast of St Ignatius, Ignatius, Islam, interreligious, Jesuit history

To educate the youth of Europe? To fight the spread of Protestantism? While many people would guess that one or both of these ambitions drove Ignatius of Loyola to found the Jesuits, he actually had something else in mind: a mission to the Muslim world. For the feast of St Ignatius, Damian Howard SJ considers how ‘Islam haunted Ignatius’s understanding of his calling’ and celebrates the fruitful work of the many Jesuits who have tried to realise Ignatius’s vision in their engagement with Muslims.

Ask the average Catholic why St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus and they will likely say one of two things. First, remembering the Jesuits as bastions of the Counter-Reformation they might assume that Ignatius, militant Catholic that he was, had set out with a dream of a new religious order capable of defeating Protestantism. But whilst it was the case that the Jesuits would be active in efforts to reform the Catholic Church from within and to take on the growing power of Protestant theology and culture as it spread across Europe, this was never Ignatius’s underlying vision. Second, they might suppose that Ignatius had planned from the start a vast network of new schools which would revolutionise education throughout the continent. It’s true that this is indeed what Jesuit schools ended up doing, earning the order’s members the epithet of the ‘schoolmasters of Europe’, but this huge and innovative project came about as the result of a proposal made to Ignatius after he had already become Superior General of the new order; it was never education per se that he saw as its prime mission.

So the following claim may be unexpected: Ignatius’s original apostolic orientation was actually defined in relation to the Muslim world.

This shouldn’t be entirely surprising given the state of Europe at that time in history. Ignatius was born in the Basque country in 1491. Just one year later, the Reconquista reached its conclusion with the Catholic Kings finally ousting the last Muslim rulers from their vestigial Andalusian states, giving Christian princes possession of the whole Iberian Peninsula. The year 1492 was also notable for another major geopolitical event involving Spain: the European discovery of the New World. It was all but impossible to avoid the thought that America was the reward for Spanish triumph against the Moors. Now, the energy which had propelled the Spanish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula would be released outwards; the colonial age of conquest and exploitation was dawning for a new Catholic Spain and it was to be a golden age for Spanish Catholicism. We may rightly harbour ambiguous feelings about this aggressively Christian state but this was a moment when Spanish Catholics must have felt like masters of the world.

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/ignatius-loyola-apostle-muslims

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Himmler used the Jesuits as the model for the SS, since he found they had the core elements of absolute obedience and the cult of the organisation.[59][60] Hitler is said to have called Himmler "my Ignatius of Loyola".[59] As an order, the SS needed a coherent doctrine that would set it apart.[61] Himmler attempted to construct such an ideology, and deduced a "pseudo-Germanic tradition" from history.[61] Himmler dismissed the image of Christ as a Jew and rejected Christianity's basic doctrine and its institutions.[62] Starting in 1934, the SS hosted "solstice ceremonies" (Sonnenwendfeiern) to increase team spirit within their ranks.[63] In a 1936 memorandum, Himmler set forth a list of approved holidays based on pagan and political precedents meant to wean SS members from their reliance on Christian festivities.[64] In an attempt to replace Christianity and suffuse the SS with a new doctrine, SS-men were able to choose special Lebenslauffeste, substituting common Christian ceremonies such as baptisms, weddings and burials. Since the ceremonies were held in small private circles, it is unknown how many SS-members opted for these kind of celebrations.[65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ideology_of_the_SS

The large Latin inscription on the façade reads: Clemens XII Pont Max Anno V Christo Salvatori In Hon SS Ioan Bapt et Evang. This abbreviated inscription translates as: "The Supreme Pontiff Clement XII, in the fifth year [of his Pontificate, dedicated this building] to Christ the Savior, in honor of Saints John the Baptist and [John] the Evangelist".[5] The inscription indicates, with its full title (see below), that the archbasilica was originally dedicated to Christ the Savior and, centuries later, rededicated in honor of Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the Evangelist. Christ the Savior remains its primary dedication, and its titular feast day is 6 August, the Transfiguration of Christ. As the cathedral of the pope as bishop of Rome, it ranks superior to all other churches of the Catholic Church, including Saint Peter's Basilica.

Name

The archbasilica's Latin name is Archibasilica Sanctissimi Salvatoris ac Sancti Ioannis Baptistae et Ioannis Evangelistae ad Lateranum,[6] which in English is the Archbasilica of the Most Holy Savior and Saints John the Baptist and John the Evangelist at the Lateran, and in Italian Arcibasilica [Papale] del Santissimo Salvatore e Santi Giovanni Battista ed Evangelista in Laterano.[4]

https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Archbasilica_of_Saint_John...

From modest beginnings the SS (Schutzstaffel; Protection Squadrons), became a virtual state within a state in Nazi Germany, staffed by men who perceived themselves as the “racial elite” of Nazi future.

In the Nazi state, the SS assumed leading responsibility for security, identification of ethnicity, settlement and population policy, and intelligence collection and analysis. The SS controlled the German police forces and the concentration camp system. The SS conceived and implemented plans designed to restructure the ethnic composition of eastern Europe and the occupied Soviet Union.

From 1939, the SS assumed responsibility for “solving” the so-called Jewish Question; after 1941, its leadership planned, coordinated and directed the so-called Final Solution of the Jewish Question. This “solution” was the annihilation of the European Jews, which we now refer to as the Holocaust

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss

2 §1. The character and charism of the Society of Jesus arise from the Spiritual Exercises which our holy father Ignatius and his companions went through. Led by this experience, they formed an apostolic group rooted in charity, in which, after they had taken the vows of chastity and poverty and had been raised to the priesthood, they offered themselves as a HOLOCAUST to God,[2] so that serving as soldiers of God beneath the banner of the cross and serving the Lord alone and the Church his spouse under the Roman Pontiff, the vicar of Christ on earth,[3] they would be sent into the entire world[4] for the defense and propagation of the faith and for the progress of souls in Christian life and doctrine. [5]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Hajj Amin al-Husayni meets Hitler

In this German propaganda newsreel, the former Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husayni, an Arab nationalist and prominent Muslim religious leader, meets Hitler for the first time. During the meeting, held in in the Reich chancellery, Hitler declined to grant al-Husayni’s request for a public statement—or a secret but formal treaty—in which Germany would: 1) pledge not to occupy Arab land, 2) recognize Arab striving for independence, and 3) support the “removal” of the proposed Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Führer confirmed that the “struggle against a Jewish homeland in Palestine” would be part of the struggle against the Jews. Hitler stated that: he would “continue the struggle until the complete destruction of Jewish-Communist European empire”; and when the German army was in proximity to the Arab world, Germany would issue “an assurance to the Arab world” that “the hour of liberation was at hand.” It would then be al-Husayni’s “responsibility to unleash the Arab action that he has secretly prepared.” The Führer stated that Germany would not intervene in internal Arab matters and that the only German “goal at that time would be the annihilation of Jewry living in Arab space under the protection of British power.”

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/film/hajj-amin-al-husayni-meets-hitler

CHAPTER SEVEN – SHABTAI, SHIMON AND SHARON – DESTROYING THE JEWS

ALM 1 - THE DEUTSCH DEVILS

Rabbi Marvin Antelman was right all along. Way back in 1974, he identified the source of all the evil against Jews and humanity but his message and style were too unaccessible to get through to anyone but the most advanced students of antisemitism. What he lacked most was simplicity, a common enough failure of thinkers decades in advance of their contemporaries. What he needed was someone to put out a Cliff's Notes simplified explanation of his thesis...and someone, without intention, just did. The name of the book is, 50 Jewish Messiahs by Jerry Rabow (Gefen Publishing, Jerusalem). It is an informative but shallow overview of just what the title says, but in its shallowness lies vital depth. We begin with Chapter 17, about the "most damaging messiah to the Jewish people," Shabbatai Zvi. First we'll read Rabow and then add commentary opening Rabbi Antelman's work to the wide world. Recall that there are various accepted English spellings for Shabtai Tzvi, and the Sabbataians. The spelling presented depends on the writer:

pp 91 - Shabbatai Zvi was born in Smyrna, Turkey on the ninth of Av, 1626. The ninth day of Av is the day of a triple tragedy for the Jewish nation. According to tradition, the First Temple, the Second Temple and Bar Kokhba's Betar fortress all fell on this day.

pp 93 - He changed the holiday celebrations and violated the dietary prohibitions. All of this followed from his declaration that the usual rules were inapplicable to messianic times.

pp 95 - He declared that the coming of the messianic era meant that the biblical commandments were no longer binding. He proclaimed that God now permitted everything. ** This is Rabbi Antelman's central assertion; that Shabbataism was the polar opposite of Judaism. That Shabbatai Zvi's program was to destroy all the tenets of the Torah and replace them with their opposites. Incredibly, more than half the Jews of the world at the time, believed he would be revealed as their promised messiah: **

pp 101 - Then he finally made the announcement for which the Jewish community had been waiting for 1600 years - he would begin the Redemption on the 15th day of the month of Sivan, June 18, 1666. ** There are many who will recognize the significance of the date. June is the sixth month, 18 divided by three is 6+6+6 and 1666 is clear enough. Either he knew what he was doing or the prophesies of the emergence of an evil false messiah or anti-Christ are right, and Shabbatai Zvi was him. **

pp 110 - Through all of this, Shabbatai continued to issue proclamations of the theological changes wrought by the coming of the messianic age. Shabbatai's new prayer was, "Praised be He who permits the forbidden." Since all things would be permitted in the age of the messiah, Shabbatai declared many of the old restrictions of the Torah no longer applicable. He abolished the laws concerning sexual relationships. He eventually declared that all of the thirty six major biblical sins were now permitted and instructed some of his followers that it was their duty to perform such sins in order to hasten the Redemption.

Shabtai Tzvi, Labor Zionism and the Holocaust

by Barry Chamish

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B66Pc9x2hkIrV2Y3QWxPbkpKYWc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-5ak831cRNQohyyjZYfFKvw

Nova music festival massacre

On 7 October 2023, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian nationalist organization Hamas, initiated a sudden attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip. As part of the attack, 364 individuals, mostly civilians, were killed and many more wounded at the Supernova Sukkot Gathering, an open-air music festival during the Jewish holiday of Shemini Atzeret near kibbutz Re'im. Hamas also took 40 people hostage, and men and women were reportedly subject to sexual and gender-based violence.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_music_festival_massacre

A nova (pl. novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white dwarfs in close binary systems, but causes of the dramatic appearance of a nova vary, depending on the circumstances of the two progenitor stars. The main sub-classes of novae are classical novae, recurrent novae (RNe), and dwarf novae. They are all considered to be cataclysmic variable stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova

Revelation 16:8

1599 Geneva Bible

8 [a]And the fourth Angel poured out his vial on the sun, and it was given to him to torment men with heat of fire,

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2016%3A8-10&version=GNV

SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat. The name "Roadster" refers to the type of car that is used as the payload for the Falcon Heavy, while "SpaceX" is the name of the private space exploration company founded by Elon Musk in 2002.

https://theskylive.com/roadster-info

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses (M☉)) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around 5,000 K [K] (4,700 °C; 8,500 °F) or lower. The appearance of the red giant is from yellow-white to reddish-orange, including the spectral types K and M, sometimes G, but also class S stars and most carbon stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant

In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and interact with each other. On distance scales larger than the string scale, a string acts like a particle, with its mass, charge, and other properties determined by the vibrational state of the string. In string theory, one of the many vibrational states of the string corresponds to the graviton, a quantum mechanical particle that carries the gravitational force. Thus, string theory is a theory of quantum gravity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_theory

A chain reaction is a sequence of reactions where a reactive product or by-product causes additional reactions to take place. In a chain reaction, positive feedback leads to a self-amplifying chain of events.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chain_reaction

2 Peter 3:10

1599 Geneva Bible

10 [a]But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a [b]noise, and the elements shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

2 Peter 3:10 A very short description of the least distinction of the world, but in such sort as nothing could be spoken more gravely.

2 Peter 3:10 With the violence as it were of a hissing storm.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A10&version=GNV

Avril Ramona Lavigne CM (/ˈævrɪl ləˈviːn/ AV-ril lə-VEEN; French: [avʁil ʁamɔna laviɲ]; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include ten Juno Awards and eight Grammy Awards nominations.

At age 16, Lavigne signed a two-album recording contract with Arista Records. Her debut album, Let Go (2002), is the best-selling album of the 21st century by a Canadian artist. It yielded the successful singles "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi", which emphasized a skate punk persona and earned her the title "Pop-Punk Queen", "Pop Punk Princess" and "Teen-Pop Slayer" from music publications.[1] Her second album, Under My Skin (2004), became Lavigne's first to reach the top of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, going on to sell 10 million copies worldwide.

Lavigne's third album, The Best Damn Thing (2007), reached number one in seven countries worldwide and saw the international success of its lead single "Girlfriend", which became her first single to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. Her next two albums, Goodbye Lullaby (2011) and Avril Lavigne (2013), saw continued commercial success and were both certified gold in Canada, the United States, and other territories. After releasing her sixth album, Head Above Water (2019), she returned to her pop punk roots with her seventh album, Love Sux (2022).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avril_Lavigne

Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Latin for To the Government of the Church Militant) was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regimini_militantis_Ecclesiae

"The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957[1] and aired December 8 of that year.[2][3] Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.

Its local re-broadcast in 2004[4] and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.[2]

On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight",[5][6] and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

410 §1. As a sign of gratitude and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let that feast be solemnly celebrated; and on that day is to be renewed the consecration by which the Society on January 1, 1872, dedicated and consecrated itself totally and perpetually.

§2. The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be renewed each year on the feast of the Immaculate Heart.[1]

411 The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.[2]

412 §1. All our members should have at heart a shared concern for attracting new members to the Society, especially by prayer and the example of their lives as individuals and in community.[3]

§2. Therefore, we must do everything possible actively to present the Society in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are and what is our distinctive way of proceeding in the following of Christ.[4]

§3. We must also promote vocations as widely as possible, in order to reflect the culture and experience of those we seek to serve, including minority cultures, immigrants, and indigenous people.[5]

413 The Society should always show itself bound to its benefactors in charity and gratitude. Superiors should ensure that prayers are offered for them and other appropriate signs of our gratitude are shown them.[6]

414 In the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute, our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.[ 7]

415 All by earnest reading and meditation (in particular, at the time of the annual Spiritual Exercises, renewal of vows, monthly recollection, beginning of the year, and so forth) should strive ever to know, esteem, and love better our Constitutions and the special nature of our Institute,[ 8] which are to be faithfully observed, and which for each and all of us are the one, true, and safe way that surely leads to the perfection to which our Lord calls and invites all sons of the Society.[9] §2. Major superiors, especially at the time of the annual visitation, should see that this is faithfully observed.

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid033cvw1tuL2CQmLAKkX8MmdnRZLsZYUca23PW5L44aeifp1NzCyUs69f4gyhNRWwNgl

Drunk Woman Has No Idea She Just Killed 2 Kids

EWU Bodycam 

Dec 1, 2025

In today's body camera video and true crime documentary, we're covering the case of Marshella Chidester.

We are a news agency dedicated to delivering factual reporting on criminal investigations, public safety, and law enforcement procedures.

This video is a documentary intended to inform and educate viewers about real events of public concern.

It was produced for journalistic and educational purposes, and is presented in the public interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0g8uyjoJXE

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0BunUSgoLVgJRE8kuUfdQ7taSryBGG4Bjc8CUPdwMWrDtYpyzCcbwZXyu3fzm57CJl

American Airlines Flight 587 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, to Las Américas International Airport, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. On November 12, 2001, the Airbus A300B4-605R flying the route crashed into the neighborhood of Belle Harbor on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York City, shortly after takeoff, killing all 251 passengers and 9 crew members aboard, as well as five people on the ground.[1] It is the second-deadliest aviation accident[a] to have occurred in the United States, behind the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 in 1979,[1] and the second-deadliest aviation incident involving an Airbus A300, after Iran Air Flight 655.[1][3]

The location of the accident, and that it took place only two months after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in nearby Manhattan, initially spawned fears of another terrorist attack, but the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) attributed the disaster to the first officer's overuse of rudder controls in response to wake turbulence from a preceding Japan Airlines Boeing 747-400 that took off minutes before it. According to the NTSB, the aggressive use of the rudder controls by the first officer, the result of a flawed training scenario that overexaggerated the effects of wake turbulence, stressed the vertical stabilizer until it separated from the aircraft. The airliner's two engines also separated from the aircraft before impact due to the intense forces.[4][5]

Aircraft and crew

The accident aircraft, registration N14053,[6] was an Airbus A300 B4-605R delivered new to American Airlines on 12 July 1988. The aircraft's first flight was on 9 December 1987, and it was the first "R" model A300-600 built. On the day of the accident, it was in a two-class seating configuration with space for 251 passengers, and all seats were filled: 16 business-class seats and 235 economy-class seats.[7]: 412, 414  The aircraft was powered by two General Electric CF6-80C2A5 engines.[1] On board were nine crew members, including 42-year-old Captain Edward States,[b] who was the pilot monitoring and undertaking radio communications, and 34-year-old First Officer Sten Molin, who was the pilot flying.[c]

Accident

Flight 587, circled in white, moving downward with a white streak behind the aircraft at 9:16:06, from a video of a toll-booth camera on the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge[8]

External videos

video icon CCTV on YouTube

The aircraft taxied to Runway 31L behind a Japan Airlines (JAL) Boeing 747-400 (JAL Flight 47) preparing for takeoff. The JAL flight was cleared for takeoff at 9:11:08 am EST. At 9:11:36, the tower controller cautioned Flight 587 about potential wake turbulence from a preceding 747.[4]: 2 

Flight path Information

At 9:13:28, the A300 was cleared for takeoff and left the runway at 9:14:29, about one minute and 40 seconds after the JAL flight had departed. The aircraft climbed to an altitude of 500 feet (150 m) and then entered a climbing left turn to a heading of 220°. At 9:15:00, the captain made initial contact with the departure controller, informing him that the airplane was at 1,300 ft (400 m) and climbing to 5,000 ft (1,500 m). The controller instructed the aircraft to climb to and maintain 13,000 ft (4,000 m).[4]: 3  The flight data recorder (FDR) showed that the events leading to the crash began when the aircraft hit wake turbulence from the JAL flight in front of it at 9:15:36. In response to the turbulence, Molin moved the rudder from the right to the left and back again in quick succession from 9:15:52, causing sideslip until the lateral force caused composite lugs that attached the vertical stabilizer to fail at 9:15:58.[4]: xi, 135  The stabilizer separated from the aircraft and fell into Jamaica Bay, about 1 mi (1.6 km) north of the main wreckage site.

The aircraft pitched downward after the stabilizer loss. As the pilots struggled to control the aircraft, it entered a flat spin. The resulting aerodynamic loads sheared both engines from the aircraft, and they fell several blocks north and east of the main wreckage site, causing minor damage to a gas station and major damage to a home and a boat. The loss of engines cut power to the FDR at 9:16:01, while the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), using an emergency bus, stopped at 9:16:14.8 upon impact with the ground. At 9:16:04, the stall warning sounded on the CVR.[4]: 195  The last recorded words were those of Molin saying, "What the hell are we into, we're stuck in it" (9:16:07) and States replying "Get out of it, get out of it."[9][10] The aircraft slammed into the ground at Newport Avenue and Beach 131st Street.[4]: 48–50 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_587

The King of Queens is an American television sitcom that ran on CBS from September 21, 1998, to May 14, 2007, with a total of 207 half-hour episodes spanning nine seasons. The series was created by Michael J. Weithorn and David Litt, who also served as executive producers, and stars Kevin James and Leah Remini as Doug and Carrie Heffernan, a working-class couple living in Rego Park, Queens. All episodes were filmed in front of a live studio audience.[1][2]

The King of Queens was produced by Hanley Productions and CBS Productions (1998–2007)/CBS Paramount Television (2007), in association with Columbia TriStar Television (1998–2002), and Sony Pictures Television (2002–07). It was filmed at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. The ninth and final season concluded with a double-length series finale in 2007. James and Remini reunited in the 2016 television sitcom Kevin Can Wait,[3] which ended on May 7, 2018.[4]

Plot

Doug (Kevin James) and Carrie Heffernan (Leah Remini) are a middle-class couple living at the fictional 3121 Aberdeen Street in the Rego Park area of Queens, New York,[5][6] along with Carrie's widowed father, Arthur Spooner (Jerry Stiller).[7] Doug works for the fictional International Parcel Service (IPS) as a delivery driver, while Carrie works as a legal secretary in Manhattan. Their lives are plagued by the demands of Arthur; so much so that they eventually hire Holly, a professional dog walker, to spend time with him as she walks dogs in the park. Doug's constant deceit and schemes through various situations leave him humiliated as his plans backfire.

Also featured on the show are Doug's friends Deacon Palmer (Victor Williams), Spence Olchin (Patton Oswalt), and Richie Iannucci (Larry Romano), as well as Doug's cousin Danny Heffernan (played by James' real-life brother Gary Valentine). Deacon's wife Kelly (Merrin Dungey) is Carrie's best friend, having met through the relationship her husband has with Doug.

Most scenes take place in the Heffernans' home, but other common locations include Doug and Carrie's workplaces, the restaurant/pub "Coopers", and the residences of friends and family. While locations seen during the opening montage were filmed in areas around New York including the Empire State building, the Statue of Liberty and Sbarro Pizza, the series was filmed in California.[8]

The series begins after Doug and Carrie have been married for 3 years, and how they met is somewhat unclear due to continuity issues. In one flashback episode, "Meet By-Product", Doug meets Carrie while he is a bouncer at a nightclub that Carrie attends. However, in another episode, "Road Rayge", Carrie reflects on a song that she says Doug asked her to dance to when they were in junior high school.[9]

Characters

Main

Main cast from left to right:

Stiller, James, Remini.

Doug Heffernan (played by Kevin James) is an average parcel delivery man working for International Parcel Service (IPS). Born on February 9, 1965, in Montreal, Canada (his Canadian origin was unbeknownst to him until the season 5 episode "Dog Shelter"), he has a cheeky personality and never hesitates to protest his grievances vocally. Some of his problems are fueled by his love of food. These basic desires sometimes cause him to think of selfish, dangerous schemes in order to get what he wants, although they usually fall through in the end, causing constant arguments between Doug and Carrie. Doug's tendency to give in to his temptations, despite promising Carrie otherwise, is another common cause of conflict. He generally enjoys the simple pleasures of watching sports and playing poker with his friends.

Carrie Heffernan, née "Simone Spooner" (played by Leah Remini), is Doug's sardonic wife. She has a fiery temper and occasionally lashes out at people, mainly Doug. She has been characterized as scary by Holly and Doug, particularly when she is annoyed. During a flashback, Carrie concludes that she is happier when others are miserable. She never finished college and is employed as a legal secretary. Her constant attempts to make her relationship with Doug more romantic and loving cause Doug anxiety, as he prefers a simple life with as few restrictions as possible. The more impulsive and broad-minded of the couple, Carrie often pushes Doug to make more of himself and improve his outlook, but she is generally just as mean-spirited as he is. Although Carrie mocks Doug for his careless behavior, she has proven to be careless as well at times, with little patience for others' problems or tolerance for their quirks. Carrie's best friend is Deacon's wife, Kelly Palmer.

Arthur Spooner (played by Jerry Stiller) is Carrie's widowed father, who has been married three times. His fourth marriage is to Spence's mother (played by Anne Meara, Stiller's real-life wife) during the final episode of the final season, which ends shortly after in the same episode. Arthur is the classic oddball of the family. He lives in the basement of the Heffernan house because he accidentally set fire to his own uninsured home, burning it to the ground in the pilot episode. Very volatile, Arthur is mostly known for his incoherent, irascible outbursts and on rare occasion, offering up lucid thoughts and perspectives. He tells a lot of questionable stories of what he claims he has been through in his past, although his claim of having been a television and film actor for a time in years past turns out to be true. Arthur regularly causes chaos in the Heffernan household and gets on Doug's and Carrie's nerves. And, although he and Doug have a bitter rivalry in some episodes, he still approves of Doug, regardless. Doug and Carrie sometimes have trouble finding time alone because Arthur tends to get in the way. Arthur also tries to cause trouble with Doug's friends. He especially bullies Spence but also (unsuccessfully) tries it on Deacon, who often refers to him as "the old man".

Deacon Palmer (played by Victor Williams) is Doug's best friend and co-worker. Towering in height, and athletic, Deacon is a year and a few weeks younger than Doug, but the more level-headed of the two, in addition to being the classic "family man". He and his wife Kelly have two sons, Major and Kirby. He is often seen hanging out with Doug, whether it is on their lunch breaks at work, over the weekends, or for family gatherings. He will often help Doug plan elaborate schemes to fool Carrie, but he rarely likes to get involved himself. Deacon attended St. John's University in Queens, where he received two bachelor's degrees, one in art history and one in music. In the first-season episode "Best Man", Deacon mentions having served in the National Guard. He also volunteers as a big brother. In season 3, he gets caught having an affair with another woman and separates from Kelly in season 4, reconciling later in the series.

Spencer "Spence" Olchin (played by Patton Oswalt) (main seasons 1–2, 4–9; recurring, season 3) is another friend of Doug's and the nerd of the group. He tends to be angst-ridden, sickly, and takes an interest in science fiction, fantasy movies, and comic book conventions—interests that his friends do not share. Spence's birthday is February 14. He is of Albanian heritage, and works as a subway token booth clerk. He moved to New York City from rural West Virginia. In one episode he is a "house boy" for Deacon and Kelly. His character is based largely on the actor who plays him. Spence demonstrates intelligence and competence in a variety of pursuits, but he is haunted by his family history, his intimidating and troubled mother, and his inability to protect himself. Numerous episodes mention that Spence is asthmatic (a burden he shares with Danny) and allergic to peanuts (however, in the episode "Richie's Song" he is seen eating Peanut M&M's out of Doug's vehicle). In the season eight episode "Hartford Wailer", Spence is said to be from Ottawa but it appears that he had only said that to Huey Lewis in an attempt to impress him. He has a pet Pug named Allen. In the series' penultimate episode "Single Spaced", Spence shows romantic interest in Carrie when it appears she and Doug will divorce.

Richard "Richie" Iannucci (played by Larry Romano) (main seasons 1–2; guest season 3, 9) is one of Doug's closest friends. He and Doug were roommates before Doug married Carrie (shown in the episode "Meet By-Product"). He was quietly written out of the show in season three so Romano could work on another sitcom (Kristin). During that season, he only appeared in one episode, "Paint Misbehavin'". He mostly addressed Doug as "Moose". Richie was known as the ladies' man among Doug's friends, even admitting to sleeping with Doug's sister. Richie is an FDNY firefighter. He is also something of a con artist. His last appearance on the show was in the episode "Paint Misbehavin'", in which he has sex (off-screen) with Doug's sister Stephanie (Ricki Lake); although she promises to call him afterward, she has no intention to. He was also briefly seen in a few clips during the flashback montage at the end of the series finale.

Daniel "Danny" Heffernan (played by Gary Valentine) (recurring seasons 1–3, main cast seasons 4–9) is Doug's cousin, and he is also seen hanging out with Doug, Deacon and Spence. In the show's early seasons, Doug has a negative view of Danny bordering on hate due to the latter's over-eagerness to spend time with the former, but at the end of "S'no Job", they become friends and co-workers, and regularly hang out along with Deacon and Spence. Danny soon becomes Spence's roommate in a small apartment. The two fight like a married couple, and many of the jokes revolve around what looks to their friends like a romantic relationship. At one point, they legally marry in order to get a free TV from a sales pitch for which only married couples are eligible. Danny once owned a pizza parlor, and he is divorced from a woman named Eva. He once had the nickname "Stumpy", given to him by Doug. Episodes "Silent Mite" and "Paint Misbehavin'" reveal that Danny has asthma and uses an inhaler. Gary Valentine and Kevin James are real-life brothers. They each created last names for their acting careers. Valentine is their father's middle name.

Holly Shumpert (played by Nicole Sullivan) (guest season 3; main cast seasons 5–7, recurring season 4, 8–9) is a polite yet timid dog-walker who, like the Heffernans, lives in Queens, where she was hired by Doug and Carrie to "walk" Arthur. She is often seen arriving at the Heffernan home to pick up Arthur but is also a family friend of the Heffernans. She is often viewed as strange because of her habits, the men she dates, her "sketchy" ethics, and her habit of drinking too much, to which she openly confesses. Holly is a gentle soul, especially as she puts up with Arthur's antics, and is kind to Carrie despite the fact that Carrie often mistreats her. Holly was written out of the series at the beginning of season eight, but she later returned, pregnant, for one last appearance in the series finale ("China Syndrome"). Sullivan also appeared in a different role in the season 3 episode "Pregnant Pause".

Sara Spooner (played by Lisa Rieffel) (season 1 episodes 1–3, 5–6; mentioned season 3) is Carrie's younger half-sister, an irresponsible aspiring actress. She appears in only five of the first six episodes, and was only mentioned one other time (although not by name) in episode 52 ("Roast Chicken") by Doug as an excuse to his boss to get out of performing a roast. After the show became more popular, Kevin James was asked during an interview to explain what happened to Sara. According to James, the producers could not think of any storylines to develop Rieffel's character, so she was discontinued. During the pilot, she was on camera for roughly half the episode. However, in the other episodes in which she was included, her character did not have much to say or do. Subsequent plot lines and dialogue suggest that Sara Spooner never existed, and that Carrie is an only child.

Recurring

Kelly Palmer (played by Merrin Dungey), Deacon's wife, and Carrie's friend. Dungey was absent from the show in 2002 because she needed to take a break from the series and during this period, she and Deacon are separated and engaged in divorce proceedings, and she is involved in a brief affair, before they reconcile.

Lou Ferrigno (himself) (seasons 3–9) is the actor best known for his role as The Incredible Hulk. He and his wife are the Heffernans' next-door neighbors. A running gag on the series is that the neighbors (including the Heffernans) are fascinated by him, and it gets on his nerves. Lou does not like people telling him Hulk jokes, for instance, and other characters often make reference to that previous role. In one example, Doug is angry, and Lou attempts to calm him down; Doug retorts with the well-known line from the opening of The Incredible Hulk, "Don't make me angry; you wouldn't like me when I'm angry." Also, in the episode "Gym Neighbors", it is revealed that Lou's character suffers from a video-game addiction. Ferrigno's wife Carla makes a number of appearances as herself throughout the series' run.

Supervisor Patrick O'Boyle (played by Sam McMurray) (seasons 3–9) is section supervisor for the fictional International Parcel Service. He is Doug's boss throughout most of the show, whom he mostly refers to as "Heffernan". A recovering alcoholic and gambling addict, he appears in many of the IPS scenes throughout the series' run. O'Boyle is portrayed as mildly aggressive and annoyed at Doug. A character named Supervisor Jack O'Boyle (played by John F. O'Donohue) appears in an episode from season one ("White Collar", 1999). In season 8, on the episode "Consummate Professional", Doug flashes back to when he first started working at IPS, and the McMurray O'Boyle character is portrayed, not the O'Donohue O'Boyle character.

Joe Heffernan and Janet Heffernan are Doug's parents (played by Dakin Matthews and Jenny O'Hara) (seasons 3-9). They live in a retirement community in Florida, but occasionally come to visit or Doug goes to see them. They both tend to treat Doug like a child, a role he readily slips into, as comes to light in the Season 4 episode "Screwed Driver" when Janet and Joe come to visit while Carrie is out of town and Doug reverts to adolescent behavior, or when they revealed that they kept getting a new dog to avoid having to tell Doug his childhood dog had died many years earlier. Joe and Janet have a brief marital issue when Janet feels neglected by Joe and she starts spending more time with Arthur.

Victor Raider-Wexler as Mr Kaplan and Mr Kaufman (seasons 2-9), the wealthy and demanding head of Carrie's law firm. For unknown reasons or continuity error, he appears in two different roles first in seasons 2–6 as Mr Kaplan in the law firm Kaplan, Hornstein & Steckleron and then in season 7–9 as Mr Kaufman when Carrie switches to a new firm.

Doug Pruzan (played by Alex Skuby) (seasons 2–6) is Carrie's somewhat neurotic boss, a lawyer at a Manhattan law firm.

Veronica Olchin (season 1; played by Grace Zabriskie, seasons 5–9; played by Anne Meara), Spence's mother. She is portrayed by Zabriskie in her first appearance in "S'aint Valentines", but portrayed by Meara for the balance of the series. Veronica has an on-again/off-again relationship with Arthur, who is portrayed by Meara's real-life husband Jerry Stiller. Meara had previously appeared in "S'aint Valentines" as a woman who flirts with Arthur. Arthur and Veronica marry in the series finale, but divorce a year later.

Stephanie Heffernan, Doug's sister (played by Ricki Lake) (seasons 3–4, six episodes). A high school gym teacher who feels her parents favor Doug, she briefly dates Doug's friend Richie. She isn't seen and is rarely mentioned after season 4.

Raymond "Ray" Barone (played by Ray Romano) (seasons 1, 2 & 8; four episodes) is Doug's Long Island friend. Romano and James appearing on each other's shows was part of a network program crossover, as CBS aired both Everybody Loves Raymond and The King of Queens. Romano's appearance was successful enough to warrant all other lead characters (Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett, Doris Roberts, and Peter Boyle) to appear as their respective characters as well. Appropriately, the four episodes featuring Romano contained "Ray" in their titles ("Road Rayge", "Rayny Day", "Dire Strayts", and "Raygin' Bulls"). Kevin James appeared in 8 episodes in Season 1 of Everybody Loves Raymond (1996) but played a different character.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_of_Queens

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

This study was based on a French national retrospective cohort of DES-treated women (HHORAGES-France Association) (n = 1200) and their families. Detailed standard questionnaires were obtained from all DES mothers when they joined the HHORAGES-France Association and all DES children were already adults at this time. The answers to this online questionnaire were used to select women who met the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least two pregnancies with two viable male babies (same father) among whom the first child was not exposed in utero to DES (pre-DES), followed by one or more children with fetal exposure to DES (DES); (2) confirmed data on the total DES dose (health record or physician’s observation). The cumulative dose D administered to the French pregnant mothers was 4050 mg < D < 7300 mg. This is considered a medium-low-dose cohort, in accordance with the observations by Tournaire et al. [31] and compared with the higher doses administered in the United States (7550 mg < D < 12,742 mg). The answers to the questionnaires were also used to identify women with a DES son who presented female gender variance. We then contacted all DES sons with female gender variance and we carried out an individual interview with them.

The local university hospital ethics committee approved this study (ID IRB No. 202301531), and all patients gave their informed consent through the HHORAGES-France Association (CNIL: J B/EM/DC042793, N° 1006460).

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

“Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to). This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

Rosa jesuitica, oder, Jesuitische Rottgesellen (1620) - Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view

Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960), is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger brother of King Charles III. Andrew was born second in the line of succession to the British throne and is now eighth, and the first person in the line who is not a descendant of the reigning monarch.

Andrew served in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot and instructor and as the captain of a warship. During the Falklands War, he flew on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation, and Exocet missile decoy. In 1986, he married Sarah Ferguson and was made Duke of York. They have two daughters: Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Their marriage, separation in 1992, and divorce in 1996 attracted extensive media coverage. As Duke of York, Andrew undertook official duties and engagements on behalf of his mother. He served as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for 10 years until July 2011.

In 2014, Virginia Giuffre alleged that, as a 17-year-old, she was sex trafficked to Andrew by convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Andrew denied any wrongdoing.[2][3][4] Following criticism for his association with Epstein and Maxwell, Andrew resigned from public roles in May 2020,[5] and his honorary military affiliations and royal charitable patronages were removed by the Queen in January 2022.[6][7] He was the defendant in a civil lawsuit over sexual assault filed by Giuffre in New York State. The lawsuit was settled out of court in February 2022; in the settlement, Andrew paid an undisclosed sum to Giuffre.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Andrew,_Duke_of_York

Peter Hans Kolvenbach (30 November 1928 – 26 November 2016) was a Dutch Catholic priest and professor who was the 29th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1983 to 2008.

Early years

Kolvenbach was born and grew up in Druten, near Nijmegen in the Netherlands.[1] There he attended Canisius College for his secondary studies, where he concentrated on modern languages. He entered the novitiate at Mariendaal on 7 September 1948. After completing philosophy studies at Berchmans Institute in Nijmegen, he was assigned to Lebanon, where he completed his doctorate in Sacred Theology at Université de Saint-Joseph in Beirut. On 29 June 1961, he was ordained a priest in the Armenian Catholic Church, an Eastern-rite church in communion with Rome.[2]

The next years of his life were spent in academia, specifically in linguistics. From 1964 to 1976 he taught general and Oriental linguistics in The Hague, Paris, and then Beirut where he became Professor of General Linguistics and Armenian at Université Saint-Joseph. He served in that capacity until 1981, when he became rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute.[2]

During his time on the faculty of Saint-Joseph, he also served as superior of the Jesuit Near-East Vice-Province.[3]

Father General 

On 7 August 1981, Father General Pedro Arrupe suffered a severe stroke in the plane on his way back to Rome. Although he survived for another ten years, he wanted to step down as Superior General. Though Arrupe proposed Vincent O'Keefe of Fordham University as interim successor, Pope John Paul II intervened and named Paolo Dezza his delegate to lead the order for an interim period.[4] Two years later John Paul II allowed the Jesuits to proceed in selecting their new leader. Meeting in September 1983, the 33rd General Congregation of the Society of Jesus accepted the formal resignation of Father Arrupe and on the first ballot elected Father Kolvenbach to be 29th Superior General of the Jesuits.[5]

Kolvenbach took office at a time when the Jesuits' "strongly pro-social justice and church reform orientation was seen by critics as having made the Jesuits something akin to John Paul’s in-house opposition. ...Over time, Kolvenbach was credited with having managed to win back the trust of John Paul II and his Vatican team, without alienating the more liberal members of the order."[6][7]

Meeting a fellow Jesuit personally.

He is credited with successfully defending Jesuit theologian Jacques Dupuis from charges made by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Fr. Thomas J. Reese, who was removed as editor of America magazine by the insistence of the Vatican, says that he “always felt that Kolvenbach did everything he could to defend me.” He manifested his personal interest in each Jesuit's work, with an interest in meeting each Jesuit individually.[3] He traveled extensively to visit Jesuits in 112 countries, and “his knowledge of them and their ministries is legendary.” He also emphasized the need to make laypersons feel their place of equal partnership in Jesuit ministries, recognizing with Vatican II that “holiness is one - that sanctity is cultivated by all who are moved by the Spirit of God'." He expressed his belief that “the church of the next millennium will be called the 'church of the laity' ...this development is a 'grace of our day and a hope for the future'."[8]

Resignation and retirement

Kolvenbach in Goa, India, in 2006

Grave in Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour

On 2 February 2006, Kolvenbach informed the members of the Society of Jesus that he intended to step down in 2008, the year he would turn 80. As the Superior General is elected for life, Kolvenbach was only the second to resign the office.

The 35th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus convened on 5 January 2008 in Rome. On 14 January it accepted Kolvenbach's resignation and elected Adolfo Nicolás as his successor.[9]

Kolvenbach died in Beirut on 26 November 2016 and is buried outside Beirut on the grounds of Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour.[10] He left just before his death a personal letter to a young medicine doctor, Anthony Kallas-Chemaly, who worked with him on the history of the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hans_Kolvenbach

Spaniard becomes Jesuits' new "black pope"

By Reuters

January 19, 2008 5:07 AM PST Updated 17 years ago

By Stephen Brown

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Spaniard Adolfo Nicolas was elected the Jesuits' "black pope", as the head of the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic order is known, in a secret conclave on Saturday.

Nicolas, 71, has run Jesuit operations in east Asia and Oceania since 2004 and spent most of his career in the Far East after being ordained in Tokyo in 1967.

The order said in a statement that Nicolas had been elected to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order formally known as the Society of Jesus at the age of 79.

Jesuit superior generals are known as "black popes" because, like the pontiff, they wield worldwide influence and usually keep their position for life -- and because their simple cassock is black, in contrast to the pope who dresses in white.

The 468-year history of the Jesuit order has often included stormy relations with the Vatican. Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul, believed the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America.

Soft-spoken, white-haired Dutchman Kolvenbach won widespread praise for mending relations with the Vatican during his years in the post, after conflicts between his charismatic Basque predecessor and Pope John Paul.

Kolvenbach also had to deal with declining vocations and the future of the order founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540.

In the 1960s, the all-male order peaked with some 36,000 members worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education, refugee help and other social services.

The general congregation that elected Nicolas gathered 217 electors from all over the world at Jesuit headquarters, a block from the Vatican.

They spent four days in prayer and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio", or murmurings, about who should be elected. It is strictly forbidden to lobby for the post and anyone actively seeking the job must be 'turned in' by the other delegates.

The election is by secret ballot and delegates are not allowed to leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed who has won, in keeping with a tradition that the "white pope" is first to know who is the new "black pope".

But unlike a conclave to elect the pontiff, a Jesuit general congregation can continue for weeks or even months after the election to discuss future challenges and priorities.

https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/spaniard-becomes-jesuits-new-black-pope-idUSL19414053/

The Actes and Monuments (full title: Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant English historian John Foxe, first published in 1563 by John Day.

It includes a polemical account of the sufferings of Protestants under the Catholic Church, with particular emphasis on England and Scotland. The book was highly influential in those countries and helped shape lasting popular notions of Catholicism there.

The book went through four editions in Foxe's lifetime and a number of later editions and abridgements, including some that specifically reduced the text to a Book of Martyrs.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxe%27s_Book_of_Martyrs

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.

Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests."

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Etymology of Arturo

What does the name Arturo mean?

The surname Arturo is an Italian patronymic surname; that is, it was a name created from the first name of the father. Arturo is derived from the Breton given names Artuir and Arthur. This personal name is of very ancient origin and is derived from the Celtic word art, which means bear. The name Arthur is also related to the Greek Arcturus, which means bear or guardian and is the name of the bright star in the constellation Bootes.

Arturo Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Arturo include and others.

https://www.houseofnames.com/arturo-family-crest

Arcturus is a red giant star in the northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It has the Bayer designation α Boötis, which is Latinized to Alpha Boötis and abbreviated Alf Boo or α Boo. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05,[2] it is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Arcturus forms one corner of the Spring Triangle asterism.

Located relatively close at 36.7 light-years from the Sun, Arcturus is a red giant of spectral type K1.5III—an aging star around 7.1 billion years old that has used up its core hydrogen and evolved off the main sequence. It is about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to 25 times its size (around 35 million kilometers) and is around 170 times as luminous.

Nomenclature

The traditional name Arcturus is Latinised from the ancient Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros) and means "Guardian of the Bear",[9] ultimately from ἄρκτος (arktos), "bear"[10] and οὖρος (ouros), "watcher, guardian".[11] As ἄρκτος also came to mean "north", the name can also translate to "Guardian of the North".[12]

The designation of Arcturus as α Boötis (Latinised to Alpha Boötis) was made by Johann Bayer in 1603. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Arcturus for α Boötis.[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

The Beast (Koine Greek: Θηρίον, Thērion) may refer to one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 12-13 describes these three beasts as follows:

The dragon (later revealed in the text to be Satan)[1]

The beast of the sea (commonly interpreted as the Antichrist)[2][3]

The beast of the earth (later revealed in the text to be the False prophet)[4]

However, many people have different beliefs about the meaning of these beasts.

In Revelation 13:1–10, the beast of the sea rises "out of the sea" and is given authority and power by the dragon. It persecutes God's people in the 2nd part of Revelation 13. To buy and sell, everyone is required to have its name or number on their forehead or right hand (Rev 13:16-17). It speaks blasphemous words against God, will rule the world for 42 months (Revelation 13:5-7), and is described as resembling a leopard, a lion, and a bear—which are three of the animals in Daniel 7. It suffers a fatal head wound which is miraculously healed, bewildering the world's population and causing many to worship it.

In Revelation 13:11–18, the beast of the earth, later known as the false prophet, comes "out of the earth," exercises all the authority of the Sea Beast, forces everyone on earth to worship the Sea Beast, and convinces the people, through signs and wonders, to make an image of the Sea Beast.

In their fight against God, the Sea Beast and the False Prophet ally with the Dragon to persecute the "saints" and those who do not "worship the image of the beast [of the sea]" and influence earthly kings through three unclean spirits to gather for the battle of Armageddon.[5] These two beasts are ultimately defeated by Christ and thrown into the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 19:18–20, while Satan, the dragon, is imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. After being released from the bottomless pit after the millennial reign, Satan deceives the nations one last time, ultimately ending in Satan being defeated and thrown in the lake of fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Revelation)

Guy Fawkes Day – The Jesuit Treason and the Gunpowder Plot

A plan was hatched by a joint collaboration of the Pope and the Jesuits to blow up the House of Lords during the state opening of Parliament on 5th November 1605. Robert Catesby was the leader of a group of English Catholics who plotted to assassinate the protestant King James 1 in the failed gunpowder plot.

https://www.secretsunlocked.org/bible/bible-history/guy-fawkes-day-the-jesuit-treason-and-the-gunpowder-plot/

The Crown of Ba'al and Master Trusts of the World  

  The Crown of Ba'al, also known as the Papal Tiara and Triregnum is a three-tiered jewelled papal crown and symbol of claimed papal supremecy since the 16th Century. Since the 16th Century, it has featured prominently as part of the coat of arms of the Vatican, usually with the crossed keys of claims of authority from St Peter. Any text or other claim that alleges the three-tiered crown is older than the 16th Century is deliberately false.

 

  Prior to Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) the antipopes of the Roman Cult wore fabric, not metallic headdress, similar to the Persian High Priests of Mithra. However in 1302 Boniface issued his infamous Papal Bull Unam Sanctam, being the first Express Trust claiming control over the whole planet and effectively "King of the world". In celebration, he commissioned a gold plated headdress in the shape of a pinecone, with an elaborate crown at its base.

 

  The pinecone is an ancient symbol of fertility and one traditionally associated with Ba'al as well as the Cult of Cybele.

 

     

  The 1st Crown of Crown Land  

  While Pope Boniface VIII was the first leader in history to create the concept of a Trust, the first Testamentary Trust through a deed and will creating a Deceased Estate was not until Pope Nicholas V in 1455 through the Papal Bull Romanus Pontifex. This is only one of three (3) papal bulls to include the line with the incipit "For a perpetual remembrance." This Bull had the effect of conveying the right of use of the land as Real Property from the Express Trust Unam Sanctam to the control of the Pontiff and his successors in perpetuity. Hence, all land is claimed as "crown land".

 

  This 1st Crown is represented by the 1st cestui Que Vie Trust created when a child is born, depriving them of all their beneficial entitlements and rights on the land at birth.

 

     

  The 2nd Crown of the Commonwealth  

  The second Crown was created in 1481 with the papal bull Aeterni Regis meaning "Eternal Crown" by Sixtus IV being only the 2nd of three papal bulls as deeds of testamentary trusts.

 

  This Papal Bull created what is known as the "Crown of Aragon", later known as the Crown of Spain, being the highest sovereign and highest steward of all Roman Slaves subject to the rule of the Roman Pontiff. Spain lost the crown in 1604 when it was granted to King James I of England by Pope Paul V after the successful passage of the "Union of Crowns" or Commonwealth in 1605 after the false flag operation of the Gunpowder Plot.

 

  The Crown was finally lost by England in 1975 when it was returned to Spain and King Carlos I, where it remains to this day.

 

  This 2nd Crown is represented by the 2nd cestui Que Vie Trust created when a child is born being the sale of the birth certificate as a Bond to the private central bank of the nation, depriving them of ownership of their flesh and condemning them to perpetual servitude as a Roman person, or slave.

 

     

  The 3rd Crown of the Ecclesiastical See  

  The third Crown was created in 1537 by Paul III through the papal bull Convocation also meant to open the Council of Trent being the third an final testamentary deed and will of a testamentary trust, being the trust set up for the claiming of all "lost souls", lost to the See.

 

  The Venetians assisted in the creation of the 1st cestui Que Vie Act of 1540 to use this papal bull as the basis of Ecclesiastical authority of Henry VIII. This Crown was secretly granted to England in the collection and "reaping" of lost souls.

 

  The Crown was lost in 1815 due to the deliberate bankruptcy of England and granted to the Temple Bar, which became known as the Crown Bar, or simply the Crown.

 

  The Bar Associations have been responsible ever since in administering the "reaping" of the souls of the lost and damned, including the registration and collection of Baptismal certificates representing the souls collected by the Vatican and stored in its vaults.

 

  This 3rd Crown is represented by the 3rd cestui Que Vie Trust created when a child is baptized being the grant of the Baptismal certificate by the parents to the church or Registrar being the gift of title of the soul. Thus, without legal title over one's own soul, a man or woman may be "legally" denied right to stand as a person, but may be treated as a creature and thing without legally possessing a soul. Hence, why the Bar Association is able to legally enforce Maritime law against men and women- because they can be treated as things, cargo that does not possess a soul.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220707074738/http://www.friendware.net/final_writs_rome/final_writs_Master_Trusts.html

AI Overview

Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing, was raised in the Catholic faith and baptized in the Catholic Church. However, he stopped practicing later in life and described himself as agnostic. He was also quoted as saying his only religion was science.

Despite his later agnosticism, according to CNN and The Oklahoman, he did request and receive last rites from a priest before his execution. Father Ron Ashmore of St. Margaret Mary Church in Terre Haute stated that McVeigh knew the significance of the sacrament, interpreting it as an act of asking God's forgiveness. However, he remained publicly unrepentant at the time of his execution, choosing to issue a defiant statement rather than express remorse.

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Explore the SOSA Neighborhood in Oklahoma City

South of St Anthony, referred to as SOSA by those who live there, offers a modern take on neighborhoods in Oklahoma City.

Welcome to SOSA - South of St Anthony

South of St Anthony, referred to as SOSA by those who live there, offers a modern take on neighborhoods in Oklahoma City. With an urban and hip environment and many eclectic restaurants and shops to visit, this community is fun and inviting. There are many modern-style homes that have been built in recent years, increasing their size and bringing more members into the fold.

 

What to Love

Many new builds allowing for growth

An inviting and fun atmosphere

Many eclectic shops and eateries

Extremely close to the midtown area of Oklahoma City

Local Lifestyle

The nearby St. Anthony Hospital helped give this neighborhood its namesake. This inner-city community is home to many urban influencers, developers, and prominent architects, which is why you will find many interesting and creative modern architecture in the homes and buildings here. Make your way through the Cottage District and see the beauty that surrounds you.

 

Dining, Entertainment & Shopping

Many eclectic eateries fill the community, including places like McNellie's OKC. This Irish pub offers more than 350 beer choices and sometimes hosts tasting events.

 

Brown's Bakery nearby has a seating area so you can enjoy a donut, bread slice, cake, cookie, or another treat. Insomnia Cookies is known for its delightful desserts and is open late. Neighborhood JAM is a hip spot for breakfast and lunch.

 

Visit Elemental Coffee when you want a brew that's roasted in-house. Craft coffee, tea, and pastries fill the menu. The Collective Kitchens and Cocktails allows you to dine on a rooftop terrace. With a trendy food court and bar, you have an assortment of menu options.

 

Fassler Hall is a highly-rated German restaurant, while Barrios serves fine Mexican dishes. Many make their way to the Midtown Plaza Court for shopping. You get more options, however, if you make your North to Penn Square Mall past Uptown. Various department stores, service centers, and a food court make up the vicinity.

 

Things to Do

Red Andrews Park provides a place to play and relax for residents of the area. Provided benches give you a space to sit as you watch your kids enjoy their time on the play structure. The Johnie L. Williams Municipal Gymnasium is located here. It's a great spot for basketball. Many prefer to make their way Northeast of SOSA to Oklahoma City's Midtown Mutts Dog Park. The fenced-in area gives your pup a safe place to play. You get a great view of Midtown from here.

 

Right outside of SOSA, you'll find the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This can't-miss locale features a memorial sculpture garden for the 1995 bombing that hit the Murrah Building. The outside space is complete with a scenic water backdrop. While the grounds are gorgeous to look at, the interior of the space offers various collections and archives, as well as video explanations to learn about what happened.

 

Schools

The Millwood School District operates in the area.

John W Rex Charter Elementary School, Pre-K-4th Grade

Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Grades 11-12

https://westrealestatecompany.com/neighborhoods/sosa-south-of-st-anthony

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Etymology of Arturo

What does the name Arturo mean?

The surname Arturo is an Italian patronymic surname; that is, it was a name created from the first name of the father. Arturo is derived from the Breton given names Artuir and Arthur. This personal name is of very ancient origin and is derived from the Celtic word art, which means bear. The name Arthur is also related to the Greek Arcturus, which means bear or guardian and is the name of the bright star in the constellation Bootes.

Arturo Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Arturo include and others.

https://www.houseofnames.com/arturo-family-crest

Arcturus is a red giant star in the northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It has the Bayer designation α Boötis, which is Latinized to Alpha Boötis and abbreviated Alf Boo or α Boo. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05,[2] it is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Arcturus forms one corner of the Spring Triangle asterism.

Located relatively close at 36.7 light-years from the Sun, Arcturus is a red giant of spectral type K1.5III—an aging star around 7.1 billion years old that has used up its core hydrogen and evolved off the main sequence. It is about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to 25 times its size (around 35 million kilometers) and is around 170 times as luminous.

Nomenclature

The traditional name Arcturus is Latinised from the ancient Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros) and means "Guardian of the Bear",[9] ultimately from ἄρκτος (arktos), "bear"[10] and οὖρος (ouros), "watcher, guardian".[11] As ἄρκτος also came to mean "north", the name can also translate to "Guardian of the North".[12]

The designation of Arcturus as α Boötis (Latinised to Alpha Boötis) was made by Johann Bayer in 1603. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Arcturus for α Boötis.[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

JESUIT WARS pt.2

EvenAtTheDoors

Mar 28, 2013

The world has been duped into believing that the so-called "War on Terror" is to benefit humanity when it has only wiped out and continues to diminish cherished freedoms. The fight we are pursuing to keep our cherished liberties is a continuation of the struggles men had during and after the Reformation against the Papacy and its most loyal soldiers, the Jesuits and if we don't understand the history, we will definitely repeat it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApsnsJVlYHo

"Du hast" (lit. 'You Have') is a song by German metal band Rammstein. It was released as the second single from their second album Sehnsucht (1997). It has appeared on numerous soundtracks for films, most notably The Matrix: Music from the Motion Picture, How High, and the home video CKY2K. It is featured in the music video games Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band 3. The song's title is a play on the homophones du hasst ("you hate") and du hast ("you have").

Overview

There are two versions of the song: the original version completely in German, and a second version partially in English (found on special editions of the Sehnsucht album). In the second version, the first chorus and the verses are in English and the last chorus is in German. The English lyrics are not a direct translation of the German; the original lyrics take advantage of a pair of German homophones: when conjugated in the second person singular form (i.e. "you"), the verbs haben (to have) and hassen (to hate) become respectively du hast and du hasst, which sound identical. The guitar riff is similar to Ministry's "Just One Fix".[3][4] The music was written by keyboardist Flake and guitarist Richard Kruspe. The intro section and the verses were a combination of a synth sequence by Flake and a guitar riff by Kruspe, and the chorus was written around a chord sequence by Flake.

Live performances

The first known performance of the song dates from 9 April 1997 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[5] Over the years, several stunts have been used during the live performances of "Du hast", ranging from the dildo used in "Bück dich", to the bow used in "Du riechst so gut". In their Reise, Reise and Liebe ist für alle da tours, flames shoot several feet into the air and Till Lindemann fired with a different bow into the air, "starting" a chain reaction that fired rockets over the audience. Being a fan favourite, it has been played at almost every concert to date since its initial performance. When performed live, the intro is always a bit longer than the studio version.[6][7][8]

The song has been covered by Motionless in White for Punk Goes 90s Vol. 2 in 2014 and was referenced by Lizzo while performing in Germany in 2023.[9]

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Philipp Stölzl, and was summed up by one review as "crime, masks, love, violence, betrayal, fire and booze".[10] It begins with Rammstein drummer Christoph Schneider pulling up outside an isolated building in a car with a woman played by German actress Astrid Meyerfeldt, whom Schneider kisses and embraces. The video then cuts to masked men aggressively singing towards the camera, before cutting back and forth between this and Schneider taking a handgun out of a bag in the car and tucking it into his belt as he enters the building. Inside, he sees the masked men lined up behind a chair. They remove their masks to reveal that they are the other members of the band, and a relieved Schneider releases his grip from the gun and embraces them, drinking and celebrating with them. All the while, the woman waits nervously outside, first in the car, and then pacing outside of it, then sitting on the ground beside it smoking a cigarette, as dusk falls. More imagery from inside the building appears to show Till smacking someone from camera view, then the band members menacing someone on the floor emphasizing the song chorus, then administering an unknown substance with a syringe, then a figure walking engulfed in flames. The video ends with Schneider and the rest of the band walking out of the building in an abreast row and past the car, with Schneider glancing at the woman leaning against it and checking his watch before the car detonates, but the woman's fate is unconfirmed.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Du_hast

The Hamburg cell (German: Hamburger Zelle) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany, that included students from different Arab countries who eventually came to be key operatives in the September 11 attacks. Important members included Mohamed Atta, who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States; Marwan al-Shehhi, who piloted United Airlines Flight 175; and Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C.. Other members included Said Bahaji, Zakariya Essabar, Mounir el-Motassadeq, and Abdelghani Mzoudi.

Background

On November 1, 1998, future-hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh moved into a spacious apartment (two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen) together on Marienstraße. Here they formed the secretive Hamburg cell, which also included other minor participants in the 9/11 plot. They met together three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American and anti-Israeli views and to decide how best to fight for their cause.

As late as 1999, the four core members of the group had intended to wage jihad in Chechnya, where Islamic jihadists were rebelling against Russia. The 9/11 Commission Report notes in Chapter 5 that "according to bin al-Shibh [who is now in U.S. custody], a chance meeting on a train in Germany caused the group to travel to Afghanistan instead. An individual named Khalid al Masri (or Khalid al-Masri) approached bin al-Shibh and Shehhi (because they were Arabs with beards, bin al-Shibh thinks) and struck up a conversation about jihad in Chechnya. When they later called Masri and expressed interest in going to Chechnya, he told them to contact Abu Musab in Duisburg, Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was well known to U.S. and German intelligence.

Bin al-Shibh, Shehhi and Jarrah visited Slahi in Duisburg, where he convinced them that it would be best to train in Afghanistan first, because further experience would be useful, and anyway it was difficult at that time to get into Chechnya. Slahi instructed them to travel to Karachi, Pakistan, then to the Taliban office in Quetta, Pakistan, where they were to contact a man named Umar al-Masri. Atta and Jarrah left Hamburg during the last week of November 1999. Shehhi left by himself around the same time; bin al-Shibh followed two weeks later. Slahi denies any involvement with Al-Qaeda by 1999, having previously fought with the group against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He attests that he hosted the trio as an act of hospitality to fellow muslims.

"Umar al-Masri" turned out to be a nonexistent person. The name was a code word that instructed members of the Taliban office to escort the men to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where they were convinced to join the al-Qaeda network and wage jihad against America. They met with Osama bin Laden himself and swore their loyalty to him. Mohamed Atta was chosen by Bin Laden as the leader of the group that would attack America; Atta would contact Bin Laden several more times before the attacks. The men then returned to Germany to enroll in flight training school, and later moved on to flight training schools in the United States at the recommendation of one of their instructors based in Germany.

The members of the Hamburg Cell were a boon to the 9/11 plot, which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had proposed to Bin Laden in 1996. The Hamburg students were fluent in English, educated, accustomed to the Western lifestyle, radically Islamic, and capable of learning to pilot aircraft. "Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef wasted no time in assigning the Hamburg group to the most ambitious operation yet planned by al-Qaeda," the 9/11 Commission Report says.

Many al-Qaeda members lived in the Hamburg apartment at various times. In all, 29 men listed the apartment as their home address while Mohamed Atta's name was on the lease. Reportedly, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed visited the apartment repeatedly.

German intelligence monitored the apartment, but did not find any evidence against the residents. Both the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and German Intelligence have received criticism for failing to share information on these and other al-Qaida members.

Hamburg Cell film

The film Hamburg Cell is a docudrama on the planning and execution of the attacks. A co-production between Channel 4 in the UK and CBC in Canada, it was shown in the UK during September 2004, amid criticism that this was too close to the anniversary of the attack. Using computer-generated imagery, the film's producers were able to show the twin towers of the World Trade Center, before the attack, in the background. Ziad Jarrah is featured calling his girlfriend, Aysel Sengün, from a public telephone at the airport, repeating the words 'I love you' over and over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_cell

The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.

The building was purchased by Deutsche Bank when it acquired Bankers Trust in 1998. It was part of the skyline of Lower Manhattan, and was demolished between 2007 and 2011. 5 World Trade Center will eventually replace the building, expanding the ground space on which the World Trade Center stands, as this land was not part of the original World Trade Center.

September 11th

The collapse of the South Tower during the September 11 attacks tore a 24-story gash into the facade of the building, knocked out a load-bearing column,[3] and destroyed 158,000 square feet of floor space.[4] Additionally, an elevated plaza[5] that was located at the base of the building was destroyed by the collapse.[6]

One person is known to have died within the building during the attacks.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank_Building

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02wEbgVQxU5hFQJyPPe74wedX1hzUtfGxgTyMzLjQ9o8RQ1AZTf963VzH1mXcTPtyRl

Metropolitan of Messinia: The Joint Declaration of Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Leo XIV Is a Historic Call for Peace and Christian Unity

by Bill Giannopoulos

Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia has described as a “historic moment” the signing of a joint declaration between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Leo XIV in Constantinople/Istanbul.

Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia calls the joint declaration of Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Leo XIV a historic moment of peace and a sign of Christian unity.

In an interview with Liberal.gr, the Bishop of Messinia explains that the primates of the two Churches are sending a message of peace, cooperation, and reconciliation at a particularly turbulent time marked by tensions and wars across the planet.

At the same time, Metropolitan Chrysostomos considers the statement about a common celebration of Easter to be “a sign of unity.” He stresses that “what the two primates said and co-signed are not temporary or fleeting matters; they are universal principles and values that always retain their significance and relevance.”

He further emphasizes that dialogue between the two Churches is not an easy process. “It must continue and it will continue,” he says, “and its fruits will become evident in the course of time.”

Interview by Christos Th. Panagopoulos

Your Eminence, how do you interpret the joint declaration issued by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Leo XIV concerning the unity of Christians and a common date for Easter – 1,700 years after the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea? In your view, is this merely a symbolic event, or is it truly a historic moment?

I believe this declaration captures the essence, importance, and gravity of the meeting that took place these past days in Constantinople. It is the message the two primates sent to the world: that peace, cooperation, reconciliation, mutual support must prevail, and, above all, that truth must prevail – the truth that always builds toward the good.

The statement about a common celebration of Easter is a declaration that constitutes a sign of unity. It does not lead directly to full union; it is a sign of the Churches’ unity.

That is precisely why this appeal has its own special significance and substantial content. I believe the positions the two primates co-signed in this declaration are what the powerful of this world must understand and implement, so that wars, divisions, death, and destruction may cease in humanity, and, above all, so that a religious war may be, at all costs, be avoided. They must listen to this voice and embrace what the two primates have co-signed.

Many will ask, Your Eminence: “Why now and not earlier?” In your judgment, what has matured – ecclesiastically, theologically, or geopolitically – that has made such a joint declaration possible at this moment?

First of all, a papal visit to Constantinople has always been marked by one particular feature: the signing or joint signing of a common declaration between the primates. This happened with Benedict XVI, with John Paul II, and with Francis.

Why now? Because the new Pope was elected only a few months ago. This entire meeting had been scheduled to take place during the pontificate of Pope Francis. However, Pope Francis’s illness and subsequent death delayed everything considerably.

What the two primates said and co-signed are not temporary or momentary issues; they are universal human principles and values that always retain their significance and timeliness.

The fact that they are co-signing them now – at a time when ruptures between countries and peoples of the same faith or different faiths have reached their peak, and when very deep and substantial geopolitical realignments are taking place – confirms, in my view, that the relevance of these principles and values has not been lost. On the contrary, their timeless character is reaffirmed.

We must also not forget that, after his visit to Constantinople, Ankara, and Turkey in general, the Pope will travel to Lebanon – a highly sensitive, multi-religious, and multicultural region – where he will again pursue a journey of peace and deliver a message of peace.

If you were to describe “the day after” this historic pilgrimage and joint declaration, what would you say is the realistic stake for Orthodox–Roman Catholic relations? Since you spoke of a “sign of unity,” can we speak of a gradual lifting of historical burdens and prejudices, or do you foresee – even in the long term – certain preconditions for a substantive rapprochement, even regarding the Schism of 1054?

Relations between Orthodox and Roman Catholics essentially began in earnest in the 20th century, from 1964 onward. Since then there has been a dynamic process, one that steadily improves. Especially through theological dialogue, which has been ongoing since 1980, we are trying to resolve issues that both unite and divide the two Churches.

This process is not easy. It must continue – and it will continue – and its fruits will become visible over time. At the same time, this does not prevent the development of other forms of cooperation and dialogue that concern, first, the role of the Churches in the world and, second, sensitizing political and religious leaders so that a pan-religious meeting may take place, resulting in a Charter of these values. That Charter would then become a challenge to the powerful of the earth regarding how they should treat the global community.

How do you think the other Orthodox Churches – especially those that have reservations about theological dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church – will receive this call for unity?

Today, Mr. Panagopoulos, no Church expresses reservations about continuing or conducting theological dialogue. Those Churches that distance themselves from the Ecumenical Patriarchate and from the Churches of Greece, Cyprus, and Alexandria are Churches that serve geopolitical interests and do not act on the basis of ecclesiological or theological criteria.

Therefore, I do not know which of the other primates would have the courage to come forward and say that this co-signed text of the joint declaration is not acceptable to his Church. I do not believe anything like that will happen.

As Metropolitan of a living Greek province, Messinia, how – in your opinion – can this message of unity coming these days from Constantinople be translated into the daily life of the faithful?

Listen: the Church – and above all the Orthodox Church – daily, in its preaching and teaching, points to the way shown by Christ Himself so that peace, reconciliation, cooperation, prosperity, and development may prevail in the world. We must all internalize the message of Christ’s love.

A love that is not mere sentimentality – like the love between two people in love or between friends – but a love that has the dynamic of sacrifice, offering, and respect for the other. If we do not learn to love the other and to affirm, through our love, our respect for him, then whatever form of love we express will not be the right kind of love.

Metropolitan Chrysostomos III of Messinia is a theologian, university professor, and bishop of the Church of Greece. He has served as Metropolitan of the Holy Metropolis of Messinia since March 2007. He is a full professor at the Theological School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2023 he was the representative of the Church of Greece in the Orthodox–Roman Catholic dialogue.

Liberal.gr

Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Messinia

https://greekcitytimes.com/2025/11/30/metropolitan-chrysostomos-patriarch-bartholomew-pope-leo-xiv-joint-declaration/

Archons (Greek: ἄρχων, romanized: árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, árchontes), in Gnosticism and religions closely related to it, are the builders of the physical universe. Among the Archontics, Ophites, Sethians and in the writings of Nag Hammadi library, the archons are rulers, each related to one of seven planets; they prevent souls from leaving the material realm. The political connotation of their name reflects rejection of the governmental system, as flawed without chance of true salvation.[1] In Manichaeism, the archons are the rulers of a realm within the "Kingdom of Darkness", who together make up the Prince of Darkness. In the Hypostasis of the Archons, the physical appearance of Archons is described as androgynous, with their faces being those of beasts.[2][3][4]

Hebdomad

A characteristic feature of the Gnostic concept of the universe is the role played in almost all Gnostic systems by the seven world-creating archons, known as the Hebdomad (Koine Greek: ἑβδομάς). These Seven are, in most systems, semi-hostile powers and are reckoned as the last and lowest emanations of the Godhead; below them—and frequently considered as proceeding from them—comes the world of the devilish powers. There are indeed certain exceptions; Basilides taught the existence of a "great archon" called Abraxas who presided over 365 archons.[5]

Evidently, from works such as the Apocryphon of John, the Ophite Diagrams, On the Origin of the World and Pistis Sophia, archons play an important role in Gnostic cosmology. Probably originally referring to the Greek daimons of the planets, in Gnosticism they became the demonic rulers of the material world, each associated with a different celestial sphere.[6] As rulers over the material world, they are called ἄρχοντες (archontes, "principalities", or "rulers"). As with Classical astronomy, which thought of a sphere of fixed stars above the spheres of the seven planets,[7] beyond the spheres of the evil archons (Hebdomad), there were the supercelestial regions which a soul must reach by gnosis to escape the dominion of the archons. This place is thought of as the abode of Sophia (Wisdom) and Barbelo, also called Ogdoad.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon_(Gnosticism)

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

2. Patients and Methods

This study was based on a French national retrospective cohort of DES-treated women (HHORAGES-France Association) (n = 1200) and their families. Detailed standard questionnaires were obtained from all DES mothers when they joined the HHORAGES-France Association and all DES children were already adults at this time. The answers to this online questionnaire were used to select women who met the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least two pregnancies with two viable male babies (same father) among whom the first child was not exposed in utero to DES (pre-DES), followed by one or more children with fetal exposure to DES (DES); (2) confirmed data on the total DES dose (health record or physician’s observation). The cumulative dose D administered to the French pregnant mothers was 4050 mg < D < 7300 mg. This is considered a medium-low-dose cohort, in accordance with the observations by Tournaire et al. [31] and compared with the higher doses administered in the United States (7550 mg < D < 12,742 mg). The answers to the questionnaires were also used to identify women with a DES son who presented female gender variance. We then contacted all DES sons with female gender variance and we carried out an individual interview with them.

The local university hospital ethics committee approved this study (ID IRB No. 202301531), and all patients gave their informed consent through the HHORAGES-France Association (CNIL: J B/EM/DC042793, N° 1006460).

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

On Easter Sunday 2021, Warnock's Twitter account tweeted, "The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves." Some conservative Christians and political commentators criticized the tweet, including Benjamin Watson, Allie Beth Stuckey, and Jenna Ellis, who called it "heretical". The tweet was deleted that afternoon, with a spokesperson for Warnock saying, "the tweet was posted by staff and was not approved" but declining to say whether it reflected Warnock's beliefs.[47][48]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Warnock

Pope Francis[b] (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[c] 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until his death in 2025. He was the first Jesuit pope, the first Latin American, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Easter in 2030

Date: April 21, 2030

Day: Sunday

Avril Ramona Lavigne CM (/ˈævrɪl ləˈviːn/ AV-ril lə-VEEN; French: [avʁil ʁamɔna laviɲ]; born September 27, 1984) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She is a key musician in popularizing pop-punk music, as she paved the way for female-driven, punk-influenced pop music in the early 2000s. Her accolades include ten Juno Awards and eight Grammy Awards nominations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avril_Lavigne

Regimini militantis Ecclesiae (Latin for To the Government of the Church Militant) was the papal bull promulgated by Pope Paul III on September 27, 1540, which gave a first approval to the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits, but limited the number of its members to sixty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regimini_militantis_Ecclesiae

The Day Called 'X' is a dramatized CBS documentary film set in Portland, Oregon, in which the entire city is evacuated in anticipation of a nuclear air raid, after Soviet bombers had been detected by radar stations to the north; it details the activation of the city's civil defense protocols and leads up to the moment before the attack (the ending is left intentionally unknown). The operations were run from the Kelly Butte Bunker, which was the emergency operations center at that time. It was filmed in September 1957[1] and aired December 8 of that year.[2][3] Apart from presenter/narrator Glenn Ford, none of the people shown are actors. They are locals of Portland shown in their real jobs, including Mayor Terry Schrunk.

Its local re-broadcast in 2004[4] and appearance in the on-line Prelinger Archives attracted interest among local history buffs due to its extensive outside shots of the city, and the use of non-actor participants (local officials and broadcasters). Whenever one of these individuals is heard uttering warnings or statements regarding attack, the words "AN ATTACK IS NOT TAKING PLACE" are superimposed over the picture.[2]

On September 27, 1955, Portland actually conducted an exercise evacuation of downtown called "Operation Greenlight",[5][6] and the film is often misattributed to that year. Ford's narration, however, does make direct reference to the 1955 exercise.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_Called_%27X%27

SpaceX Roadster is not a natural celestial object, but rather a man-made object launched by SpaceX in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy test flight. It is a red sports car owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and was launched as a demonstration of the Falcon Heavy's capabilities. The Roadster is not in a stable orbit around the Sun, but is instead on a heliocentric orbit that will take it to the asteroid belt and then back to the inner Solar System in the future. The Roadster also carries a mannequin named Starman, dressed in a spacesuit, in the driver's seat.

https://theskylive.com/roadster-info

PART X THE PRESERVATION AND INCREASE OF THE SOCIETY

410 §1. As a sign of gratitude and devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, let that feast be solemnly celebrated; and on that day is to be renewed the consecration by which the Society on January 1, 1872, dedicated and consecrated itself totally and perpetually.

§2. The consecration to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be renewed each year on the feast of the Immaculate Heart.[1]

411 The sense of belonging and responsibility that each individual one of Ours has toward the whole Society should be manifested in a knowledge of our spirituality, our history, our saints, our apostolic labors, and our men, especially of those who are suffering difficulties for the sake of Christ; it is to be manifested as well by maintaining Ignatian mobility and flexibility with a view to helping any region of the Society whatsoever.[2]

412 §1. All our members should have at heart a shared concern for attracting new members to the Society, especially by prayer and the example of their lives as individuals and in community.[3]

§2. Therefore, we must do everything possible actively to present the Society in such a way that those whom God calls will know and appreciate who and what we are and what is our distinctive way of proceeding in the following of Christ.[4]

§3. We must also promote vocations as widely as possible, in order to reflect the culture and experience of those we seek to serve, including minority cultures, immigrants, and indigenous people.[5]

413 The Society should always show itself bound to its benefactors in charity and gratitude. Superiors should ensure that prayers are offered for them and other appropriate signs of our gratitude are shown them.[6]

414 In the perfect observance of all the Constitutions and in the particular fulfillment of our Institute, our formed members should excel, setting a good example and spreading the good odor of Christ, keeping before their eyes the serious obligation they have of giving edification especially to our younger members.[ 7]

415 All by earnest reading and meditation (in particular, at the time of the annual Spiritual Exercises, renewal of vows, monthly recollection, beginning of the year, and so forth) should strive ever to know, esteem, and love better our Constitutions and the special nature of our Institute,[ 8] which are to be faithfully observed, and which for each and all of us are the one, true, and safe way that surely leads to the perfection to which our Lord calls and invites all sons of the Society.[9] §2. Major superiors, especially at the time of the annual visitation, should see that this is faithfully observed.

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S.

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Hamburg cell (German: Hamburger Zelle) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany, that included students from different Arab countries who eventually came to be key operatives in the September 11 attacks. Important members included Mohamed Atta, who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States; Marwan al-Shehhi, who piloted United Airlines Flight 175; and Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C.. Other members included Said Bahaji, Zakariya Essabar, Mounir el-Motassadeq, and Abdelghani Mzoudi.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_cell

The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank_Building

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (née Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is an English Anglican prelate and former nurse. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold this office. By virtue of her office she is also a Lord Spiritual, one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. On 3 October 2025, it was announced that Mullally would become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in January 2026; she will be the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Mullally received clinical training in nursing from St Thomas' Hospital. She practised nursing primarily in South London, where she also began her study for ministry in the Church of England. In 1999 she became Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for the English National Health Service. She left these roles in 2004 to pursue full-time ministry. For her service in nursing, Mullally was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and began her ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She served in various London churches, and in 2012 became a canon of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2015 she was consecrated as bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Mullally

In Hebrew, the word saraph means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "serpent",[4] twice in the Book of Numbers, once in the Book of Deuteronomy, and four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5][6][7] The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, seraphim, occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to only as the plural seraphim – Isaiah later uses the singular saraph to describe a "fiery flying serpent", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the Tanakh.

There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in Hyksos-era Canaan had their original sources in Egyptian uraeus iconography.[8] In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, divinity and divine authority, and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of Israel and Judah, Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites en masse, as a plethora of personal seals belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the winged sun, ankh, the hedjet and deshret crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, scarabs, and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two.[9] These images have been connected with the seraphim angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine seraphim clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned seraphim with heads, legs, and arms – although, on the second matter, some scholars have proposed that the covered "feet" of the seraphim should be identified as genitals, as "feet" are often used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for the penis.[10][11]

The vision in Isaiah Chapter 6 of seraphim in an idealized version of Solomon's Temple represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.[12] "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)[13] And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)[14] One seraph carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)[15] "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

The text describes the "seraphim" as winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work.[16] Notwithstanding the wording of the text itself, at least one Hebrew scholar claims that in the Hebrew Bible the seraphim do not have the status of angels, and that it is only in later sources (like De Coelesti Hierarchia or Summa Theologiae) that they are considered to be a division of the divine messengers.[17]

Seraphim appear in the 2nd-century BC Book of Enoch,[18] where they are mentioned, in conjunction with cherubim, as the heavenly creatures standing nearest to the throne of God. In non-biblical sources they are sometimes called the Akyəst (Ge'ez: አክይስት "serpents", "dragons"; an alternate term for Hell).[19][20][21]

In the Second Book of Enoch, two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the phoenixes and the chalkydri (Ancient Greek: χαλκύδραι khalkýdrai, compound of χαλκός khalkós "brass, copper" + ὕδρα hýdra "hydra", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 7th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.[22][23]

In the Book of Revelation (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the Gnostic text, On the Origin of the World.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

SARA DOUGLAS, NP – NPI #1295190304

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https://npidb.org/doctors/physician_assistants/family_363lf0000x/1295190304.aspx 

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

◄ 2 Corinthians 11:14 ►

1 In the year of the death of king Uzziah, [a]I saw also the Lord sitting upon an [b]high throne, and lifted up, and the lower [c]parts thereof filled the Temple.

2 The [d]Seraphims stood upon it, every one had six wings: with twain he covered his [e]face, and with twain he covered his [f]feet, and with twain he did [g]fly.

3 And one cried to another, and said, [h]Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole [i]world is full of his glory.

Isaiah 6:1-3

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206&version=GNV

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle of budh "to awake, know, perceive," which is related to Sanskrit bodhati "is awake, observes, understands," from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware." Title given by his adherents to the man who taught this path, Siddhartha Gautama, also known to them as Sakyamuni "Sage of the Sakyas" (his family clan), who lived in northern India 5c. B.C.E."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gautama

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Revelation 17

1599 Geneva Bible

17 1 That great whore is described, 2 with whom the Kings of the earth committed fornication. 6 She is drunken with the blood of Saints. 7 The mystery of the woman, and the beast that carried her, expounded. 11 Their destruction. 14 The Lamb’s victory.

1 Then [a]there came one of the seven Angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come: I will show [b]thee the [c]damnation of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters,

2 With whom have committed fornication the kings of the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth are drunken with the wine of her fornication.

3 [d]So he carried me away into the wilderness in the Spirit, and I saw a woman sit upon a [e]scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, which had seven heads, and ten horns.

4 And [f]the woman was arrayed [g]in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, [h]and had a cup of gold in her hand full of abomination, and filthiness of her fornication.

5 [i]And in her forehead was a name written, A mystery, [j]that great Babylon that mother of whoredoms, and abominations of the earth.

6 [k]And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of JESUS: and when I saw her, [l]I wondered with great marvel.

7 [m]Then the Angel said unto me, Wherefore marvelest thou? I will show thee the mystery of that woman, and of that beast that beareth her, which hath seven heads and ten horns.

8 [n]The beast that thou hast seen, [o]was and is not, and [p]shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth, shall wonder (whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) [q]when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 [r]Here is the mind that hath wisdom, The [s]seven heads [t]are seven mountains, whereon the woman sitteth: [u]they are also seven Kings.

10 [v]Five are fallen, [w]and one is, [x]and another is not yet come: and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 [y]And the beast that was, and is not, is even [z]the eighth, and is [aa]one of the seven, and [ab]all go into destruction.

12 [ac]And the ten horns which thou sawest, are [ad]ten kings, which yet have not received a kingdom, but shall receive power, as Kings [ae]at one hour with the beast.

13 [af]These have one mind, and shall give their power and authority unto the beast.

14 These shall fight with the [ag]Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and they that are on his side, called, and chosen, and faithful.

15 [ah]And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, [ai]are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten [aj]horns which thou sawest upon the beast, are they that shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 [ak]For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to do with one consent for to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God be fulfilled.

18 And that woman which thou sawest, is that [al]great city which reigned over the kings of the earth.

Footnotes

Revelation 17:1 The state of the Church militant being declared, now followeth the state of the Church overcoming and getting victory, as I showed before in the beginning of chapter 10. The state is set forth in 4 chapters. As in the place beforegoing I noted, that in that history the order of time was not always exactly observed, so the same is to be understood in this history, that it is distinguished according to the persons of which it treateth, and that in the several stories of the persons is severly observed in the time thereof. For first is delivered the story of Babylon destroyed, in this and the next chap. (for this Babylon out of all doubt shall perish before the 2 beasts and the Dragon). Secondly is delivered the destruction of both the two beasts, chap. 19. And lastly of the Dragon, chap. 20, in the story of the spiritual Babylon are distinctly set forth the state thereof in this chap. and the overthrow done from God, chap. 18. In this verse and that which followeth is a transition or passage unto the first argument, consisting of a particular calling of the Prophet (as often heretofore) and a general proposition.

Revelation 17:1 That is the damnable harlot, by a figure of speech called hypallage. For S. John as yet had not seen her. Although another interpretation may be borne, yet I like this better.

Revelation 17:1 The sentence that is pronounced against this harlot.

Revelation 17:3 Henceforth is propounded the type of Babylon, and the state thereof in 4 verses. After a declaration of the type, in the rest of this chap., in the type are described two things, the beast (of whom chap. 13), in verse 3, and the woman that sitteth upon the beast, verses 4, 5, 6. The beast in process of time hath gotten somewhat more than was expressed in the former vision. First in that it is not read before that he was appareled in scarlet, a robe imperial and of triumph. Secondly, in that this is full of names of blasphemy: the other carried the name of blasphemy only in his head. So God did teach that this beast is much increased in impiety and injustice and doth in this last age, triumph in both these more insolently and proudly than ever before.

Revelation 17:3 A scarlet color, that is, with a red and purple garment: and surely it was not without cause that the Romish clergy were so much delighted with this color.

Revelation 17:4 That harlot, the spiritual Babylon, which is Rome. She is described by her attire, profession and deeds.

Revelation 17:4 In attire most glorious, triumphant, most rich, and most gorgeous.

Revelation 17:4 In profession, the nourisher of all, in this verse, and teaching her mysteries unto all, verse 5, setting forth all things most magnificently: but indeed most pernicious besotting miserable men with her cup, and bringing upon them a deadly giddiness.

Revelation 17:5 Deceiving with the title of religion, and public inscription of mystery: which the beast in times past did not bear.

Revelation 17:5 An exposition: in which S. John declareth what manner of woman this is.

Revelation 17:6 In manner of deeds: She is red with blood, and sheddeth it most licentiously, and therefore is colored with the blood of the Saints, as on the contrary part. Christ is set forth imbrued with the blood of his enemies; Isa. 3:1.

Revelation 17:6 A passage unto the second part of this chapter, by occasion given of S. John, as the words of the Angel do show, in the next verse.

Revelation 17:7 The second part or place, as I said, verse 1. The narration of the vision, promised in this verse, and delivered in the verse following. Now there is delivered first a narration of the beast and his story, unto verse 14. After, of the harlot, unto the end of the chap.

Revelation 17:8 The story of the beast hath a triple description of him. The first is a distinction of this beast from all that ever hath been at any time: which distinction is contained in this verse: The second is a delineation or painting out of the beast by things present, by which he might even at that time be known of the godly, and this delineation is according to his heads, verses 2, 10, 11. The third is an historical foretelling of things to come, and to be done by him: and these are ascribed unto his horns, verses 12, 13, 14. This beast is that Empire of Rome, of which I spake, chap. 13:11, according to the mutations and changes whereof which then had already happened, the holy Ghost hath distinguished and set out the same. The Apostle distinguisheth this beast from all others in these words. The beast which thou sawest, was and is not. For so I expound the words of the Apostle for evidence’s sake as I will further declare in the notes following.

Revelation 17:8 The meaning is, that beast which thou sawest before (Rev. 13:1) and which yet thou hast now seen, was, (I say was) even from Julius Caesar in respect of beginning, rising up, station, glory, dominion, manner and stock, from the house of Julius: and yet is not now the same, if thou look unto the house and stock for the dominion of this family was translated unto another, after the death of Nero from the other unto a third, from a third unto a fourth, and so forth was varied and altered by innumerable changes. Finally, the Empire is one, as it were one beast: but exceedingly varied by kindreds, families, and persons. It was therefore (saith S. John) in the kindred or house of Julius: and now it is not in that kindred, but translated unto another.

Revelation 17:8 As if he should say, Also the same that is, shall shortly not be: but shall ascend out of the depth, or out of the sea (as was said, Rev. 13:1) that is, shall be a new stock from amongst the nations without difference, and shall in the same state go unto destruction or ruin, and perish: and so shall successively new Princes or Emperors come and go, arise and fall, the body of the beast remaining still, but tossed with so many and often alterations, as no man can but marvel that this beast was able to stand and hold out, in so many mutations. Verily no Empire that ever was tossed with so many changes, and as it were with so many tempests of the sea, ever continued so long.

Revelation 17:8 That is as many as have not learned the providence of God, according to the faith of the Saints, shall marvel at these grievous and often changes when they shall consider, the selfsame beast, which is the Roman Empire, to have been, not to be, and to be and still molested with perpetual mutation, and yet in the same to stand and continue. This in mine opinion is the most simple exposition of this place, and confirmed by the event of the things themselves. Although by the last change also, by which the Empire, that before was civil became Ecclesiastical, is not obscurely signified by these words: of which two, the first exercised cruelty upon the bodies of the saints: the other also upon their souls: the first by human order and policy, the other under the color of the law of God, and of Religion, raged and imbrued itself with the blood of the godly.

Revelation 17:9 An exhortation preparing unto audience, by the same argument, with that of Christ: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Wherefore, for mine own part, I had rather read in this place, Let there be here a mind, etc. So the Angel passeth fully unto the second place of this description.

Revelation 17:9 Very children know what that seven hilled city is, which is so much spoken of, and whereof Virgil thus reporteth, And compasseth seven towers in one wall: that city it is, which when John wrote these things had rule over the kings of the earth: It was and is not, and yet it remaineth this day, but it is declining to destruction.

Revelation 17:9 This is the painting out of the beast by things present (as I said before) whereby S. John endeavored to describe the same, that he might both be known of the godly in that age, and be further observed and marked of posterity afterwards. This delineation hath one type, that is, his heads, but a double description or application of the type: one permanent from the nature of itself, the other changeable, by the working of men. The description permanent, is by the seven hills, in this verse, the other that fleeteth, is from the seven kings, verses 10, 11. And here it is worthy to be observed, that one type hath sometimes two or more applications, as seemeth good unto the holy Ghost to express either one thing by divers types, or divers things by one type. So I noted before, of the seven spirits, Rev. 1:4. Now this woman that sitteth upon seven hills, is the city of Rome, called in times past of the Greeks, … i. of seven tops or crests, and of Varro, septiceps, i. of her seven heads (as here) of seven heads, and of others, septicollis, i. standing upon seven hills.

Revelation 17:9 The beginning of these Kings or Emperors is almost the same with the beginning of the Church of Christ, which I showed before, Rev. 11:1. Namely from the year 35, after the passion of Christ, what time the Temple and Church of the Jews was overthrown. In which year it came to pass by the providence of God that that saying The beast was and is not, was fulfilled before that the destruction of the Jews immediately following came to pass. That was the year from the building of the city of Rome, 109, from which year S. John both numbered the Emperors which hitherto hath been, when he wrote these things, and foretelleth two others next to come: and that with this purpose, that when this particular prediction of foretelling of things to come, should take effect the truth of all other predictions in the Church might be the more confirmed. Which sign God of old mentioned this in the Law, Deut. 18, and Jeremiah confirmeth, Jer. 28:8.

Revelation 17:10 Whose names are these: the first, Servius Sulpicius Galba, who was the seventh Emperor of the people of Rome, the second Marcus Salvius Otho, the third Aulus Vitellius, the fourth, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the fifth, Titus Vespasianus his son of his own name.

Revelation 17:10 Flavius Domitian son of the first Vespasian. For in the latter end of his days S. John wrote these things, as witnesseth Irenaus, Lib. 5 adversus hareses.

Revelation 17:10 Nerua. The Empire being now translated from the family of Flavius. This man reigned only one year, four months, and nine days, as the history writers do tell.

Revelation 17:11 This is spoken by the figure synecdoche, as much to say as that head of the beast which was and is not, because it is cut off, and Nerua in so short time extinguished. How many heads there were, so many beasts there seemed to be in one. See the like speech in Rev. 13.3

Revelation 17:11 Nerua Traianus, who himself in divers respects is called here the seventh and the eighth.

Revelation 17:11 Though in number and order of succession he be the eighth, yet he is reckoned together with one of these heads, because Nerua and he were one head. For this man obtained authority together with Nerua, and was Consul with him, when Nerua left his life.

Revelation 17:11 Namely, to molest with persecutions the Churches of Christ, as the histories do accord, and I have briefly noted, Rev. 2:10.

Revelation 17:12 The third place of this description as I said, verse 18, is a prophetical prediction of things to come which the beast should do, as in the words following S. John doth not obscurely signify, saying, which have not yet received the kingdom, etc. For there is an Antithesis or opposition between these kings, and those that went before. And first the persons are described, in this verse, then their deeds in the two verses following.

Revelation 17:12 That is, arising with their kingdoms out of the Roman beast: at such time as that political Empire began by the craft of the Popes greatly to fall.

Revelation 17:12 Namely, with the second beast whom we called before a false prophet, which beast, ascending out of the earth got unto himself all the authority and power of the first beast, and exerciseth the same before his face, as was said, Rev. 14:11, 12. For when the political Empire of the West began to bow downwards, there both arose those ten kings, and the second beast took the opportunity offered to usurp unto himself all the power of the former beast. These kings long ago, many have numbered and described to be ten and a great part of the events plainly testifieth the same in this our age.

Revelation 17:13 That is, by consent and agreement, that they may conspire with the beast, and depend upon his beck. Their story is divided into three parts, counsels, acts, and events. The counselors some of them consist in communicating of judgments and affections: and some in communicating of power, which they are said to have given unto this beast in this verse.

Revelation 17:14 With Christ and his Church, as the reason following doth declare, and here are mentioned the facts and the events which followed for Christ’s sake, and for the grace of God the Father towards those that are called, elected, and are his faithful ones in Christ.

Revelation 17:15 This is the other member of the narration as I said verse 7, belonging unto the harlot, showed in the vision, verse 3. In this history of the harlot, these 3 things are distinctly propounded, what is her magnificence in this verse, what is her fall, and by whom it shall happen unto her, in the two verses following: and lastly, who that harlot is, in the last verse. This place which by order of nature should have been the first, is therefore made the last, because it was more fit to be joined with the next Chap.

Revelation 17:15 That is, as unconstant and variable as the waters. Upon this foundation sitteth this harlot as Queen, a vain person upon that which is vain.

Revelation 17:16 The ten Kings as verse 12. The accomplishment of this fact and event, is daily increased in this our age by the singular providence and most mighty government of God. Wherefore the facts are propounded in this verse, and the cause of them in the verses following.

Revelation 17:17 A reason rendered from the chief efficient cause, which is the providence of God, by which alone S. John by inversion of order affirmeth to have come to pass, both that the Kings should execute upon the harlot, that which pleased God, and which he declared in the verse next beforegoing: and also that by one consent and counsel, they should give their kingdom unto the beast, etc., verses 13, 14. For as these being blinded have before depended upon the beck of the beast that lifteth up the harlot, so it is said that afterward it shall come to pass, that they shall turn back, and shall fall away from her when their hearts shall be turned into better state by the grace and mercy of God.

Revelation 17:18 That is, Rome that great City, or only City (as Justinian calleth it) the King and head whereof was then the Emperor, but now the Pope, since that the condition of the beast was changed.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2017&version=GNV

The Christian situation in the Holy Land was precarious. Jerusalem had been reconquered by the Muslims in 1244, and Acre was now the centre of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[72] The Muslim states were on the offensive under the Mamluk leadership of Baibars, and were threatening Acre. Edward's men were an important addition to the garrison, but they stood little chance against Baibars's superior forces, and an initial raid at nearby St Georges-de-Lebeyne in June was largely futile.[73] An embassy to Abaqa, the Ilkhan of the Mongols, helped bring about an attack on Aleppo in the north, which distracted Baibars's forces.[74] The Mongol invasion ultimately failed. In November, Edward led a raid on Qaqun, which could have served as a bridgehead to Jerusalem, but this was unsuccessful. The situation in Acre grew desperate, and in May 1272 Hugh III of Cyprus, the nominal king of Jerusalem, signed a ten-year truce with Baibars.[75] Edward was initially defiant, but in June 1272 he was the victim of an assassination attempt by a member of the Syrian Order of Assassins, supposedly ordered by Baibars. He managed to kill the assassin, but was struck in the arm by a dagger feared to be poisoned, and was severely weakened over the following months. This persuaded Edward to abandon the campaign.[76][h]

On 24 September 1272 Edward left Acre. Shortly after arriving in Sicily, he was met with the news that his father had died on 16 November.[79] Edward was deeply saddened by this news,[80] but rather than hurrying home, he made a leisurely journey northwards.[81] This was due partly to his still-poor health, but also to a lack of urgency.[82] The political situation in England was stable after the mid-century upheavals, and Edward was proclaimed king after his father's death, rather than at his own coronation, as had until then been customary.[83][i] In Edward's absence, the country was governed by a royal council, led by Robert Burnell.[84] Edward passed through Italy and France, visiting Pope Gregory X and paying homage to Philip III in Paris for his French domains.[85] Edward travelled by way of Savoy to receive homage from his great-uncle Count Philip I for castles in the Alps held by a treaty of 1246.[81]

Edward then journeyed to Gascony to put down a revolt headed by Gaston de Béarn.[86] While there, he launched an investigation into his feudal possessions, which, as Hamilton puts it, reflects "Edward's keen interest in administrative efficiency ... [and] reinforced Edward's position as lord in Aquitaine and strengthened the bonds of loyalty between the king-duke and his subjects".[87] Around the same time, the King organised political alliances with the kingdoms in Iberia. His four-year-old daughter Eleanor was promised in marriage to Alfonso, the heir to the Crown of Aragon, and Edward's heir Henry was betrothed to Joan, heiress to the Kingdom of Navarre.[88] Neither union would come to fruition. On 2 August 1274 Edward returned to England, landing at Dover.[89] The thirty-five-year-old king held his coronation on 19 August at Westminster Abbey, alongside Queen Eleanor.[90] Immediately after being anointed and crowned by Robert Kilwardby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward removed his crown, saying that he did not intend to wear it again until he had recovered all the crown lands that his father had surrendered during his reign.[91]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England

François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand[a] (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former Socialist Party First Secretary, he was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic.

Due to family influences, Mitterrand started his political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under the Vichy regime during its earlier years. Subsequently, he joined the Resistance, moved to the left, and held ministerial office several times under the Fourth Republic. Mitterrand opposed Charles de Gaulle's establishment of the Fifth Republic. Although at times a politically isolated figure, he outmanoeuvred rivals to become the left's standard bearer in the 1965 and 1974 presidential elections, before being elected president in the 1981 presidential election. He was re-elected in 1988 and remained in office until 1995.

Mitterrand invited the Communist Party into his first government, which was a controversial decision at the time. However, the Communists were boxed in as junior partners and, rather than taking advantage, saw their support eroded, eventually leaving the cabinet in 1984.

Early in his first term, Mitterrand followed a radical left-wing economic agenda, including nationalisation of key firms and the introduction of the 39-hour work week. He likewise pushed a progressive agenda with reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty, and the end of a government monopoly in radio and television broadcasting. He was also a strong promoter of French culture and implemented a range of "Grands Projets". However, faced with economic tensions, he soon abandoned his nationalization programme, in favour of austerity and market liberalization policies. In 1985, he was faced with a major controversy after ordering the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, a Greenpeace vessel docked in Auckland. Later in 1991, he became the first French President to appoint a female prime minister, Édith Cresson. During his presidency, Mitterrand was twice forced by the loss of a parliamentary majority into "cohabitation governments" with conservative cabinets led, respectively, by Jacques Chirac (1986–1988), and Édouard Balladur (1993–1995).

Mitterrand’s foreign and defence policies built on those of his Gaullist predecessors, except in regard to their reluctance to support European integration, which he reversed. His partnership with German chancellor Helmut Kohl advanced European integration via the Maastricht Treaty, and he accepted German reunification.

Less than eight months after leaving office, he died from the prostate cancer he had successfully concealed for most of his presidency. Beyond making the French Left electable, Mitterrand presided over the rise of the Socialist Party to dominance of the left, and the decline of the once-dominant Communist Party.[b]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Mitterrand

Prince Andrew, Duke of York (Andrew Albert Christian Edward; born 19 February 1960), is a member of the British royal family. He is the third child and second son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and a younger brother of King Charles III. Andrew was born second in the line of succession to the British throne and is now eighth, and the first person in the line who is not a descendant of the reigning monarch.

Andrew served in the Royal Navy as a helicopter pilot and instructor and as the captain of a warship. During the Falklands War, he flew on multiple missions including anti-surface warfare, casualty evacuation, and Exocet missile decoy. In 1986, he married Sarah Ferguson and was made Duke of York. They have two daughters: Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Their marriage, separation in 1992, and divorce in 1996 attracted extensive media coverage. As Duke of York, Andrew undertook official duties and engagements on behalf of his mother. He served as the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment for 10 years until July 2011.

In 2014, Virginia Giuffre alleged that, as a 17-year-old, she was sex trafficked to Andrew by convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Andrew denied any wrongdoing.[2][3][4] Following criticism for his association with Epstein and Maxwell, Andrew resigned from public roles in May 2020,[5] and his honorary military affiliations and royal charitable patronages were removed by the Queen in January 2022.[6][7] He was the defendant in a civil lawsuit over sexual assault filed by Giuffre in New York State. The lawsuit was settled out of court in February 2022; in the settlement, Andrew paid an undisclosed sum to Giuffre.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Andrew,_Duke_of_York

The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand[a] was one of the key events that led to World War I. Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, were assassinated on 28 June 1914 by Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip. They were shot at close range while being driven through Sarajevo, the provincial capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, formally annexed by Austria-Hungary in 1908.

Princip was part of a group of six Bosnian assassins together with Muhamed Mehmedbašić, Vaso Čubrilović, Nedeljko Čabrinović, Cvjetko Popović and Trifko Grabež coordinated by Danilo Ilić; all but one were Bosnian Serbs and members of a student revolutionary group that later became known as Young Bosnia. The political objective of the assassination was to free Bosnia and Herzegovina of Austria-Hungarian rule and establish a common South Slav ("Yugoslav") state. The assassination precipitated the July Crisis, which led to Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia and the start of World War I.

The assassination team was helped by the Black Hand, a Serbian secret nationalist group; support came from Dragutin Dimitrijević, chief of the military intelligence section of the Serbian general staff, as well as from Major Vojislav Tankosić and Rade Malobabić, a Serbian intelligence agent. Tankosić provided bombs and pistols to the assassins and trained them in their use. The assassins were given access to the same clandestine network of safe-houses and agents that Malobabić used for the infiltration of weapons and operatives into Austria-Hungary.

The assassins and key members of the clandestine network were tried in Sarajevo in October 1914. In total twenty-five people were indicted. Five of the six assassins were under twenty at the time of the assassination, the exception being Mehmedbašić who was 26 or 27. While the group was dominated by Bosnian Serbs, four of the indictees were Bosnian Croats, and all of them were Austro-Hungarian citizens; none were from Serbia. Princip was found guilty of murder and high treason, but being too young to be executed, was sentenced to twenty years in jail. The four other attackers also received jail terms. Five of the older prisoners were sentenced to be hanged.

Black Hand members were arrested and tried before a Serbian court in Salonika in 1917 on fabricated charges of high treason. The Black Hand was disbanded and three of its leaders were executed. Much of what is known about the assassinations comes from these two trials and related records. Princip's legacy was re-evaluated following the breakup of Yugoslavia, and public opinion of him in the successor states is largely divided along ethnic lines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand

The Carolingian dynasty ceased to rule France upon the death of Louis V (d. 987). After the death of Louis, the son of Hugh the Great, Hugh Capet was chosen as king of the Franks, nominally the last ruler of West Francia. Given the resurgence of the Holy Roman Empire title and dignities in the West Francian kingdom, Europe was later believed to have entered a new age, so Hugh came to be known in historiography as the first king of France, as western civilization was perceived to have entered the High Middle Ages period. Hugh was crowned at Noyon on July 3, 987 with the full support of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III. With Hugh's coronation, a new era began for France, and his descendants came to be named, after him, the Capetians. They ruled France as the Capetians, Valois, and Bourbons until the French Revolution. They returned after 1815 and ruled until Louis Philippe was deposed in 1848.

However, they have continued to rule Spain, with two republican interruptions, through the Bourbon Dynasty right down to the current king Felipe VI.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robertians

Princess Charlotte of Wales (Charlotte Elizabeth Diana; born 2 May 2015) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, and a granddaughter of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. She is third in the line of succession to the British throne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Charlotte_of_Wales_(born_2015)

On War Against the Turk (German: Vom Kriege wider die Türken) was a book written by Martin Luther in 1528 and published in 1529.[1] It was one of several pamphlets and sermons by Martin Luther about Islam and resistance to the Ottoman Empire, during the critical period of territorial expansion of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, marked by the capture of Buda in 1526 and the siege of Vienna in 1529.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_War_Against_the_Turk

The Counter-Reformation (Latin: Contrareformatio), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival,[1] was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It is frequently dated to have begun with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and to have ended with the political conclusion of the European wars of religion in 1648, though this is controversial.[2] The broader term Catholic Reformation (Latin: Reformatio Catholica) also encompasses reforms and movements within the Church in the periods immediately before Protestantism or Trent and lasting later.

Initiated in part to address the challenges of the Protestant Reformations,[3] the Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort arising from the decrees of the Council of Trent. The effort produced apologetic and polemical documents, anti-corruption efforts, spiritual movements, the promotion of new religious orders, and the flourishing of new art and musical styles. Such policies (e.g., by the Imperial Diets of the Holy Roman Empire) had long-lasting effects in European history with exiles of Protestants continuing until the 1781 Patent of Toleration, although smaller expulsions took place in the 19th century.[4]

Such reforms included the foundation of seminaries for the proper training of priests in the spiritual life and the theological traditions of the Church, the reform of religious life by returning orders to their spiritual foundations, and new spiritual movements focusing on the devotional life and a personal relationship with Christ, including the Spanish mystics and the French school of spirituality.[1] It also involved political activities and used the regional Inquisitions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-Reformation

Ignatius of Loyola: Apostle to the Muslims

Posted on: 26th July 2016  |Author: Damian Howard SJ

Category: The Jesuits

Tags: Feast of St Ignatius, Ignatius, Islam, interreligious, Jesuit history

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/ignatius-loyola-apostle-muslims

Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, activist, and political philosopher who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of nonviolent resistance and nonviolent civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Malcolm Little, alias “Malcolm X,” 1925 – 1965

Unknowingly controlled by the Order through the mulatto and “the honorable” Elijah Muhammad—the absolute Masonic dictator of the Nation of Islam (NOI) who was the obedient servant of the White Archbishop of Chicago, Albert Cardinal Meyer and later John Cardinal Cody—Malcolm bore all the marks of a Jesuit agitator including his detestation of Jews, White Anglo Saxon Protestants, the U.S. Constitution and the King James Bible. Surnamed “Big Red” due to his reddish-brown hair inherited from a White forefather, Malcolm’s racial views had been born out of deplorable crimes of White Catholic and White Masonic violence, including intolerable, hate-filled racism experienced in the Northern, Mafia-dominated, Jesuit-controlled, White Roman Catholic cities of Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Washington, D.C., as well as the Second Ku Klux Klan’s gruesome murder of his father, Earl Little—an influential Baptist preacher and an outspoken advocate of Marcus Garvey’s Back-to-Africa Movement. In opposition to the Jesuit Order’s intended plan for a totally integrated North America thereby destroying the “heretic and liberal” White races, both Garvey and Malcolm seriously pursued the same policy of final separation and repatriation, as did Presidents Jefferson, Monroe and Lincoln. Malcolm advocated that Blacks should break away from Whites either by returning to Africa or by establishing a separate Black North American nation, which indeed is the correct and Biblical solution to the Black Pope’s international anti-White, Negro Agitation! Upon publicizing Elijah Muhammad’s fathering of nine illegitimate children to six teenage girls, and for exposing the collusion between the NOI and KKK leaders (whose cooperative extremism created “collective guilt” among all Whites—cunningly calculated to unite Catholics and Protestants pursuant to the ecumenical doctrines of the Second Vatican Council while destroying the God-given preference to one’s own race thus ensuring the success of the Civil Rights Movement), Malcolm became a threat to the Black Pope’s NOI and was silenced for ninety days. This resulted in his trip to Mecca during which: he was carefully watched by Cardinal Spellman’s CIA; he was converted to Orthodox Islam in spite of the brutal enslavement of African Blacks by Arab Muslims for centuries; he ceased to advocate Black separatism; and he finally broke with the NOI’s Masonic leadership which included FBI informers Wallace Muhammad and Louis Farrakhan. The eloquent and independent Malcolm X who was now preaching against the NOI could not be allowed to live, as the genocidal race-mixing plot of the Order’s Socialist-Communist Second Reconstruction, led by the wicked Black Martin Luther (Lucifer) King, Jr., championing the Order’s doctrine of “universal equality” as perfected on the Reductions of Paraguay, could not be allowed to fail again. Therefore, Malcolm became another victim of the Order’s Jesuit Oath and “leaden bullet,” savagely shot down on stage at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom by three NOI assassins, all of whom were aided by Cardinal Spellman’s CIA, FBI and New York City police.

Vatican Assassins

Wounded In The House of My Friends

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uQl1CmWeLL87RWVtzKttGFKm0frSNR8D/view?usp=sharing

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S. "

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The philosophy at the core of all the Mystery Schools is secular humanism, the foundation and the font of socialism/communism. Most socialists/communists don't have the slightest idea that they are puppets of an arcane philosophy bent upon world domination. They actually believe they will ultimately realize a world where everything is free courtesy of Big Brother and where all risk and worry has disappeared... any such world would only be a world of slaves dependent upon an elite class of "Masters".

The Knights Templar were an communist organization symbolized by the two knights riding one horse. Each initiate had to give up all wealth, property, and worldly goods to the Order. Each performed according to his ability and received according to the need of his position within the order. They were pledged to absolute and unquestioning obedience to their superior Knight or knights, the Grand Master, and the Order. In that respect every knight and every piece of property, all wealth, was totally owned and controlled by the Order.

According to MAJESTYTWELVE the Knights Templar have become the driving influence at the highest levels of all the secret societies among the adepts known as the Illuminati. The most accessible font of their influence will be found in the (Cecil Rhodes) Roundtable Group (The Group), The Royal Institute Of International Affairs, the Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City, the Council On Foreign Relations, the Jason Society, the Skull and Bones Society (Russell Trust), the Scroll and Key Fraternity, the highest Degrees of the York and Scottish Rites of Freemasonry, the Ancient Order of Rosae Crucae, and many other secret societies which collectively make up the modern equivalent of the "Brotherhood of the Snake" also known as (a.k.a.) the "Guardians," the "Builders," the "Philosophers of Fire," or the "Illuminati".

The Philosophy of the Mystery Schools is the Luciferian Philosophy as espoused by General (Christopher) Albert Pike, one of the founders of the KKK. But it is not his original thought... he just expounded upon it in forms that eventually became accessible to those who seek it out. Christopher means Christ-like. To the adept, Albert Pike achieved a mystical apotheosis in the Lodge of Perfection and brought forth the Christ within. He thus became Christed taking on the name Christopher.

Watch "StarTrek" from the beginning episodes up to the present, and you will begin to realize that it was an indoctrination into the concepts of socialism through subliminal initiation of the youth of the nation. The Captains James T. Kirk (JTK = K(nights) (of the) T(emple) (of) J(erusalem) and Christopher Pike are symbolic salutes to the Order of the Templars, and to the Brotherhoods greatest philosopher and probably its most prolific writer the Christed General Albert Pike. The Enterprise represents their great work or plan which if navigated properly will lead them to the realization of their dream of a united socialist utopian world.

"As nearly as I can concentrate on the question today, I believe I am God; certainly you are, I think we intelligent beings on this planet are all a piece of God, are becoming God." Interview with Gene Roddenberry in "Star Trek Creator" by David Alexander, Roc, an imprint of Dutton Signet a division of Penguin Books New York, page 568, par 1

Those who understand the symbolic language will have noticed that the most recent Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Award Ceremony recognized the coming of the New Dawn. The rising Sun on the backdrop and the two triple crowns of the Mysteries representing the Trinity of Osiris, Isis, and the child Horus were revealing. Trooping before it were the Stars, some of the thousand points of light, who make the movies that mold the minds of the sheople, creating the future world.

Very simply the Luciferian philosophy is, "Adam and Eve were held prisoner in the bonds of ignorance by an unjust and vindictive God in the Garden of Eden. They were set free from their chains (Evolution through "Primordial Knowing") by Lucifer (Prometheus) through his agent Satan in the guise of a serpent (ancient symbol of Wisdom) with the gift of Intellect (Fire). Through the use of his intellect man will perfect the race (Anglo/Aryan) and will himself become God (promise of Satan to Adam and Eve)." Any religion, church, organization, or People who believe they are God, will become God, or are becoming God is practicing the Luciferian philosophy of the Mystery Schools, and are acting in furtherance of the conspiracy.

The Luciferian philosophy is a metaphor for the development of the perfected man (Marxist/Leninist) through the process of evolution by learning how to dominate and control nature (called science). The result (they say) will be the apotheosis of the race of mankind and the elimination of all who cannot make this paradigm shift in the coming New Age. The Soviet Union was the most perfect expression of illuminist secular humanist philosophy that has ever been presented before the eyes of an ignorant but gullible public. Now they strive for enslavement of the human race in the new utopia. This will be brought about through deception, manipulation, and psychological operations which make up the art of illusion called magic.

The Alchemists had the same religion but disguised it under the profane interpretation of the exoteric or outward expression of mutating lead into gold. The search for the philosophers stone was the attempt to perfect the race (Anglo/Aryan) and lead the evolution of what the Illuminati believe to be the inferior races of mankind, what they believe to be useless eaters.

Those who are attracted to the Mysteries who are unable to grasp the esoteric meaning of their education often take the exoteric interpretation to be truth. They often turn to Satan or Lucifer (Light) as their object of worship never understanding the metaphor for a much deeper philosophy. These Satan worshipers are useful. They furnish a diversion and are often a source of large sums of money. The Brotherhood has seldom found itself lacking in fools or funds. Ex-FBI operative Ted Gunderson is the hegelian tool in this instance pointing you off after Satanists, a cull-d-sac where you will chase your own tail round, and round, and round. I do not believe that Ted knows that he is being used in this regard. I may be wrong.

Shirley McClain understands the philosophy, though probably not in its correct interpretation. She is a member in good standing. "I am GOD," is her message.

Fire (Intellect, Light, Illumination) is the God of the Mysteries and its Priests are the Philosophers of Fire (Illumined Ones or Illuminati). They believe that any concept of creation must contain the idea that all things are manifestations of a supreme force (Pantheism). Since man is the only creation with intelligence and original thought, they believe that the combined, or collective consciousness of mankind, is the mind of the Great Architect of the Universe, ergo Man IS GOD. And that should "enlighten" you to the source of some of the more difficult to understand concepts of the New Age movement.

Please do not get the fool (profane = you) mixed up with the adepts, or Fraternitis Rex Mundi, or Brotherhood (Illuminati) of the king of the World (Lucifer or Satan). Those who cannot understand this philosophy through the occult language of symbology and make the shift in thinking for the coming millenium may be doomed to extinction. The spokespersons for the New Age make no secret of their intent in that regard.

This is the age of deception. The world is on the razor. One half is scheduled to be exterminated if these people have their way, and the other half is scheduled to be enslaved when the mystical union between the moon IS (Isis or Church) and the sun RA (Osiris or Doctrine) greets the Son of the morning EL (Horus or full body of Adepts) on the horizon (Horus risen)  in the New Dawn (ISRAEL or realization of the New World Order). When the process is complete a new worldwide Soviet Union will emerge to thin the herd, shear the sheople, and march them off to enslavement or slaughter depending upon their individual ability to accept and adhere to their reeducation.

A prime illustration of the symbology of the Mystery Schools is the following Art Bell logo.

Notice the hidden messages, A.L. and R.T. Bel? Can you decipher them? Notice that a capstone is in place? Did you notice Bel is placed above the capstone by the flying arrow? Do you know what that means? Did you spot the all seeing eye?

Here is a clue... A.L. is the abbreviation for the Latin which translates Year of Light referring to the year 6,000 when the Illuminati believe Prometheus, Lucifer, Baal, Bel, Satan, the angel of light who was cast out of heaven, will triumph over God and mount the throne in the north (A metaphor for the triumph of socialism over religion, nation states, and the common herd). A.L. can be found by adding 4,000 to the current year, 1998 + 4000 = 5998. All who say they are Light Workers are engaged in the battle against God on Lucifer's behalf.

I have long recognized that Art Bell is a shill for the New World Odor. It is confirmed in his book . World government is, in fact, the theme of the book.

Did you know that the sea (mare or Mary) is a symbol of vast numbers of People, the masses in Marxist symbology? Did you notice that the pyramid rises from the sea (People) and dominates the scene as a promise, or savior? Did you know the pyramid missing the capstone represents the Great (unfinished) Work of the Mystery School? Did you know that the Great Work represents social engineering (socialism) working toward the apotheosis of the race (perfected man, sixth root race) as promised to Adam and Eve by Satan, and a New World Order? Did you notice that the name Art Bell straddles the capstone signifying that he is the Light Worker, or Illumined Man, or Master Mason, or Horus, or perfected god-Man, or Savior, who completes the Great Work? Did you notice the Bright Star fallen from heaven just above the capstone? Do you know who or what it represents? Do you see the Thousand Points of Light working in silence behind the veil (clouds) in the heavens. Illuminism is Marxism. It is a false promise that the human race will be perfected bringing a perfect utopian society through social engineering. This is a brainwashing mechanism whereby an ignorant slave race may be created to be ruled by a totalitarian socialist world government.

Art Bell is a Freemason. He is a member of the Illuminati. Art Bell's book The Quickening is one of the most blatant, in your face, pieces of new world order propaganda that I have ever seen. In it Art Bell, claiming to be a patriotic American, shamelessly advocates the formation of a world totalitarian socialist government.

"Will there be a global government with a benevolent dictator, overseeing global law, global police and a global judiciary in an attempt to make the world cleaner, peaceful and prosperous? If that's what it takes to achieve these ends, so be it." -- from The Quickening by Art Bell, page 309

The Art Bell Overnight and Dreamland radio shows dish up nightly servings of ridiculous, outrageous, and fantastic conspiracy fantasies. Occasionally Bell stirs in legitimate, real and dangerous conspiracies. Although Art Bell pretends to be serious, the mix of incredulous fantasy with fact serves to debunk all conspiracies. Bell effectively implants the idea that anyone who believes in any conspiracy is a whacked out nutcase that should be locked up in a mental institution. He is a most effective change agent operating on behalf of our enemies.

The conspiracy is racist, considering Blacks, Hispanics, and Aboriginal Peoples to be inferior races of useless eaters. They believe or at least profess that the Anglo/Aryan race is the true Israel (British Israel and Christian Identity for the dupes and an Anglophile Secular Humanism for the leaders) and thus the Master race. They have convinced the so-called useless eaters that they are friends, benefactors, and protectors. In the meantime they plan to enslave these poor People under socialism or eliminate them altogether. The Illuminati has convinced them that Karl Marx is their savior, and the sheople follow this Judas goat eagerly.

There will be no individual Rights only privileges. These will be granted or denied at will by the world supra government. All property is to be owned by the State. There will be a redistribution of wealth. They plan to eliminate class differences and reduce the standard of living to a lower level in the advanced nations, such as the united States, and to a higher standard of living in the so-called third world nations. This leveling of the standard of living will be accomplished through a global economic collapse which is in its beginning stages. The economic collapse will fulfill the goal of Marx and Engles' Communist Manifesto mandating the elimination of the middle class. The graduated income tax was the first implementation of this process and is one of the planks of the Communist Manifesto. NAFTA and GATT are a part of this process encouraging industry to move into third-world nations in order to exploit cheap labor.

All existing religions will disappear. The only religion will be the state religion (humanism or illuminism).

All County and State governments will be eliminated and replaced with regional government. These regional governments (Home Rule) are already in place. Regionalism is gradually taking control throughout America.

There will be no more cash. Trade will be accomplished by a system of computer credits with accounts accessed through debit cards or computer chip implants. The cards or implants will also serve as personal identification, drivers license, and etc. When this is completed the human race will be shackled to a computer in a never ending cycle of debt. No action or movement will ever again be private.

The plan for the creation of a socialist world government is protected by an artificial extraterrestrial threat from space. The entire UFO phenomenon and the uFOOLogy movement has been created to further the protection and activation of the plan.

Within MAJESTYTWELVE is Operation Majority justifying the plan by presenting an extraterrestrial threat as the reason for the necessity for world government ala "Who speaks for planet Earth... Argentina?" Exactly the manner in which Stanton T. Friedman ends his UFOs Are Real lectures.

Operation Majority is named after the original Bolshevik party which sparked the Russian Revolution. Bolshevik means the majority. The plan claims that if the American people are ever told of this extraterrestrial presence aliens will destroy the United States. All who have access to the plan or who inadvertently discover the plan are silenced by that warning. They believe in the government and thus believe the extraterrestrial lie. These dupes do not know that the Illuminati are the aliens who plan to destroy the United States of America in any event.

The natural skepticism of reporters insures that anyone who believes in extraterrestrial visitation or who links the so-called alien threat with the coming world government will be ridiculed and discredited.

When I saw Operation Majority while serving in the Navy I believed the alien threat was real just like everyone else. It was not until I had performed many years of research that I was able to fully understand exactly what it was that I had seen. It was extremely difficult for me to believe that my government and the United States Navy had used me, especially since I had dedicated my life to government and military service. Most government and military personnel cannot and will not believe such and idea.

The plan is real. The extraterrestrial threat is artificial. The threat is presented through the use of secret technology originally developed by the Germans in their secret weapons programs during WW-II, by geniuses like Nikola Tesla, and many others.

Military and government personnel who have access to this material believe it is real. None of them, however, has ever seen any evidence of the existence of any extraterrestrial creature nor any advanced technology other that that of human origin. It is not what they see that convinces them it is extraterrestrial in origin but the manner in which it is presented. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Top Secret government or military documentation could be lies. It is trust in government by men and women who have given their lives in its service that keeps this monumental lie a alive.

All so-called leaks are intentional misinformation projects designed to promote the alien threat scenario while allowing for complete deniability on the part of government. The antics of Vicki (Cooper) Ecker (CIA), Donald Francis Ecker III (Dupe), William Moore, Jaime Shandera, Stanton T. Friedman, Bruce Maccabee (CIA, ONI), Barry Taff PhD.(Pneuropsychiatric Institute of UCLA worked with recently deceased Dr. Louis Jollyn "Jolly" West), Whitley Strieber, Bud Hopkins (CIA), John Lear (CIA), Linda Moulton Howe Order of the Eastern Star and American Federation of Human Rights (American co-masonry), Art Bell (Freemason), Glen Campbell, George Knapp (Freemason), Colonel Philip Corso (CIA, a monumental liar now Deceased), Richard Hoagland and his Face on Mars, the so-called alien autopsy film, NASA and the Apollo Moon Missions, the so-called Mars Meteorite which was fraudulently promoted as containing fossil evidence of life on Mars, the War Of The Worlds, and many other people and events are projects of this type. Some (very few) of these People are unwitting accomplices in the charade and truly believe in the extraterrestrial threat.

Most of those named, and others not named, are active, and with full knowledge, agents of illuminism/socialism. The most well known are active Fellow Travelers, communist agents of the KGB, the Central Intelligence Agency, or one of the many psychological warfare agencies founded by the Rhodes Round Table Group (The Group), the Royal Institute of International Affairs, and the Council On Foreign Relations.

MAJESTYTWELVE by William Cooper Copyright © 1997 William Cooper All Rights Reserved

HOTT - MAJESTYTWELVE (hourofthetime.com)

https://www.hourofthetime.com/majestyt.htm

The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from November 30 – December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora (Pashto: تورا بورا; Black Cave) is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

In the 16th century, Spanish cleric Francis Xavier used the term "Chaldean" for the Syriac language in this statement: "Not even the Caciz themselves understand the prayers which they recite: which are in a foreign language (I think Chaldean). They render special honours to the Apostle St. Thomas, claiming to be descendants of the Christians begotten to Jesus Christ by that Apostle in these countries."[26]

19th century

A letter from November 14, 1838, states: “The so-called “Chaldeans" of Mesopotamia received that title, as you know, from the pope, on their becoming Catholics.”[27] Previously, when there were as yet no Catholic Aramaic speakers of Mesopotamian origin, the term "Chaldean" was applied with explicit reference to their "Nestorian" religion. Thus Jacques de Vitry wrote of them in 1220/1 that "they denied that Mary was the Mother of God and claimed that Christ existed in two persons. They consecrated leavened bread and used the 'Chaldean' (Syriac) language".[28] The decree of the Council of Florence was directed against use of "Chaldean" to signify "non-Catholic."

In 1852 George Percy Badger distinguished those whom he called Chaldeans from those whom he called Nestorians, but by religion alone, never by language, race or nationality.[29]

The Assyrian ethnicity of Chaldean Catholics is also attested by Assyriology. In 1881, archeologist and author Hormuzd Rassam stated: “The inhabitants of Assyria consist now of mixed races, Arabs, Turkomans, Koords, Yezeedees, Jews, and Christians called Chaldeans and Syrians. The last two-named denominations doubtless belong to one nationality, the Assyrian, and they were only distinguished by these two names when they separated consequent upon the theological dispute of the age, namely, Monophisites or Jacobites, and Nestorians.”[30]

Contemporary

In 1920, Herbert Henry Austin stated: “It may not be out of place, therefore, to point out that there were exceedingly few Roman Catholic Assyrians or “Chaldeans" as they are generally termed when they embrace Rome, amongst the refugees at Baqubah. The very large majority of the Roman Catholic Assyrians in the Mosul vilayet did not join the mountaineers and fight against the Turks and in consequence were permitted by the Turks to continue to dwell practically unmolested in their homes about Mosul."[31][32]

Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid of the Chaldean Catholic Church (1989–2003), who accepted the term Assyrian as descriptive of his nationality and ethnicity, commented: "When a portion of the Church of the East became Catholic in the 17th Century, the name given to the church was 'Chaldean' based on the Magi kings who were believed by some to have come from what once had been the land of the Chaldean, to Bethlehem. The name 'Chaldean' does not represent an ethnicity, just a church [...] We have to separate what is ethnicity and what is religion [...] I myself, my sect is Chaldean, but ethnically, I am Assyrian."[33] Earlier, he said: "Before I became a priest I was an Assyrian, before I became a bishop I was an Assyrian, I am an Assyrian today, tomorrow, forever, and I am proud of it."[34]

Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Urmia, Mar Toma Audo (1854-1918), considered the most elegant Syriac writer of his time,[35] also stressed the remnants of the ancient Assyrians were the East Syrians (Suryāyē Madənkhāyē). Commenting in his Syriac work The Selected Readings, published in 1906, he wrote: "We too, the East Syrians, descend from the aforementioned Assyrians, we are children of the Assyrians or Ashur son of Shem and on account of this we are also Semites. We have preserved until today the language of our ancestors with of course some changes which have entered it." He then continues and explains how "Syrian" (Surāyā) is simply a shortened abbreviation of "Assyrian," and notes that some scholars contemporary to him believed that the Assyrians adopted the name "Syrian" after converting to Christianity.[36]

History

The Church of the East

Main article: Church of the East

The Chaldean Catholic Church traces its beginnings to the Church of the East, which was founded in the Parthian Empire. The Acts of the Apostles mentions Parthians as among those to whom the apostles preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:9). Thomas the Apostle, Thaddeus of Edessa, and Bartholomew the Apostle are reputed to be its founders. One of the modern Churches that boast descent from it says it is "the Church in Babylon" spoken of in 1 Peter 5:13 and that he visited it.[37]

Under the rule of the Sasanian Empire, which overthrew the Parthians in 224, the Church of the East continued to develop its distinctive identity by use of the Syriac language and Syriac script. One "Persian" bishop was at the First Council of Nicaea (325).[38] There is no mention of Persian participation in the First Council of Constantinople (381), in which also the Western part of the Roman Empire was not involved.

The Council of Seleucia-Ctesiphon of 410, held in the Sasanian capital, recognized the city's bishop Isaac as Catholicos, with authority throughout the Church of the East. The persistent military conflicts between the Sasanians and the by then Christianized Roman Empire made the Persians suspect the Church of the East of sympathizing with the enemy. This in turn induced the Church of the East to distance itself increasingly from that in the Roman Empire. Although in a time of peace their 420 council explicitly accepted the decrees of some "western" councils, including that of Nicaea, in 424 they determined that thenceforth they would refer disciplinary or theological problems to no external power, especially not to any "western" bishop or council.[39][40]

The theological controversy that followed the Council of Ephesus in 431 was a turning point in the history of the Church of the East. The Council condemned as heretical the Christology of Nestorius, whose reluctance to accord the Virgin Mary the title Theotokos "God-bearer, Mother of God" was taken as evidence that he believed two separate persons (as opposed to two united natures) to be present within Christ. The Sasanian Emperor provided refuge for those who in the Nestorian schism rejected the decrees of the Council of Ephesus enforced in the Byzantine Empire.[41] In 484 he executed the pro-Roman Catholicos Babowai. Under the influence of Barsauma, Bishop of Nisibis, the Church of the East officially accepted as normative the teaching not of Nestorius himself, but of his teacher Theodore of Mopsuestia, whose writings the 553 Second Council of Constantinople condemned as Nestorian but some modern scholars view them as orthodox.[42] The position thus assigned to Theodore in the Church of the East was reinforced in several subsequent synods in spite of the opposing teaching of Henana of Adiabeme.[43]

After its split with the West and its adoption of a theology that some called Nestorianism, the Church of the East expanded rapidly in the medieval period due to missionary work. Between 500 and 1400, its geographical horizon extended well beyond its heartland in present-day northern Iraq, northeastern Syria, and southeastern Turkey, setting up communities throughout Central Asia and as far as China—as witnessed by the Xi'an Stele, a Tang dynasty tablet in Chinese script dating to 781 that documented 150 years of Christian history in China.[44] Their most lasting addition was of the Saint Thomas Christians of the Malabar Coast in India, where they had around 10 million followers.[45]

However, a decline had already set in at the time of Yahballaha III (1281–1317), when the Church of the East reached its greatest geographical extent, it had in south and central Iraq and in south, central and east Persia only four dioceses, where at the end of the ninth century it had at least 54.[46]

Around 1400, the Turco-Mongol nomadic conqueror Timur arose out of the Eurasian Steppe to lead military campaigns all across Western, Southern and Central Asia, ultimately seizing much of the Muslim world after defeating the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria, the emerging Ottoman Empire, and the declining Delhi Sultanate. Timur's conquests devastated most Assyrian bishoprics and destroyed the 4000-year-old cultural and religious capital of Assur. After the destruction brought on by Timur, the massive and organized Church of the East structure was largely reduced to its region of origin, with the exception of the Saint Thomas Christians in India.

1552 schism

Main articles: Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa and Schism of 1552

The Church of the East has seen many disputes about the position of Catholicos. A synod in 539 decided that neither of the two claimants, Elisha and Narsai, who had been elected by rival groups of bishops in 524, was legitimate.[47] Similar conflicts occurred between Barsauma and Acacius of Seleucia-Ctesiphon and between Hnanisho I and Yohannan the Leper. The 1552 conflict was not merely between two individuals but extended to two rival lines of patriarchs, like the 1964 schism between what are now called the Assyrian and the Ancient Church of the East.

Credentials of Abdisho IV Maron, Sulaqa's successor, to the Council of Trent in 1562

Dissent over the practice of hereditary succession to the Patriarchate, usually from uncle to nephew, led to the action in 1552 by a group of bishops from the northern regions of Amid and Salmas who elected as a rival Patriarch the abbot of Rabban Hormizd Monastery (the patriarch's residence), Yohannan Sulaqa. To strengthen the position of their candidate, the bishops sent him to Rome to negotiate a new union with the pope.[48] By tradition, a patriarch could be ordained only by someone of archiepiscopal (metropolitan) rank, a rank to which only members of that one family were promoted. Sulaqa thus travelled to Rome, where, presented as the new patriarch-elect, he entered communion with the Catholic Church on 20 February 1553, was ordained by Pope Julius III and was recognized as patriarch on 9 April.[49]

The title or description under which Sulaqa was recognized as patriarch is given variously as "Patriarch of Mosul in Eastern Syria";[50] "Patriarch of the Church of the Chaldeans of Mosul";[51] "Patriarch of the Chaldeans";[48][52][53][54] "Patriarch of Mosul";[49][55][56] or "Patriarch of the Eastern Assyrians", this last being the version given by Pietro Strozzi on the second-last unnumbered page before page 1 of his De Dogmatibus Chaldaeorum,[57] of which an English translation is given in Adrian Fortescue's Lesser Eastern Churches.[58][59] The "Eastern Assyrians", who, if not Catholic, were presumed to be Nestorians, were distinguished from the "Western Assyrians" (those west of the Tigris River), who were looked on as Jacobites.[60][61][62] It was as Patriarch of the "Eastern Assyrians" that Sulaqa's successor, Abdisho IV Maron, was accredited for participation in the Council of Trent.[63]

The names already in use (except that of "Nestorian") were thus applied to the existing church (not a new one) for which the request to consecrate its patriarch was made by emissaries who gave the impression that the patriarchal see was vacant.[55][53][64]

Sulaqa returned home in the same year and, unable to take possession of the traditional patriarchal seat near Alqosh, resided in Amid. Before being put to death at the instigation of partisans supporting the patriarch from whom he had broken away, Shemon VII Ishoyahb, he ordained two metropolitans and three other bishops.[53][55][49] This initiated a new ecclesiastical hierarchy under what is known as the "Shimun line" of patriarchs, who soon moved from Amid eastward, settling, after many intervening places, in the isolated village of Qudshanis under Persian rule. Ishoyahb, meanwhile, was succeeded by his nephew Eliya VI, in what became known as the "Eliya Line".

Successive leaders of those in communion with Rome

Sulaqa's earliest successors entered into communion with the Catholic Church, but in the course of over a century, their link with Rome grew weak. The last to request and obtain formal papal recognition died in 1600. They adopted hereditary succession to the patriarchate, opposition to which had caused the 1552 schism. In 1672, Shimun XIII Dinkha formally broke communion with Rome, adopting a profession of faith that contradicted that of Rome, while he maintained his independence from the Alqosh-based "Eliya line" of patriarchs. The "Shimun line" eventually became the patriarchal line of what since 1976 is officially called the Assyrian Church of the East.[65][66][67][68]

Leadership of those who wished to be in communion with Rome then passed to Archbishop Joseph I of Amid. In 1677 his leadership was recognized first by the Turkish civil authorities, and then in 1681 by Rome. (Until then, the authority of the Alqosh patriarch over Amid, which had been Sulaqa's residence but which his successors abandoned on having to move eastward into Safavid Iran, had been accepted by the Turkish authorities.)

All the (non-hereditary) successors in Amid of Joseph I, who in 1696 resigned for health reasons and lived on in Rome until 1707, took the name Joseph: Joseph II (1696–1713), Joseph III (1713–1757), Joseph IV (1757–1781). For that reason, they are known as the "Josephite line". Joseph IV presented his resignation in 1780 and it was accepted in 1781, after which he handed over the administration of the patriarchate to his nephew, not yet a bishop, and retired to Rome, where he lived until 1791.[69]

Appointment of the nephew as patriarch would look like acceptance of the principle of hereditary succession. In addition, the Alqosh "Eliya line" was drawing closer to Rome, and the pro-Catholic faction within its followers was becoming predominant. For various reasons, including the ecclesiastical as well as political turbulence in Europe after the French Revolution, Rome was long unable to choose between two rival claimants to headship of the Chaldean Catholics.

The 1672 adoption by the "Shimun line" of patriarchs of Nestorian doctrine had been followed in some areas by widespread adoption of the opposing Christology upheld in Rome. This occurred not only in the Amid-Mardin area for which by Turkish decree Joseph I was patriarch, but also in the city of Mosul, where by 1700 nearly all the East Syrians were Catholics.[70] The Rabban Hormizd Monastery, which was the seat of the "Eliya line" of patriarchs is 2 km from the village of Alqosh and about 45 km north of the city of Mosul.

In view of this situation, Patriarch Eliya XI wrote to Pope Clement XII and his successor Benedict XIV in 1735, 1749 and 1756, asking for union. Then, in 1771, both he and his designated successor Ishoyabb made a profession of faith that Pope Clement XIV accepted, thus establishing communion in principle. When Eliya XI died in 1778, the metropolitans recognized as his successor Ishoyabb, who accordingly took the Eliya name (Eliya XII). To win support, Eliya made profession of the Catholic faith, but almost immediately renounced it and declared his support of the traditionalist (Nestorian) view.

Yohannan Hormizd, a member of the "Eliya line" family, opposed Eliya XII (1778–1804), the last of that line to be elected in the normal way as patriarch. In 1780 Yohannan was irregularly elected patriarch, as Sulaqa had been in 1552. He won over to communion with Rome most followers of the "Eliyya line". The Holy See did not recognize him as patriarch, but in 1791 Pope Pius VI appointed him archbishop of Amid and administrator of the Catholic patriarchate. The violent protests of Joseph IV's nephew, who was then in Rome, and suspicions raised by others about the sincerity of Yohannan's conversion prevented this being put into effect.[70]

In 1793 it was agreed that Yohannan should withdraw from Amid to Mosul, the metropolitan see that he already held, but that the post of patriarch would not be conferred on his rival, Joseph IV's nephew. In 1802 the latter was appointed metropolitan of Amid and administrator of the patriarchate, but not patriarch. Nonetheless, he became commonly known as Joseph V. He died in 1828. Yohannan's rival for the Alqosh title of patriarch had died in 1804, with his followers so reduced in number that they did not elect any successor for him, thus bringing the Alqosh or Eliya line to an end.[70]

Finally then, in 1830, a century and a half after the Holy See had conferred headship of the Chaldean Catholics on Joseph I of Amid, Pope Pius VIII granted recognition as Patriarch to Yohannan, whose (non-hereditary) patriarchal succession has since then lasted unbroken in the Chaldean Catholic Church.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaldean_Catholic_Church

The Assyrian Church of the East[a] (ACOE), sometimes called the Church of the East[5][6] and officially known as the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,[5][7][b] is an Eastern Syriac Christian denomination that follows the traditional Christology and ecclesiology of the historical Church of the East.[9] It belongs to the eastern branch of Syriac Christianity, and employs the Divine Liturgy of Saints Addai and Mari belonging to the East Syriac Rite. Its main liturgical language is Classical Syriac, a dialect of Eastern Aramaic. Officially known as the Church of the East until 1976, it was then renamed the Assyrian Church of the East,[10][11] with its patriarchate remaining hereditary until the death of Shimun XXI Eshai in 1975.

The Assyrian Church of the East is officially headquartered in the city of Erbil, in northern Iraq; its original area encompassed Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran, corresponding roughly to ancient Assyria. The current Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, Mar Awa III, was consecrated in September 2021.

The Assyrian Church of the East claims continuity with the historical Church of the East, and is not in communion with the Catholic, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox churches.[c] The faction of the original Church of the East that came into full communion with the Holy See between the 16th and 19th centuries is the Chaldean Catholic Church, whose members are mostly ethnic Assyrians. After the Common Christological Declaration in 1994 between the Church of the East and the Catholic Church, and a 2001 theological dialogue between the churches, they drew up guidelines for the faithful to have mutual admission to the Eucharist between the Chaldean Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.[12]

The Assyrian Church of the East has a traditional episcopal structure, headed by the Catholicos-Patriarch. Its hierarchy is composed of metropolitan bishops and diocesan bishops, while lower clergy consists of priests and deacons, who serve in dioceses (eparchies) and parishes throughout Western Asia, India, North America, Oceania, and Europe (including the Caucasus and Russia).[13]

History

A 6th-century Assyrian church, St. John the Arab, in the Assyrian village of Geramon

The Assyrian Church of the East considers itself as the continuation of the Church of the East, a church that originally developed among the Assyrians during the first century AD in Assyria, Upper Mesopotamia and northwestern Persia, east of the Byzantine Empire. It is an apostolic church established by Thomas the Apostle, Addai of Edessa, and Bartholomew the Apostle.

The distinction between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church resulted from the series of complex processes and events that occurred within the Church of the East during the transitional period that started in the middle of the 16th century, and lasted until the beginning of the 19th century.[14] That turbulent period was marked by several consequent splits and mergers, resulting in the creation of separate branches and rival patriarchal lines. During the entire period, one of the main questions of dispute was the union with the Catholic Church. Ultimately, the pro-Catholic branches were consolidated as the Chaldean Catholic Church, while the traditional branches were consolidated as the Assyrian Church of the East.[15]

Schisms and branches

Main articles: Church of the East and Schism of 1552

Mar Toma church near Urmia, Iran

During the patriarchal tenure of Shemon VII Ishoyahb (1539–1558), who resided in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh, an internal dissent occurred over several issues, including the question of hereditary succession to the patriarchal throne, and the question of union with the Catholic Church. By that time, Franciscan missionaries had already gained some influence over several local communities,[16] and they took an active role in organizing the opposition to the patriarch at that time. By the end of 1552, a pro-Catholic party had been organized in Mosul under the leadership of the priest Yohannan Sulaqa,[17] who decided to legitimize his position by traveling to Rome and seeking confirmation by Pope Julius III (1550–1555).[18]

Receiving support from the Franciscan missionaries, he arrived in Rome and entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in February 1553. At that point, officials of the Roman Curia were given incorrect information that the elderly Patriarch Shemon VII had actually died. After some deliberation, the Roman pope decided to appoint Yohannan Sulaqa as "Patriarch of Babylon" and named the breakaway church as 'The Church of Assyria and Mosul" in April 1553.[19]

Upon consecration, Yohannan Sulaqa took the name Shimun and by the end of the year he returned to his homeland. He started to organize the pro-Catholic party by appointing several metropolitans and bishops.[18]

The senior Eliya line of Alqosh

Further information: Numeration of the Eliya line patriarchs

Union with Rome was actively opposed by Patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb, who continued to reside in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near the ancient Assyrian town of Alqosh. He was succeeded by his nephew Eliya (1558–1591), who was designated as Eliya "VII" in older historiography,[20][21] but renumbered as Eliya "VI" in recent scholarly works.[22][23][24] The same renumbering was applied to his successors, who all took the same name thus creating the Eliya line. During his patriarchal rule, the Eliya line preserved its traditional christology and full ecclesiastical independence.[25] His successor was Patriarch Eliya VII (VIII) (1591–1617), who negotiated on several occasions with the Catholic Church, in 1605 and 1610, and again in 1615–1616, but without any conclusion.[26] Further negotiations were abandoned by the next Patriarch Eliya VIII (IX) (1617–1660).[27] David Wilmshurst noted that his successor, Patriarch Eliya IX (X) (1660–1700) also was a "vigorous defender of the traditional faith".[28]

The Eliya line of traditionalist patriarchs continued throughout the entire 18th century, residing in the ancient Monastery of Rabban Hormizd, which was eventually attacked and looted by muslim Turks in 1743, at the beginning of the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746).[29] Faced with a centuries-old rivalry and frequent conflicts between two mighty Islamic empires (Ottoman and Persian), all Christian communities in the bordering regions were constantly exposed to danger – and not only in the times of war, since local, mainly Kurdish, warlords were accustomed to attacking Assyrian and Armenian Christian communities and monasteries and taking their land, often with Ottoman support. Patriarchs Eliya X (XI) (1700–1722) and Eliya XI (XII) (1722–1778) tried to improve the increasingly worsening position of their Christian flock by staying loyal to Ottoman authorities, but the local administration was frequently unable to provide effective protection.[30] The Eliya line of traditionalist patriarchs ended in 1804 with the death of Eliya XII (XIII) (1778–1804).[31][24]

The junior Shimun line of Qochanis

During the second half of the 16th century, traditionalist patriarchs of the Eliya line were faced with the continuous presence of the pro-Catholic movement, led by successors of Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa. After his death in 1555, the newly established line of patriarchs who were united with the Catholic Church was continued by Abdisho IV Maron (1555–1570), who remained in full communion with the Catholic Church. He visited Rome and was officially confirmed by the Pope of Rome in 1562.[32] Soon after his death, connections with Rome were weakened for the first time during the tenure of Patriarch Yahballaha IV who did not seek confirmation from the pope.[33] That interlude was ended by his successor Shimun IX Dinkha (1580–1600) who restored full communion with the Catholic Church, and was officially confirmed by the Pope of Rome in 1584.[34]

After his death, the patriarchal office was made hereditary, and patriarchs of this line continued to use the name Shimun, thus creating the Shimun line. Hereditary succession was not acceptable to Rome, and during the tenure of the next Patriarch Shimun X Eliyah (1600–1638) ties with the Catholic Church were loosened again. In 1616, Shimun X signed a traditional profession of faith that was not accepted by the Roman pope, leaving the patriarch without Rome's confirmation.[35] His successor Shimun XI Eshuyow (1638–1656) restored communion with the Catholic Church as late as 1653, eventually receiving confirmation from the pope.[28] By that time, the movement towards full commitment to the traditional faith was constantly growing stronger within the Shimun line. When the next Patriarch Shimun XII Yoalaha decided to send his profession of faith to the pope, he was deposed by his bishops because of his pro-Catholic attitude. The pope tried to intervene on his behalf, but without success.[28]

Final resolution of conflicts within the Shimun line occurred under the next Patriarch Shimun XIII Dinkha (1662–1700), who definitively broke communion with the Catholic Church. In 1670, he gave a traditionalist reply to an approach that was made from the Roman pope, and by 1672 all connections with the Catholic Church were terminated.[36][37] At the same time, Patriarch Shimun XIII moved his seat from Amid to Qochanis. After the final return to the traditional faith, patriarchs of the Shimun line decided to keep their independence and after that time there were two independent lines of traditional patriarchs: the senior Eliya line in Alqosh and the junior Shimun line in Qochanis.[38]

Such division was additionally caused by the complex structure of local Assyrian communities, traditionally organized as tribal confederations with each tribe being headed by a local lord (malik), while each malik was ultimately subject to the patriarch, who mediated between Christian Assyrians and the Ottoman authorities.[39]

Consolidation of remaining branches

Mar Elias (Eliya), the Nestorian bishop of the Urmia Plain village of Geogtapa, c. 1831. The image comes from A Residence of Eight Years in Persia Among the Nestorians, with Notes of the Mohammedans by Justin Perkins (Andover, 1843).

In 1780, at the beginning of the patriarchal tenure of Eliya XII (XIII) (1778–1804), a group seceded from the Eliya line in Alqosh and elected Yohannan Hormizd, who entered full communion with the Catholic Church and was officially appointed Archbishop of Mosul and patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church, in 1783. Only after the death in 1827 of the last representative of the Josephite line, Joseph V Augustine Hindi, was Yohannan recognized as the Chaldean Catholic patriarch by the pope, in 1830. By this official appointment, the final merger of various factions committed to the union with the Catholic Church was achieved, thus forming the modern Chaldean Catholic Church.

At the same time, the long coexistence and rivalry between two traditionalist patriarchal branches — the senior Eliya line of Alqosh and the junior Shimun line of Qochanis — ended in 1804 when the last primate of the Eliya line, Patriarch Eliya XII (XIII) died and was buried in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery. His branch decided not to elect a new patriarch, thus enabling the remaining patriarch Shimun XVI Yohannan (1780–1820) of the Shimun line to become the sole primate of both Assyrian traditionalist branches.[40][41][38] Consolidated after 1804, the reunited traditionalist church led by patriarchs of the Shimun line became widely known as the "Assyrian Church of the East". Still based in Qodchanis, Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVI Yohannan was not able to secure control over the traditional seat of the former Eliya line in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery; and around 1808 that venerated monastic institution passed to the Chaldean Catholics.[42]

The next Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVII Abraham (1820–1861) also governed his church from Qodshanis. During years marked by political turbulence, he tried to maintain good relations with the local Ottoman authorities. In 1843, he was faced with renewed hostilities from Kurdish warlords, who attacked and looted many Christian villages, killing 10,000 Christian men and taking away women and children as captives. The patriarch himself was forced to take temporary refuge in Mosul.[43] He was succeeded by Patriarch Shimun XVIII Rubil (1861–1903) who also resided in Qodshanis. In 1869, he received an open invitation from the Vatican to visit Rome to attend the First Vatican Council as an observer, but he did not accept the invitation,[44] In following years, he also rejected other initiatives for union with the Catholic Church.[45]

Early 20th century Assyrian archbishop and servants

By the end of the 19th century, the Assyrian Church of the East consolidated itself as the sole representative of all traditionalist Assyrians. It also managed to secure a certain level of autonomy within the highly complex system of Ottoman local governance in the bordering regions.[46] On several occasions, Assyrian patriarchs refused to enter communion with the Catholic Church or merge with the Chaldean Catholic Church.[38] On the other hand, by the end of the 19th century some of its communities were converted to Protestantism by various western missionaries,[47] while other communities were drawn to Eastern Orthodoxy. That movement was led by Assyrian Bishop Mar Yonan of Supurghan in the region of Urmia who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1898, through the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Urmia.[48]

20th and 21st Centuries

St. Mary Assyrian Church in Moscow. In spite of both ethnic and religious persecution and a serious decline in membership since its height around the fourth century, the Assyrian Church of the East has survived into the 21st century.

Among all the tragedies and schisms which thinned the church out, no other was as severe as the Assyrian genocide. At that point the Assyrian Church of the East was based in the mountains of Hakkari, as it had been since 1681. In 1915, The Young Turks invaded the region — despite the Assyrians' plea of neutrality during the Caucasus campaign by Russia and their Armenian allies — out of fear of an Assyrian independence movement. In response to this, Assyrians of all denominations (the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church and Assyrian Protestants) entered into a war of independence and allied themselves with the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire and the Armenians against the Ottomans and their Islamic Kurdish, Iranian and Arab allies.[49]

Despite the odds, the Assyrians fought successfully against the Ottomans and their allies for three years throughout southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria. Eventually, however, they were abandoned by their allies, the Russian Empire and the First Republic of Armenia, due to the Russian Revolution and the collapse of the Armenian defense, leaving the Assyrians vastly outnumbered, surrounded, and cut off from supplies of ammunition and food. During this period, their See at Qodchanis was completely destroyed and the Turks and their Islamic allies massacred all of the Assyrians in the Hakkari Mountains.[50]

Those who survived fled into Iran with what remained of the Assyrian defense under Agha Petros, but they were pursued into Iranian territory despite the fact they were fleeing. Later, in 1918, after the murder of their de facto leader and Patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin and 150 of his followers during a negotiation, fearing further massacres at the hands of the Turks and Kurds, most of the survivors fled by train from Iran into what was to become Iraq. They sought protection under the British mandate there, and joined the already existing indigenous Assyrian communities of both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic rites in the north, where they formed communities in Baghdad, Basra, and other areas.[50]

Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai

Main article: Shimun XXI Eshai

In the aftermath of World War I, the British-educated Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai, born into the line of patriarchs at Qodchanis, had agitated for an independent Assyrian state. Following the end of the British mandate in 1933[50] and a massacre of Assyrian civilians at Simele by the Iraqi Army, the patriarch was forced to take refuge in Cyprus.[51] There, Shimun petitioned the League of Nations regarding his people's fate, but to little avail, and he was consequently barred from entering Syria and Iraq. He traveled through Europe before moving to Chicago in 1940 to join the growing Assyrian diaspora community there.[51]

Due to the church's and the general Assyrian community's disorganized state as a result of the conflicts of the 20th century, Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai was forced to reorganize the church's structure in the United States. He transferred his residence to San Francisco in 1954, and was able to travel to Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, and India, where he worked to strengthen the church.[52]

In 1964, the patriarch decreed a number of changes to the church, including liturgical reform, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, and the shortening of Lent. These changes, combined with Shimun's long absence from Iraq, caused a rift in the community there, which led to another schism. In 1968, traditionalists within the church elected Thoma Darmo as a rival patriarch to Shimun XXI Eshai, forming the independent Ancient Church of the East, based in Baghdad, Iraq.[53]

In 1972, Shimun decided to step down as patriarch, and the following year he got married, in contravention to longstanding church custom. This led to a synod in 1973 in which further reforms were introduced, the most significant of which included the permanent abolition of hereditary succession — a practice introduced in the middle of the fifteenth century by Patriarch Shemon IV Basidi (who had died in 1497) — and it was also decided that Shimun should be reinstated. The second matter was supposed to be settled at another synod in 1975; however, Shimun was assassinated in November 1975 by an estranged relative before this could take place.[54]

Patriarch Dinkha IV

Main article: Dinkha IV

Mar Gewargis Assyrian Cathedral in Chicago: Former Patriarchal See

Almost a year after the death of Shimun, Mar Khnanya Dinkha, Metropolitan of Tehran, convened a synod of seven Assyrian bishops which took place at St Paul's Abbey, Alton, in England, from 12 to 17 October 1976. They were joined by two Church of England bishops, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, and elected Dinkha as the 120th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East. On 17 October he was consecrated as Dinkha IV at St Barnabas Church, Ealing, in an area where many Assyrians lived.[55]

Dinkha, who was then aged 33, operated his see at Tehran until the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988, when he went into exile in the United States and transferred the Patriarchal See to Chicago.[56] Much of his patriarchate had been concerned with tending to the Assyrian diaspora community and with ecumenical efforts to strengthen relations with other churches.[56] On 26 March 2015, Dinkha IV died in the United States, leaving the Assyrian Church of the East in a period of sede vacante until 18 September 2015. During that time, Aprem Mooken served as the custodian of the Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.[57][58]

Patriarch Gewargis III

Main article: Gewargis III

On 18 September 2015, the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East elected the Metropolitan of Iraq, Jordan, and Russia, Warda Sliwa, to succeed the late Dinkha IV as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. On 27 September 2015, he was consecrated as Catholicos-Patriarch in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist, in Erbil, Iraq. Upon his consecration, he assumed the ecclesiastical name Gewargis III.

Mar Narsai Church in Nohadra

Church leaders proposed moving the Patriarchal See from Chicago back to Erbil.[59]

There have also been talks of reunification. In the Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East in 1994, the two churches recognized the legitimacy and rightness of each other's titles for Mary.[60]

In 2005, the Assyrian Church of the East had about 380,000 members,[61] mostly living in the United States, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.[62][63]

Patriarch Awa III

Main article: Awa Royel

On 6 September 2021, Mar Gewargis III formally stepped down as Catholicos-Patriarch during an Extraordinary Session of the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East, leaving the Patriarchal See vacant. On 8 September 2021, the Holy Synod elected Mar Awa Royel, Bishop of California and Secretary of the Holy Synod, to succeed Mar Gewargis III as the 122nd Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.[64][65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Church_of_the_East

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (/ˈmɛɡən/; born Rachel Meghan Markle, August 4, 1981), is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, entrepreneur, and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III.

Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her acting career began at Northwestern University. She played the part of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the legal drama series Suits. She also developed a social media presence, which included The Tig (2014–2017), a lifestyle blog. During The Tig period, Meghan became involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice. She was married to the film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2014.

Meghan retired from acting upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. The couple stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit (charitable) business organizations. In March 2021, she and her husband participated in Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicized American television interview by Oprah Winfrey. She has written the children's book The Bench, hosted a podcast Archetypes (2022), and has starred in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan (2022) and With Love, Meghan (2025). Her lifestyle and cooking brand, As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghan,_Duchess_of_Sussex

California

name of an imaginary realm in "Las sergas de Esplandián" ("Exploits of Espladán"), a romance by Spanish writer Garci Ordóñez de Montalvo, published in 1510. It was a sequel to his "Amadis de Gaula," and was said to have been influential among Spanish explorers of the New World. It could have led them to misidentify Baja California as this mythical land and to mistake it for an island. The Amadis tales are the Iberian equivalent of the Arthurian romances; they are older than 1510 (traces of them have been found mid-14c.) and were wildly popular. That conquistadors and sailors would have known the story in all its imaginative detail is hardly surprising.

Amadis de Gaula ... set a fashion: all later Spanish writers of books of chivalry adopted the machinery of Amadis de Gaula. Later knights were not less brave (they could not be braver than) Amadis; heroines were not less lovely (they could not be lovelier) than Oriana; there was nothing for it but to make the dragons more appalling, the giants larger, the wizards craftier, the magic castles more inaccessible, the enchanted lakes deeper. Subsequent books of chivalry are simple variants of the types in Amadis de Gaula: Cervantes made his barber describe it as 'the best of all books of this kind.' This verdict is essentially just. Amadis de Gaula was read everywhere, especially in the French version of Herberay des Essarts. It was done into Hebrew during the sixteenth century, and attracted readers as different as St Ignatius of Loyola and Henry of Navarre. Its vogue perhaps somewhat exceeded its merit, but its merits are not inconsiderable. [James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, "Spanish Literature," 1922 edition]

Where Montalvo got the name and what it means, if anything, is a mystery. In reference to the native inhabitants, Californian is attested from 1785 as an adjective, 1789 as a noun. The element Californium (1950) was named in reference to University of California, where it was discovered.

also from 1510

https://www.etymonline.com/word/California

Ignatius Loyola, a Catholic Priest, theologian and founder of the Jesuit Order of the Catholic Church in the 16th Century, said, among his many inspiring sayings, “Go forth and set the world on fire."

Inferno (Italian: [iɱˈfɛrno]; Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. The Inferno describes Dante's journey through Hell, guided by the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth; it is the "realm ... of those who have rejected spiritual values by yielding to bestial appetites or violence, or by perverting their human intellect to fraud or malice against their fellowmen".[1] As an allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.[2]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inferno_(Dante)

Fire as the agent of Truth

Asha Vahishta is closely associated with fire. Fire is "grandly conceived as a force informing all the other Amesha Spentas, giving them warmth and the spark of life."[27] In Yasht 17.20, Angra Mainyu clamours that Zoroaster burns him with Asha Vahishta. In Vendidad 4.54-55, speaking against the truth and violating the sanctity of promise is detected by the consumption of "water, blazing, of golden color, having the power to detect guilt."

This analogy of truth that burns and detecting truth through fire is already attested in the very earliest texts, that is, in the Gathas and in the Yasna Haptanghaiti. In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda dispenses justice through radiance of His fire and the strength of aṣ̌a. Fire "detects" sinners "by hand-grasping" (Yasna 34.4). An individual who has passed the fiery test (garmo-varah, ordeal by heat), has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth and love with serenity (Yasna 30.7). Altogether, "there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all."[28] According to the post-Sassanid Dadestan i denig (I.31.10), at the final judgement a river of molten metal will cover the earth. The righteous, as they wade through this river, will perceive the molten metal as a bath of warm milk. The wicked will be scorched. For details on aṣ̌a's role in personal and final judgement, see aṣ̌a in eschatology, below.

Fire is moreover the "auxiliary of the truth," "and not only, as in the ordeal, of justice and of truth at the same time."[11] In Yasna 31.19, "the man who thinks of aṣ̌a, [...] who uses his tongue in order to speak correctly, [does so] with the aid of brilliant fire". In Yasna 34-44 devotees "ardently desire [Mazda's] mighty fire, through aṣ̌a." In Yasna 43–44, Ahura Mazda "shall come to [Zoroaster] through the splendour of [Mazda's] fire, possessing the strength of (through) aṣ̌a and good mind (=Vohu Manah)." That fire "possesses strength through aṣ̌a" is repeated again in Yasna 43.4. In Yasna 43.9, Zoroaster, wishing to serve fire, gives his attention to aṣ̌a. In Yasna 37.1, in a list of what are otherwise all physical creations, aṣ̌a takes the place of fire.

Asha Vahishta's association with atar is carried forward in the post-Gathic texts, and they are often mentioned together. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, each of the Amesha Spentas represents one aspect of creation and one of seven primordial elements that in Zoroastrian tradition are the basis of that creation. In this matrix, aṣ̌a/arta is the origin of fire, Avestan atar, which permeates through all Creation. The correspondence then is that aṣ̌a/arta "penetrates all ethical life, as fire penetrates all physical being."[12]

In the liturgy Asha Vahishta is frequently invoked together with fire. (Yasna l.4, 2.4, 3.6, 4.9, 6.3, 7.6, 17.3, 22.6, 59.3, 62.3 etc.). In one passage, fire is a protector of aṣ̌a: "when the Evil Spirit assailed the creation of Good Truth, Good Thought and Fire intervened" (Yasht 13.77)

In later Zoroastrian tradition, Asha Vahishta is still at times identified with the fire of the household hearth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha

Kali (/ˈkɑːliː/; Sanskrit: काली, IAST: Kālī), also called Kalika, is a major goddess in Hinduism, primarily associated with time, death and destruction. The origins of Kali can be traced to the pre-Vedic and Vedic era Goddess worship traditions in Ancient India.[1] Kali is the first of the ten Mahavidyas in the Hindu tantric tradition and is the supreme deity in the Kalikula worship tradition.[2]

The first major appearance of Kali in the Sanskrit literature was in the sixth-century CE text Devi Mahatmya.[1] Kali appears in numerous stories, with her most famous being when she sprang from the goddess Durga's fury to defeat the demon Raktabija. She is stated to destroy evil and defend the innocent. Kali is worshipped as the Divine Mother, Mother of the Universe, and Divine feminine energy.[3][4][5]

Shakta and Tantric sects additionally worship Kali as the ultimate reality or Brahman.[5] She is also seen as the divine protector and bestower of moksha (liberation).[3] Worshipped throughout South Asia but particularly in Nepal, Southern India, Bengal, and Assam, Kali is a central figure in the goddess-centric traditions of Hinduism as well as in Shaivism.[1][6]

Etymology

The term Kali is derived from Kala, which is mentioned quite differently in Sanskrit.[7] The homonym kālá (time) is distinct from kāla (black), but these became associated through popular etymology.[8] Kali is then understood as "she who is the ruler of time", or "she who is black".[7] Kālī is the goddess of time or death and the consort of Shiva.[9] She is called Kali Mata ("the dark mother") and also kālī, which can be read here either as a proper name or as a description: "the dark (or black) one".[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kali

Kahramanmaraş (Turkish pronunciation: [kahɾaˈmanmaɾaʃ]), historically Marash (Turkish: Maraş; Armenian: Մարաշ) and Germanicea (Greek: Γερμανίκεια), is a city in the Mediterranean region of Turkey and the administrative centre of Kahramanmaraş province. After 1973, Maraş was officially named Kahramanmaraş with the prefix kahraman (Turkish word meaning "heroic") to commemorate the Battle of Marash. The city lies on a plain at the foot of Mount Ahır.

On 6 February 2023, much of the city was destroyed in the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes[2] which had their epicentre in Pazarcık and Elbistan in Kahramanmaraş province.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kahramanmara%C5%9F

AI Overview

Meghan Markle has revealed she is partly Nigerian, with a genealogy test showing she is 43% Nigerian. She discovered this heritage through a DNA test and discussed it on her podcast, Archetypes. She later visited Nigeria with Prince Harry to promote mental health initiatives and was welcomed as an embrace of her newfound heritage, with some Nigerians bestowing a new royal title upon her.  

The Discovery

Genealogy Test: Markle discovered her Nigerian heritage in 2022 by taking a DNA test.

Podcast Revelation: She shared this discovery on her podcast, Archetypes, where she referred to the experience as "eye-opening and humbling".

Family Connection: She also contacted her mother, Doria Ragland, who was also unaware of their specific Nigerian lineage.

Visit to Nigeria

Purpose: Markle and Prince Harry visited Nigeria in May 2024 for a three-day trip to promote mental health for soldiers and young girls.

Royal Title: During the visit, she was named Princess of Arochukwu Ancient Kingdom and given the new Nigerian name Adetokunbo.

Embracing Heritage: Markle expressed her excitement about the discovery and her appreciation for the warm welcome she received in Nigeria, even referring to the country as "my country".

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

Nigeria,[b] officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa.[10] It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of 923,769 square kilometres (356,669 sq mi). With a population of more than 230 million, it is the most populous country in Africa, and the world's sixth-most populous country. Nigeria borders Niger in the north, Chad in the northeast, Cameroon in the east, and Benin in the west. Nigeria is a federal republic comprising 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, where its capital, Abuja, is located. The largest city in Nigeria by population is Lagos, one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world and the largest in Africa.

Nigeria has been home to several indigenous material cultures, pre-colonial states and kingdoms since the second millennium BC. The Nok culture, c. 1500 BC, marks one of the earliest known civilizations in the region.[11] The Hausa Kingdoms inhabited the north, with the Edo Kingdom of Benin in the south, Igbo Kingdom of Nri in the southeast and in the southwest, the Oyo Empire. The present day territory of Nigeria was home to a vast array of city-states.[12]: 136  In the early 19th century the Fula jihads culminated in the Sokoto Caliphate. The modern state originated with British colonialization in the 19th century, taking its present territorial shape with the merging of the Southern Nigeria Protectorate and the Northern Nigeria Protectorate in 1914. The British set up administrative and legal structures and incorporated traditional monarchs as a form of indirect rule.[13] Nigeria became a formally independent federation on 1 October 1960. It experienced a civil war from 1967 to 1970, followed by a succession of military dictatorships and democratically elected civilian governments until achieving a stable government in the 1999 Nigerian presidential election.

Nigeria is a multinational state inhabited by more than 250 ethnic groups speaking 500 distinct languages, all identifying with a wide variety of cultures.[14][15][16] The three largest ethnic groups are the Hausa in the north, Yoruba in the west, and Igbo in the east, together constituting over 60% of the total population.[17] The official language is English, chosen to facilitate linguistic unity at the national level.[18] Nigeria's constitution ensures de jure freedom of religion,[19] and it is home to some of the world's largest Muslim and Christian populations.[20] Nigeria is divided roughly in half between Muslims, who live mostly in the north part of the country, and Christians, who live mostly in the south; indigenous religions, such as those native to the Igbo and Yoruba ethnicities, are in the minority.[21]

Nigeria is a regional power in Africa and a middle power in international affairs. Nigeria's economy is the fourth-largest in Africa, the 53rd-largest in the world by nominal GDP, and 27th-largest by PPP. Nigeria is often referred to as the Giant of Africa by its citizens due to its large population and economy,[22] and is considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank. Nigeria is a founding member of the African Union and a member of many international organizations, including the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, NAM,[23] the Economic Community of West African States, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and OPEC. It is also a member of the informal MINT group of countries and is one of the Next Eleven economies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria

Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. Incorporated in 2003, it is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 79,332 at the 2020 census. In 2010 and 2019, Rancho Cordova received the All-America City Award.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rancho_Cordova,_California

Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

As a political domain, it successively constituted a province of the Umayyad Caliphate, initiated by the Caliph al-Walid I (711–750); the Emirate of Córdoba (c. 750–929); the Caliphate of Córdoba (929–1031); the first taifa kingdoms (1009–1110); the Almoravid Empire (1085–1145); the second taifa period (1140–1203); the Almohad Caliphate (1147–1238); the third taifa period (1232–1287); and ultimately the Nasrid Emirate of Granada (1238–1492). Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres throughout the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Islamic world. Achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus, including major advances in trigonometry (Jabir ibn Aflah), astronomy (Al-Zarqali), surgery (Al-Zahrawi), pharmacology (Ibn Zuhr),[10] and agronomy (Ibn Bassal and Abū l-Khayr al-Ishbīlī). Al-Andalus became a conduit for cultural and scientific exchange between the Islamic and Christian worlds.[10]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of the Society of Jesus and Their Complementary Norms

https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

EX-MAID: DIANA IS BURIED IN FORMER DOG CEMETERY

By

PUBLISHED: July 7, 1998 at 4:00 a.m. | UPDATED: July 29, 2021 at 9:16 p.m.

LONDON – Princess Diana is buried on land used for years as a pet cemetery and known to the staff at her childhood home as “Dog Island,” a former housekeeper for her family said in an article published on Monday. The leafy Oval Island at Althorp, the Spencer family’s rural estate, was used as a place to bury hunting dogs that belonged to Diana’s grandfather Jack, Maudie P ...

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1998/07/07/ex-maid-diana-is-buried-in-former-dog-cemetery/

Emad El-Din Mohamed Abdel Mena'em "Dodi" Fayed (/ˈfaɪ.ɛd/ FY-ed;[b] 15 April 1955[a] – 31 August 1997) was an Egyptian film producer and the eldest child of the businessman Mohamed Al-Fayed. He was romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, when they both died in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997.

Biography

Early life and education

Fayed was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on 15 April 1955.[a] He was the eldest child of Mohamed Al Fayed (1929–2023), who later became the owner of Harrods department store, Fulham Football Club, and the Hôtel Ritz Paris.[11] Fayed's mother Samira Khashoggi (1935–1986),[12] was a Saudi author.[13] She was a daughter of Muhammad Khashoggi and sister of Saudi billionaire arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. She and her brother were first cousins of the late Washington Post Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was assassinated in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018.[14]

Fayed had four half siblings from his father's second marriage to Heini Wathén: Omar, Camilla, Karim, and Jasmine Fayed.[12][15]

Fayed was a student at Collège Saint Marc in Alexandria before attending the Institut Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland.[16][17] He also briefly attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.[11]

Career

After completing his education, he worked as an attaché at the United Arab Emirates Embassy in London.[17]

Through his family's production company, Allied Stars, Fayed was an executive producer for the films Chariots of Fire, Breaking Glass, F/X and its sequel F/X2, Hook, and The Scarlet Letter, and also as an executive creative consultant for F/X: The Series. He also worked for his father on marketing for Harrods.[2]

Personal life

In 1986, Fayed married model Suzanne Gregard. They divorced eight months later. According to her memoir, Babylon Confidential, Claudia Christian had an on-again, off-again romance with Fayed.[18]

In 1997, Fayed reportedly became engaged to American model Kelly Fisher. With money from his father, he bought a house in Malibu, California, for Fisher and himself.[19]

In July 1997, Fayed became romantically involved with Diana, Princess of Wales, after entertaining her on his yacht Cujo.[20][21] Fisher learned of Fayed's relationship with Diana only after seeing paparazzi photos of the two embracing. Fisher announced that she was filing a breach of contract suit against him, saying he had "led her emotionally all the way up to the altar and abandoned her when they were almost there," and that he "threw her love away in a callous way with no regard for her whatsoever".[22] Fayed denied that he was ever engaged to Fisher.[23] Fisher dropped the lawsuit shortly after Fayed's death.[24]

Death

Main article: Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

Innocent Victims, one of two memorials in Harrods

In the early hours of 31 August 1997, Diana and Fayed died in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma underpass in Paris. They had stopped in Paris en route to London after spending nine days on holiday in the French and Italian Rivieras aboard his family's yacht, the Jonikal. Neither Fayed nor Diana was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.[25] The only survivor of the crash was bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones.

Investigations by French and British police concluded that the chauffeur, Henri Paul, was driving under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs. They also reported that paparazzi chasing the couple were believed to have contributed to the accident.[26][27]

Fayed's father, Mohamed Al-Fayed, said that the couple "were executed by MI6 agents".[28] Fayed's former spokesman, Michael Cole, has said that the couple became engaged before their deaths.[29]

Fayed was originally buried in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking, Surrey, but was re-interred in October 1997 on the grounds of Barrow Green Court, the family estate in Oxted, Surrey.[30][31]

Legacy

Memorial to Diana, Princess of Wales, and Dodi Fayed in Harrods

Fayed's father erected two memorials to his son and Diana at Harrods. The first, unveiled on 12 April 1998, consists of photos of them behind a pyramid-shaped display containing a wine glass smudged with lipstick from Diana's final dinner, and the ring Fayed had purchased for her the day before they died.[32] The second, unveiled in 2005 and titled Innocent Victims, is a 3-metre (9.8-foot) high bronze statue of the two dancing on a beach, beneath the wings of an albatross, a symbol of freedom and eternity.[33]

The memorials were designed by Bill Mitchell, a close friend of Fayed's father who had worked for the Fayed family for more than 40 years, including as a designer at Harrods.[34] Fayed's father sold Harrods in 2010.

In January 2018, the manager of Harrods announced that the statue would be returned to the Al-Fayed family. He noted that Diana's sons William and Harry had commissioned a memorial to be installed at Kensington Palace, which the public could visit.[35]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodi_Fayed

Anubis (/əˈnjuːbɪs/;[3] Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ, romanized: Anoup), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.[4]

Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BC) he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart", in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead. Anubis is one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods in the Egyptian pantheon; however, few major myths involved him.[5]

Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized regeneration, life, the soil of the Nile River, and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming. Anubis is associated with Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dog's head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined.[6] Anubis' female counterpart is Anput. His daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet.

Name

"Anubis" is a Greek rendering of this god's Egyptian name.[7][8] Before the Greeks arrived in Egypt, around the 7th century BC, the god was known as Anpu or Inpu. The root of the name in ancient Egyptian language means "a royal child." Inpu has a root to "inp", which means "to decay." The god was also known as "First of the Westerners," "Lord of the Sacred Land," "He Who is Upon his Sacred Mountain," "Ruler of the Nine Bows," "The Dog who Swallows Millions," "Master of Secrets," "He Who is in the Place of Embalming," and "Foremost of the Divine Booth."[9] The positions that he had were also reflected in the titles he held such as "He Who Is upon His Mountain," "Lord of the Sacred Land," "Foremost of the Westerners," and "He Who Is in the Place of Embalming."[10]

In the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 BC – c. 2181 BC), the standard way of writing his name in hieroglyphs was composed of the sound signs inpw followed by a jackal[a] over a ḥtp sign:[14]

i n

p w C6

A new form with the jackal on a tall stand appeared in the late Old Kingdom and became common thereafter:[14]

i n

p w E16

Anubis' name jnpw was possibly pronounced [aˈna.pʰa(w)], based on Coptic Anoup and the Akkadian transcription ⟨a-na-pa⟩ (𒀀𒈾𒉺) in the name <ri-a-na-pa> "Reanapa" that appears in Amarna letter EA 315.[15][16] However, this transcription may also be interpreted as rˁ-nfr, a name similar to that of Prince Ranefer of the Fourth Dynasty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anubis

2030: The Year of the Metal Dog

In addition to being associated with a zodiac animal, each new lunar year also aligns with one of the five traditional Chinese elements. These elements are known in Chinese as the 五行 (wǔxíng).

While we won’t delve into the details of this aspect of zodiac philosophy due to its complexity, keep in mind that each lunar year consists of a combination of 10 heavenly stems (干 gàn) and 12 earthly branches (支 zhī). These unite to form a system of 60 stem-branch combinations. Each combination is symbolized by one of the five elements (fire, water, wood, metal and earth).

According to this system, 2030 is the Year of the Metal Dog.

For anyone interested in diving deeper into doctrines of Chinese astrology, the internet provides a great database of resources for continued study.

https://studycli.org/chinese-zodiac/year-of-the-dog/

2030-2031 APPARITION CHARACTERISTICS

Another general rule for predicting oppositions of Mars is from the following: the planet has an approximate 15.8-year periodic opposition cycle, which consists of three or four Aphelic oppositions and three consecutive Perihelic oppositions. Perihelic oppositions are also called "favorable" because the Earth and Mars come closest to each other on those occasions. We sometimes refer to this as the seven Martian synodic periods. This cycle is repeated every 79 years (± 4 to 5 days) and, if one were to live long enough, one would see this cycle nearly replicated in approximately 284 years. The 2031 Mars apparition is considered Transitional (between Aphelic and Perihelic) because the orbital longitude at opposition will be 68.4° from the aphelion longitude of 70° Ls and 111.6° Ls from perihelion (250° Ls).

NOTE: Ls is the planetocentric longitude of the Sun along the ecliptic of Mars’ sky. 0° Ls is defined as that point where the Sun crosses the Martian celestial equator from south to north, that is the planet’s northern hemisphere vernal equinox. The other Ls values that define the beginnings of Martian northern hemisphere seasons are: summer, 90° Ls; autumn, 180° Ls; and winter, 270° Ls. For Mars’ southern hemisphere these values represent the opposite seasons. Distance (A.U.) - Distance from Earth to Mars in astronomical units, where one (1) A.U. equals 92,955,807.267 miles or 149,597,870.691 km.

Opposition occurs 11 months after conjunction when Mars is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. At that time, the two planets will lie nearly in a straight line with respect to the Sun, or five weeks after retrogression begins. Opposition will occur at 1157 UT on May 04, 2031 (138.4° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.7 arcsec. Mars will remain visible for more than twelve months after opposition and then become lost in the glare of the Sun around May 31, 2032 as it approaches the next conjunction (July 11, 2032). The cycle is complete in 780 Earth days.

Closest approach occurs at 0350 UT on May 12, 2031 (142.1° Ls) with an apparent planetary disk diameter of 16.9 at a distance of 0.5533578 astronomical units (AU) or 51,437,823 miles (82,781,152 km). During closest approach in 2031 the apparent diameter of Mars will be 2.4 arcsec larger than it was at the same period in 2029; however, it will be 17.1 degrees lower in the sky - not quite as good for observing the Red Planet for observers in the northern hemisphere. It should also be noted that closest approach between Earth and Mars is not necessarily coincident with the time of opposition but varies by as much as two weeks.

https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/2031_MARS.htm

Constantine I[g] (27 February 272 – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity.[h] He played a pivotal role in elevating the status of Christianity in Rome, the Edict of Milan decriminalising Christian practice and ceasing Christian persecution. This was a turning point in the Christianisation of the Roman Empire. He founded the city of Constantinople (now Istanbul) and made it the capital of the Empire, which it remained for over a millennium.

Born in Naissus, a city located in the province of Moesia Superior (now Niš, Serbia), Constantine was the son of Flavius Constantius, a Roman army officer from Moesia Superior, who would become one of the four emperors of the Tetrarchy. His mother, Helena, was a woman of low birth, probably from Bithynia. Later canonised as a saint, she is credited for the conversion of her son in some traditions, though others believe that Constantine converted her. He served with distinction under emperors Diocletian and Galerius. He began his career by campaigning in the eastern provinces against the Persians, before being recalled to the west in AD 305 to fight with his father in the province of Britannia. After his father's death in 306, Constantine was proclaimed as augustus (emperor) by his army at Eboracum (York, England). He eventually emerged victorious in Civil wars of the Tetrarchy against the emperors Maxentius and Licinius to become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire by 324.

Upon his accession, Constantine enacted many reforms to strengthen the empire. He restructured the government, separating civil and military authorities. To combat inflation, he introduced the solidus, a new gold coin that became the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than a thousand years. The Roman army was reorganised to consist of mobile units (comitatenses), often around the emperor, to serve on campaigns against external enemies or Roman rebels, and frontier-garrison troops (limitanei) which were capable of countering barbarian raids, but less and less capable of countering full-scale barbarian invasions. Constantine pursued campaigns against the tribes on the Roman frontiers—such as the Franks, the Alemanni, the Goths, and the Sarmatians—and resettled territories abandoned by his predecessors during the Crisis of the Third Century with citizens of Roman society.

Although Constantine lived much of his life as a pagan and later as a catechumen, he began to favour Christianity beginning in 312, finally becoming a Christian and being baptised by Eusebius of Nicomedia, an Arian bishop, although the Catholic Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church maintain that he was baptised by Pope Sylvester I. He played an influential role in the proclamation of the Edict of Milan in 313, which declared tolerance for Christianity in the Roman Empire. He convoked the First Council of Nicaea in 325 which produced the statement of Christian belief known as the Nicene Creed. On his orders, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built at the site claimed to be the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem and was deemed the holiest place in Christendom. The papal claim to temporal power in the High Middle Ages was based on the fabricated Donation of Constantine. He has historically been referred to as the "First Christian Emperor" but while he did favour the Christian Church, some modern scholars debate his beliefs and even his comprehension of Christianity.[i] He is venerated as a saint in Eastern Christianity, and he did much to push Christianity towards the mainstream of Roman culture.

The age of Constantine marked a distinct epoch in the history of the Roman Empire and a pivotal moment in the evolution from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. He built a new imperial residence in the city of Byzantium, which was officially renamed New Rome, while also taking on the name Constantinople in his honour. It subsequently served as the capital of the empire for more than a thousand years—with the Eastern Roman Empire for most of that period commonly referred to retrospectively as the Byzantine Empire in English. In leaving the empire to his sons and other members of the Constantinian dynasty, Constantine's immediate political legacy was the replacement of Diocletian's Tetrarchy with the principle of dynastic succession. His memory was held in high regard during the lifetime of his children and for centuries after his reign. The medieval church held him up as a paragon of virtue, while secular rulers invoked him as a symbol of imperial legitimacy. The rediscovery of anti-Constantinian sources in the early Renaissance engendered more critical appraisals of his reign, with modern and contemporary scholarship often seeking to balance the extremes of earlier accounts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great

Use of “Camelot” in a sentence

Many historians contrast the perceived elegance and idealism of the “Camelot” era with the political turbulence and social change that marked the late 1960s in the United States.

Despite the tragic end of Kennedy’s presidency, the “Camelot” myth endures, continuing to shape our collective memory of his time in office.

https://politicaldictionary.com/words/camelot/

In 306, the Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus died while campaigning against the Picts beyond Hadrian's Wall. He was succeeded by his son, Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus, known more commonly as Constantine I or Constantine the Great. He was declared emperor in Eboracum, capital of the province of Britannia Secunda, known today as York. Most of the Empire's provinces accepted his rule.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/statue-of-constantine-the-great

British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is a pseudo-historical[1][2] belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descendants" of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel.[3] With roots in the 16th century, British Israelism was inspired by several 19th century English writings such as John Wilson's 1840 Our Israelitish Origin.[4] From the 1870s onward, numerous independent British Israelite organizations were set up throughout the British Empire as well as in the United States; as of the early 21st century, a number of these organizations are still active. In the United States, the idea gave rise to the Christian Identity movement.

The central tenets of British Israelism have been refuted by archaeological,[5] ethnological,[6] genetic,[7]: 181 and linguistic research.[8][9]: 33–34

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Israelism

JAMES II (16 Oct 1430 - 3 Aug 1460) reigned as King of Scots from 1437 on. He was the son of King James I and Joan Beaufort. Nothing is known of his early life, but by his first birthday his twin and only brother, Alexander, who was also the older twin, had died, thus making James the heir apparent and Duke of Rothesay. On 21 February 1437, James I was assassinated and the six-year-old Duke of Rothesay immediately succeeded him as James II. In 1449, nineteen-year-old James married fifteen-year-old Mary of Guelders, daughter of the Duke of Gelderland. She bore him seven children, six of whom survived into adulthood. Subsequently, the relations between Flanders and Scotland improved. James's nickname, Fiery Face, referred to a conspicuous vermilion birthmark on his face which appears to have been deemed by contemporaries an outward sign of a fiery temper.

http://hausegenealogy.com/stuart.html

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, KG, PC, FSA Scot (/bjuːt/; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He became the first Tory to hold the position and was arguably the last important royal favourite in British politics. He was the first prime minister from Scotland following the Acts of Union in 1707. He was also elected as the first president of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland when it was founded in 1780.

Early Life

Family

He was born in Parliament Close, near to St Giles Cathedral on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh on 25 May 1713, the son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, and his wife, Lady Anne Campbell.[1] He attended Eton College from 1724 to 1730.[2] He went on to study civil law at the Universities of Groningen (1730–1732) and Leiden (1732–1734) in the Netherlands,[3][4] graduating from the latter with a degree in civil law.[5]

A close relative of the Clan Campbell (his mother was a daughter of the 1st Duke of Argyll), Bute succeeded to the Earldom of Bute (named after the Isle of Bute) upon the death of his father in 1723. He was brought up thereafter by his maternal uncles, the 2nd Duke of Argyll and Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, 1st and only Earl of Ilay. In August 1735, he eloped with Mary Wortley Montagu, whose parents Sir Edward and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu were slow to consent to the marriage.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stuart,_3rd_Earl_of_Bute

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (1713-1792)

The main influence on the education and early reign of George III, John Stuart, Earl of Bute, was briefly prime minister in the 1760s and quickly became one of the most vilified men in the British world. Burned in effigy (often represented by a jackboot) from London to Virginia, the Scottish Lord Bute was a powerful symbol of pervasive fears that hidden forces behind the throne were bent on corrupting the British constitution.

Bute was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on May 25, 1713, the oldest son of James, 2nd Earl of Bute, and Lady Anne Campbell, the daughter of the 1st Duke of Argyll. He was educated at Eton College and the University of Leiden. In 1737 Bute was elected one of the 16 Scottish representative peers in the House of Lords, but he rarely attended its sessions. He left Scotland for London in 1745 shortly after the outbreak of the Jacobite rebellion. There he became close to Frederick, the Prince of Wales, who was at the center of the political opposition to George II (Frederick's father). After Frederick's death in 1751, Bute became principal tutor to his oldest son, who would become George III.

It would be difficult to overstate Bute's influence on George III. Bute designed the curriculum that shaped the future king's thoughts on history, law, and politics, relying heavily on works such as a manuscript version of William Blackstone's Commentaries on the Laws of England (not published until 1765) and Henry St. John Bolingbroke's The Idea of the Patriot King (1740). Bolingbroke's idealistic and highly flawed work largely ignores the practical challenges posed by the British constitution and its recent history, but it framed George III's perspective on his broader role as king. Bolingbroke stressed that a king's decisions should be guided by the interests of the nation, without regard to the politics of the day, and a king should choose ministers for their moral virtue rather than more mundane characteristics such as their ability to maintain a majority in the House of Commons. Bute's education plan for the future king led to an unsuccessful attempt in 1752 by Horace Walpole and other Whig leaders to have him removed from the position.

Walpole's fears proved well-founded when George III became king on October 25, 1760, and enacted ideas which resulted in an almost complete transformation — and destabilization — of British politics. It took only two days for George III to appoint Bute to the Privy Council; five months later Bute was named Secretary of State for the Northern Department. His rapid elevation caused confusion in the Cabinet, especially among William Pitt and his ministerial colleagues, who were focused on vigorously prosecuting the Seven Years War against France. The growing divide between Pitt and Bute reached a crisis point over strategy against Spain and over the terms of peace with France (the King and Bute wanted a quick end to the conflict, rather than a comprehensive one). Pitt consequently lost his hold over the Cabinet and resigned his office on October 5, 1761. Pitt's successor, the Duke of Newcastle, followed suit on May 26, 1762, over a dispute with the King and the isolationist Bute about whether to continue a subsidy to Prussia. The very next day, the King seized this opportunity and appointed Bute as First Lord of the Treasury and prime minister. Bute's 317 days at the head of the government would be among the most tumultuous of the century and lay much of the groundwork for the constitutional disputes which culminated in the American War for Independence.

Bute was immediately blasted by the London press as a conniving Scot and a Jacobite-leaning Tory who cared nothing for protecting the British constitution and its hard-won victories in the costly war. The Treaty of Paris that ended the Seven Years War was largely Bute's handiwork — and however skillfully negotiated and advantageous it was to Britain in hindsight, at the time it was derided by leaders such as Pitt and quickly turned into a political disaster for Bute. With the enormously popular Pitt now in opposition, the treaty became rich fodder for political writers such as John Wilkes. Wilkes' North Briton was launched specifically to attack Bute and the peace, and its writings helped establish the theme of constitutional corruption that fueled the political fears of radical Whigs in America and Britain. By the spring of 1763, Bute was the most hated man on both sides of the Atlantic and was attacked — often physically — almost everywhere he went. His decision to impose a cider tax in England led to widespread rioting. He also wanted to tax Americans to raise further revenue to pay for a permanent British army presence in the colonies (the Sugar Act and Stamp Act were eventually put forward by Bute's protégé and successor as Prime Minister, George Grenville).

Recognizing that his continuation in office would only make matters worse for the government, Bute resigned on April 8, 1763, and claimed to withdraw from political life. Rumors soon circulated that he remained George III's chief advisor, perhaps more influential out of office than he was in it. Considerable damage was done to British political culture when the rumors turned out to be true. Grenville demanded Bute's removal from the King's court, and the situation sparked rampant speculation that ministerial policies were the product of an unconstitutional conspiracy surrounding the throne. Pitt's return to office in 1766 effectively ended Bute's relationship with the King, although the myth that the constitution was being actively undermined by secret forces would taint transatlantic politics throughout the American Revolution, and Bute would remain a symbol of that corruption in satirical prints through the 1780s.

Except for a trip to Italy, Bute spent his long retirement from public life at his estate in Hampshire and used his considerable wealth to support Scotland's universities, including several endowed chairs at the University of Edinburgh. He also wrote a number of works on botany. One of his sons, Charles Stuart, fought for Britain in the American War for Independence from 1775 to 1779, eventually commanding the 26th Regiment of Foot. Bute died in London on March 10, 1792, and is buried in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.

https://www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/people/view/pp0049

Georgetown University is a private Jesuit research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789,[d] it is the oldest Catholic institution of higher education in the United States, the oldest university in Washington, D.C.,[e] and the nation's first federally chartered university.

The university has eleven undergraduate and graduate schools. Georgetown's main campus is on a hill above the Potomac River and identifiable by Healy Hall, a National Historic Landmark. It is classified among R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity and its undergraduate admissions is considered highly selective. The university offers degree programs in forty-eight disciplines, enrolling an average of 7,500 undergraduate and 10,000 graduate students from more than 135 countries. The school's athletic teams are nicknamed the Hoyas and include a men's basketball team, which is a member of the Big East Conference.

Notable alumni include 32 Rhodes Scholars, 46 Marshall Scholars, 33 Truman Scholars, 543 Fulbright Scholars, 9 living billionaires, 25 U.S. governors, 2 U.S. Supreme Court justices, 2 U.S. presidents, more than 450 members of United States Congress, as well as international royalty and more than a dozen foreign heads of state. Georgetown has educated more U.S. diplomats than any other university, as well as many American politicians and civil servants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University

Tragedy and Hope: A History of the World in Our Time is a work of history written by former Georgetown University professor and historian Carroll Quigley. The book covers the period of roughly 1880 to 1963 and is multidisciplinary in nature though perhaps focusing on the economic problems brought about by the First World War and the impact these had on subsequent events. While global in scope, the book focuses on Western civilization.

The book has attracted the attention of those interested in geopolitics due to Quigley's assertion that a secret society initially led by Cecil Rhodes, Alfred Milner and others had considerable influence over British and American foreign policy in the first half of the twentieth century. From 1909 to 1913, Milner organized the outer ring of this society as the semi-secret Round Table groups.[1]

The book is written based on archived files from the Council on Foreign Relations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_and_Hope

The President William Jefferson Clinton Birthplace Home National Historic Site is located in HOPE, Arkansas.[2] Built in 1917 by Dr. H. S. Garrett, in this house the 42nd president of the United States, Bill Clinton, spent the first four years of his life, having been born on August 19, 1946, at Julia Chester Hospital in HOPE, Arkansas.[3][4] The house was owned by Clinton's maternal grandparents, Edith Grisham and James Eldridge Cassidy, and they cared for him when his mother, Virginia, was away working as an anesthetist in New Orleans.[5]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_William_Jefferson_Clinton_Birthplace_Home_National_Historic_Site

It was while investigating the Little Rock integration incident in 1957 that I first learned of Pike’s rapid advance in Freemasonry, and knowing that Weishaupt, using Thomas Jefferson and Moses Holbrook, had infiltrated Illuminists into the Masonic Lodges of America, I decided I would find out if the fact that Pike’s mansion in Little Rock had thirteen rooms had any significance. “Thirteen’ figures prominently in Satanic, Luciferian and Cabalistic rituals, codes, and writings, etc. My investigations produced documentary evidence to show that, because of Pike’s exceptional mental ability, he came under the notice of professors in Harvard who were members of the Illuminati, who developed in his mind the ‘idea that a One World Government, a One World Religion and a One World financial and economic system was the ONLY solution to the world’s many and varied problems. I next discovered that his departure from Harvard was not due to lack of finances, or because of a misunderstanding with the faculty over tuition fees, but because of his ‘radical’ ideas and teachings. When he returned home determined that he would ‘fight’ his way to the top despite all opposition, he was in a suitable frame of mind to be recruited as a ‘Minerval’ or ‘apprentice’ into the lower degrees of the Illuminati."

Satan Prince of This World

by William Guy Carr

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hw94yTrcRzvZjNQOo8T5_w-jqL8v5IMu/view

Early life and education

Harris's childhood home at 1227 Bancroft Way in Berkeley, August 2020

Kamala Devi Harris[a] was born in Oakland, California,[3] on October 20, 1964.[4] Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan (1938–2009), was a biologist who arrived in the United States from India in 1958 to enroll in graduate school in endocrinology at the University of California, Berkeley. A research career of over 40 years followed, during which her work on the progesterone receptor gene led to advances in breast cancer research.[5] Kamala's father, Donald J. Harris (1938–),[6] is an Afro-Jamaican who immigrated to the United States in 1961 and also enrolled in UC Berkeley, specializing in development economics. The first Black scholar to be granted tenure at Stanford University's economics department, he has emeritus status there.[7] Kamala's parents met in 1962 and married in 1963.[8]

The Harris family lived in Berkeley until they moved in 1966, around Kamala's second birthday. The Harrises lived for a few years in college towns in the MIDWEST where her parents held teaching or research positions:[9] Urbana, Illinois (where her sister Maya was born in 1966); Evanston, Illinois; and Madison, Wisconsin.[b][10][9][11] By 1970, the marriage had faltered, and Shyamala moved back to Berkeley with her two daughters;[12][13][9] the couple divorced when Kamala was seven.[8] In 1972, Donald Harris accepted a position at Stanford University; Kamala and Maya spent weekends at their father's house in Palo Alto and lived at their mother's house in Berkeley during the week.[14] Shyamala was friends with African-American intellectuals and activists in Oakland and Berkeley.[11] In 1976, she accepted a research position at the McGill University School of Medicine, and moved with her daughters to Montreal, Quebec.[15][16] Kamala graduated from Westmount High School on Montreal Island in 1981.[17]

Early career

In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up".[27] In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie BROWN, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.[27] In February 1998, San Francisco district attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney.[28] There, she became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases. In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne.[29] Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign.[30]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1]

He is the father of US Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris and lawyer Maya Harris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Harris

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

Danney Lee Williams Jr. (born December 7, 1985) is a man from Little Rock, Arkansas who claims to be the biological son of Bill Clinton, the former President of the United States.[1] Blood tests ruled out Clinton as the father.[1][2]

Background

Williams was born in 1985 to Danney Williams Sr. and Bobbie Ann Williams.

The story came to notice in the late 1990s when reporting by Newsmax led by celebrity tabloid magazine Star to commission a paternity test prove whether Williams is actually Clinton's biological son.[3] Time magazine cited Star on July 18, 1999 to say that there was no match.[4]

The story was revived in 2016 before the 2016 presidential election and pushed by a number of media outlets including Newsmax, the Drudge Report,[3] as well as WorldNetDaily,[1] and the New York Daily News.[1]

Due to some uncertainties with the original test by Star, Snopes concluded that the claim was unproven.[3] The Washington Post stated that, while the test could not prove Clinton was the father, it did conclusively rule him out as the father.[1]

On October 19, 2016, Williams' lawyers announced their intentions to file a paternity suit to prove that Clinton's DNA matched Williams'.[5] Williams wrote to Monica Lewinsky asking for her dress in order to obtain a sample of Clinton's DNA. However, Lewinsky never replied to Williams.[6] A partial analysis of Clinton's blood, and thus his DNA, was already part of the public record because of the Lewinsky affair investigation.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danney_Williams

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

“Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to). This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

Rosa jesuitica, oder, Jesuitische Rottgesellen (1620) - Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view

The Democratic-Republican Party splintered in 1824 into the short-lived National Republican Party and the Jacksonian movement which in 1828 became the Democratic Party. Under the Jacksonian era, the term "The Democracy" was in use by the party, but the name "Democratic Party" was eventually settled upon[123] and became the official name in 1844.[124] Members of the party are called "Democrats" or "Dems".

The most common mascot symbol for the party has been the donkey, or jackass.[125] Andrew Jackson's enemies twisted his name to "jackass" as a term of ridicule regarding a stupid and stubborn animal. However, the Democrats liked the common-man implications and picked it up too, therefore the image persisted and evolved.[126] Its most lasting impression came from the cartoons of Thomas Nast from 1870 in Harper's Weekly. Cartoonists followed Nast and used the donkey to represent the Democrats and the elephant to represent the Republicans.

In the early 20th century, the traditional symbol of the Democratic Party in Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Ohio was the rooster, as opposed to the Republican eagle.[129] The rooster was also adopted as an official symbol of the national Democratic Party.[130] In 1904, the Alabama Democratic Party chose, as the logo to put on its ballots, a rooster with the motto "White supremacy – For the right."[131] The words "White supremacy" were replaced with "Democrats" in 1966.[132][127] In 1996, the Alabama Democratic Party dropped the rooster, citing racist and white supremacist connotations linked with the symbol.[128] The rooster symbol still appears on Oklahoma, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia ballots.[129] In New York, the Democratic ballot symbol is a five-pointed star.[133]

Although both major political parties (and many minor ones) use the traditional American colors of red, white, and blue in their marketing and representations, since election night 2000 blue has become the identifying color for the Democratic Party while red has become the identifying color for the Republican Party. That night, for the first time all major broadcast television networks used the same color scheme for the electoral map: blue states for Al Gore (Democratic nominee) and red states for George W. Bush (Republican nominee). Since then, the color blue has been widely used by the media to represent the party. This is contrary to common practice outside of the United States where blue is the traditional color of the right and red the color of the left.[134]

In 2025, a new logo was introduced, which incorporates a white donkey facing to the right instead of the left, with three blue stars in the center instead of four, on a blue background. The modified donkey design has been characterized by some as resembling a piñata.[135]

Jefferson-Jackson Day is the annual fundraising event (dinner) held by Democratic Party organizations across the United States.[136] It is named after Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, whom the party regards as its distinguished early leaders.

The song "Happy Days Are Here Again" is the unofficial song of the Democratic Party. It was used prominently when Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated for president at the 1932 Democratic National Convention and remains a sentimental favorite for Democrats. For example, Paul Shaffer played the theme on the Late Show with David Letterman after the Democrats won Congress in 2006. "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac was adopted by Bill Clinton's presidential campaign in 1992 and has endured as a popular Democratic song. The emotionally similar song "Beautiful Day" by the band U2 has also become a favorite theme song for Democratic candidates. John Kerry used the song during his 2004 presidential campaign and several Democratic congressional candidates used it as a celebratory tune in 2006.[137][138]

As a traditional anthem for its presidential nominating convention, Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" is traditionally performed at the beginning of the Democratic National Convention.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party_(United_States)

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.

In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock[1] (/ˈrɑːfiɛl ˈwɔːrnɒk/ RAH-fee-el WOR-nok; born July 23, 1969) is an American politician and Baptist pastor serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Warnock has been the senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church since 2005.[2][3]

Warnock was the senior pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church from 2001 to 2005.[4] He came to prominence in Georgia politics as a leading activist in the campaign to expand Medicaid in the state under the Affordable Care Act. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate special election in Georgia, defeating incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election.[5]

Warnock and Jon Ossoff are the first Democrats elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia since Zell Miller in 2000.[6][7] Their elections were critical in securing a 50–50 Senate majority for Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote.[8] Warnock was a reliable supporter of Joe Biden's legislative efforts during his presidency.[9][10] He was reelected to a full term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Herschel Walker.

Warnock is the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate, the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from a Southern state, and the second black U.S. Senator directly elected from a Southern state, after Tim Scott.[11][12][13]

Early life and education

Warnock was born in Savannah, Georgia, on July 23, 1969.[14] He grew up in public housing as the eleventh of twelve children born to Verlene and Jonathan Warnock, both Pentecostal pastors.[15][16] His father served in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he learned automobile mechanics and welding, and subsequently opened a small car restoration business where he restored junked cars for resale.[17] His mother picked cotton and tobacco in the summers in Waycross, Georgia, as a teenager and became a pastor.[18]

Warnock graduated from Sol C. Johnson High School in 1987,[19] and having wanted to follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr., attended Morehouse College, from which he graduated cum laude in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology.[20][21] He credits his participation in the Upward Bound program for making him college-ready, as he was able to enroll in early college courses through Savannah State University.[19][21] He then earned Master of Divinity, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Union Theological Seminary, a school affiliated with Columbia University.[22][23][17]

Religious work

Warnock with John Lewis at a "Souls to the Polls" event. Warnock later officiated Lewis's funeral at Ebenezer Baptist Church.[24]

Warnock began his ministry as an intern and licentiate at the Sixth Avenue Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama,[25] under the civil rights movement leader John Thomas Porter.[25][26] In the 1990s, he served as youth pastor and then assistant pastor at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York.[27][28] While Warnock was pastor at Abyssinian, the church declined to hire workfare recipients as part of organized opposition to then-mayor Rudy Giuliani's workfare program.[29] The church also hosted Fidel Castro on October 22, 1995, while Warnock was youth pastor. There is no evidence Warnock was involved in that decision. During the 2020–21 United States Senate special election in Georgia, his campaign refused to say whether Warnock attended the event.[30]

In January 2001, Warnock was elected senior pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church in Baltimore, Maryland.[31][32] He and an assistant minister were arrested and charged with obstructing a 2002 police investigation into suspected child abuse at a summer camp run by the church. The police report called Warnock "extremely uncooperative and disruptive". Warnock had demanded that the counselors have lawyers present when being interviewed by police.[33] The charges were later dropped with the deputy state's attorney's acknowledgment that it had been a "miscommunication", adding that Warnock had aided the investigation and that prosecution would be a waste of resources.[34][35] Warnock said he was merely asserting that lawyers should be present during the interviews[36] and that he had intervened to ensure that an adult was present while a juvenile suspect was being questioned.[37] Warnock stepped down as the church's senior pastor in 2005.[4]

On Father's Day 2005, Warnock was named senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, Martin Luther King Jr.'s former congregation;[38] he is the fifth and the youngest person to serve as Ebenezer's senior pastor since its founding.[19][39][40] He has continued in the post while serving in the Senate.[41][42]

As pastor, Warnock advocated for clemency for Troy Davis, who was executed in 2011.[43] In 2013, he delivered the benediction at the public prayer service at the second inauguration of Barack Obama.[44] After Fidel Castro died in 2016, Warnock told his church to pray for the Cuban people, calling Castro's legacy "complex, kind of like America's legacy is complex".[30] In March 2019, Warnock hosted an interfaith meeting on climate change at his church, featuring Al Gore and William Barber II.[45] He presided at Representative John Lewis's funeral at Ebenezer Church in July 2020.[46][24]

On Easter Sunday 2021, Warnock's Twitter account tweeted, "The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are a Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves." Some conservative Christians and political commentators criticized the tweet, including Benjamin Watson, Allie Beth Stuckey, and Jenna Ellis, who called it "heretical". The tweet was deleted that afternoon, with a spokesperson for Warnock saying, "the tweet was posted by staff and was not approved" but declining to say whether it reflected Warnock's beliefs.[47][48]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Warnock

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

What is the Feast of Tabernacles / Booths / Sukkot?

Answer

The Feast of Tabernacles, also known as the Feast of Booths and Sukkot, is the seventh and last feast that the Lord commanded Israel to observe and one of the three feasts that Jews were to observe each year by going to “appear before the Lord your God in the place which He shall choose” (Deuteronomy 16:16). The importance of the Feast of Tabernacles can be seen in how many places it is mentioned in Scripture. In the Bible we see many important events that took place at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. For one thing, it was at this time that Solomon’s Temple was dedicated to the Lord (1 Kings 8:2).

It was at the Feast of Tabernacles that the Israelites, who had returned to rebuild the temple, gathered to celebrate under the leadership of Joshua and Zerubbabel (Ezra 3). Later, the Jews heard Ezra read the Word of God to them during the Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8). Ezra’s preaching resulted in a great revival as the Israelites confessed and repented of their sins. It was also during this Feast that Jesus said, “anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them” (John 7:37–38).

The Feast of Tabernacles takes place on the 15th of the Hebrew month Tishri. This was the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar and usually occurs in late September to mid-October. The feast begins five days after the Day of Atonement and at the time the fall harvest had just been completed. It was a time of joyous celebration as the Israelites celebrated God’s continued provision for them in the current harvest and remembered His provision and protection during the 40 years in the wilderness.

As one of the three feasts that all “native born” male Jews were commanded to participate in, the Feast of Tabernacles is mentioned multiple times in Scripture, sometimes called the Feast of the Ingathering, the Feast to the Lord, or the Feast of Booths (Exodus 23:16; Deuteronomy 16:13). As one of the pilgrim feasts (when Jewish males were commanded to go to Jerusalem), it was also the time when they brought their tithes and offerings to the Temple (Deuteronomy 16:16). With the influx of people coming to Jerusalem at that time, we can only imagine what the scene must have been like. Thousands upon thousands of people coming together to remember and celebrate God’s deliverance and His provision, all living in temporary shelters or booths as part of the requirements of the feast. During the eight-day period, so many sacrifices were made that it required all twenty-four divisions of priests to be present to assist in the sacrificial duties.

We find God’s instructions for celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles in Leviticus 23, given at a point in history right after God had delivered Israel from bondage in Egypt. The feast was to be celebrated each year on “the fifteenth day of this seventh month” and was to run for seven days (Leviticus 23:34). Like all feasts, it begins with a “holy convocation” or Sabbath day when the Israelites were to stop working to set aside the day for worshiping God. On each day of the feast they were to offer an “offering made by fire to the Lord” and then after seven days of feasting, again the eighth day was to be “a holy convocation” when they were to cease from work and offer another sacrifice to God (Leviticus 23). Lasting eight days, the Feast of Tabernacles begins and ends with a Sabbath day of rest. During the eight days of the feast, the Israelites would dwell in booths or tabernacles that were made from the branches of trees (Leviticus 23:40–42).

The Feast of Tabernacles, like all the feasts, was instituted by God as a way of reminding Israelites in every generation of their deliverance by God from Egypt. Of course, the feasts are also significant in that they foreshadow the work and actions of the coming Messiah. Much of Jesus’ public ministry took place in conjunction with the Holy Feasts set forth by God.

The three pilgrim feasts where all Jewish males were commanded to “appear before the Lord in the place he chooses” are each very important in regards to the life of Christ and His work of redemption. We know with certainty that the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are symbolic of Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross. Likewise, we know that Pentecost, which marked the beginning of the Feast of Weeks, was the time of Jesus’ bodily ascension. And most scholars would agree that the Feast of Tabernacles is symbolic of Christ’s second coming when He will establish His earthly kingdom.

There are also some who believe that it was likely during the Feast of Tabernacles that Jesus was born. While we celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25, most scholars acknowledge that this tradition was begun in the fourth century AD by the Roman Catholic Church and that the exact day of Jesus’ birth is unknown. Some of the evidence that Jesus might have been born earlier in the year during the Feast of the Tabernacles includes the fact that it would be unlikely for shepherds to still be in the field with their sheep in December, which is in the middle of the winter, but it would have been likely they were in the fields tending sheep at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. The strong possibility that Jesus was born at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles is also seen in the words John wrote in John 1:14. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (NKJV). The Greek word translated as “dwelt” here is literally the word for “tabernacle”; Jesus “tabernacled“ with us.

Some believe it is very likely that John intentionally used this word to associate the first coming of Christ with the Feast of Tabernacles. Christ came in the flesh to dwell among us for a temporary time when He was born in the manger, and He is coming again to dwell among us as Lord of Lords. While it cannot be established with certainty that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles, some believe there is a strong possibility the Feast of Tabernacles not only looks forward to His second coming but also reflects back on His first coming.

The Feast of Tabernacles begins and ends with a special Sabbath day of rest. During the days of the feast, all Israelites were to dwell in booths to remind them that God had delivered them out of the land of Egypt, and to look forward to the coming Messiah who would deliver His people from the bondage of sin. This feast, like all of the feasts of Israel, consistently reminded the Jews of God’s provision, protection, and lovingkindness. As we study the feasts today, we should let them remind us of God’s faithfulness and care. Jesus has accomplished so much for us—He is our all in all—and He has promised to come again. We long for the Promised Land (heaven) and to see our Savior face to face. Our hearts long for the time when our redemption will be complete and Jesus Christ once again “tabernacles” among us.

https://www.gotquestions.org/Feast-of-Tabernacles.html

Revelation 12:9-18

1599 Geneva Bible

9 And the great dragon that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, was cast out, which deceiveth all the world: he was even cast into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, [a]Now is salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

11 But they overcame him by that blood of that Lamb, and by that word of their testimony, and they [b]loved not their lives unto the death.

12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea: for the devil is come down unto you, which hath great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.

13 And when [c]the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which had brought forth the man child.

14 [d]But to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her [e]place where she is nourished for a [f]time, and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

15 [g]And the serpent cast out of his mouth water after the woman, like a flood, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood,

16 [h]But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had cast out of his mouth.

17 [i]Then the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went and made war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

18 [j]And I stood on the sea sand.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 12:10 The song of victory or triumph containing first, a proposition of the glory of God and of Christ showed in that victory: secondly, it containeth a reason of the same proposition taken from the effects, as that the enemy is overcome in battle in this verse, and that the godly are made conquerors (and more than conquerors, Rom. 8:37) verse 11. Thirdly, a conclusion wherein is an exhortation unto the Angels, and the Saints, and unto the world, a prophecy of great misery, and of destruction procured by the devil against mankind, lest himself should shortly be miserable alone, verse 12.

Revelation 12:11 He is said in the Hebrew tongue, to love his life that esteemeth nothing more precious than his life: and on the other side, he is said not to love his life, who doubteth not to hazard it, wheresoever need requireth.

Revelation 12:13 The third part: an history of the woman delivered, consisting of two members, the second battle of Satan against the Christian Church of the Jewish nation, in four verses: and the battle intended against the seed thereof, that is against the Church of the Gentiles, which is called holy, by reason of the Gospel of Christ in the two last verses.

Revelation 12:14 That is, being strengthened with divine power: and taught by oracle, she fled swiftly from the assault of the devil, and from the common destruction of Jerusalem, and went into a solitary City beyond Jordan called Pella, as Eusebius telleth in the first Chapter of the third book of his Ecclesiastical history, which place God had commanded her by Revelation.

Revelation 12:14 Into that place where God had appointed her.

Revelation 12:14 That is, for three years and a half: so the same speech is taken, Dan. 7:15. This space of time is reckoned in manner from that last and most grievous rebellion of the Jews, unto the destruction of the city and Temple, for their destrution or falling away, began in the twelfth year of Nero, before the beginning whereof, many foresigns and predictions were showed from heaven, as Josephus writeth, lib. 7, chap. 12, and Hegesippus, lib. 5, chap. 44, amongst which this is very memorable, that in the feast of Pentecost, not only a great sound and noise was heard in the Temple, but also a great voice was heard of many out of the Sanctuary which cried out to all, Let us depart hence. Now three years and a half after this defection was begun of the Jews, and those wonders happened, the City was taken by force, the Temple overthrown, and the place forsaken of God: and this compass of time Saint John noted in this place.

Revelation 12:15 That is, he inflamed the Romans and the nations, that they persecuting the Jewish people with cruel arms might by the same occasion invade the Church of Christ, now departed from Jerusalem and out of Judea. For it is an usual thing in Scripture that the raging tumults of the nations, should be compared unto waters.

Revelation 12:16 That is, there was offered in their place other Jews, unto the Romans and nations raging against that people: and it came to pass thereby that the Church of God was saved whole from that violence, that most raging flood of persecution which the Dragon vomited out being altogether spent in the destruction of those other Jews.

Revelation 12:17 Being set on fire by this means, he began to be more mad, and because he perceived that his purpose against the Christian Church of the Jewish remnant was come to nought, he resolved to fall upon her seed, that is, the Church gathered also by God of the Gentiles, and the holy members of the same. And this is that other branch, as I said upon verse 13, in which the purpose of Satan is showed, verse 17, and his attempt, verse 18.

Revelation 12:18 That is, a most mighty tempest, that he rushed upon the whole world (whose prince he is) to raise the floods and provoke the nations, that they might with their furious bellows toss up and down, drive here and there, and finally destroy the Church of Christ with the holy members of the same. But the providence of God resisted his attempt, that he might favor the Church of the Gentiles, yet tender and as it were green. The rest of the story of the Dragon is excellently prosecuted by the Apostle S. John hereafter in the twentieth chapter. For here the Dragon endeavoring to do mischief, was by God cast into prison.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2012%3A9-18&version=GNV

Pope Martin V (Latin: Martinus V; Italian: Martino V; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Oddone Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431.[1] His election effectively ended the Western Schism of 1378–1417.[not verified in body] As of 2025, he remains the last pope to have taken the pontifical name "Martin".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Martin_V

Pope Nicholas V (Latin: Nicolaus V; Italian: Niccolò V; 15 November 1397 – 24 March 1455),[1] born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455.[2] Pope Eugene IV made him a cardinal in 1446 after successful trips to Italy and Germany, and when Eugene died the next year, Parentucelli was elected in his place. He took his name Nicholas in memory of his obligations to Niccolò Albergati. He remains the most recent pope to take the pontifical name "Nicholas".

The pontificate of Nicholas saw the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks and the end of the Hundred Years' War. He responded by calling a crusade against the Ottomans, which never materialized. By the Concordat of Vienna he secured the recognition of papal rights over bishoprics and benefices. He also brought about the submission of the last of the antipopes, Felix V, and the dissolution of the Synod of Basel. A key figure in the Roman Renaissance, Nicholas sought to make Rome the home of literature and art. He strengthened fortifications, restored aqueducts, and rebuilt many churches. He ordered design plans for what would eventually be the Basilica of St. Peter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Nicholas_V

Pope Alexander VI (Italian: Alessandro VI, Valencian: Alexandre VI, Spanish: Alejandro VI; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja;[Note 2] epithet: Valentinus ("The Valencian");[6] c. 1431 – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death in 1503.

Born into the prominent Borja family in Xàtiva in the Kingdom of Valencia under the Crown of Aragon, he was known as Roderic de Borja, and he is commonly referred to by the Italianized form as Rodrigo Borgia. He studied law at the University of Bologna. He was ordained deacon and made a cardinal in 1456 after the election of his uncle as Pope Callixtus III, and a year later he became vice-chancellor of the Catholic Church. He proceeded to serve in the Roman Curia under the next four popes, acquiring significant influence and wealth in the process. In 1492, Rodrigo was elected pope, taking the name Alexander VI.

Alexander's papal bulls of 1493 confirmed or reconfirmed the rights of the Spanish crown in the New World following the finds of Christopher Columbus in 1492. During the second Italian war, Alexander VI supported his son Cesare Borgia as a condottiero for the French king. The scope of his foreign policy was to gain the most advantageous terms for his family.[7][8]

Alexander is one of the most controversial of the Renaissance popes, partly because he acknowledged fathering several children by his mistresses. As a result, his Italianized Valencian surname, Borgia, became a byword for libertinism and nepotism, which are traditionally considered as characterizing his pontificate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VI

Pope Leo X (r. 1513–1521) decided to complete the construction of the new St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. As the sale of certificates of indulgences had been a well-established method of papal fund raising, he announced new indulgences in the papal bull Sacrosanctis in 1515. On the advice of the banker Jakob Fugger (d. 1525), he appointed the pluralist prelate Albert of Brandenburg (d. 1545) to supervise the sale campaign in Germany.[note 22] The Dominican friar Johann Tetzel (d. 1519), a leading figure in the campaign, applied unusually aggressive marketing methods. A slogan attributed to him famously claimed that "As soon as the coin into the box rings, a soul from purgatory to heaven springs".[110][111] Frederick the Wise, Prince-elector of Saxony (r. 1486–1525) forbade the campaign because the Sacrosanctis suspended the sale of previous indulgences, depriving him of revenues that he had spent on his collection of relics.[note 23][94]

The campaign's vulgarity shocked many serious-minded believers,[94] among them Martin Luther, a theology professor at the University of Wittenberg in Saxony.[111][113] Born into a middle-class family, Luther entered an Augustinian monastery after a heavy thunderstorm dreadfully reminded him the risk of sudden death and eternal damnation, but his anxiety about his sinfulness did not abate.[114] His studies on the works of the Late Roman theologian Augustine of Hippo (d. 430) convinced him that those whom God chose as his elect received a gift of faith independently of their acts.[115] He first denounced the idea of justification through human efforts in his Disputatio contra scholasticam theologiam ('Disputation against Scholastic Theology') in September 1517.[116]

On 31 October 1517, Luther addressed a letter to Albert of Brandenburg, stating that the clerics preaching the St. Peter's indulgences were deceiving the faithful, and attached his Ninety-five Theses to it. He questioned the efficacy of indulgences for the dead, although also stated "If ... indulgences were preached according to the spirit and intention of the pope, all ... doubts would be readily resolved".[117] Archbishop Albert ordered the theologians at the University of Mainz to examine the document. Tetzel, and the theologians Konrad Wimpina (d. 1531) and Johann Eck (d. 1543) were the first to associate some of Luther's propositions with Hussitism. The case was soon forwarded to the Roman Curia for judgement.[118] Pope Leo remained uninterested, and mentioned the case as "a quarrel among friars".[111][119]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reformation

416 Finally, those means that are proposed by our holy father Saint Ignatius in Part X of the Constitutions for the preservation and development not only of the body or exterior of the Society but also of its spirit, and for the attainment of the objective it seeks, which is to aid souls to reach their ultimate and supernatural end, [10] are to be observed eagerly and diligently by all, with a truly personal sense of responsibility for its increase and development, for the praise and service of our God and Lord Jesus Christ, and the help of souls.[11]

L. D. S. 

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

Francis Borgia SJ (Valencian: Francesc de Borja; Spanish: Francisco de Borja; 28 October 1510 – 30 September 1572) was a Spanish Jesuit priest. The great-grandson of both Pope Alexander VI and King Ferdinand II of Aragon, he was Duke of Gandía and a grandee of Spain. After the death of his wife, Borgia renounced his titles and became a priest in the Society of Jesus, later serving as its third superior general. He was canonized on 20 June 1670 by Pope Clement X.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Borgia

Borja (Borgia)

Spanish: habitational name from a place in Zaragoza province named from Arabic burj ‘tower’. See also Borgia .

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=borja

One World Trade Center, also known as One WTC and erroneously as the Freedom Tower,[note 1] is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh-tallest in the world. The supertall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre (6.5 ha) World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. It is bounded by West Street to the west, Vesey Street to the north, Fulton Street to the south, and Washington Street to the east.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_World_Trade_Center

AFA-27 [recorded 03/15/87] | The CIA, the Military & Drugs Part IV

Developing a line of inquiry presented in the preceding broadcast, this program focuses on narco-terrorism in Latin America. Particular emphasis is on intelligence-related elements that figured in the Iran-Contra scandal, anti-Castro Cubans in particular. Much of the discussion centers on activities that took place when George Bush was in charge of the CIA.

After reviewing the Latin American narcotics network of Corsican gangster and Third Reich collaborator Auguste Ricord, the broadcast focuses on the role of Ricord associate Klaus Barbie in the 1980 “Cocaine Coup” in Bolivia. The Gestapo chief of Lyons (France) during the war, Barbie found post-war employment with American intelligence, first with the Army’s Counter Intelligence Corps, and later with the CIA.

With the aid of elements of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon, Barbie and a group of fascist terrorists associated with the narcotics trade overthrew the Bolivian government and established a dictatorship under General Garcia-Meza. Under this regime, the business of cocaine kingpin Roberto Suarez thrived, aided by Barbie and his “bridegrooms of death.” Doubling as para-fascist terrorists and enforcers for the government, Barbie and his cutthroats aided the bloody suppression of trade unions and the political left in the coup’s aftermath.

Barbie’s cocaine mercenaries included some interesting individuals. German-born Joachim Fiebelkorn (a neo-Nazi and informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency) was joined with Italian fascists, such as Pierluigi Pagliai (a member of the infamous P‑2 lodge discussed in AFAs 18,19) and the notorious fascist Stefano Delle Chiaie, a principal architect of the “strategy of tension.”

The strategy of tension (a major focal point of AFA-19) was an out-cropping of what Danish journalist Henrik Kruger termed “the International Fascista.” (Kruger is the author of The Great Heroin Coup: Drugs, Intelligence and International Fascism, published in softcover by the South End Press of Boston, copyright 1980. Mr. Emory views the work as the best individual volume ever written on the subject of the intelligence community and the narcotics trade.) A consortium of fascists in Europe and Latin America, International Fascista included numerous Latin death squad elements, elements of U.S. intelligence and the Paladin mercenary group (funded by Libyan dictator Khadafy, as well as the weapons empire of SS officer and sometime CIA operative Otto Skorzeny.) A principal figure in the postwar ODESSA organization, Skorzeny is discussed at considerable length in AFA-22.

One of the major cogs of the International Fascista was CORU, arguably the most militant and deadly of the anti-Castro Cuban organizations. CORU was involved in a string of bombings, assassinations and terrorist attacks in the mid 1970’s, including the 1976 assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington D.C. CORU’s reign of terror took place when George Bush was director of the CIA, and an element of the agency appears to have been involved with it.

Program Highlights Include: “Operation Condor” (an international assassination consortium of Latin American dictatorships); a number of assassinations and attempted assassinations conducted under “Condor;” Argentine fascist and P‑2 lodge member Jose Lopez Rega; Italian fascist and Skorzeny associate Prince Justo Valerio Borghese; former Goebbels Propaganda Ministry official Gerhard Hartmut Von Schubert (the operating manager of the Paladin group); Paladin’s overlap with Spanish intelligence and the CIA; Operation Condor’s attempts at disguising its acts as left-wing terror; the position of the World Anti-Communist League in the milieu set forth in this broadcast

For more related content, please visit:

http://ourhiddenhistory.org/

https://archive.org/details/@altviewstv-fanclub

https://rumble.com/v4e2vto-dave-emory-anti-fascist-archives-27-the-cia-the-military-and-drugs-part-4-o.html

Pope Paul V (Latin: Paulus V; Italian: Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death, in January 1621. In 1611, he honored Galileo Galilei as a member of the papal Accademia dei Lincei and supported his discoveries.[2] In 1616, Pope Paul V instructed Cardinal Robert Bellarmine to inform Galileo that the Copernican theory could not be taught as fact, but Bellarmine's certificate allowed Galileo to continue his studies in search for evidence and use the geocentric model as a theoretical device. That same year Paul V assured Galileo that he was safe from persecution so long as he, the Pope, should live. Bellarmine's certificate was used by Galileo for his defense at the trial of 1633.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_V

Borghese

Recorded in many forms including Bourges, Bourgaize, Bourgeois, (France), Burgess, Burges and Burgis (England and Scotland), Borghese, Borgesio and Burgisi (Italy), and others, this interesting surname is of pre 8th century Old French origins. It derives from the word "burgeis", meaning inhabitant and FREEMAN of a fortified town, one which could apply municipal rates, taxes, and duties. A burgeis generally had tenure of land or buildings from a landlord by "burgage", which involved the payment of a fixed money rent. In Scotland, the position of burgess required not only the making of payments, but to be availble to take part in guarding the town. The surname is one of the earliest recorded anywhere in the world. These recordings are from England because this country was the first to adopt both hereditary surnames and to make the necessary registers in which to record them. France was several centuries later, and Italy, not until the 19th century in most areas. Early recordings showing the influence of the Norman-French in England after the Invasion of 1066 include: Ralph le Burgeis, in the Pipe Rolls of the county of Sussex in 1195, and Philip Bourges in the cartulary of Oseney Abbey, Oxford in 1197. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Geoffrey Burgeis, which was dated 1115, in the "Winton Rolls" of Hampshire. This was during the reign of King Henry 1st, known as "The Lion of Justice", 1100 - 1135. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. Over the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop", often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

https://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Borghese

Facade of St Peter's

Designed by Carlo Maderno (1608-1614) The inscription (1m letters) states:

"Paul V Borghese, Roman, Pontiff, in 1612, the seventh of his pontificate, [built] in honour of the Prince of Apostles

On February 10, 1608 the first stone of the Facade was laid and on July 21, 1612 most of the work was completed. It took another two years for the ornamentation, and the basilica was finally consecrated by Urban VIII on November 18, 1926.

From the central balcony, called the Loggia of the Blessings, the new pope is announced with "Habemus Papum", and gives the Urbi et Orbi blessing (to the city and to the world) upon his election and at Christmas and Easter. The relief under the balcony, by Buonvicino, represents Christ giving the keys to St. Peter. The facade is 114.69 metres (376.3 ft) wide and 45.55 metres (149.4 ft) high and is built of travertine.

Above the basic structure is an attic, with eight square windows decorated with small pilasters, surmounted by a balustrade and 13 statues in travertine. The statues on the balustrade represent Christ the Redeemer (19 feet high), St. John the Baptist and 11 Apostles. St. Mathias is included because he is associated with the other "Eleven" in bearing witness to Christ's Resurrection. St Peter is not included because his statue is below in the Square.

When Carlo Maderno started to build the facade, he was bound to the already existing Michelangelo's wings. He just put the attic all around the building, as planned by Michelangelo. That creation looks mighty and dynamic along the west side of the Basilica but is disharmonious in the facade. For this reason, at the far sides of the facade, Maderno planned two bell towers which lightened and soared the building. In 1621, at the death of Paul V, the ground subsided and the building of the two bell towers had to be stopped.

In 1646, Bernini tried to erect the bell towers again, but had to demolish the left-hand side bell tower because of cracks in the facade. Only the bases of the bell towers remain, two archways at the sides of the facade that seem to form part of it while they should have been separated. This was remedied in 1790 by the installation of two clocks designed by Giuseppe Valadier.

The eight gigantic columns of the facade are almost 10ft wide and 90 feet high.

The restoration of the facade and the 13 statues, begun in April 1985, was concluded on November 30, 1986. The original copper cross (1613) in the arms of the statue of the Redeemer, which was replaced by a new one during the work, was given to the Knights of Columbus in recognition of their support for the restoration.

Sources:

Dom Basil Watkins, OSB (ed.), The Book of Saints, 2002

A. Sperandino, Works On The Facade of St Peter's Basilica, 1989

https://www.stpetersbasilica.info/Exterior/Facade/Facade.htm

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

The Battle of Tora Bora was a military engagement that took place in the cave complex of Tora Bora, eastern Afghanistan, from November 30 – December 17, 2001, during the final stages of the United States invasion of Afghanistan. It was launched by the United States and its allies with the objective to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of the militant organization al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda and bin Laden were suspected of being responsible for the September 11 attacks three months prior. Tora Bora (Pashto: تورا بورا; Black Cave) is located in the Spīn Ghar mountain range near the Khyber Pass. The U.S. stated that al-Qaeda had its headquarters there and that it was bin Laden's location at the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tora_Bora

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

Early life

A portrait of Martin Luther in 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Her father sent then five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

Trump, Vance meet with Pope Leo's Florida brother, 'a major MAGA fan', at White House

Kim Luciani

USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

May 22, 2025, 12:58 p.m. ET

Key Points AI-assisted summary

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's brother, Louis Prevost, at the White House.

Trump publicly praised Prevost, a Florida resident, for being a "major MAGA fan."

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2025/05/22/trump-pope-leo-florida-maga-brother-louis-prevost-white-house-visit/83773944007/

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

The Assyrian Church of the East considers itself as the continuation of the Church of the East, a church that originally developed among the Assyrians during the first century AD in Assyria, Upper Mesopotamia and northwestern Persia, east of the Byzantine Empire. It is an apostolic church established by Thomas the Apostle, Addai of Edessa, and Bartholomew the Apostle.

The distinction between the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church resulted from the series of complex processes and events that occurred within the Church of the East during the transitional period that started in the middle of the 16th century, and lasted until the beginning of the 19th century.[14] That turbulent period was marked by several consequent splits and mergers, resulting in the creation of separate branches and rival patriarchal lines. During the entire period, one of the main questions of dispute was the union with the Catholic Church. Ultimately, the pro-Catholic branches were consolidated as the Chaldean Catholic Church, while the traditional branches were consolidated as the Assyrian Church of the East.[15]

Schisms and branches

Main articles: Church of the East and Schism of 1552

Mar Toma church near Urmia, Iran

During the patriarchal tenure of Shemon VII Ishoyahb (1539–1558), who resided in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery near Alqosh, an internal dissent occurred over several issues, including the question of hereditary succession to the patriarchal throne, and the question of union with the Catholic Church. By that time, Franciscan missionaries had already gained some influence over several local communities,[16] and they took an active role in organizing the opposition to the patriarch at that time. By the end of 1552, a pro-Catholic party had been organized in Mosul under the leadership of the priest Yohannan Sulaqa,[17] who decided to legitimize his position by traveling to Rome and seeking confirmation by Pope Julius III (1550–1555).[18]

Receiving support from the Franciscan missionaries, he arrived in Rome and entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in February 1553. At that point, officials of the Roman Curia were given incorrect information that the elderly Patriarch Shemon VII had actually died. After some deliberation, the Roman pope decided to appoint Yohannan Sulaqa as "Patriarch of Babylon" and named the breakaway church as 'The Church of Assyria and Mosul" in April 1553.[19]

Upon consecration, Yohannan Sulaqa took the name Shimun and by the end of the year he returned to his homeland. He started to organize the pro-Catholic party by appointing several metropolitans and bishops.[18]

The senior Eliya line of Alqosh

Further information: Numeration of the Eliya line patriarchs

Union with Rome was actively opposed by Patriarch Shemon VII Ishoyahb, who continued to reside in the Rabban Hormizd Monastery near the ancient Assyrian town of Alqosh. He was succeeded by his nephew Eliya (1558–1591), who was designated as Eliya "VII" in older historiography,[20][21] but renumbered as Eliya "VI" in recent scholarly works.[22][23][24] The same renumbering was applied to his successors, who all took the same name thus creating the Eliya line. During his patriarchal rule, the Eliya line preserved its traditional christology and full ecclesiastical independence.[25] His successor was Patriarch Eliya VII (VIII) (1591–1617), who negotiated on several occasions with the Catholic Church, in 1605 and 1610, and again in 1615–1616, but without any conclusion.[26] Further negotiations were abandoned by the next Patriarch Eliya VIII (IX) (1617–1660).[27] David Wilmshurst noted that his successor, Patriarch Eliya IX (X) (1660–1700) also was a "vigorous defender of the traditional faith".[28]

The Eliya line of traditionalist patriarchs continued throughout the entire 18th century, residing in the ancient Monastery of Rabban Hormizd, which was eventually attacked and looted by muslim Turks in 1743, at the beginning of the Ottoman–Persian War (1743–1746).[29] Faced with a centuries-old rivalry and frequent conflicts between two mighty Islamic empires (Ottoman and Persian), all Christian communities in the bordering regions were constantly exposed to danger – and not only in the times of war, since local, mainly Kurdish, warlords were accustomed to attacking Assyrian and Armenian Christian communities and monasteries and taking their land, often with Ottoman support. Patriarchs Eliya X (XI) (1700–1722) and Eliya XI (XII) (1722–1778) tried to improve the increasingly worsening position of their Christian flock by staying loyal to Ottoman authorities, but the local administration was frequently unable to provide effective protection.[30] The Eliya line of traditionalist patriarchs ended in 1804 with the death of Eliya XII (XIII) (1778–1804).[31][24]

The junior Shimun line of Qochanis

During the second half of the 16th century, traditionalist patriarchs of the Eliya line were faced with the continuous presence of the pro-Catholic movement, led by successors of Shimun VIII Yohannan Sulaqa. After his death in 1555, the newly established line of patriarchs who were united with the Catholic Church was continued by Abdisho IV Maron (1555–1570), who remained in full communion with the Catholic Church. He visited Rome and was officially confirmed by the Pope of Rome in 1562.[32] Soon after his death, connections with Rome were weakened for the first time during the tenure of Patriarch Yahballaha IV who did not seek confirmation from the pope.[33] That interlude was ended by his successor Shimun IX Dinkha (1580–1600) who restored full communion with the Catholic Church, and was officially confirmed by the Pope of Rome in 1584.[34]

After his death, the patriarchal office was made hereditary, and patriarchs of this line continued to use the name Shimun, thus creating the Shimun line. Hereditary succession was not acceptable to Rome, and during the tenure of the next Patriarch Shimun X Eliyah (1600–1638) ties with the Catholic Church were loosened again. In 1616, Shimun X signed a traditional profession of faith that was not accepted by the Roman pope, leaving the patriarch without Rome's confirmation.[35] His successor Shimun XI Eshuyow (1638–1656) restored communion with the Catholic Church as late as 1653, eventually receiving confirmation from the pope.[28] By that time, the movement towards full commitment to the traditional faith was constantly growing stronger within the Shimun line. When the next Patriarch Shimun XII Yoalaha decided to send his profession of faith to the pope, he was deposed by his bishops because of his pro-Catholic attitude. The pope tried to intervene on his behalf, but without success.[28]

Final resolution of conflicts within the Shimun line occurred under the next Patriarch Shimun XIII Dinkha (1662–1700), who definitively broke communion with the Catholic Church. In 1670, he gave a traditionalist reply to an approach that was made from the Roman pope, and by 1672 all connections with the Catholic Church were terminated.[36][37] At the same time, Patriarch Shimun XIII moved his seat from Amid to Qochanis. After the final return to the traditional faith, patriarchs of the Shimun line decided to keep their independence and after that time there were two independent lines of traditional patriarchs: the senior Eliya line in Alqosh and the junior Shimun line in Qochanis.[38]

Such division was additionally caused by the complex structure of local Assyrian communities, traditionally organized as tribal confederations with each tribe being headed by a local lord (malik), while each malik was ultimately subject to the patriarch, who mediated between Christian Assyrians and the Ottoman authorities.[39]

Consolidation of remaining branches

Mar Elias (Eliya), the Nestorian bishop of the Urmia Plain village of Geogtapa, c. 1831. The image comes from A Residence of Eight Years in Persia Among the Nestorians, with Notes of the Mohammedans by Justin Perkins (Andover, 1843).

In 1780, at the beginning of the patriarchal tenure of Eliya XII (XIII) (1778–1804), a group seceded from the Eliya line in Alqosh and elected Yohannan Hormizd, who entered full communion with the Catholic Church and was officially appointed Archbishop of Mosul and patriarchal administrator of the Chaldean Catholic Church, in 1783. Only after the death in 1827 of the last representative of the Josephite line, Joseph V Augustine Hindi, was Yohannan recognized as the Chaldean Catholic patriarch by the pope, in 1830. By this official appointment, the final merger of various factions committed to the union with the Catholic Church was achieved, thus forming the modern Chaldean Catholic Church.

At the same time, the long coexistence and rivalry between two traditionalist patriarchal branches — the senior Eliya line of Alqosh and the junior Shimun line of Qochanis — ended in 1804 when the last primate of the Eliya line, Patriarch Eliya XII (XIII) died and was buried in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery. His branch decided not to elect a new patriarch, thus enabling the remaining patriarch Shimun XVI Yohannan (1780–1820) of the Shimun line to become the sole primate of both Assyrian traditionalist branches.[40][41][38] Consolidated after 1804, the reunited traditionalist church led by patriarchs of the Shimun line became widely known as the "Assyrian Church of the East". Still based in Qodchanis, Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVI Yohannan was not able to secure control over the traditional seat of the former Eliya line in the ancient Rabban Hormizd Monastery; and around 1808 that venerated monastic institution passed to the Chaldean Catholics.[42]

The next Assyrian Patriarch Shimun XVII Abraham (1820–1861) also governed his church from Qodshanis. During years marked by political turbulence, he tried to maintain good relations with the local Ottoman authorities. In 1843, he was faced with renewed hostilities from Kurdish warlords, who attacked and looted many Christian villages, killing 10,000 Christian men and taking away women and children as captives. The patriarch himself was forced to take temporary refuge in Mosul.[43] He was succeeded by Patriarch Shimun XVIII Rubil (1861–1903) who also resided in Qodshanis. In 1869, he received an open invitation from the Vatican to visit Rome to attend the First Vatican Council as an observer, but he did not accept the invitation,[44] In following years, he also rejected other initiatives for union with the Catholic Church.[45]

Early 20th century Assyrian archbishop and servants

By the end of the 19th century, the Assyrian Church of the East consolidated itself as the sole representative of all traditionalist Assyrians. It also managed to secure a certain level of autonomy within the highly complex system of Ottoman local governance in the bordering regions.[46] On several occasions, Assyrian patriarchs refused to enter communion with the Catholic Church or merge with the Chaldean Catholic Church.[38] On the other hand, by the end of the 19th century some of its communities were converted to Protestantism by various western missionaries,[47] while other communities were drawn to Eastern Orthodoxy. That movement was led by Assyrian Bishop Mar Yonan of Supurghan in the region of Urmia who converted to Eastern Orthodoxy in 1898, through the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Urmia.[48]

20th and 21st Centuries

St. Mary Assyrian Church in Moscow. In spite of both ethnic and religious persecution and a serious decline in membership since its height around the fourth century, the Assyrian Church of the East has survived into the 21st century.

Among all the tragedies and schisms which thinned the church out, no other was as severe as the Assyrian genocide. At that point the Assyrian Church of the East was based in the mountains of Hakkari, as it had been since 1681. In 1915, The Young Turks invaded the region — despite the Assyrians' plea of neutrality during the Caucasus campaign by Russia and their Armenian allies — out of fear of an Assyrian independence movement. In response to this, Assyrians of all denominations (the Assyrian Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Syriac Orthodox Church and Assyrian Protestants) entered into a war of independence and allied themselves with the United Kingdom, the Russian Empire and the Armenians against the Ottomans and their Islamic Kurdish, Iranian and Arab allies.[49]

Despite the odds, the Assyrians fought successfully against the Ottomans and their allies for three years throughout southeastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria. Eventually, however, they were abandoned by their allies, the Russian Empire and the First Republic of Armenia, due to the Russian Revolution and the collapse of the Armenian defense, leaving the Assyrians vastly outnumbered, surrounded, and cut off from supplies of ammunition and food. During this period, their See at Qodchanis was completely destroyed and the Turks and their Islamic allies massacred all of the Assyrians in the Hakkari Mountains.[50]

Those who survived fled into Iran with what remained of the Assyrian defense under Agha Petros, but they were pursued into Iranian territory despite the fact they were fleeing. Later, in 1918, after the murder of their de facto leader and Patriarch Shimun XIX Benyamin and 150 of his followers during a negotiation, fearing further massacres at the hands of the Turks and Kurds, most of the survivors fled by train from Iran into what was to become Iraq. They sought protection under the British mandate there, and joined the already existing indigenous Assyrian communities of both Eastern Orthodox and Catholic rites in the north, where they formed communities in Baghdad, Basra, and other areas.[50]

Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai

Main article: Shimun XXI Eshai

In the aftermath of World War I, the British-educated Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai, born into the line of patriarchs at Qodchanis, had agitated for an independent Assyrian state. Following the end of the British mandate in 1933[50] and a massacre of Assyrian civilians at Simele by the Iraqi Army, the patriarch was forced to take refuge in Cyprus.[51] There, Shimun petitioned the League of Nations regarding his people's fate, but to little avail, and he was consequently barred from entering Syria and Iraq. He traveled through Europe before moving to Chicago in 1940 to join the growing Assyrian diaspora community there.[51]

Due to the church's and the general Assyrian community's disorganized state as a result of the conflicts of the 20th century, Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai was forced to reorganize the church's structure in the United States. He transferred his residence to San Francisco in 1954, and was able to travel to Iran, Lebanon, Kuwait, and India, where he worked to strengthen the church.[52]

In 1964, the patriarch decreed a number of changes to the church, including liturgical reform, the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, and the shortening of Lent. These changes, combined with Shimun's long absence from Iraq, caused a rift in the community there, which led to another schism. In 1968, traditionalists within the church elected Thoma Darmo as a rival patriarch to Shimun XXI Eshai, forming the independent Ancient Church of the East, based in Baghdad, Iraq.[53]

In 1972, Shimun decided to step down as patriarch, and the following year he got married, in contravention to longstanding church custom. This led to a synod in 1973 in which further reforms were introduced, the most significant of which included the permanent abolition of hereditary succession — a practice introduced in the middle of the fifteenth century by Patriarch Shemon IV Basidi (who had died in 1497) — and it was also decided that Shimun should be reinstated. The second matter was supposed to be settled at another synod in 1975; however, Shimun was assassinated in November 1975 by an estranged relative before this could take place.[54]

Patriarch Dinkha IV

Main article: Dinkha IV

Mar Gewargis Assyrian Cathedral in Chicago: Former Patriarchal See

Almost a year after the death of Shimun, Mar Khnanya Dinkha, Metropolitan of Tehran, convened a synod of seven Assyrian bishops which took place at St Paul's Abbey, Alton, in England, from 12 to 17 October 1976. They were joined by two Church of England bishops, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London, and elected Dinkha as the 120th Catholicos-Patriarch of the Church of the East. On 17 October he was consecrated as Dinkha IV at St Barnabas Church, Ealing, in an area where many Assyrians lived.[55]

Dinkha, who was then aged 33, operated his see at Tehran until the Iran–Iraq War of 1980–1988, when he went into exile in the United States and transferred the Patriarchal See to Chicago.[56] Much of his patriarchate had been concerned with tending to the Assyrian diaspora community and with ecumenical efforts to strengthen relations with other churches.[56] On 26 March 2015, Dinkha IV died in the United States, leaving the Assyrian Church of the East in a period of sede vacante until 18 September 2015. During that time, Aprem Mooken served as the custodian of the Patriarchate of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.[57][58]

Patriarch Gewargis III

Main article: Gewargis III

On 18 September 2015, the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East elected the Metropolitan of Iraq, Jordan, and Russia, Warda Sliwa, to succeed the late Dinkha IV as Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East. On 27 September 2015, he was consecrated as Catholicos-Patriarch in the Cathedral Church of St. John the Baptist, in Erbil, Iraq. Upon his consecration, he assumed the ecclesiastical name Gewargis III.

Mar Narsai Church in Nohadra

Church leaders proposed moving the Patriarchal See from Chicago back to Erbil.[59]

There have also been talks of reunification. In the Common Christological Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East in 1994, the two churches recognized the legitimacy and rightness of each other's titles for Mary.[60]

In 2005, the Assyrian Church of the East had about 380,000 members,[61] mostly living in the United States, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.[62][63]

Patriarch Awa III

Main article: Awa Royel

On 6 September 2021, Mar Gewargis III formally stepped down as Catholicos-Patriarch during an Extraordinary Session of the Holy Synod of the Assyrian Church of the East, leaving the Patriarchal See vacant. On 8 September 2021, the Holy Synod elected Mar Awa Royel, Bishop of California and Secretary of the Holy Synod, to succeed Mar Gewargis III as the 122nd Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.[64][65]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_Church_of_the_East

Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (née Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is an English Anglican prelate and former nurse. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold this office. By virtue of her office she is also a Lord Spiritual, one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. On 3 October 2025, it was announced that Mullally would become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in January 2026; she will be the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Mullally received clinical training in nursing from St Thomas' Hospital. She practised nursing primarily in South London, where she also began her study for ministry in the Church of England. In 1999 she became Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for the English National Health Service. She left these roles in 2004 to pursue full-time ministry. For her service in nursing, Mullally was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and began her ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She served in various London churches, and in 2012 became a canon of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2015 she was consecrated as bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Mullally

In Hebrew, the word saraph means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "serpent",[4] twice in the Book of Numbers, once in the Book of Deuteronomy, and four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5][6][7] The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, seraphim, occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to only as the plural seraphim – Isaiah later uses the singular saraph to describe a "fiery flying serpent", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the Tanakh.

There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in Hyksos-era Canaan had their original sources in Egyptian uraeus iconography.[8] In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, divinity and divine authority, and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of Israel and Judah, Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites en masse, as a plethora of personal seals belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the winged sun, ankh, the hedjet and deshret crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, scarabs, and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two.[9] These images have been connected with the seraphim angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine seraphim clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned seraphim with heads, legs, and arms – although, on the second matter, some scholars have proposed that the covered "feet" of the seraphim should be identified as genitals, as "feet" are often used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for the penis.[10][11]

The vision in Isaiah Chapter 6 of seraphim in an idealized version of Solomon's Temple represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.[12] "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)[13] And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)[14] One seraph carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)[15] "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

The text describes the "seraphim" as winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work.[16] Notwithstanding the wording of the text itself, at least one Hebrew scholar claims that in the Hebrew Bible the seraphim do not have the status of angels, and that it is only in later sources (like De Coelesti Hierarchia or Summa Theologiae) that they are considered to be a division of the divine messengers.[17]

Seraphim appear in the 2nd-century BC Book of Enoch,[18] where they are mentioned, in conjunction with cherubim, as the heavenly creatures standing nearest to the throne of God. In non-biblical sources they are sometimes called the Akyəst (Ge'ez: አክይስት "serpents", "dragons"; an alternate term for Hell).[19][20][21]

In the Second Book of Enoch, two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the phoenixes and the chalkydri (Ancient Greek: χαλκύδραι khalkýdrai, compound of χαλκός khalkós "brass, copper" + ὕδρα hýdra "hydra", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 7th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.[22][23]

In the Book of Revelation (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the Gnostic text, On the Origin of the World.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

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And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

◄ 2 Corinthians 11:14 ►

1 In the year of the death of king Uzziah, [a]I saw also the Lord sitting upon an [b]high throne, and lifted up, and the lower [c]parts thereof filled the Temple.

2 The [d]Seraphims stood upon it, every one had six wings: with twain he covered his [e]face, and with twain he covered his [f]feet, and with twain he did [g]fly.

3 And one cried to another, and said, [h]Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole [i]world is full of his glory.

Isaiah 6:1-3

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206&version=GNV

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle of budh "to awake, know, perceive," which is related to Sanskrit bodhati "is awake, observes, understands," from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware." Title given by his adherents to the man who taught this path, Siddhartha Gautama, also known to them as Sakyamuni "Sage of the Sakyas" (his family clan), who lived in northern India 5c. B.C.E."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gautama

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid024adRiUiYvK6RidXF6uRPSoovRsTyMS8HFURcy9PuE2ZAhF5V9mWMLboiBLbYiAjgl

The Merovingian dynasty (/ˌmɛrəˈvɪndʒiən/) was the ruling family of the Franks from around the middle of the 5th century until Pepin the Short in 751.[1] They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gallo-Romans under their rule. They conquered most of Gaul, defeating the Visigoths (507) and the Burgundians (534), and also extended their rule into Raetia (537). In Germania, the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons accepted their lordship. The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful of the states of western Europe following the breakup of the empire of Theodoric the Great.

The dynastic name, medieval Latin Merovingi or Merohingii ("sons of Merovech"), derives from an unattested Frankish form, akin to the attested Old English Merewīowing,[2] with the final -ing being a typical Germanic patronymic suffix. The name derives from Salian King Merovech, who is at the center of many legends. Unlike the Anglo-Saxon royal genealogies, the Merovingians never claimed descent from a god, nor is there evidence that they were regarded as sacred.

The Merovingians' long hair distinguished them from other Franks, who commonly cut their hair short. Contemporaries sometimes referred to them as the "long-haired kings" (Latin reges criniti). A Merovingian whose hair was cut could not rule, and a rival could be removed from the succession by being tonsured and sent to a monastery. The Merovingians also used a distinct name stock. One of their names, Clovis, evolved into Louis and remained common among French royalty down to the 19th century.

The first well-known Merovingian king was Childeric I (died 481). His son Clovis I (died 511) converted to Nicene Christianity, united the Franks and conquered most of Gaul. The Merovingians treated their kingdom as single yet divisible. Clovis's four sons divided the kingdom among themselves, and it remained divided until 679 with the exception of four short periods (558–561, 613–623, 629–634, 673–675). After that it was divided again only once (717–718). The main divisions of the kingdom were Austrasia, Neustria, Burgundy and Aquitaine.

During the final century of Merovingian rule, the kings were increasingly pushed into a ceremonial role. Actual power was increasingly in the hands of the mayor of the palace, the highest-ranking official under the king. In 656, the mayor Grimoald I tried to place his son Childebert on the throne in Austrasia. Grimoald was arrested and executed; but his son ruled until 661, when the Merovingian dynasty was restored. When King Theuderic IV died in 737, the mayor Charles Martel continued to rule the kingdoms until his death in 741. The dynasty was restored again in 743, but in 751 Charles's son, Pepin the Short, deposed the last king, Childeric III, and had himself crowned, initiating the Carolingian dynasty.

Legendary origins

Signet ring of Childeric I. Monnaie de Paris.

The 7th-century Chronicle of Fredegar implies that the Merovingians were descended from a sea-beast called a quinotaur:

It is said that while Chlodio was staying at the seaside with his wife one summer, his wife went into the sea at midday to bathe, and a beast of Neptune rather like a Quinotaur found her. In the event she was made pregnant, either by the beast or by her husband, and she gave birth to a son called Merovech, from whom the kings of the Franks have subsequently been called Merovingians.[3]

In the past, this tale was regarded as an authentic piece of Germanic mythology and was often taken as evidence that the Merovingian kingship was sacral and the royal dynasty of supernatural origin.[4] Today, it is more commonly seen as an attempt to explain the meaning of the name Merovech (sea-bull): "Unlike the Anglo-Saxon rulers the Merovingians—if they ever themselves acknowledged the quinotaur tale, which is by no means certain—made no claim to be descended from a god".[3]

In 1906, the British Egyptologist Flinders Petrie suggested that the Marvingi recorded by Ptolemy as living near the Rhine were the ancestors of the Merovingian dynasty.[5]

History

Frankish gold Tremissis, imitation of Byzantine Tremissis, mid-6th century.

Coin of Clotaire II, 584–628. British Museum.

In 486 Clovis I, the son of Childeric, defeated Syagrius, a Roman military leader who competed with the Merovingians for power in northern France. He won the Battle of Tolbiac against the Alemanni in 496, according to Gregory of Tours, Clovis adopted his wife Clotilda's Orthodox—i.e., Nicene—Christian faith at a time when other Germanic tribes were largely Arian. He subsequently went on to decisively defeat the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse in the Battle of Vouillé in 507. After Clovis's death, his kingdom was partitioned among his four sons. This tradition of partition continued over the next century. Even when several Merovingian kings simultaneously ruled their own realms, the kingdom—not unlike the late Roman Empire—was conceived of as a single entity ruled collectively by these several kings (each ruling one section much as the late Roman Empire had been divided between up to four emperors). The death of one or more of these kings could result in the reunification of the whole kingdom under a single ruler. Even when divided under different kings, the kingdom maintained unity and conquered Burgundy in 534.

Upon Clovis's death in 511, the Merovingian kingdom included all of Gaul except Burgundy and all of Germania magna except Saxony. After the fall of the Ostrogoths, the Franks also conquered Provence.[6] After this their borders with Italy (ruled by the Lombards since 568) and Visigothic Septimania remained fairly stable.[7]: 384 

Division of the kingdom

Internally, the kingdom was divided among Clovis's sons and later among his grandsons and frequently saw war between the different kings, who allied amongst themselves and against one another. The death of one king created conflict between the surviving brothers and the deceased's sons, with differing outcomes. Later, conflicts were intensified by the personal feud around Brunhilda. However, yearly warfare often did not constitute general devastation but took on an almost ritual character, with established 'rules' and norms.[8]

Reunification of the kingdom

Eventually, Clotaire II in 613 reunited the entire Frankish realm under one ruler.

The frequent wars had weakened royal power, while the aristocracy had made great gains and procured enormous concessions from the kings in return for their support. These concessions saw the very considerable power of the king parcelled out and retained by leading comites and duces (counts and dukes). Very little is in fact known about the course of the 7th century due to a scarcity of sources, but Merovingians remained in power until the 8th century.

Weakening of the kingdom

Clotaire's son Dagobert I (died 639), who sent troops to Spain and pagan Slavic territories in the east, is commonly seen as the last powerful Merovingian King. Later kings are known as rois fainéants[1] ("do-nothing kings"), despite the fact that only the last two kings did nothing. The kings, even strong-willed men like Dagobert II and Chilperic II, were not the main agents of political conflicts, leaving this role to their mayors of the palace, who increasingly substituted their own interest for their king's.[9] Many kings came to the throne at a young age and died in the prime of life, weakening royal power further.

Return to power

The conflict between mayors was ended when the Austrasians under Pepin the Middle triumphed in 687 in the Battle of Tertry. After this, Pepin, though not a king, was the political ruler of the Frankish kingdom and left this position as a heritage to his sons. It was now the sons of the mayor that divided the realm among each other under the rule of a single king.

After Pepin's long rule, his son Charles Martel assumed power, fighting against nobles and his own stepmother. His reputation for ruthlessness further undermined the king's position. Under Charles Martel's leadership, the Franks defeated the Moors at the Battle of Tours in 732. After the victory of 718 of the Bulgarian Khan Tervel and the Emperor of Byzantium Leo III the Isaurian over the Arabs led by Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik prevented the attempts of Islam to expand into eastern Europe, the victory of Charles Martel at Tours limited its expansion onto the west of the European continent. During the last years of his life, he even ruled without a king, though he did not assume royal dignity. His sons Carloman and Pepin again appointed a Merovingian figurehead (Childeric III) to stem rebellion on the kingdom's periphery. However, in 751, Pepin finally displaced the last Merovingian and, with the support of the nobility and the blessing of Pope Zachary, became one of the Frankish kings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_dynasty

All historians acknowledge the ascendancy of the popes began in 308 A.D., when King Clovis of the Salian or Merovingian Franks (later France), won the decisive battle in the Catholic and Arian religious war, thereby settling the dispute in favor of the Catholics. But the popes' temporal reign officially began in the year 538 A.D. when Roman Emperor Justinian subdued the last of the three kingdoms, or "horns," that opposed the rise of the Papacy."

-page 137

Chapter 19 "Exposed (Again): 1260 Years of World Domination

Codeword Barbelon book 2

by P.D. Stuart

Clovis is the modern conventional French (and thence English) form of the Old Frankish name ᚺᛚᛟᛞᛟᚹᛁᚷ (in runic alphabet) or *"Hlōdowik" or "Hlōdowig" (in Latin alphabet), equivalent to the modern forms Louis (French), Lodewijk (Dutch), Lewis (English), and Ludwig (German).

Etymology

The name *Hlōdowik or *Hlōdowig is traditionally considered to be composed of two elements, deriving from both Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz ("loud, famous") and *wiganą ("to battle, to fight") respectively, resulting in the traditional practice of translating Clovis' name as meaning "famous warrior".

However, scholars have pointed out that Gregory of Tours consequently transcribes the names of various Merovingian royal names containing the first element as chlodo-. The use of a close-mid back protruded vowel (o), rather than the expected close back rounded vowel (u) which Gregory does use in various other Germanic names (i.e. Fredegundis, Arnulfus, Gundobadus, etc.) opens up the possibility that the first element instead derives from Proto-Germanic *hlutą ("lot, share, portion"), giving the meaning of the name as "loot bringer" or "plunder (bringing) warrior". This hypothesis is supported by the fact that if the first element is taken to mean "famous", then the name of Chlodomer (one of Clovis' sons) would contain two elements (*hlūdaz and *mērijaz) both meaning "famous", which would be highly uncommon within the typical Germanic name structure.[1][2]

Frankish royalty

Clovis I (c. 466 – 511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler

Clovis II (637 – c. 658), king of Neustria and Burgundy

Clovis III (reigned 675–676), the king of Austrasia

Clovis IV (682–695), the sole king of the Franks from 691 until 695

Clovis (died 580), son of Chilperic I and Audovera, assassinated by his father and stepmother

Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, King of Aquitaine from 781 and sole ruler of the Franks 814–840, but counted as "Louis I of France" even though West Francia (the nucleus of the later kingdom of France) was formed only after his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_(given_name)

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

Archeparch

A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected Sako Archeparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002. Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk, André Sana.[8]

In August 2009, and at the beginning of Ramadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives of Ali Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew Sign Historic Declaration for Christian Unity

By

Philip Chrysopoulos

November 30, 2025

Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed a historic declaration committing to unity of Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Credit: Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA)

Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew signed a historic and symbolic joint declaration on Saturday, marking a renewed commitment to the unity of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

The two Church leaders met at the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Phanar, Istanbul, where they reaffirmed their dedication to full communion and emphasized the importance of continuing efforts to establish a common date for Easter for all Christians. The meeting highlighted both the spiritual and symbolic significance of fostering greater unity between the two traditions.

In their declaration, the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch unequivocally rejected the use of religion as a justification for violence. They stressed that the pursuit of Christian unity is inseparable from a broader commitment to peace. “The goal of Christian unity,” the declaration states, “includes the goal of making a fundamental and life-giving contribution to peace among all peoples. Together we fervently raise our voices, invoking God’s gift of peace in our world.” This language underscores the moral responsibility of religious leaders to advocate for harmony and reconciliation in a world still scarred by conflict.

The text of the declaration also acknowledges the ongoing human suffering caused by war and violence across numerous regions. It calls on those in political and social authority to exert every effort to bring an immediate end to these tragedies, highlighting the Church’s insistence on the ethical imperative to protect human life and dignity.

In reflecting on these responsibilities, both Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Leo emphasized that the search for full communion is rooted not in human diplomacy but in fidelity to the Lord’s prayer in the Gospel of John: “That they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they may be one in us, that the world may believe.” This invocation reinforces the spiritual foundation of their commitment and frames ecclesiastical unity as a testimony to the wider world.

Pope Leo XIV in Turkey | Doxology & Meeting with Bartholomew I LIVE | November 29, 2025

Walk together “in love and truth,” say Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew

Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew reaffirmed their determination to continue walking together “in love and truth,” urging all the faithful—clergy, religious, and laity alike—to join in prayer and action for the fulfillment of this divine calling. They emphasized that the journey toward unity is not only a spiritual obligation but also a shared mission, inviting all Christians to cultivate mutual understanding, compassion, and commitment to the Gospel in their daily lives.

The Church leaders also highlighted the unifying power of the faith professed in the Nicene Creed, formulated 1,700 years ago. This ancient confession affirms that Jesus Christ is “true God from true God,” “of one substance with the Father,” who became incarnate for humanity’s salvation, suffered and rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and will come in glory to judge the living and the dead. According to Pope Leo and Patriarch Bartholomew, this shared acceptance of the Creed provides a foundation for addressing contemporary challenges with mutual respect and a spirit of genuine hope, reinforcing the enduring bond between the Catholic and Orthodox traditions.

Expressing gratitude that Christians this year celebrated Easter on the same day, the leaders described it as a gift of Divine Providence and emphasized their shared desire to continue efforts toward finding a permanent solution that allows the “Feast of Feasts” to be celebrated together annually. They called upon all Christians to pray that this goal may be guided by wisdom and spiritual insight, fostering greater unity and solidarity among believers worldwide.

Sixtieth anniversary of declaration of the two leaders

Pope Leo and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew also highlighted that this year marks the 60th anniversary of the 1965 Joint Declaration by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, which led to the historic lifting of the excommunications of 1054. They expressed gratitude for this prophetic gesture, noting that it opened the way for dialogue grounded in “trust, esteem, and mutual love.” The leaders encouraged those who remain hesitant to engage in dialogue to listen attentively to the Holy Spirit, who calls Christians to offer the world a renewed witness of reconciliation and unity.

Reaffirming their support for the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, the Pope and Patriarch emphasized that, in its current phase, the commission is examining issues that have historically been considered divisive. They underscored the importance of continued theological reflection and collaborative engagement in overcoming longstanding differences and deepening mutual understanding between the two traditions.

The historic Joint Declaration was signed on Saturday in the Throne Room of the Patriarchal House, immediately following the Doxology in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George. On the same day, the Pope presided over a Mass for Catholics at the Volkswagen Arena, an indoor event venue in Istanbul, reinforcing the spirit of ecumenical fellowship and shared devotion that the visit symbolizes.

The Pope and the Patriarch will bless the faithful together

On Sunday, the feast day of Saint Andrew the First-Called, founder of the Church of Constantinople, a patriarchal and synodal divine service will be celebrated, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and concelebrated by His Holiness Theodore of Alexandria. The service will mark the throne feast of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and is expected to be a significant occasion of ecumenical and spiritual reflection.

The ceremony will be attended by Pope Leo, hierarchs from both churches, representatives of other Christian denominations, diplomats, and officials. The Greek government will be represented by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Yiannis Loverdos. At the conclusion of the service, both Church leaders will bless the faithful from the balcony of the Patriarchal House, offering a shared gesture of unity and spiritual guidance to all present.

Following the divine service, Pope Leo XIV will share a final lunch with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew before departing Constantinople by plane for Beirut, where he will continue his apostolic tour. This event underscores the Pope’s commitment to fostering dialogue, reconciliation, and cooperation among Christian communities throughout the region.

https://greekreporter.com/2025/11/30/pope-leo-ecumenical-patriarch-bartholomew-sign-historic-declaration-christian-unity/

Before the discoveries of the authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail, Dagobert's assassination was

regarded as the end of the Merovingian dynasty. At least this is what the Catholic Church wanted

the world to believe. In its place in 754 A.D. Rome established the Carolingian dynasty with

Pepin II. The name "Carolingian" derives from Charles Martel, grandfather of Charlemagne, the

61

first designated "Holy Roman Emperor." This title, by virtue of the pact with Clovis three

centuries before, should have been reserved exclusively for the Merovingians.

The authors of Holy Blood discovered, however, that Dagobert's son (Sigisbert IV) by his second

wife had survived. His sister had rescued him and smuggled him southward to the domain of his

mother, the Visigoth princess Giselle de Razes. Arriving in the Lanquedoc (southern France) in

681 A.D., he shortly thereafter inherited his uncle's titles - Duke of Razes and Count of Rhedae.

Sigisbert also adopted the surname "Plant-Ard" (subsequently Plantard), which means "ardently

flowering shoot" of the Merovingian vine. Under this name, and under the titles acquired from

his uncle, he perpetuated his lineage. By 886 A.D. one branch of that lineage culminated in a

certain Bernard Plantavelu (which name is a derivative of Plant-Ard or Plantard), whose son

became the first Duke of Aquitaine.18

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

The House of Tudor (/ˈtjuː.dər/, TEW-dər)[1] was an English and Welsh dynasty that held the throne of England from 1485 to 1603.[2] They descended ultimately from Ednyfed Fychan and the Tudors of Penmynydd, a Welsh noble family, and Catherine of Valois. The Tudor monarchs were also descended from the House of Lancaster. They ruled the Kingdom of England and the Lordship of Ireland (later the Kingdom of Ireland) for 118 years with five monarchs: Henry VII, Henry VIII,[3] Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I. The Tudors succeeded the House of Plantagenet as rulers of the Kingdom of England, and were succeeded by the Scottish House of Stuart. The first Tudor monarch, Henry VII, descended through his mother from the House of Beaufort, a legitimised branch of the English royal House of Lancaster, a cadet house of the Plantagenets. The Tudor family rose to power and started the Tudor period in the wake of the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), which left the main House of Lancaster (with which the Tudors were aligned) extinct in the male line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Tudor

Margaret Tudor (29 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to extend her regency. Margaret was the eldest daughter and second child of Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of Henry VIII. By her line, the House of Stuart eventually acceded to the throne of England and Ireland, in addition to Scotland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Tudor

James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766) [a] was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until his death in 1766. The only son of James II of England and his second wife, Mary of Modena, he was Prince of Wales and heir until his Catholic father was deposed and exiled in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. His Protestant half-sister Mary II and her husband William III became co-monarchs. As a Catholic, he was subsequently excluded from the succession by the Act of Settlement 1701.

Raised primarily in France and Italy, when his father died in September 1701 James claimed the thrones. As part of the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1708 Louis XIV of France backed a landing in Scotland on his behalf. This failed, as did further attempts in 1715 and 1719. Led by his elder son Charles Edward Stuart, the 1745 Rising was the last serious effort to restore the House of Stuart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart  

Trump International, Scotland

@TrumpScotland

Donald J Trump, 45th President of the United States, announced today the start of a new golf venture in Scotland: the MacLeod course, to be built at Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire in honor of his late mother Mary Anne MacLeod.

10:47 AM · May 1, 2023

https://x.com/TrumpScotland/status/1653093764271857666  

According to doctrinal English opinion, the present heir to the Royal House of Stuart is Prince Franz of Bavaria who is said to inherit the Scottish honours by virtue of the Last Will and Testament of Charles Edward’syounger brother, Cardinal Henry, de jure Duke of York. This Will supposedly nominated Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia as the Stuart successor. By wayof marriages in the female line of descent from Charles Emmanuel’s brother, Victor Emmanuel I, the present Franz of Bavaria succeeds his father, the late Prince Albrecht, relying in this on a somewhat tenuous ancestry back to Henrietta, a daughter of Charles I. The fact is, however, that Cardinal Henry Stuart’s Will did not name Charles Emmanuel as his successor. This is acomplete fantasy that has made its way into the historybooks, but was originally a purposely-contrived deceptionon the part of Georgian politicians — a deception perpetuated by the later Victorian ministers.From the time that the Elector of Hanover began his reign as King George I of Britain in 1714, it became politically expedient to suppress or veil a good deal of information about certain families while enhancing the lineage of others. The House of Stuart came underparticular attack in order to justify the incoming German succession. Even today, history books repeat the nonsense contrived contemporarily and afterwards to discredit the Scots dynasty and its associated families.

The fabrications are so well ingrained that they are destined to prevail for as long as historical authors continue to copy from one another.Charles Edward Stuart was married in 1772 to Princess Louise Maximilienne, the daughter of Gustavus, Prince de Stolberg-Guedern. In 1784, however, papal dispensation for divorce was obtained following Louise’s affair with the Italian poet Vittorio, Count Alfieri. Louise had been declared barren by the doctors,and after a few years of marriage she left Charles in 1780 to take up residence with her lover. The divorce is frequently described as the end of married life for Charles Edward — but it was not. The Stuart archives in Rome and Brussels reveal thatin November 1785 Charles was married again, to the Comtesse de Massillan at the Santi Apostoli in Rome. She was Marguerite Marie Thérése O’Dea d’Audibert de Lussan — a cousin by descent from Charles's grand uncle, King Charles II. Until 1769 she had been a ward of her own grand uncle, Louis Jacques d’Audibert, Archbishop of Bordeaux. Marguerite’s paternal grandmother Theresa, Marchesa d’Aubignie, was the daughter of James de Rohano Stuardo, Prince of Boveria, Marquis d’Aubignie. He was the natural son (legitimated 1667) of King Charles Il and Marguerite, Duchesse de Rohan. On her mother’s side, Margueritede Massillan was descended through the Comtes de Lussan. In November 1786 the 37-year-old Countess gavebirth to a son, Edouard Jacques Stuardo (Edward James Stuart), who became known as ‘Count Stuarton’. Although no secret in Europe, news of Charles Edward's legitimate son and heir was immediately suppressed by the Hanoverian government at Westminster. He has consequently since been totally neglected by academic historians in Britain. In that same month, Charles Edward's daughter Charlotte of Albany (born 1753 by Clementina Walkinshaw of Borrowfield) met King George III's brother William, Duke of Gloucester, at thehouse of Prince Santa Croce in Rome. Concerned about the strength of her own position as Charles Edward's ‘legitimated’ offspring, she informed Gloucester of the royal birth and sought his advice. The Duke confided that Charlotte’s status was probably safe enough, but his main concern was a letter that had been sent to her father by King George III in 1784. It suggested that Charles Edward could return to Britain from exile as the Count of Albany (Scotland). Charles had declined the invitation, but the matter was now complicated bythe new-born son who might well choose otherwise on becoming the Second Count in due course. When Charles Edward died, a contrived substitution of Wills enabled knowledge of both the marriage and the birth to be concealed from the British public, a concealment that was perpetuated through the Hanover—Saxe-Coburg era until the truth finally emerged inthe 1970s.  In 1784 Charles had made a Will nominating his brother Cardinal Henry, de jure Duke of York, as hisroyal heir. Charlotte of Albany was to be the sole estate beneficiary. This is well enough documented in the historical biographies — but what those accounts fail tomention is that this was not Charles's final Testament. It was superseded by another before his death. Not only was the fact of this later Will concealed by the Georgian Parliament, but so too was the reason for its existence. In order to stabilize King George III's position, his politicians thought it expedient to end the problem of Stuart popularity in Britain by having the Scottish linedeclared extinct — particularly since the Jacobites had been so instrumental in the American War of Independence (1775-1783). An enormous number of deprived Scots had emigrated to America following the subjugation of the Highlands after Culloden. They had not managed to regain their independence at home, but continued their Cause from across the Atlantic, thereby aiding their fellow Americans to secure their own freedom from Hanoverian constraint. On 30 January 1788 the de jure King Charles II (fondly remembered as Bonnie Prince Charlie) died, aged 67, at the Mutti Palazzo in Rome. Shortly before his death he wrote his Last Will and Testament. This was witnessed on 13 January 1788 by the Dominican Father O'Kelly and the Abbé Consalvi, both of whom were executors. The Will stated that Charles's offspring, Edward James and Charlotte, were to be co-heirs of the estate; his son Edward was to succeed to the Royal Honours on his 16th birthday, and Cardinal Henry was to be temporary Regent in the meantime. Following Charles Edward's demise, his ambitious brother Henry wasted no time in proclaiming himself King Henry I de jure of Scots (IX of England). To support this claim he produced not Charles’s Will of 1788 but his earlier Will of 1784 — which suited Britain’s Government since the Cardinal was not likely to have any children. Both O’Kelly and Consalvi were party to the intrigue in return for rapid promotion within the Church. Soon afterwards, the former became Dominican Procurator, while the Abbé was raised to the Cardinalate. Charlotte of Albany was provided with a home in Frascati, and the Mutti Palazzo was retained for Marguerite de Massillan and Prince Edward. Also involved in the scheme was the Abbé James Placid Waters, Procurator of the Benedictines in Rome. By declaring himself King de jure, Henry sought to nullify the immediate Regency clause in his brother’s Will. But in January 1789 Henry made his own Will in which he redressed his selfish strategy for the future: all his possessions and heritable status were bequeathed to Prince Edward James — that is, ‘to my nephew, Count Stuarton’. Both Cardinal Ercole Consalvi and Cardinal Angelo Cesarini were privy to the Will and were executors, as attested in their memoirs. As it happened, Henry subsequently lost a great deal of his wealth in the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic advance into the Papal States. In 1799 he became a pensioner of the British Crown at the rate of £5,000 per annum (about £250,000 in today’s terms) - but in return he was required to rewrite his Will. At a joint meeting between Prince Edward, Comtesse Marguerite, and the Pope, a suitable rewording was agreed. The new Will was made in 1802, but the inheritance still rested with Prince Edward. The revised document simply substituted the words ‘to my nephew, Count Stuarton’ with ‘in favour of that Prince to whom it descends by virtue of de jure blood relationship’. When Henry Stuart died in July 1807, King George and the British Parliament decided that the second Will was actually less appropriate than the former. They therefore ignored the 1802 document and reverted to Henry’s original Will of 1789 — and the press reported that Henry had made his bequest to his ‘relation Count Stuarton’ (meaning, of course, Edward James). However, no one in England thought to enquire who this relation, Count Stuarton, might be. Having dealt with the first hurdle, the Hanoverian ministers then produced Henry’s amended 1802 Will. By virtue of its malleable nature, the wording (‘in favour of that Prince to whom it descends by virtue of de jure blood relationship’) was strategically implemented in favour of Charles Emmanuel IV, ex-King of Sardinia. He had recently abdicated to join the Jesuit Order, and so the Stuart legacy passed to a potentially childless monk. Charles Emmanuel duly wrote to King George's Parliament denouncing the nomination because heknew the Stuarts to be alive and well. Indeed, having lived with him in Sardinia from 1797, Marguerite andher son Edward were then resident at his house by the Corso in Rome. The correspondence was ignored at Westminster, and the whole issue was put under wraps in Britain. History now records the ‘diverted succession’ as having progressed from Sardinia, through Modena, into Bavaria. The reality is that the legitimate Royal House of Stuart (Stewart) exists today, and haslong been actively interested in European constitutional management. In 1809 a dispute over sovereign loyalties arose between two sons of George III. It became known as the ‘War of the Brothers’. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (the father of Queen Victoria), was a Freemason, while his brother Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex,was a Knight Templar. Edward's problem was that his brother’s Templar colleagues were Stuart supporters. He therefore endeavoured to sway their allegiance tothe reigning House of Hanover. In the event he failed, but compromised by creating a Templar-styled branch within the existing Masonic structure. This fell under the protectorate of Kent, and followed the English York Rite of Freemasonry. The chivalric Templars pursued the Scottish Rite under the protectorate of Prince Edward James Stuart, Second Count of Albany. While the exiled Stuarts were in France and Italy, they were deeply involved with the general growth and dissemination of Freemasonry, and they were the instigators of the exported Scottish Rite, which had higher degrees and held more profound mysteries than other Masonic systems. Prominent in this movement was Charles Edward's cousin and mentor, the Comte de St Germain. The Stuarts’ involvement was firmly based on established rights and privileges, with a desire to initiate brethren into the true antiquity and pedigree ofthe Craft. In England, the inherent secrecy of the club like lodges provided the perfect facility for undercover intrigue against the Whigs and the German succession. Throughout the land, the Jacobite societies and Tory lodges became closely entwined — as a result of which they became prime targets for Whig Intelligence, whose high-ranking Secret Service operatives duly infiltrated the fraternities. In later years English Freemasonry dispensed with political intrigue to become more concerned with allegorical representation and the codes of brotherly love, faith and charity. In Europe, however, many scientifically-based intellectual lodges of the traditional style are still extant. In 1817 a Dr Robert Watson purchased in Rome some of Cardinal Henry’s documents concerning the Stuart dynasty. He paid £23 sterling (equivalent to about £610 today), and prepared to publish the contents. But, beforehe had a chance to do this, the files were seized by the papal police and passed to London so that their contents would not become known. Some time later, the doctor received a payment from Westminster for having been deprived of his property. Not content with this, Watson pursued his right to the papers — only to be found dead, supposedly having committed suicide, in 1838. The papers have never since appeared in the public domain. Along with Cardinal Henry, the Abbé Waters also lost his possessions and became a pensioner of King George. Waters, an executor for Charlotte of Albany, was the custodian of various other Stuart papers — his guardianship of which constituted the route to his future Hanoverian income. In 1805 the Abbé was obliged to pass them over to the British Government. At length, some were deposited at Windsor Castle, where they remain today. As for the rest, their whereabouts are conveniently unknown.

By virtue of these documentary acquisitions, the way was deemed clear for Prince Edward James to be totally excluded from historical records in Britain. But this was not the case in continental Europe, where he is well documented in papers held by the Stuart Trustees, and features in the writings of René, Vicomte Chateaubriand, Abbé James Waters, Princess Caroline Murat, and others. Although the Stuarts have been ignored by the British authorities since the death of Cardinal Henry, the descendants of Prince Edward James, Count Stuarton, Second Count of Albany, have been actively engaged in social, political, military and sovereign affairs for the past two centuries. They have often advised governments on constitutional and diplomatic matters in an effort to promote the ideals of public service and religious toleration, as upheld by their own reigning house, and they have been particularly concerned with matters of trade, welfare and education. In 1888 Prince Edward's grandson, Charles Benedict James Stuart, Fourth Count of Albany, was scheduled to visit Britain. He was due to attend a grand Stuart Exhibition at the New Gallery, London. It was sponsored by the Order of the White Rose, and the main organizers were Bertram, Earl of Ashburnham, and Melville Massue, Marquis de Ruvigny. But the Exhibition was wholly undermined by Hanoverian agents, and Prince Charles Benedict was found dead (presumed murdered) in Italy. There was no display in 1888 after all. A rather different Exhibition was held the following year. Instead of being in honour of the Stuarts, as was planned, it was promoted to celebrate the bicentenary of the Whig Revolution which had deposed James VII (Il) and the Stuarts in 1688! The Exhibition’s new patron was Queen Victoria herself, and the event was used as a cover to obtain even more valuable documents of Stuart heritage. Having been ousted from their patronage, Lord Ashburnham and the Marquis de Ruvigny directed their future interests towards the chivalric societies of Europe — the Order of the Realm of Sion, the Knights Protectors of the Sacred Sepulchre, and the Order of the Sangréal. In spite of Queen Victoria’s efforts to suppress Stuart popularity, there was a significant Jacobite revival in the late 1800s. The Queen’s advisers therefore sought to emphasize her tenuous claim to Stuart descent to the exclusion of the Stuarts’ own Scottish heritage. As a result, Thane Banquo and the Scots line from King Alpin disappeared from the Hanoverians’ readjusted Stuart registers. The Lord Lyon, King of Arms, subsequently wrote, ‘The traditional account of the descent of the family from Banquo, Thane of Lochaber, and through him from the ancient Kings of Scotland, is now generally discredited.’ From that time, the Stuarts’ Breton line was brought wholly to the fore —- but why anyone should have to discredit one line of a descent in order to promote another is beyond ordinary understanding. Everyone has at least two lines of immediate descent, and the Stuarts were no exception. Subsequent members of the Scots Royal Family were prominent in the Belgian Resistance during World War Il. Hubert Pierlot, Prime Minister of Belgium, was a close friend of the Stewarts, who had reverted to the original spelling of their name in 1892. In that year they had moved to the Chateau du Moulin in the Belgian Ardennes, where they lived until 1968. This castle had originally been given to the family in 1692 by King Louis XIV. As recently as 1982, the City of Brussels honoured the Stewarts with a grand reception. Then, on 14 December 1990, the Brussels Registrars signed, sealed and authenticated an updated Charter of the Royal House of Stewart, detailing the complete family descent from the time of Robert the Bruce down to date.

Today, there are several lines descended from Prince Edward James, Second Count of Albany. They include the Counts of Derneley and the Dukes of Coldingham. Foremost, however, in the main line of legitimate descent from Charles Edward Stewart and his son Edward James is the present Seventh Count of Albany: Prince Michael James Alexander Stewart, Duc d’Aquitaine, Comte de Blois, Head of the Sacred Kindred of St Columba, Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, Patron Grand Officer of the International Society of Commission Officers for the Commonwealth, and President of the European Council of Princes. Prince Michael’s own compelling book Scotland — The Forgotten Kingdom? (a thoroughly detailed and politically corrected history of the Scots royal descent) is now in the course of preparation. This senior Stewart descent goes all the way back to King Arthur's father, King Aedan of Scots, on the one hand and to Prince Nascien of the Septimanian Midi on the other. The Scots descent traces further back through King Lucius of Siluria to Bran the Blessed and Joseph of Arimathea (St James the Just), while the Midi succession stems from the Merovingians’ male ancestral line through the Fisher Kings to Jesus and Mary Magdalene. Conjoining the lines from their 1st-century points of departure, the descent is in the succession of the Royal House of Judah. This is a truly unique line of sovereign lineage from King David in one of the key descents which comprise the Bloodline of the Holy Grail.

pages 427-436

Chapter 20 "The Sangreal Today"

Bloodline of the Holy Grail

by Laurence Gardner

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zsH4O_ls0IgWEYXLXWCo7I3IUi32FJhq/view?usp=sharing

The Alans (Latin: Alani) were an ancient and medieval Iranic nomadic pastoral people who migrated to what is today North Caucasus;[1][2][3][4][5] some continued on to Europe and later North Africa. They are generally regarded as part of the Sarmatians, and possibly related to the Massagetae.[6] Modern historians have connected the Alans with the Central Asian Yancai of Chinese sources and with the Aorsi of Roman sources.[7] Having migrated westwards and becoming dominant among the Sarmatians on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, the Alans are mentioned by Roman sources in the 1st century CE.[1][2] At that time they had settled the region north of the Black Sea and frequently raided the Parthian Empire and the South Caucasus provinces of the Roman Empire.[8] From 215 to 250 CE the Goths broke their power on the Pontic Steppe,[4] thereby assimilating a sizeable portion of the associated Alans.

Upon the Hunnic defeat of the Goths on the Pontic Steppe around 375 CE, many of the Alans migrated westwards along with various Germanic tribes. They crossed the Rhine in 406 along with the Vandals and Suebi, settling in Orléans and Valence. Around 409 they joined the Vandals and Suebi in crossing the Pyrenees into the Iberian Peninsula, settling in Lusitania and Hispania Carthaginensis.[9] The Iberian Alans, soundly defeated by the Visigoths in 418, subsequently surrendered their authority to the Hasdingi Vandals.[10] In 428 CE, the Vandals and Alans crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into North Africa, where they founded a kingdom which lasted until its conquest by forces of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in 534.[10]

Eventually in the 9th century those Alans who remained under Hunnic rule established the regionally powerful kingdom of Alania in the Northern Caucasus. It survived until the Mongol invasions of the 13th century. Various scholars regard these Alans as the ancestors of the modern Ossetians.[8][11]

The Alans spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian; in turn, the language evolved into the modern Ossetian language.[2][12][13] The name Alan represents an Eastern Iranian dialectal form of Old Iranian term Aryan,[1][2][14] and so is cognate with the name of the country Īrān (from the gen. plur. *aryānām).[15]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alans

The Camino de Santiago (Latin: Peregrinatio Compostellana, lit. 'Pilgrimage of Compostela'; Galician: O Camiño de Santiago),[1] or the Way of St. James in English, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in northwestern Spain, where tradition holds that the remains of the apostle are buried. Pilgrims follow its routes as a form of spiritual path or retreat for their spiritual growth. It is also popular with hikers, cyclists, and organized tour groups.

Created and established in the beginning of the 9th century following the discovery of the relics of Saint James the Great, the Way of St. James became a major pilgrimage route of medieval Christianity from the 10th century onwards. Following the end of the Granada War in 1492, under the reign of the Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, Pope Alexander VI officially declared the Camino de Santiago to be one of the "three great pilgrimages of Christendom", along with Jerusalem and the Via Francigena to Rome.

In 1987, the Camino, which encompasses several routes in Spain, France, and Portugal, was declared the first Cultural Route of the Council of Europe. Since 2013, the Camino has attracted more than 200,000 pilgrims each year, with an annual growth rate of more than 10 percent. Pilgrims come mainly on foot and often from nearby cities, requiring several days of walking to reach Santiago. The French Way gathers two-thirds of the walkers, but other minor routes are experiencing a growth in popularity. The French Way and the Northern routes in Spain were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, followed by the routes in France in 1998, because of their historical significance for Christianity as a major pilgrimage route and their testimony to the exchange of ideas and cultures across the routes.[2][3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

Alan fitz Flaad (c. 1060 – after 1120) was a Breton knight, probably recruited as a mercenary by Henry I of England in his conflicts with his brothers.[1] After Henry became King of England, Alan became an assiduous courtier and obtained large estates in Norfolk, Sussex, Shropshire, and elsewhere in the Midlands, including the feudal barony and castle of Oswestry in Shropshire.[2][3][4] His duties included supervision of the Welsh border.[5] He is now noted as the progenitor of the FitzAlan family, the Earls of Arundel (1267–1580), and the House of Stuart,[6] although his family connections were long a matter of conjecture and controversy.

Career

Arrival in England

Flaad and his son Alan had come to the favourable notice of King Henry I of England who, soon after his accession, brought Flaad and Alan to England. Eyton, consistently following the theory of the Scottish origins of the Stewarts, thought this was because he was part of the entourage of the Queen, Matilda of Scotland,[7] Round pointed out that Henry had been besieged in Mont-Saint-Michel during his struggle with his brothers,[1] an event which probably occurred in 1091. He is known to have recruited Breton troops at that time and, after his surrender, left the scene via the adjoining regions of Brittany, where Dol is situated. This is a likely explanation for the Bretons in the military retinue he brought to England after the death of William Rufus.

Alan's career in England can be traced largely through his presence as a witness to charters granted by the king during his travels in the first decade or more of his reign. Some of his activities were traced by Eyton, and his researches overlap with William Farrer's calendar of Henry I travel. All of the business in which he took part was ecclesiastical, involving grants, sometimes disputed, to churches and monasteries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_fitz_Flaad

Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

The Latin word mare ('sea') was a pun upon the name Mary, and the phrase Stella maris is an mistranslation of the Hebrew form of her name, Miriam.

Mary as a star, giving guidance to sailors on a stormy ocean, became a popular metaphor for the help she gave to mankind on earth. The great fourteenth-century Italian poet Petrarch, wrote a powerful lyric on the subject:

Bright virgin, steadfast in eternity /

Star of this storm-tossed sea, /

Trusted guide of every trustful pilot, /

Turn your thoughts to the terrifying squall /

In which I find myself, alone and rudderless...

Interestingly, Stella maris was originally an epithet of the goddess Isis in Roman religion. Like Mary, Isis was a divine mother with a very popular cult, and representations of her with her baby son Horus in Egyptian art to some extent influenced the way early artists showed the Virgin and Child.

Here is an example in the Fitzwilliam, dating from between 715 and 525 BCE [E.122.1954].

https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explore-our-collection/highlights/context/sign-and-symbols/the-star-of-mary

In 1917, the Virgin appeared in Fatima. "The Mother of God" was a smashing success, playing to overflow crowds. As a result, the Socialists of Portugal suffered a major defeat. "Roman Catholics world-wide began praying for the conversion of Russia and the Jesuits invented the Novenas to Fatima which they could perform throughout North Africa, spreading good public relations to the Muslim world. The Arabs thought they were honoring the daughter of Muhammad, which is what the Jesuits wanted them to believe. "As a result of the vision of Fatima, Pope Pius XII ordered his Nazi army to crush Russia and the Orthodox religion and make Russia Roman Catholic." A few years after he lost World war II, Pope Pius XII startled the world with his phoney dancing sun vision to keep Fatima in the news. It was great religious show biz and the world swallowed it. "Not surprisingly, Pope Pius was the only one to see this vision. As a result, a group of followers has grown into a Blue Army world-wide, totaling millions of faithful Roman Catholics ready to die for the blessed virgin. "But we haven't seen anything yet. The Jesuits have their Virgin Mary scheduled to appear four or five times in China, Russia, and major appearance in the U.S.

"What has this got to do with Islam?

Note Bishop Sheen's statement: "Our Lady's appearances at Fatima marked the turning point in the history of the world's 350 million Muslims. After the death of his daughter, Muhammad wrote that she "is the most holy of all women in Paradise, next to Mary."

"He believed that the Virgin Mary chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima as a sign and a pledge that the Muslims who believe in Christ's virgin birth, will come to believe in His divinity.

"Bishop Sheen pointed out that the pilgrim virgin statues of Our Lady of Fatima were enthusiastically received by Muslims in Africa, India, and elsewhere, and that many Muslims are now coming into the Roman Catholic Church."

How the Vatican created Islam (remnantofgod.org)

http://www.remnantofgod.org/books/docs/how-the-vatican-created-islam.pdf

The star of the Chaldean Church

The Church of the East of the Chaldeans uses ancient symbolism with historical meanings that are not always clear to everyone. An unfortunate fact, because behind symbols lie very valuable cultural elements that have often formed the basis of our thinking, our faith, our traditions, etc.

In this article we deal with the star that the Chaldean Church uses as its hallmark. The star we see in many churches is originally a pagan symbol dating back to ancient Babylonian times.

Picture 1: Shamash tablet

This star is depicted on the ‘Shamash tablet’ (see picture 1), a stone tablet excavated in 1881 by Hormizd Rassam in southern Iraq. The site of the archaeological find corresponded to the ancient Babylonian city of Sippar and was said to date from the 8th century BC.

The shamash tablet is on display today in the British Museum. Shamash, (sureth: ‘shemsha’) was known as the sun god in ancient times and the star symbolized the sun. But why does the Church of the East use this star?

To answer this, we go back to the story of the ‘ three magicians’, also known as ‘the three wise men’ or ‘the three kings’, who had followed the star to visit the baby Jesus.

According to the gospel of Matthew (2, 1-12) these three magicians came from the east, geographically referring to Mesopotamia (Beth Nahrin).

Picture 2: logo Chaldean patriarchate

These three persons were associated with magic, hence the term ‘magicians’ or ‘sages’, because they were engaged in astronomy (astronomy) and had also acquired a certain knowledge in it.

This argument, together with the geographical origin of the three magicians, would indicate that these men were Chaldeans, since Chaldeans were known as astronomers and were also called magicians.

This is why the Chaldean Church uses the star as a symbol. Also in the coat of arms (logo) of the Chaldean patriarchate these three magicians with a star during the visit to the infant Jesus are depicted (see picture 2).

The Church of the East has chosen the star, which is depicted on the ‘shamash tablet’, because of the link with antiquity.

 

Explanation on the use of pagan symbols within the Church, written by Nas David

 

Picture 3: Chaldean Church in Mardin, Turkey

The reason why this originally pagan symbol is still valid today is because many pagan symbols and customs were Christianized in the first centuries. Think, for example, of the Christmas tree or certain Hellenistic terms used by the apostles in their proclamation to make Christianity understandable. Also the first apologists used Greek (and thus pagan) terms and ideas to facilitate their proclamation. For example, Saint Justine the Martyr implemented the Greek ‘Logos’ concept – which stated that the ‘Logos’ was the origin and principle of all things – within the prologue of the Gospel of John to designate Christ as the eternal ‘Logos’, which is translated in English as ‘Word’, although this English term does not make a direct reference to the originally Greek ‘Logos’.

By analogy, we can say that the sun (Shamash) also refers to Christ as the Light of the world.

Thus, pagan symbols were often ‘desecrated’ and Hellenistic notions ‘deshelled’.

https://chaldeans.be/en/the-star-of-the-chaldean-church/

NEW AGE MOVEMENT UNITES ENGLISH AND FRENCH FREEMASONRY

The government of the O.T.O.. . .combines monarchy with democracy; it includes aristocracy,

and conceals even the seeds of revolution, by which alone progress can be effected. Thus we

balance the Triads, uniting the Three in One....

Book of Equinox

When the hierarchy of the Templar Palladium failed to unite permanently the three Masonic

obediences, it was Sion's turn. Miller confirms the story told in the Book of Equinox, of which a

portion is cited above. The word "monarchy" refers to English Freemasonry; "democracy"

represents both French and American Freemasonry; and "uniting the Three in One" alludes to all

three Masonic obediences.

All three must come to agreement both religiously and politically if world government is to be a

reality. However, unity among contradictory religious organizations is impossible. Likewise,

unity among opposing political viewpoints is unrealistic. The war between English and French

Freemasonry turns on differences of opinion on both these issues. The conflict? Which religious

and political system will eventually rule the New World Order?

Atheistic Templar Grand Orient Masonry desired a dictatorship of the proletariat - the lower

class - with communism guaranteeing equal distribution of wealth. While awaiting the fruition of

this dream, the Grand Orient encouraged laborers to form unions and, with the might of worker

strikes, gain their share of the wealth. With this ideology, French Freemasonry was thus able to

win the lower classes.

In contrast, Pantheistic Sionist English Freemasonry, whose sovereigns shared power with an

elected parliament, desired a New World Order dominated by an aristocracy. For two centuries

English Freemasons had kept their society aristocratic, capitalistic, and monopolistic. They had

dismissed and forgotten the common laborer, losing him politically to their adversary.

To remedy this divisive stalemate, English Freemasonry attacked the problem by creating dual

fronts where commonality could be predicated. First they established political-economic fronts,

called "think tanks," where the intelligentsia from both sides of the Channel could discuss a

coefficient for politics.2 Second they created mystic front organizations intended to appeal to and

gratify man's baser instincts, and thus reach and destabilize all levels of society.

English Freemasonry assigned the latter task to the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Masonic

Research, which, as we have seen, in turn developed a variety of degenerate sub-Masonic fronts

known as co-Masonry.3

To win the confidence of the French atheists who believed that individuals were endowed with

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equal, inalienable rights founded upon natural law, the English expanded the concept of natural

law to include mythological law.4 The Quatuor Coronati Lodge discovered that pagan religions,

in harmony with their cyclical world outlook, had long ago interwoven into their political society

mythological law, through which they maintained control of the populace. The dominant figure

in these prevailing myths was usually a goddess who symbolized "Mother Earth" and who thus

provided the basis for an ideology that man and earth were one.5

Pagan religions taught that Mother Earth required the continuation of creation through

procreation, with periodic demands for population control. These myths were carefully cultivated

and applied by a designated caste of priests, who designed licentious rituals in their worship as a

sacrament to Mother Earth. These rituals, of course, appealed to the base nature of man.

Therefore, these mythologies, created by man, became mythological law.

In this religion Mother Earth could become "angry." When she did so it meant that man was

multiplying too rapidly. To appease the mother goddess, mythological law demanded human

sacrifices, usually of the very young. Paul deParrie, in Unholy Sacrtfices of the New Age, says,

"Whether known as Kali (the many-armed Hindu goddess Kali, who wears for a necklace a chain

of human skulls), Diana, Isis, or Astarte, Mother Earth or her dark mirror image consistently

required blood as an appropriate offering; she who created (or procreated) also destroyed and

devoured her own young in bloody ritual."6

The purpose of the sacrifice was to "save the earth." Nigel Davies, in Human Sacnfice in History

and Today, confirms: "Both sacrificer and victim knew that the act was required, to save the

people from calamity and the cosmos from collapse. Their object was, therefore, more to

preserve than to destroy life."7

Mythological law required mothers to willingly give up their children to the flame or to the

knife. With the Arioio in Tahiti, "status was based entirely on one's devotion to killing one's own

children."8 The North American and Mexican Indians "both stressed the belief that the victim

would profit from his own sacrifice, thus allowing the executioner to feel no guilt and denying

the victim the opportunity to protest his own sacrifice."9 Thus, legalized murder became a part of

Mother Earth's mythological law of population control.

The Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Masonic Research set out to apply mythological law to presentday

Masonic work. In the same manner in which a designated caste of priests had in ancient

times designed rituals of human destruction to appease both Mother Earth and degenerate man,

the 33rd degree hierarchy of both English and French Freemasonry (Masons who had already

delved into witchcraft), duplicated the system for their budding mystic fronts. By catering to the

baser instincts of man, the two Freemasonries found it a simple task to unite under a political

system that permitted the free exercise of mythological law.

Diametrically opposed to the Judeo-Christian teaching, it should be no surprise that these sub-

Masonic societies became anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. Today they are known as white

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supremacists. Their plan to "save the earth" through a process of earth purification was, and still

is, to annihilate the dark-skinned races, which include the Jews. From this ideology was born the

Nazi movement. The homicidal O.T.O. and Thule Society played the most significant role in

grooming Hitler for power. The Order of the Golden Dawn became the connecting link between

the German branch of the OTO-Thule and English Freemasonry.10

When English Freemasonry agreed to cooperate with French Freemasonry, the paltry Grand

Orient was no match for the suave and wealthy Whore of Babylon at London. Hence, the French

method of destruction by brute force was set aside for a more acceptable approach. English

Freemasonry planned for a gradual and more scientific depopulation of earth.

During the 1920s and 1930s, British conspiracy researchers realized that the destructive

doctrines of French Freemasonry had crossed the English Channel. Several revisionists set out to

warn English Freemasonry of what they perceived was penetration by the Grand Orient. They

had not yet discovered that the hierarchy in both Freemasonries had united in the Ordo Templi

Orientis in 1905.

So secret was the O.T.O. that the majority of Masons are still unaware of its existence today.

Yet, this Order is documented as the most evil of Freemasonry, executing the destructive bidding

of the hierarchy on a grand scale.11 Its creed is "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the

Law." Its rituals include the use of mind-altering drugs and human sacrifice.

The Priory of Sion and Witchcraft

Claude Debussy, Grand Master of Sion (GM 1885-1918), was intimate with the English

Freemasons who founded the Order of the Golden Dawn, which in turn produced the O.T.O. and

Thule Society. He was especially close to Dr. Gerard Encausse (Papus), Grand Master of four

Rosicrucian orders in France - Martin, Memphis, Mizraim, and the O.T.O.12 At the behest of

Debussy, Papus took Martinism and the O.T.O. to Russia to prepare for the destruction of that

Christian nation.13

Miller lists the following Masons who were involved in the 19th Century revival of witchcraft,

which led to founding the O.T.O.: Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Eliphas Levi (1810-

1875), Richard Wagner (1813-1890), Hargrave Jennings (1817-1890), Friedrich Nietzsche

(1844- 1900), Franz Hartmann (1838-1912), Cardinal Rampolla (1843-1913), Papus (Dr.

Encausse 1865-1916), and Karl Kellner (-1905), cofounder (with Theodore Reuss) of the

O.T.O.14

Goethe, Levi, Wagner, and Papus are listed in Holy Blood, Holy Grail as also being connected to

the Priory of Sion. The others were Rosicrucian Masons. Kellner was also a Grand Orient

Mason, as was Reuss.

In 1895 the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Masonic Research shared with Karl Kellner its discovery

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that pagans had controlled population through human sacrifice. When Kellner informed the

German Grand Orient and Grand Lodge hierarchy of this, Friedrich Nietzsche commented, "The

20th Century will be the bloodiest on earth."

In 1902 Kellner organized the homicidal Ordo Templi Orientis and began initiating Freemasons

on both sides of the Channel. The original members of the O.T.O. were German Grand Orient

Theodore Reuss; and English Masons John Yarker (1833-1913), William Wynn Westcott (1848-

1925), and MacGregor Mathers. All but Mathers held the 33rd degree.'5

Theodore Reuss became head of the O.T.O. upon Kellner's death in 1905. In 1902 Reuss had

already named Westcott regent of the O.T.O. in England, thus establishing the interlocking

directorate between English and Continental Freemasonry.'6 In 1912 Reuss initiated Aleister

Crowley into the O.T.O. By the time World War I had started, Crowley, a member of both

English and French Freemasonry, was at the head of the British branch of the O.T.O.

The O.T.O. drew membership from a wide range of occult organizations: the Gnostic Catholic

Church; the Order of the Knights of the Holy Ghost; the Order of the Illuminati; the Order of the

Knights of St. John; the Order of the Knights of Malta; the Order of the Knights of the Holy

Sepulchre; the Hermetic Brotherhood of Light; the Holy Order of Rose Croix of Heredom; the

Order of the Holy Royal Arch of Enoch; the Order of the Knights Templar; the Hidden Church

of the Holy Grail; the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry; the Rite of Memphis; the Rite of

Mizraim; the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Masonry; the Swedenborgian Rite of

Masonry; the Order of the Martinists; the Order of Sat Bhai; and many other orders of equal

merit, or of less fame.17

What is most significant about these organizations is that they are recognized as a mixture of

Knights Templar and Priory of Sion secret societies.18 As suggested in the Book of Equinox,

Scarlet and the Beast, for a time at least, united in the Ordo Templi Orientis.

The Oriental Templars operated in the same manner as did Albert Pike's Palladian Templars.

Although the O.T.O. incorporated the Templar aura by name, it was not a Templar creation;

rather it was Sion's link to the international network of secret societies. Unlike the Palladian,

which recruited from only the Templar orders, the O.T.O. recruited from all occult bodies

throughout the ~ This network was controlled by the Sovereign Grand Inspectors General of the

33rd Degree in both obediences, who were periodically required to tour and inspect the O.T.O.

Lodges.20

The O.T.O. in America

The Ordo Templi Orientis was English Freemasonry's most effective psychological warfare unit.

Its duties were twofold: (1) to unite all occult bodies under the Luciferian Doctrine; and (2) to

destroy the Judeo-Christian culture worldwide with an onslaught of Satanism. The two Christian

nations first targeted for destruction were Czarist Russia and the United States.

356

Maury Terry, an American investigative journalist, tells in The ultimate Evil how the O.T.O. got

started in our country:

After internal dissension, elements of the Golden Dawn more or less merged into the Ordo

Templi Orientis. Aleister Crowley won permission to head a British OTO branch, and the

teachings of the OTO entered the United States with Crowley in 1916, during World War I in

Europe.

Later, during World War II, Crowley helped establish an OTO lodge in Pasadena,

California, and OTO branches subsequently sprouted in a number of U.S. cities, including

New York and Houston. In effect, a loose network was formed and already functioning via

occult shops and bookstores, newsletters, ads in the underground press and other methods....

In fact, many believe that the entire occult underground in America today can be traced back

to the formation of that Crowley OTO operation in Pasadena.21

The Law of the Ordo Templi Orientis is "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.

"22 For the pleasure of its members, this "Law" was practiced to its fullest in brothels

established throughout Europe and the United States. A segment of the Manifesto of the

O.T.O. explains the meaning of that "Law":

[The O.T.O.] embodies the whole of the secret knowledge of all oriental Orders; and its

chiefs are initiates of the highest rank, and recognized as such by all capable of such

recognition in every country in the world.

The Order is international, and has existing branches in every civilized country of the world.

The aims of the O.T.O. can only be understood fully by its highest initiates; but it may be

said openly that it teaches Hermetic Science or Occult Knowledge, the Pure and Holy

Magick of Light, the Secrets of Mystic attainment, Yoga of all forms; Gnana Yoga, Raja

Yoga, Bhakta Yoga and Hatha Yoga, and all other branches of the secret Wisdom of the

Ancients.

It also possesses in every important centre of population a hidden Retreat (Collegium ad

Spiritum Sanctum) where members may conceal themselves in order to pursue the Great

Work without hindrance.

These houses are secret fortresses of Truth, Light, Power and Love, and their position is

only disclosed under an oath of secrecy to those entitled to make use of them.

They are also temples of true worship, specially consecrated by Nature to bring out of a man

all that is best in him.23

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Prior to, and during World War II, Pasadena, California, was the O.T.O.'s west coast

headquarters in America, while Nyack, New York, was the center of its east coast operation.24

More information is written about the O.T.O. brothel - one of the houses of "Truth, Light, Power

and Love" referred to above - in Nyack than other locations. It was called Clarkstown Country

Club (C.C.C.). At its head was Freemason Dr. Pierre Arnold Bernard (1875-1955), initiated into

the O.T.O. in 1916 by Aleister Crowley himself, soon after Crowley arrived in the United States.

Bernard's occult library at the C.C.C. was the largest of its kind in America, consisting of an

array of pornographic movies and literature, as well as the finest collection of Sanskrit lore.

During its prosperous years, the 1930s, talks on the Veda, its writings and philosophy, were

regularly given by Dr. Bernard. The C.C.C.'s promotional literature stated that "[t]he core of this

subject [Veda] when reduced to practice is the Yoga System of Patanjali, a scientific scheme of

mental and physical development evolved and recorded by the early Indo-Aryans.

Nowhere else in the world with the exception of a few places in India is this work to be found

carried to such a degree of perfection. "25

Dr. Bernard was nicknamed "Oom," short for "Omnipotent." Women called him "Loving Guru."

Often the women told him they felt the need to walk around him three times and then reach out

and touch his "lotus."

The lotus flower of India is of course a phallic symbol. An Oom disciple once confided to an

outsider:

Sex is discussed as naturally as hypnosis or reincarnation. Dr. Bernard believes that men and

women can learn a lot about living by learning a lot about playing and loving. He teaches the

Oriental view of love as opposed to the restrained Western idea. Love, in its physical aspects,

is akin to music and poetry. It unites men and women with the infinite.26

Both male and female members of the C.C.C. practiced the mystic Hindu art of Tantrik. A true

Tantrik is a practitioner of Tantra, a ritualistic system in certain religions of the Orient. The rites

are grossly licentious and are most often invoked in veneration of the Sakti, the Hindu goddesses

of female energy.27

When the C.C.C. went into decline and finally sold its property, paranormal activity began to

manifest itself in several of its buildings. For example, part of the C.C.C. estate was purchased

by the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which is now the campus of Nyack College. Students

who attended Nyack in the earlier years may recall the demonic activity in one of the buildings

before exorcism.28 Today, another dwelling, not associated with the College, but on the original

C.C.C. estate, is still manifesting demonic activity. (See picture of house and brief story in

Appendix 2, Fig. 31.)

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The Pasadena and Nyack centers rapidly networked with other O.T.O. Lodges across North

America. The O.T.O.'s publication, Duties of the Brethren, confirms the purpose of these

retreats:

Special Profess-Houses for the care of women of the Order, or those whose husbands or

lovers are members of the Order, will be instituted, so that the frontal duty of womankind may

be carried out in all comfort and honour.29

It is also probable that within this licentious Order, homosexual activity was practiced, for Duties

of the Brethren also states:

Every Brother shall seek constantly to give pleasure to all Brethren with whom he is

acquainted, whether by entertainment or conversation, or in any other manner that may

suggest itself. It will frequently and naturally arise that love itself springs up between

members of the Order, for that they have so many and so sacred interests in common. Such

love is peculiarly holy, and is to be encouraged.30

According to the O.T.O. Manifesto, the O.T.O. also provides "safe houses" for its criminal

element:

Any injury done by any person without the Order to any person within it may be brought

before the Grand Tribunal, which will, if it deem right and fit, use all its power to redress or

to avenge it.

Public enemies of the country of any Brother shall be treated as such while in the field, and

slain or captured as the officer of the Brother may command.

The perfect freedom and security afforded by the Law ["Do what thou wilt shall be the whole

of the Law"] allows the characters of all Brethren to expand to the very limits of their nature.

The secrecy of the Order provides its members with an inviolable shroud of concealment.

They obtain the right to sojourn in the secret houses of the O.T.O., permanently or for a

greater or lesser period of the year according to their rank in the Order... 31

The O.T.O. did not go into decline after Aleister Crowley's death in 1947. Maury Terry has

discovered its network thriving stronger than ever in America, and connects it to the recent surge

of Satanic ritual murders. Included in this network are the drug counterculture operatives, motor

cycle gangs, common criminals and rock groups.

In Occult Theocrasy, Miller explains that music is an essential tool in this conspiracy, because it

renders an otherwise positive mind passive and negative. Miller states that occult music tends to

induce confusion. Lyrics in rock music are prime examples. Minds that are confused will obey

and bow to the hidden masters! A person who does not listen to this music, replacing it with

uplifting activity, remains positive. A positive mind cannot be controlled.32

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You may recall that this brainwashing technique was first practiced by French Freemasonry prior

to, and during, the French Revolution. Mozart's music, Mesmer's animal magnetism, and

Cagliostro's drugs and witchcraft, are all examples of how the O.T.O. operates today.

The O.T.O. and the Church of Scientology

After Crowley's death, Freemason L. Ron Hubbard acquired the O.T.O. leadership in America.

Robert Anton Wilson, co-author with Timothy Leary of Neuropolitics in 1977, explains that

"Hubbard's system is derived largely from Aleister Crowley.... Hubbard was a member of

Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis in the 1940s; and Hubbard later... invented a system which

seems, to those of us who know both, very similar to the system taught by Crowley in the

O.T.O."33

Hubbard was initiated into the O.T.O. in 1944 by Aleister Crowley himself. After Crowley's

death, the O.T.O. was headquartered for a time in Hubbard's Church of Scientology. In 1992 The

Auditor, the journal of Scientology, reports that there are 146 Scientology centers worldwide,

with 54 of them in the United States and Canada alone.34 Time Magazine, May 6, 1991, reports

"700 centers in 65 countries...."35

This greater number includes Scientology affiliates, many of which are front organizations. Time

lists them, along with their frightening implications. Sterling Management Systems (SMS),

formed in 1983, recruits dentists, chiropractors, podiatrists and veterinarians, guaranteeing them

increased income if they attend seminars and take courses that typically cost $10,000. SMS's true

aim is to hook these professionals for Scientology, who in turn will recruit their patients. Another

such group, Citizens Commission on Human Rights, is at war with psychiatry, its primary

competitor. The Commission typically issues reports aimed at discrediting particular

psychiatrists and the field in general. HealthMed, a chain of clinics run by Scientologists,

promotes a grueling and excessive system of saunas, exercise and vitamins designed by Hubbard

to purify the body. It solicits unions and public agencies for contracts. Narconon is a chain of 33

alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers in twelve countries. Some of these centers operate in

prisons under the name "Criminon." Both are classic vehicles for drawing addicts and cons into

the cult. Concerned Businessmen's Association of America holds anti-drug contests and awards

$5,000 grants to schools as a way to recruit students and curry favor with education officials.

Way to Happiness Foundation has distributed more than 3.5 million copies of Hubbard's booklet

on morality to children in thousands of the nation's public schools. Applied Scholastics is

attempting to install a Hubbard tutorial program in public schools. The group also plans a 1,000-

acre campus, where it will train educators to teach various Hubbard methods.36

The title Church of Scientology is a deception. It is neither Christian nor scientific. Speaking to

Hubbard's theology, Time says, "In the 1960s the guru decreed that humans are made of clusters

of spirits [thetans] who were banished to earth some 75 million years ago by a cruel galactic

ruler named Xenu."37

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In 1967 the Internal Revenue Service stripped the Church of Scientology of its tax-exempt status.

The Masonic-dominated American Civil Liberties Union and the Masonic-created National

Council of Churches supported Scientology's position that it is being "persecuted" by antireligionists.

Time countered by confirming that Scientologist defectors and critics are themselves

continually persecuted by this so-called church. For example, L. Ron Hubbard taught his

hierarchy how to use the law against its enemies. The law can be used very easily to harass," he

said, "and enough harassment on somebody who is simply on the thin edge anyway.. will

generally be sufficient to cause his professional decrease. If possible, of course, ruin him

utterly."~ Another time Hubbard warned his followers in writing to "beware of attorneys who tell

you not to sue.. .the purpose of the suit is to harass and discourage rather than to win."39 The

legal goal of Scientology is to bankrupt the opposition or bury it under paper.

Time says that defectors and critics find themselves "engulfed in litigation, stalked by private

eyes, framed for fictional crimes, beaten up or threatened with death." Time reports for example,

that two defectors, one a common criminal, the other his hypnotist, were ordered killed by the

Church. Oddly enough, the common criminal was to pull the trigger. He was ordered to kill the

hypnotist, then do an "EOC," (end of cycle), which is church jargon for suicide.40

Scientology Recruits for the O.T.O.

In 1967, the O.T.O. in England founded the Process Church of the Final Judgement soon after

the rise of The Beatles rock group. In the late sixties and early seventies, the Process set up cells

in a number of U.S. cities. Maury Terry says that the Process Church took over the O.T.O. in the

United States. The Church of Scientology reverted to the position of Blavatsky's Theosophical

Society a century earlier - that of a recruiting agency for the O.T.O. Terry said of Michael Carr,

who, before his violent death was one of the leaders in the Process Church and a ranking

Scientologist:

If he's counselling lost souls for Scientology, allegedly helping them discover themselves, he

could certainly be working both sides of the street and plucking a few out for recruitment in

the Satan stuff. That Scientology movement is fertile ground for latching onto confused

people. He'd have his pick of candidates.41

The O.T.O. and Psychological Warfare

The counterculture, which today has permeated our whole society, provided and still provides

recruits to the Church of Scientology which spots and selects the confused and drug addicted

candidates for the homicidal O.T.O.-Process Church. One such candidate was found in Charlie

Manson, who was first recruited by Scientology before he joined the Process Church. At that

time the Process Church in America was led by Robert Moore (alias Robert DeGrimston), who,

like Manson, was first a Scientologist. Process members worship both Satan and Christ, as did

the Priory of Sion and the Templars in medieval days.42

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Charlie Manson taught his "family" that he was Jesus Christ returned to bring judgement on

America through a race war. "Helter Skelter" was his plan. He believed his instructions were

concealed in the lyrics of songs sung by The Beatles.43 What Manson taught his "family" about

hidden messages in rock music may well be true. Aleister Crowley himself taught such a

technique to his initiates - that of writing messages backwards as a means of secret

communication.

William Sutton, in The New Age Movement and The Illuminati 666. states that Manson was also

a Freemason. In support of this he writes that "[d]uring the Tate-LaBianca trials - with Susan

Atkins testifying to how good it felt when the knife went into Sharon Tate – Manson was

flashing Masonic hand signals to the Judge."44 Sutton not only links Manson to Freemasonry, but

to Scientology, the Process Church, the O.T.O. and the New Age Movement.45

Likewise, Maury Terry documents that the Charlie Manson murders in California and the David

Berkowitz - Son of Sam - murders in New York, were both ordered by the same organization,

the O.T.O.- Process Church.46 One of Terry's first clues of this connection was the use of

common terms by Berkowitz's "Sam" cult and the O.TO.-Process Church. For example, the term

"German shepherds" was used by both as an allusion to their Nazi heritage. Both killers wore the

same Nazi symbols - HT and HH for Hitler, the German SS lighting bolts for Satan and 666 for

the mark of the beast. Both were white Aryan, anti. Christian, anti-black, and anti-Semitic.47

Berkowitz, whose murders followed some six years after Manson's, often mentioned Manson in

his notes. Berkowitz himself admitted to joining the Process Church in New York in 1975, just

six years after Manson's arrest. Process members openly mingling with existing O.T.O. factions

were seen in New York City as late as 1973. People such as Berkowitz, Man son and members of

the Process Church, and its cells around the United States, make up the current O.T.O. network.

All are sub-Masonic and linked as part of an underground web of murder. The "Sam" cult,

according to Terry, is headquartered near Los Angeles and has branches in Bismarck, Minot,

Houston and New York. These branches shuttle killers and "contracts" back and forth.48

From evidence presented by both Terry and Sutton, there is sufficient documentation to convince

the reader that the Ordo Templi Orientis was carried to the United States by English Freemason

Aleister Crowley for the express purpose of preparing Christian America for destruction through

mass and serial murder, drugs, licentious living, witchcraft, and the psychological terror and

social chaos caused by the same. The O.T.O. continues its assault on our society to this day. The

O.T.O. is English Freemasonry's psychological warfare unit targeted against Christian America.

O.T.O., Mother of the New Age

The O.T.O. membership was so vast that the Order boasted having knowledge of all the secrets

of occultism on both sides of the English Channel. Miller reports that after Karl Kellner founded

the O.T.O., the organization produced a manifesto called Manifesto of the 0.7:0. Under the

heading "Liber III" is proof that all Masonic and non-Masonic occult orders were under its direct

362

control:

Karl Keliner revived the exoteric49 organization of the O.T.O. and initiated the plan now

happily complete of bringing all occult bodies again under one governance.... The order is

international, and has existing branches in every civilized country of the world.

In its bosom repose the Great Mysteries; its brain has resolved all the problems of

philosophy and life. Moreover, it possesses a Secret capable of realizing the world-old

dream of the Brotherhood of Man.50

The "Secret" it possessed, and is now manifesting, is the program followed by the New Age

Movement. From this point we are able to trace the present New Age Movement to

Freemasonry.

Female Freemasons and the New Age Movement

All European Masonic Orders, including the French Grand Orient and many of the British

Masonic sub-orders, permitted female membership. Two of the most renowned female Masons

were Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and her protege' Annie Besant.51 Miller has stated that the

names of women members of the O.T.O. are never divulged publicly. It is assumed, however,

that Besant was an initiate, since she was frequently seen in the company of O.T.O. male

membership. Miller did find mention of Blavatsky in Freemasonry Universal, Volume V, part 2,

"Autumn Equinox," 1929, an O.T.O. publication which states:

"'Madame Blavatsky's masonic [sic] certificate in the Ancient and Primitive Rite of Masonry was

issued in the year 1877.'"52 This fact is also confirmed in Mackey's Encyclopedia of

Freemasonry.53

At the end of the nineteenth century, when English Freemasonry established front organizations

to act as conduits of Masonic thought, Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society had already

been flourishing since 1875. We have seen earlier how Blavatsky had come under the influence

and teachings of Joseph Mazzini, who encouraged her to put her revolutionary beliefs into

practice by fighting alongside Italian Freemason Garibaldi. Many Masons joined her society,

including Albert Pike. The Society, however, was open to Lucifer worshiping non-Masons as

well.54

In 1887, one year after the Quatuor Coronati Research Lodge was founded, Blavatsky settled in

London and started a Theosophical magazine called Lucifer the Light-bringer. While in London

she also published two books - Secret Doctrine and Isis Unveiled. Annie Besant was presented to

Madame Blavatsky in 1889 by the socialist, Freemason Herbert Burrows. Besant immediately

succumbed to Blavatsky's irresistible magnetism and formidable power of suggestion. After

Blavatsky died on May 8, 1891, members in the Theosophical Society battled over leadership for

the next sixteen years. Finally, in 1907, at the behest of Freemason Sir Walter Besant, the

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Quatuor Coronati Lodge appointed his sister, Annie Besant, as President.

Miss Besant was affiliated with a number of sub-Masonic societies and fronts, such as the Fabian

Society, the O.T.O. and Aleister Crowley's Masonic Stella Matutina. She had joined the Stella

Matutina after it splintered from the Golden Dawn. The two orders were again united in 1912

under the original name Golden Dawn. At that time, Aleister Crowley was one of its leaders.

That same year Crowley was initiated into the O.T.O. In 1913 a schism in Besant's Theosophical

Society occurred, resulting in 33rd degree Freemason Rudolph Steiner founding the

Anthroposophical Society, which also was Luciferian.55 Steiner's society became the first link

between the Bolshevik Revolution and Freemasonry.56

Besant's Masonic assignment in the Theosophical Society was to find a world leader. Not only

was she to find him, but prepare him as the Christ Lord Maitreya - and then announce his

coming. Her first attempt in 1908 met with failure. Her second try was better known. On

December28, 1911, a 16-year-old Hindu boy was allegedly found to be possessed by the spirit of

Krishna and the Christ. In 1926 the Society presented him as Krishnamurti, the "World Teacher."

Thirty-third degree Mason C.W. Leadbeater, a Masonic author at the turn of the century, was

selected to train Krishnamurti as Messiah.57

In the 1920s, when Annie Besant was introducing to the world the Christ Lord Maitreya in the

body of Krishnamurti, there was heavy drug consumption in her tent meetings. The London

Patriot, August 29, 1929, reported that "this drug, according to some occultists, [was] one of the

most powerful in 'liberating the spirit from the body."'58

Besant's second attempt, however, also failed when in 1929 Krishnamurti became bored with the

scheme and retired.59 By then Hitler's star was on the rise, and the New Agers were looking to

him as their redeemer.60

Funding the New Age Movement: The Lucis Trust

Another follower of Madame Blavatsky and member of the Theosophical Society was Alice

Bailey. Bailey, a self-proclaimed witch whose husband was a Freemason, founded in 1922 the

Lucifer Publishing Company of New York, which name has since been changed to Lucis mist to

disguise its real origins and identity. (Lucis is Latin for Lucifer.) Lucifer Publishing marketed

Bailey's first book, Initiation Humcm and Solar.61 Later she published Externalization of the

Hierarchy, in which she claimed the hierarchy in Freemasonry was responsible for the New Age

Movement. She said the "work of destruction" [social destabilization] began in the year

1775.~'62

Bailey was probably referring to the Illuminati. Seventy years later Albert Pike revived the

conspiracy in the Palladian. At the turn of the century the hierarchy became domiciled in the

O.T.O. Today the hierarchy resides in Bailey's Lucis Trust. In 1982 Lucis Trust was

headquartered at 866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 566/7, New York, NY 10017-1888. It has since

364

moved to another location in New York. At its helm in 1982 was Freemason Robert S.

McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and past president of the World Bank. Today

McNamara meets regularly with the World Federalist Movement to read Blavatsky and Besant.

On a clear midnight he is noted for bathing in moonbeams.63

A few other prominent members of Lucis Trust are David Rockefeller, major stockholder in

Chase Manhattan Bank and Exxon; his brother John D. Rockefeller iv; an avowed Buddhist;

Cyrus Vance, Secretary of State under Jimmy Carter; Rabbi Marc Tannebaum, head of the

American Jewish Committee; the Marshall Field family: Anglican Bishop Paul Moore, founder

of a school of witchcraft in the Anglican Church of St. John the Divine, New York; Walter

Cronkite, retired news anchor of CBS News; Ted Turner, owner of Cable News Network, who

promotes the Church of Scientology on his network; and Barbara Marx Hubbard, a prominent

speaker for the New Age Movement and the once-considered-running-mate of Presidential

candidate Walter Mondale. Last, but not least, is 33rd degree Freemason Henry Clausen, Past

Supreme Grand Commander of the Supreme Council, Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite

Freemasonry.64

The Lucis Trust also accepts corporate memberships. Among them are the following prestigious

organizations: the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment Fund, the United Nations

Association, the Theosophical Order of Service, the Findhorn Foundation, Greenpeace USA,

Greenpeace UK, Amnesty International, and the Southern Jurisdiction of Scottish Rite

Freemasonry. 65

Under McNamara's administration, Lucis Trust paid for a full-page ad promoting the New Age

in Reader's Digest, October 1982, page 203. In December 1991 Reader's Digest ran the ad again

on page 201. Both ads are reproduced in Appendix 2, Fig. 11. Deceptively written to appeal to

all religions, the ads contain the New Age prayer to bring in Lord Maitreya, the New Age Christ.

With such corporate and individual wealth at its disposal the New Age Movement can easily buy

multi-million dollar advertising across the nation. The Lucis Trust has undoubtedly taken the

place of Weishaupt's Illuminati, Pike's Palladian and Kellner's O.T.O. Its dominant position and

purpose are identical to the previous three.

The Lucis Trust has sponsored many Masonic programs, such as the now defunct television talk

show, "Faith Focus" of Dallas, Texas. During the period that Faith Focus was on the air (1982-

1985), advertising at program breaks was identical to the Reader's Digest ad - the prayer to bring

in Lord Maitreya.

Host of "Faith Focus" was Freemason Rev. Walker Railey, a Methodist minister. In 1987 the city

of Dallas was shocked when Railey was suspected of strangling his wife. Finally, in September

1992 he was arrested and is now awaiting trial.

In 1987, as Railey was preparing his alibi, he admitted in a recording of being attacked by

365

demons, a not unusual occurrence with those who tamper with the occult.66 Alice Bailey would

be proud of this "earth purifier."

In reference to the Lucis Trust, Bailey states in Externalization of the Hierarchy, that

Freemasonry "will meet the need of those who can, and should wield power." She further

informs us that Masonry is the "seat of initiation" and "under the All-Seeing Eye the work can go

forward."67

The various divines and gurus of the New Age continue to announce the arrival of the world

teacher and proclaim the movement's Luciferian doctrines. Among them, Benjamin Creme, a

New Age guru, writes in Share International, that "Freemasonry, as one of the Paths to

Initiation, will be open to all those men and women who fit themselves for entry to the New

Age." Creme is today the Masonic New Age Movement's torch-bearer for the emergence of

"Maitreya the Christ"" Apparently the Movement has found another body for their "World

Teacher" to possess.

Another New Age leader, David Spangler, is author of Reflection on the Christ. In this book he,

too, proclaims the Masonic Luciferian Doctrine:

When man entered upon the pathway to self, he entered into a great creative adventure.. of

learning the meaning of divinity by accepting to himself the responsibility of a microcosmic

world unto whom he is the god.... The being that helps man to reach this point is Lucifer.. .the

angel of man's evolution.. the spirit of light in the microcosmic world.69

Spangler goes on to blasphemously state that "Christ is the same force as Lucifer." Finally he

says:

Lucifer prepares man for the experience of Christhood... [he is] the great Initiator.... Lucifer

works within each of us to bring us to wholeness, and as we move into a New Age.. .each of us

in some way is brought to that point which I term the Luciferic Initiation.. that many people

now, and in the days ahead, will be facing, for it is an initiation into the new age.70

Finally, 33rd degree Mason Manly P. Hall, one of the first New Age speakers in America, has

informed the occult world of the power of the Blue Lodge Mason. In The Lost Keys of

Freemasonry, Manly wrote, "The seething energies of Lucifer are in his hands... "71

Freemasonry's New Age fronts have expanded to such magnitude that there are now over 10,000

affiliates in the United States alone ,72 all controlled directly or indirectly by Freemasonry. As

far back as 1930, Stoddard explained the Masonic purpose behind these New Age fronts:

Secretly here and there individuals are prepared; these again form groups or centres from

which influences spread until they form a veritable magnetic network covering the entire

world. Like rays from a hidden sun these groups are apparently divergent and detached, but

in reality all issue from the same central body. Studying all these different groups and

366

movements the system is seen to be an insidious and secret dissemination of ideas, orienting

and creating the required outlook on life, etc., eventually breaking down all barriers of

family, religion, morality, nationality, and all self-initiated thought, always under the cloak of

a new and more modern religion, new thought, new morality, a new heaven and a new earth;

until it evolves a gigantic robot merely answering to the will and commands of a secret

Master Mind.73

The secret "Master Mind" controlling Freemasonry today is, of course, Satan through the Lucis

mist. In its hierarchy are members of the Supreme Council of the 33rd degree. Rev. Jim Shaw, a

former 33rd degree Mason, tells how the Supreme Council controls this network of occult fronts:

"Every thirty-third degree Supreme Council member carries a certificate allowing him presiding

entry into all occult bodies in the world."74 These high Masons are titled "Sovereign Grand

Inspectors General." They quietly move in and out of thousands of front societies to "inspect"

them, insuring that Masonry's goal of establishing a one-world government, ruled over by its

own created false Christ, is on track.

Freemasonry had an Inspector General on hand during the United Nations' New Age University

of Peace conference held on the Island of Malta, March 2-7, 1985. The theme of the conference

was "Spirit of Peace." The Inspector General was 33rd degree Prince Bernhardt of the

Netherlands, one of the most powerful Masons in the world. Bernhardt is known to conspiracy

researchers as the founder of the Bildebergers, precursor of the Trilateral Commission.

Also present at this gathering was Marilyn Fergusson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy. The

fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, "His Holiness" Tenzin Gyatso, was there. Coretta Scott King,

wife of the late Martin Luther King and a leading proponent of world peace was registered as a

guest. Robert Muller, assistant Secretary General of the U.N. and member of the Board of

Planetary Citizens, was at the conference. It was Muller, in 1982, who said, "The Human person

and planetary citizenship must be given absolute priority over national citizen ship." Freemason

Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1984, was also hobnobbing with the occult elite on

Malta.75

Thtu is the Anglican Bishop of South Africa. He was deliberately elevated to his position by the

Anglican Church in London, so that he could be ready and in place to foment revolution while

hiding behind his clerical robes. "This should not surprise our readers," writes the editor of

World Economic Review, "since it is a well known fact that the Anglican Church leadership in

England is riddled with 33rd degree Freemasons. Thus we can now tell you that it was NOT the

people of the Anglican Church who gave Thtu his position, it was the Mason-riddled hierarchy

inside the Anglican Church that did so.'"76

A branch of the Anglican Church in America is the Episcopal Church. It too is controlled by

English Freemasonry. The World Economic Review reports that Lucis Trust member, Bishop

Paul Moore of the Episcopal Church of St. John The Divine in New York City, "runs several

367

witchcraft schools on Long Island, the most notable being the Foxfire school. Moore is

controlled by the ultra-secret Masonic Quatuor Coronati Lodge in London, which always has as

a 'Member of Forty' the head of the Anglican Church."77

The Great "Falling Away" in America

How successful has Freemasonry been in furthering her New Age philosophy in the United

States? The answer is given in the Omega Letter which calls the New Age Movement the fastest

growing religious belief system in the United States today. The Omega-Letter quotes an article

on a recent American Health magazine survey which revealed that 69 percent of Americans

claim to believe some or all of the New Age Movement's central teachings.78

Scripture of course prophesies this apostasy. The apostle Paul wrote in II Thessalonians 2:1 & 3:

"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering

together unto him that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first..."

The Greek word for "falling away" is apostasia, from where we receive our English word

apostasy. Strong's Concordance defines it as a "defection from truth."79 Christ will not return

until after there is a "defection from truth."

Christian brother in Freemasonry, you are in fellowship with an order that has caused the great

"falling away." And according to Scripture, Jesus Christ will return soon afterward. Before His

return He is calling you out of Freemasonry. Hear His voice in Revelation 18:4: "Come out of

her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

By the time of the success of the First Crusade in 1099, the Hospital of St John was already well known among pilgrims and was regarded as a separate organization from the monastery of St Mary. The monastic brothers at the hospital saw it as their duty to provide the best possible treatment to the poor. They were given an endowment by Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade, before he died in 1100. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Ghibbelin of Arles, formally recognized it as a separate entity from the monastery when he reformed the Catholic hierarchy in Palestine, and a step towards this was taken by Pope Paschal II when he recognized the abbey of St Mary as a church of the Holy See, placing it under his protection and exempting it from paying tithes on its land, on 19 June 1112. The monastic Hospitaller Order was formally created when the Pope issued the papal bull Pie postulatio voluntatis on 15 February 1113 to the head of the Hospital of St John, Blessed Gerard de Martigues. The Pope subordinated the hospital to his own authority and exempted it from paying tithes on the lands it owned, and gave the right to its professed brothers to elect their master. He also placed several other hospitals and hospices in southern Italy under the governance of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem, as they were located at port cities from which pilgrims traveled to the Holy Land.[7][8][9]

Knights Hospitaller in Jerusalem

Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond. Under his successor, Raymond du Puy, the original hospice was expanded to an infirmary[10] and by then was subordinated to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Around this time the Hospital of St John became connected with that Church, and documents often referred to "the Holy Sepulchre and the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem."[11] Initially, the Hospitallers cared for pilgrims as well as others (including Muslims and Jews) in Jerusalem,[7] but the order soon extended to provide pilgrims with an armed escort before eventually becoming a significant military force. Thus, the Order of St. John imperceptibly became militaristic without losing its charitable character.[10]

It is possible that the Hospital of St John hired knights or foot soldiers after the First Crusade to provide security, before it formally established its own military organization. Knights in western Europe left their horses and weapons to the Hospitallers in their wills in the 1120s, and in the early 1140s Pope Innocent II mentioned that the Hospitallers had "servants" to protect pilgrims. An account from a Hospitaller priest in 16th century stated that as the Order of St John became more wealthy it hired knights to defend its hospitals and pilgrims, and these knights eventually became Hospitallers themselves. It is known that secular knights and soldiers were hired by institutions in Jerusalem to provide protection after 1099, including churches, and some of them later joined military orders. The Order of Knights Templar was founded around 1119-1120 and it is likely that the Hospitallers were inspired by them to have their own knights. A charter made for a gift to the Hospital of St John in a Christian army on 17 January 1126 recorded that a brother from the Order was present as a witness and that he held a military title.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller

THE 17 OF JANUARY AND THE "BLUE APPLES" - Priory of Sion

On 17 January every year, near the statue of St. Anthony the Hermit, from 11.00 A.M., a suggestive and ethereal composition, always invisible, during every other day of the year, appears projected on the wall; those are the famous "blue apples" of the church in Rennes le Château.

The phenomenon is the result of a formidable creation by Bérenger Saunière, which exploits a highly elaborate combination of deep geometrical and astronomical knowledge, the result reaches its peak around 13.00 on the 17th of January every year, and from that moment, for a few days more, this phenomenon repeats itself.

The intention of the priest was to celebrate and underline, with the usual allegorical veil, a series of recurrences, which he considered important; among them the date of Marie de Negri of Ables d'Hautpoul's death, the Marquess of Blanchefort-Hautpoul, the last noble whose burial is in the church and besides that, also the date of the death of Saint Anthony the hermit and of Saint Germain from Pibrac, both represented within the church itself, as already mentioned; this particular date has many meanings also for the Priory of Sion, both for the reasons listed above, and for being the day defined as the date of the success of the "Great Work" by the past Grand Master of the Order, Nicolas Flamel, as it was January 17 that he and his wife are said to have obtained the Philosopher's Stone; January 17 is also the date of the death of Bérenger Saunière, so January 17, 1917, death declared by Marie Denarnaud only a few days later (January 22).

http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/4/church_of_rennes_le_chateau_1051503.html#pr_1870288

The Priory of Sion is an initiatory Order of chivalry, founded on July 15 1099 in Jerusalem, by Godfrey of Bouillon, at the Abbey "Our Lady of Mount Sion" as "Order of our Lady of Mount Sion."The Order, after being registered for the first time in history, in 1956, and then being dissolved in 1993, was newly registered in 2015, perpetuating the legitimate Pierre Plantard de Saint-Clair's lineage, through the actual Grand Master, Marco Rigamonti.The Priory of Sion is characterized by a gnostic and rosicrucian influence, who sets himself the task of supporting and nurturing personal growth, moral and spiritual, with respect and in harmony with the personal objectives that each of us, by nature, has to carry through in life experience.It's also our purpose the esoteric research as the study and experience related to the transcendent and mystical in an environment of communion with our Brothers and Sisters, Members of the Order.The Priory of Sion today inherits a tradition of esoteric, philosophical, spiritual and cultural legacy, which favors the cultivation of values and principles that offers the way to live a more aware and noble personal dimension.We work through symbols, ancient rituals, theurgic practice and traditions, in order to live a personal and collective sprirituality in communion with our Brothers and Sisters. The Order is apolitical and forbids its members to be made a place of political debate, or even worse, to be exploited for such purposes."

http://www.prieure-de-sion.com/

The Order – A Brief History

The origins of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem date back to the First Crusade, when its leader, Godfrey de Bouillon, liberated Jerusalem. As part of his operations to organize the religious, military and public bodies of the territories newly freed from Muslim control, he founded the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre. According to accounts of the Crusades, in 1103 the first King of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, assumed the leadership of this canonical order, and reserved the right for himself and his successors, as agents of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to appoint Knights to it, should the Patriarch be absent or unable to do so.

The Order’s members included not only the Regular Canons (Fratres) but also the Secular Canons (Confratres) and the Sergentes. The latter were armed knights chosen from the crusader troops for their qualities of valor and dedication; they vowed to obey Augustinian Rule of poverty and obedience and undertook specifically, under the command of the King of Jerusalem, to defend the Holy Sepulchre and the Holy Places.

Very soon after the First Crusade the troops – including the Knights of the Order of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre – began to return to their homelands. This led to the creation of priories all over Europe, which were part of the Order as they came under the jurisdiction of the noble knights or prelates who had been invested on the Holy Sepulchre itself and who, although they were no longer in the direct service of the King of Jerusalem, continued to belong to the Order of Canons.

The Order first began to fail as a cohesive military body of knights after Saladin regained Jerusalem in 1182, and completely ceased to exist in that format after the defeat of Acre in 1291. The passing of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem left the Order without a leader, though it continued to survive in the European priories thanks to the protection of sovereigns, princes, bishops and the Holy See. The priories kept alive the ideals of the Crusader Knights: propagation of the Faith, defense of the weak, charity towards other human beings. With the exception of events in Spain, it was only rarely that the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre ever took part again in military action to defend Christianity.

In the 14th century, the Holy See made an extremely high payment to the Egyptian Sultan so that he would grant the right to protect the Christian Sanctuaries to the Franciscan Friars Minor. Throughout the whole period of the Latin Patriarchate’s suppression, the right to create new Knights, was the prerogative of the representative of the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land: the Custos.

In 1847 the Patriarchate was restored and Pope Pius IX modernized the Order, issuing a new Constitution, which placed it under the direct protection of the Holy See and conferred its government to the Latin Patriarch. The Order’s fundamental role was also defined: to uphold the works of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, whilst preserving the spiritual duty of propagating the Faith.

In 1949, Pius XII decreed that the Grand Master of the Order should be a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church and assigned the position of Grand Prior to the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 1962 Pope John XXIII and, in 1967, Pope Paul VI reorganized and revitalized the Order by adding more specific regulations to the Constitution with the intention of making the Order’s activities more co-coordinated and more effective.

In February 1996, the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II enhanced the Order’s status. Today it is a Public Association of faithful with a legal canonical and public personality, constituted by the Holy See under Canon Law 312, paragraph 1:1.

https://eohsjeastern.org/a-brief-history/

Horses: the extent to which they can be possessed in our houses [575, 576]; the extent to which they can be used on missions [574, 625]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

By the time of the success of the First Crusade in 1099, the Hospital of St John was already well known among pilgrims and was regarded as a separate organization from the monastery of St Mary. The monastic brothers at the hospital saw it as their duty to provide the best possible treatment to the poor. They were given an endowment by Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade, before he died in 1100. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Ghibbelin of Arles, formally recognized it as a separate entity from the monastery when he reformed the Catholic hierarchy in Palestine, and a step towards this was taken by Pope Paschal II when he recognized the abbey of St Mary as a church of the Holy See, placing it under his protection and exempting it from paying tithes on its land, on 19 June 1112. The monastic Hospitaller Order was formally created when the Pope issued the papal bull Pie postulatio voluntatis on 15 February 1113 to the head of the Hospital of St John, Blessed Gerard de Martigues. The Pope subordinated the hospital to his own authority and exempted it from paying tithes on the lands it owned, and gave the right to its professed brothers to elect their master. He also placed several other hospitals and hospices in southern Italy under the governance of the Hospital of St John in Jerusalem, as they were located at port cities from which pilgrims traveled to the Holy Land.[7][8][9]

Knights Hospitaller in Jerusalem

Gerard acquired territory and revenues for his order throughout the Kingdom of Jerusalem and beyond. Under his successor, Raymond du Puy, the original hospice was expanded to an infirmary[10] and by then was subordinated to the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Around this time the Hospital of St John became connected with that Church, and documents often referred to "the Holy Sepulchre and the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem."[11] Initially, the Hospitallers cared for pilgrims as well as others (including Muslims and Jews) in Jerusalem,[7] but the order soon extended to provide pilgrims with an armed escort before eventually becoming a significant military force. Thus, the Order of St. John imperceptibly became militaristic without losing its charitable character.[10]

It is possible that the Hospital of St John hired knights or foot soldiers after the First Crusade to provide security, before it formally established its own military organization. Knights in western Europe left their horses and weapons to the Hospitallers in their wills in the 1120s, and in the early 1140s Pope Innocent II mentioned that the Hospitallers had "servants" to protect pilgrims. An account from a Hospitaller priest in 16th century stated that as the Order of St John became more wealthy it hired knights to defend its hospitals and pilgrims, and these knights eventually became Hospitallers themselves. It is known that secular knights and soldiers were hired by institutions in Jerusalem to provide protection after 1099, including churches, and some of them later joined military orders. The Order of Knights Templar was founded around 1119-1120 and it is likely that the Hospitallers were inspired by them to have their own knights. A charter made for a gift to the Hospital of St John in a Christian army on 17 January 1126 recorded that a brother from the Order was present as a witness and that he held a military title.[12]

Krak des Chevaliers, a castle acquired by the Hospitallers in Syria

Raymond du Puy, who succeeded Gerard as master of the hospital in 1120,[11] is credited with establishing the military element of the Order.[13] Raymond decided some time before 1136 that Hospitallers could fight to defend the kingdom or to besiege a pagan city.[14] The Knights Hospitaller, like the other military orders, organized its fighting members into the ranks of knight and sergeant.[15] In 1130, Pope Innocent II gave the order its coat of arms, a plain silver cross in a field of red, to differentiate them from the Templars.[16] The other symbol of the Hospitallers, the "eight-pointed cross", is said to have originated in the Byzantine Empire before reaching the Duchy of Amalfi in Italy, and it was later used in Jerusalem by the monks that founded the Hospital of St John. After the Hospitallers moved to Malta, it became known as the Maltese cross.[17]

Maronite archer guiding a Knights Hospitaller and Northern Italian Crusader through Wadi Numeira to the Kerak plateau

King Fulk of Jerusalem constructed several castles to defend the kingdom's southern border from attacks by the Fatimid garrison at Ascalon, and allowed the Hospitallers to manage one of them in 1136, the castle of Bethgibelin.[14] This castle also allowed them to defend the pilgrim route between Jaffa and Jerusalem.[18] Later in the century, the Hospitallers were given control over more castles in Syria than they had in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.[19] In the next several decades after 1136 the Order was granted more castles and towns by nobles that needed assistance in defending them, especially in the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch. Those notably included the Krak des Chevaliers in 1142, which they received from Raymond II, Count of Tripoli.[14][19] According to one estimate the Hospitallers had 25 castles as of 1180.[19] In addition to defending them, the Hospitallers also undertook construction projects to build new castles or repair and expand existing ones, with an example of the latter being Krak des Chevaliers.[20]

One of the first battles that the Knights Hospitaller fought in was the Siege of Ascalon in 1153. After a group of Knights Templar, led by their Grand Master, Bernard de Tremelay, entered the besieged fortress and were all killed, King Baldwin III of Jerusalem wanted to withdraw, but Raymond du Puy convinced him to continue, and the fort surrendered to the Crusaders on 22 August 1153.[21][22] It is not clear if the role of the Hospitallers was only advisory or if they were involved in the fighting at Ascalon.[23]

The Hospitallers and the Knights Templar became the most formidable military orders in the Holy Land. Frederick Barbarossa, the Holy Roman Emperor, pledged his protection to the Knights of St. John in a charter of privileges granted in 1185.[24][25] In order to protect the road of the Camino de Santiago, the Order of Saint John generously received the hospital, commandery and convent of San Juan de Acre in Navarrete, La Rioja, founded in 1185 by María Ramírez de Medrano, Lady of Fuenmayor, built by her son Martín de Baztán y Medrano, bishop of Osma in Soria.[26] Active in the Kingdom of Toledo (a border area with Islam from the 12th to the 13th centuries) since 1144, the order had their largest holding in the kingdom in the Campo de San Juan.[27]

A Hospitaller depicted in a church painting

The statutes of Roger de Moulins (1187) deal only with the service of the sick; the first mention of military service is in the statutes of the ninth grand master, Fernando Afonso of Portugal (about 1200). In the latter, a marked distinction is made between secular knights, externs to the order, who served only for a time, and the professed knights, attached to the order by a perpetual vow, and who alone enjoyed the same spiritual privileges as the other religious. The order numbered three distinct classes of membership: the military brothers, the brothers infirmarians, and the brothers chaplains, to whom was entrusted the divine service.[10]

In 1248, Pope Innocent IV (1243–1254) approved a standard military dress for the Hospitallers to be worn during battle. Instead of a closed cape over their armour (which restricted their movements), they wore a red surcoat with a white cross emblazoned on it.[28]

Many of the more substantial Christian fortifications in the Holy Land were built by the Templars and the Hospitallers. At the height of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Hospitallers held seven great forts and 140 other estates in the area. The two largest of these, their bases of power in the Kingdom and in the Principality of Antioch, were the Krak des Chevaliers and Margat in Syria.[8] The property of the Order was divided into priories, subdivided into bailiwicks, which in turn were divided into commanderies.

As early as the late 12th century, the order had begun to achieve recognition in the Kingdom of England and Duchy of Normandy. As a result, buildings such as St John's Jerusalem and the Knights Gate, Quenington in England were built on land donated to the order by local nobility.[29] An Irish house was established at Kilmainham, near Dublin, and the Irish Prior was usually a key figure in Irish public life.

The Knights also received the "Land of Severin" (Terra de Zeurino), along with the nearby mountains, from Béla IV of Hungary, as shown by a charter of grant issued on 2 June 1247. The Banate of Severin was a march, or border province, of the Kingdom of Hungary between the Lower Danube and the Olt River, today part of Romania, and back then bordered across the Danube by a powerful Bulgarian Empire. The Hospitaller hold on the Banate was only brief.[30]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Hospitaller

The Prieuré was cited by name in references extending from the twelfth to the early seventeenth century. Then, in documents dating from 1619, it was stated to have incurred the displeasure of King Louis XIII of France, who evicted them from their seat at Orléans and turned the premises over to the Jesuits.5 After that, the Prieuré de Sion seemed to vanish from the historical record, at least under that name, until 1956, when it appeared again, registered in the French Journal officiel. And yet the present-day Order had repeatedly cited certain of its activities between 1619 and the twentieth century, certain historical events in which it had played a role, certain historical developments in which it had some sort of vested interest. When we examined the events and developments in question, we found indisputable evidence attesting to the involvement of an organised and coherent cadre working in concert behind the scenes, sometimes using other institutions as a façade. This cadre was not named specifically, but everything indicated that it was indeed the Prieuré de Sion. What was more, it proved to involve precisely the same network of interlinked families claiming Merovingian descent. Whether it was the intrigues and the Wars of Religion in the sixteenth century, the insurrection known as the Fronde in the seventeenth century or the Masonic conspiracies of the eighteenth century, successive generations of precisely the same families were implicated, operating in accordance with a single consistent pattern."

The Messianic Legacy

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UV7FwghOOhdkp4fdk2SzG7oem2nRleW0/view?usp=sharing

The Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God, officially the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God (abbreviated as OH), are a Catholic religious order founded in 1572. In Italian they are also known commonly as the Fatebenefratelli, meaning "Do-Good Brothers", and elsewhere as the "Brothers of Mercy", the "Merciful Brothers" and the "John of God Brothers". The order carries out a wide range of health and social service activities in 389 centres and services in 46 countries.

Founder

St. John of God, the founder of the order, was born 8 March 1495 at Montemor-o-Novo in Portugal. Twice he enlisted in the Spanish army against the French and later the Turks.[1] After years of living a highly religious way of life in Spain resulting from a conversion experience, in 1535 he founded his first hospital at Granada, where he served the sick and afflicted. After ten years spent in the exercise of charity, he died 8 March 1550 of pneumonia after he had plunged into a river to save a young man from drowning.[2] He was canonized by Pope Alexander VIII in 1690 and was declared the patron saint of the dying and of all hospitals by Pope Leo XIII in 1898.[3]

History

John of God's first companion, Antón Martín, O.H., was chosen to succeed him as prior general of the order. Thanks to the generosity of King Philip II of Spain, a hospital was founded at Madrid, another at Córdoba and several others in various Spanish towns. Pope Pius V approved the Order of the Brothers Hospitallers in 1572 under the Rule of St. Augustine. The order spread rapidly into the other countries of Europe, and even into the distant colonies. For example, the Order provided staff to the Fortress of Louisbourg in New France (now Canada) during the mid 1700s; one of their roles was the operation of the hospital.[4]

In 1584, Pope Gregory XIII called some of the Brothers to Rome and gave them the Hospital of St. John Calybita, Fatebenefratelli Hospital, located on an island in the Tiber, which then became the motherhouse of the whole order. Brother Sebastiano Arias founded the Hospital of Our Lady at Naples and the famous Hospital of Milan. Another Brother Hospitaller at this time was John Grande, O.H., who was beatified by Pope Pius IX in 1852.[3] The first general of Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God was Pedro Soriano.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Hospitallers_of_Saint_John_of_God

Augustinians and Cistercians | Church and Society in the Medieval West

One newly founded order broke with the rule of Benedict, finding its inspiration in a letter of Augustine is that prescribed simply that monks share all their property, pray together at regular intervals, dress alike, and obey a superior. Some of the “Augustinians,” as they called themselves, interpreted these general rules severely, living in silence, performing manual labor, eating and drinking sparingly, and singing psalms; others ate meat, conversed among themselves, and did not insist on manual labor.

https://bigsiteofhistory.com/augustinians-and-cistercians-church-and-society-in-the-medieval-west

The Teutonic Order, or Teutonic Knights of St. Mary’s Hospital at Jerusalem, grew out of the establishment of a field hospital during the siege of Acre in the winter of 1190-91, by pious merchants of Bremen and Lubeck. When these merchants returned to Germany in 1191 they turned over the hospital to the chaplain Conrad and the chamberlain Burkhard.

With the model of the Hospitallers or Knights of St. John the Baptist, later known as Knights of Malta, before them, these men together with other Germans, formed a brotherhood, adopted the rules of the Hospitallers, and named their hospital “The Hospital of St. Mary of the Germans in Jerusalem” “in the hope and confidence that when the Holy City was reconquered they would there establish a house which should become the mother, head and mistress of the entire Order.” The new Order was confirmed by popes Clement III in 1191 and Celestine in 1196; it won as a patron the emperor, Henry VI, who bestowed upon it its first possessions in the West. In 1198 it was changed into a military Order by the adoption of the rules of the Knights Templars in addition to those of the Hospitallers. Unlike both of these older Orders, the Teutonic Knights were a strictly national organization, none but Germans of noble birth being admitted to it. “Like the knights of other orders, the Teutonic Knights lived a semimonastic life under the Augustinian rule, and in the same way they admitted priests and half-brothers (servientes) into their ranks. Like the other two orders, the Teutonic Order began as a charitable society, developed into a military club, and ended as something of a chartered company, exercising rights of sovereignty on the troubled confines of Christianity. Even in its last phase the Order did not forget its original purpose: it maintained several great hospitals in its new home on the southeast shore of the Baltic, in addition to an hotel des invalides at Marienburg for its sick or aged brethren.” F550 Under its fourth grand master, Hermann von Salza, 1210-39, the Order grew rapidly and made the most important advance in its history. After having aided the king of Hungary against the Comans, and receiving from the king the district of Burzenland in Transylvania, which it did not long retain, the Order was invited to assist in subduing the heathen Prussians. A Cistercian monk named Christian had succeeded in establishing the Church among the Prussians, and in 1212 was made bishop of Prussia. When the heathen arose and destroyed his churches, Christian called upon the Teutonic Knights for help and bestowed upon them Kulm, some of the frontier towns and such lands as they should conquer (1228). After driving the enemy out of Kulm and founding the cities of Kulm, Thorn and Marienwerder, the Order began the task of conquering and Christianizing Prussia. In 1235 it absorbed the Order of Dobrzin, which had been founded by bishop Christian, and in 1237 the Knights of the Sword of Livonia, founded by Albert, bishop of Riga, became a province of the Order.

Its successes in Prussia changed the character of the Teutonic Order. It lost all connection with the East, its grand master moved his seat from Acre, first to Venice in 1291, then in 1308 to Marienburg on the Vistula. The Order became a governing aristocracy, its statutes were altered to suit the new conditions. “The Order was at once supreme ecclesiastical and political authority .... The lay subjects of the Order consisted of two classes: on the one hand there were the conquered Prussians, in a position of serfdom, bound in time of war to serve the brethren in foreign expeditions; on the other hand there were the German immigrants, both urban and rural, along with the free Prussians, who had voluntarily submitted and remained faithful.” f551 By the middle of the fourteenth century the Teutonic Knights had become a world power. Their cities belonged to the Hanseatic League and shared in its power; Poland had been deprived of its outlet on the Baltic; the ships of the Order were a power on the sea; Marienburg with its brilliant court was not merely a school of chivalry, but for a time a literary center. Yet the downfall of the Order was close at hand. It alienated its subjects, who allied themselves with Poland; its missionary work was completed when the Lithuanians became Christians and also made common cause with Poland; the Slav reaction made the Germanizing efforts of the Knights still more unpopular. Internally the success of the Order brought with it a secularization which was disastrous. Poland regained a foothold on the Baltic. The Prussian League was formed in 1440 with the real purpose of opposing the Knights, and in 1454 offered Prussia to the Polish king. The peace of Thorn, 1466, left to the Order only East Prussia and made the knights vassals of Poland. But the German master and the Landmeister for Livonia would not serve Poland, and the Order in East Prussia adopted the policy of electing German princes as grand masters in the hope of again regaining independence, without success. The first of these German grand masters was Frederick of Saxony, 1498 to 1511. He was succeeded by Albert of Brandenburg. f552 Albert became involved in a devastating war with Poland, which was provisionally ended by a four years’ truce made in 1521. In September of that year Albert suggested the possibility of a revision of the statutes of the Order by Luther, probably in harmony with the plans outlined in the Open Letter to the German Nobility. So far as known Luther was not consulted at that time. Albert continued to take his place with the Roman Catholic princes. But when in April, 1522, he returned to Germany he came under the influence of Lazarus Spengler and Andreas Osiander and was won for the evangelical party. During the Diet at Nuremberg, 1522- 23, he protested that it was not the proper way to proceed against Luther, “if evident truth be condemned and books burned.”

Pope Hadrian VI urged upon Albert a reformation of the Order. In June, 1523, Albert secretly turned to Luther for advice concerning the reformation of the Order in head and members. On November 29th the two met at Wittenberg, and Luther advised Albert “to throw aside the foolish and absurd rules of the Order, to marry, and to convert the religious state into a secular state, either a principality or a duchy.” Melanchthon, who was present at the interview, gave the same advice. The grand master smiled and said nothing. But “with that evangelical protestant advice Luther laid the foundations for the development of the Prussian state, of the Prussian kingdom, and of the German empire which is inseparable from the development of the Prussian kingdom.” f554 Soon after this meeting Luther prepared the following treatise, intended, as Kawerau suggests, to be a “feeler, which should test the attitude of the knights of the Order as well as of the Prussian bishops, and prepare them for coming events.” The older collected editions of Luther’s works date the treatise March 28, 1523. But, as Kawerau points out, it is improbable that the treatise was written before the last month of 1523, and the date may be a mistake for December 12th. The original prints are undated; the editors may have confused the festivals of the Annunciation and of the Conception of the Virgin Mary, the latter of which may have been the date attached to the manuscript.

After the evangelical principles had been gradually introduced into Prussia by the two bishops, Georg von Polentz and Erhard von Queiss, the grand master returned to Prussia and carried out Luther’s suggestion. Peace was made with Poland, Prussia was converted into a duchy held as fief of the king of Poland and hereditary in the family of Albert. July 1, 1526, Albert was married to Dorothea, the daughter of the Danish king, and thus was founded the evangelical house of the Hohenzollern.

The progress of the Gospel in Prussia gave Luther much joy. In 1525 he wrote to the Bishop of Samland, Georg von Polentz: “Behold the wonder!

In rapid course, with full sails, the Gospel hastens to Prussia, whither it was not called, and where it was not sought after, while in Upper and Lower Germany, whither it came of its own accord, it is blasphemed, repelled and put to flight with all rage and madness.” f556 The Teutonic Order in its German and Livonian branches continued to exist, and laid claim to the rights of the Order in Prussia. It was finally suppressed in 1809, and its lands passed into the hands of the secular princes within whose territories they lay. But in 1840 the Order was resuscitated in Austria, and again engaged in hospital service, in which it is presumably active during the present war. But this Teutonic Order is not the same as that which became secularized at the time of the Reformation.

The Prussian branch passed into the Prussian kingdom, not into the restored Order. A Protestant branch exists in the ancient bailiwick of Utrecht, the members of which must profess the Calvinistic faith, and are dispensed from celibacy. See Catholic Encyclopedia, xiv, 542.

The subject of the monastic vows and of the marriage of monks had been discussed at great length before this treatise was written. For the development of that discussion we must refer here to the introduction to the Treatise on Monastic Vows, which was excluded from this volume because of its size. But the careful student will find that Luther has not merely repeated older arguments nor restated older positions. He has gone farther, his position is more advanced. In fact, upon the advance beyond the position taken in the Formula Missae Kawerau bases an argument for the later date of our treatise. “For the writing of this treatise immediately after the FormuIa Missae we find an argument in the remarkable agreement between the statements in the two concerning those who want to wait for decrees of a council and desire permission to be given them (to use the two kinds in the Lord’s Supper, or, in the later treatise, to marry) by such decrees. He who reads the analogous portions in the two treatises will easily recognize in the Exhortation to the Teutonic Knights the bold heightening of the thought to a paradox, and thus see in the Formula Missae the older form.” f558 The German text is found in Weimar Ed., xii, 232-244; Walch Ed., xix, 2157-76; Erlangen Ed., xxix 16-33; St. Louis Ed., xix, 1730-45; Berlin Ed., iv, 32-47. Literature : Introduction by KAWERAU in Weimar Ed., xii, 228-31; Prot. Realencyklopadie, 3d ed., Arts., Albrecht von Preussen, I, 310-23; Deutschorden, iv, 589-95; Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th ed., Arts., Albert, i, 497, and Teutonic Order, xxvi, 676-9. The literature is given fully in all these articles. Compare also Schaff, Church History, vi, 588-600, and Kostlin-Kawerau, Martin Luther, i, 620-623. W. A. LAMBERT. LEBANON,PA.

WORKS OF MARTIN LUTHER - TO THE KNIGHTS OF THE TEUTONIC ORDER AN EXHORTATION THAT THEY LAY ASIDE FALSE CHASTITY AND TAKE UPON THEM THE TRUE CHASTITY OF WEDLOCK (godrules.net)

https://www.godrules.net/library/luther/NEW1luther_c8.htm

AI Overview

Henry VIII and Martin Luther were contemporaries who initially opposed each other, with Henry VIII writing a defense of Catholic doctrine against Luther, for which he was granted the title "Defender of the Faith" by the Pope. However, Henry VIII later broke with the Catholic Church for personal reasons (his desire for an annulment), initiating the English Reformation and establishing the Church of England, though his initial theological opposition to Luther was genuine. While Luther sought to reform the Church's doctrines, Henry VIII's motivations were primarily political and personal, despite his later adoption of some Protestant ideas for the Church of England.  

Initial conflict: Henry VIII as a Catholic defender

When Luther first challenged the Catholic Church in 1517, Henry VIII was a devout Catholic.

In response to Luther's attacks on the Church's theology, Henry VIII wrote Defence of the Seven Sacraments in 1521.

For this work, Pope Leo X granted Henry VIII the title "Defender of the Faith" (Fidei Defensor).

Henry VIII saw Luther's actions as heresy and publically denounced him.

Later divergence: Henry VIII's political break

Despite his earlier stance, Henry VIII's relationship with the Catholic Church deteriorated due to his desire for an annulment from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, to marry Anne Boleyn.

When the Pope refused the annulment, Henry VIII decided to break from Rome for political and personal reasons.

He passed the Act of Supremacy in 1534, which declared him the Supreme Head of the Church of England.

This marked the beginning of the English Reformation, which was initiated by political and personal motives rather than a theological dispute with the papacy.

Contrast in motives

Martin Luther: Driven by a desire to reform the Catholic Church's doctrines and practices, which he saw as corrupt.

Henry VIII: Driven primarily by his desire for a male heir and an annulment from his marriage, leading him to pursue political and personal control over the church in England.

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Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

Early life

A portrait of Martin Luther in 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Her father sent five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]

Plaque on the ruins of Nimbschen Abbey, commemorating von Bora's time there and her escape.

After years of being a nun, von Bora became interested in the growing reform movement and grew dissatisfied with cloistered life. Conspiring with several other sisters, she contacted Luther and begged for his assistance.[13] On 4 April 1523, Holy Saturday, Luther sent Leonhard Köppe, a merchant and councillor of Torgau who regularly delivered herring to the convent. The nuns escaped by hiding in his covered wagon among the fish barrels, and fled to Wittenberg.[14]

Luther asked the families of the nuns to admit them into their houses, but they declined, possibly because this would have made them accomplices to a crime under canon law.[15]

Within two years, Luther was able to arrange marriages or find employment for all of the escaped nuns except von Bora. She was first housed with the family of Philipp Reichenbach, the municipal clerk of Wittenberg, then with Lucas Cranach the Elder and his wife, Barbara. Von Bora had a number of suitors, including Hieronymus Baumgartner from Nuremberg, and a pastor, Kaspar Glatz from Orlamünde, but none of the proposals resulted in marriage. She told Luther's friend and fellow reformer, Nicolaus von Amsdorf, that she would be willing to marry only Luther or von Amsdorf.[16]

Marriage to Luther

Three depictions of Katharina von Bora

Martin Luther, as well as many of his friends, was at first unsure of whether he should marry. Philip Melanchthon thought that this would hurt the Reformation by causing scandal. Luther eventually decided that his marriage would 'please his father, rile the pope, cause the angels to laugh, and the devils to weep'.[16] 26-year-old Von Bora and 41-year-old Luther married on 13 June 1525, before witnesses including Justus Jonas, Johannes Bugenhagen, and Barbara and Lucas Cranach.[17] A small wedding breakfast was held the next morning, and a more formal, public ceremony on 27 June, presided over by Bugenhagen.[18]

The couple took up residence in the former dormitory and educational institution of Augustinian friars studying in Wittenberg (known as the 'Black Monastery'), a wedding gift from John, Elector of Saxony, brother of Luther's protector Frederick III, Elector of Saxony.[19] Katharina immediately took on the task of managing the monastery's vast holdings. She bred and sold cattle and ran a brewery to provide for their family, the numerous students who boarded with them, and her husband's visitors. In times of epidemics, she operated a hospital with nurses, working alongside them. Luther called her the 'boss of Zulsdorf', after the farm they owned, and the 'morning star of Wittenberg' for her habit of rising at 4 a.m.[2]

Based on Luther's descriptions, his wife, whom he nicknamed 'Herr Käthe', exerted much control over his life. She might have even influenced his decisions to a degree; Luther said that his wife 'convince[d] [him] of whatever' she pleased', and explicitly afforded her 'complete control' over the household, as long as 'his rights' were 'preserved', since '[f]emale government has never done any good'.[20] She thus assisted her husband with running their estate and directed renovations when necessary.[21] Anecdotal evidence suggests that Katharina Luther played a wife's role as taught by her husband's movement: she depended on him financially (although she also increased their estate's profits), and respected him as a 'higher vessel', always calling him 'Herr Doktor'. He reciprocated by occasionally consulting her on church matters.[22]

Katharina bore six children: Hans (1526–1575), Elisabeth (1527–1528), Magdalena (1529–1542), Martin (1531–1565), Paul (1533–1593), and Margarete (1534–1570). She also suffered a miscarriage on 1 November 1539. The Luthers raised four orphaned children, including Katharina's nephew, Fabian.[23]

Significance of the marriage

The marriage of von Bora to Luther is very important in the history of Protestantism, specifically in regard to the development of its views on marriage and gender roles. While Luther was not the first cleric to marry because of Reformation ideas, he was one of the most prominent. As he argued publicly for clerical marriage and produced much anti-Catholic propaganda, his marriage became a natural target for his enemies.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Old Man of the Mountain (Persian: پیر کوهستان (pir koohestan)[citation needed], Latin: Vetulus de Montanis),[1] is the expression used by Marco Polo in a passage from Book of the Marvels of the World, to indicate Hassan-i- sabbah, the grand master of the Order of Assassins which was based in Alamut Castle. It later became a common name used by the Crusaders.[2]

Subsequently, this nickname was given to various Isma'ili successors of Hassan, in Syria, particularly,[3] for example Rashid al-Din Sinan, the da'i (missionary)[4] and a leader of the Syrian branch of the Nizari Isma'ili state.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man_of_the_Mountain_(nickname)

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Etymology of Arturo

What does the name Arturo mean?

The surname Arturo is an Italian patronymic surname; that is, it was a name created from the first name of the father. Arturo is derived from the Breton given names Artuir and Arthur. This personal name is of very ancient origin and is derived from the Celtic word art, which means bear. The name Arthur is also related to the Greek Arcturus, which means bear or guardian and is the name of the bright star in the constellation Bootes.

Arturo Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Arturo include and others.

https://www.houseofnames.com/arturo-family-crest

Arcturus is a red giant star in the northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It has the Bayer designation α Boötis, which is Latinized to Alpha Boötis and abbreviated Alf Boo or α Boo. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05,[2] it is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Arcturus forms one corner of the Spring Triangle asterism.

Located relatively close at 36.7 light-years from the Sun, Arcturus is a red giant of spectral type K1.5III—an aging star around 7.1 billion years old that has used up its core hydrogen and evolved off the main sequence. It is about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to 25 times its size (around 35 million kilometers) and is around 170 times as luminous.

Nomenclature

The traditional name Arcturus is Latinised from the ancient Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros) and means "Guardian of the Bear",[9] ultimately from ἄρκτος (arktos), "bear"[10] and οὖρος (ouros), "watcher, guardian".[11] As ἄρκτος also came to mean "north", the name can also translate to "Guardian of the North".[12]

The designation of Arcturus as α Boötis (Latinised to Alpha Boötis) was made by Johann Bayer in 1603. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Arcturus for α Boötis.[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

The Beast (Koine Greek: Θηρίον, Thērion) may refer to one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 12-13 describes these three beasts as follows:

The dragon (later revealed in the text to be Satan)[1]

The beast of the sea (commonly interpreted as the Antichrist)[2][3]

The beast of the earth (later revealed in the text to be the False prophet)[4]

However, many people have different beliefs about the meaning of these beasts.

In Revelation 13:1–10, the beast of the sea rises "out of the sea" and is given authority and power by the dragon. It persecutes God's people in the 2nd part of Revelation 13. To buy and sell, everyone is required to have its name or number on their forehead or right hand (Rev 13:16-17). It speaks blasphemous words against God, will rule the world for 42 months (Revelation 13:5-7), and is described as resembling a leopard, a lion, and a bear—which are three of the animals in Daniel 7. It suffers a fatal head wound which is miraculously healed, bewildering the world's population and causing many to worship it.

In Revelation 13:11–18, the beast of the earth, later known as the false prophet, comes "out of the earth," exercises all the authority of the Sea Beast, forces everyone on earth to worship the Sea Beast, and convinces the people, through signs and wonders, to make an image of the Sea Beast.

In their fight against God, the Sea Beast and the False Prophet ally with the Dragon to persecute the "saints" and those who do not "worship the image of the beast [of the sea]" and influence earthly kings through three unclean spirits to gather for the battle of Armageddon.[5] These two beasts are ultimately defeated by Christ and thrown into the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 19:18–20, while Satan, the dragon, is imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. After being released from the bottomless pit after the millennial reign, Satan deceives the nations one last time, ultimately ending in Satan being defeated and thrown in the lake of fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Revelation)

The Roseville Yard Explosion | A Short Documentary | Fascinating Horror

Apr 2, 2024

"On the 28th of April, 1973, fire chief Lloyd Patterson made his way to the small town of Antelope in California..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyzw-1yuUB0

The oldest written evidence of rose cultivation comes from a tablet discussing the Akkadian king Sargon I’s military campaign to the west. Sargon brought rosebush saplings with him on the campaign so rose cultivation could begin in these newly acquired territories soon after his conquest. It was an act of supreme confidence and evidence of roses’ importance to Akkadian culture.

https://deathscent.com/2022/02/18/rosalia/

Sargon

SARGON sär’ gŏn (סַֽרְגֹ֖ון; Akkad. šarrukēn, “the king is legitimate”).

The name is found only once in the Bible (Isa 20:1) where it refers to Sargon II of Assyria (721-705 b.c.). This Sargon was the son of Tiglath-pileser III, successor to his brother Shalmaneser V, and father of Sennacherib. His reign is amply known from his inscrs. at Khorsabad and from letters and historical texts found at Nineveh and Nimrud. Although he is named only once in the OT, his campaigns are of importance for understanding the historical background of the prophecies of Isaiah.

Sargon II claimed the fall of Samaria (721 b.c.), which had been besieged by his predecessor Shalmaneser V for three years (2 Kings 17:5, 6) until his death in 722 b.c. According to Sargon’s records, he deported 27,290 people from the area of Samaria to Mesopotamia. During the first part of his reign he faced serious domestic problems which were settled only by grant of privileges to the citizens of Assur. In the following year (720 b.c.) Ilu-bihdi of Hamath led Arpad, Damascus, and Pal. into revolt. Sargon defeated this anti-Assyrian coalition near Qarqar in N Syria. In 720 b.c. the kingdom of Judah, under Ahaz, together with Philistia, Edom, and Moab, submitted to vassalage and paid tribute. In the following years, people deported from Babylonia, Hamath, and elsewhere were resettled in Samaria; these, with others brought in later, mingled with the surviving Israelite population, and their descendants years later were known as the Samaritans.

Sargon had scarcely completed the reduction of Samaria when he was greeted by a rebellion in Babylonia in 720 b.c. led by the Chaldean prince Marduk-apal-iddina (Biblical Merodach-baladan who ruled 721-711 b.c.) in Babylonia not simply as a barbarian chieftain but as a great Mesopotamian monarch who left behind traces of his building activities in various cities. Although backed by Humbanigash, king of Elam, an indecisive battle was fought at Der, between the Tigris and the Zagros, making it expedient for Sargon to leave Merodach-baladan as king in Babylonia. Thus Sargon lost control of Babylonia and did not regain it for c. twelve years.

Meanwhile, other campaigns claimed his attention. In Asia Minor, Mita (Midas), king of the Phrygian Mushki, proved a troublesome foe. A rebellion by the vassal state of Carchemish in Syria (717 b.c.) provoked Sargon to destroy that ancient center of Hitt. culture and deport its population, and subsequently to make various campaigns into Asia Minor. Sargon also turned on Urartu, already weakened by Tiglath-pileser III and now gravely threatened by the incursions of an Indo-Aryan barbarian people called the Cimmerians who were moving down from the Caucasus. Seizing the opportunity, Sargon broke the power of Urartu completely, thus removing an ancient rival—and Assyria’s strongest dike against the barbarian tide at the same time.

After 720 b.c. Sargon conducted no major campaign in Pal. This may have encouraged the restless vassals to imagine that he was a man who could be trifled with. By 713 b.c. Ashdod rebelled and other Philistine towns were drawn into the revolt and, as Sargon told it, Judah, Edom, and Moab were invited to join. That Egyp. aid had been promised is clear both from the Assyrian texts and the Bible (Isa 20). In fact, according to Isaiah 18, ambassadors of the Ethiopian king himself waited on Hezekiah, hoping to enlist his cooperation. Opinions were divided in Judah: to go or not. Isaiah was bitterly opposed, both calling on his king to give the Ethiopian envoys a negative answer, and symbolically illustrating (Isa 20) the folly of trusting in Egypt by walking about Jerusalem barefoot and clad only in a loincloth.

Sargon at this time was at the peak of power and preparing to reconquer Babylon. Ashdod, the center of revolt, was quickly taken by storm, and Judah, Moab, and Edom paid homage to the conqueror. The expected Egyp. aid failed completely to materialize and Judah was held in subjection. Later Hezekiah revolted against Sargon’s son, Sennacherib.

At the beginning of 710 b.c., Sargon was everywhere victorious. The whole of Syria-Pal. and most of the Zagros range were firmly in Assyrian hands; Urartu was dressing its wounds; the Egyptians were friendly; the Elamites and Phrygians were hostile but peaceful. Babylon, under Merodach-baladan, remained a thorn in the side of Assyria, and in 710 b.c. Sargon attacked it for the second time in his reign. It was a smashing victory, with Merodach-baladan fleeing to Elam for refuge, and the fame of Sargon continued to grow. The repeated efforts made by its enemies to undermine the Assyrian empire had been of no avail; at the end of Sargon’s reign it was larger and apparently stronger than ever.

As a war chief, Sargon liked to live in Kalḫu (Nimrud), the military capital of the empire, where he occupied, restored, and modified Ashurnasirpal’s palace. Moved by great pride, he soon decided to have his own palace in his own city. In 717 b.c. he laid the foundations of “Sargon’s fortress,” Dur-Sharrukin, a hitherto virgin site twelve m. NE of Nineveh, near the modern village of Khorsabad.

Ten years later the workmen completed a town which was square in plan, each side measuring c. one in. The palace itself stood on a sixty-ft. high platform overriding the city wall and comprised more than 200 rooms and thirty courtyards. The royal abode was richly decorated and the gates of the town were guarded by colossal bull-men. Evidence, however, indicates that the city was scarcely inhabited and almost immediately abandoned at the king’s death. One year after Dur Sharrukin was officially inaugurated, Sargon was killed (705 b.c.). His successors preferred Nineveh, and Khorsabad, deserted, fell slowly to ruins.

Bibliography Malamat, “The Historical Setting of Two Biblical Prophecies on the Nations,” IEJ, 1 (1950/51), 150ff.; G. Roux, Ancient Iraq, 257-262; H. W. F. Saggs, Iraq, 17 (1955), 146-149; H. Tadmor, “The Campaigns of Sargon II of Assyria,” JCS 12 (1958), 22-40; 77-100; W. W. Hallo, “From Qarqar to Carchemish: Assyria and Israel in the Light of New Discoveries,” BA, 23 (1960), 50-56.

https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/encyclopedia-of-the-bible/Sargon

Isaiah 20

1599 Geneva Bible

20 2 The three years captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia described by the three years going naked of Isaiah.

1 In the year that [a]Tartan came to [b]Ashdod, (when [c]Sargon king of Assyria sent him) and had fought against Ashdod, and taken it,

2 At the same time spake the Lord by the hand of Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go, and loose the [d]sackcloth from thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

3 And the Lord said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years as a sign and wonder upon Egypt, and Ethiopia,

4 So shall the king of Assyria take away the captivity of Egypt, and the captivity of Ethiopia, both young men and old men, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

5 And they shall fear, and be ashamed of [e]Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their [f]glory.

6 Then shall the inhabitants of this [g]isle say in that day, Behold, such is our expectation, whither we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria, and how shall we be delivered?

Footnotes

Isaiah 20:1 Who was captain of Sennacherib, 2 Kings 18:17.

Isaiah 20:1 A city of the Philistines.

Isaiah 20:1 The Hebrews write that Sennacherib was so called.

Isaiah 20:2 Which signifieth that the Prophet did lament the misery that he saw prepared, before the three years that he went naked and barefooted.

Isaiah 20:5 In whose aid they trusted.

Isaiah 20:5 Of whom they boasted and gloried.

Isaiah 20:6 Meaning, Judea, which was compassed about with their enemies, as an isle with waters.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2020&version=GNV

Clinton visits state flood victims

By Steven A. Capps,

OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Jan 18, 1995

1995-01-18 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- ROSEVILLE, Placer County - President Clinton met with flood victims here in their homes as part of a two-day swing through California to offer solace to those stricken by last week's flood and last year's Northridge earthquake.

More than 300 homes were damaged in Roseville when a creek rose over its banks, sending a 6-foot cascade of water through a middle-class neighborhood a block from Interstate 80. Damage has been estimated at about $8 million.

Clinton also visited Rio Linda in Sacramento County, where some residents had to be rescued by helicopter from their rooftops after last week's flood. He saw an emergency aid station during Tuesday's tour and made a surprise stop at a nearby drive-in restaurant, where he ordered a cup of homemade chili and a diet soft drink.

The meal was on the house, said employee Caroline Michalek.

Clinton had scheduled a trip to California before the floods to mark the first anniversary of the Northridge quake in Los Angeles. He had to cancel a centerpiece event of that commemoration, a tour of Cal State Northridge, after three devices resembling pipe bombs were found on campus. They were later determined not to be bombs.

Clinton's staff insisted the trip was not for campaign purposes, although California is a key state in his re-election bid. But they did not discount the positive publicity the president might gain by visiting the state.

"Good politics is showing that government is doing its job and doing its job well," said Michael McCurry, Clinton's press secretary. "People will gain some confidence that government has its act together. It's not so much that people want government out of their lives. They want it to be fair, inexpensive and non-bureaucratic."

In brief remarks in Roseville, Clinton announced that another $15 million in federal aid would be provided to California for emergency road repairs. He praised the work already done in the Roseville neighborhood and in 38 counties that have been declared disaster areas, making them eligible for federal relief to clean up the estimated $300 million in flood damage.

"We were deeply moved by what we saw," Clinton said.

"Don't give up."

Tom Wilson was among 15 residents who had a private discussion with the president in the back yard of a home.

People expressed frustrations about the lack of flood control measures, he said.

"Improper planning has caused this; I don't really want to live here any longer," Wilson said. "I don't want to watch that creek rise. If you live next to a river, you expect this."

Clinton toured two homes in the neighborhood. One belonged to Ron and Carol Hayes.

"He was completely astonished at the power of the flood," said Ron Hayes, who said the torrent had picked up a 7-foot hot tub and swept it across his yard.

"The president said he would do everything possible to help us," said Hayes, a 54-year-old retired police officer.&lt;

Jan 18, 1995

Steven A. Capps

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/clinton-visits-state-flood-victims-3153059.php

A red herring is something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important question.[1] It may be either a logical fallacy or a literary device that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion. A red herring may be used intentionally, as in mystery fiction or as part of rhetorical strategies (e.g., in politics), or may be used in argumentation inadvertently.[2]

The term was popularized in 1807 by English polemicist William Cobbett, who told a story of having used a strong-smelling smoked fish to divert and distract hounds from chasing a rabbit.[3]

Logical fallacy

As an informal fallacy, the red herring falls into a broad class of relevance fallacies. Unlike the straw man, which involves a distortion of the other party's position,[4] the red herring is a seemingly plausible, though ultimately irrelevant, diversionary tactic.[5] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a red herring may be intentional or unintentional; it is not necessarily a conscious intent to mislead.[1]

The expression is mainly used to assert that an argument is not relevant to the issue being discussed. For example, "I think we should make the academic requirements stricter for students. I recommend you support this because we are in a budget crisis, and we do not want our salaries affected." The second sentence, though used to support the first sentence, does not address that topic.

Intentional device

In fiction and non-fiction, a red herring may be intentionally used by the writer to plant a false clue that leads readers or audiences toward a false conclusion.[6][7][8] For example, the character of Bishop Aringarosa in Dan BROWN's The Da Vinci Code is presented for most of the novel as if he is at the centre of the church's conspiracies, but is later revealed to have been innocently duped by the true antagonist of the story. The character's name is a loose Italian translation of "red herring" (aringa rosa; rosa actually meaning 'pink', and very close to rossa, 'red').[9]

A red herring is found in the first Sherlock Holmes story, A Study in Scarlet, where the murderer writes at the crime scene the word Rache ('revenge' in German), leading the police—and the reader—to mistakenly presume that a German was involved.

A red herring is often used in legal studies and exam problems to mislead and distract students from reaching a correct conclusion about a legal issue, intended as a device that tests students' comprehension of underlying law and their ability to properly discern material factual circumstances.[10] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring

In 1990, Harris was hired as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, where she was described as "an able prosecutor on the way up".[37] In 1994, Speaker of the California Assembly Willie BROWN, who was then dating Harris, appointed her to the state Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and later to the California Medical Assistance Commission.[37] In February 1998, San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan recruited Harris as an assistant district attorney.[38] There, she became the chief of the Career Criminal Division, supervising five other attorneys, where she prosecuted homicide, burglary, robbery, and sexual assault cases—particularly three-strikes cases. In August 2000, Harris took a job at San Francisco City Hall, working for city attorney Louise Renne.[39] Harris ran the Family and Children's Services Division, representing child abuse and neglect cases. Renne endorsed Harris during her D.A. campaign.[40]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamala_Harris

Donald Jasper Harris, OM (born August 23, 1938) is a Jamaican-American economist and professor emeritus at Stanford University, known for applying post-Keynesian ideas to development economics.[1]

He is the father of US Vice President and current Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris and lawyer Maya Harris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_J._Harris

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who has served as the 47th president of the United States since January 20, 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Born in New York City, Trump graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. He became president of his family real estate business in 1971, and oriented it to luxury accommodation. After a series of business bankruptcies in the 1990s, he launched several side ventures. From 2004 to 2015, he hosted and co-produced the reality television series The Apprentice. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump defeated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

His first term's immigration policy included a travel ban targeting refugees and nationals of certain Muslim-majority countries, and expanding the U.S.–Mexico border wall; he also briefly implemented a family separation policy. He rolled back many environmental policies, signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, began a trade war with China in 2018, successfully nominated three Supreme Court justices, and withdrew the U.S. from agreements on climate, trade, and Iran's nuclear program. Trump became the first sitting president to enter North Korea, but did not reach an agreement on denuclearization with Kim Jong Un. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump downplayed its severity and contradicted guidance from health officials. He was impeached in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, and in 2021 for incitement of insurrection; the Senate acquitted him in both cases. After his first term, scholars and historians ranked Trump one of the worst presidents in American history.

Trump is the central figure of Trumpism and the "Make America Great Again" movement. Many of his comments and actions have been characterized as racially charged, racist, or misogynistic. He made false and misleading statements and promoted conspiracy theories to a degree unprecedented in American politics. Trump lost the 2020 presidential election but refused to concede, falsely claiming electoral fraud and attempting to overturn the results, including through his involvement in the January 6 Capitol attack in 2021. In November 2022, Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election, securing the Republican nomination. In civil proceedings, he was found liable for sexual abuse and defamation in 2023, and financial fraud in 2024. In May 2024 he was found guilty of falsifying business records, making him the first U.S. president convicted of a felony.

Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris to win a second term. After Trump's victory, he was sentenced to a penalty-free discharge, and two other felony indictments against him were dismissed without prejudice. Trump began his second presidency by signing numerous executive orders and implementing his deportation program.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

Danney Lee Williams Jr. (born December 7, 1985) is a man from Little Rock, Arkansas who claims to be the biological son of Bill Clinton, the former President of the United States.[1] Blood tests ruled out Clinton as the father.[1][2]

Background

Williams was born in 1985 to Danney Williams Sr. and Bobbie Ann Williams.

The story came to notice in the late 1990s when reporting by Newsmax led by celebrity tabloid magazine Star to commission a paternity test prove whether Williams is actually Clinton's biological son.[3] Time magazine cited Star on July 18, 1999 to say that there was no match.[4]

The story was revived in 2016 before the 2016 presidential election and pushed by a number of media outlets including Newsmax, the Drudge Report,[3] as well as WorldNetDaily,[1] and the New York Daily News.[1]

Due to some uncertainties with the original test by Star, Snopes concluded that the claim was unproven.[3] The Washington Post stated that, while the test could not prove Clinton was the father, it did conclusively rule him out as the father.[1]

On October 19, 2016, Williams' lawyers announced their intentions to file a paternity suit to prove that Clinton's DNA matched Williams'.[5] Williams wrote to Monica Lewinsky asking for her dress in order to obtain a sample of Clinton's DNA. However, Lewinsky never replied to Williams.[6] A partial analysis of Clinton's blood, and thus his DNA, was already part of the public record because of the Lewinsky affair investigation.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danney_Williams

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

Chelsea Elizabeth Manning[3] (born Bradley Edward Manning, December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower.[4][5][6] She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 classified, or unclassified but sensitive, military and diplomatic documents.[7] She was imprisoned from 2010 until 2017 when her sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama.[8] A trans woman, Manning said in 2013 that she had a female gender identity since childhood and wanted to be known as Chelsea Manning.[9]

Assigned in 2009 to an Army unit in Iraq as an intelligence analyst, Manning had access to classified databases. In early 2010, she leaked classified information to WikiLeaks and confided this to Adrian Lamo, an online acquaintance.[10] Lamo indirectly informed the Army's Criminal Investigation Command, and Manning was arrested in May 2010.[11] The material included videos of the July 12, 2007, Baghdad airstrike and the 2009 Granai airstrike in Afghanistan; 251,287 U.S. diplomatic cables;[12] and 482,832 Army reports that came to be known as the "Iraq War Logs"[13] and "Afghan War Diary".[14] The material was published by WikiLeaks and its media partners between April 2010 and April 2011.

Manning was charged with 22 offenses, including aiding the enemy, which was the most serious charge and could have resulted in a death sentence.[15] She was held at the Marine Corps Brig, Quantico in Virginia, from July 2010 to April 2011, under Prevention of Injury status—which entailed de facto solitary confinement and other restrictions that caused domestic and international concern[16]—before being transferred to the Joint Regional Correctional Facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where she could interact with other detainees.[17] In February 2013 she pleaded guilty to 10 of the charges.[18] The trial on the remaining charges began on June 3, 2013, and on July 30, she was convicted of 17 of the original charges and amended versions of four others, but acquitted of aiding the enemy.[19] She was sentenced to 35 years at the maximum-security U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth.[20][21] On January 17, 2017, Obama commuted Manning's sentence to nearly seven years of confinement dating from her arrest in May 2010.[8][22][23] After release, Manning makes her living through speaking engagements.[24]

In 2018, Manning challenged incumbent Senator Ben Cardin for the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate election in her home state of Maryland.[25] She received 6.1% of the vote; Cardin won renomination with 79.2%.[26]

From March 8, 2019, to March 12, 2020, Manning was jailed for contempt and fined $256,000 for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.[27][28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Manning

Timothy Manning (Irish: Tadhg Ó Mongáin) (November 15, 1909 – June 23, 1989) was an Irish American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Los Angeles from 1970 to 1985, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1973.

Early life and ministry

Timothy Manning was born in Ballingeary, Ireland, to Cornelius and Margaret (née Cronin) Manning.[1] Originally attending Mungret College in Limerick, he followed a call for priests in the United States and entered St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California, in 1928.[2] Manning was ordained on June 16, 1934,[3] and then furthered his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, obtaining his doctorate in canon law in 1938.[2]

Upon his return to the States, he did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, also serving as secretary to Archbishop John Joseph Cantwell from 1938 to 1946. Manning was raised to the rank of Privy Chamberlain of His Holiness on April 15, 1943, and later Domestic Prelate of His Holiness on November 17, 1945.[1] He became chancellor for the Archdiocese on March 19, 1946.[1]

Episcopal career

On August 3, 1946, Manning was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles and Titular Bishop of Lesvi by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following October 15 from Bishop Joseph Thomas McGucken, with Bishops James Edward Walsh, MM, and Thomas Arthur Connolly serving as co-consecrators.[3]

He became vicar general of the Archdiocese on November 29, 1955, and attended the Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965.

Bishop of Fresno

Manning was named the first Bishop of Fresno on October 16, 1967. During his tenure, he supported the organization of a labor union for Central Valley farm workers, and sought to help wine producers and grape pickers reconcile their differences.[2]

Archbishop of Los Angeles

After less than two years in Fresno, Manning was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles and Titular Archbishop of Capreae on May 26, 1969. He succeeded James Francis McIntyre as the third Archbishop of Los Angeles on January 21, 1970. While a strong proponent of ecclesiastical authority, Manning took a more gentle style than his predecessor.[4] The end of McIntyre's tenure saw tensions with the clergy and minorities[2] and, following Manning's ascension, the new archbishop stated, "My first reaction was to make it known that I was here to listen."[2] He instituted ministries for blacks and Hispanics, a presbyterial council to grant the clergy greater participation in the governance of the Archdiocese, and an Inter-Parochial Council to extend the same participation to the laity.[2] Shortly after becoming Archbishop, a majority of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who had feuded with McIntyre, left the religious life and founded a lay community.[5] He also supported the 1973 merger of the all-male Loyola University and all-female Marymount College into Loyola Marymount University in 1973; McIntyre had resisted attempts to allow co-education in the Archdiocese's Catholic university and colleges.

Pope Paul VI created him Cardinal-Priest of S. Lucia a Piazza d'Armi in the consistory of March 5, 1973. During the Vietnam War, Manning counseled young men on their right to become conscientious objectors.[2] Staunchly anti-abortion, the Archbishop declared that any Catholic who cooperated in an abortion would suffer excommunication from the Church, including the mother herself.[2] In 1974, in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on Roe v. Wade, he testified before the Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments of the Senate Judiciary Committee, saying, "An amendment is necessary first of all to protect the lives of the unborn children who can be killed—indeed, are being killed at this very moment—in the wake of the Supreme Court's decisions. But it is also needed to restore integrity to the law itself, to make the American legal system once more the guarantor and protector of all human rights and the human rights of all."[6]

Manning was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the conclaves of August and October 1978, which selected Popes John Paul I and John Paul II respectively. Before entering the August conclave, he noted that the Church "has no political support in many places" and called for a pope who could "change people through warmth."[7] In 1981, John Paul II sent him as a special papal envoy to the celebration in Drogheda, Ireland of the third centennial of Saint Oliver Plunkett's martyrdom.[1] He called for a halt to the deportation of Salvadoran civil war refugees in 1983.[2]

Later life and death

After fifteen years in Los Angeles, Manning retired as archbishop on June 4, 1985. He took up residence at Holy Family Parish in South Pasadena.[2]

Manning died on June 23, 1989, at the Norris Cancer Hospital of the University of Southern California, aged 79.[2] He is buried at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Manning

Chelsea Old Church, also known as All Saints, is an Anglican church, on Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3, England, near Albert Bridge. It is the church for a parish in the Diocese of London, part of the Church of England. Inside the Grade I listed building, there is seating for 400 people. There is a memorial plaque to the author Henry James (1843–1916) who lived nearby on Cheyne Walk, and was buried in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To the west of the church is a small public garden containing a sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein.

History

Norman origins

Chelsea Old Church dates from 1157.[3] It was formerly the parish church of Chelsea, before it was engulfed by London. The building consisted of a 13th-century chancel with chapels to the north and south (c. 1325) and a nave and tower built in 1670.

16th century and Sir Thomas More

Thomas More's statue in front of the Church

The chapels were private property. The one to the north was called the Lawrence Chapel and was owned by Chelsea's Lord of the Manor. The chapel to the south was rebuilt in 1528 as Sir Thomas More's private chapel. The date can be found on one of the capitals of the pillars leading to the chancel, which were reputedly designed by Hans Holbein the Younger. There is a statue of More by Leslie Cubitt Bevis outside the church, facing the river.

17th century

There is a 1669 memorial to Lady Jane Cheyne. It was designed by the son of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and executed by Gian Lorenzo's favourite sculptor Antonio Raggi.[4]

It is the only London church to have chained books. They were the gift of Sir Hans Sloane, Bt, the Anglo-Irish physician, naturalist collector, Member of the British Parliament and President of the Royal Society. The books consist of a copy of the so-called "Vinegar Bible" of 1717 (containing a misprint of the word 'vineyard'), two volumes of Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1684 edition), a 1723 printing of the Book of Common Prayer and a 1683 edition of The Books of Homilies.

19th century

The church appears in several paintings by James McNeill Whistler and J. M. W. Turner, in all cases little more than distant tower; the church was painted white in the 19th century. For example, the church was depicted in the background of Whistler's Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge, painted c. 1872–1875.

Second World War

The church suffered severe bombing damage during the Blitz of the Second World War on 14 April 1941, in which the church and tower were mostly destroyed by a parachute mine.[2][5] The Thomas More Chapel was least affected. Services were held in the adjoining Cheyne Hospital for nine years.[5]

Restoration and rebuilding

In 1950 the More Chapel was reopened, followed by the chancel and Lawrence Chapel in May 1954, after restoration by the architect Walter Godfrey. It was then listed Grade I on 24 June 1954.[2] In May 1958, the entire church was reconsecrated by the Bishop of London in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, as it had been restored in its entirety on its old foundations. It looks much as it did before World War II. Many of the tombs and monuments inside were salvaged and reconstructed, almost like jigsaw puzzles.[2] Some original 16th-century stained glass was also preserved.[2]

In 1978, Jack Leslau wrote an article in The Ricardian suggesting that one of the Princes in the Tower survived, namely Edward V of England, and was buried in Chelsea Old Church. His evidence depends on a complex interpretation of a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger. Leslau's website expands on this, but no major academic institution has endorsed the thesis.[6] The social reformer The Baroness Courtney of Penwith is buried in the church.[7]

In 2000, the Museum of London Archaeological Services carried out an archaeological dig at the cemetery.[8]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Old_Church

Chelsea Victoria Clinton (born February 27, 1980) is an American writer. She is the only child of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State and U.S. Senator.

Clinton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, during her father's first term as governor of Arkansas. She attended public schools there until her father was elected president and the family moved to the White House, when she began attending the private Sidwell Friends School. Clinton received an undergraduate degree at Stanford University, later earning master's degrees from University of Oxford and Columbia University and a Doctor of Philosophy in international relations from the University of Oxford in 2014.

In 2007 and 2008, Clinton campaigned extensively on American college campuses for her mother's Democratic presidential nomination bid and introduced her at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She assumed a similar role in her mother's 2016 presidential campaign, making more than 200 public appearances as her surrogate and again introducing her at the Democratic National Convention.

Clinton has worked for McKinsey & Company, Avenue Capital Group, Columbia University, New York University, and NBC. She serves on several boards, including the board of the Clinton Foundation. Clinton has authored and co-authored best-selling children's non-fiction books and has co-authored a scholarly book for adults on global health policy.

Early life

Chelsea Victoria Clinton was born in Little Rock, Arkansas on February 27, 1980. She is the only child of Hillary and Bill Clinton.[1] Her name was inspired by a visit to the Chelsea neighborhood of London during a Christmas 1978 vacation. Hillary said that upon hearing the 1969 Judy Collins recording of the Joni Mitchell song "Chelsea Morning", Bill remarked, "If we ever have a daughter, her name should be Chelsea".[2][3][4]

When Clinton was two years old, she accompanied her parents as they campaigned throughout Arkansas for her father's gubernatorial race.[2] She learned to read and write at a very young age. Clinton claims that she started reading the newspaper by the age of three and also wrote a letter to President Ronald Reagan when she was only five.[5] In the letter, which was photocopied and preserved by her father, she asked President Reagan not to visit a military cemetery in West Germany that includes graves of Nazi soldiers.[5] Clinton attended Forest Park Elementary School, Booker Arts and Science Magnet Elementary School and Horace Mann Junior High School, both Little Rock public schools.[6] She skipped the third grade.[7] In 1992, Clinton's father was first elected president, and she remained active at school right until the family's move to Washington, playing the Ghost of Christmas Past in her school's production of A Christmas Carol and dancing in Little Rock's production of The Nutcracker.[8] As a young child, Clinton was raised in her father's Southern Baptist faith.[9]

White House years

White House portrait of the Clintons

Chelsea moved into the White House with her parents and was given the Secret Service codename "Energy" on the day of her father's first inauguration in January 1993.[10] Her parents wanted her to have a normal childhood, and they hoped to shield her from the media spotlight.[11]

Hillary Clinton followed the advice of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis on raising children in the White House, and asked the press to limit coverage of Chelsea to her participation in public events such as state visits.[3] Margaret Truman, daughter of former president Harry S. Truman, supported the Clintons, and in March 1993 wrote a letter to the editor of The New York Times about the damage that could be done if the press made Chelsea a subject of intense coverage.[12]

Following her attendance at Horace Mann Magnet Middle School in Little Rock, the Clintons decided to remove Chelsea from public school and send her to Sidwell Friends School, a private school in Washington, D.C.[11] A veteran of Model United Nations,[13] Clinton was a 1997 National Merit Scholarship semifinalist.[14] She graduated from Sidwell in 1997; her father spoke at the graduation ceremony.[15] Media speculation regarding her choice of college resulted in heavy press coverage. She ultimately chose to attend Stanford University.[16]

Clinton rings a replica of the Liberty Bell at her father's first inauguration

Throughout her father's time in the White House, journalists debated the issue of allowing Clinton to retain her privacy. Most media outlets concluded that she should be off-limits due to her age, although Rush Limbaugh[11] and Saturday Night Live both broadcast material mocking her appearance.[17] During this phase of her life, her father said, "We really work hard on making sure that Chelsea doesn't let other people define her sense of her own self-worth ... It's tough when you are an adolescent ... but I think she'll be ok."[8]

In early 1999, the Clintons learned of an article being planned by People that examined Chelsea's relationship with her parents in the wake of the impending vote on President Clinton's impeachment. The Secret Service told the magazine they had concerns that the story could compromise Chelsea's security. People ran the story anyway, and Bill and Hillary issued a statement expressing their disappointment. Carol Wallace, People's managing editor, felt that Chelsea, then 19, was "an eyewitness to family drama and historical events" and thus "a valid journalistic subject". The article, entitled "Grace Under Fire", was published in February 1999 with a cover photo of Chelsea and Hillary.[18]

During her father's eight years in office, there were 32 stories in The New York Times and 87 network news stories about Chelsea. One author determined that she had received the most television coverage of all presidential children preceding her, although they noted that only she and Maureen Reagan had a full eight years as presidential children.[16] During the last year of her father's presidency, Chelsea assumed some White House hostess responsibilities when her mother was campaigning for the U.S. Senate, traveling with her father on several overseas trips and attending state dinners with him.[19]

Activities

Although her father was a Southern Baptist, Clinton was raised in and adheres to her mother's Methodist faith.[20] As a teenager, she attended the youth ministry group at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, where her parents sometimes joined her. An adult group leader thought Clinton to be "a terrific kid" and observed that she was treated as an equal in the group.[11]

At age four, Clinton had begun taking dance classes in Arkansas,[21] and she continued her dance training at the Washington School of Ballet for several years.[11] She was cast in the role of the Favorite Aunt[22] in the 1993 Washington Ballet production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.[11][23]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelsea_Clinton

All Saints' Church is an active English-speaking chaplaincy of the Church of England's Diocese in Europe - a part of the Anglican Communion - in Rome, Italy.[2]

The church building is a Gothic revival red-brick construction, situated in the Via del Babuino, about 100 meters from the Spanish Steps. The architect was George Edmund Street (1824–1881). It has a regular weekly schedule of masses and prayer services and is also used for concerts. All Saints follows the high church tradition of Anglicanism, with a sung Eucharist being held weekly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Church,_Rome

The Church of Scotland (CoS; Scots: The Kirk o Scotland; Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais na h-Alba) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While membership in the church has declined significantly in recent decades (in 1982 it had nearly 920,000 members),[6] the government Scottish Household Survey found that 20% of the Scottish population, or over one million people, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity in 2019.[7][8]

In the 2022 census, 20.4% of the Scottish population, or 1,108,796 adherents, identified the Church of Scotland as their religious identity.[9][10] The Church of Scotland's governing system is presbyterian in its approach, therefore, no one individual or group within the church has more or less influence over church matters. There is no one person who acts as the head of faith, as the church believes that role is the "Lord God's". As a proper noun, the Kirk is an informal name for the Church of Scotland used in the media and by the church itself.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Scotland

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709)

CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

[666] 6. 1On the side of the superior general, what will aid toward this union of hearts are the qualities of his person [G], to be treated in Part IX [723-25], with which he will perform his office, 2which is to be for all the members a head from which the influence required for the end sought by the Society ought to descend to them all. 3It is thus from the general as head that all authority of the provincials should flow, from the provincials that of the local superiors, and from the local superiors that of the individual members. 4And from this same head, or at least by his commission and approval, should likewise come the appointing of missions. And the same should apply to communicating the graces of the Society. 5For the more the subjects are dependent upon their superiors, the better will the love, obedience, and union among them be preserved."

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

18 U.S. Code § 666 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds

U.S. Code

Notes

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(a)Whoever, if the circumstance described in subsection (b) of this section exists—

(1)being an agent of an organization, or of a State, local, or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof—

(A)embezzles, steals, obtains by fraud, or otherwise without authority knowingly converts to the use of any person other than the rightful owner or intentionally misapplies, property that—

(i)is valued at $5,000 or more, and

(ii)is owned by, or is under the care, custody, or control of such organization, government, or agency; or

(B)corruptly solicits or demands for the benefit of any person, or accepts or agrees to accept, anything of value from any person, intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more; or

(2)corruptly gives, offers, or agrees to give anything of value to any person, with intent to influence or reward an agent of an organization or of a State, local or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof, in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b)The circumstance referred to in subsection (a) of this section is that the organization, government, or agency receives, in any one year period, benefits in excess of $10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal assistance.

(c)This section does not apply to bona fide salary, wages, fees, or other compensation paid, or expenses paid or reimbursed, in the usual course of business.

(d)As used in this section—

(1)the term “agent” means a person authorized to act on behalf of another person or a government and, in the case of an organization or government, includes a servant or employee, and a partner, director, officer, manager, and representative;

(2)the term “government agency” means a subdivision of the executive, legislative, judicial, or other branch of government, including a department, independent establishment, commission, administration, authority, board, and bureau, and a corporation or other legal entity established, and subject to control, by a government or governments for the execution of a governmental or intergovernmental program;

(3)the term “local” means of or pertaining to a political subdivision within a State;

(4)the term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and

(5)the term “in any one-year period” means a continuous period that commences no earlier than twelve months before the commission of the offense or that ends no later than twelve months after the commission of the offense. Such period may include time both before and after the commission of the offense.

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1104(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2143; amended Pub. L. 99–646, § 59(a), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3612; Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §§ 1205(d), 1209, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4831, 4832; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330003(c), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2140.)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666

Revelation 13:11-18

1599 Geneva Bible

11 [a]And I beheld, another beast coming out of the earth, [b]which had two horns like the Lamb, but he spake like the dragon.

12 [c]And he did all that the first beast could do before him, and he caused the earth and them which dwell therein, [d]to worship the first beast whose deadly wound was healed.

13 [e]And he did great wonders, so that he made fire to come down from heaven on the earth, in the sight of men.

14 And deceived them that dwell on the earth by the signs which were permitted to him to do in the sight of the beast, saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make the [f]image of the [g]beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.

15 [h]And it was permitted to him to give a [i]spirit unto the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast should speak, and should cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 [j]And he made all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive [k]a [l]mark in their right hand or in their foreheads.

17 And that no man might [m]buy or sell, save he that had the [n]mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name.

18 [o]Here is wisdom. Let him that hath wit, count the number of the beast: for it is the [p]number of a man, and his number is six hundred threescore and six.

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Footnotes

Revelation 13:11 The second member of the vision, concerning the ecclesiastical dominion, which in Rome succeeded that which was politic, and is in the power of the corporation of false Prophets, and of the forgers of false doctrine. Wherefore the same body or corporation is called of S. John by the name of false prophet, Rev. 6:13, 19 and 20. The form of this beast is first described in this verse, then his acts, in the verses following, and the whole speech is concluded in the last verse. This beast is by his breed a Son of the earth (as they say) obscurely born, and by little and little creeping up out of his abject estate.

Revelation 13:11 That is, in show he resembled the Lamb (for what is more mild or more humble than to be the servant of the servants of God) but in deed he played the part of the Dragon, and of the Wolf, Matt. 7:15. For even Satan changeth himself into an Angel of light, 2 Cor. 11:14, and what should his honest disciples and servants do?

Revelation 13:12 The history of the acts of this beast containeth in sum three things, hypocrisy, the witness of miracles and tyranny: of which the first is noted in this verse, the second in the 3 verses following: the third in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses. His hypocrisy is most full of leasing, whereby he abuseth both the former beast and the whole world: in that albeit he hath by his cunning, as it were by lime made of the former beast a most miserable … or anatomy, usurped all his authority unto himself and most impudently exerciseth the same in the sight and view of him: yet he carrieth himself so, as if he honored him with most high honor, and did in very truth cause him to be honored of all men.

Revelation 13:12

For unto this beast of Rome, which of civil Empire is made an Ecclesiastical hierarchy, are given divine honors, and divine authority so far as he is believed to be above the Scriptures, which the gloss upon the Decretals declareth by this devilish verse,

Articulos solvit, synodumque facit generalem,

That is,

He changeth the Articles of faith, and giveth authority to general Counsels.

Which is spoken of the Papal power. So the beast is by birth, foundation, feat, and finally substance, one: only the Pope hath altered the form and manner thereof being himself the head both of that tyrannical Empire, and also of the false Prophets, for the Empire hath he taken unto himself, and thereunto hath added this cunning device. Now these words, whose deadly wound was cured are put here for distinction sake, as also sometimes afterwards: that even at that time the godly readers of this prophecy might by this sign be brought to see the things as present: as if it were said, that they might adore this very Empire that now is, whose head we have seen in our own memory to have been cut off, and to be cured again.

Revelation 13:13 The second point of the things done by the beast, is the credit of great wonders or miracles, appertaining to the strength of this impiety: of which signs some were given from above, as it is said, that fire was sent down from heaven by false sorcery, in this verse. Others were showed here below in the sight of the beast to establish idolatry, and deceive souls, which part S. John setteth forth beginning (as they say) at that which is last, in this manner: First the effect is declared in these words, He deceiveth the inhabitants of the earth, Secondly the common manner of working in two sorts, one of miracles. For the signs that were given him to do in the presence of the beasts: the other of the words added to the signs, and teaching the idolatry confirmed by those signs, Saying unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they should make an image unto the beasts which, etc. Thirdly, a special manner is declared: That is given unto him to put life into the image of the beast: and that such a kind of quickening, that the same both speaketh by answer unto those that ask counsel of it, and also pronounceth death against all those that do not obey nor worship it: all which things oftentimes by false miracles through the procurement and inspiration of the Devil, have been effected and wrought in images. The histories of the Papists are full of examples of such miracles, the most of them feigned, many also done by the devil in images: as of old in the serpent, Gen. 3:1. By which examples is confirmed, not the authority of the beast, but the truth of God, and of these prophecies.

Revelation 13:14 That is, images by enallage or change of the number: for the worship of them ever since the second Council of Nice, hath been ordained in the Church by public credit, and authority contrary unto the Law of God.

Revelation 13:14 In the Greek the word is in the Dative case, as much to say, as unto the worship, honor and obeying of the beast: for by this maintenance of images this Pseudoprophetical beast doth mightily profit the beast of Rome, of whom long ago he received them. Wherefore the same is hereafter very fitly called the image of the beast, for that images have their beginning from the beast, and have their form or manner from the will of the beast, and have their end and use fixed in the profit and commodity of the beast.

Revelation 13:15 And of this miracle of the images of the beast (that is, which the beast hath ordained to establish idolatry) which miraculously speak and give judgment, or rather marvelously, by the fraud of the false prophets, the Papists books are full fraughted.

Revelation 13:15 To give life as Jannes and Jambres imitated the wonders that Moses wrought.

Revelation 13:16 The third place, is a most wicked and most insolent tyrrany as was said before, usurped over the persons of men in this verse: and over their goods and actions, in the next verse. For he is said, both to bring upon all persons a tyrannous servitude, that as bondslaves they might serve the beast: and also to exercise over all their goods and actions, a peddler-like abuse of indulgences and dispensations (as they term them) amongst their friends, and against others to use most violent interdictions, and to shoot out cursings, even in natural and civil, private and public contracts, wherein all good faith ought to have place.

Revelation 13:16 That is, their Chrism, by which in the Sacrament (as they call it) of Confirmation, they make servile unto themselves, the persons and doings of men, signing them in their forehead and hands: and as for the sign left by Christ (of which Rev. 7:3) and the holy Sacrament of Baptism they make as void. For whom Christ hath joined unto himself by Baptism, this beast maketh challenge unto them by her greasy Chrism, which he doubteth not to prefer over Baptism, both in authority and efficacy.

Revelation 13:16 The mark of the name of the beast.

Revelation 13:17 That is, have any traffic or intercourse with men, but they only those which have this anointing and consecration of Clearkely tonsure, as they call it. Read Gratian de Consecratione, distinct. s. c. omnes, cap. Spiritus, etc. of these matters.

Revelation 13:17 Here the false Prophets do require three things, which are set down in the order of their greatness, a character, a name and the number of the name. The meaning is, that man that hath not first their anointing and clerical tonsure or shaving: secondly holy orders, by reserving whereof is communicated the same of the beast: or finally hath not attained that high degree of Pontifical knowledge, and of the Law (as they call it) Canonical, and hath not as it were made up in account and cast the number of the mysteries thereof: for in these things consisteth the number of that name of the beast. And this is excellently set forth in the next verse.

Revelation 13:18 That is in this number of the beast consisteth that Popish wisdom, which unto them seemeth the greatest of all others. In these words S. John expoundeth that saying which went before of the number of the beast, what it hath above his mark or acconisance and his name. These things, saith S. John, the mark and the name of the beast, do easily happen unto any man: but to have the number of the beast, is wisdom: that is, only the wise and such as have understanding, can come by that number for they must be most illuminated doctors that attain thereunto, as the words following do declare.

Revelation 13:18 How great and of what denomination this number of the beast is, by which the beast accounted his wisdom, S. John declareth in these words. Dost thou demand how great it is? it is so great, that it occupieth the whole man: he is always learning, and never cometh to the knowledge thereof: he must be a man indeed that doth attain unto it. Askest thou of what denomination it is? verily it standeth of six throughout and perfectly ariseth of all the parts thereof in their several denominations (as they term them) it standeth of six by units, tens, hundreds, etc. so as there is no one part in the learning and order Pontifical, which is not either referred unto the head, and as it were the top thereof, or contained in the same: so fitly do all things in this hierarchy agree one with another, and with their head. Therefore that cruel beast Boniface the eighth doth commend by the number of six those Decretals which he perfected, in the proem of the sixth book. Which book (saith he) being to be added unto five other books of the same volume of Decretals, we thought good to name Sextum the sixth: that the same volume by addition thereof containing a senary, or the number of six books (which is a number perfect) may yield a perfect form of managing all things, and perfect discipline of behavior. Here therefore is the number of the beast, who poureth from himself all his parts and bringeth them all back again unto himself by his discipline in most wise and cunning manner. If any man desire more of this, let him read the gloss upon that place. I am not ignorant that other interpretations are brought upon this place: but I thought it my duty, with the good favor of all and without the offense of any, to propound mine opinion in this point. And for this cause especially, for that it seemed unto me neither profitable, nor like to be true, that the number of the beast, or of the name of the beast should be taken as the common sort of interpreters do take it. For this number of the beast teacheth, giveth out, imprinteth, as a public mark of such as be his, and esteemeth that mark above all others as the mark of those whom he loveth best. Now those other expositions seem rather to be far removed from this property and condition of that number: whether you respect the name Latinus or Titan, or another. For these the beast doth not teach, nor give forth nor imprint, but most diligently forbiddeth to be taught, and audaciously denieth: he approveth not these, but reproveth them: and hateth them that think so of this number, with an hatred, greater than that of Vatinius.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A11-18&version=GNV

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Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell[a] (born 25 December 1961[5]: 436 [6]) is a British former socialite and convicted child sex offender.[7] In 2021 she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.[8] The following year, she was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in the United States.[9]

Born in France and raised in Oxford, England, she attended Balliol College, Oxford, in the 1980s and became a prominent member of London's social scene. She is a naturalised American citizen and retains both French and British citizenship.[4] Maxwell worked for her father, Robert Maxwell, until his death in 1991; she then moved to New York City, where she continued living as a socialite and had developed a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.[10] Alongside Epstein, Maxwell built up a vast social network consisting of various prominent elites.[11] Documents released by the United States Department of Justice reveal that she had maintained friendships with Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Kerry Kennedy.[12][13]

Maxwell was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged by the US federal government in July 2020 with the crimes of enticement of minors and sex trafficking of underage girls, related to her association with Epstein[14][15] as his recruiter.[16][17] She was denied bail as a flight risk, with the judge expressing concerns regarding her "completely opaque" finances, her skill at living in hiding, and the fact that France does not extradite its citizens.[18] She was convicted on five out of six counts, including one of sex trafficking of a minor, in December 2021.[1][2][3]

Early life

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell was born on 25 December 1961 in Maisons-Laffitte, Île-de-France, France,[19] the ninth and youngest child of Elisabeth (née Meynard), a French-born scholar, and Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch), a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor. Her father was from a Jewish family, and her mother was of Huguenot (French Protestant) descent. Maxwell was born two days before a car accident that left her fifteen-year-old brother Michael in a prolonged coma until he died in 1967.[20] Her mother later reflected that the accident had an effect on the entire family, and surmised that Ghislaine had shown signs of anorexia while only a toddler.[20]

Headington Hill Hall, Oxford

Throughout childhood, Maxwell lived with her family in Oxford at Headington Hill Hall, a 53-room mansion, where the offices of Pergamon Press, a publishing company run by her father, were also located.[10][19][21] Her mother said that all her children were raised as Anglicans.[22] Maxwell first attended Oxford High School for Girls in North Oxford and then, at age nine, was enrolled at Edgarley Hall preparatory school in Somerset, followed by Headington School at age 13.[23] She attended Marlborough College to study for A-Levels, before going on to earn a degree in Modern History with Languages from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1985.[5][23][24] While at Balliol she fraternised with Boris Johnson and Anna Pasternak.[24][25][26][27]

Maxwell had a close relationship with her father and was reportedly his favourite.[10][16][28] According to Tatler, Maxwell recalled that her father installed computers at Headington in 1973 and her first job was training to use a Wang 2200 and later programming code.[29] The Times reported that he did not permit her to bring her boyfriends home, or to be seen with them publicly, after she started attending the University of Oxford.[6][30]

Career

The Dancing Hare yacht, formerly known as the Lady Ghislaine

Maxwell was a prominent figure in the London social scene of the 1980s.[31] She founded a women's club named after the original Kit-Cat Club[16][32] and was a director of Oxford United Football Club during her father's ownership.[33][34] She also worked at The European,[35] a publication her father had established. According to Tom Bower, writing for The Sunday Times, in 1986, Robert invited her to the naming in her honour of his new yacht the Lady Ghislaine, at a shipyard in the Netherlands.[36] She spent a large amount of time in the late 1980s aboard the yacht, which was equipped with a jacuzzi, sauna, gym, and disco.[37] The Scotsman said Robert had also "tailor-made a New York company for her".[38] The company, which was engaged in corporate gifts, was not profitable.[30][36][39]

The Sunday Times reported that Maxwell flew to New York City on 5 November 1990 to deliver an envelope on her father's behalf that, unbeknownst to her, was part of "a plot initiated by her father to steal $200m" from Berlitz shareholders.[36] After Robert purchased the New York Daily News in January 1991, he sent Ghislaine to New York City to act as his emissary.[30][40] This furnished her entry to the Manhattan social scene.[24] In May 1991 Maxwell and her father took the Concorde on business to New York, from where he soon departed for Moscow and left her to represent his interests at an event honouring Simon Wiesenthal.[30]

In November 1991 Robert's body was found floating in the sea near the Canary Islands and Lady Ghislaine.[41] Soon afterwards, Ghislaine flew to Tenerife, where the yacht was berthed, to attend to his business paperwork.[30] She attended her father's funeral in Jerusalem alongside Israeli intelligence figures, President Chaim Herzog and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who delivered the eulogy.[42][43] Although a verdict of death by accidental drowning was recorded, Maxwell has since said she believes her father was murdered,[44] commenting in 1997: "He did not commit suicide. That was just not consistent with his character. I think he was murdered."[45]

After his death, Robert was found to have fraudulently appropriated the pension assets of Mirror Group Newspapers, a company that he ran and in which he held a large share of ownership, to support its share price.[46] Pension funds over £400m were said to be missing, and 32,000 people were affected.[47] Two of Maxwell's brothers, Ian and Kevin, who were the most involved with their father in daily business dealings, were arrested on 19 June 1992 and charged with fraud related to the Mirror Group pension scandal.[48] The brothers were acquitted three and a half years later in January 1996.[49]

Maxwell moved to the United States in 1991, shortly after her father's death.[28][16] It is reported that, owing to social discomfort she experienced in the wake of the pension fraud perpetrated by her father, she purchased a one-way Concorde ticket to New York in November 1992.[24] Maxwell was provided with an annual income of £80,000 (equivalent to £216,935 in 2023) from a trust fund established in Liechtenstein by her father.[50][51] By 1992 she had moved to an apartment of an Iranian friend overlooking Central Park. At the time, Maxwell worked at a real estate office on Madison Avenue and was reported to be socialising with celebrities.[52] She quickly rose to wider prominence as a New York City socialite.[16][53] In 1996 Maxwell made headlines when she was arrested in West London for drink-driving; the media reported her occupation as "internet operative".[54]

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein on 29 September 1993

Accounts differ on when Maxwell first met the American financier Jeffrey Epstein. According to Epstein's former business partner Steven Hoffenberg, Robert Maxwell introduced his daughter to Epstein in the late 1980s.[55] The Times reported that Maxwell met Epstein in the early 1990s at a New York party following "a difficult break-up with Count Gianfranco Cicogna" (1962–2012) of the CIGA Hotels clan.[56] Maxwell and Epstein were associated with each other by February 1993.[57] In 1995, Maxwell and Epstein were guests of honour on a cruise organised by Lindsay Fox who had invited Rodney Adler and wife Lindi as well as James Packer and then-girlfriend Deni Hines.[58]

Maxwell had a romantic relationship with Epstein for several years in the early 1990s and remained closely associated with him for more than 25 years until his death in 2019.[16][53][59] The nature of their relationship remains unclear, although at trial, prosecutors said that from 1994 to 1997 they were engaged in an intimate relationship.[24] A 22 January 2001 article by Nigel Rosser of the Evening Standard reported that friends of Epstein said Maxwell "remains desperate to marry Epstein", further elaborating: "You could say she was pretty much entirely dependent on him. She loves him. He sometimes treats her well, sometimes off-handedly. You could say she sees something of a father in him."[60] In a 2009 deposition, several of Epstein's household employees testified that Epstein referred to her as his "main girlfriend" who also hired, fired, and supervised his staff, starting around 1992.[61] She has also been referred to as the "Lady of the House" by Epstein's staff and as his "aggressive assistant".[62] In a 2003 Vanity Fair profile on Epstein, the author Vicky Ward said Epstein referred to Maxwell as "my best friend".[63] Ward also observed that Maxwell seemed "to organize much of his life".[63] Politico reported that Maxwell and Epstein had friendships with several prominent individuals in elite circles of politics, academia, business, and law, including the US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, known at the time as His Royal Highness Prince Andrew.[64] However, it has been acknowledged that Clinton, who Maxwell has stated was actually her friend and not Epstein's, was in fact connected to Epstein through her.[65][66][67]

Maxwell is known for her longstanding friendship[68] with the former Prince Andrew, and for having escorted him to a "hookers and pimps" social function in New York.[69] In a November 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew said that the two had known each other since Maxwell was an undergraduate at Oxford.[70] She introduced Epstein to Andrew, and the three often socialised together.[71] In 2000 Maxwell and Epstein attended a party thrown by Andrew at the Queen's Sandringham House estate in Norfolk, reportedly for Maxwell's 39th birthday.[72] In his November 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew confirmed that Maxwell and Epstein had attended an event at his invitation, but he denied that it was anything more than a "straightforward shooting weekend".[73] In 1995 Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation; based in Palm Beach, Florida, US, the company was dissolved in 1998.[61] As a trained helicopter pilot, Maxwell also transported Epstein to Little Saint James, his private Caribbean island in the US Virgin Islands.[6][74]

Maxwell in 2007

In 2008 Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months of an 18-month prison sentence. Following Epstein's release, although Maxwell continued to attend prominent social functions, she and Epstein were no longer seen together publicly.[10] Although in 2013 Maxwell was an honoured guest at the Clinton Global Initiative conference,[75] by late 2015 she had largely retreated from attending social functions.[10][76]

In her October 2025 memoir Nobody's Girl, Virginia Giuffre alleged Maxwell and Epstein sought to use her to be a surrogate mother for a baby they were planning to have together.[67]

Civil cases and accusations

Civil suits

Virginia Giuffre v Maxwell (2015)

Details of a civil lawsuit, made public in January 2015, contained a deposition from "Jane Doe 3" that accused Maxwell of recruiting her in 1999, when she was a minor, and grooming her to provide sexual services for Epstein:

In court documents, Epstein's accusers allege that Maxwell acted as a recruiter, an instructor, and in some cases a participant in the abuse he practiced. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims that Maxwell recruited her on behalf of Epstein when Giuffre was a 16-year-old spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, where Epstein has a home, said much of her grooming came from Maxwell herself. "The training started immediately", she said in a video interview with the Miami Herald. "It was everything down to how to give a blowjob, how to be quiet, be subservient, give Jeffrey what he wants. A lot of this training came from Ghislaine herself. Being a woman, it kind of surprises you that a woman could let stuff like that happen. Not only let it happen but to groom you into doing it."[16]

A 2018 exposé by Julie K. Brown in the Miami Herald revealed Jane Doe 3 to be Virginia Giuffre, who was previously known as Virginia Roberts. Giuffre met Maxwell at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, when Giuffre was a 16-year-old spa attendant.[16] She asserted that Maxwell had introduced her to Epstein, after which she was "groomed by the two [of them] for his pleasure, including lessons in Epstein's preferences during oral sex".[16][77] Maxwell repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes.[59] In a statement in 2015 Maxwell rejected allegations that she had acted as a procurer for Epstein and denied that she had "facilitated Prince Andrew's [alleged] acts of sexual abuse". Her spokesperson said "the allegations made against Ghislaine Maxwell are untrue" and she "strongly denies allegations of an unsavoury nature, which have appeared in the British press and elsewhere, and reserves her right to seek redress at the repetition of such old defamatory claims".[71][78]

Giuffre asserted that Maxwell and Epstein had trafficked her and other underage girls, often at sex parties hosted by Epstein at his homes in New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach, and the United States Virgin Islands. Maxwell called her a liar. Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in federal court in the Southern District of New York in 2015. While details of the settlement have not been made public, in May 2017 the case was settled in Giuffre's favour,[79] with Maxwell paying Giuffre "millions".[80] Giuffre's family reported that she committed suicide on 25 April 2025, at her farm in Australia.[81] She was 41, and had three children.[81]

Sarah Ransome v Epstein and Maxwell (2017)

In 2017 Sarah Ransome filed a suit, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Epstein and Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell hired her to give massages to Epstein and later threatened to physically harm her or destroy her career prospects if she did not comply with their sexual demands at his mansion in New York and on Little Saint James. The suit was settled in 2018 under undisclosed terms.[10][53][82][83]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghislaine_Maxwell

Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (née Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is an English Anglican prelate and former nurse. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold this office. By virtue of her office she is also a Lord Spiritual, one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. On 3 October 2025, it was announced that Mullally would become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in January 2026; she will be the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Mullally received clinical training in nursing from St Thomas' Hospital. She practised nursing primarily in South London, where she also began her study for ministry in the Church of England. In 1999 she became Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for the English National Health Service. She left these roles in 2004 to pursue full-time ministry. For her service in nursing, Mullally was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and began her ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She served in various London churches, and in 2012 became a canon of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2015 she was consecrated as bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Mullally

All Saints' Church is an active English-speaking chaplaincy of the Church of England's Diocese in Europe - a part of the Anglican Communion - in Rome, Italy.[2]

The church building is a Gothic revival red-brick construction, situated in the Via del Babuino, about 100 meters from the Spanish Steps. The architect was George Edmund Street (1824–1881). It has a regular weekly schedule of masses and prayer services and is also used for concerts. All Saints follows the high church tradition of Anglicanism, with a sung Eucharist being held weekly.

History

Anglican worship in Rome can trace its history back to the eighteenth century, when young British travellers took Grand Tours. Although some would bring Prayer Books, bibles and occasionally even chaplains, there remained demand for an English-language, Anglican service in Rome. Records exist of Anglican worship in the Palazzo Balestra as early as 1719, however, it was not until the nineteenth century that a permanent Anglican community was established.[3]

In the area near the Spanish Steps known as the "English Ghetto", worship began in 1816. On 29 December that year, the service raised funds that were distributed to the poor, commencing a tradition of charity that continues today. In 1825, an anonymous donation allows for the foundation of the Granary Chapel in the Porta del Popolo, which gained a permanent chaplain in 1828 and fell under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Gibraltar in 1842. Despite local unrest and changes in location, the chapel continued to expand into the 1870s.[3]

The 1870s marked a schism in the Anglican community at Rome. Those who considered the clergy at the Granary Chapel too ritualistic separated and established a new church, Holy Trinity, which saw various iterations of building and location. However, this church closed in 1937, and the building was demolished in 1948.[4]

The remaining community commenced planning for a new building when the Municipality of Rome announced the need to demolish the Granary Chapel for street widening. Victorian Gothic Revival architect G. E. Street began preparing plans in 1876, with the foundation stone being laid in 1882. Despite delays and a lack of funds (the incumbent Canon Wasse had to cover remaining construction expenses), the church was considered completed by 1887.[5][3]

G. E. Street's design for the Anglican Church at Rome

Throughout the early twentieth century, various internal improvements were made and electricity was installed. In 1937, after an anonymous donation, the steeple which now pierces the Roman skyline was completed. The church closed during the Second World War, reopening on 9 June 1944. During the latter half of that century, the church saw many distinguished visitors, including the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and Archbishops of Canterbury Ramsey and Fisher. In February 2017, Pope Francis visited All Saints’, the first visit of its kind by a sitting pope.[3]

Architecture

The church is the last work of Victorian architect George Edmund Street, and follows his usual ‘High Victorian’ gothic style. Influenced by both Italian architecture and the prevailing gothic style in England at the time, the building features a polychromatic design of red brick, pale Italian marble and pink Arles stone. During excavations before construction of the current church, remains of an imperial domus senatoria were discovered.[6]

The church has a typical design of a central nave flanked by two aisles, gothic pointed arches and flying buttresses, surmounted by a wooden roof.[6] The steeple, famous for appearances on the Roman skyline and in many films, was not completed until 1937, about fifty years after the main church took shape.[3]

Interior

In the central nave, the columns and pillars are polychromed with marbles from across Southern Europe: green Carrara, red Perugia, black Verona and Yellow Siena. There are mosaics roundels of evangelists and other scriptural themes designed by Edward Burne-Jones.[6]

The stained glass was designed by Clayton and Bell of London. In the chancel are scenes of the life of Christ, in the Lady Chapel the arcangels, in the nave, various English and Italian saints. At the counter-façade the window depicts the ascenscin of Christ, and by the rear door, Saints Peter and Paul.[7][8]

The Lady Chapel is in the north aisle and features an English use altar. It is also the location of the aumbry, signified by the sacrament lamp. Also in the chapel is a copy of a Benedetto da Maiano Madonna and child.[7]

The sanctuary contains the high altar, behind which is the marble reredos. The apse was decorated with red damask, which was replaced in 2001. The church uses vestments and altar frontals following the liturgical colours outlined by Percy Dearmer.[7]

The pulpit is in yellow Siena and black Verona marble with white Como highlights, dedicated to the memory of Canon Wasse. The chancel-screen follows a similar colour pattern. There is a baptismal font, also of marble, with iconography of Christ about it.[8][7]

List of Chaplains

Granary Chapel

1828 - Richard Burgess

1837 - James Hutchinson

1850 - Francis Blake Woodward

1866 - John Crowder

1869 - Arthur Thomas Whitmore Shadwell

1873 - Joseph Brett Grant

1874 - Thomas Childe Barker

1875 - Henry Watson Wasse

All Saints' Church

1887 - Henry Watson Wasse

1891 - Frank Nutcombe Oxenham

1910 - John Gardner Brown

1916 - Gilbert Holme Sissons

1920 - Bernard Edgar Holmes

1924 - Lonsdale Ragg

1930 - William Thomas Farmiloe

1934 - Joshua Goodland

1935 - Hugh Aldersey Tudor

1936 - Ariel Law Harkness

1947 - Clifford Stickney Powers

1949 - John Findlow

1956 - Douglas James Noel Wanstall

1971 - David Davies

1974 - Edward Murfet

1977 - David Henry Palmer

1983 - Bevan Wardrobe

1992 - Peter Merchant

1994 - Geoffrey Evans

1999 - Jonathan Thomas Boardman

2019 - Robert James Warren

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Church,_Rome

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

18 U.S. Code § 666 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds

U.S. Code

Notes

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(a)Whoever, if the circumstance described in subsection (b) of this section exists—

(1)being an agent of an organization, or of a State, local, or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof—

(A)embezzles, steals, obtains by fraud, or otherwise without authority knowingly converts to the use of any person other than the rightful owner or intentionally misapplies, property that—

(i)is valued at $5,000 or more, and

(ii)is owned by, or is under the care, custody, or control of such organization, government, or agency; or

(B)corruptly solicits or demands for the benefit of any person, or accepts or agrees to accept, anything of value from any person, intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more; or

(2)corruptly gives, offers, or agrees to give anything of value to any person, with intent to influence or reward an agent of an organization or of a State, local or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof, in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b)The circumstance referred to in subsection (a) of this section is that the organization, government, or agency receives, in any one year period, benefits in excess of $10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal assistance.

(c)This section does not apply to bona fide salary, wages, fees, or other compensation paid, or expenses paid or reimbursed, in the usual course of business.

(d)As used in this section—

(1)the term “agent” means a person authorized to act on behalf of another person or a government and, in the case of an organization or government, includes a servant or employee, and a partner, director, officer, manager, and representative;

(2)the term “government agency” means a subdivision of the executive, legislative, judicial, or other branch of government, including a department, independent establishment, commission, administration, authority, board, and bureau, and a corporation or other legal entity established, and subject to control, by a government or governments for the execution of a governmental or intergovernmental program;

(3)the term “local” means of or pertaining to a political subdivision within a State;

(4)the term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and

(5)the term “in any one-year period” means a continuous period that commences no earlier than twelve months before the commission of the offense or that ends no later than twelve months after the commission of the offense. Such period may include time both before and after the commission of the offense.

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1104(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2143; amended Pub. L. 99–646, § 59(a), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3612; Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §§ 1205(d), 1209, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4831, 4832; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330003(c), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2140.)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666

Revelation 13:16-18

New International Version

16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A16-18&version=NIV

In Hebrew, the word saraph means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "serpent",[4] twice in the Book of Numbers, once in the Book of Deuteronomy, and four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5][6][7] The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, seraphim, occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to only as the plural seraphim – Isaiah later uses the singular saraph to describe a "fiery flying serpent", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the Tanakh.

There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in Hyksos-era Canaan had their original sources in Egyptian uraeus iconography.[8] In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, divinity and divine authority, and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of Israel and Judah, Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites en masse, as a plethora of personal seals belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the winged sun, ankh, the hedjet and deshret crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, scarabs, and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two.[9] These images have been connected with the seraphim angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine seraphim clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned seraphim with heads, legs, and arms – although, on the second matter, some scholars have proposed that the covered "feet" of the seraphim should be identified as genitals, as "feet" are often used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for the penis.[10][11]

The vision in Isaiah Chapter 6 of seraphim in an idealized version of Solomon's Temple represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.[12] "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)[13] And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)[14] One seraph carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)[15] "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

The text describes the "seraphim" as winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work.[16] Notwithstanding the wording of the text itself, at least one Hebrew scholar claims that in the Hebrew Bible the seraphim do not have the status of angels, and that it is only in later sources (like De Coelesti Hierarchia or Summa Theologiae) that they are considered to be a division of the divine messengers.[17]

Seraphim appear in the 2nd-century BC Book of Enoch,[18] where they are mentioned, in conjunction with cherubim, as the heavenly creatures standing nearest to the throne of God. In non-biblical sources they are sometimes called the Akyəst (Ge'ez: አክይስት "serpents", "dragons"; an alternate term for Hell).[19][20][21]

In the Second Book of Enoch, two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the phoenixes and the chalkydri (Ancient Greek: χαλκύδραι khalkýdrai, compound of χαλκός khalkós "brass, copper" + ὕδρα hýdra "hydra", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 7th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.[22][23]

In the Book of Revelation (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the Gnostic text, On the Origin of the World.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

SARA DOUGLAS, NP – NPI #1295190304

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https://npidb.org/doctors/physician_assistants/family_363lf0000x/1295190304.aspx

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

◄ 2 Corinthians 11:14 ►

1 In the year of the death of king Uzziah, [a]I saw also the Lord sitting upon an [b]high throne, and lifted up, and the lower [c]parts thereof filled the Temple.

2 The [d]Seraphims stood upon it, every one had six wings: with twain he covered his [e]face, and with twain he covered his [f]feet, and with twain he did [g]fly.

3 And one cried to another, and said, [h]Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole [i]world is full of his glory.

Isaiah 6:1-3

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206&version=GNV

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle of budh "to awake, know, perceive," which is related to Sanskrit bodhati "is awake, observes, understands," from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware." Title given by his adherents to the man who taught this path, Siddhartha Gautama, also known to them as Sakyamuni "Sage of the Sakyas" (his family clan), who lived in northern India 5c. B.C.E."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gautama

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Revelation 17

1599 Geneva Bible

17 1 That great whore is described, 2 with whom the Kings of the earth committed fornication. 6 She is drunken with the blood of Saints. 7 The mystery of the woman, and the beast that carried her, expounded. 11 Their destruction. 14 The Lamb’s victory.

1 Then [a]there came one of the seven Angels, which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come: I will show [b]thee the [c]damnation of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters,

2 With whom have committed fornication the kings of the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth are drunken with the wine of her fornication.

3 [d]So he carried me away into the wilderness in the Spirit, and I saw a woman sit upon a [e]scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, which had seven heads, and ten horns.

4 And [f]the woman was arrayed [g]in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, [h]and had a cup of gold in her hand full of abomination, and filthiness of her fornication.

5 [i]And in her forehead was a name written, A mystery, [j]that great Babylon that mother of whoredoms, and abominations of the earth.

6 [k]And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of Saints, and with the blood of the Martyrs of JESUS: and when I saw her, [l]I wondered with great marvel.

7 [m]Then the Angel said unto me, Wherefore marvelest thou? I will show thee the mystery of that woman, and of that beast that beareth her, which hath seven heads and ten horns.

8 [n]The beast that thou hast seen, [o]was and is not, and [p]shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition, and they that dwell on the earth, shall wonder (whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) [q]when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

9 [r]Here is the mind that hath wisdom, The [s]seven heads [t]are seven mountains, whereon the woman sitteth: [u]they are also seven Kings.

10 [v]Five are fallen, [w]and one is, [x]and another is not yet come: and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

11 [y]And the beast that was, and is not, is even [z]the eighth, and is [aa]one of the seven, and [ab]all go into destruction.

12 [ac]And the ten horns which thou sawest, are [ad]ten kings, which yet have not received a kingdom, but shall receive power, as Kings [ae]at one hour with the beast.

13 [af]These have one mind, and shall give their power and authority unto the beast.

14 These shall fight with the [ag]Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords, and King of Kings: and they that are on his side, called, and chosen, and faithful.

15 [ah]And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, [ai]are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

16 And the ten [aj]horns which thou sawest upon the beast, are they that shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate, and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

17 [ak]For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to do with one consent for to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God be fulfilled.

18 And that woman which thou sawest, is that [al]great city which reigned over the kings of the earth.

Footnotes

Revelation 17:1 The state of the Church militant being declared, now followeth the state of the Church overcoming and getting victory, as I showed before in the beginning of chapter 10. The state is set forth in 4 chapters. As in the place beforegoing I noted, that in that history the order of time was not always exactly observed, so the same is to be understood in this history, that it is distinguished according to the persons of which it treateth, and that in the several stories of the persons is severly observed in the time thereof. For first is delivered the story of Babylon destroyed, in this and the next chap. (for this Babylon out of all doubt shall perish before the 2 beasts and the Dragon). Secondly is delivered the destruction of both the two beasts, chap. 19. And lastly of the Dragon, chap. 20, in the story of the spiritual Babylon are distinctly set forth the state thereof in this chap. and the overthrow done from God, chap. 18. In this verse and that which followeth is a transition or passage unto the first argument, consisting of a particular calling of the Prophet (as often heretofore) and a general proposition.

Revelation 17:1 That is the damnable harlot, by a figure of speech called hypallage. For S. John as yet had not seen her. Although another interpretation may be borne, yet I like this better.

Revelation 17:1 The sentence that is pronounced against this harlot.

Revelation 17:3 Henceforth is propounded the type of Babylon, and the state thereof in 4 verses. After a declaration of the type, in the rest of this chap., in the type are described two things, the beast (of whom chap. 13), in verse 3, and the woman that sitteth upon the beast, verses 4, 5, 6. The beast in process of time hath gotten somewhat more than was expressed in the former vision. First in that it is not read before that he was appareled in scarlet, a robe imperial and of triumph. Secondly, in that this is full of names of blasphemy: the other carried the name of blasphemy only in his head. So God did teach that this beast is much increased in impiety and injustice and doth in this last age, triumph in both these more insolently and proudly than ever before.

Revelation 17:3 A scarlet color, that is, with a red and purple garment: and surely it was not without cause that the Romish clergy were so much delighted with this color.

Revelation 17:4 That harlot, the spiritual Babylon, which is Rome. She is described by her attire, profession and deeds.

Revelation 17:4 In attire most glorious, triumphant, most rich, and most gorgeous.

Revelation 17:4 In profession, the nourisher of all, in this verse, and teaching her mysteries unto all, verse 5, setting forth all things most magnificently: but indeed most pernicious besotting miserable men with her cup, and bringing upon them a deadly giddiness.

Revelation 17:5 Deceiving with the title of religion, and public inscription of mystery: which the beast in times past did not bear.

Revelation 17:5 An exposition: in which S. John declareth what manner of woman this is.

Revelation 17:6 In manner of deeds: She is red with blood, and sheddeth it most licentiously, and therefore is colored with the blood of the Saints, as on the contrary part. Christ is set forth imbrued with the blood of his enemies; Isa. 3:1.

Revelation 17:6 A passage unto the second part of this chapter, by occasion given of S. John, as the words of the Angel do show, in the next verse.

Revelation 17:7 The second part or place, as I said, verse 1. The narration of the vision, promised in this verse, and delivered in the verse following. Now there is delivered first a narration of the beast and his story, unto verse 14. After, of the harlot, unto the end of the chap.

Revelation 17:8 The story of the beast hath a triple description of him. The first is a distinction of this beast from all that ever hath been at any time: which distinction is contained in this verse: The second is a delineation or painting out of the beast by things present, by which he might even at that time be known of the godly, and this delineation is according to his heads, verses 2, 10, 11. The third is an historical foretelling of things to come, and to be done by him: and these are ascribed unto his horns, verses 12, 13, 14. This beast is that Empire of Rome, of which I spake, chap. 13:11, according to the mutations and changes whereof which then had already happened, the holy Ghost hath distinguished and set out the same. The Apostle distinguisheth this beast from all others in these words. The beast which thou sawest, was and is not. For so I expound the words of the Apostle for evidence’s sake as I will further declare in the notes following.

Revelation 17:8 The meaning is, that beast which thou sawest before (Rev. 13:1) and which yet thou hast now seen, was, (I say was) even from Julius Caesar in respect of beginning, rising up, station, glory, dominion, manner and stock, from the house of Julius: and yet is not now the same, if thou look unto the house and stock for the dominion of this family was translated unto another, after the death of Nero from the other unto a third, from a third unto a fourth, and so forth was varied and altered by innumerable changes. Finally, the Empire is one, as it were one beast: but exceedingly varied by kindreds, families, and persons. It was therefore (saith S. John) in the kindred or house of Julius: and now it is not in that kindred, but translated unto another.

Revelation 17:8 As if he should say, Also the same that is, shall shortly not be: but shall ascend out of the depth, or out of the sea (as was said, Rev. 13:1) that is, shall be a new stock from amongst the nations without difference, and shall in the same state go unto destruction or ruin, and perish: and so shall successively new Princes or Emperors come and go, arise and fall, the body of the beast remaining still, but tossed with so many and often alterations, as no man can but marvel that this beast was able to stand and hold out, in so many mutations. Verily no Empire that ever was tossed with so many changes, and as it were with so many tempests of the sea, ever continued so long.

Revelation 17:8 That is as many as have not learned the providence of God, according to the faith of the Saints, shall marvel at these grievous and often changes when they shall consider, the selfsame beast, which is the Roman Empire, to have been, not to be, and to be and still molested with perpetual mutation, and yet in the same to stand and continue. This in mine opinion is the most simple exposition of this place, and confirmed by the event of the things themselves. Although by the last change also, by which the Empire, that before was civil became Ecclesiastical, is not obscurely signified by these words: of which two, the first exercised cruelty upon the bodies of the saints: the other also upon their souls: the first by human order and policy, the other under the color of the law of God, and of Religion, raged and imbrued itself with the blood of the godly.

Revelation 17:9 An exhortation preparing unto audience, by the same argument, with that of Christ: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Wherefore, for mine own part, I had rather read in this place, Let there be here a mind, etc. So the Angel passeth fully unto the second place of this description.

Revelation 17:9 Very children know what that seven hilled city is, which is so much spoken of, and whereof Virgil thus reporteth, And compasseth seven towers in one wall: that city it is, which when John wrote these things had rule over the kings of the earth: It was and is not, and yet it remaineth this day, but it is declining to destruction.

Revelation 17:9 This is the painting out of the beast by things present (as I said before) whereby S. John endeavored to describe the same, that he might both be known of the godly in that age, and be further observed and marked of posterity afterwards. This delineation hath one type, that is, his heads, but a double description or application of the type: one permanent from the nature of itself, the other changeable, by the working of men. The description permanent, is by the seven hills, in this verse, the other that fleeteth, is from the seven kings, verses 10, 11. And here it is worthy to be observed, that one type hath sometimes two or more applications, as seemeth good unto the holy Ghost to express either one thing by divers types, or divers things by one type. So I noted before, of the seven spirits, Rev. 1:4. Now this woman that sitteth upon seven hills, is the city of Rome, called in times past of the Greeks, … i. of seven tops or crests, and of Varro, septiceps, i. of her seven heads (as here) of seven heads, and of others, septicollis, i. standing upon seven hills.

Revelation 17:9 The beginning of these Kings or Emperors is almost the same with the beginning of the Church of Christ, which I showed before, Rev. 11:1. Namely from the year 35, after the passion of Christ, what time the Temple and Church of the Jews was overthrown. In which year it came to pass by the providence of God that that saying The beast was and is not, was fulfilled before that the destruction of the Jews immediately following came to pass. That was the year from the building of the city of Rome, 109, from which year S. John both numbered the Emperors which hitherto hath been, when he wrote these things, and foretelleth two others next to come: and that with this purpose, that when this particular prediction of foretelling of things to come, should take effect the truth of all other predictions in the Church might be the more confirmed. Which sign God of old mentioned this in the Law, Deut. 18, and Jeremiah confirmeth, Jer. 28:8.

Revelation 17:10 Whose names are these: the first, Servius Sulpicius Galba, who was the seventh Emperor of the people of Rome, the second Marcus Salvius Otho, the third Aulus Vitellius, the fourth, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, the fifth, Titus Vespasianus his son of his own name.

Revelation 17:10 Flavius Domitian son of the first Vespasian. For in the latter end of his days S. John wrote these things, as witnesseth Irenaus, Lib. 5 adversus hareses.

Revelation 17:10 Nerua. The Empire being now translated from the family of Flavius. This man reigned only one year, four months, and nine days, as the history writers do tell.

Revelation 17:11 This is spoken by the figure synecdoche, as much to say as that head of the beast which was and is not, because it is cut off, and Nerua in so short time extinguished. How many heads there were, so many beasts there seemed to be in one. See the like speech in Rev. 13.3

Revelation 17:11 Nerua Traianus, who himself in divers respects is called here the seventh and the eighth.

Revelation 17:11 Though in number and order of succession he be the eighth, yet he is reckoned together with one of these heads, because Nerua and he were one head. For this man obtained authority together with Nerua, and was Consul with him, when Nerua left his life.

Revelation 17:11 Namely, to molest with persecutions the Churches of Christ, as the histories do accord, and I have briefly noted, Rev. 2:10.

Revelation 17:12 The third place of this description as I said, verse 18, is a prophetical prediction of things to come which the beast should do, as in the words following S. John doth not obscurely signify, saying, which have not yet received the kingdom, etc. For there is an Antithesis or opposition between these kings, and those that went before. And first the persons are described, in this verse, then their deeds in the two verses following.

Revelation 17:12 That is, arising with their kingdoms out of the Roman beast: at such time as that political Empire began by the craft of the Popes greatly to fall.

Revelation 17:12 Namely, with the second beast whom we called before a false prophet, which beast, ascending out of the earth got unto himself all the authority and power of the first beast, and exerciseth the same before his face, as was said, Rev. 14:11, 12. For when the political Empire of the West began to bow downwards, there both arose those ten kings, and the second beast took the opportunity offered to usurp unto himself all the power of the former beast. These kings long ago, many have numbered and described to be ten and a great part of the events plainly testifieth the same in this our age.

Revelation 17:13 That is, by consent and agreement, that they may conspire with the beast, and depend upon his beck. Their story is divided into three parts, counsels, acts, and events. The counselors some of them consist in communicating of judgments and affections: and some in communicating of power, which they are said to have given unto this beast in this verse.

Revelation 17:14 With Christ and his Church, as the reason following doth declare, and here are mentioned the facts and the events which followed for Christ’s sake, and for the grace of God the Father towards those that are called, elected, and are his faithful ones in Christ.

Revelation 17:15 This is the other member of the narration as I said verse 7, belonging unto the harlot, showed in the vision, verse 3. In this history of the harlot, these 3 things are distinctly propounded, what is her magnificence in this verse, what is her fall, and by whom it shall happen unto her, in the two verses following: and lastly, who that harlot is, in the last verse. This place which by order of nature should have been the first, is therefore made the last, because it was more fit to be joined with the next Chap.

Revelation 17:15 That is, as unconstant and variable as the waters. Upon this foundation sitteth this harlot as Queen, a vain person upon that which is vain.

Revelation 17:16 The ten Kings as verse 12. The accomplishment of this fact and event, is daily increased in this our age by the singular providence and most mighty government of God. Wherefore the facts are propounded in this verse, and the cause of them in the verses following.

Revelation 17:17 A reason rendered from the chief efficient cause, which is the providence of God, by which alone S. John by inversion of order affirmeth to have come to pass, both that the Kings should execute upon the harlot, that which pleased God, and which he declared in the verse next beforegoing: and also that by one consent and counsel, they should give their kingdom unto the beast, etc., verses 13, 14. For as these being blinded have before depended upon the beck of the beast that lifteth up the harlot, so it is said that afterward it shall come to pass, that they shall turn back, and shall fall away from her when their hearts shall be turned into better state by the grace and mercy of God.

Revelation 17:18 That is, Rome that great City, or only City (as Justinian calleth it) the King and head whereof was then the Emperor, but now the Pope, since that the condition of the beast was changed.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2017&version=GNV

At the first Survivor Series in November 1987, André along with team members One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, and Rick Rude defeated Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, and Bam Bam Bigelow in a traditional Survivor Series match.[12] Shortly after Survivor Series, during Hogan's WWF World Heavyweight Championship defense against Bundy, André sneak-attacked Hogan, applying a chokehold. Heel character Ted DiBiase, who was portrayed as "The Million Dollar Man", an evil millionaire, offered Hogan a large sum of money to sell DiBiase the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which Hogan refused. At the first Royal Rumble in January 1988, Hogan and André had an official contract signing for a WWF World Heavyweight Championship rematch.[13] Their rematch took place on The Main Event I in February, where André defeated Hogan with a dusty finish.[14] André won the match when referee Dave Hebner's identical twin Earl Hebner made the decision.[15][16]

Shortly after being awarded the championship, André kayfabe sold the title to DiBiase.[16] Whilst André's championship reign is recognized by the WWF, DiBiase was stripped of the title. Plotwise, due to the circumstances, WWF President Jack Tunney vacated the title and ordered it to be decided in a single elimination 14-man tournament at WrestleMania IV.[15] As the previous champions, André and Hogan received byes to the second round of the tournament, meaning they would face each other in their second-round matchup.[16]

Hogan formed an unlikely alliance with a former enemy and top challenger to his WWF World Heavyweight Championship, Randy "Macho Man" Savage (which was later known as the Mega Powers). Savage had been portrayed as an egomaniacal heel during most of his first two years in the WWF, but in the late summer of 1987, began to slowly turn face.[17] Their on-screen friendship was formed when Hogan (at the persuasion of Savage's valet, Miss Elizabeth) intervened while Savage was being attacked by The Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation in an angle. Although Hogan and Savage teamed together at un-televised house shows, nothing more was made of it on national television until shortly before WrestleMania IV, when Hogan rescued Savage in a similar angle featuring Andre, DiBiase and Virgil.[17][18]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WrestleMania_IV

Britain's Prince Andrew (L) and Sir Evelyn Rothsch

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, UNITED STATES: Britain's Prince Andrew (L) and Sir Evelyn Rothschild of London (R) watch US President Bill Clinton tee-off the first hole at the Farm Neck Golf Club 27 August 1999 in Martha's Vineyard. Andrew and Clinton made a joking wager for return of the island which was acquired by the US from Great Britian. (ELECTRONIC IMAGE) AFP PHOTO/Paul J. RICHARDS (Photo credit should read PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)

https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/britains-prince-andrew-and-sir-evelyn-rothschild-of-london-news-photo/51617811

Did Jeffrey Epstein spend 2017 Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago with Trump? Claim viral amid emails row

By

Shamik Banerjee

Updated on: Nov 14, 2025 08:31 am IST

In the newly released Epstein emails, a note claimed Epstein supposedly spent 2017 Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, despite Trump saying he banned him.

The newly released emails of Jeffrey Epstein, made public by the Democrat-led US House Oversight Committee on Wednesday, have sparked a row over the multiple mentions of President Donald Trump.

A banner of Jeffrey Epstein and President Donald Trump displayed during a protest earlier this year.(REUTERS)

One email from Faith Kates, created a lot of buzz over supposedly mentioning that Jeffrey Epstein spent the 2017 Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, Trump's resort-sum-residence in Palm Beach, Florida. The email was shared by the official X handle of the Democrats, sparking a row.

The purported claim that Epstein was at Mar-a-Lago with Trump, celebrating Thanksgiving in 2017, is of particular interest, as Trump has repeatedly claimed that he banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago.

Though Trump has not mentioned when the ban was brought into effect. Some reports claim that Epstein's account at Mar-a-Lago was closed in 2007.

What The Email States

In the email exchange between Faith Kates and Jeffrey Epstein, dated November 23, 2017, Kates asks Epstein about what he is doing for Thanksgiving. Epstein replies that he is having Thanksgiving at 'Eva's.' It is not immediately clear who Epstein refers to by "Eva."

Faith Kates then asks him who else is there at the party with him. He replies: "david fizel, hanson. trump." It was not immediately clear who these people were. But Democrats claimed that by "trump," Epstein meant Donald Trump. However, there is no mention of Mar-a-Lago on the emails.

Here's the viral exchange:

What The Epstein Emails Reveal On Trump

The newly released emails from Jeffrey Epstein have revealed details of his connection with high-profile individuals, including political operatives, royalty, and media figures. But, undoubtedly, the most talked-about aspect in them was the mentions of Donald Trump.

Also read: Trump-Epstein row: 10 explosive comments financier made about POTUS – ‘dog that hasn’t barked’ to ‘borderline insane’

In one email from 2011, Epstein told Ghislaine Maxwell that Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with a trafficking victim and called Trump “that dog that hasn’t barked.”

Another 2019 message to author Michael Wolff stated that Trump “knew about the girls,” though it didn’t clarify the extent of Trump’s knowledge or involvement.

Notably, Trump has repeatedly denied his association with Epstein. He called the recently released emails a "hoax."

https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/did-jeffrey-epstein-spend-2017-thanksgiving-at-mar-a-lago-with-trump-claim-viral-amid-emails-row-101763087315941.html

What Epstein's emails reveal about the rich and famous who sought his advice

Financial and political intel? Sure. But there was so much more that Bold Face Names sought from the disgraced sex offender and former Trump friend.

Portrait of Josh MeyerJosh Meyer

USA TODAY

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WASHINGTON – The emails came at all hours of the day and night from the world’s rich and powerful. They all wanted advice from disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, especially after his former friend Donald Trump became president.

Political advice, sure. And, of course, to tap into Epstein’s much-touted − albeit murkily obtained − financial acumen.

But there was so much more that the bold face names sought from Epstein – and what he gave them in response − according to a USA TODAY review of the bombshell revelations in the more than 20,000 pages of Epstein emails released Nov. 12 by the House Oversight Committee.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in April 2019.

“Who is your colonoscopy man?” friend and writer Michael Wolff asked on May 30, 2017, after Epstein nixed a Manhattan breakfast meeting because he was having the procedure. At the time, Wolff was writing a book about Trump's 2016 campaign and his ascension to the White House.

COLOGNE, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 28: Michael Wolff during the reading of his book 'Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House' ( Feuer und Zorn - Im Weissen Haus von Donald Trump ) at the lit.cologne on February 28, 2018 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Ralf Juergens/Getty Images)

Department store scion Jonathan Farkas, the husband of Trump’s ambassador to Malta, asked Epstein on May 8, 2017 what he thought of a woman he was seeing that was not his wife.

“careful she is nottrustworthy at ALLL,” Epstein said in one of his typically cryptic, typo-riddled and shorthand responses.

“a 2 timer?” asked Farkas?

“worse,” Epstein said.  

“Jeffrey please help me here is she a hooker,” Farkas asked.

Epstein’s response: “alcoholic . drugs. unstable . consumate liar. CAREFUL”

As an aside in the conversation, Farkas mentioned that his wife Somers “got an appointment from Trump” on a White House commission “because she bundled,” presumably in reference to collecting Trump presidential campaign contributions.

SOUTHAMPTON, NY - JULY 21: Jonathan Farkas and Somers Farkas attend Hamptons Magazine's 40th Anniversary Bash by Lawrence Scott Events presented by Compass at Southampton Arts Center on July 21, 2018 in Southampton, New York. (Photo by Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images for Hamptons Magazine)

'Annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh'

Epstein bantered regularly with Lawrence Summers, or Larry as he called the former Harvard president and treasury secretary under Bill Clinton. One of their favorite topics was Trump, and his transition from real estate mogul to candidate and then president.

“How plausible is idea that trump is real cocaine user?” Summers asked Epstein on Oct. 2, 2016.

“zero. !” Epstein replied. “do you want to have dinner with rothchild in new york. thurs. , woody?”

The Rothchild, or more likely someone from the Rothschild banking family, was never revealed. The Woody was almost certainly the same Woody mentioned elsewhere in the emails: Woody Johnson, the billionaire businessman, prominent Trump campaign fundraiser and owner of the New York Jets. (Trump appointed Johnson ambassador to Britain in his first term.)

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But Summers also wanted relationship advice from Epstein, whose 2006 arrest amid allegations of trafficking in sex with underage girls was back in the news thanks to a bombshell investigative series in the Miami Herald. So was Epstein’s shockingly lenient 2008 plea deal with a prosecutor named Alex Acosta who was, by the time of their emailing, a member of Trump’s Cabinet as labor secretary.

In a March 16, 2019 email, Summers complained that an unidentified woman with whom he was involved was favoring another man.

“I said what are you up to. She said “I'm busy”. I said awfully coy u are,” Summers wrote Epstein, saying the woman had blown off their weekend plans in favor of  “guy number 3.”

“I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of good feeling,” Summers added. “I dint want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend without benefits.”

Epstein wrote back minutes later with praise for Summers’ response.

“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein wrote. “ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy,    .  you reacted well. .  annoyed shows caring.  ,  no whining showed strentgh.”

When Summers emailed the November before that to say he was going radio silence on another woman, Epstein replied: “She’s already begining to sound needy :) nice.”

(The periods at the end of Epstein's quotes at the end of sentences have been added by USA TODAY. Epstein didn’t waste his time ending most of his sentences with periods.)

Senior White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers speaks during an interview with Reuters in Washington June 24, 2010.

'Thank you a million times, Jeffrey'

There was virtually never a stated reason why all of these bigwigs – mostly men but also women – assumed Epstein would be able to provide insight into whatever was on their minds.

Epstein had no college degree; his first job was as a math and physics teacher at the elite Dalton School in Manhattan.

Despite that unconventional start, and with no transparent or easily explainable path to riches, Epstein emerged as a globe-trotting fixer who spent his time shuttling between luxury homes, private jets and his Caribbean island. His financial empire was opaque, seemingly built largely on connections, secrecy and the perception of influence.  

Oftentimes, they went back and forth about the day’s headlines, especially when it came to Trump. On occasion, they hinted at, or outright asked, for money.

“Larry has told me that you and a friend would like to contribute to my project (hallelujah and thank you a million times, Jeffrey) and that I ought to... write up a proposal asking for 500,000,” Summers' wife, Lisa New, wrote in an Oct. 27, 2014 email.

New, an American Literature professor at Harvard, wanted to do “post-production and distribution of a whole historical period of American poetry” from 1914 to 1945, including three TV episodes for her "Poetry in America" PBS series.

New also gave Epstein advice on literature.

On Nov. 25, 2018, she recommended "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov, which is about a 30-something married scholar and his sexual obsession with a 12-year-old girl.

Also, she said without a trace of irony given Epstein’s legal troubles, “I would recommend reading My Antonia by (Willa) Cather next time you're on a long plane trip.”

“The prose is gorgeous, and the book has-- come to think of it-- similar themes to Lolita in that it's about a man whose whole life is stamped forever by his impression of a young girl,” she wrote.

Epstein’s private plane, which ferried VIPs and young girls to his private island and other redoubts, was nicknamed by others "The Lolita Express" after his legal troubles burst into public view.

U.S. prosecutor Kathryn Ruemmler arrives at federal court on the first day of jury selection in the Enron trial in Houston January 30, 2006. Former company executives are facing conspiracy and fraud charges connected to the downfall of the energy giant. REUTERS/Lee Celano

'Trump is truly stupid'

Obama administration White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, who had famously taken down energy giant Enron as a star Justice Department prosecutor, talked about Trump a lot with Epstein.

"Trump is truly stupid," Ruemmler wrote in a July 21, 2017 email. In another, she said, he was “so gross.”

In one email to Ruemmler, Epstein downplayed Trump’s wealth, saying, "Donald doesn't really own very much, he rents out his name."

In another, Epstein wrote Ruemmler that, "You see, I know how dirty Donald is." That was in response to one of many news articles the two shared with each other, this one about Trump’s "High Crimes and Misdemeanors" as outlined in a New York Times column in August 2018.

More: 'I am the one able to take him down.' What Jeffrey Epstein said about Donald Trump.

Epstein also liked to introduce his various friends and acquaintances to each other as part of his relentless campaign to cultivate relationships with the rich, powerful and merely famous.

It was in that spirit that Epstein introduced Wolff to one of his former defense lawyers, Kenneth Starr, for help with research. Starr had been the independent counsel leading the exhaustive “Whitewater” investigation into Bill and Hillary Clinton in the 1990s.

'I am the one able to take him down.' What Jeffrey Epstein said about Donald Trump.

Epstein email claims Trump 'knew about the girls'; accuser calls for full release of files

Six years after Jeffrey Epstein's death, hundreds of women push for justice

Virginia Giuffre memoir details alleged abuses inside Jeffrey Epstein circle

Prince Andrew royal titles stripped after alleged Jeffrey Epstein link

She’s inmate No. 02879-509 in Florida. But once again, Ghislaine Maxwell is holding court

House GOP releases full Jeffrey Epstein 'birthday book.' What's in it?

How Trump and 'terrific guy' Jeffrey Epstein's party boy friendship ended badly

“With thanks to Jeffrey, I’m delighted to come into your orbit, and look forward to our conversation,” Starr wrote to Wolff, in an email shared with Epstein.

'An opportunity to come forward'

While many of those communicating with Epstein hoped to benefit from their conversations, some – like Wolff – also offered to help the disgraced financier in return.

“There's an opportunity to come forward this week and talk about Trump in such a way that could garner you great sympathy and help finish him,” Wolff emailed Epstein on Oct. 29, 2016, right before Election Day. “Interested?”

There’s no indication in the emails that Epstein responded, or that he acted on Wolff’s request.

Transparency Note:

Michael Wolff was a freelance USA TODAY contributor from 2012 to early 2017. USA TODAY had no knowledge of any relationship between him and Jeffrey Epstein, nor any actions beyond his submissions for publication. We are committed to integrity and transparency, as we uphold our editorial standards and maintain the trust of our readers.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/11/15/jeffrey-epsteins-emails-advice-to-rich-and-famous/87274450007/

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.

Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests."

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Etymology of Arturo

What does the name Arturo mean?

The surname Arturo is an Italian patronymic surname; that is, it was a name created from the first name of the father. Arturo is derived from the Breton given names Artuir and Arthur. This personal name is of very ancient origin and is derived from the Celtic word art, which means bear. The name Arthur is also related to the Greek Arcturus, which means bear or guardian and is the name of the bright star in the constellation Bootes.

Arturo Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Arturo include and others.

https://www.houseofnames.com/arturo-family-crest

Arcturus is a red giant star in the northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It has the Bayer designation α Boötis, which is Latinized to Alpha Boötis and abbreviated Alf Boo or α Boo. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05,[2] it is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Arcturus forms one corner of the Spring Triangle asterism.

Located relatively close at 36.7 light-years from the Sun, Arcturus is a red giant of spectral type K1.5III—an aging star around 7.1 billion years old that has used up its core hydrogen and evolved off the main sequence. It is about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to 25 times its size (around 35 million kilometers) and is around 170 times as luminous.

Nomenclature

The traditional name Arcturus is Latinised from the ancient Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros) and means "Guardian of the Bear",[9] ultimately from ἄρκτος (arktos), "bear"[10] and οὖρος (ouros), "watcher, guardian".[11] As ἄρκτος also came to mean "north", the name can also translate to "Guardian of the North".[12]

The designation of Arcturus as α Boötis (Latinised to Alpha Boötis) was made by Johann Bayer in 1603. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Arcturus for α Boötis.[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

The Beast (Koine Greek: Θηρίον, Thērion) may refer to one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 12-13 describes these three beasts as follows:

The dragon (later revealed in the text to be Satan)[1]

The beast of the sea (commonly interpreted as the Antichrist)[2][3]

The beast of the earth (later revealed in the text to be the False prophet)[4]

However, many people have different beliefs about the meaning of these beasts.

In Revelation 13:1–10, the beast of the sea rises "out of the sea" and is given authority and power by the dragon. It persecutes God's people in the 2nd part of Revelation 13. To buy and sell, everyone is required to have its name or number on their forehead or right hand (Rev 13:16-17). It speaks blasphemous words against God, will rule the world for 42 months (Revelation 13:5-7), and is described as resembling a leopard, a lion, and a bear—which are three of the animals in Daniel 7. It suffers a fatal head wound which is miraculously healed, bewildering the world's population and causing many to worship it.

In Revelation 13:11–18, the beast of the earth, later known as the false prophet, comes "out of the earth," exercises all the authority of the Sea Beast, forces everyone on earth to worship the Sea Beast, and convinces the people, through signs and wonders, to make an image of the Sea Beast.

In their fight against God, the Sea Beast and the False Prophet ally with the Dragon to persecute the "saints" and those who do not "worship the image of the beast [of the sea]" and influence earthly kings through three unclean spirits to gather for the battle of Armageddon.[5] These two beasts are ultimately defeated by Christ and thrown into the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 19:18–20, while Satan, the dragon, is imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. After being released from the bottomless pit after the millennial reign, Satan deceives the nations one last time, ultimately ending in Satan being defeated and thrown in the lake of fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Revelation)

After Trump left office in January 2021, Patel leveraged his association with Trump to promote several business ventures and made recurring appearances on several podcasts. In April 2022, he was named to the board of Trump Media & Technology Group. Also that year, he published a children's book about the Steele dossier and, with John Solomon, was appointed to represent Trump before the National Archives and Records Administration; the FBI questioned Patel about his involvement in Trump's records. He founded The Kash Foundation, a charity to help participants in the January 6 United States Capitol attack pay legal costs. Patel has promoted several conspiracy theories about the deep state, false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, QAnon, COVID-19 vaccines, and the January 6 Capitol attack.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kash_Patel

The Rōshānī movement (Pashto: روښاني غورځنګ, lit. 'The enlightened movement') was a populist, nonsectarian Sufi movement that was founded in the mid-16th century, in the Pashtunistan region of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, and arose among the Pashtun tribes. The movement was founded by Pir Roshan, an Ormur warrior, Sufi poet and revolutionary.[1] Roshan challenged the inequality and social injustice that he saw being practiced by the ruling powers of the Mughal Empire. He advocated for a system of egalitarian codes and tenets that his followers, the Roshaniyya, promulgated within Islam.[2] Pir Roshan educated and instructed followers of the movement through new and radical teachings that questioned basic Islamic canons during that time, and propagated egalitarian principles.[3] His teachings resonated among the Afridi, Orakzai, Khalil, Mohmand, and Bangash tribes.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roshani_movement

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Self-love, Progress measured by abandoning

Senses, Application of

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://ia801306.us.archive.org/8/items/a588350800loyouoft/a588350800loyouoft.pdf

Alcaraz’s fervor, which in the past had given him successes in his proselytizing activities, was once again causing trouble. Hamilton opines, “Alcaraz continued to engineer his own downfall. He made no secret of his disapproval of those numerous individuals who had fallen under the spell of Ocaña and Olmilllos or who had been duped by Francisca Hernández.” Visions and trances were a point of contention for Alcaraz as it was for other alumbrados including Isabel de la Cruz. Alcaraz, however, had already had some disagreements for some time with Fray Francisco Ortiz and Francisco de Osuna concerning the value of these mystical endeavors. Alcaraz considered trances, visions and prophecy to be ataduras and thus undesirable. To engage in such activity would hinder one’s dejamiento or abandonment to God by refocusing the mind on prophecies that concerned themselves with the material.22 In his attempts to denounce Ocaña and Olmillos to the Franciscan provincial Alcaraz instead succeeded in calling attention to himself. In May of 1524 Francisco de Quiñones, the general of the Franciscan order, held the Inquisitorial chapter of Toledo in Escalona. On the 22nd of May a decree was issued that condemned the practices and activities of Isabel de la Cruz and Pedro Ruíz de Alcaraz.23

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

by Javier A. Montoya

https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/.../85/00001/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

AI Overview

Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing, was raised in the Catholic faith and baptized in the Catholic Church. However, he stopped practicing later in life and described himself as agnostic. He was also quoted as saying his only religion was science.

Despite his later agnosticism, according to CNN and The Oklahoman, he did request and receive last rites from a priest before his execution. Father Ron Ashmore of St. Margaret Mary Church in Terre Haute stated that McVeigh knew the significance of the sacrament, interpreting it as an act of asking God's forgiveness. However, he remained publicly unrepentant at the time of his execution, choosing to issue a defiant statement rather than express remorse.

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

Explore the SOSA Neighborhood in Oklahoma City

South of St Anthony, referred to as SOSA by those who live there, offers a modern take on neighborhoods in Oklahoma City.

Welcome to SOSA - South of St Anthony

South of St Anthony, referred to as SOSA by those who live there, offers a modern take on neighborhoods in Oklahoma City. With an urban and hip environment and many eclectic restaurants and shops to visit, this community is fun and inviting. There are many modern-style homes that have been built in recent years, increasing their size and bringing more members into the fold.

 

What to Love

Many new builds allowing for growth

An inviting and fun atmosphere

Many eclectic shops and eateries

Extremely close to the midtown area of Oklahoma City

Local Lifestyle

The nearby St. Anthony Hospital helped give this neighborhood its namesake. This inner-city community is home to many urban influencers, developers, and prominent architects, which is why you will find many interesting and creative modern architecture in the homes and buildings here. Make your way through the Cottage District and see the beauty that surrounds you.

 

Dining, Entertainment & Shopping

Many eclectic eateries fill the community, including places like McNellie's OKC. This Irish pub offers more than 350 beer choices and sometimes hosts tasting events.

 

Brown's Bakery nearby has a seating area so you can enjoy a donut, bread slice, cake, cookie, or another treat. Insomnia Cookies is known for its delightful desserts and is open late. Neighborhood JAM is a hip spot for breakfast and lunch.

 

Visit Elemental Coffee when you want a brew that's roasted in-house. Craft coffee, tea, and pastries fill the menu. The Collective Kitchens and Cocktails allows you to dine on a rooftop terrace. With a trendy food court and bar, you have an assortment of menu options.

 

Fassler Hall is a highly-rated German restaurant, while Barrios serves fine Mexican dishes. Many make their way to the Midtown Plaza Court for shopping. You get more options, however, if you make your North to Penn Square Mall past Uptown. Various department stores, service centers, and a food court make up the vicinity.

 

Things to Do

Red Andrews Park provides a place to play and relax for residents of the area. Provided benches give you a space to sit as you watch your kids enjoy their time on the play structure. The Johnie L. Williams Municipal Gymnasium is located here. It's a great spot for basketball. Many prefer to make their way Northeast of SOSA to Oklahoma City's Midtown Mutts Dog Park. The fenced-in area gives your pup a safe place to play. You get a great view of Midtown from here.

 

Right outside of SOSA, you'll find the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum. This can't-miss locale features a memorial sculpture garden for the 1995 bombing that hit the Murrah Building. The outside space is complete with a scenic water backdrop. While the grounds are gorgeous to look at, the interior of the space offers various collections and archives, as well as video explanations to learn about what happened.

 

Schools

The Millwood School District operates in the area.

John W Rex Charter Elementary School, Pre-K-4th Grade

Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, Grades 11-12

https://westrealestatecompany.com/neighborhoods/sosa-south-of-st-anthony

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

AI Overview

As of September 2025, there has been no 37th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. The most recent assembly was the 36th General Congregation (GC 36), which met in Rome in October 2016.

What is a General Congregation?

A General Congregation (GC) is the highest governing body of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order. A GC can be called for two main reasons:

To elect a new Superior General: This happens when the previous Superior General resigns or dies. In 2016, GC 36 was called after Father Adolfo Nicolás announced his resignation.

To address important matters: A GC can be called by the Superior General to discuss and act on significant issues concerning the order, the Church, and the world.

Key outcomes of the 36th General Congregation (GC 36)

The last General Congregation made two major decisions for the Society of Jesus:

Election of a new Superior General: The delegates elected Father Arturo Sosa Abascal of Venezuela as the 31st Superior General.

Declaration on reconciliation and justice: The assembly released a decree titled "Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice," which recommitted the order to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, continuing a priority first established at the 32nd General Congregation.

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1987 Slammy Awards

The Slammy Awards returned a year later, now honoring the events and individuals involved within the professional wrestling aspect of the World Wrestling Federation. The second edition of the ceremony (referred to in commercials and on-air as the 37th annual Slammy Awards) took place on December 16, 1987, from Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It aired in syndication on December 19, 1987.[11][14][13] The ceremony was hosted by Jesse Ventura and Gene Okerlund.[15] Musical numbers were performed by Vince McMahon (singing the song "Stand Back")[16] and Jimmy Hart (singing "Girls in Cars"), with the entire WWF roster performing "If You Only Knew" as the show's closing number.[16][15]

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface.[11][14][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slammy_Award

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

Templar Military Lodges

The Templars also stealthily entered America through military lodges. Of particular significance are those chartered by the Irish Grand Lodge, which offered the higher degrees of Jacobite Masonry. Later these lodges incorporated the French Templar Scottish Rite degrees, further dividing colonial America between two rival forms of Freemasonry. While British politics in the colonies was dominated by English Masons in the Northeast, her military was under the influence of French Templar Field Lodges throughout the colonies - not a stable union for governing "13" rebellious colonies.25

European Templars Settle America

Another identifying characteristic of the Beast's revived Roman empire, according to our analysis of Daniel 7:7-8 in chapter 26, is that it must be populated by immigrants from the territory governed by the old Roman empire. Of course colonial America was populated by peoples from a Europe shaped by ancient Rome and later by the Holy Roman Empire. Templar influence in America began after Prince Charles Edward, the Young Stuart Pretender, failed to regain his British throne. As you recall, in 1746 he was soundly defeated, forever dashing the hopes of Scottish Templars recapturing England. As a result, many Irish and Scottish Templar Jacobites who had fought with Charles Stuart fled to America. Those who returned to France with the Prince founded the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Between 1745 and 1753, the British and European Templar population in the New World had increased dramatically. In 1754 Benjamin Franklin attempted to relieve population pressure by proposing a plan for the union of all 13 colonies. The British government rejected Franklin's proposal, fearing a united America would be difficult to control. Subsequently, the exploding population was forced to move west into French territory, which precipitated the French and Indian War in America, a phase of the Seven Years War on the continent of Europe. During this war the French military brought to the New World the Templar Scottish Rite, first setting up base at Boston, then Charleston, S.C.26 Michael Baigent, in The Temple and The Lodge, explains: 565 Prior to the Seven Years War, most of the Freemasonry in North America was orthodox pro- Hanoverian, warranted by Grand Lodge [London]. During the Seven Years War, however, "higher degree" [Templar] Freemasonry, by means of regimental field lodges, was transplanted on a large scale to the American colonies and quickly took root. Boston - the soil from which the American Revolution was to spring - exemplifies the process of transplantation and the friction that sometimes arose from it.27

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://ia803001.us.archive.org/28/items/ScarletAndTheBeastJohnDaniel1995/Scarlet%20and%20the%20Beast,%20John%20Daniel%20(1995).pdf

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid02X6XSNStrDjw6kadfzCay8CqFpGyzqEaiTR3jab6itWaaJSR4MAqkyLzctw6yckPel

Sarah Michelle Gellar pays tribute to Michelle Trachtenberg with heartfelt birthday message

“I can’t imagine what 40 would have been like."

By

Bethany Braun-Silva via GMA logo

October 11, 2025, 11:28 AM

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg dies at 39Police sources say the “Gossip Girl” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” actor's death is not suspicious and she is believed to have died from natural causes.

Sarah Michelle Gellar is remembering her late friend and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" co-star Michelle Trachtenberg on what would have been her 40th birthday.

In this Oct. 12, 2004, file poto, Michelle Trachtenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar are shown at the premiere of "The Grudge" in Los Angeles.

Lee Celano/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE

On Oct. 11, Gellar posted a photo of the two of them together with the caption, “When you turned 16, it was hard not to still see you as the little girl I met on All My Children. When you turned 21, I had to teach myself to not see you as the little sister anymore,” Gellar wrote. “I can’t imagine what 40 would have been like. This I know… it would be filled with love. Happy birthday @michelletrachtenberg.”

The post was set to Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa’s song “See You Again.”

Actress Michelle Trachtenberg dies at 39

Trachtenberg, best known for her roles in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Gossip Girl," died earlier this year at age 39.

PHOTO: In this Aug. 12, 2001, file photo, Michelle Trachtenberg and  Sarah Michelle Gellar attend the Third Annual Teen Choice Awards at Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

In this Aug. 12, 2001, file photo, Michelle Trachtenberg and Sarah Michelle Gellar attend the Third Annual Teen Choice Awards at Universal Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif.

Steve Granitz/WireImage via Getty Images, FILE

She was found in her New York City apartment near Columbus Circle, according to police sources.

The New York City medical examiner later confirmed she died of natural causes due to complications from diabetes. No foul play was suspected.

Following Trachtenberg’s death, Gellar shared another tribute in February, writing: “Michelle, listen to me. Listen. I love you. I will always love you. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. I will be brave. I will live… for you,” echoing one of Buffy’s most memorable lines.

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/sarah-michelle-gellar-pays-tribute-michelle-trachtenberg-heartfelt/story?id=126432497  

Buffy Anne Summers is the title character of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise. She first appeared in the 1992 film Buffy the Vampire Slayer before going on to appear in The WB/UPN 1997–2003 television series and subsequent 1998–2018 Dark Horse and 2019–present Boom! Studios comic series of the same name. The character has also appeared in the spin-off series Angel, as well as numerous expanded universe materials such as novels and video games. Buffy was portrayed by Kristy Swanson in the film and by Sarah Michelle Gellar in the television series. Giselle Loren has lent her voice to the character in both the Buffy video games and an unproduced animated series, while Kelly Albanese lent her voice to the character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight motion comics.

Buffy Summers is the protagonist of the series, which depicts her life and adventures as she grows up. In the film, she is a high school cheerleader who learns that she is the Slayer (a Chosen One gifted with the strength and skills to fight vampires and the forces of darkness, as a vampire hunter and demon hunter). The television series shows Buffy carrying out her destiny in the small town of Sunnydale, built atop a portal to hell (Hellmouth), surrounded by a group of friends and family who support her in her mission. In the comic book continuation, she is a young woman who has accepted her duties and is now responsible for training others like her.

Buffy was created by Joss Whedon to subvert the stereotypical female horror film victim—Whedon wanted to create a strong female cultural icon. In 2004, Buffy was ranked 13th on Bravo's list of The 100 Greatest TV Characters.[1][2] In June 2010, Entertainment Weekly ranked her third in its list of the 100 Greatest Characters of the Last 20 Years.[3] AOL named her the sixth Most Memorable Female TV Character.[4] She was ranked at No. 5 in AfterEllen.com's Top 50 Favorite Female TV Characters.[5] Buffy Summers is now viewed as one of the greatest and most iconic roles of all time.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_Summers

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell[a] (born 25 December 1961[5]: 436 [6]) is a British former socialite and convicted child sex offender.[7] In 2021 she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.[8] The following year, she was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in the United States.[9]

Born in France and raised in Oxford, England, she attended Balliol College, Oxford, in the 1980s and became a prominent member of London's social scene. She is a naturalised American citizen and retains both French and British citizenship.[4] Maxwell worked for her father, Robert Maxwell, until his death in 1991; she then moved to New York City, where she continued living as a socialite and had developed a close relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.[10] Alongside Epstein, Maxwell built up a vast social network consisting of various prominent elites.[11] Documents released by the United States Department of Justice reveal that she had maintained friendships with Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Kerry Kennedy.[12][13]

Maxwell was arrested by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged by the US federal government in July 2020 with the crimes of enticement of minors and sex trafficking of underage girls, related to her association with Epstein[14][15] as his recruiter.[16][17] She was denied bail as a flight risk, with the judge expressing concerns regarding her "completely opaque" finances, her skill at living in hiding, and the fact that France does not extradite its citizens.[18] She was convicted on five out of six counts, including one of sex trafficking of a minor, in December 2021.[1][2][3]

Early life

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell was born on 25 December 1961 in Maisons-Laffitte, Île-de-France, France,[19] the ninth and youngest child of Elisabeth (née Meynard), a French-born scholar, and Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch), a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor. Her father was from a Jewish family, and her mother was of Huguenot (French Protestant) descent. Maxwell was born two days before a car accident that left her fifteen-year-old brother Michael in a prolonged coma until he died in 1967.[20] Her mother later reflected that the accident had an effect on the entire family, and surmised that Ghislaine had shown signs of anorexia while only a toddler.[20]

Headington Hill Hall, Oxford

Throughout childhood, Maxwell lived with her family in Oxford at Headington Hill Hall, a 53-room mansion, where the offices of Pergamon Press, a publishing company run by her father, were also located.[10][19][21] Her mother said that all her children were raised as Anglicans.[22] Maxwell first attended Oxford High School for Girls in North Oxford and then, at age nine, was enrolled at Edgarley Hall preparatory school in Somerset, followed by Headington School at age 13.[23] She attended Marlborough College to study for A-Levels, before going on to earn a degree in Modern History with Languages from Balliol College, Oxford, in 1985.[5][23][24] While at Balliol she fraternised with Boris Johnson and Anna Pasternak.[24][25][26][27]

Maxwell had a close relationship with her father and was reportedly his favourite.[10][16][28] According to Tatler, Maxwell recalled that her father installed computers at Headington in 1973 and her first job was training to use a Wang 2200 and later programming code.[29] The Times reported that he did not permit her to bring her boyfriends home, or to be seen with them publicly, after she started attending the University of Oxford.[6][30]

Career

The Dancing Hare yacht, formerly known as the Lady Ghislaine

Maxwell was a prominent figure in the London social scene of the 1980s.[31] She founded a women's club named after the original Kit-Cat Club[16][32] and was a director of Oxford United Football Club during her father's ownership.[33][34] She also worked at The European,[35] a publication her father had established. According to Tom Bower, writing for The Sunday Times, in 1986, Robert invited her to the naming in her honour of his new yacht the Lady Ghislaine, at a shipyard in the Netherlands.[36] She spent a large amount of time in the late 1980s aboard the yacht, which was equipped with a jacuzzi, sauna, gym, and disco.[37] The Scotsman said Robert had also "tailor-made a New York company for her".[38] The company, which was engaged in corporate gifts, was not profitable.[30][36][39]

The Sunday Times reported that Maxwell flew to New York City on 5 November 1990 to deliver an envelope on her father's behalf that, unbeknownst to her, was part of "a plot initiated by her father to steal $200m" from Berlitz shareholders.[36] After Robert purchased the New York Daily News in January 1991, he sent Ghislaine to New York City to act as his emissary.[30][40] This furnished her entry to the Manhattan social scene.[24] In May 1991 Maxwell and her father took the Concorde on business to New York, from where he soon departed for Moscow and left her to represent his interests at an event honouring Simon Wiesenthal.[30]

In November 1991 Robert's body was found floating in the sea near the Canary Islands and Lady Ghislaine.[41] Soon afterwards, Ghislaine flew to Tenerife, where the yacht was berthed, to attend to his business paperwork.[30] She attended her father's funeral in Jerusalem alongside Israeli intelligence figures, President Chaim Herzog and Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who delivered the eulogy.[42][43] Although a verdict of death by accidental drowning was recorded, Maxwell has since said she believes her father was murdered,[44] commenting in 1997: "He did not commit suicide. That was just not consistent with his character. I think he was murdered."[45]

After his death, Robert was found to have fraudulently appropriated the pension assets of Mirror Group Newspapers, a company that he ran and in which he held a large share of ownership, to support its share price.[46] Pension funds over £400m were said to be missing, and 32,000 people were affected.[47] Two of Maxwell's brothers, Ian and Kevin, who were the most involved with their father in daily business dealings, were arrested on 19 June 1992 and charged with fraud related to the Mirror Group pension scandal.[48] The brothers were acquitted three and a half years later in January 1996.[49]

Maxwell moved to the United States in 1991, shortly after her father's death.[28][16] It is reported that, owing to social discomfort she experienced in the wake of the pension fraud perpetrated by her father, she purchased a one-way Concorde ticket to New York in November 1992.[24] Maxwell was provided with an annual income of £80,000 (equivalent to £216,935 in 2023) from a trust fund established in Liechtenstein by her father.[50][51] By 1992 she had moved to an apartment of an Iranian friend overlooking Central Park. At the time, Maxwell worked at a real estate office on Madison Avenue and was reported to be socialising with celebrities.[52] She quickly rose to wider prominence as a New York City socialite.[16][53] In 1996 Maxwell made headlines when she was arrested in West London for drink-driving; the media reported her occupation as "internet operative".[54]

Relationship with Jeffrey Epstein

Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein on 29 September 1993

Accounts differ on when Maxwell first met the American financier Jeffrey Epstein. According to Epstein's former business partner Steven Hoffenberg, Robert Maxwell introduced his daughter to Epstein in the late 1980s.[55] The Times reported that Maxwell met Epstein in the early 1990s at a New York party following "a difficult break-up with Count Gianfranco Cicogna" (1962–2012) of the CIGA Hotels clan.[56] Maxwell and Epstein were associated with each other by February 1993.[57] In 1995, Maxwell and Epstein were guests of honour on a cruise organised by Lindsay Fox who had invited Rodney Adler and wife Lindi as well as James Packer and then-girlfriend Deni Hines.[58]

Maxwell had a romantic relationship with Epstein for several years in the early 1990s and remained closely associated with him for more than 25 years until his death in 2019.[16][53][59] The nature of their relationship remains unclear, although at trial, prosecutors said that from 1994 to 1997 they were engaged in an intimate relationship.[24] A 22 January 2001 article by Nigel Rosser of the Evening Standard reported that friends of Epstein said Maxwell "remains desperate to marry Epstein", further elaborating: "You could say she was pretty much entirely dependent on him. She loves him. He sometimes treats her well, sometimes off-handedly. You could say she sees something of a father in him."[60] In a 2009 deposition, several of Epstein's household employees testified that Epstein referred to her as his "main girlfriend" who also hired, fired, and supervised his staff, starting around 1992.[61] She has also been referred to as the "Lady of the House" by Epstein's staff and as his "aggressive assistant".[62] In a 2003 Vanity Fair profile on Epstein, the author Vicky Ward said Epstein referred to Maxwell as "my best friend".[63] Ward also observed that Maxwell seemed "to organize much of his life".[63] Politico reported that Maxwell and Epstein had friendships with several prominent individuals in elite circles of politics, academia, business, and law, including the US presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, the lawyer Alan Dershowitz, and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, known at the time as His Royal Highness Prince Andrew.[64] However, it has been acknowledged that Clinton, who Maxwell has stated was actually her friend and not Epstein's, was in fact connected to Epstein through her.[65][66][67]

Maxwell is known for her longstanding friendship[68] with the former Prince Andrew, and for having escorted him to a "hookers and pimps" social function in New York.[69] In a November 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew said that the two had known each other since Maxwell was an undergraduate at Oxford.[70] She introduced Epstein to Andrew, and the three often socialised together.[71] In 2000 Maxwell and Epstein attended a party thrown by Andrew at the Queen's Sandringham House estate in Norfolk, reportedly for Maxwell's 39th birthday.[72] In his November 2019 interview with the BBC, Andrew confirmed that Maxwell and Epstein had attended an event at his invitation, but he denied that it was anything more than a "straightforward shooting weekend".[73] In 1995 Epstein renamed one of his companies the Ghislaine Corporation; based in Palm Beach, Florida, US, the company was dissolved in 1998.[61] As a trained helicopter pilot, Maxwell also transported Epstein to Little Saint James, his private Caribbean island in the US Virgin Islands.[6][74]

Maxwell in 2007

In 2008 Epstein was convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months of an 18-month prison sentence. Following Epstein's release, although Maxwell continued to attend prominent social functions, she and Epstein were no longer seen together publicly.[10] Although in 2013 Maxwell was an honoured guest at the Clinton Global Initiative conference,[75] by late 2015 she had largely retreated from attending social functions.[10][76]

In her October 2025 memoir Nobody's Girl, Virginia Giuffre alleged Maxwell and Epstein sought to use her to be a surrogate mother for a baby they were planning to have together.[67]

Civil cases and accusations

Civil suits

Virginia Giuffre v Maxwell (2015)

Details of a civil lawsuit, made public in January 2015, contained a deposition from "Jane Doe 3" that accused Maxwell of recruiting her in 1999, when she was a minor, and grooming her to provide sexual services for Epstein:

In court documents, Epstein's accusers allege that Maxwell acted as a recruiter, an instructor, and in some cases a participant in the abuse he practiced. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims that Maxwell recruited her on behalf of Epstein when Giuffre was a 16-year-old spa attendant at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, where Epstein has a home, said much of her grooming came from Maxwell herself. "The training started immediately", she said in a video interview with the Miami Herald. "It was everything down to how to give a blowjob, how to be quiet, be subservient, give Jeffrey what he wants. A lot of this training came from Ghislaine herself. Being a woman, it kind of surprises you that a woman could let stuff like that happen. Not only let it happen but to groom you into doing it."[16]

A 2018 exposé by Julie K. Brown in the Miami Herald revealed Jane Doe 3 to be Virginia Giuffre, who was previously known as Virginia Roberts. Giuffre met Maxwell at Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, when Giuffre was a 16-year-old spa attendant.[16] She asserted that Maxwell had introduced her to Epstein, after which she was "groomed by the two [of them] for his pleasure, including lessons in Epstein's preferences during oral sex".[16][77] Maxwell repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes.[59] In a statement in 2015 Maxwell rejected allegations that she had acted as a procurer for Epstein and denied that she had "facilitated Prince Andrew's [alleged] acts of sexual abuse". Her spokesperson said "the allegations made against Ghislaine Maxwell are untrue" and she "strongly denies allegations of an unsavoury nature, which have appeared in the British press and elsewhere, and reserves her right to seek redress at the repetition of such old defamatory claims".[71][78]

Giuffre asserted that Maxwell and Epstein had trafficked her and other underage girls, often at sex parties hosted by Epstein at his homes in New York, New Mexico, Palm Beach, and the United States Virgin Islands. Maxwell called her a liar. Giuffre sued Maxwell for defamation in federal court in the Southern District of New York in 2015. While details of the settlement have not been made public, in May 2017 the case was settled in Giuffre's favour,[79] with Maxwell paying Giuffre "millions".[80] Giuffre's family reported that she committed suicide on 25 April 2025, at her farm in Australia.[81] She was 41, and had three children.[81]

Sarah Ransome v Epstein and Maxwell (2017)

In 2017 Sarah Ransome filed a suit, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, against Epstein and Maxwell, alleging that Maxwell hired her to give massages to Epstein and later threatened to physically harm her or destroy her career prospects if she did not comply with their sexual demands at his mansion in New York and on Little Saint James. The suit was settled in 2018 under undisclosed terms.[10][53][82][83]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghislaine_Maxwell

Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (née Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is an English Anglican prelate and former nurse. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold this office. By virtue of her office she is also a Lord Spiritual, one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. On 3 October 2025, it was announced that Mullally would become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in January 2026; she will be the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Mullally received clinical training in nursing from St Thomas' Hospital. She practised nursing primarily in South London, where she also began her study for ministry in the Church of England. In 1999 she became Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for the English National Health Service. She left these roles in 2004 to pursue full-time ministry. For her service in nursing, Mullally was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and began her ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She served in various London churches, and in 2012 became a canon of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2015 she was consecrated as bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Mullally

All Saints' Church is an active English-speaking chaplaincy of the Church of England's Diocese in Europe - a part of the Anglican Communion - in Rome, Italy.[2]

The church building is a Gothic revival red-brick construction, situated in the Via del Babuino, about 100 meters from the Spanish Steps. The architect was George Edmund Street (1824–1881). It has a regular weekly schedule of masses and prayer services and is also used for concerts. All Saints follows the high church tradition of Anglicanism, with a sung Eucharist being held weekly.

History

Anglican worship in Rome can trace its history back to the eighteenth century, when young British travellers took Grand Tours. Although some would bring Prayer Books, bibles and occasionally even chaplains, there remained demand for an English-language, Anglican service in Rome. Records exist of Anglican worship in the Palazzo Balestra as early as 1719, however, it was not until the nineteenth century that a permanent Anglican community was established.[3]

In the area near the Spanish Steps known as the "English Ghetto", worship began in 1816. On 29 December that year, the service raised funds that were distributed to the poor, commencing a tradition of charity that continues today. In 1825, an anonymous donation allows for the foundation of the Granary Chapel in the Porta del Popolo, which gained a permanent chaplain in 1828 and fell under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Gibraltar in 1842. Despite local unrest and changes in location, the chapel continued to expand into the 1870s.[3]

The 1870s marked a schism in the Anglican community at Rome. Those who considered the clergy at the Granary Chapel too ritualistic separated and established a new church, Holy Trinity, which saw various iterations of building and location. However, this church closed in 1937, and the building was demolished in 1948.[4]

The remaining community commenced planning for a new building when the Municipality of Rome announced the need to demolish the Granary Chapel for street widening. Victorian Gothic Revival architect G. E. Street began preparing plans in 1876, with the foundation stone being laid in 1882. Despite delays and a lack of funds (the incumbent Canon Wasse had to cover remaining construction expenses), the church was considered completed by 1887.[5][3]

G. E. Street's design for the Anglican Church at Rome

Throughout the early twentieth century, various internal improvements were made and electricity was installed. In 1937, after an anonymous donation, the steeple which now pierces the Roman skyline was completed. The church closed during the Second World War, reopening on 9 June 1944. During the latter half of that century, the church saw many distinguished visitors, including the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and Archbishops of Canterbury Ramsey and Fisher. In February 2017, Pope Francis visited All Saints’, the first visit of its kind by a sitting pope.[3]

Architecture

The church is the last work of Victorian architect George Edmund Street, and follows his usual ‘High Victorian’ gothic style. Influenced by both Italian architecture and the prevailing gothic style in England at the time, the building features a polychromatic design of red brick, pale Italian marble and pink Arles stone. During excavations before construction of the current church, remains of an imperial domus senatoria were discovered.[6]

The church has a typical design of a central nave flanked by two aisles, gothic pointed arches and flying buttresses, surmounted by a wooden roof.[6] The steeple, famous for appearances on the Roman skyline and in many films, was not completed until 1937, about fifty years after the main church took shape.[3]

Interior

In the central nave, the columns and pillars are polychromed with marbles from across Southern Europe: green Carrara, red Perugia, black Verona and Yellow Siena. There are mosaics roundels of evangelists and other scriptural themes designed by Edward Burne-Jones.[6]

The stained glass was designed by Clayton and Bell of London. In the chancel are scenes of the life of Christ, in the Lady Chapel the arcangels, in the nave, various English and Italian saints. At the counter-façade the window depicts the ascenscin of Christ, and by the rear door, Saints Peter and Paul.[7][8]

The Lady Chapel is in the north aisle and features an English use altar. It is also the location of the aumbry, signified by the sacrament lamp. Also in the chapel is a copy of a Benedetto da Maiano Madonna and child.[7]

The sanctuary contains the high altar, behind which is the marble reredos. The apse was decorated with red damask, which was replaced in 2001. The church uses vestments and altar frontals following the liturgical colours outlined by Percy Dearmer.[7]

The pulpit is in yellow Siena and black Verona marble with white Como highlights, dedicated to the memory of Canon Wasse. The chancel-screen follows a similar colour pattern. There is a baptismal font, also of marble, with iconography of Christ about it.[8][7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Saints%27_Church,_Rome

666 1 Samuel 26:15-16. And David said to Abner, Art not thou a valiant man? and who is like to thee in Israel? wherefore then hast thou not kept thy lord the king? for there came one of the people in to destroy the king thy lord. This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the LORD liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not kept your master, the LORD'S anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the cruse of water that was at his bolster. 2 Samuel 18:3. But the people answered, Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of us: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city. Esther 6:2. And it was found written, that Mordecai had told of Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's chamberlains, the keepers of the door, who sought to lay hand on the king Ahasuerus

THE

WESTMINSTER

LARGER

CATECHISM

https://www.freepresbyterian.org/uploads/Larger_Catechism.pdf

Can. 666 In the use of means of social communication, necessary discretion is to be observed and those things are to be avoided which are harmful to one’s vocation and dangerous to the chastity of a consecrated person."

TITLE II. RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES (Cann. 607 - 709) CODE OF CANON LAW

https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib2-cann607-709_en.html

18 U.S. Code § 666 - Theft or bribery concerning programs receiving Federal funds

U.S. Code

Notes

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(a)Whoever, if the circumstance described in subsection (b) of this section exists—

(1)being an agent of an organization, or of a State, local, or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof—

(A)embezzles, steals, obtains by fraud, or otherwise without authority knowingly converts to the use of any person other than the rightful owner or intentionally misapplies, property that—

(i)is valued at $5,000 or more, and

(ii)is owned by, or is under the care, custody, or control of such organization, government, or agency; or

(B)corruptly solicits or demands for the benefit of any person, or accepts or agrees to accept, anything of value from any person, intending to be influenced or rewarded in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving any thing of value of $5,000 or more; or

(2)corruptly gives, offers, or agrees to give anything of value to any person, with intent to influence or reward an agent of an organization or of a State, local or Indian tribal government, or any agency thereof, in connection with any business, transaction, or series of transactions of such organization, government, or agency involving anything of value of $5,000 or more;

shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

(b)The circumstance referred to in subsection (a) of this section is that the organization, government, or agency receives, in any one year period, benefits in excess of $10,000 under a Federal program involving a grant, contract, subsidy, loan, guarantee, insurance, or other form of Federal assistance.

(c)This section does not apply to bona fide salary, wages, fees, or other compensation paid, or expenses paid or reimbursed, in the usual course of business.

(d)As used in this section—

(1)the term “agent” means a person authorized to act on behalf of another person or a government and, in the case of an organization or government, includes a servant or employee, and a partner, director, officer, manager, and representative;

(2)the term “government agency” means a subdivision of the executive, legislative, judicial, or other branch of government, including a department, independent establishment, commission, administration, authority, board, and bureau, and a corporation or other legal entity established, and subject to control, by a government or governments for the execution of a governmental or intergovernmental program;

(3)the term “local” means of or pertaining to a political subdivision within a State;

(4)the term “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States; and

(5)the term “in any one-year period” means a continuous period that commences no earlier than twelve months before the commission of the offense or that ends no later than twelve months after the commission of the offense. Such period may include time both before and after the commission of the offense.

(Added Pub. L. 98–473, title II, § 1104(a), Oct. 12, 1984, 98 Stat. 2143; amended Pub. L. 99–646, § 59(a), Nov. 10, 1986, 100 Stat. 3612; Pub. L. 101–647, title XII, §§ 1205(d), 1209, Nov. 29, 1990, 104 Stat. 4831, 4832; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330003(c), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2140.)

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/666

Revelation 13:16-18

New International Version

16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man.[a] That number is 666.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Revelation 13:18 Or is humanity’s number

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2013%3A16-18&version=NIV

In Hebrew, the word saraph means "burning", and is used seven times throughout the text of the Hebrew Bible as a noun, usually to denote "serpent",[4] twice in the Book of Numbers, once in the Book of Deuteronomy, and four times in the Book of Isaiah.[5][6][7] The reason why the word for "burning" was also used to denote a serpent is not universally agreed upon; it may be due to a certain snake species' fiery colors, or perhaps the burning sensation left by its venomous bite. Regardless, its plural form, seraphim, occurs in both Numbers and Isaiah, but only in Isaiah is it used to denote an angelic being; likewise, these angels are referred to only as the plural seraphim – Isaiah later uses the singular saraph to describe a "fiery flying serpent", in line with the other uses of the term throughout the Tanakh.

There is emerging consensus that the motifs used to display seraphs in Hyksos-era Canaan had their original sources in Egyptian uraeus iconography.[8] In Egyptian iconography, the uraeus was used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, divinity and divine authority, and later iconography often showed uraei with wings. In the early monarchic period of Israel and Judah, Egyptian motifs were evidently borrowed by the Israelites en masse, as a plethora of personal seals belonging to classes ranging from commonfolk to royalty have been discovered, which incorporate several pieces of ancient Egyptian iconography, including the winged sun, ankh, the hedjet and deshret crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, scarabs, and the uraeus cobra. These uraei often had four wings, as opposed to the Egyptian standard which only gave them two.[9] These images have been connected with the seraphim angels associated with Isaiah's visions, or perhaps more directly to the aforementioned "fiery flying serpent", but this continues to be debated – and an image of serpentine seraphim clashes with Isaiah's own vision, which clearly envisioned seraphim with heads, legs, and arms – although, on the second matter, some scholars have proposed that the covered "feet" of the seraphim should be identified as genitals, as "feet" are often used in the Hebrew Bible as a euphemism for the penis.[10][11]

The vision in Isaiah Chapter 6 of seraphim in an idealized version of Solomon's Temple represents the sole instance in the Hebrew Bible of this word being used to describe celestial beings.[12] "... I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphim: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly." (Isaiah 6:1–3)[13] And one cried to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory." (verses 2–3)[14] One seraph carries out an act of ritual purification for the prophet by touching his lips with a live coal from the altar (verses 6–7)[15] "And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged."

The text describes the "seraphim" as winged celestial beings with a fiery passion for doing God's good work.[16] Notwithstanding the wording of the text itself, at least one Hebrew scholar claims that in the Hebrew Bible the seraphim do not have the status of angels, and that it is only in later sources (like De Coelesti Hierarchia or Summa Theologiae) that they are considered to be a division of the divine messengers.[17]

Seraphim appear in the 2nd-century BC Book of Enoch,[18] where they are mentioned, in conjunction with cherubim, as the heavenly creatures standing nearest to the throne of God. In non-biblical sources they are sometimes called the Akyəst (Ge'ez: አክይስት "serpents", "dragons"; an alternate term for Hell).[19][20][21]

In the Second Book of Enoch, two classes of celestial beings are mentioned alongside the seraphim and cherubim, known as the phoenixes and the chalkydri (Ancient Greek: χαλκύδραι khalkýdrai, compound of χαλκός khalkós "brass, copper" + ὕδρα hýdra "hydra", "water-serpent"—lit. "brazen hydras", "copper serpents"). Both are described as "flying elements of the sun" that reside in either the 4th or 7th heaven, who have twelve wings and burst into song at sunrise.[22][23]

In the Book of Revelation (4:4–8), the beasts are described as being forever in God's presence and praising him: "[A]nd they rest not day and night, saying, 'Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.'" This account differs slightly from the account of Isaiah, stating in the eighth verse, "And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within". They appear also in the Gnostic text, On the Origin of the World.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph

SARA DOUGLAS, NP – NPI #1295190304

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https://npidb.org/doctors/physician_assistants/family_363lf0000x/1295190304.aspx

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.

◄ 2 Corinthians 11:14 ►

1 In the year of the death of king Uzziah, [a]I saw also the Lord sitting upon an [b]high throne, and lifted up, and the lower [c]parts thereof filled the Temple.

2 The [d]Seraphims stood upon it, every one had six wings: with twain he covered his [e]face, and with twain he covered his [f]feet, and with twain he did [g]fly.

3 And one cried to another, and said, [h]Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the whole [i]world is full of his glory.

Isaiah 6:1-3

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%206&version=GNV

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Entries linking to gautama

Buddha (n.)

an epithet applied to the historical founder of Buddhism, 1680s, from Pali, literally "awakened, enlightened," past participle of budh "to awake, know, perceive," which is related to Sanskrit bodhati "is awake, observes, understands," from PIE root *bheudh- "be aware, make aware." Title given by his adherents to the man who taught this path, Siddhartha Gautama, also known to them as Sakyamuni "Sage of the Sakyas" (his family clan), who lived in northern India 5c. B.C.E."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/gautama

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

The main cult centers of the sun god were Larsa and Sippar,[16] specifically Sippar-Ahrurum (Abu Habbah).[124] The latter city was regarded as older in Mesopotamian tradition, and in lists of temples tends to be mentioned before Larsa.[125] In both cities, the main temple dedicated to Utu and his spouse Aya was known as Ebabbar.[126] Less important temples dedicated to him, located in Girsu and Assur, bore the same name.[127] It means "shining white house "in Sumerian.[124]

The oldest attested votive objects dedicated to Utu (or Shamash) are a mace head from Ur offered by a king named Anbu or Anunbu, and a statuette from Sippar from the reign of Ikun-Shamash of Mari.[128] Both predate the Sargonic period.[128] Evidence for the worship of Shamash in the third millennium BCE is available from the entire Akkadian-speaking area, from Mari and western Mesopotamian cities like Sippar, through Agade, to the Diyala area.[129]

Celebrations related to the sun god took place on the eighth, fifteenth, twentieth and possibly first day of each month.[16]

Sippar

In the Early Dynastic period kings of Mari most likely visited the Ebabbar in Sippar to pay homage to its deity.[129] In later periods, it was renovated by multiple rulers, including Naram-Sin of Akkad (who installed his daughter Šumšani as ēntum-priestess), Sabium of Babylon,[130] Samsu-iluna of Babylon, who called himself "beloved of Shamash and Aya,"[131] one of the Kassite rulers bearing the name Kurigalzu (Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II), Ashurbanipal, Shamash-shum-ukin, Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus.[130] Many other kings are known to have patronized or visited it at some point, including Manishtushu, Apil-Sin, Hammurabi, Abi-Eshuh, Ammi-Ditana, Ammi-Saduqa, Samsu-Ditana, Simbar-shipak and Nabu-apla-iddina.[130] In addition to Ebabbar, a ziggurat dedicated to the city's tutelary god also existed in Sippar.[132] It was known as Ekunankuga (Siumerian: "house, pure stairway to heaven").[132] It was rebuilt by Samsu-iluna, Ammi-Saduqa, Neriglissar and Nabonidus.[132] The position of Sippar and its tutelary god has been compared to that of Nippur and Enlil - while both of these gods were high-ranking members of the pantheon, and their cities were centers of religious and scholarly activity, they never constituted major political powers in their own right.[133]

It has been suggested that the Ebabbar in Sippar served as a treasury housing particularly rare objects, as excavations of the Neo-Babylonian level of the structure revealed a number of vases from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods, some with signs of repair, as well as the votive statue of Ikun-Shamash, a fragment of a monolith of Manishtushu, a macehead of Shar-Kali-Sharri, a whetstone of Tukulti-Mer of Hana, and other objects from earlier periods of Mesopotamian history.[134]

A special group connected to Shamash in Sippar were women referred to as nadītu.[135] Their existence is particularly well attested in the Old Babylonian period,[136] and it has been argued that the institution first developed around 1880 BCE, during the reign of Sumu-la-El of Babylon.[137] Nadītu lived in a building referred to as gagûm, conventionally translated as "cloister,"[136] and Tonia Sharlach notes they can be compared to medieval Christian nuns.[138] They are sometimes described as "priestesses" in modern literature, but while it is well attested that they were considered to be dedicated to a specific deity, there is little evidence for their involvement in religious activities other than personal prayer. It is not impossible they were understood as a fully separate social class.[139] Family background of individual nadītu varied, though they came predominantly from the higher strata of society.[140] While many came from families of craftsmen, scribes or military officials, a number of them were daughters or sisters of kings.[138] Both Zimri-Lim of Mari and Hammurabi of Babylon had nadītu of Shamash among their female family members.[138]

A ceremony called lubuštu was established in Sippar by Nabu-apla-iddina.[141] It involved providing the statues of Shamash, Aya and Bunene with new garments at specific dates throughout the year.[141] Records indicate it was still celebrated in the Achaemenid period, during the reign of Darius I.[141]

Larsa

The Ebabbar in Larsa is mentioned for the first time in a text from the reign Eannatum.[130] It was rebuilt, expanded or repaired by Ur-Nammu of Ur, Zabaya, Sin-Iddinam, Hammurabi, one of the two rulers bearing the name Kadashman-Enlil (Kadashman-Enlil I or Kadashman-Enlil II), Burnaburiash I, Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus.[130] Other rulers who have patronized it at some point include Gungunum, Abisare, Sumuel, Nur-Adad, Sin-Iqisham, Kudur-Mabuk, Warad-Sin and Rim-Sîn I.[130]

Odette Boivin notes that the deities of Larsa were apparently well represented in the pantheon of the First Sealand dynasty.[142] She suggests that those kings might have associated their position both with Larsa and with its tutelary god.[143]

The Larsean form of the sun god was also worshiped in Uruk[144] and a close connection between these two cities is well documented.[145] At an unknown point in time after Larsa's loss of status, possibly in the Kassite period, Uruk most likely gained influence over it,[146] and in the Neo-Babylonian period, the Ebabbar was functionally a subordinate temple of Eanna.[147] Multiple letters attest that the latter was responsible for providing commodities required for the performance of various rites in the former, for example sacrificial animals or wool for garments of divine statues of Shamash and Belet Larsa ("Lady of Larsa," most likely a title of Aya).[148] Craftsmen employed by the Eanna were also responsible for repairing the paraphernalia of the deities of Ebabbar.[147] Such a situation is otherwise unknown, as each temple usually maintained its own workshop.[149] A treasury of Shamash and Aya, distinct from that of the Eanna, is nonetheless attested.[146] Ebabbar most likely remained under control of the temple administration from Uruk in the Hellenistic period, though known names of the city's inhabitants from this period are predominantly Greek, rather than Mesopotamian.[144]

Other cities

Utu was among the deities worshiped in the territory of Lagash in the Early Dynastic period.[150] A dais dedicated to him existed in Namnuda-kigarra.[151] It was originally erected by Eannatum, then destroyed by Ur-Lumma of Umma, and finally rebuilt by Entemena.[151] It is possible that these events took place during a border conflict between Umma and Lagash.[152] Theophoric names invoking Utu are well attested in texts from this area.[153] Examples include Shubur-Utu, Utu-amu and Utu-kiag.[152]

A temple of Utu, Ehili ("house of luxuriance") also existed in Ur.[154] It was rebuilt by Enannatumma, the daughter of Ishme-Dagan, whose inscriptions refer to it as the god's "pure storeroom."[154] A town located near this city, most likely somewhere between it and Larsa, bore the name Kar-Shamash,[142] KAR.dUTUki.[155] Most likely a temple dedicated to the eponymous god existed there as well.[155]

In Babylon, Shamash was worshiped in the temple Edikukalamma ("house of the judge of the land"), first attested in the Old Babylonian period and still mentioned in inscriptions from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II.[156] He was also one of the many gods worshiped in the Esagil temple complex, where his seat was the E-ešbaranki ("house of decisions of heaven and the underworld").[157] A socle dedicated to him called Edikugal ("house of the great judge") was also present in Erabriri, most likely the temple bearing this name located in Babylon[156] which was dedicated to Mandanu.[158]

In Assur, a temple of Shamash was refounded by king Arik-den-ili, though as no name is given in sources mentioning this event it is uncertain if it was identical with Ebabbar of Assur mentioned in a later topographical text.[159] Additionally, Ehulhuldirdirra ("house of surpassing joys"), while primarily dedicated to Sin, was also associated with Shamash, as attested in building inscriptions of Ashur-nirari I, Tukulti-Ninurta I and Ashurnasirpal II.[160]

A sanctuary in Nippur known in Akkadian as bīt dalīli, "house of fame," was jointly dedicated to Nisaba, Kusu, Ningal, Shamash and Bēl-āliya.[156]

In the Old Babylonian period, Shamash was worshiped in Susa in Elam, where the local pantheon consisted out of both Elamite deities, such as Inshushinak and Simut, and Mesopotamian ones.[161] He appears in oath formulas and theophoric names.[161]

In Mari, Shamash was worshiped in a temple named Egirzalanki ("house of the joy of heaven and the underworld"), built by Yahdun-Lim.[162]

An inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II might indicate that the sun god's manifestation from Larsa was also worshiped in Ekarra ("house of the quay"), a temple located in Dilmun, on the Failaka Island, which was dedicated to the local deities Inzak and Meskilak.[163]

The Canonical Temple List, which dates to the Kassite period,[164] mentions further temples, whose location is left unspecified: Eantasurra ("house which twinkles from heaven;" not to be confused with an identically named temple of Ningirsu built by Akurgal somewhere near Girsu),[165] Ekukina ("pure house, bechamber"),[132] Enamtarkalamma ("house of the destinies of the land")[166] and Enugalanna (reading and translation uncertain, possibly "house of the great light of heaven").[167]

Shamash depicted on bronze coin struck in Hatra (c. 117-138 AD)

In the Parthian period, Hatra came to be seen as a cult center of the sun god, and according to Manfred Krebernik its importance can be compared to Sippar and Larsa in earlier times.[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamash

Andrew White, SJ (1579 – December 27, 1656) was an English Jesuit Catholic missionary who was involved in the founding of the Maryland colony.[1] A chronicler of Colonial Maryland, his writings remain a primary source on the land, the Native Americans and the Jesuit mission in North America.

For his efforts in converting and educating the Native American population, White has been frequently referred to as the "Apostle of Maryland". He is considered a forefather of Georgetown University, and is memorialized in the White-Gravenor building

Early life in Europe

Andrew White was born in London in 1579 to a Catholic family. Since Catholic schools were banned in England, his family sent him at age 14 to attend the English College at Douai, France.[2] In 1595, White went to Spain to attend the English College of St. Alban's in Valladolid. He then continued his education in Seville.

White was ordained a priest in Douai in 1605. Despite the risks to Catholic priests in England, he returned there to minister to a group of hidden Catholics.[3] Following the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, White was arrested and in 1606 banished from England. Moving to Leuven in what was then the Spanish Netherlands, he joined the Society of Jesus on February 1, 1607.[4]

Defying the threat of execution White returned in 1609 to preach in Southern England. He would spend the next ten years there. White made his solemn vows to the Jesuits in 1619 and they sent him to Valladolid in Spain to teach in an English novitiate that was recently established by the Jesuits. During this period, he also held positions as prefect of the seminaries at Leuven and Liège, also in the Spanish Netherlands.[2]

After a few years in Europe, White wanted to go back to missionary work. He returned to England, where he met Sir George Calvert, the first Baron Baltimore (1579-1632) In 1625, White reportedly persuaded Calvert to convert to Catholicism. George Calvert around 1628 wrote to White from his colony on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, peaking White's interest in the new British colonies in North America. White requested permission from Superior General Mutio Vitelleschi, head of the Jesuit order, to organize a mission to the colonies. Vitelleschi approved White's request in 1629.

Cecilius Calvert (1605-1675), the Catholic son of the deceased George Calvert and the second Baron Baltimore, received a charter from King Charles I on June 20, 1632 to establish a colony in the northern Chesapeake Bay region. White wrote about he benefits of converting the Native American population. In document dated February 10, 1633, White specifically advocates Catholic settlement in "lord Baltimore's Plantation in Mary-land". He describes to potential financiers a paradisiacal land with majestic forests and fruitful soil, advertising 2,000 acres (8 km2) of land for each potential settler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_White_(Jesuit)

Published February 11, 2014

Washington Was Originally Named Rome, Maryland

Discover the unique history of Rome in Maryland and its influence on Washington D.C., from Francis Pope's estate to Tiber Creek's origins.

Washington’s Hidden Roman Legacy

Nestled in Washington D.C.‘s history is a surprising connection to a little-known place: Rome, in Maryland. This discovery offers a unique glimpse into America’s past.

Rome in America: A 17th Century Vision

In the 17th century, a vast estate of 400 acres existed southeast of what is now Georgetown, in Maryland. Owned by an Italian culture enthusiast, this land was ambitiously named Rome. The owner’s passion for Italy didn’t just influence the name; it shaped his vision for the New World. This estate was more than land; it was a symbol of aspiration and connection to ancient civilizations.

Transitioning from European inspiration to American reality, the landowner renamed Goose Creek to Tiber Creek. This act mirrored Rome’s iconic River Tiber, creating a symbolic link across continents. His vision was to merge the grandeur of ancient Rome with the budding potential of America.

Francis Pope: The Mastermind Behind Rome, Maryland

The visionary behind this American Rome was Francis Pope, who acquired the land on June 5th, 1663. His story, detailed in an October 7th, 1883 Washington Post article, reflects a blend of ambition and whimsy. Pope took pride in his estate, often boasting about his Rome on the Tiber. His unique naming scheme wasn’t just a personal quirk; it was a statement of cultural identity and historical awareness.

Francis Pope’s legacy extends beyond mere land ownership. He imbued his estate with a sense of historical and cultural significance. His choice to name the creek Tiber was a deliberate effort to echo the greatness of ancient Rome in the new American landscape.

A Modern Twist: The Coincidence of Pope Francis

Adding to the narrative’s richness is the modern coincidence of Pope Francis, the first American pope, sharing a name with Francis Pope. This unexpected twist in the story connects the historical and contemporary worlds. It adds a layer of irony and depth, bridging centuries of history through a shared name.

This coincidence is more than just a curious fact; it symbolizes the enduring influence of history on the present. It illustrates how the past and present often intertwine in unexpected ways, adding new dimensions to our understanding of history.

Rediscovering Rome Before Washington

This exploration into the past reveals an often-overlooked chapter of American history. It uncovers how part of what is now Washington D.C. was once known as Rome, showing a connection between the old world and the new. This narrative not only highlights the forgotten stories of America’s past but also illustrates the rich tapestry of cultural and historical influences that shaped the nation.

In summary, the story of Rome, Maryland, is a reminder of the complex layers of history that underpin modern America. It showcases how historical narratives, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant, can provide profound insights into the nation’s past. This tale of a forgotten Rome in America is a testament to the enduring legacy of those who shaped the early American landscape, reminding us of the intricate connections between history, culture, and identity.

https://ghostsofdc.org/2014/02/11/washington-originally-called-rome/

George was a monthly magazine centered on the theme of politics-as-lifestyle founded by John F. Kennedy Jr. and Michael J. Berman with publisher Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. in New York City in September 1995. Its tagline was "Not Just Politics As Usual." It was published from 1995 to 2001.

Overview

For the debut issue, creative director Matt Berman (no relation to co-founder Michael Berman) conceived a cover which received a great deal of attention[citation needed] for its image of Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington photographed by Herb Ritts.

George departed from the format of traditional political publications, whose audience primarily comprised people in or around the political world. The general template for George was similar to magazines such as Rolling Stone, Esquire or Vanity Fair. The consistent underlying theme was to marry the themes of celebrity and media with the subject of politics in such a way that the general public would find political news and discourse about politics more interesting to read.

Notable contributors

Paul Begala

Roger Black

George Clooney

Kellyanne Conway[1]

Ann Coulter

Al D'Amato

Lisa DePaulo

Al Franken

Stephen Glass

Rush Limbaugh

Norman Mailer

Chris Matthews

Steve Miller

Cathy Scott

W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Jackie Stallone

Naomi Wolf

Reception

External videos

video icon Washington Journal interview with George executive editor Elizabeth Mitchell, August 18, 1997, C-SPAN

video icon Washington Journal discussion of the George media issue with George editor Gary Ginsberg, Matt Drudge, and Hanna Rosin, April 25, 1998, C-SPAN

When it first appeared, George attracted great interest, and for a brief period had the largest circulation of any political magazine in the nation, partly due to the celebrity status of Kennedy, but it soon began losing money. Kennedy and George occasionally courted controversy to boost sales, one notable example being the 1997 issue wherein Kennedy in his editorial lambasted his cousins Michael Kennedy and Joe Kennedy II, whose marital scandals had recently made news, as "poster boys for bad behavior".[2]

Kennedy later complained that the magazine was not taken seriously in the publishing world.

Critics called George "the political magazine for people who don't understand politics," assailing it for "stripping any and all discussion of political issues from its coverage of politics".[citation needed] In a feature in its final issue, Spy magazine asserted that the magazine's premise was flawed because, "Politics overlapped with Pop Culture in such a limited number of ways".[3] That fairly critical profile in Spy described George as "scrambling for celebrities 'with tits' as often as possible to put on the cover and then trying to figure out what that person had to do with politics".

Decline

After Kennedy died in a plane crash in 1999, Hachette Filipacchi Magazines purchased Kennedy's portion of the magazine from his estate and continued for over a year, with Frank Lalli as editor-in-chief.[4] With falling advertising sales,[4] the magazine ceased publication in 2001, two years after Kennedy's death.[5]

External videos

video icon Tenth anniversary discussion at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, C-SPAN

In 2005, Harvard Kennedy School held a panel discussion titled "Not Just Politics as Usual", which commemorated the 10th anniversary of the magazine's launch. The panel was moderated by Tom Brokaw and featured appearances by other journalists.[6]

Back-issue popularity

A February 1997 edition of George with the tagline "Survival Guide to the Future", wherein Kennedy interviews Bill Gates, has become well sought-after by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory, with one copy online being listed at $3,499.99.[7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_(magazine)

Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish [ˈxoɾxe]; Portuguese [ˈʒɔɾʒɨ].

It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (Georgios) via Latin Georgius; the former is derived from γεωργός (georgos), meaning "farmer" or "earth-worker".[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge

Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio;[b] 17 December 1936) is head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope to be a member of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century papacy of the Syrian pope Gregory III.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio worked for a time as a bouncer and a janitor as a young man before training to be a chemist and working as a technician in a food science laboratory. After recovering from a severe illness of pneumonia and cysts, he was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and from 1973 to 1979 was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina. The administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor, and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors, for instance choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.[2]

Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia.[3][4] He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBT community, and has stated that while blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals can be blessed, as long as the blessings are not given in a liturgical context.[5] Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment;[6] he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy.[7] Widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil,[8] he has termed it "an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", "inadmissible", and committed the Church to its abolition,[9] saying that there can be "no going back from this position".[10]

In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality (though still considering same-sex acts as sinful),[11] called for the worldwide abolition of the death penalty, helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees during the European and Central American migrant crises, calling on the Western World to significantly increase immigration levels.[12][13] In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian indigenous peoples.[14] On 4 October 2023, Francis convened the beginnings of the Synod on Synodality, described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.[4][15][16] In October 2024, it was revealed that Pope Francis would be the first sitting pope to publish a memoir, Hope, which is set to be published in January 2025.[17]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Francis

Hopefully, the Jesuit Order, in control of the Archbishop with his Network of

Vatican Assassins, will be brought to justice for the cold-blooded murder of

President Kennedy and for continuing the Great Jesuit Cover-up of his death. This

includes the most recent murder of John F. Kennedy, Jr. along with his beautiful

wife, Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren. Justice will only be done when the

Jesuit presence has been purged from the Justice Department in control of the FBI

—Rome’s political Holy Office of the Inquisition within the American Empire.

And why was John F. Kennedy, Jr., along with his innocent passengers,

murdered? According to the late Tom Kuncl in the August 31, 1999 issue of the

National Examiner, JFK, Jr. (having promised in his George magazine (October,

1998, Volume 3, Issue 10, page 136) that if elected President he would abolish the

Federal Reserve System and warned that America’s most pressing foreign issue was

a “dangerous, nuclear armed Russia that is economically unstable”) had

“. . . recently launched an all-out investigation, to find his father’s real

killer . . .

[For John had said in his own words:]

‘I want to know who killed my father. I want there to be absolutely no

doubt.’ ” {59}

G. B. Nicolini, in his History of the Jesuits published in 1889, gives us further light,

declaring on page 269:

“We insist upon that point [that the Jesuits vindictively persecuted the

Roman Catholic Jansenists for exposing the Society in using Jacques

Clement to murder King Henry III of France] one of the most

prominent characteristics of Jesuitism, [is] never to forgive an injury,

and to persecute the remotest descendants for the offences they may

have received from their ancestors.” {60}

Therefore, the following chart contained in Vatican Assassins: “Wounded In

The House Of My Friends” is humbly given on behalf of the Kennedy and Bessette

families. They must know the same savage Jesuit power that killed President

Kennedy, mercilessly murdered their three darlings in the prime of their young lives.

The same has been done to Princess Diana; for the Jesuits would never

permit the Moslem offspring of her union with an Arab prince to be an heir to the

British throne. That throne may only be occupied by a monarch loyal to the Jesuits’

“infallible” Pope of Rome—a loyalty that has been unbroken from the wicked and

tyrannical King George III, whose Prime Minister was the Jesuit Lord Shelburne,

to the present Queen Elizabeth II. For uniting with Dodi Fayed, the “Moslem dog”

or “Moslem wog” as the English nobles would call him, Princess Diana was buried

Web Page 59

out of public view at Althrop Park in Northamptonshire, on a small island in the

middle of a pond, where only pet dogs had previously been buried!

As you examine the chart dear reader, picture in your mind’s eye the faces of

President Kennedy, Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Carolyn and Lauren

Bessette. Then may your heart be strengthened to do your duty in exposing the

criminal Papal Knights manning that great Sword of the Jesuit General—the

Vatican’s International Intelligence Community,

“. . . whose points are everywhere and whose hilt is in Rome.” {61}

Dear fellow soldier in the Lord Jesus Christ, having been born-again by the

will of God, remember the Words of God spoken by the Spirit of God through the

great Hebrew Kings of Israel, David and Solomon:

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?”

– Psalm 27:1

“The wicked flee when no man pursueth:

but the righteous are bold as a lion.”

– Proverbs 28:1

“The fear of man bringeth a snare:

but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

– Proverbs 29:25

Vatican Assassins:

“Wounded In The House Of My Friends”

Third Edition

by Eric Jon Phelps

https://ia802505.us.archive.org/28/items/EricJonPhelpsVaticanAssassins3rdEdition/Eric%20Jon%20Phelps%20-%20Vatican%20Assassins%203rd%20Edition.pdf

Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white gloves. He is often depicted alongside his girlfriend Minnie Mouse, his pet dog Pluto, his friends Donald Duck and Goofy and his nemesis Pete among others (see Mickey Mouse universe)

Mickey was created as a replacement for a prior Disney character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The character was originally to be named "Mortimer Mouse", until Walt Disney's wife, Lillian, suggested "Mickey". Mickey first appeared in two 1928 shorts Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho (which were not picked up for distribution) before his public debut in Steamboat Willie (1928). The character went on to appear in over 130 films, mostly shorts as well as features such as Fantasia (1940). Since 1930, Mickey has been featured extensively in comic strips (including the Mickey Mouse comic strip, which ran for 45 years) and comic books (such as Mickey Mouse). The character has also been featured in television series such as The Mickey Mouse Club (1955–1996).

Inspired by such silent film personalities as Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, Mickey is traditionally characterized as a sympathetic underdog who gets by on pluck and ingenuity in the face of challenges bigger than himself. The character's depiction as a small mouse is personified through his diminutive stature and falsetto voice, the latter of which was originally provided by Walt Disney. Though originally characterized as a cheeky lovable rogue, Mickey was rebranded over time as a nice guy, usually seen as a spirited, yet impulsive hero.

Mickey also appears in media such as video games as well as merchandising and is a meetable character at the Disney parks. He is one of the world's most recognizable and universally acclaimed fictional characters. Ten of Mickey's cartoons were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, one of which, Lend a Paw, won the award in 1941. In 1978, Mickey became the first cartoon character to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Debut (1928

Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short Plane Crazy, on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and Walt could not find a distributor for it.[43] Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short, The Gallopin' Gaucho, which was also not released for lack of a distributor.

Appearances

Steamboat Willie was first released on November 18, 1928, in New York.[44][45] It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator,[46] assisted by Les Clark,[47] Johnny Cannon, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy.[citation needed] This short was a nod to Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr.,[46][48] released earlier that year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. It also featured some design refinements, and included the use of a bouncing ball on the film print to allow conductors and musicians to match the tempo of their music with the film.[45][46]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

This study was based on a French national retrospective cohort of DES-treated women (HHORAGES-France Association) (n = 1200) and their families. Detailed standard questionnaires were obtained from all DES mothers when they joined the HHORAGES-France Association and all DES children were already adults at this time. The answers to this online questionnaire were used to select women who met the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least two pregnancies with two viable male babies (same father) among whom the first child was not exposed in utero to DES (pre-DES), followed by one or more children with fetal exposure to DES (DES); (2) confirmed data on the total DES dose (health record or physician’s observation). The cumulative dose D administered to the French pregnant mothers was 4050 mg < D < 7300 mg. This is considered a medium-low-dose cohort, in accordance with the observations by Tournaire et al. [31] and compared with the higher doses administered in the United States (7550 mg < D < 12,742 mg). The answers to the questionnaires were also used to identify women with a DES son who presented female gender variance. We then contacted all DES sons with female gender variance and we carried out an individual interview with them.

The local university hospital ethics committee approved this study (ID IRB No. 202301531), and all patients gave their informed consent through the HHORAGES-France Association (CNIL: J B/EM/DC042793, N° 1006460).

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

Michael,[a] also called Archangel Michael or Michael the Taxiarch,[6] is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.[7] The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second-century BC Jewish works, often but not always apocalyptic, where he is the chief of the angels and archangels, and he is the guardian prince of Israel and is responsible for the care of the people of Israel.[8][9][10][11] Christianity conserved nearly all the Jewish traditions concerning him,[12] and he is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12,[13] where he does battle with Satan,[14] and in the Epistle of Jude, where the archangel and the devil dispute over the body of Moses.[15]

Old Testament and Apocrypha

The Book of Enoch[10] lists Michael as one of seven archangels (the remaining names are Uriel, Raguel, Raphael, Sariel, Gabriel, and Remiel), who in the Book of Tobit "stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord".[11] The fact that Michael is introduced implies the knowledge of him and the other named angels.[10][16] He is mentioned again in the last chapters of the Book of Daniel, a Jewish apocalypse composed in the second century BC, in which a man clothed in linen (never identified, but matching a description given to John in Revelation regarding the Alpha and Omega) tells Daniel that he and "Michael, your prince" are engaged in a battle with the "prince of Persia", after which, at the end-time, "Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise".[17][18]

Enoch was instrumental in establishing the pre-eminent place of Michael among the angels and archangels, and in later Jewish works, he is said to be their chief, mediating the Torah (the Law of God), and standing at the right hand of the throne of God.[8] In the traditions of the Qumran community, he defends or leads the people of God in the eschatological (i.e., end-time) battle.[19] In other writings, he is responsible for the care of Israel and acts as commander of the heavenly armies; he is Israel's advocate contesting Satan's claim to the body of Moses; he intercedes between God and humanity and serves as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary; and he accompanies the souls of the righteous dead to Paradise.[9]

New Testament

The seven archangels (or four, as traditions differ but always include Michael) were associated with the branches of the menorah, the sacred seven-branched lampstand in the Temple as the seven spirits before the throne of God, and this is reflected in the Book of Revelation 4:5 (“From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God” – ESV).[20] Michael is mentioned explicitly in Revelation 12:7–12, where he does battle with Satan and casts him out of heaven so that he no longer has access to God as accuser (his formal role in the Old Testament).[14] The fall of Satan at the coming of Jesus marks the separation of the New Testament from Judaism.[21] In Luke 22:31, Jesus tells Peter that Satan has asked God for permission to “sift” the disciples, the goal being to accuse them, but the accusation is opposed by Jesus, who thus takes on the role played by angels, and especially by Michael, in Judaism.[22]

Michael is mentioned by name for the second time in the Epistle of Jude, which is an impassioned plea for the believers to engage in battle against the incursion of the error.[23] In verses 9–10, the author denounces the heretics by contrasting them with the archangel Michael, who, in disputing with Satan over the body of Moses, “did not presume to pronounce the verdict of 'slander' but said, 'The Lᴏʀᴅ rebuke you!'”[24]

Judaism

The name Michael in Hebrew

According to rabbinic tradition, Michael acted as the advocate of Israel, and sometimes had to fight with the princes of the other nations (Daniel 10:13) and particularly with the angel Samael, Israel's accuser. Their enmity dates from the time Samael was thrown from heaven and tried to drag Michael down with him, necessitating God's intervention.[25][26]

The idea that Michael was the advocate of the Jews became so prevalent that in spite of the rabbinical prohibition against appealing to angels as intermediaries between God and his people, he held a place in the Jewish liturgy: "When a man is in need he must pray directly to God, and neither to Michael nor to Gabriel."[27] Jeremiah addresses a prayer to him.[28]

The rabbis declare that Michael entered into his role of defender at the time of the biblical patriarchs. Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob said he rescued Abraham from the furnace into which he had been thrown by Nimrod (Midrash Genesis Rabbah xliv. 16). Some say he was the "one that had escaped" (Genesis 14:13), who told Abraham that Lot had been taken captive (Midrash Pirke R. El.), and who protected Sarah from defilement by Abimelech.

Michael prevented Isaac from sacrifice by his father by substituting a ram in his place. He saved Jacob, while yet in his mother's womb, from death by Samael.[29] He later prevented Laban from harming Jacob.(Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, xxxvi).

The midrash Exodus Rabbah holds that Michael exercised his function of advocate of Israel at the time of the Exodus and destroyed Sennacherib's army.[30]

Christianity

Early Christian views and devotions

St. Michael weighing souls during the Last Judgement, Antiphonale Cisterciense (15th century), Abbey Bibliotheca, Rein Abbey, Austria

From the 2nd-century onwards there exists evidence attesting early Christian identifications of Michael as identical with the Christ particularly in works concerned with or by non-proto-orthdox groups such Pseudo-Cyprian's De Centesima, Epiphanius' description of the Ebionites and the sect of the Elcasaites, Tertullian's attack on Valentinian Christology, and certain magical texts, especially the Testament of Solomon.[31] The Shepherd of Hermas, possibly Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 1152, the Gospel of the Hebrews, the pseudo-Clementine writings, and Epiphanius' Panarion[b] appear to share this view.[32] Other 2nd- and 3rd-century texts show that identifying Christ with an angel was not uncommon at the time—these include the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Testament of Dan, and the Epistle to Diognetus.[33] These beliefs likely derived from similar pre-Christian Jewish beliefs, such as those found in the Prayer of Joseph and the beliefs of the Magarites.[34]

Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 310 – c. 320 – 403) in his Coptic-Arabic Hexaemeron additionally referred to Michael as a replacement of Satan. Accordingly, after Satan fell, Michael was appointed to the function Satan served when he was still one of the noble angels.[35]

Byzantine tradition attributed two Bosporus-shore sanctuaries of the Archangel Michael to Constantine. The first at Hestia/Anaplous—plausibly in the area of modern Arnavutköy, about 35 stadia by sea and over 70 by land from Constantinople. The second at Sosthenion, commonly identified with modern İstinye. Sozomen is the earliest witness for the Hestia site, while John Malalas places a Michaelion at Sosthenion and embeds it in a foundation legend that repurposes a pre-existing pagan shrine tied to the Argonauts. Later sources often use "Anaplous" for the wider western Bosporus shore, which helps explain why Hestia/Anaplous and Sosthenion are sometimes conflated in the literature.[36][37] He was syncretically identified with the attributes of the god Attis in Phrygia and thus associated with pre-Christian healing springs in Phrygia, his main cult site was in Chonai [de].[38][39]

A painting of the Archangel slaying a serpent became a major art piece at the Michaelion after Constantine defeated Licinius near there in 324. This contributed to the standard iconography that developed of the Archangel Michael as a warrior saint slaying a dragon.[40] The Michaelion was a magnificent church and in time became a model for hundreds of other churches in Eastern Christianity; these spread devotions to the Archangel.[41]

In the fourth century, Saint Basil the Great's homily (De Angelis) placed Saint Michael over all the angels. He was called "Archangel" because he heralds other angels, the title Ἀρχαγγέλος (archangelos) applied to him in Jude 1:9.[42] Into the sixth century, the view of Michael as a healer continued in Rome; after a plague, the sick slept at night in the church of Castel Sant'Angelo (dedicated to him for saving Rome), waiting for his manifestation.[43]

In the sixth century, the growth of devotions to Michael in the Western Church was expressed by the feasts dedicated to him, as recorded in the Leonine Sacramentary. The seventh-century Gelasian Sacramentary included the feast "S. Michaelis Archangeli", as did the eighth-century Gregorian Sacramentary. Some of these documents refer to a Basilica Archangeli (no longer extant) on via Salaria in Rome.[42]

The angelology of Pseudo-Dionysius, which was widely read as of the sixth century, gave Michael a rank in the hierarchy of angels. Later, in the thirteenth century, others such as Bonaventure believed him to be Prince of the Seraphim, the first of the nine angelic orders. According to Thomas Aquinas (Summa Ia. 113.3), he is Prince of the last and lowest choir, the Angels.[42][44]

Catholicism

For Roman Catholic views and prayers, see Saint Michael (Roman Catholic).

Second-class relic stone of Saint Michael the Archangel from Monte Gargano, Italy

Archangel Michael frees souls from purgatory, by Jacopo Vignali, 17th century

Catholics often refer to Michael as “Holy Michael, the Archangel”[45] or “Saint Michael”. He is generally referred to in Christian litanies as “Saint Michael”, as in the Litany of the Saints. In the shortened version said at the Easter Vigil, he alone of the angels and archangels is mentioned by name, omitting Saints Gabriel and Raphael.[46]

In Roman Catholic teachings, Saint Michael has four main roles or offices.[42] His first role is the leader of the Army of God and the leader of celestial forces in triumphing over the powers of Hell.[47] He is viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the “spiritual warrior”, his conflict with evil taken as “the battle within”.[48]

The second and third roles of Michael in Catholic teachings deal with death. In his second role, he is the angel of death, carrying the souls of Christians to Heaven. Catholic prayers often refer to this role of Michael. In his third role, he weighs souls on his perfectly balanced scales, a common object he holds in art.[49]

In his fourth role, Saint Michael, the special patron of the Chosen People in the Old Testament, is also Guardian of the Church. Saint Michael was revered by the military orders of knights during the Middle Ages. The names of villages around the Bay of Biscay reflect that history. Moreover, doubtless for the same motive he was considered the patron saint of a number of cities and countries.[50][51]

Catholic tradition includes also elements such as the Prayer to Saint Michael, which specifically asks the saint to “defend” the faithful from evil.[52][53][54] The Chaplet of Saint Michael consists of nine salutations, one for each choir of angels.[55][56]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_(archangel)

Full Metal Jacket - Mickey Mouse song

Ending of Stanley Kubrick´s Full Metal Jacket

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmILOL55xP0

Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick from a screenplay he co-wrote with Michael Herr and Gustav Hasford. The film is based on Hasford's 1979 autobiographical novel The Short-Timers. It stars Matthew Modine, R. Lee Ermey, Vincent D'Onofrio, Adam Baldwin, Dorian Harewood, and Arliss Howard.

The storyline follows a platoon of U.S. Marines through their boot camp training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina. The first half of the film focuses primarily on privates J. T. Davis and Leonard Lawrence, nicknamed "Joker" and "Pyle" respectively, who struggle under their abusive drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. The second half portrays the experiences of Joker and other Marines in the Vietnamese cities of Da Nang and Huế during the Tet Offensive of the Vietnam War.[7] The film's title refers to the full metal jacket bullet used by military servicemen.

Full Metal Jacket was theatrically released in the United States on June 26, 1987, by Warner Bros., and in the United Kingdom on September 11, 1987. It was the last of Kubrick's films to be released during his lifetime. The film grossed $120 million against a budget of $16.5–30 million and was widely acclaimed. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,[8] and was also nominated for two BAFTA Awards, while Ermey was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture for his performance. In 2001, the American Film Institute placed the film at number 95 in its poll titled "AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills."[9]

Plot

During the Vietnam War, a group of USMC recruits arrive for the eight-week basic training at Parris Island. Drill instructor Gunnery Sergeant Hartman uses harsh methods to train them for combat. Among the recruits are the wisecracking J. T. Davis, who is nicknamed "Joker" after mocking Hartman, and the overweight and dim-witted Leonard Lawrence, whom Hartman nicknames "Gomer Pyle".

During boot camp, Hartman relentlessly targets Pyle and later names Joker squad leader, charging him with helping Pyle improve. During hygiene inspection, Hartman notices that Pyle's footlocker is unlocked and finds a jelly doughnut inside. As the rest of the platoon "have not given Private Pyle the proper motivation", he collectively punishes them while continuing to exclude Pyle from training activities. The next night, the recruits haze Pyle with a blanket party, which Joker reluctantly participates in under pressure. Pyle appears to reinvent himself into a model recruit, showing particular expertise in marksmanship. Joker, however, worries Pyle may be suffering a mental breakdown when hearing Pyle talk to his rifle. The night before the recruits are to leave Parris Island, Joker, on fire watch duty, discovers Pyle in the barracks latrine[a] loading his M14 rifle with live ammunition, executing drill commands, and loudly reciting the Rifleman's Creed. Awakened by the commotion, Hartman orders Pyle to put down the rifle, but Pyle aims it at him. Provoked by Hartman insulting him again, Pyle fatally shoots him and then kills himself in front of Joker.

By January 1968, Joker is a sergeant based in Da Nang for the newspaper Stars and Stripes alongside Private First Class "Rafter Man",[11] a combat photographer. Their base is unsuccessfully raided as part of the Tet Offensive. The following morning, Joker and Rafter Man are sent to Phu Bai, where Joker searches for and reunites with Sergeant "Cowboy" Evans, a friend from Parris Island who now serves in a unit dubbed the "Lusthog Squad". While reporting at a site where civilians were massacred, a Marine Corps colonel challenges Joker on the inconsistency of his wearing a peace symbol pin button on his uniform's lapel, while having "Born to Kill" written on his helmet. Joker claims he does not know its meaning, nor where he procured the button, but when pressed, surmises he intended it as commentary on the duality of man. After a pause, the baffled colonel responds "Whose side are you on, son?" He later tells Joker to "... jump on the team and come on in for the big win", and concludes "We've gotta try to keep our heads until this peace craze blows over."

During the Battle of Huế, platoon leader Lieutenant Walter J. "'Mr. Touchdown" Schinoski falls victim to a surprise bombing attack, leading Sergeant "Crazy Earl" to take his place as squad leader. As they enter the city, an unnamed Marine is shot dead, before Crazy Earl kills two Vietnamese soldiers. In a sequence featuring "Surfin' Bird", Cowboy looks toward the viewer's camera and shouts "Hey, start the cameras, this is Vietnam, the movie!" Later, a booby-trapped rabbit toy kills Crazy Earl, leaving Cowboy in command. Becoming lost in the city, the squad is attacked by a Viet Cong sniper who fatally shoots three more members: "Eightball", "Doc Jay", and Cowboy.

Assuming command, squad machine gunner "Animal Mother" leads an attack on the sniper. Joker locates her first, but his M16 rifle jams. The sniper, a teenage girl, overhears this and opens fire, while Rafter Man shoots and mortally wounds her. As the squad converges on the sniper, she begs for death, leading to an argument over whether to kill her or leave her to die in pain. Animal Mother agrees to a mercy killing but only if Joker will handle it; after some hesitation, Joker shoots her. As night falls, the Marines march to the Perfume River singing the "Mickey Mouse March". A narration of Joker's thoughts conveys that, despite his being "in a world of shit", he is glad to be alive, and is "not afraid."

Cast

Matthew Modine as Private (later Sergeant) James T. "Joker" Davis, a wisecracking young Marine. On set, Modine kept a diary that in 2005 was adapted into a book and in 2013 into an interactive app.[12]

Adam Baldwin as Sergeant "Animal Mother", a nihilistic, combat-hungry machine gunner in the Lusthog Squad who takes pride in killing enemy soldiers, and scorns any authority other than his own.

Vincent D'Onofrio as Private Leonard "Gomer Pyle"[b] Lawrence, an overweight, slow-minded recruit who is the subject of Hartman's mockery. According to Kubrick, Pyle was "the hardest part to cast in the whole movie"; Modine suggested D'Onofrio to Kubrick.[14][15] D'Onofrio was required to gain 70 pounds (32 kg) for the role.[16][17]

R. Lee Ermey (credited as "Lee Ermey") as Gunnery Sergeant L. Hartman, a harsh, foul-mouthed and ruthless senior drill instructor. Ermey had played a similar character in the 1978 Vietnam War film The Boys in Company C. Ermey used his actual experience as a U.S. Marines drill instructor in the Vietnam War to improvise much of his dialogue.[18][19]

Dorian Harewood as Corporal "Eightball", an African-American member of the squad unfazed by racial slurs, and Animal Mother's closest friend.

Arliss Howard as Private (later Sergeant) "Cowboy" Evans, a friend of Joker originally from Texas and a member of the Lusthog Squad.

Kevyn Major Howard as Private First Class "Rafter Man", a combat photographer.

Ed O'Ross as First Lieutenant Walter J. "Mr. Touchdown" Schinoski, the Lusthog Squad's platoon leader.

John Terry as First Lieutenant Lockhart, the editor in charge of the Da Nang division of Stars and Stripes.

Kieron Jecchinis as Sergeant "Crazy Earl", the first Lusthog Squad leader.

Bruce Boa as the Colonel who scolds Joker for writing “Born to Kill” on his helmet and simultaneously wearing a peace symbol on his lapel.

Kirk Taylor as Private "Payback", a squad member.

John Stafford as "Doc Jay," a Navy hospital corpsman providing medical support for the squad.

Tim Colceri as a ruthless and sadistic helicopter door gunner who suggests that Joker and Rafter Man write a story about him. Colceri, a former Marine, was originally slated to play Hartman, a role that went to Ermey. Kubrick gave Colceri this smaller part as a consolation.[20]

Ian Tyler as Lieutenant Cleves, an officer present at the uncovering of a mass grave.

Gary Landon Mills as Donlon, a squad member who works as a radio operator.

Sal Lopez as "T.H.E. Rock", a squad member.

Papillon Soo Soo as a Da Nang prostitute with whom Joker and Rafter Man negotiate a fee. Rafter Man takes a picture of the prostitute and Joker before a thief snatches the camera and runs.

Ngọc Lê as the Viet Cong sniper.

Peter Edmund as Private "Snowball" Brown, a recruit in Hartman's platoon who briefly becomes a squad leader before Hartman gives Joker the position.

Antu N'Jai as a recruit.

Steve Boucher as a recruit.

Themes

Helmet prop from the film

Michael Pursell's essay "Full Metal Jacket: The Unravelling of Patriarchy" (1988) was an early, in-depth consideration of the film's two-part structure and its criticism of masculinity. Pursell wrote that the film shows "war and pornography as facets of the same system".[21]

Many reviewers praised the military brainwashing themes in the boot-camp portion of the film while viewing the film's second half as more confusing and disjointed. Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote, "it's as if they borrowed bits of every war movie to make this eclectic finale."[22] Roger Ebert saw the film as an attempt to tell a story of individual characters and the war's effects on them.[23] According to Ebert, the result is a shapeless film that feels "more like a book of short stories than a novel".[23] Julian Rice, in his book Kubrick's Hope (2008), saw the second part of the film as a continuation of Joker's psychic journey in his attempt to understand human evil.[24]

Tony Lucia, in his 1987 review of Full Metal Jacket for the Reading Eagle, examined the themes of Kubrick's career, suggesting "the unifying element may be the ordinary man dwarfed by situations too vast and imposing to handle".[25] Lucia refers to the "military mentality" in this film and also said the theme covers "a man testing himself against his own limitations", and concluded: "Full Metal Jacket is the latest chapter in an ongoing movie which is not merely a comment on our time or a time past, but on something that reaches beyond."[25]

British critic Gilbert Adair wrote, "Kubrick's approach to language has always been reductive and uncompromisingly deterministic in nature. He appears to view it as the exclusive product of environmental conditioning, only very marginally influenced by concepts of subjectivity and interiority, by all the whims, shades and modulations of personal expression."[26]

Michael Herr wrote of his work on the screenplay, "The substance was single-minded, the old and always serious problem of how you put into a film or a book the living, behaving presence of what Jung called the shadow, the most accessible of archetypes, and the easiest to experience ... War is the ultimate field of Shadow-activity, where all of its other activities lead you. As they expressed it in Vietnam, 'Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no Evil, for I am the Evil'."[27]

Production

Development

In early 1980, Stanley Kubrick contacted Michael Herr, author of the Vietnam War memoir Dispatches (1977), to discuss work on a film about the Holocaust but Kubrick discarded that idea in favor of a film about the Vietnam War.[28] Herr and Kubrick met in England; Kubrick told Herr he wanted to make a war film but had yet to find a story to adapt.[14] Kubrick discovered Gustav Hasford's novel The Short-Timers (1979) while reading the Kirkus Review.[29] Herr received the novel in bound galleys and thought it a masterpiece.[14] In 1982, Kubrick read the novel twice; he concluded it is "a unique, absolutely wonderful book" and decided to adapt it for his next film.[29] According to Kubrick, he was drawn to the book's dialogue, which he found "almost poetic in its carved-out, stark quality".[29] In 1983, Kubrick began researching for the film; he watched archival footage and documentaries, read Vietnamese newspapers on microfilm from the Library of Congress, and studied hundreds of photographs from the era.[30] Initially, Herr was not interested in revisiting his Vietnam War experiences, but Kubrick spent three years persuading him, describing the discussions as "a single phone call lasting three years, with interruptions".[28]

In 1985, Kubrick contacted Hasford and invited him to join the team;[14] they spoke by telephone three to four times a week for hours at a time.[31] Kubrick had already written a detailed treatment of the novel,[14] and they met at Kubrick's home every day, breaking the treatment into scenes. Herr then wrote the first draft of the film script.[14] Kubrick worried the audience might misread the book's title as a reference to people who did only half a day's work and changed it to Full Metal Jacket after coming across the phrase in a gun catalogue.[14] After the first draft was complete, Kubrick telephoned his orders to Hasford and Herr, who mailed their submissions to him.[32] Kubrick read and edited Hasford's and Herr's submissions, and the team repeated the process.[32] Neither Hasford nor Herr knew how much each had contributed to the screenplay, which led to a dispute over the final credits.[32] Hasford said: "We were like guys on an assembly line in the car factory. I was putting on one widget and Michael was putting on another widget and Stanley was the only one who knew that this was going to end up being a car."[32] Herr said Kubrick was not interested in making an anti-war film but "he wanted to show what war is like".[28]

At some point, Kubrick wanted to meet Hasford in person, but Herr advised against this, describing The Short-Timers author as a "scary man, a big, haunted marine", and did not believe Hasford and Kubrick would "get on".[28] Kubrick, however, insisted on the meeting, which occurred at Kubrick's house in England. The meeting went poorly; Kubrick privately told Herr: "I can't deal with this man," and Hasford did not meet with Kubrick again.[28]

Casting

Duration: 26 seconds.0:26Subtitles available.CC

Ermey's performance with improvised verbal insults was an integral part in Full Metal Jacket that received critical acclaim.[14]

Through Warner Bros., Kubrick advertised a casting search in the United States and Canada.[14]: 461  He used videotape to audition actors and received over 3,000 submissions. Kubrick's staff screened the tapes, leaving 800 of them for him to review.[14]: 461

Former U.S. Marines drill instructor R. Lee Ermey was originally hired as a technical advisor.[33] Ermey asked Kubrick if he could audition for the role of Hartman. Kubrick, who had seen Ermey's portrayal of drill instructor Staff Sergeant Loyce in The Boys in Company C (1978), told Ermey that he was not vicious enough to play the character. Ermey improvised insulting dialogue against a group of Royal Marines who were being considered for the part of background Marines in order to demonstrate his ability to play the character and to show how a drill instructor attacks individuality in new recruits.[14]: 462  Upon viewing the videotape of these sessions, Kubrick offered Ermey the role, realizing he "was a genius for this part".[30] Kubrick incorporated the 250-page transcript of Ermey's rants into the script.[14]: 462–463  Ermey's experience as a drill instructor during the Vietnam War proved invaluable; Kubrick estimated that Ermey wrote 50% of his character's dialogue, particularly the insults.[34]

While Ermey practiced his lines in a rehearsal room, Kubrick's assistant Leon Vitali would throw tennis balls and oranges at him, which Ermey had to catch and throw back as quickly as possible while saying his lines as fast as he could. Any hesitation, slowdown, slip or missed line would necessitate restarting, and 20 error-free runs were required. "[He] was my drill instructor," Ermey said of Vitali.[14]: 463 [35]

Nine months of negotiations to cast Anthony Michael Hall as Private Joker were unsuccessful; Hall would later regret not doing the film.[36][37][38] Val Kilmer was also considered for the role, and Bruce Willis declined a role because of commitments to his television series Moonlighting.[39][40] Kubrick offered Ed Harris the role of Hartman but Harris declined it, a decision that he later called "foolish".[41] Robert De Niro was also considered for the role, although Kubrick eventually felt that the audience would "feel cheated" if De Niro's character were killed in the first hour.[42] Bill McKinney was also considered for the part, but Kubrick professed an irrational fear of the actor.[43] McKinney was known for his role as a rural psychopath in 1972's Deliverance, most memorably in a sequence that Kubrick described as "the most terrifying scene ever put on film".[43] McKinney was about to fly from Los Angeles to London to audition for Kubrick and the producers when he received a message at the airport informing him that his audition had been canceled.[43] However, McKinney was paid in full.[43] Denzel Washington showed interest in the film, but Kubrick did not send him a script.[44][45]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Metal_Jacket

With regard to self-immolation, it should be pointed out that, unlike Jainism, Buddhism is generally against religious suicide350 and self-mutilation (Sheth, 2012: 73-74), but there are exceptions both in Theravada as well as in Mahāyāna. The Theravāda Jātaka tales relate several instances of religious suicide in some of the previous lives of Gautama Buddha. The Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, the most important and well-known Mahāyāna Scriptural text and often referred to briefly as the Lotus Sutra, extols the case of the Bodhisattva Bhaiṣajyarāja, who previously, as the Bodhisattva Sarvasattvapriyadarśana, burnt his own body as an act of honor (pūjā) accorded to the Buddha Candrasūryavimalaprabhāsaśri and to the Lotus Sutra. It also mentions that youth who burn some part of their body at the relic chambers of the Buddhas gain immense merit (Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra, ch. 22, pp. 237, 240). Such examples are adduced in order to justify exceptional cases of heroic, altruistic and sublime self-sacrifice of one’s life. For Thich Nhat Hahn self-immolation is neither good nor bad. It transcends the question whether self-immolation is good strategy in peace activism. But we must make an effort to put ourselves in the shoes of the immolators and try to see things with their eyes. They intend to enkindle the awareness of people and awaken them (Nhat Hahn 1975: 62). We had begun our social justice trip in India. Even though we now move on to Tibet, yet, in consonance with the cyclic worldview of Buddhism, we actually return to India: the reason is that the Dalai Lama has established a Tibetan Government in Exile in India.

The Buddha & Jesus

An Anthology of Articles by Jesuits engaged in

Buddhist Studies and Inter-religious Dialogue

Edited by

Cyril Veliath, SJ

Faculty of Global Studies

Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan

https://web.archive.org/web/20220929093250/https://jcapsj.org/the-buddha-jesus/

On 11 June 1963, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolated outside the Cambodian embassy in the city of Saigon in Vietnam. Journalists were notified in advance to show up, but had not been told what would happen. The US journalist Malcolm Browne photographed the scene. His photograph became an enduring worldwide image of Buddhist protest.

Many in the US assume that the self-immolation was a protest against the war in Vietnam, paralleling anti-war protestors at home. This idea fits nicely into the popular association of Buddhism with peace. It is, however, wrong. Quang Duc’s self-immolation and the others that followed were a protest against the South Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Diem administration and its allies in the West. Vietnamese Buddhists felt persecuted by the Vietnamese administration’s pro-Catholic stance. Their self-immolations were acts to defend Buddhism.

Buddhists have always been involved in civil disobedience movements and peace-making agendas, such as the Sarvodaya movement in Sri Lanka. Further, Buddhist meditations have proven incredibly helpful in the rehabilitation of criminals. In short, Buddhism, to its practitioners, is not an ‘accoutrement’ to life or ‘just’ a philosophy – it is a full-bodied religion whose adherents are eager to protect. The myth of Buddhism as a wholly peaceful religion ignores Buddhists’ agency and diversity – and the fact that they will go to great lengths to defend their religion, whether by way of pistol-bearing monks or self-immolating protesters.

Recently, Buddhists in Myanmar and Sri Lanka have also called for violence. In 2013, Time magazine placed the Burmese Buddhist monk U Wirathu on their cover with the headline ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror’. U Wirathu has been a fiery critic of Burmese Muslims, particularly those who identify as Rohingya. The 2014 Myanmar census found that Buddhists make up 89 per cent of the population, compared with Muslims at 4.3 per cent. Nevertheless, U Wirathu and his counterparts argue that both Burmese Buddhism and Myanmar itself are threatened by the ‘Islamification of Asia’. In well-attended sermons, U Wirathu has repeatedly derided Muslims and Islam, accusing them of seeking to destroy Burmese culture and the future of Buddhism. In one sermon, he likened Muslims to the African carp, explaining that they are inherently violent, prone to breed quickly, and want to eat their own kind.

U Wirathu is a member of the 969 movement. This movement and the Ma Ba Tha (the Patriotic Association of Myanmar) retain significant influence over the Buddhists of Myanmar. They distribute pamphlets and taped sermons that warn about the threat of Islam. Their work to foment fear of Muslims helps to propel Burmese Buddhists toward violence, as in the murderous anti-Muslim riots in the central city of Meiktila in 2013, where at least 40 people died. Before these, there were powerful precursors from the western Rakhine state. Since 2012, nearly 140,000 Rohingya have been displaced from their homes in Rakhine. Most of these Rohingya have been deported from homes into special internment camps. Due to the terrible conditions in these camps, journalists such as Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times argue that the Buddhist treatment of the Rohingya constitutes genocide.

In 2015, the two Burmese Buddhist organisations successfully lobbied for the passage of pro-Buddhist legislation. Many international human-rights groups argue that these new laws are discriminatory against minority groups, particularly Muslims. U Wirathu continues to develop connections not only with Thailand’s Buddhist monks, but also with Sri Lankan Buddhist monks.

The Buddhist organisation ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott on stores selling halal-certified meat

From 1983, Sri Lanka was engaged in a civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam fought to separate and form their own independent state of Tamil Eelam. The Sri Lankan government opposed this, both through secular language and Buddhist rhetoric. Buddhist monks fiercely argued against negotiations, and for fighting to keep Sri Lanka ‘whole’. For these monks, Sri Lanka is the true land of Buddhism and it was under attack. Monks were straightforward political players, delivering incendiary speeches, joining political parties (such as the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna), and taking part in violent clashes.

The civil war ended in 2009, but Sri Lankan Buddhist monks have continued to push their political agendas. Since 2011, there have been further escalations in violent rhetoric by Sri Lankan Buddhist nationalist organisations such as the Sinhala Ravaya (The Roar of the Sinhalese), the Ravana Balaya (Ravana’s Force) and the Bodu Bala Sena (The Army of Buddhist Power). Often, the rhetoric is directed at businesses, for example against halal provision for Muslims. In early 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena ran an incendiary campaign, calling for a boycott against stores that provided halal-certified meat. The Buddhist organisation falsely alleged that Muslims were slaughtering young calves (an illegal practice), and accused the governing body for halal-certification, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, of taking steps to bring about Sharia law in Sri Lanka.

Similar to their counterparts in Myanmar, these Sri Lankan Buddhist groups have incited anti-Muslim riots, as in Aluthgama in 2014. Buddhist groups have been implicated in the assassination of politicians and peace activists. The growing influence of these hyper-nationalist Buddhist organisations, together with the Sri Lankan government’s tacit support (through a lack of response) has spurred NGOs and local communities to protest. In November 2016, 367 Sri Lankan citizens submitted a collective complaint about the inaction of the police to protect minorities from the persistence of Buddhist monk-led attacks.

No religion has a monopoly on ‘violent people’, nor does any one religion have a greater propensity for violence. Rather, social conditions such as poverty and societal upheavals generate violent behaviour, regardless of religion. It is no coincidence that poorer regions and neighbourhoods suffer higher crime rates. When people find the world changing around them, they turn to their religion to make sense of things. Some look to religion as a means to preserve what they have, and religion provides a way of understanding one’s place in the world and, more importantly, one’s duty.

In order to comprehend such people’s justifications for violence, it is important to explore their worldview, namely, the way in which Buddhists understand and protect what is sacred to them. Although Buddhism is incredibly diverse, all Buddhists venerate the Triple Jewels: Buddha, Dharma (doctrine) and Sangha (monastic community). As long as these jewels remain in the world, humanity still has a way of escaping the vicious cycle of rebirth. Buddhists, along with Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, believe that time is cyclical, and that there is a decline before the end of each great cycle.

According to Buddhists, their doctrine provides rulers with justice, societies with equilibrium, and individuals with a path to salvation. Its attenuation, therefore, is one sign of the decline. Another is the absence, or dwindling numbers, of the sangha. When there are no more monks, Buddhist End Times will begin.

Buddhist scriptures measure internal time by how many breaths you take, and external (cosmic) time through the rotation of four kalpas, or aeons. Unlike in Abrahamic religions, time in Buddhism has no beginning. It is a constant cycle. There is no definitive amount of time given for each kalpa, but Buddhist scriptures provide suggestive analogies. In the Prajnaparamita Sutra, one kalpa lasts longer than the time required to wear away an 18,000-square-metre rock by brushing it with a piece of cloth once every 100 years.

The first kalpa is a formative and chaotic period. In the second kalpa, the chaos continues to unfold. It is only in the third kalpa in which the chaos declines, and the world enters into a rapid stage of evolution. The fourth and final kalpa is called the Age of Destruction. It ends with an apocalyptic rainfall that destroys all life and sparks the beginning of the first kalpa. Buddhists believe that we are living in the fourth and final section of the last kalpa. The end of the kalpa will inevitably come and, when it does, a new Buddha will emerge: Maitreya, the Buddha-to-be. But Buddhists can forestall the end. The longer the Buddhist monks and their doctrine remain strong, then the slower the pace toward the end of the kalpa.

Buddhist traditions have different ways of identifying the signs of deterioration. According to legend, on the eve of the Siddhartha Gautama (the Buddha) becoming awakened, he was tempted by Mara, the embodiment of desire, death and rebirth. Although he conquered his desires and vanquished Mara, many Buddhists have believed that the re-appearance of Mara is a sign that the End Times have arrived. Others think that the erosion of their sacred Three Jewels signals the beginning of the end. In order to forestall the quickening of the End Times, Buddhists have fought against the manifestations of Mara and to preserve the integrity of their practices and doctrine.

For instance, in sixth-century China, the Buddhist monk Faqing led a revolt and declared the arrival of a new Buddha. He marshalled 50,000 men to fight, promising them that, with each kill, they would reach a higher stage in the bodhisattva path. In ninth-century Tibet, Emperor Langdarma was assassinated by a Tibetan lama. According to Tibetan sources, Langdarma had become possessed by demonic forces (gdon). He destroyed monasteries and began to attack the Buddhist establishment. Things were changing and not in the right direction. The murder of Langdarma ‘saved’ Buddhism in Tibet. It has become such an important event that the Tibetans commemorate the murder in their Cham dance, which offers moral instructions through performance.

Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara

During the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese emperor strengthened support for Shintoism, and began to dismantle Buddhist institutions that were not favourable to the state. Buddhist monks had a choice of either complying with the state, or leaving the monkhood. Many remained and supported the onset of Japanese imperialism. During the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-05, Rinzai Buddhist monks spoke out in favour of the military campaign. For them, the war was a fight for the preservation of civilisation and the Buddhist doctrine – a fight for the world.

The Buddhist call-to-arms reoccurred throughout the Second World War. Japanese fighter planes carried images of the Buddhist embodiment of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. Zen and Pure Land Buddhist monks argued that the Second World War was justified in order to preserve ‘true’ Buddhism. The Buddhist traditions in places such as China, Korea and Singapore had become corrupt and faulty. It was a sign of decay.

As humanity moves closer to the Buddhist End Times, the Buddhist doctrine explains that it will become harder for a person to become enlightened. In recent years, many Buddhists have turned to Pure Land Buddhism. These Buddhists believe that our world is now fraught with a multitude of obstacles to becoming fully awakened. To avoid this, a follower practices uttering Amitabh’s name (nianfo) and visualizing him. In this way, the follower ensures a rebirth in Pure Land, where he can receive the teachings from the Bodhisattva Amitabha to reach enlightenment. Pure Land Buddhism is one of the largest populated traditions in East Asia, and is quickly expanding its numbers globally. While some Buddhists turn to traditions such as Pure Land Buddhism, others fight to preserve what they believe is true Buddhism, such as in southern Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Over the centuries, there have been tremendous changes to Buddhism. Indeed, change is one of the foundational principles in Buddhism: all is impermanent. Some changes are in concert with modernity, others are in reaction. Each Buddhist tradition has transformed with the times – and the times are always changing. But there are persistent patterns that keep pace with these changes. Buddhist monks in the early sixth-century China led revolts to defend Buddhism. Today, monks in Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka continue to fight – violently – for their religion and to call their followers to action. The cycle of violence continues in this final stage of the cycle of time: the Kali Yuga, the Age of Destruction.

Monks with guns

Westerners think that Buddhism is about peace and non-violence. So how come Buddhist monks are in arms against Islam?

https://aeon.co/essays/buddhism-can-be-as-violent-as-any-other-religion

The historian Newman gives this eloquent assessment, "The Jesuit missionary or worker in any sphere may adapt his dress, manner of life, and occupation to the exigencies of the occasion. He may disguise himself and figure as a Protestant or a Brahmin, if by so doing he can gain an entrance otherwise difficult for Catholic teaching. The story is familiar of a Jesuit who mastered the Sanskrit language and the Vedas, assumed the dress and the mode of life of a Brahmin priest, and finally wrote and palmed off as ancient a Veda in which Roman Catholic Christianity under a thin disguise was taught." pages 217-218

"Sons of Loyola: Their Subtlety, Genius, and Various Disguises"

Codeword Barbelon book One

by P.D. Stuart

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0Fox46URUX4TzBMKFAEiFBtPnY8p8qFUELZyLhwjQNVd8BMDVgQnfxJfmB4bMST9Ul

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock[1] (/ˈrɑːfiɛl ˈwɔːrnɒk/ RAH-fee-el WOR-nok; born July 23, 1969) is an American politician and Baptist pastor serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Warnock has been the senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church since 2005.[2][3]

Warnock was the senior pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church from 2001 to 2005.[4] He came to prominence in Georgia politics as a leading activist in the campaign to expand Medicaid in the state under the Affordable Care Act. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate special election in Georgia, defeating incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election.[5]

Warnock and Jon Ossoff are the first Democrats elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia since Zell Miller in 2000.[6][7] Their elections were critical in securing a 50–50 Senate majority for Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote.[8] Warnock was a reliable supporter of Joe Biden's legislative efforts during his presidency.[9][10] He was reelected to a full term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Herschel Walker.

Warnock is the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate, the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from a Southern state, and the second black U.S. Senator directly elected from a Southern state, after Tim Scott.[11][12][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Warnock

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.

In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]

Background

See also: 2024 United States elections

The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]

Electoral system

Main article: United States Electoral College

See also: United States presidential primary and Primary elections in the United States

The president and vice president of the United States are elected through the Electoral College, determined by the number of senators and representatives with an additional three representatives for Washington, D.C. A majority of 270 votes is needed to win the election. Forty-eight states use a winner-take-all system, in which states award all of their electors to the winner of the popular vote. In Maine and Nebraska, two votes are allocated to the winner of the popular vote, while each of the individual congressional districts have one vote. Electoral votes are certified by state electors in December and by Congress on January 6.[12] Presidential candidates are selected in a presidential primary, conducted through primary elections run by state governments or caucuses run by state parties which bind convention delegates to candidates.[13] A brokered convention occurs when a candidate does not receive a majority of votes on the first round of voting,[14] or when a candidate withdraws.[15]

Election Day in the United States has been held on the first Tuesday that falls after the first Monday in November.[16] Previously, states could determine their own Election Day prior to the first Wednesday in December. The 2028 presidential election will occur on November 7, 2028.[17]

Eligibility

The United States Constitution limits occupancy of the presidency to individuals who are at least thirty-five, who have been a resident in the United States for at least fourteen years, and who are a natural-born citizen.[18] Section three of the Fourteenth Amendment prevents current and former federal, state, and military officials from holding office—including the presidency—if they have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" against the United States;[19] in March 2024, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Trump v. Anderson that former president Donald Trump could seek office after challenges to his ballot eligibility were raised by several state attorneys general.[20] A convicted felon may serve as president.[21] Elon Musk, who emerged as a political influencer in the 2024 presidential election, is ineligible to serve as president as he was born in South Africa and is a naturalized citizen.[22]

Trump is ineligible to be elected to a third term, as the Twenty-Second Amendment forbids any person from being elected president more than twice.[23] Nonetheless, he has repeatedly suggested running for a third term, an idea supported by several of his allies, including Steve Bannon.[24] In January 2025, Tennessee representative Andy Ogles proposed a resolution to amend the Twenty-Second Amendment, allowing for presidents who have served two non-consecutive terms to seek a third term. The verbiage of the amendment would prevent living presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, all currently ineligible under the 22nd Amendment, from running for a third term.[25] At CPAC 2025, conservative groups, such as the Third Term Project, supported the Ogles resolution and promoted the idea of Trump running for an as-yet unconstitutional third term.[26][27] In response, New York Democratic representative Dan Goldman planned to introduce a resolution affirming the Twenty-Second Amendment.[28]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election

In 2002, a group of Watchers, including Lydia, Nigel, and Phillip, were reunited to report to director Quentin Travers about the numerous attacks on the Council around the world. Quentin confirmed that the First Evil was responsible, and told the group to prepare for battle. Seconds later, the Watchers Council headquarters exploded,[1] in an attack orchestrated by Caleb.[6]

Behind the scenes

In "Consequences," the telephone number Wesley Wyndam-Pryce dials when contacting the Watchers Council appears to be a correct one, beginning with 11-44. Indeed, the international calling code from the US to the UK is 011-44-telephone number.

In the non-canon comic arc Viva Las Buffy!, the Watchers Council uses a building described as outside of London. The non-canon novel Spike and Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row locates the Watchers Council headquarters at the far end of Great Russell Street, in London.

Reference books such as The Watcher's Guide, Volume 2, The Making of a Slayer, and The Slayer Collection: Welcome to the Hellmouth also affirm that the headquarters are located in London.

https://buffy.fandom.com/wiki/Watchers_Council_headquarters

A car bomb attack was carried out by the armed Basque separatist group ETA in Madrid, Spain, on 14 July 1986, which killed 12 people and injured another 32. The dead were all members of the Guardia Civil studying in the nearby traffic school on Príncipe de Vergara.[1] The ETA members later convicted of participation in the attack included significant figures in the group, including Antonio Troitiño and Iñaki de Juana Chaos.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaza_Rep%C3%BAblica_Dominicana_bombing

Fourteenth Rule. Although there is much truth in the assertion that no one can save himself without being predestined and without having faith and grace; we must be very cautious in the manner of speaking and communicating with others about all these things.

The Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YC_luOfFWl0Bm0BWkbANKZGC1kkmdHQf/view?usp=sharing

14We ought to act on the principle that everyone who lives under obedience should let himself be carried and directed by Divine Providence through the agency of the superior 15as if he were a lifeless body, which allows itself to be carried to any place and treated in any way; or an old man s staff, which serves at any place and for any purpose in which the one holding it in his hand wishes to employ it. 16For in this way the obedient man ought joyfully to employ himself in any task in which the superior desires to employ him in aid of the whole body of the religious order; 17and he ought to hold it certain that by so doing he conforms himself with the divine will more than by anything else he could do while following his own will and different judgment.[3]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

At the thirty-first General Congregation of the Society of Jesus in 1965, Arrupe was elected twenty-eighth Superior General of the Jesuits, and served in that post until 1983. He was the second Basque to be Father General, the first being the founder Ignatius of Loyola himself.[13] Jesuit Vincent O'Keefe, a friend and advisor to Arrupe, said Arrupe was "a second Ignatius of Loyola, a refounder of the Society in the light of Vatican II."[14][15] At his election, Moscow Radio spoke of an unusual man who would bring the Society of Jesus to its powers of the past.[16]: 218

After the changes following Vatican II (1962–1965), there was tension within the Society as to how the life of a Jesuit was to be lived. While some religious groups in the Catholic church have limits on the works they take on, the Society of Jesus encourages its members to follow their interest and talents and the needs of the times into a whole range of ministries – as theologians, missionaries, retreat directors, teachers, artists, writers, musicians, counselors, scientists, and pastors – to bring glory to God in all areas of human endeavor.[17] This is in line with the crowning contemplation of Ignatius' Spiritual Exercises through which Jesuits learn to find God in all things (#236). As Arrupe's biographer said of him, he "saw the hand of God in everything."[16]: 226

Arrupe warned of repeating the answers of yesterday for tomorrow's problems, saying: "If we speak a language no longer appropriate to the hearts of people, we speak only to ourselves because no one will listen to us or try to understand what we say."[16]: 228 Arrupe was "hailed as a prophet of our time",[16]: 231 not unlike Jesuit Pope Francis,[citation needed] who was undertaking theological studies, learning, when Arrupe became Superior General and began speaking his "prophetic" words. The Union of Superior Generals of religious, seeing Arrupe as the right man for our time, elected him five times as their president.[16]: 231

Faith and justice

In an address to Jesuit alumni in 1973, Arrupe coined the phrase "men for others" which has become a theme for Jesuit education worldwide, educating students to be "men and women for others".[18][19][20]

At the thirty-second General Congregation which convened in 1975, Arrupe's dream of working for the poor was crystallised in the document "Our Mission Today: the Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice." It stated: "Our faith in Jesus Christ and our mission to proclaim the Gospel demand of us a commitment to promote justice and enter into solidarity with the voiceless and the powerless."[21] Thus, the decree basically defined all the work of the Jesuits as having an essential focus on the promotion of social justice as well as the Catholic faith. Arrupe was keenly aware that in the political climate of the 1970s, the Jesuits’ commitment to working for social justice would bring great hardship and suffering, particularly in those Latin American countries ruled by military juntas.[21][13]

In a speech to European educators Arrupe made it clear where he stood on matters of faith and justice, saying: "I take very seriously the words of Gandhi, 'I love Christ but I despise Christians because they do not live as Christ lived.' Without a doubt Christian love of neighbor entails a duty to care for the wounds of those that have fallen victim to robbers and are left bleeding by the wayside."[16]: 270 In the late 1960s and into the 1980s some theologians in Latin America became increasingly involved in the political sphere, adopting Marxist rhetoric. Many Jesuits were at the forefront of the movement which was called liberation theology and concentrated on seeing Christ as the liberator not only from sin but from all forms of oppression. In its extreme manifestations, liberation theology seemed to subordinate the message of the Gospel to political revolution, with a wholesale acceptance of Marxism. But Arrupe's strong support for relieving the burden of the poor in Latin America enables one to see his "cautionary statements about liberation theology, as efforts to impose self-discipline to fend off more severe sanctions from outside the order."[22]

A cause worth dying for

On 20 June 1977 the White Warriors Union death squad threatened to kill all 47 Jesuits serving in El Salvador unless they abandoned their work with the poor and left the country within a month.[23] After consulting with the Jesuit community in El Salvador, Arrupe replied "They may end up as martyrs, but my priests are not going to leave because they are with the people."[3] A few months earlier, Jesuit Rutilio Grande, a proponent of liberation theology, was assassinated in El Salvador. On 16 November 1989, six Jesuits (Ignacio Ellacuría, Armando Lopez, Joaquin Lopez y Lopez, Ignacio Martín-Baró, Segundo Montes and Juan Ramon Moreno, along with their housekeeper (Julia Elba Ramos) and her daughter (Celina), would be murdered at the Jesuit University of Central America. Others also suffered martyrdom: the chief bishop in El Salvador Archbishop Óscar Romero (who, in keeping with his longstanding commitment to Catholic social teaching, became increasingly concerned with the plight of the poor and marginalized[24]) was gunned down whilst celebrating the Eucharist on 24 March 1980. Lay missionary Jean Donovan, Ursuline sister Dorothy Kazel and Maryknoll sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford were beaten, raped and murdered by non-uniformed members of the Salvadoran National Guard on 2 December 1980.[25] They joined some 75,000 Salvadorans who were killed during this troubled period.[25]: 97 All the while, Arrupe continued to support and pray for those people who were willing to lay down their lives to help the poor initiate change.[10]

Jesuit Refugee Service

Touched by the plight of the "Vietnamese boat people" in 1979, Pedro Arrupe sent cable messages to some 20 Jesuit major superiors throughout the world sharing his distress at the suffering of these people.[20] He asked them what they could do to help bring relief to refugees and displaced persons in their own regions. He received a positive response, with numerous offers of personnel, medicine, and funding. The following year in 1980, Arrupe founded the Jesuit Refugee Service to coordinate the Society's refugee work. In a speech launching the service he said "Saint Ignatius called us to go anywhere where we are most needed for the greater glory of God. The spiritual as well as the material need of more than 16 million refugees throughout the world today could scarcely be greater. God is calling us through these helpless people." In 2017, JRS listed 47 countries where its 10 regional offices were currently serving nearly 950,000 individuals.[26] Over the years JRS had served an estimated 40 million refugees.[4]

Later life

On 7 August 1981, after a long and tiring trip throughout the Far East, Arrupe suffered a stroke just after his plane landed at Rome's Fiumicino Airport. He was paralysed on his right side and was able to speak only a few words. This ability gradually deteriorated until he was completely mute. From that time on he lived in the infirmary at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome. He then became the first-ever Jesuit superior general to resign. Pope John Paul II appointed Paolo Dezza as his personal delegate and interim Father General of the Society, passing over Arrupe's own choice (his vicar general). Many Jesuits saw this as an unwarranted papal interference in Jesuit affairs. For his part, Arrupe never expressed any disagreement or resentment.[13] Jesuit disobedience to the pope that was expected by some at the Roman Curia never came about.[27] With new respect for the Jesuits, Pope John Paul allowed Dezza to call the thirty-third General Congregation and elect a successor to Arrupe, whose resignation was accepted on 3 September 1983 during the Congregation. He was succeeded by Peter Hans Kolvenbach. During the opening Session of the Congregation, Arrupe was wheeled into the hall, and a prayer which he had written was read aloud:

"More than ever I find myself in the hands of God. This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth. But now there is a difference; the initiative is entirely with God. It is indeed a profound spiritual experience to know and feel myself so totally in God's hands."[9]

During his ten years in the infirmary, Arrupe received many and frequent well-wishers, including Pope John Paul II. Arrupe had earlier expressed what some regard as the key to his life: "Nowadays the world does not need words but lives that cannot be explained except through faith and love for Christ's poor."[4]

Death and burial

Arrupe died at 7:45pm on 5 February 1991, the anniversary of the 26 Martyrs of Japan. His final words had been: "For the present, Amen; for the future, Alleluia."[28]

His funeral was held in the Church of the Gesu, Rome, on February 9 and was attended by crowds that filled the piazza outside the church. Also in attendance were 10 cardinals, 20 bishops, Giulio Andreotti (the Prime Minister of Italy), as well as other religious and civil dignitaries. His body, first interred in the Jesuit mausoleum at Campo Verano, was brought back into the Church of the Gesù where it currently lies in a side chapel.[29]

Beatification process

On 11 July 2018, the Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa, announced the beginning of Arrupe's beatification process by the Diocese of Rome.[30] On 14 November 2018, a website was established with testimonials and archival material on his life.[31] On 14 November 2024, Cardinal-elect Baldassare Reina presided over the diocesan tribunal's termination of its inquiry at the Lateran Palace. The Dicastery for the Causes of Saints will next determine whether Arrupe should be declared Venerable.[32]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Arrupe

Spaniard becomes Jesuits' new "black pope"

By Reuters

January 19, 2008 5:07 AM PST Updated 17 years ago

By Stephen Brown

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Spaniard Adolfo Nicolas was elected the Jesuits' "black pope", as the head of the largest and perhaps most influential, controversial and prestigious Catholic order is known, in a secret conclave on Saturday.

Nicolas, 71, has run Jesuit operations in east Asia and Oceania since 2004 and spent most of his career in the Far East after being ordained in Tokyo in 1967.

The order said in a statement that Nicolas had been elected to succeed Father Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, who received permission from Pope Benedict to retire as head of the order formally known as the Society of Jesus at the age of 79.

Jesuit superior generals are known as "black popes" because, like the pontiff, they wield worldwide influence and usually keep their position for life -- and because their simple cassock is black, in contrast to the pope who dresses in white.

The 468-year history of the Jesuit order has often included stormy relations with the Vatican. Benedict's predecessor, Pope John Paul, believed the order had become too independent, leftist and political, particularly in Latin America.

Soft-spoken, white-haired Dutchman Kolvenbach won widespread praise for mending relations with the Vatican during his years in the post, after conflicts between his charismatic Basque predecessor and Pope John Paul.

Kolvenbach also had to deal with declining vocations and the future of the order founded by St Ignatius Loyola in 1540.

In the 1960s, the all-male order peaked with some 36,000 members worldwide. It now has about 19,200 members involved in education, refugee help and other social services.

The general congregation that elected Nicolas gathered 217 electors from all over the world at Jesuit headquarters, a block from the Vatican.

They spent four days in prayer and what is known in Latin as "murmuratio", or murmurings, about who should be elected. It is strictly forbidden to lobby for the post and anyone actively seeking the job must be 'turned in' by the other delegates.

The election is by secret ballot and delegates are not allowed to leave the room until Pope Benedict is informed who has won, in keeping with a tradition that the "white pope" is first to know who is the new "black pope".

But unlike a conclave to elect the pontiff, a Jesuit general congregation can continue for weeks or even months after the election to discuss future challenges and priorities.

https://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/spaniard-becomes-jesuits-new-black-pope-idUSL19414053/

The Actes and Monuments (full title: Actes and Monuments of these Latter and Perillous Days, Touching Matters of the Church), popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, is a work of Protestant history and martyrology by Protestant English historian John Foxe, first published in 1563 by John Day.

It includes a polemical account of the sufferings of Protestants under the Catholic Church, with particular emphasis on England and Scotland. The book was highly influential in those countries and helped shape lasting popular notions of Catholicism there.

The book went through four editions in Foxe's lifetime and a number of later editions and abridgements, including some that specifically reduced the text to a Book of Martyrs.

Background

After the Reformation, Catholic apologists raised the issue of the novelties of Protestant doctrines, as "exploiting religious credulity for material and sexual ends."[a] Protestant apologists such as Calvinist Anglican John Foxe "sought to establish the continuity of a proto-Protestant piety from apostolic times to the Reformation."[b]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxe%27s_Book_of_Martyrs

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.

Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests."

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143

Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

Arturo Marcelino Sosa Abascal SJ (born 12 November 1948) is a Venezuelan Catholic priest who has served as the 31st superior general of the Society of Jesus since 2016. He was elected by the Society's 36th General Congregation to succeed Adolfo Nicolás. He is the first person born in Latin America to lead the Jesuits.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arturo_Sosa

Etymology of Arturo

What does the name Arturo mean?

The surname Arturo is an Italian patronymic surname; that is, it was a name created from the first name of the father. Arturo is derived from the Breton given names Artuir and Arthur. This personal name is of very ancient origin and is derived from the Celtic word art, which means bear. The name Arthur is also related to the Greek Arcturus, which means bear or guardian and is the name of the bright star in the constellation Bootes.

Arturo Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Arturo include and others.

https://www.houseofnames.com/arturo-family-crest

Arcturus is a red giant star in the northern constellation of Boötes, and the brightest star in the constellation. It has the Bayer designation α Boötis, which is Latinized to Alpha Boötis and abbreviated Alf Boo or α Boo. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05,[2] it is the fourth-brightest star in the night sky and the brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere. Arcturus forms one corner of the Spring Triangle asterism.

Located relatively close at 36.7 light-years from the Sun, Arcturus is a red giant of spectral type K1.5III—an aging star around 7.1 billion years old that has used up its core hydrogen and evolved off the main sequence. It is about the same mass as the Sun, but has expanded to 25 times its size (around 35 million kilometers) and is around 170 times as luminous.

Nomenclature

The traditional name Arcturus is Latinised from the ancient Greek Ἀρκτοῦρος (Arktouros) and means "Guardian of the Bear",[9] ultimately from ἄρκτος (arktos), "bear"[10] and οὖρος (ouros), "watcher, guardian".[11] As ἄρκτος also came to mean "north", the name can also translate to "Guardian of the North".[12]

The designation of Arcturus as α Boötis (Latinised to Alpha Boötis) was made by Johann Bayer in 1603. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN, which included Arcturus for α Boötis.[13][14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcturus

The Beast (Koine Greek: Θηρίον, Thērion) may refer to one of three beasts described in the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 12-13 describes these three beasts as follows:

The dragon (later revealed in the text to be Satan)[1]

The beast of the sea (commonly interpreted as the Antichrist)[2][3]

The beast of the earth (later revealed in the text to be the False prophet)[4]

However, many people have different beliefs about the meaning of these beasts.

In Revelation 13:1–10, the beast of the sea rises "out of the sea" and is given authority and power by the dragon. It persecutes God's people in the 2nd part of Revelation 13. To buy and sell, everyone is required to have its name or number on their forehead or right hand (Rev 13:16-17). It speaks blasphemous words against God, will rule the world for 42 months (Revelation 13:5-7), and is described as resembling a leopard, a lion, and a bear—which are three of the animals in Daniel 7. It suffers a fatal head wound which is miraculously healed, bewildering the world's population and causing many to worship it.

In Revelation 13:11–18, the beast of the earth, later known as the false prophet, comes "out of the earth," exercises all the authority of the Sea Beast, forces everyone on earth to worship the Sea Beast, and convinces the people, through signs and wonders, to make an image of the Sea Beast.

In their fight against God, the Sea Beast and the False Prophet ally with the Dragon to persecute the "saints" and those who do not "worship the image of the beast [of the sea]" and influence earthly kings through three unclean spirits to gather for the battle of Armageddon.[5] These two beasts are ultimately defeated by Christ and thrown into the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 19:18–20, while Satan, the dragon, is imprisoned in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years. After being released from the bottomless pit after the millennial reign, Satan deceives the nations one last time, ultimately ending in Satan being defeated and thrown in the lake of fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(Revelation)

Geological Evidence for the British Throne of David?

by John P. Pratt

Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (2 June 2003)

©2003 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

Contents

1. King David's Throne

2. Jeremiah and the Scottish Royalty

2.1 Ollam Fodhla

2.2 The Stone of Destiny

2.3 Were Davidic Kings Coronated on the Stone?

3. The Rock of Israel

3.1 The Stone of Jacob

3.2 The Stone of Israel Symbolized Christ

3.3 Rejected by the Builders

4. Geological Evidence

5. Conclusion

Notes

Could the tradition that the British monarchy is the kingly line of David, crowned on the Stone of Jacob, be subjected to scientific scrutiny?

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on June 2, 1953.[1] Surely her half-century reign would be the envy of many ancient kings, who considered one measure of their greatness to be the length of their reign. Great Britain has been a world power for centuries, and heads the Commonwealth of Nations which spans the globe with nearly fifty member countries. How could a few small islands have come to have such widespread influence? Just who are the British anyway?

Queen Elizabeth II on her coronation day.

When one traces the roots of the Britons, Scots, Irish, Welsh, English (Anglos and Saxons), Picts, Normans, and Celts, there is substantial evidence that all of those peoples are of Israelite descent. The tribe of Joseph seems to be best represented, but there is evidence for the presence of several of the tribes. Volumes have been written on that subject,[2] but in this article, it will be taken as a starting point that the inhabitants of the British Isles have a lot of the blood of Israel. Because of this anniversary date of the monarchy, let us focus on the succession of British royalty.

1. King David's Throne

There is a strong tradition that the British royal line is the continuation of the throne of King David of the ancient "United Kingdom" of Israel and Judah. An examination of the genealogies of those kings clearly shows their descent from that royal line. The Lord made a covenant with King David, which was not conditional on David's continued righteousness. The Lord stated:

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. . . .

I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. (Psalms 89:3-4, 20-37)

Thus, the Lord covenanted that, notwithstanding their potential wickedness, the descendants of David would rule as kings over Israel forever. If they became wicked, then they could bring calamity on themselves and their subjects, but their kingly line would continue. That's an amazing prophecy. All it would take to break it that the monarchy be overthrown, or to have no royal descendant who could inherit the throne.

So has the royal line continued unbroken? It clearly was continuous for some four centuries until the time of king Zedekiah, last King of Judah in Jerusalem. In 587 B.C., at the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon, King Zedekiah, of the royal line of David, saw his sons slain before his eyes (Jer. 39:6). It was apparently Nebuchadnezzar's attempt to end the succession of Jewish kings, but there was a detail of the Hebrew law with which he was apparently unfamiliar. A princess could also inherit the throne if she married someone from the tribe of Judah (Num. 27:8; 36:3). So what about the daughters of Zedekiah?[3]

We are explicitly told that the daughters of Zedekiah were taken to Egypt along with the prophet Jeremiah and others (Jer. 43:6). There Jeremiah prophesied that all those who fled to Egypt would also be killed, except a few who should escape (Jer. 44:1-14).

That is where the Biblical story of Jeremiah ends, except for the hint that Jeremiah's mission was not only to tear down, but also to plant (Jer. 1:10). No planting is described in his mission in Jerusalem. Where did Jeremiah do his planting? And where was the new kingdom described in the parable given to Ezekiel, where a "tender twig," cut from the highest branch of the high cedar, would be planted and grow into a great kingdom, and that the lower tree would be exalted above the upper? (Ezek. 17:22-24) That tender twig may well have been the daughter of Zedekiah.[4]

For the "rest of the story" we must turn to the history of ancient Ireland. The following account is summarized from authenticated histories rather than mere legends or speculation.

2. Jeremiah and the Scottish Royalty

The earliest known colonizers of Ireland were the Danai, who almost certainly were from the tribe of Dan. They had separated from the other tribes shortly after the Exodus, and founded some cities in Greece, including Athens.[5] About 1200 B.C. a colony of Danai from Greece journeyed to Ireland. Centuries later a group of Israelites called the Milesians arrived and subjugated the Danai. The Milesians were either the same as, or joined with, the Scots, who had migrated to Ireland from Scythia (Scotia = Scythia), near the Black Sea.[6]

The Flag of Northern Ireland combines the Star of David (Pharez) with the Red Hand (Zerah).

The kings of both of these nations came from Judah, from the line of Zerah.[7] Who was Zerah? Judah was given the promise that his children would reign until Shiloh comes (Gen. 49:10, most likely referring to the second coming of Christ).[8] His descendants all come through his twin sons Pharez and Zerah. David came through the line of Pharez, and a similar promise was made to him concerning his descendants, as noted above. But the line of Zerah also produced many kingly lines, including the kings of ancient Ireland. For the purposes of this article, we need only understand that the ancient Irish were of Israel, and their kings were from Zerah, whose symbol was a red hand, or a hand with red thread tied around it (Gen. 38:28).

The histories say that in about 584 B.C. a Milesian chieftain named Gathelus became a hero in Egypt and married the Pharaoh's daughter, Scota. Gathelus must have given her that name in honor of Scotia, or Scythia, the former country of the Scots. The histories explicitly state that Gathelus was a descendant of Cecrops who founded Athens.[9] My conclusion after doing this research is that the Milesians were not the same as the Scots. The Milesians were most likely a second colony from Greece which came about 1000 B.C., and the Scots probably migrated from the Black Sea after the Assyrian captivity in Israel about 700 B.C. Thus, Gathelus giving his wife the name Scota might have been a way to help politically merge the two groups into one. They moved to the part of Spain now called Portugal and built the city of Brigance and called his subjects Scots. Gathelus and Scota had a son named Eochaidh whose wife Teah Tephi chose Ireland to be their residence. They founded Tara in Ireland, officially called their subjects "Scots" in honor of his mother, and Ireland later became known as Scotia.[10]

The histories also mention that Eochaidh was accompanied by a prophet named Ollam Fodhla and his scribe Berach. Gathelus (or perhaps Ollam Fodhla) prophesied that wherever his marble seat would be found, there would reign one of his descendants over the Scots.

2.1 Ollam Fodhla

The Harp is the Symbol of Ireland on the Royal Flag.

What has all of this got to do with our story? Some versions identify Scota as the daughter of King Zedekiah, Ollam Fodhla as Jeremiah, and Berach as his scribe Baruch.[11] But wasn't Scota the daughter of Pharaoh? Remember that "pharaoh" is simply the Egyptian word for king, and Zedekiah's daughter certainly was a king's daughter who was in Egypt. The traditions also state that the small group who thus escaped from Egypt took with them to Ireland the harp of David, the ark of the covenant, and the stone of Jacob. It states that King Eochaidh was coronated by Jeremiah in Ireland while sitting on the stone of Jacob, and some versions add that his wife Teah was the sister of Scota and also a daughter of Zedekiah. The harp of David became a national emblem of Tara and of Ireland.

2.2 The Stone of Destiny

All the kings of the Scots in Tara were coronated on that stone for over a thousand years. Then about A.D. 500, Fergus of Ireland conquered the Picts who lived in Scotland. The Picts agreed to accept him as king, so he had the Stone of Destiny moved to Scotland, where he was crowned on it. It thereafter also became known as the Stone of Scone (pronounced "Scoon") because it resided at the castle there. True to the prophecy, that land where the stone resided was ruled by a Scottish king, and became known as Scotland. Later, King James VI of Scotland became James I of England, and today Queen Elizabeth is his descendant. Thus, even now that Scotland forms part of Great Britain, it is still true that the Scots are ruled by a monarch of Scottish royal descent.[12]

The Coronation Chair was built around the Stone of Scone (just below the seat).

The Stone of Destiny was moved to Westminster Abbey in London, England,[13] in 1296 A.D. by King Edward I. He had a special "coronation chair" built around that stone, and all of the British kings and queens have been crowned in that chair since, including the currently reigning Queen Elizabeth II. In 1996 the stone was returned to Scotland.[14]

2.3 Were Davidic Kings Coronated on the Stone?

The Coronation ceremony appears to have been taken as directly as possible from the description in the Bible of the coronation of David and Solomon. The monarch is anointed with sacred oil by the Archbishop of Canterbury, trumpets sound, and the people shout "God Save the King" (1 Samuel 10:24, 1 Kings 1:39). The royal crown contains twelve jewels made of the same twelve stones which were in the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:17-21). These similarities alone do not prove that the kings really are the royal blood of Israel, but such would be expected if the British throne is the continuation of the throne of David. Of course, the royalty also have extensive genealogies to prove their lineage.

It is interesting to note, however, that although the stone is not explicitly mentioned as part of the Biblical coronation ceremony, there seem to be references to it which have been overlooked. Consider the following accounts of when King Joash of Judah was anointed by the high priest Jehoiada:

And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets (2 Kings 11:14)

Then they brought out the king's son, and put upon him the crown, and gave him the testimony, and made him king. And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him, and said, God save the king.

Now when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people into the house of the LORD:

And she looked, and, behold, the king stood at his pillar at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king: and all the people of the land rejoiced, and sounded with trumpets, also the singers with instruments of musick, and such as taught to sing praise. (2 Chronicles 23:11-13)

He were are told that along with the usual parts of the coronation ceremony, that also the king stood at his pillar, as was the custom at coronation. What does that mean? Some Bible translations are more literal and render it, "The king stood on the pillar." [15] How can one stand on a pillar? It turns out the word translated pillar come from the root meaning "to stand" and can also refer to a "stand" or "platform." The meaning of pillar come from the idea that a pillar is standing up on its end. So the verses could also be saying that the king was coronated while standing on his stand, as was the custom. Was that stand or pillar the Stone of Destiny? If so, just what is it that makes this stone so special? It was called the Stone of Jacob. Just what was the stone of Jacob?

3. The Rock of Israel

The is a strange story in the Book of Genesis, which has been somewhat enigmatic. In the light of knowing about the traditions surrounding the Stone of Destiny, and knowing its size and shape, and knowing that authentic or not, an unbroken chain of kings has been crowned on that stone for centuries, the following history now makes a lot more sense.

Nearly two thousand years before Christ, the Prophet Jacob (as in "Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"), was traveling back to the land of Haran to choose a wife. When he passed by a city named Luz, the following event occurred:

And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.

And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first. (Genesis 28:11-19).

This account includes several puzzling features. First, a stone small enough to use as a pillow seems hard to imagine being set up as a pillar. Second, just because he had a dream about how the multitudes of his posterity would spread out all over the world, why would he anoint his pillow stone with oil? And what did he mean that the stone would be for God's house? It was important enough that he renamed the place Bethel,[16] which means "House of God." Did it have something to do with a temple?

3.1 The Stone of Jacob

The Stone of Destiny

The size and shape of Stone of Destiny helps make sense of this account, in case it really is this stone of Jacob. First, it is in fact about the size and shape of a big pillow, being about 26 x 16 x 10 inches. It was apparently already a stone which had been cut into a rectangular building shape when Jacob found it. It was probably rejected by the builders because it has a crack in it, so it had been discarded before being finished. If the Stone of Destiny really is Jacob's stone, then it is easy to see how he could stand it up on its end to be a "pillar." Actually, it might have been difficult because it weighs over 300 pounds. Checking the meaning of the word translated "pillar," we see that it means a "stone marker," which often were very large pillars. Most likely this one served mostly as a marker, so that he could find the location when he returned.

Two decades and a dozen children later, Jacob was commanded to return to Bethel. After Jacob returned, and had built and anointed a more permanent altar, God appeared to him there and announced that his name would be changed to Israel, adding "a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins" (Gen. 35:11). This is most likely the time when Jacob decided to bring the original stone with him, though we are not explicitly told that detail. Note that the announcement that kings would descend from him occurred there. It would not be surprising if he was also given to know the future relation that his stone might have to those kings.

The Stone of Destiny has two rings which have clearly been used for transporting the stone by sliding a pole through both rings. There is a groove worn between the two rings which testifies of having been gradually eroded by such transport for an extended period. The stone would have been taken not only to Egypt with Israel, but then also with them at the Exodus and the forty years in the wilderness. Presumably it stayed in Jerusalem from the time of David until the fall of that city in 587 B.C.

3.2 The Stone of Israel Symbolized Christ

Jesus Christ, the Rock of Israel

There is evidence in the Bible the it might well have been this stone which was specifically indicated to have been the "stone of Israel" which symbolized Jesus Christ. During the blessing of Jacob to Joseph, he inserted parenthetically, "from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel" (Gen. 49:24, compare D&C 50:44).

Although I couldn't find any place where the Bible states explicitly that the stone of Jacob accompanied the Israelites during their exodus from Egypt,[17] Paul seems to imply it. He compares physical things such as the manna, water, and a rock which "followed" them to their spiritual counterparts which all symbolize Jesus Christ:

MOREOVER, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

And did all eat the same spiritual meat;

And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4)

Thus, the Rock of Salvation (Psalms 95:1) which shepherded the Israelites, apparently referred to the physical Stone of Jacob. Of course, as Paul explained, it was symbolic of Jesus Christ, who also identified himself as the Good Shepherd of Israel (John 10:11).

If the identification with the Stone of Scone is correct, then it is a very plain looking piece of calcareous sandstone[18], so ordinary that in preparing this article I noticed that several web pages describing the Stone of Scone were scoffing at how plain it is for the royalty to make such a fuss about. Thus, it has "no form nor comeliness" and "no beauty" that is should be desired, which is exactly how the Savior is described (Isa. 53:2). That led to it being "despised and rejected of men" (Isa. 53:3).

3.3 Rejected by the Builders

It may not only have been the original builders who discarded the stone. There is a also a tradition that when it came time to build the temple of Solomon, that the stone of Jacob, which was associated with the house of God from the beginning, should be included. But the builders rejected it because of the crack in it. There seemed to be no way that it could be a cornerstone to a temple.[19] Nor did it seem to the Jews who saw the Savior that there was any way that he could be the Messiah, the cornerstone of their religion. Thus, both were despised and rejected. David prophesied that the stone would be rejected (Psa. 118:22), and Jesus identified himself as fulfilling that prophecy. He explained that the "stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner" (Mat. 21:42, compare Acts 4:11). Knowning the Jesus Christ is the Rock of Israel (2 Sam. 23:3), we have long understood that scripture in the spiritual sense. But now that we learn about the Stone of Jacob, we see that the prophecy might well have been fulfilled in the physical sense also.

Is the Stone of Scone indeed the Stone of Jacob, which Jeremiah brought to Ireland, and on which British royalty has been coronated for so many centuries? Is there any way to verify these traditions, or will such ancient claims remain forever impossible to verify?

4. Geological Evidence

In the age of modern scholarship, it has become fashionable to demote all ancient history and tradition to the realm of legend, myth and fantasy. In many cases, that is like throwing out the baby with the bath water because there is usually a core of truth handed down in legend. In preparing this article, browsing the web for the "Stone of Scone" led to more articles ridiculing the traditions than those giving them any credence at all. Modern writers have assumed the Stone of Scone must have originated from a local quarry.

I am only aware of two scientific attempts to determine the origin of the stone. The first was by Professor Totten of Yale University. In response to suggestions that it had come from a local quarry, he issued the statement:, "The analysis of the stone shows that there are absolutely no quarries in Scone or Iona wherefrom a block so constituted could possibly have come, nor yet from Tara."[20]

The second study was done by Professor Odlum, who was a geologist and professor of theology at Ontario University. He made microscopic examinations of the stone, comparing it to quarries in both Scotland and Ireland, and found it dissimilar to stones from those areas. He became intrigued with the idea of that it might really be the stone of Jacob. That hypothesis could be tested scientifically by searching to see if a similar type of rock is found near Bethel, where Jacob found his stone. After considerable searching he found some strata rather high near a cliff that had exactly the type of composition he was looking for. He chipped off a piece and later performed microscopic tests. He concluded that his sample "matched perfectly" with the coronation stone.[21]

Desirous for even better proof he sought to get a little piece the size of a pea from the coronation stone, on which he could perform chemical tests. When he petitioned the Archbishop of Canterbury for such a piece, the reply was that it would take an act of Parliament signed by the King, and even then he wouldn't provide it.

To the best of my knowledge that was the end of a really fine scientific experiment which could at least partially validate the claim that the stone might have come from Bethel. This is an excellent example of how science can indeed be used to validate historical traditions. They cannot provide proof, but can greatly add to the credibility of a story. What is needed now is a really thorough scientific study of the stone to verify its authenticity.

5. Conclusion

Preliminary geological studies have indicated that the Stone of Destiny, upon which British monarchs have been crowned for centuries might indeed be the stone of Jacob as tradition asserts, because it matches a formation near Bethel, the Biblical location of the stone the prophet Jacob found. Further scientific testing is now required, such as a thorough chemical composition comparison, and even that can only confirm the possibility that the stone is authentic. In any case, on this fiftieth anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, we can pause to pay respect to what very well might be the continuation of the unbroken line of succession of kings reigning over the children of Israel, from King David, over three thousand years ago.

Notes

See www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page2333.asp for a complete summary of events.

E. Raymond Capt has written several books which summarize much of the evidence. Most of the information in this article was taken from his book Jacob's Pillar, Muskogee OK, Artisan Publishers, 1977. The author wishes to thank Colette Thomas Smith and William L. Walker, Jr., who pointed out to him several of the books on the subject, many of which are available from those publishers.

One son of Zedekiah named Mulek avoided being killed, and came to America and became king of the Mulekites. His seed continued as kings until the time of Zarahemla about 120 B.C., when the Mulekites merged with the Nephites whose kings descended from Joseph through Lehi (Helaman 6:10, 8:21; Mosiah 25:2; Omni 1:19; Alma 10:3).

The lower branch must refer to Zerah, son of Judah, whose kingdoms in Great Britain would go on to surpass that of the Kingdom of Judah, which was ruled by the higher branch of Pharez.

Argos and Athens, the early culture centers in Greece which helped establish its culture and laws, were founded by the Danai (named for Dan). Muller, in Fragmenta Historicorum II:385 summarizes: "Hecataeus [of Abdera, a fouth-century B.C. Greek historian], therefore, tells us that the Egyptians, formerly being troubled by calamities, in order that the divine wrath might be averted, expelled all the aliens gathered together in Egypt. Of these, some, under their leaders Danus and Cadmus, migrated to Greece." (Capt, p. 25). Another ancient historian, Diodorus, adds "Now the Egyptians say that also after these events a great number of colonies were spread from Egypt all over the inhabited world . . . They say also that those who set forth with Danaus, likewise from Egypt, settled what is practically the oldest city in Greece, Argos . . . Even the Athenians, they say, are colonists from Sais in Egypt." (G.H. Oldfather, Diodorus of Sicily, 1933, vol 1, I:1-II:34, pg. 91, quoted in Capt, p. 26). The Danai became associated with the Phoenicians, and gave them their alphabet (the Phoenician alphabet is same as ancient Hebrew), upon which the Greek alphabet was also based. The Bible mentions how Dan made ships during the period of the Judges (about 1300 B.C., Judges 5:17). Homer refers to all of Greece as Argos, and calls them Argives or Danai, but most Greeks are descended from Javan, son of Japheth (Gen. 10:2). The Argives apparently later became the Macedonians. See Gawler, J. C., Dan, Pioneer of Israel (London, 1880) reprinted by Artisan Publishers, 1984, pp 11-16. This was clearly part of how all the world would be blessed by the children of Abraham.

The Milesians were said also to called Gadelians, but the latter were probably a group that came later from the same area, because they were said to have remained in "Gothland" for a century and a half before coming to Ireland (Gawler, p. 31). I cannot help but notice the similarity of the name "Gadelian" and the name "Goth" to "Gad," one of the twelve tribes of Israel. I've never read of anyone else making that connection, so it might be merely a coincidence. Keatinge, in his History of Ireland p. 72 states, "The most ancient Irish chronicles assert that the Gadelians in general were called Scots because they came out of Scythia." (Gawler, p. 41). The original source seems to be Annals of Ireland, by the Four Masters, "The Milesians, according to our old annalists, were originally a colony from Scythia, near to the Euxine and Caspian Seas, on the borders of Europe and Asia, and about the country now called Crimea. From these people, called the Scoti or Scots, Ireland got the name of Scotia." (Gawler, p. 31).

Zerah is the usual spelling for this name (Gen. 46:12, 1 Chron. 2:4, etc.). The only time it is spelled Zarah is in the one verse describing his birth (Gen. 38:30).

David's promise of continually reigning descendants appears to be an extension of the same promise given to Judah. This article discusses the continuity of the regal line after David, but what about from Judah to David? Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sam. 9:1-2), and before that Israel was ruled by judges from various tribes. Where were the kings from Judah at that time? A manuscript from the Archives of Constantinople, which might well be the last chapter of the Book of Acts, states that the apostle Paul visited the British Isles, and that "certain of the Druids came unto Paul privately, and showed by their rites and ceremonies they were descended from the Jews which escaped from bondage in the land of Egypt, and the Apostle believed these things" (E. Raymond Capt, The Lost Chapter of Acts of the Apostles, Artisan Publishers, Muskogee, OK, 1982, p. 6). If some Israelites escaped from Egypt as the bondage began, then Judah's descendants could have a continual reign beginning with Judah himself.

The Greek tradition is that Cecrops was the founder and first king of Athens, and that his brother Darda was the founder of Troy. Both were said to have come from Egypt. Some researchers have concluded that they were none other than Calcol and Dara, sons of Zerah (1 Chron. 2:6; Capt, Jacob's Pillar, p. 26). If so, it would mean that those cities were founded earlier than thought and that the founders left before, rather than after, the Egyptian bondage.

The Scottish tradition is that his people were officially named "Scots" in honor of his wife, although they also say the name came from Scotia, their former home (Scythia): "the ancestor of the Scots was 'ane Greyk callit Gathelus (father of Eochaidh ...) son (descendant) of Cecrops of Athens, untherways of Argus, King of Argives' who came to Egypt when 'in this tyme rang (reigned) in Egypt Pharo ye scurge of ye pepill of Israel.' Gathelus gained a great victory for Pharo against 'the Moris and Pepil of Yned' and 'King Pharo gaif him his dochter, callit Scota, in marriage' It explicitly states that after they moved to Lusitana (Portugal) and built the city of Brigance, that he 'callit his subdittis (subjects) Scottis in honour and affeccioun of his wyiff.'" (The Chronicles of Scotland, by John Bellenden, 1531, vol. I, pgs. 21-27, quoted in Pillar of Jacob, p. 30).

Capt, Jacob's Pillar, pp. 31-32.

Another regal line in England descending from David comes from Joseph of Arimathaea, who went to England shortly after the Crucifixion of Christ, and from whom King Arthur descended.

According to Capt (p. 26), after the fall of Troy, about 1200 B.C., Aeneas, the last of the royal blood of Zerah, took what was left of his nation and moved to Italy. He married the daughter of Latinus, king of the Latins, and founded the Roman Empire. His son (or grandson) Brutus with a large party of Trojans, removed to England. He arrived about 1103 B.C. and made a contract with his kindred in Britian. He built his new capital called Caer Troia ("New Troy"). The Romans later called it "Londinium" and today it is known as London.

See the CNN coverage of the return of the Stone of Scone.

The Companion Bible, quoted in Jacob's Pillar, p. 12.

Bethel was located within a few miles of what is now Ramallah, which is Yasser Arafat's headquarters.

Some possibilities are Ex. 17:6, Num. 20:8, Deut. 8:15, Psalms 114:8 in light of 1 Cor. 10:4.

But didn't Gathelus say it his chair was marble? The word marble at that time could refer to any calcareous stone which could be polished (Jacob's Pillar, p. 31).

This tradition comes through the Masons (Jacob's Pillar, p. 11).

Jacob's Pillar, p. 59.

Jacob's Pillar, p. 60.

http://www.johnpratt.com/items/docs/lds/meridian/2003/throne.html

Rupert Giles (/ˈdʒaɪəlz/) is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon for the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character is portrayed by Anthony Head. He serves as Buffy Summers' mentor and surrogate father figure. The character proved popular with viewers, and Head's performance in the role was well received. Following Buffy's run, Whedon intended to launch a television spin-off focused on the character, but rights issues prevented the project from developing. Outside of the television series, the character has appeared substantially in Expanded Universe material such as novels, comic books, and short stories.

Giles' primary role in the series is Watcher to Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in her capacity as vampire Slayer; he is in the employ of the Watchers' Council, a British organisation that attempts to oversee the actions of the Slayer. From youth, Giles was expected to follow the family tradition and become a Watcher, though as a teenager and young adult he rebelled, dropping out of Oxford University to experiment in dark magic and the rock music scene, until a bereavement brought him to his senses. In adulthood, his loyalty to Buffy and her group of friends costs him his job for a time. As the series progresses, Giles increasingly becomes a father figure to Buffy and her friends Willow (Alyson Hannigan) and Xander (Nicholas Brendon). His encyclopedic knowledge, affinity for magic, moderate fighting skills and willingness to kill when necessary make him an asset to Buffy in her fight against the supernatural evils that plague Sunnydale, California.

Following Buffy's conclusion in 2003, Whedon intended to continue Giles' story as a spin-off series, Ripper, which he intended to produce with the BBC. The series was to depict Giles in ghost stories set in present-day England, coping with loneliness as well as figurative ghosts from his own chequered past. Over several years Whedon restated his commitment to the project, though announced it would take the form of a one-off TV movie. Despite Head's availability and the BBC's willingness to fund the project, rights issues concerning the character ultimately led to it not developing further. Canonically, the character's story is continued in the comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (2007–2011) and subsequent stories. The Season Eight sequel Angel & Faith (2011–) heavily features Giles and utilizes ideas and characters from the proposed Ripper spin-off.

Biography

Character history

Rupert Edmund Giles (most frequently called Giles) was born circa 1955 in England. His family has worked within the Council of Watchers for at least three generations; both his father and grandmother, Edna Giles (née Fairweather), were also Watchers. As a child, Giles dreamt of being either "a fighter pilot or possibly a grocer", but he soon learned that being a Watcher is a calling, much as being a Slayer is, and Rupert's father explained his destiny to him when he was ten years old (revealed in "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date").

Although the Scooby Gang later joked that he wore tweed nappies as a child, Giles was in fact a rebellious youth, rejecting his responsibility as a Watcher and dropping out of Oxford University, where he was studying history, when he was twenty-one. During this time, Giles claimed to be a founding member of Pink Floyd in order to impress girls (although since Pink Floyd was founded in 1965, when Giles would have been around ten years old, it was not a particularly credible claim), and may have delved into criminal activity (he remarks that hot-wiring a car is "like riding a bloody bicycle", and a psychologically younger Giles has no qualms about breaking into a clothing store and attacking a police officer). He is a talented singer and guitar player (as Head is in real life) which the gang discovered, to their astonishment, when they saw him singing "Behind Blue Eyes" by The Who in "Where the Wild Things Are". Spike also saw him singing "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd in "The Yoko Factor".

He began to explore dark magic and befriended a group of young people who delved into the dark arts for fun or money: Ethan Rayne, Philip Henry, Dierdre Page, Thomas Sutcliff, and Randall. Giles gained the nickname "Ripper" during this time. Together, the group summoned a demon called Eyghon, who would possess and eventually destroy Randall. Following Randall's death, Ethan and the others failed to exorcise Eyghon, and Giles accepted his destiny of becoming a Watcher. Before becoming a fully-fledged Watcher, he also worked as "the curator of a British museum, maybe the British Museum" as Willow says ("Welcome to the Hellmouth"), although, given the context, she may well have been repeating a rumor that was going around the school.

Sunnydale

At the behest of the Watchers' Council, Giles travels to Sunnydale, California, and works as the librarian at the local secondary school. There he meets the current Slayer, Buffy Summers, whom he begins training. The library, a quasi-command centre for Buffy's demon-hunting gang, sits right above the Hellmouth.

As the Watcher, librarian, and general authority figure, Giles often delivers exposition. He is a father figure to Buffy and her friends Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, together forming the "core four" of the Scooby Gang. Giles is often portrayed as something of a "straight man" and his "stuffy" Oxford sensibility serves as counterpoint to the stereotypical Southern Californian characters and setting. He makes a "weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue" when he is angry but is "too English to say anything" ("Faith, Hope & Trick"). He admits to being technophobic, a fact which often brings him into conflict with technopagan and computer science teacher, Jenny Calendar. However, after Jenny aids him in casting the demon Moloch out of the Internet, the pair reach an understanding and begin a romantic relationship. Despite his obvious fear with modern technology, Giles is quite adept with computers, which is required in his occupation as a librarian (season 3 episode "Gingerbread") and likely had received this training while earning his master's degree in library and information science. It was never revealed of which library school Giles attended or whether he had pursued his PhD in this field.

In season 2, Giles' dark side is revealed and his relationship with Jenny deepens. In "The Dark Age", Ethan Rayne comes to Sunnydale to flee the demon Eyghon. Giles ashamedly admits to Buffy that he was responsible for summoning the demon in his youth, and is horrified when Jenny becomes possessed by Eyghon. Although Eyghon is defeated, Jenny takes time to cope with her ordeal, remaining distant from Giles in the meantime. When new Slayer Kendra Young arrives in Sunnydale, Giles shares with her an appreciation for obscure texts, resulting in Buffy nicknaming her the "She-Giles." Giles feels betrayed when Jenny reveals she is actually a member of the Kalderash gypsy clan, sent to keep an eye on Buffy's relationship with the vampire Angel. When Angel loses his soul he reverts to his evil, sadistic alter ego Angelus. Angelus murders Jenny, leaving her corpse for Giles to find in a romantic setting in his apartment ("Passion"), Giles seeks revenge by burning down Angelus' base. Angelus later kidnaps and tortures him, and Drusilla hypnotizes him into thinking she is Jenny so he will reveal how to awake Acathla. Buffy is forced to kill Angel to save the world, despite Willow's restoring his soul, and subsequently leaves Sunnydale.

In season 3, Giles's paternal feelings for Buffy strengthen significantly. He spends the summer desperately following up every clue as to Buffy's whereabouts, and is overjoyed when she finally returns months later. Giles briefly serves as Watcher for Kendra's replacement Slayer, Faith Lehane. The Scoobies are given another disturbing glimpse in Giles' past when, along with every other adult in Sunnydale, he reverts to being a teenager by enchanted band candy supplied by Ethan Rayne. He indulges in theft and vandalism, and makes out with and has sex with Buffy's mother, Joyce Summers. When Buffy keeps Angel's return from hell a secret from the other Scoobies, Giles feels betrayed by her love for the man who tortured him and murdered Jenny, but later agrees to help Angel in "Amends".

As Buffy's Cruciamentum approaches (a brutal tradition of the Watchers' Council in which a depowered Slayer is forced to battle a particularly dangerous vampire using only her wits), Giles struggles to cope with the guilt of betraying Buffy's trust. Despite describing the test as "an archaic exercise in cruelty", he secretly injects Buffy with muscle relaxants and adrenaline suppressors, which weaken her significantly, before finally coming clean when the vampire she is meant to fight escapes. Buffy is disgusted, but is later moved when Giles interferes to save her life and is subsequently dismissed for having a father's love for her. Giles is fired, and replaced with Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, but continues to act as Buffy's unofficial Watcher, proving especially helpful when Wesley turns out to be an incompetent coward. When Buffy briefly finds herself endowed with telepathic powers, she 'hears' her mother remembering that Giles was "like a stevedore" during sex. In a battle with the demonic Mayor of Sunnydale, Giles presses the trigger which destroys the Mayor and Sunnydale High, putting himself out of a job.

In season 4, Giles must cope with unemployment and a growing awareness that Buffy no longer needs him. He continues a sexual relationship with his old friend Olivia. Lacking a sense of purpose, he spends most of his time lounging around his apartment, watching Passions with Spike. He gets depressed, especially when the Scoobies fail to keep him in the loop regarding Buffy's new boyfriend Riley Finn and his membership in the Initiative. In the episode "Something Blue", Giles becomes blind as a result of a faulty spell cast by Willow Rosenberg. When Ethan Rayne casts a spell on Giles which turns him into a Fyarl demon ("A New Man"), he must enlist Spike's help to escape the Initiative and Buffy, which believes him to be a demon who murdered Giles. Buffy, about to kill him, at the last moment recognizes his eyes and "annoyed" expression, and Ethan is taken into custody by the Initiative. In order to defeat the cyber-demonoid Adam, Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles cast a spell to combine their strength. Giles provides the "mind," and Buffy is able to defeat Adam.

At the beginning of season 5, Giles no longer sees his place in Sunnydale and decides to go back to England, telling no one except Willow, whom he needs to organize the research documents for the Scoobies. He quickly abandons this decision when Buffy asks him to be her Watcher again, confessing that she needs him, both emotionally and in order to discover more about what being a Slayer means.

When the owner of The Magic Box is killed by vampires, Giles is convinced by the shop's high profit margins to buy it, hiring Anya as his overly enthusiastic assistant. Buffy learns that her sister, Dawn Summers, is actually the Key: mystical energy disguised in human form to conceal it from the hell-god Glory. Buffy initially confides only in Giles about Dawn's true nature, and he decides to contact the Watchers' Council for more information about Glory. In "Checkpoint", Quentin Travers tries to coerce Buffy to obey the Council's demands, by threatening to have Giles deported. Buffy stands up to the Council, pointing out that without her there is no need for a Council, and tells them to give her all information concerning Glory and to reinstate Giles as her official Watcher. Travers reluctantly agrees, and leaves.

As the Scoobies labor to find a way to defeat Glory, Giles brings up the difficult idea of killing Dawn to end Glory's plans to take over the world. Buffy vows to protect Dawn at all costs. Glory shares her body with an innocent human named Ben, and can be killed if Ben dies. In the final battle against Glory, Buffy abandons the fight when Glory turns back into a wounded Ben, so that she can save Dawn. Giles is less merciful. Explaining that Buffy is a hero and therefore different from the rest of humanity, he suffocates Ben with his bare hands ("The Gift").

Season 6 sees Giles reluctantly stepping back to allow Buffy to gain independence. One hundred and forty-seven days after her death, Giles decides to return to England. On the very day he leaves, Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara resurrect Buffy, and he comes back as soon as he hears of this. Despite being overjoyed to have Buffy back, he is furious at Willow for invoking such dark magic, and angrily dismisses her as "a rank, arrogant amateur." While the other Scoobies believe Buffy was in Hell, Giles is not convinced, and his suspicions prove true when a demon's musical spell causes Buffy to reveal to them all that she was indeed in Heaven. As Buffy begins to rely excessively on Giles for financial and emotional support, he decides his presence is preventing her assuming responsibility for her life. He leaves again for his native England, moving to a place near Bath, where he works with a powerful local coven.

A few months later, Tara is killed by a stray bullet as Warren Mears attacks Buffy. Willow, still recovering from an addiction to magic, suffers a relapse, kills Warren and attempts to kill his former partners in crime, before resolving to end humanity's pain (and her own) by destroying the world. Hearing of a dark power rising in Sunnydale, Giles teleports back there, wielding great magical power borrowed from the Devon Coven. As Dark Willow boasts of her indestructibility, Giles knocks her to the floor with a blast of magic energy, saying "I'd like to test that theory" ("Two to Go"). After being filled in on everything that has happened to the Scoobies in his absence, Giles apologizes to Buffy, insisting that he never should have left them, but Buffy assures him that he did the right thing. Knowing that Willow is too strong to defeat, he tricks her into draining him of his white magics, which brings him near death. It also allows Xander to reason with Willow as the good magic brings out her natural love and compassion, eating away at the evil within her. Giles returns to England with Willow for her rehabilitation. A few months later, he brings Potential Slayers to Sunnydale to protect them from the First Evil and its Bringers. Giles had removed a few volumes from the headquarters of the Watchers' Council, which is soon afterward destroyed by Caleb, an agent of the First. An injured Watcher named Robson witnessed Giles about to be decapitated by a Bringer before blacking out. When the Scoobies hear about this, they worry that Giles may have been killed and the First is merely impersonating him. They are relieved when Anya, Dawn, Xander and Andrew tackle him to the ground, proving he is corporeal and therefore not the First. Giles later loses Buffy's trust somewhat when he takes part in a scheme with Robin Wood to kill Spike ("Lies My Parents Told Me"). Buffy tells him, "I think you've taught me everything I need to know." Giles believes that Buffy kept Spike around for personal reasons rather than tactical ones; this is confirmed when she talks to Spike the night before the final battle under the Hellmouth. In the series finale, Giles participates in the battle of the Hellmouth, and survives.

Shortly after Buffy ended its seven-year televised run, there was talk of a Giles-based spin-off series for the BBC entitled Ripper. At Comicon in 2007, Joss Whedon stated that Ripper was still planned and in the pipeline, but as of 2012, nothing has come of the project.[1]

In season 5 of Angel, Angel contacts Giles via phone twice. It is established that, after the events of "Chosen", Giles travels to Europe with Buffy to train new Slayers. He also takes Andrew Wells under his wing, training him to be a Watcher. In "Damage", Andrew claims to be "faster, stronger and 82% more manly" as a result of Giles' mentoring. Later in "A Hole in the World", after Fred dies, Angel phones Giles, desperate to get in contact with Willow, who cannot be located. After Angel confirms that he still works for Wolfram & Hart, Giles coldly hangs up on him. Originally, Giles was to appear in "A Hole in the World" as the one whom Angel and Spike approached in an attempt to save Fred, because Whedon needed a character who would be instantly believed (by the characters and by the audience) when he said there was no way to save Fred. As it was too expensive for Anthony Stewart Head to fly out to Los Angeles to guest-star, Whedon created Drogyn the Battlebrand, who was mystically compelled to tell the truth.

Literature

A main character from the beginning of the series, Giles has appeared in most of the spin-off books published based on the series. He plays a particularly key role in The Lost Slayer series, where a chain of events lead to Buffy (from a point early in the fourth season) being projected into the body of her twenty-four-year-old self in a timeline where Giles was turned into a vampire by the followers of an Aztec bat god, forcing Buffy to face a foe who knows her every technique before she manages to find a way to return to the past and prevent Giles being captured and turned.

In the canonical comic book continuation of the series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, the Scooby Gang has expanded into a global organization, training approximately five hundred Slayers spread over ten squads. Giles is head of the Slayer operations in England, parallel with Andrew's operations in Italy and Buffy and Xander's in Scotland, and he keeps in close contact with Xander and Andrew, discussing issues. In the Season Eight arc, "No Future For You", he comes to Faith to request her assistance assassinating another Slayer, who will bring about the Apocalypse if left unchecked. After they are both forced to make the difficult decisions to kill the rogue Slayer Gigi and her mentor Roden, they decide to work together in the future as equal partners, keeping Slayers from turning down the dark path that both Faith and Gigi walked. As a result of their covert operation, Buffy and Giles are no longer on speaking terms.

In the story "Safe," Giles and Faith hear of a "Slayer Sanctuary" in a town called Hanselstadt from a young Slayer named Courtney. There, Giles encounters Duncan Fillworthe, a former Watcher, who claims vampires do not dare to enter the town because they know the town contains an army of Slayers. Later, as Giles argues that a stalemate is not a solution to the vampire problem, Duncan reveals that in fact the town is feeding the Slayers who come seeking sanctuary to an ancient demon. The fear of the demon is what really keeps the vampires from entering. Giles goes to warn Faith as Duncan states this is the fate that Slayers deserve for rejecting the Watchers Council, especially Buffy, reminding Giles that Buffy's relationship with Angel resulted in Jenny Calendar's death. Giles finds Faith already in combat with the demon, which feeds on beings who feel regret and fear. While trying to free Courtney from the demon, Duncan intercepts Giles. During their skirmish, the demon devours Duncan and Giles saves Courtney while Faith kills the demon. The stalemate ended, Giles and Faith rally the reluctant townspeople against the coming vampires, telling them if they want to live, they'll have to fight.[2] After Harmony Kendall's reality show establishes a new pro-vampire, anti-Slayer world order, Faith and Giles are in hiding in the Führerbunker in the "Retreat" storyline. Once their underground hideout is compromised by demons, they retreat to Scotland to reunite with Buffy. Giles and Buffy are driven to reconcile by Twilight's attacks. The entire group are later transported to Oz in Tibet to learn how to suppress magic to stop Twilight tracking them.

In the penultimate issue of Season Eight, Angel is possessed by a powerful mystical entity known as Twilight, and while under its influence, murders Giles, after Giles deliberately put himself in harm's way to provoke Buffy to action. Angel does so by snapping Giles' neck, homaging Angelus' murder of Jenny Calendar.[3] While Angelus killed Jenny in vampiric face—a result of Joss not wanting the audience to truly hate Angel's face—Giles is murdered while Angel's face is in human form. Afterwards, it is revealed that Giles has left to Faith his entire estate in his will (with the exception of the 'Vampyr' book from the first episode of the series, which he leaves to Buffy), and Faith assures Buffy this doesn't mean Giles cared about her less but rather felt Faith needed it more.

In a 2011 interview, Whedon stated that his decision to kill off Giles could not be discussed in detail "because ripples from that event" will also be a large part of both Buffy Season Nine and Angel and Faith. However, he was able to explain other motivations; he felt that from a writing perspective, Giles did not work in the comic book medium where he had flourished on the television show. His primary roles - provider of narrative exposition, and paternal figure - didn't work well in the comic book format. Whedon killed off Giles where he did so that it might have a greater effect on the coming season, "because [he] wanted to make all this matter".[4]

In the follow-up comic series Angel & Faith, Angel makes it his personal mission to bring Giles back to life. Over the course of several arcs Giles' life before Sunnydale is shown in flashbacks as Angel and Faith gather pieces of Giles' soul from demons or magical objects that were significant in Giles' life. These parts of his soul are absorbed into Angel's body using the mystical Tooth of Ammuk. They are joined by Rupert's great-aunts Lavinia and Sophronia Fairweather, two depowered witches who used magic to remain young, and an old friend of Giles named Alasdair Coames who is a depowered magical archmage and collector of magical artifacts. In the "Death and Consequences" arc Angel and Faith discover Giles is not buried in his grave. It has been possessed by the demon Eyghon who had survived "The Dark Age". Because Giles had sold his soul to Eyghon in his youth, he did not move on even though he died a natural death, and the core of his soul went to Eyghon, while smaller parts broke off and attached themselves to the things Angel & Faith had found. Thus, it is possible for Giles to be resurrected from a natural death in a world with no current source of magic. Angel recruits Spike to help him kill Eyghon and a group of British Slayers reluctantly agree to work with them to save their friends who are still alive from Eyghon's control. The presence of three beings inside Angel's body (himself, Angelus and Giles) prevent Eyghon from controlling Angel, and Giles speaks through him as Angel kills Eyghon and therefore has all of Giles' soul. It is later transferred out of Angel to a mystical vessel. Using a mystical item to restore Giles' corpse to full health and Coames' collection of artifacts to provide magic for a resurrection spell, Angel, Faith, Coames and the Fairweathers try to bring him back to life. The group is shocked when Giles comes back to life with all his memories intact, but in the body of a 12-year-old boy due to his Aunts thinking of him as a child during the ritual. Giles is grateful to be free of Eyghon but furious at the age of his body and they have been trying to bring him back and not stopping a plot by villains Whistler (Buffyverse), Pearl and Nash to mutate humans into a magical species at the cost of a few billion lives. Before confronting them, Giles says to Faith she has grown into a fine woman and they may have wanted him back, but none of the group needs him like they used to. The villains plan to unleash their plague by releasing an orb of pure magic into the upper atmosphere. Giles is able to use ambient magic to attack Nash with a fireball causing him to drop the orb but it also mutates a nearby crowd. Nash is killed causing Pearl to flee. Whistler sees the error of his ways and sacrifices his life to destroy the orb. In the aftermath of the battle, Giles wants Faith to keep his money. He decides to return to America because he was at his best with Buffy, not noticing he has hurt Faith's feelings. He parts on good terms with Angel who is staying in London's new Magic Town suburb.

While resenting the challenges of his youthful body compared to his adult mind, Giles adapts to his new situation, particularly with the discovery that his command of magic is more potent in his youthful body; his aunts speculate that he is tapping into the full potential that he repressed to focus on his studies as a Watcher.

Powers and abilities

Giles has extensive knowledge of demonology and Slayer combat (including at least a theoretical knowledge of jujutsu and aikido, but excelling at the art of fencing), mainly due to his training as a Watcher. His youthful interest in witchcraft and sorcery has endured into his adult life; though his natural aptitude for it is only moderate (much less than that of Willow), he does have a high amount of magical knowledge. Giles is proficient in several languages, including Latin, ancient Greek, Sumerian ("Primeval"), Japanese ("Checkpoint"), and possibly Gaelic ("Fear, Itself"), but weak in German ("Gingerbread"), Mandarin and Cantonese ("First Date"). While he has no prominent supernatural powers of his own, his extensive experience with dealing with vampires, demons, and other creatures makes him capable of handling them effectively.

Giles has moderate skill in hand-to-hand combat, as well as various melee weapons. While his demeanor is typically mild and polite, Giles is not above using raw violence to solve a problem, such as physically threatening Principal Snyder into readmitting Buffy to school after her expulsion ("Dead Man's Party"), pummeling Angelus senseless with a flaming baseball bat and burning down his hideout upon discovering that he had killed Jenny Calendar ("Passion"), manhandling Spike while ordering him to get over his feelings for Buffy ("I Was Made to Love You"), forcing Glory's minion Slook to talk by inflicting a painful-sounding injury offscreen ("Tough Love"), severely beating up Ethan Rayne for information ("Halloween"), and suffocating a critically injured Ben with his bare hands to keep Glory from awakening in his body. ("The Gift"). Typically, however, Giles' calm demeanor and professionalism offer him a detached state of authority even in the face of fearsome monsters, as demonstrated during his confrontation with a violent demon in "The Long Way Home". He is also shown to be able to quickly hotwire a car in the episode "Dead Man's Party".

In the season 6 finale, Giles was temporarily endowed with powers of the Devon Coven in an attempt to stop Willow. During this time, he demonstrated powers such as teleportation, telekinesis, and energy projection. He lost all of these powers when Willow drained him and left him on the brink of death, but he recovered immediately after Xander calmed her down from her rampage. His moderate proficiency in magic combined with his natural acumen and intelligence still make him quite formidable; in Season Eight's "No Future for You", he kills the warlock Roden, who could fly and conjure easily, through using a spell inventively. After being resurrected in the form of an adolescent, Giles displays much more magical aptitude, which is briefly lost when Willow temporarily ages him back into an adult form. Sophronia and Lavinia theorised that if Giles had been tutored in magic by them rather than being trained as a Watcher at the wishes of his father and grandmother, he would have become an extremely powerful magician, and could achieve this potential in his new life.

Despite his vast intelligence, Giles is not what one would call technology-savvy and is, by his own admission, somewhat technophobic. However, being a librarian, his occupation requires the use of up-to-date technology and skills to further a library service's goals to serve its patrons efficiently, and in one episode ("Gingerbread"), shows that Giles is proficient with computers at least on a basic level. However, he is dependent on Willow for tasks that are beyond his computer skill set. It's important to mention his taste in capable transportation.

Despite his lack of tech savviness, his choice in transportation is very wise. He drives a 1963 Citroen DS 21, a notably resilient and reliable car, even for its age. It won several grueling and hazardous motorsports events, including the Monte Carlo Rally in France and 1000 Lakes Rally. It even protected a French President against an assassination attempt without any armor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Giles

Dame Sarah Elisabeth Mullally (née Bowser; born 26 March 1962) is an English Anglican prelate and former nurse. She has been the bishop of London since 2018, and is the first woman to hold this office. By virtue of her office she is also a Lord Spiritual, one of the 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. On 3 October 2025, it was announced that Mullally would become the 106th archbishop of Canterbury in January 2026; she will be the first woman to hold the office.

Born in Woking, Surrey, Mullally received clinical training in nursing from St Thomas' Hospital. She practised nursing primarily in South London, where she also began her study for ministry in the Church of England. In 1999 she became Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for the English National Health Service. She left these roles in 2004 to pursue full-time ministry. For her service in nursing, Mullally was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005.

Mullally was ordained a priest in 2002 and began her ministry in the diocese of Southwark. She served in various London churches, and in 2012 became a canon of Salisbury Cathedral. In 2015 she was consecrated as bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.

Early life and education

Sarah Elisabeth Bowser was born in Woking, Surrey, on 26 March 1962,[1] and has two sisters and one brother.[2] She was educated at Winston Churchill Comprehensive School, then at Woking Sixth Form College.[3]

While studying for A-levels she decided to become a nurse rather than a doctor because she wanted to apply a holistic approach to patient care.[4] Her choice of career was also motivated by her Christian faith, which she has held since the age of 16.[4] In 1980, she started reading for a nursing degree at South Bank Polytechnic,[5] with clinical placements at St Thomas' Hospital, and was awarded joint Registered General Nurse (RGN) status and a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1984.[1] In 1992, she completed a Master of Science (MSc) degree in inter-professional health and welfare studies at London South Bank University.[1]

Nursing career

Mullally held clinical nursing posts at St Thomas' Hospital and The Royal Marsden Hospital.[6] She held several nursing leadership roles, firstly at the former Westminster Hospital (where she was a ward sister and head of practice development) and then as director of nursing at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.[2] In 1999, she was appointed as Chief Nursing Officer and director of patient experience for NHS England: she was the youngest person to hold these positions.[7] She was a non-executive director of the English Board of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting.[8][9]

In the 2005 New Year Honours, Mullally was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in recognition for her contribution to nursing and midwifery.[10] Mullally served as an independent governor for London South Bank University between 2005 and 2015, where she became vice-chairperson of the board of governors and chairwoman of the policy and resources committee.[11] She was a non-executive director of the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust from 2005 to 2012,[4][12] and held a non-executive role at Salisbury NHS Foundation between 2012 and 2016.[13] Mullally became a lay member of the council of King's College London in 2016.[14]

Ordained ministry

From 1998 to 2001, Mullally trained for ordained ministry on a part-time basis at the South East Institute of Theological Education (now St Augustine's College of Theology).[15][16] During this time, she also studied theology at the University of Kent, receiving a Diploma in Theology (DipTh) in 2001.[1] She was ordained in the Church of England; made a deacon at Michaelmas 2001 (30 September) at Southwark Cathedral;[17] and ordained a priest the following Michaelmas (5 October 2002) at Holy Trinity, Clapham – both times by Tom Butler, Bishop of Southwark.[18] From 2001 to 2004, she served her curacy as a non-stipendiary minister at the Parish of Battersea Fields in the Diocese of Southwark.[1][15]

In 2004, Mullally left her position as Chief Nursing Officer to pursue full-time Church of England ministry.[19] She then served as an assistant curate at St Saviour's Church, Battersea Fields from 2004 to 2006.[1][20] She graduated with a Master of Arts (MA) degree in pastoral theology from Heythrop College, University of London in 2006.[1] In 2006, she became the team rector of Sutton team ministry at St Nicholas Church, Sutton, London.[15] In addition to her parish work, she taught ethics in the Diocese of Southwark, was involved in an Anglican clergy leadership programme and sat on the Church of England's dioceses commission. From 2012 to 2015, she served as canon treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral in the diocese of Salisbury.[15][21]

Episcopal ministry

In June 2015, it was announced that Mullally would be the next bishop of Crediton, a suffragan bishop in the diocese of Exeter.[22] On 22 July 2015, she was consecrated a bishop by Archbishop Justin Welby at Canterbury Cathedral.[23] She and Rachel Treweek were the first women to be consecrated as bishops at Canterbury Cathedral.[24] In September 2015, she became the first woman in the Church of England to lead an ordination service, ordaining two deacons, Leisa McGovern and Sheila Walker, as priests at St Mary's Church, Ottery St Mary, Devon.[25]

On 18 December 2017, it was announced that Mullally would be the next bishop of London, succeeding Richard Chartres who had retired in February 2017.[26] The bishop of London is the third most senior bishop in the Church of England, after the archbishops of Canterbury and York.[27] Between her confirmation and her installation, she was licensed as an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Exeter so that she was able to carry out engagements related to her former see.[28] She was duly elected to the see by the college of canons of St Paul's Cathedral on 25 January 2018, becoming bishop-elect.[29] She was translated and took full legal possession of the see at the confirmation of her election—on 8 March at St Mary-le-Bow – and assumed full duties upon her installation at St Paul's Cathedral on 12 May.[30] On 15 July 2020, she acted as principal consecrator at the consecration of Hugh Nelson and Ruth Bushyager to the episcopate: this was a break in tradition, the archbishop of Canterbury usually taking this role, and was the first time a female bishop had led a consecration service in the Church of England.[31]

Sworn of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom on 14 March 2018,[32] Mullally was introduced to the House of Lords to sit on the Lords Spiritual benches[6] on 24 May 2018.[33] She sits by virtue of her office (the Bishop of London is one of five Church of England bishops who automatically receives a Lords seat, independent of seniority).

She succeeded Richard Chartres and became the first female dean of the Chapel Royal on 12 July 2019.[34][35] Mullally played a leading role in the 2023 coronation, one of three female prelates involved in the ceremonies.[36]

Archbishop of Canterbury

On 3 October 2025, the Church of England announced that Mullally would become the next archbishop of Canterbury, in succession to Justin Welby. As such, she will be Primate of All England and the metropolitan bishop of the Province of Canterbury.[37] She will be the first woman to hold the post,[38] and only the second since the Middle Ages not to have a degree from Oxford or Cambridge universities.[39] Her election by the college of canons is expected before Christmas, with legal confirmation at St Paul's Cathedral on 28 January 2026 (at this point she legally becomes Archbishop of Canterbury and ceases to be Bishop of London); she will then be formally installed at Canterbury Cathedral in March, marking the beginning of her public ministry in the role.[40]

Her appointment drew opposition from conservative Anglican groups. Within the Church of England, the conservative evangelical Church Society stated that her election "creates additional problems of disunity in the Church in England and around the world" and voiced concern relating to her views on same-sex relationships,[41] while the traditionalist Anglo-Catholic Forward in Faith organisation, which rejects the ordination of women as priests and bishops, recognised her as the "true and lawful holder of that office".[42] Anglican churches, particularly in Africa, opposed her due to their opposition to the ordination of women and to Mullally's views on the blessing of same-sex couples. The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon), a conservative Anglican group mostly based in Africa and Asia, expressed its "sorrow" at Mullally's appointment, saying that it proved that the Church of England "has relinquished its authority to lead".[43][44] The Church of Uganda's Stephen Kaziimba stated his "sadness" on Mullally's appointment due to "her support and advocacy for unbiblical positions on sexuality and same-sex marriage that reveal her departure from the historic Anglican positions that uphold the authority of Scripture for faith and life".[45][46] However, other Anglican groups in Africa have supported her; Emily Onyango, the first female Anglican bishop in Kenya, said that Mullally's election indicated that "things will be done differently ... We know there will be justice in the church".[47] Thabo Makgoba, the Archbishop of Cape Town, said that Mullally's election was a "thrilling development".[47]

Views

Mullally is a self-described feminist and has ordained both men and women.[48] According to the Financial Times, Mullally "is seen as a theological liberal".[49] However, she also supports the inclusion in the Church of England of those who reject the ordination of women, stating upon her announcement as the next bishop of London: "I am very respectful of those who, for theological reasons, cannot accept my role as a priest or a bishop. My belief is that Church diversity throughout London should flourish and grow; everybody should be able to find a spiritual home."[50]

In September 2016, she became one of ten bishops to make up the church's "Bishops' reflection group on sexuality".[51] In relation to same-sex relationships, she stated in 2017: "It is a time for us to reflect on our tradition and scripture, and together say how we can offer a response that is about it being inclusive love."[50] When asked about LGBT people in the church, she further said: "What we have to remember is this is about people, and the church seeks to demonstrate love to all, because it reflects the God of love, who loves everybody."[52]

In 2018, Mullally stated that she supported the Church of England's traditional teaching on marriage being between one man and one woman.[50][53] In 2022, Mullally supported the observance of LGBT+ History Month and the launch of an advisory group aimed at advising the diocese on "pastoral care and inclusion of LGBT+ people in the life of our church communities".[54] Previously, Mullally has described her views on abortion as favouring abortion rights, although she would lean against abortion faced with her own decision. She has said: "I would suspect that I would describe my approach to this issue as pro-choice rather than pro-life although if it were a continuum I would be somewhere along it moving towards pro-life when it relates to my choice and then enabling choice when it related to others."[55] In June 2025, Mullally opposed new legislation that would extend abortion rights by decriminalising terminations in utero up to full term. Mullally signed an open letter from Anglican clergy that called the bill a "dangerous change" to the law.[56]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Mullally

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

Abstract

Diagnostic of transsexualism and gender incongruence are terms to describe individuals whose self-identity does not match their sex assignment at birth. A transgender woman is an individual assigned male at birth (AMAB) on the basis of the external or internal genitalia who identifies and lives as a woman. In recent decades, a significant increase in the number of transgender people has been reported. Although, its etiology is unknown, biological, anatomical, genetic, environmental and cultural factors have been suggested to contribute to gender variation. In XY animals, it has been shown that environmental endocrine disruptors, through their anti-androgenic activity, induce a female identity. In this work, we described four XY individuals who were exposed in utero to the xenoestrogen diethylstilbesterol (DES) and were part of the French HHORAGES cohort. They all reported a female transgender identity starting from childhood and adolescence. This high prevalence of male to female transgenderism (1.58%) in our cohort of 253 DES sons suggests that exposure to chemicals with xenoestrogen activity during fetal life may affect the male sex identity and behavior.

Keywords: sexual identity; diethylstilbestrol (DES); prenatal exposure

1. Introduction

Gender identity defines each individual’s deeply held personal sense of their own gender as male or female or something else [1]. Moreover, gender diversity and variance are umbrella terms used to describe the wide range of gender identifications outside the conventional gender categories [2]. Gender dysphoria [3] relates to the distress and unease experienced by individuals who are discontent with their assigned gender and identify with a gender other than the one associated with their birth sex [4]. A transgender man or woman is a person born phenotypically female or male, assigned female or male at birth on the basis of their external or internal genitalia, who identifies and lives as a male or a female. Actually, for many experts [5] this definition should be enlarged to Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming (TGNC) individuals, people with disorders of sex development (DSDs) and people assigned male (AMAB) or female at birth (AFAB) [6].

All studies on secular trends have reported a dramatic increase in the number of transgender people in recent decades [7]. A temporal change in the age of presentation is another notable phenomenon [8]. Quoting Hassler et al. [8] in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5), signs of transgender in children include: “A repeated desire to be the other sex or an assertion that they are the other sex; a belief that their assigned sex will change on its own (e.g., thinking they will grow a penis or that their penis will come off when they get older); wanting to change their name to a name typically associated with another gender, or a gender-neutral name; a preference for presenting as another gender (e.g., a child assigned male at birth who prefers long hair and wearing dresses, or a child assigned female at birth who prefers short hair and wearing gender-neutral clothing); resistance or distress when made to present as a gender they do not identify with (such as a ‘girl’ throwing a tantrum over having to wear a dress or a ‘boy’ crying after having to get a haircut); assuming the role of another gender in fantasy games or make-believe; an intense desire to participate in the games and activities typical of the other gender (such as an assigned-male child playing with Barbie and an assigned-female child playing contact sports); a preference for playmates of another gender”.

Hassler et al. also wrote [8]: “In adolescence, signs of transgender includes: feelings of panic or severe discomfort concerning puberty and body changes (e.g., refusing to acknowledge or admit that changes are occurring, refusing to look at their body, or becoming distressed or uncomfortable with body development, menstruation, or ejaculation); discomfort or distress with certain forms of gender presentation, such as disliking long hair or certain types of clothing; increased bullying at school due to differences in acting out one’s perceived gender or lack of self-confidence; isolation from peers due to lack of connection or fear of bullying; depression and/or anxiety as a result of confusion over gender identity or not fitting in with peers; be aware that some adolescents may try to repress their true gender due to outside pressure, such as from family and peers, even if they previously expressed their true gender as a child”.

The literature on the prevalence of transgender people is heterogeneous, depending on the geographic area, inclusion criteria and age at presentation [9]. Specialized centers that manage transgender people estimate a prevalence between 17 and 33/100,000 individuals [10]. Actually, people who identify as transgender represent a sizable proportion of the general population, from 0.1% to 2% [11,12].

Although the biological basis of transgenderism/incongruence is unknown, biological, anatomical, genetic and environmental factors have been suggested to contribute to gender identity [13,14]. The role of sex hormones and genetics in sexual development was described by studies published between 1948 and 2019, and the implication of endogenous steroids in brain sexual differentiation has been widely studied [14,15,16,17,18]. According to the accepted dogma, high levels of fetal testosterone organize the brain towards a male phenotype [19]. Any exogenous chemical that can reduce testosterone action during fetal life can affect the differentiation of genitalia and sex behavior.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a molecule that has strengthened the concepts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and the fetal basis of adult diseases [20]. It is well known that in utero exposure to DES, a compound with estrogenic and anti-androgenic activity, induces a wide range of reproductive tract/function abnormalities in the so-called ‘DES daughters’, e.g., alterations to Müllerian duct development, fertility problems, ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages, premature births and cancers, especially clear cell adenocarcinoma (CCA) of the vagina and cervix in girls and young women [21]. In ‘DES sons’, epididymal cysts, hypospadias, cryptorchidism, hypoplastic testes and micropenises have been observed [22,23,24,25,26]. In addition, although less studied, in utero exposure to synthetic sex hormones, particularly DES, can cause psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, eating disorders and suicidal behavior [27]. Interestingly, some studies in patients exposed in utero to DES with psychotic disorders identified methylome changes that affect the expression of ZFP57 and ADAMTS9, two genes implicated in neurodevelopment regulation [28], with potential multigenerational and transgenerational effects [29,30].

In this work, we first describe four transgender women identified among the 253 sons exposed in utero to DES included in the HHORAGES-France cohort (a French National patient association). This high prevalence of male-to-female transgender individuals among DES sons (1.58%) strongly suggests that exposure of male fetuses to this xenoestrogen during fetal life may affect future male sex identity and behavior.

2. Patients and Methods

This study was based on a French national retrospective cohort of DES-treated women (HHORAGES-France Association) (n = 1200) and their families. Detailed standard questionnaires were obtained from all DES mothers when they joined the HHORAGES-France Association and all DES children were already adults at this time. The answers to this online questionnaire were used to select women who met the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least two pregnancies with two viable male babies (same father) among whom the first child was not exposed in utero to DES (pre-DES), followed by one or more children with fetal exposure to DES (DES); (2) confirmed data on the total DES dose (health record or physician’s observation). The cumulative dose D administered to the French pregnant mothers was 4050 mg < D < 7300 mg. This is considered a medium-low-dose cohort, in accordance with the observations by Tournaire et al. [31] and compared with the higher doses administered in the United States (7550 mg < D < 12,742 mg). The answers to the questionnaires were also used to identify women with a DES son who presented female gender variance. We then contacted all DES sons with female gender variance and we carried out an individual interview with them.

The local university hospital ethics committee approved this study (ID IRB No. 202301531), and all patients gave their informed consent through the HHORAGES-France Association (CNIL: J B/EM/DC042793, N° 1006460).

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

CHAPTER TWO AT THE ORIGINS OF THE ROSICRUCIANS

Hye lygt begraben Venus, dye schon Fraw, so manchen Hoen Man umb Gluck, Ehr, Scgcn, und Wolfart gcbracht hatt. (in cipher, Chymische Hochzeit)

The universe of reference to the Rosicrucian fiction is the call for a brotherhood, a Christian kabbalist assembly of reformers prepared to spread support for a wave of illumination and religious change throughout Europe. But if the advance of Rosicrucian thinking is difficult to map after the printing of the Farm in Kassel 1614, the origin of these ideas is even more in dispute. It is often maintained that the exciting thesis set forth by Frances Yates in her book on the Rosicrucian Enlightenment is seriously flawed. First, Rosicrucianism never was the successive unfolding of a clearly held together programme o f scientific reform that she believed it to be. Second, a number of scholars point out that the early British influence on the Wiirtemberg Rosicrucians was overemphasized, particularly when Yates concentrated on John Dee and derived the Rosicrucian name from the red cross of St. George, taken together with the Tudor roses of England.1 While the poetic verse on the Red Cross knight in Edmund Spencer’s The Fairie Queen has some resemblance to the Rosicrucian chivalrous quest, and while Spencer’s Castle of Alma is a poetic microcosm of learning with some resemblance to the Rosicrucian tomb, there is little concrete evidence to support Yates’ explicitely stated hypotheses. If one looks closer at her arguments, however, beginning with her interest in the Valois tapestries, one sees that she was reaching for a connection to French court culture and dynastic politics. She felt that Spencer’s poetic passages convey the militant atmosphere of the Elizabethan Leicester-Sidney-circle. This militancy centered on forging a Protestant union with the German Princes in view of the British campaign in the United Provinces in 1586, the legacy of which wouJd be preserved in the legend of Christian Rosencreutz. In her focus on the interplay of poetry and culture, Yates staked much on the hope that more would be found out concerning Philip Sidney’s Dutch, German, and French contacts. As opposed to Yates’ view, recent scholars point out that although the Rosicrucian pamphlets first appeared in print in 1614—15, they were not specifically written in political support o f the marriage at Heidelberg in 1613 between Fredrik V of Wiirtemberg and Princess Elisabeth Stuart, a marriage calculated to eventually strengthen the Protestant presence in Central and Eastern Europe. Most interpreters do agree, however, that the Rosicrucian texts are part of a more profound central European context, a context rooted in late sixteenthcentury Paracelsism and enheartened by theosophy, magic, Christian Kabbalah, and alchemical ideas that at first glance have nothing to do with Dee’s British Imperialism.

Rose Cross Over The Baltic The Spread of Rosicrucianism In Northern Europe

by Suzanne Ackerman

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vWI_uTVg5lzNCDm16itq-PLSavozNR_F/view?usp=sharing]

Rosa Jesuitica, oder Jesuitische Rottgesellen, das ist, Eine Frag ob die Zween Orden, der ganandten Ritter von der Neerscharen Jesu, und der Rosen-Creuzer ein einiger Ordensen: per J. P. D. a S. Jesuitarum Protectorum. Prague, 1620.” (4to).

This is a truly curious tract upon the “relations of the Jesuits and the Rosicrucians."

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dT28PyPUPfqDfC0iVg7nGFsle8vYBXLf/view?usp=sharing

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

Early life

A portrait of Martin Luther in 1526 by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Her father sent then five-year-old von Bora to a Benedictine convent in Brehna in 1504 to be educated, according to a letter Laurentius Zoch sent to Martin Luther in 1531.[10] At the age of nine, she was moved to Nimbschen Abbey, Cistercian community named Marienthron ('Mary's Throne') near Grimma, where her maternal aunt was a nun.[11] Von Bora's presence is in the financial accounts of 1509/10.[12]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid025DDNxNZ3vZSfUUyyoKKLyvCWa7MHtTxR3caz3WZnLYFzfRjme2o3ZtWLf8rD46xRl

The Wolfcatcher Royal (French: louvetier royal), a position also known historically as the Grand Wolfcatcher (French: grand louvetier) which is now known as lieutenant de louveterie, was established as a prestigious office in the House of the King during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration of France, tracing its inception to the luparii of Charlemagne. The office had been a fixture of the French crown as early as the reign of Louis XI, when the first recorded holder of the title Pierre Hannequeau reached prominence in 1467, although it had apparently existed in some form since 1308. Wolfcatchers Royal served under the Grand Huntsman and alongside the Grand Falconer and Captain of the Boar-hunt as members of the king's hunting service. They were responsible for organizing all aspects of the wolf-hunt and presided over the royal pack of wolfhounds and their handlers. A number of lieutenants, huntsmen, houndsmen, and valets assisted the Wolfcatcher Royal. By the 18th century Wolfcatchers, who rotated through office in alternate sessions, received stipends worth roughly between 1200 and 1400 livres.

On 9 August 1787 the office was dissolved due to financing issues but was reinstated in 1797. The office was further modified in 1971 and now serves an administrative function regulating vermin and maintaining healthy wildlife populations. Lieutenants often serve as moderators in disputes between the general public, hunters, and the government, keep the police informed of changes or nuances in hunting laws, and promote the use of ethics in hunting. A major focus of the position is the regulation of deer numbers. Wolfcatchers Royal are still required (in theory) to maintain a pack of at least four hounds capable of hunting boar or fox. There are twelve female lieutenants de louveterie in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfcatcher_Royal 

LEWIS AND LOUVETEAU

Old English Tracing Boards of the entered Apprentice degree show the Lewis, a peculiar tool of operative masons.

The instrument is made of a pair of dovetail wedges, provided with a hook or ring. Inserted in a hole in a large stone, pulling on the hook or ring spreads and locks the wedges securely in the stone, so that it may be raised by derrick or other lifting force, without putting a rope or chain about it. The greater the pull, the heavier the stone, the more securely is the Lewis locked in the hole. From this the Lewis easily became a symbol of strength, and is so denominated in certain old English rituals.

In the transactions of “Quatuor Coronoti Lodge,” the great research organization of London, in Volume X (1897) appears the following:

“In a Charter of Ethelbert, dated 862, Lewisham is known a “Liofshema mearc’,’ the mark of the inhabitants of ‘Liofsham,’ the home or dwelling of some person whose name began with the element ‘Liof’ or ‘Leof,’ i.e., dear. This prefix appears to be corrupted from Keofsu, which was from Leofsuna, literally, dear son. It still survives in the family named Leveson, pronounced Lewson. The place name appears to go through some digressions, for the seventeenth century it was written Lews’am, and was spelt phonetically as Lusam, end eventually it became, through change of etymology, Lewis. In Masonic language, we have also another lewis to account for, namely the combination of pieces of metal, which form a dovetail; now if the urchin who assisted his father was called Lewis, it is possible that the comparatively small piece of mechanism, in comparison to the weight it is capable of sustaining, as a saving of labor, may have in trade vocabulary been called a lewis - dear one.”

The Harris Masonic manuscript, No.1 (seventeenth century) defines the word as follows:

“A Lewis is such an one as hath served an Apprenticeship to a Mason, but it is not admitted afterwards according to the custom of making Masons.:

Compare this with the curious statement in the Carmick manuscript, in the possession of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania:

“You shall not make a Mould or Square for any that is cut a Kenis, for a Kenis is one that hath not admitted afterwards according to the Custom of Making Masons.”

Hughan, the great Masonic scholar, read “Cut a Kenis” to mean “But a Lewis” - in other words, the prohibition to Masons is that no Mould or Square may be made for any one who is “only” a Lewis, not actually a member of the Craft.

The son of an English Mason is called a Lewis, for a reason which is set forth in Browne’s “Master Key,” which purports to be a verbatim account of a part of the original Prestonian lecture. It reads:

What do we call the son of a Freemason?

A Lewis.

What does it denote?

Strength.

How is a Lewis depicted in Mason’s Lodge?

As cramp (clamp) of metal, by which, when fixed into a stone, great and ponderous weights are raised to a certain height, and fixed upon their proper basis, without which Operative Masons could not so conveniently do.

What is the duty of a Lewis, the Son of a Mason, to his aged parents? To bear the heavy burden in the heat of the day and help them in time of need, which, by reason of their great age, they ought to be exempted from, so as to render the close of their days happy and comfortable.

His privilege for so doing?

To be made a Mason before any other person, however dignified by birth, rank or riches, unless he, through complaisance, waives this privilege.

In France the son of a Freemason is called a Louveteau (daughter Louvetine) which may have been derived from “louffton” a word occasionally used in place of Lewis in the seventeenth century; the French word for the operative instrument is “Louve.” Here a curious verbal bypath invites the student; Louveteau also means a young wolf. In the Egyptian Mysteries, the candidate, wearing a mask or covering simulating a wolf’s head, was often called “wolf.” Apparently the reason for the masking of a candidate as a wolf is found in the tenuous connection between the sun, which scatters the flocks of stars from the sky, and the wolf, which scatters the flocks of sheep and cattle. The sun was the central symbol of many ancient mystery religions. Similarly, the Greek “Lukos” is both the sun and a wolf. Albert Pike said that a Louveteau might be received as such when twelve years of age, or over. According to this authority, any Symbolic Lodge might receive any Louteteau by a special ceremony, which while it did not especially obligate the Lodge to support or educate him, did promise that the Lodge would watch over him, protect him, give him counsel and advice. In his book, “Offices of Masonic Baptism, Reception of a Louveteau and adoption,” Pike states:

“It (the ceremony of reception) entitles the Louveteau to be received an Apprentice at the age of twenty-one years, if he be found worthy and intelligent.”

The qualifying phrase obviously takes away from the privilege the first promises, since all men who are “worthy and intelligent” may be “received an Apprentice at the age of twenty-one years.”

Pike lays down rules regarding the reception of a Louveteau; the question may be considered at a regular meeting of the Lodge; application must be made in writing by the father, if living; otherwise, in writing by the mother, or other relative or friend; the father must be a member of a Lodge, except that, by unanimous vote, a Louveteau may be received even if the father is not a member - “the son may be worthy, though the father may constitute the strongest claim of the child on the Lodge;” action may be had without a Committee, in the absence of objection; if a brother desires, a Committee of three “will be appointed, to report at the next regular meeting;” ordinarily, a two-thirds vote is sufficient to insure reception; applications refused may be re-presented in six months; “bad character of applicant or unworthiness of the father is good cause for rejection,” otherwise, “to become a Louveteau is a matter of right;” vote is in an Entered Apprentices’ Lodge and “the result with the names of those voting yea and nay” is to be entered on the records.

Pike’s “reception of a Louveteau” covers sixty pages. A single quotation will suffice:

“It is one of the duties of Brotherhood, arising out of that holy relationship, to guide and guard, and rear and educate, if need be, a Brother’s children. Let us recognize this duty, and add to its obligation our solemn pledge to watch incessantly over this youth, to avert from him pestilential influences, warn him against ill examples, and rescue him from perils. Let us, according to our ancient custom, and by the ancient and symbolic name, receive him as our Ward in the hope that he will in due time become our Brother.”

Where Pike got the authority for the statements he makes or the inspiration for his beautiful if lengthy ceremony, cannot be stated. No American Grand Lodge authorizes such a ceremony. But Pike’s statement that it is “one of the duties of Brotherhood to guide and guard, to rear and educate” a brother’s children is followed in both letter and spirit by many Grand Lodges; which maintain Homes, Schools or Charity Foundations by which the children of Master Masons are guide, guarded and educated when the father has passed beyond his power to do a father’s duty. Spiritually, then, if not by Masonic law, the children of a Master Mason are indeed treated as Pike would have had Louveteaus and Louvetines treated.

Erroneous statements are often made that a Lewis may be initiated at eighteen years of age. Washington, who received his Entered Apprentice degree when he was twenty years and eight months of age; is often mentioned to prove the point.

Whatever the practices in an older day, in England a Lewis cannot now be initiated before he is of “lawful age,” without a dispensation. There is no evidence whatever that Washington was ever considered a Lewis. His initiation before being twenty-one can much more logically by laid to the lax practices of an easy age when Freemasonry in this country was very informal, far from original authority, developing largely from its own motion in a time when experiment in a new land, with a new government, in ideas, in hopes was in the air.

In middle ages England it was an invariable custom for a son to follow in his father’s footsteps; such names as Smithson, Wrightson, etc., come from the days when the smith and the wheelwright had sons who became also wheelwrights and smiths. Most fathers have a hope that their sons will follow where they led, take up the same profession, carry on the old firm; it is human expression of the longing for that form of immortality, expressed in the desire that what has been honorable and useful in the family will continue to be so.

Masons who have sons are usually intensely interested in seeing them become members of the ancient Craft. A Petition and fee is often made a coming-of-age gift to a young man on his twenty-first birthday. From this natural hope of a Mason that his son will go where he preceded him, in turn to receive Masonic light and the happiness and education that may come from membership in a Lodge, has arisen the feeling in most Lodges, the stronger that it is not expressed in formal law, of interest in the boys of members. Lodges are not consciously influenced in their judgment of petitions from the sons of members by that fact, but Masons would be less than human if they did opt look with some indulgence on the young men who ask to follow in the path their fathers have walked.

In this sense, then, the Lewis has a privilege in all Lodges; he is already known, by proxy at least, to the Lodge to which he applies, and there is a natural predisposition favorably to consider his application, and for the committee to judge him with mercy. It is a sound tribute to the common sense of American Masonic law that the Lewis has few if any legally stated privilege. The Grand Lodge of North Dakota has in its by-laws (page 38, revision of 1928): “Candidate: Age reduced in some Cases - Lewis.

Any Lodge in this Grand Jurisdiction may lawfully receive and ballot upon a petition for the degrees of a son or nephew of an affiliated Mason within the last six months of such petitioners twenty-first year; however, if elected, he shall not be initiated an Entered Apprentice until he has attained the age of twenty-one.”

The Constitution of the Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia prior to 1924 stated:

“No Lodge shall initiate any candidate who is under 21 years of age, etc.”

Questions arising as to the age at which application might be received, Grand Master Roberts ruled (1924) that no petition might be legally received from a minor, basing his ruling on civil law which makes minors unable to execute contracts. Later, the Constitution was revised to read:

“No Lodge shall accept the petition of any candidate who is under 21 years of age at the time of the presentation of his petition to the Lodge, etc.”

Generally speaking, Grand Lodges require petitioners to be of legal age; all in this country require them to be either “twenty-one” or of “lawful age” before initiation.

During the Great War, many Grand Jurisdictions waived not only “suitable proficiency” between degrees, but often the matter of “lawful age” for sons of Masons in the armed forces of the nation. Lodges with a restricted membership often provided that the petitions of sons or fathers of members may be received and ballot had, regardless of whether the roster is full or not.

The Order of DeMolay for boys is for sons of Master Masons, and their friends; which in effect means any boy who can be recommended by a Master Mason. The Order continually insists that its membership is not in any way to be considered as helpful in later receiving Masonic membership.

Lewis and Louveteau, sons of Masons, in this country, then, are words with no special Masonic standing; the words are scarcely known to a majority of Masons. But in the spirit of our Lodges the old idea of the son following in his father’s footsteps persists; hence it is not infrequent to find Lodges arranging “father and son” nights, and it is still an event in any Lodge when a father raises his son to the Sublime Degree - more rare, and even more interesting, when it is the son’s good fortune to raise his father.

Predicating the whole philosophy of Freemasonry upon a certain Fatherhood, it would be odd indeed, however little official recognition we give them, if Masons had no special tenderness of feeling for their Lewises and Louveteas.

http://www.themasonictrowel.com/masonic_talk/stb/stbs/35-02.htm

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'"

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

Trump, Vance meet with Pope Leo's Florida brother, 'a major MAGA fan', at White House

Kim Luciani

USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida

May 22, 2025, 12:58 p.m. ET

Key Points AI-assisted summary

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's brother, Louis Prevost, at the White House.

Trump publicly praised Prevost, a Florida resident, for being a "major MAGA fan."

Louis Prevost acknowledged his political views and stated his intention to "tone it down" to avoid causing issues for the pope.

President Donald Trump met with Pope Leo XIV's Florida brother Louis Prevost at the White House on May 20, after praising Prevost to reporters at the Capitol earlier in the day, calling him a "major MAGA fan."

Trump told reporters he likes the pope and both of his brothers, but spotlighted the eldest brother, Navy veteran and Port Charlotte resident Louis Prevost.

"I like the new pope and I like the pope's brother. You know, one of the pope's brothers – actually both of them – but one in particular is a major MAGA fan. Did you know that? He lives in Florida," Trump said.

"And I look forward to getting him to the White House. I want to shake his hand, I want to give him a big hug."

Later that day, the White House visit happened. Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah met with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office.

"Great meeting between President Trump, Vice President Vance, and @Pontifex’s brother, Louis Prevost and his wife Deborah," Special Assistant to the President and Communications Advisor Margo Martin posted on X, along with a photo of the meeting.

Louis Prevost excited and happy about brother Pope Leo XVI's papacy

The Prevost brothers — Louis, John and Robert (Pope Leo XIV) — grew up in Chicago in a traditional Catholic family.

Louis Prevost said his youngest brother Robert wanted to "play priest" when he was 6 and set his sights on the priesthood as a freshman in high school. Their parents, neighbors and even strangers told Robert, "You're going to be pope someday," he said.

Robert Prevost's election as Pope Leo XIV left Louis Prevost excited, happy, mind blown and a little worried about how the papacy would impact their relationship.

“I just freaked out and said ‘It’s Rob, OMG.’ I was up, dressed, out, just going nuts,” he told WBBH.

“We can only hope that we can maintain that closeness, and we don't do anything to embarrass him,” he said.

Louis Prevost attended Pope Leo's inaugural mass at the Vatican on May 18. The brothers shared a hug after the service.

Pope Leo's Florida brother Louis Prevost is a MAGA, Trump supporter

Trump told reporters Louis Prevost is a "major MAGA fan."

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Louis Prevost said, "I don’t want to create waves that don’t need to be there because I’m a MAGA type and I have my beliefs,” he said. “I don’t need to create heat for him. He’s going to have enough to handle as it is without the press going ‘the pope’s brother says this.’ He doesn’t need that.”

Asked about his reposts of controversial social media memes, including one calling Nancy Pelosi a drunk (expletive), and how they might affect the pope, Louis Prevost said he will "tone it down."

"He knows I am who I am," he said of the pope. "He's well aware of my position. He knows I'm probably not going to change and I don't think I will, other than to, just like you say, tone it down."

Contributing: Melissa Pérez-Carrillo, Herald-Tribune, Ashley Ferrer, USA TODAY Network-Florida

https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2025/05/22/trump-pope-leo-florida-maga-brother-louis-prevost-white-house-visit/83773944007/

All historians acknowledge the ascendancy of the popes began in 308 A.D., when King Clovis of the Salian or Merovingian Franks (later France), won the decisive battle in the Catholic and Arian religious war, thereby settling the dispute in favor of the Catholics. But the popes' temporal reign officially began in the year 538 A.D. when Roman Emperor Justinian subdued the last of the three kingdoms, or "horns," that opposed the rise of the Papacy."

-page 137

Chapter 19 "Exposed (Again): 1260 Years of World Domination

Codeword Barbelon book 2

by P.D. Stuart

Clovis is the modern conventional French (and thence English) form of the Old Frankish name ᚺᛚᛟᛞᛟᚹᛁᚷ (in runic alphabet) or *"Hlōdowik" or "Hlōdowig" (in Latin alphabet), equivalent to the modern forms Louis (French), Lodewijk (Dutch), Lewis (English), and Ludwig (German).

Etymology

The name *Hlōdowik or *Hlōdowig is traditionally considered to be composed of two elements, deriving from both Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz ("loud, famous") and *wiganą ("to battle, to fight") respectively, resulting in the traditional practice of translating Clovis' name as meaning "famous warrior".

However, scholars have pointed out that Gregory of Tours consequently transcribes the names of various Merovingian royal names containing the first element as chlodo-. The use of a close-mid back protruded vowel (o), rather than the expected close back rounded vowel (u) which Gregory does use in various other Germanic names (i.e. Fredegundis, Arnulfus, Gundobadus, etc.) opens up the possibility that the first element instead derives from Proto-Germanic *hlutą ("lot, share, portion"), giving the meaning of the name as "loot bringer" or "plunder (bringing) warrior". This hypothesis is supported by the fact that if the first element is taken to mean "famous", then the name of Chlodomer (one of Clovis' sons) would contain two elements (*hlūdaz and *mērijaz) both meaning "famous", which would be highly uncommon within the typical Germanic name structure.[1][2]

Frankish royalty

Clovis I (c. 466 – 511), the first king of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler

Clovis II (637 – c. 658), king of Neustria and Burgundy

Clovis III (reigned 675–676), the king of Austrasia

Clovis IV (682–695), the sole king of the Franks from 691 until 695

Clovis (died 580), son of Chilperic I and Audovera, assassinated by his father and stepmother

Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, King of Aquitaine from 781 and sole ruler of the Franks 814–840, but counted as "Louis I of France" even though West Francia (the nucleus of the later kingdom of France) was formed only after his death.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clovis_(given_name)

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

Biography

Early life

Sako was born in the city of Zakho, Iraq, on 4 July 1948.[2] He comes from an ethnic Assyrian family of the Chaldean Catholic Church that has roots in a religious community that has had a presence in the city of his birth since the 5th century AD.[3]

He completed his early studies in Mosul and then attended the Dominican-run Saint Jean’s Seminary there. He was ordained a priest on 1 June 1974 and filled his first pastoral assignment at the Cathedral of Mosul until 1979. He then earned a doctorate in Eastern patrology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute. When denied a license to teach because he was only qualified for religious instruction, he earned a second doctorate in history from the Sorbonne in Paris.[4] With this he secured his teaching license and was able to provide religious instruction. From 1997 to 2002 he was rector of the Patriarchal Seminary in Baghdad. He then returned to Mosul and guided the parish of Perpetual Help for a year.[5][6]

Sako speaks Neo-Aramaic, German, French, English, Italian, Kurdish and Arabic.[2]

Archeparch

A synod of the bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church meeting in Baghdad elected Sako Archeparch of Kirkuk on 24 October 2002. Pope John Paul II gave his assent on 27 September 2003.[7] He received his episcopal consecration on 14 November 2003 from his predecessor in Kirkuk, André Sana.[8]

In August 2009, and at the beginning of Ramadan, Sako organized an appeal for national peace, reconciliation and end to violence on the part of more than fifty religious leaders in Kirkuk. He called it "a gesture of closeness to our Muslim brothers. We are all brothers, sons of the same God we must respect and cooperate for the good of the people and our country." The participants included representatives of Ali Sistani and Muqtada al Sadr.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) is an American populist slogan and political movement led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who serves as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the second Trump administration. The slogan, echoing the "Make America Great Again" phrase popularized by Donald Trump and his ideology, reflects a focus on public health issues. MAHA gained broader attention following the suspension of Kennedy's independent presidential campaign in August 2024 and his subsequent endorsement of Trump.[1]

According to its proponents, MAHA's primary beliefs are that there is a chronic illness epidemic in the United States, advocating for what they believe are healthier lifestyle choices (including drinking raw milk, taking dietary supplements, and adopting various fad diets), suggesting that autism is caused by environmental effects (especially vaccines) and therefore need to be cured through detoxification, and contending that corruption in the food and pharmaceutical industries is a major source of health problems.[2][3][4][5]

In February 2025, President Trump established the MAHA Commission, chaired by Kennedy, to study psychiatric and anti-obesity medication, childhood diseases, and mental disorders. Its May 2025 MAHA Assessment cited poor diet, environmental chemicals, lack of exercise, stress, and overmedicalization as major child health concerns, while questioning vaccines, water fluoridation, and other public health measures. The assessment was criticized for containing fabricated sources. The Department of Health & Human Services released the "Make Our Children Healthy Again Strategy" in September 2025, proposing food regulation, SNAP restrictions on processed foods, removal of artificial dyes, scrutiny of pesticides, and drawing attention for omitting leading causes of childhood death and promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines, Wi-Fi, and 5G.

MAHA has received mixed support and criticism. Some proposals, particularly regarding food and pharmaceutical regulation, received limited bipartisan backing. A January 2025 survey indicated that 30% of Americans supported and 42% opposed the movement, with higher support among conservatives. Scientists, medical professionals, and public health officials have criticized MAHA for promoting misinformation, misrepresenting scientific studies, and aligning with anti-vaccine activism. Its policies and proposals have been described as anti-science, and several of its backers within and connected to the Trump administration have profited financially from products promoted by the movement. By late 2025, increasing measles and vaccine-preventable outbreaks were tied to anti-vaccine rhetoric spread by MAHA, leading to drops of public support for the movement.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Make_America_Healthy_Again

At the time of his father's death at the Battle of Brissarthe in 866, Odo and his brother Robert were still young, and thus king Charles the Bald appointed Hugh the Abbot (d. 886) to govern over counties previously held by Robert the Strong.[9] Since 882, Odo was the Count of Paris,[10] and gained prominence during the reign of Charles the Fat (884–887).[11]. Odo was also the lay abbot of St. Martin of Tours.[12][13]

In 882 or 883 Odo married Théodrate of Troyes.[14] The eleventh-century chronicler Adémar de Chabannes wrote that they had a son, Arnoul (c.882–898)[citation needed], who died shortly after his father. Guy is named as one of the couple's children in an Alan I's charter dated 28 August 903, but genealogist Christian Settipani has argued that the document is false.[15] The genealogical work Europäische Stammtafeln refers to Raoul as a son of Odo by Théodrate, but its primary source is not known.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odo_of_France

AI Overview

Charlemagne and Constantinople | Bridging East and West - mythist

Charlemagne, crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 800 AD, was in direct rivalry with the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople due to his assumption of the imperial title, which was still held by the Byzantine emperor. This led to a "problem of two emperors," where both sides claimed the sole right to the title, resulting in diplomatic strain and rivalry that lasted for centuries. The conflict arose when Charlemagne's imperial coronation occurred while Constantinople's ruler, Empress Irene, was a woman, a fact the Pope and Charlemagne used to justify the transfer of imperial power to the West.  

The Coronation of Charlemagne

The Context: In 797, the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople experienced a crisis when Emperor Constantine VI was overthrown by his mother, Empress Irene.

The Transfer of Power: Pope Leo III, in an act known as translatio imperii, crowned Charlemagne, king of the Franks, as "Emperor of the Romans" on Christmas Day 800 AD.

Justification: The coronation was partly justified by Irene's rule as a woman, which was not accepted in Western Europe. Charlemagne's position was also a strategic move to assert his authority.

The Rivalry with Constantinople

Two Emperors: Charlemagne's coronation created a situation with two claimants to the Roman imperial title, one in the West (Charlemagne) and one in the East (the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople).

Denial of Legitimacy: The Byzantine Empire continued to view the Western imperial title as illegitimate, referring to the Western emperor as the "emperor of the Greeks" or "emperor of the Franks".

Diplomatic Tensions: This dispute over the imperial title soured diplomatic relations and remained a significant factor in the relationship between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire for centuries.

Recognition and Outcome

Limited Recognition: While a formal war was not fought over it, the Byzantine emperor eventually recognized Charlemagne as emperor in 812.

A Personal Title: However, this recognition was limited; Charlemagne was acknowledged as an "emperor," but the Byzantine emperor maintained his claim to be the sole legitimate Roman Caesar.

Enduring Rivalry: The rivalry continued even after Charlemagne's death, becoming an important aspect of imperial history until the fall of Constantinople in 1204.

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

The Ottoman Empire[l] (/ˈɒtəmən/ ⓘ), also called the Turkish Empire,[24][25] was an empire[m] that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe, between the early 16th and early 18th centuries.[26][27][28]

The empire emerged from a beylik, or principality, founded in northwestern Anatolia in c. 1299 by the Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. His successors conquered much of Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans by the mid-14th century, transforming their petty kingdom into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. With its capital at Constantinople and control over a significant portion of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interactions between the Middle East and Europe for six centuries. Ruling over so many peoples, the empire granted varying levels of autonomy to its many confessional communities, or millets, to manage their own affairs per Islamic law. During the reigns of Selim I and Suleiman the Magnificent in the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire became a global power.[29]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman_Empire

Al-Andalus[a] (Arabic: الأَنْدَلُس) was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The term is used by modern historians for the former Islamic states in modern Spain, Portugal[1] and France. The name describes the different Muslim[2][3] states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most of the peninsula[4][5][6] and part of present-day southern France (Septimania) under Umayyad rule. These boundaries changed constantly through a series of conquests Western historiography has traditionally characterized as the Reconquista,[2][3][7][8][9] eventually shrinking to the south and finally to the Emirate of Granada.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

Ignatius of Loyola: Apostle to the Muslims

Posted on: 26th July 2016  |Author: Damian Howard SJ

Category: The Jesuits

Tags: Feast of St Ignatius, Ignatius, Islam, interreligious, Jesuit history

To educate the youth of Europe? To fight the spread of Protestantism? While many people would guess that one or both of these ambitions drove Ignatius of Loyola to found the Jesuits, he actually had something else in mind: a mission to the Muslim world. For the feast of St Ignatius, Damian Howard SJ considers how ‘Islam haunted Ignatius’s understanding of his calling’ and celebrates the fruitful work of the many Jesuits who have tried to realise Ignatius’s vision in their engagement with Muslims.

Ask the average Catholic why St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Society of Jesus and they will likely say one of two things. First, remembering the Jesuits as bastions of the Counter-Reformation they might assume that Ignatius, militant Catholic that he was, had set out with a dream of a new religious order capable of defeating Protestantism. But whilst it was the case that the Jesuits would be active in efforts to reform the Catholic Church from within and to take on the growing power of Protestant theology and culture as it spread across Europe, this was never Ignatius’s underlying vision. Second, they might suppose that Ignatius had planned from the start a vast network of new schools which would revolutionise education throughout the continent. It’s true that this is indeed what Jesuit schools ended up doing, earning the order’s members the epithet of the ‘schoolmasters of Europe’, but this huge and innovative project came about as the result of a proposal made to Ignatius after he had already become Superior General of the new order; it was never education per se that he saw as its prime mission.

So the following claim may be unexpected: Ignatius’s original apostolic orientation was actually defined in relation to the Muslim world.

This shouldn’t be entirely surprising given the state of Europe at that time in history. Ignatius was born in the Basque country in 1491. Just one year later, the Reconquista reached its conclusion with the Catholic Kings finally ousting the last Muslim rulers from their vestigial Andalusian states, giving Christian princes possession of the whole Iberian Peninsula. The year 1492 was also notable for another major geopolitical event involving Spain: the European discovery of the New World. It was all but impossible to avoid the thought that America was the reward for Spanish triumph against the Moors. Now, the energy which had propelled the Spanish conquest of the Iberian Peninsula would be released outwards; the colonial age of conquest and exploitation was dawning for a new Catholic Spain and it was to be a golden age for Spanish Catholicism. We may rightly harbour ambiguous feelings about this aggressively Christian state but this was a moment when Spanish Catholics must have felt like masters of the world.

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/ignatius-loyola-apostle-muslims

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Wolfgang William Van Halen (/væn ˈheɪlən/ van HAY-lən, Dutch: [ˈʋɔl(ə)fxɑŋ ˈʋɪlijɑɱ vɑn ˈɦaːlə(n)], born March 16, 1991) is an American musician. The son of actress Valerie Bertinelli and guitarist Eddie Van Halen, he performed alongside his father and his uncle as the bassist for Van Halen from 2007 to 2020. He also performed with the heavy metal band Tremonti from 2012 to 2016. After his father's death in 2020, which led to the disbandment of Van Halen, he began to focus on his solo project Mammoth, in which he performs all instruments and vocals. His debut album Mammoth WVH was released in 2021, and his second album Mammoth II was released in 2023.

Early life

Wolfgang started his musical career as a drummer. He often watched his father rehearse, and at times would try to play his uncle Alex's drum kit, whereupon the latter would give him a few lessons. Wolfgang started playing drums at the age of nine, being mostly self-taught with only few lessons from his uncle, and got his first drum set from his father as a present for his tenth birthday. Some time later he moved on to guitar and bass. He can also play keyboards and "figure things out by ear".[2] Wolfgang later began actively participating in Van Halen, the band. He also made guest appearances during some dates of Van Halen's 2004 tour, appearing during his father's extended guitar solo spot and playing with him the instrumental "316"[citation needed] (from the album For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge), which refers to his birthday.

For a 13-year period ending in 2004, Eddie Van Halen collaborated with Peavey on a line of guitars, the Wolfgang series, named after his son.[3] In 2008, his father named a custom guitar after him, the EVH Wolfgang.[4][5]

Career

Van Halen

In late 2006, in an interview with Guitar World, Eddie Van Halen confirmed that his son would replace Michael Anthony as Van Halen's bassist.[6] Wolfgang first toured with Van Halen in his new capacity in 2007.[7] Eddie took Wolfgang out of school for the tour, with Wolfgang missing 11th grade, but he put plans for a new album on hold so that Wolfgang could graduate.[8] In August 2010, Van Halen announced that they would record a new album, with Wolfgang playing bass.[citation needed]

In early 2008, Van Halen appeared on the cover of the April issue of Guitar World with his father, in the magazine's first father-son issue.[citation needed]

He recorded his only studio album with Van Halen, A Different Kind of Truth, in 2011. The album was released on February 7, 2012.[9]

Wolfgang Van Halen appears as the bassist for Van Halen in Guitar Hero: Van Halen, replacing Michael Anthony even in the band's past incarnation.[citation needed]

Wolfgang remained in Van Halen until 2020, when the band disbanded following his father's death.[10]

Tremonti

Van Halen performing in 2012

On September 10, 2012, Alter Bridge and Creed guitarist Mark Tremonti announced that Van Halen would be filling in for Brian Marshall as bassist for the first tour of Tremonti's eponymous band.[11] Tremonti's first album, All I Was, was released on July 17 of that year. Wolfgang became an official member of Tremonti in 2013, replacing previous bassist Brian Marshall.[12] He appears on the band's 2015 studio album Cauterize and its 2016 follow-up Dust.

Clint Lowery

Sevendust guitarist Clint Lowery revealed in a June 2019 tweet on Twitter that Van Halen would play on his solo debut. "[Wolfgang] will be playing drums, maybe some bass," he says. "I'll do the rest. Just not good enough on the kit myself to pull it off in [the] studio."[13]

Mammoth

In 2021, Van Halen released his debut album Mammoth WVH under the same name. The LP showcased his talents as a songwriter and musician with Van Halen writing every song and playing every instrument on the studio album.[14] After the album's release, Mammoth WVH began touring, with Frank Sidoris, Jon Jourdan, Ronnie Ficarro, and Garrett Whitlock rounding out the touring lineup.[15] The band's name would later be shortened to simply Mammoth.[16]

In 2023, Van Halen was one of the guitarists in "I'm Just Ken", recorded for the Barbie soundtrack.[17] He would later appear in the song's live performance during the 96th Academy Awards.[18]

Awards and recognition

Van Halen was nominated for a 2022 Grammy Award in the category of Best Rock Song for his song "Distance", from his album Mammoth WVH.[19] He wrote the song when his father was dealing with complications from cancer. "[Eddie] cried when he first heard it. It was a really special moment that I'll never forget."[20] Both "Distance" and his second single, "Don't Back Down", debuted at #1 on the Billboard's Mainstream Rock Airplay Chart. The band is the first act to send its first two songs to No. 1 on the chart since The Glorious Sons in 2019.[21]

Musical style

Van Halen started playing the bass as his father started asking if he wanted to play with him. Van Halen first viewed bass as "an easier version of guitar, but as soon as I started playing it I realized how wrong that was", but stated that his experience with a guitar made it easier for him to deal with the instrument. His style was described by Eddie as a "rhythm bassist, like I'm a rhythm guitarist and a bassist put together." When he began playing bass, his inspirations were Les Claypool of Primus and Justin Chancellor of Tool. He also enjoys Chris Wolstenholme of Muse, John Entwistle of The Who, Jack Bruce of Cream "and all of the classic players".[2]

Wolfgang's musical style mainly consists of the hard rock, alternative rock, and heavy metal genres. However, he has also released a few pop songs under the Mammoth name, namely "Think It Over" and "Distance".[22]

Personal life

Named in homage to the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he is the only child of Dutch-American guitarist Eddie Van Halen and American actress Valerie Bertinelli. He is also the paternal nephew of drummer Alex Van Halen. Wolfgang has said that he did not know his father was a famous musician until he "started picking up CDs and saw his father's picture on them".[2]

Wolfgang Van Halen announced his engagement to longtime girlfriend Andraia Allsop on July 6, 2022.[23] The two married on October 15, 2023.[24]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Van_Halen

Het Circus van Nero was een antiek stadion voor wagenrennen in Rome. Het staat ook bekend als het Circus van Caligula, naar de keizer die het liet bouwen, en als Circus Vaticanus, naar de Vaticaanse Heuvel waarop het was gebouwd.

Geschiedenis

Het Circus van Nero is gebouwd in opdracht van keizer Caligula. Het stadion was ongeveer 560 meter lang en 80 breed en stond aan de Via Cornelia.

Caligula was een groot liefhebber van wagenrennen en wilde een eigen circus hebben waar hij zelf rustig kon oefenen. Het werd gebouwd in tuinen op de Vaticaanse heuvel, een stuk grond dat aan zijn moeder toebehoorde. Het Circus van Caligula was maar nauwelijks kleiner dan het Circus Maximus en om de grootsheid van zijn eigen renbaan te benadrukken liet hij een enorme obelisk uit Egypte halen en op de spina, de middenafscheiding van de renbaan, plaatsen.

Caligula werd vermoord voordat de bouw klaar was en het circus werd voltooid onder zijn opvolger, keizer Claudius. Zowel Claudius als zijn opvolger Nero, lieten hier regelmatig spelen organiseren. Door de wreedheden die Nero hier liet uitvoeren op de eerste christenen, staat het circus nu bekend onder zijn naam.

Vespasianus, de uiteindelijke opvolger van Nero na het vierkeizerjaar, wilde de herinnering aan zijn voorganger doen vergeten en sloot het circus. Hierna verviel het tot een ruïne, totdat Constantijn de Grote de laatste resten liet afbreken om op deze plaats zijn Oude Sint-Pietersbasiliek te bouwen.

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circus_van_Nero

9. Interprovincial Works and Houses in Rome

304 §1. In the spirit of our fourth vow, the Society confirms its commitment to the interprovincial Roman works entrusted to it by the Holy See: the Pontifical Gregorian University and its associated institutes, the Pontifical Biblical Institute and the Pontifical Oriental Institute, as well as the Pontifical Russicum College, the Vatican Radio, and the Vatican Observatory, all of which are common works of the whole Society, placed directly under the superior general. Recognizing the very valuable service that these institutions have offered and continue to offer today, it calls upon major superiors who share Father General s responsibility for them to continue their help through subsidies and especially by training and offering professors and other personnel to them.

§2. Also recommended to the care of all the provinces are those other works or houses in Rome that render a service to the entire Society, such as the Historical Institute of the Society of Jesus and the international colleges of the Society in Rome.[142]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

The Keys of This Blood is a 1990 non-fiction geopolitical book by former Catholic Jesuit priest Malachi Martin.

Content

Martin wrote this book as a geopolitical and georeligious analysis of the last decades of the 20th century. He identifies this period as the millennium end-game for a new world order, which has three main contenders. It will establish the first ever one-world government. Pope John Paul II, Mikhail Gorbachev, and international business leaders are in competition to establish this one world government and that this competition will intensify around the turn of the 21st century (around 2000). The book further claims to be an inside account of what the pope is doing to win this geopolitical struggle and how he played an instrumental role in the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

Martin identifies the three main players vying for world domination in the world today and thus lays the ground for his historical analysis: materialism with the East and West in their communism or socialism and capitalism or liberalism, which he places on one side together, and the Roman Catholic Church, the only truly geopolitical spiritual organization in existence today. One of the two sides must win, for they cannot coexist.

Martin introduces the concept of superforce in the book. Superforce is the unofficial name given by Martin for a more or less formal group of people within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church (82). Martin claimed that this superforce is a sort of ecclesiastical version of a hostile corporate takeover team and that it was made up of churchmen of such rank and power within the Vatican and at key points of the hierarchic structure that they controlled the most vital organs and sinews of that structure, worldwide. The goal of this organisation consist in a fundamental shift in church teachings.[1]

The book was translated into Spanish, Polish and German.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Keys_of_This_Blood

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (/ˈmɛɡən/; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family, media personality and former actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III.

Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her acting career began at Northwestern University. She played the part of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the legal drama series Suits. She also developed a social media presence, which included The Tig (2014–2017), a lifestyle blog. During The Tig period, Meghan became involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice. She was married to the film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2014.

Meghan retired from acting upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. They have two children: Archie and Lilibet. The couple stepped down as working royals in January 2020, moved to Meghan's native Southern California and launched Archewell Inc., a Beverly Hills-based mix of for-profit and not-for-profit (charitable) business organizations. In March 2021, she and her husband participated in Oprah with Meghan and Harry, a much-publicized American television interview by Oprah Winfrey. She has written the children's book The Bench, hosted a podcast Archetypes (2022), and has starred in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan (2022) and With Love, Meghan (2025). Her lifestyle and cooking brand As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.

Early life and education

Further information: Family of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, at West Park Hospital in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. She identifies as mixed race; "My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white."[1] Her parents – the former makeup artist Doria Ragland (born 1956) and Thomas Markle Sr. (born 1944), a television lighting director and director of photography[2] – separated when she was two years old and divorced four years later.[3][4][5]

Markle reportedly has a close relationship with her mother.[6][7] Until the age of nine, both parents contributed to raising her; then, her father was left in charge of caring for her (while her mother pursued a career) so Meghan lived with him full-time before commencing university at age eighteen.[8][9] Markle Sr. worked as a director of photography and lighting for General Hospital and Married... with Children, and Meghan occasionally visited the set of Married... with Children as a child.[10][11] In later life, she became estranged from her father and paternal half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.[12][13]

Growing up in View Park–Windsor Hills, Los Angeles,[14] Markle attended Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse.[15][16] At age eleven, she and her classmates wrote to Procter & Gamble to gender-neutralize a dishwashing soap commercial on national television.[17] She was raised as a Christian, though conflicting reports indicate she was raised either Catholic or Protestant.[18][19][20] She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School (Los Angeles), a fee-charging all-girls Catholic school.[21] Markle took part in plays and musicals at the school, where her father helped with lighting.[22] During her teenage years, she worked at a local frozen yogurt shop and a donut shop and later as a nanny and waitress.[23][24][25] She also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles.[26][27]

In 1999, she was admitted to Northwestern University (NU) in Evanston, Illinois, where she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.[28][29] With other members of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Markle did volunteer work with the Glass Slipper Project. After her junior year, her uncle Michael Markle helped secure her an internship as a junior press officer at the American embassy in Buenos Aires,[30] and she considered a political career.[31][32] However, she did not score high enough in the Foreign Service Officer test to proceed further with the US State Department[33] and returned to NU. She also attended a study abroad program in Madrid.[29] In 2003, Markle earned her bachelor's degree with a double major in theater and international studies from Northwestern's School of Communication.[31][33]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meghan,_Duchess_of_Sussex

Meghan Markle Addresses Why She Renamed Lifestyle Brand As Ever, Calls American Riviera Orchard 'Word Salad'

The Duchess of Sussex first named her company American Riviera Orchard in 2024 and has since changed the brand to As ever

By Rachel McRady  Published on April 22, 2025 09:28AM EDT

Meghan Markle is getting candid about the twists and turns of launching her company, As ever — originally called American Riviera Orchard.

“I had secured ‘As ever’ as a name in 2022,” the Duchess of Sussex shared on the Tuesday, April 22 episode of her Confessions of a Female Founder with Meghan podcast. “And then as everything started to evolve last year and bringing in a partner the size that it was," she said of partnering with Netflix on both her TV show, With Love, Meghan and her lifestyle brand.

"It was just so interesting because you remember, I said, ‘I like American Riviera as an umbrella," she continued. "And then to be able to have verticals beneath it, and maybe have the ‘Orchard’ really small.’ “

Meghan first announced American Riviera Orchard in March 2024, but added that it “became this word salad,” adding, “I don't love that so much.”

So the mother of two pivoted to a different approach, noting, “I said, ‘Okay, well, let's go back to the thing that I've always loved. Let's use the name that I had protected for a reason, that had been sort of under wraps.’ “

Choosing to rebrand her company, Meghan said she was able to work on As ever privately.

“We were able to focus in the quiet,” the duchess explained. “And put our heads down and build on something that no one was sniffing around to even see about. It was just really, really helpful to have that quiet period.”

The former Suits star previously opened up to PEOPLE in an exclusive interview about her switching her company's name, sharing, “There are tons of twists and turns — even with the name. I was figuring it out in real time.”

Princess Lilibet's Red Hair Makes an Appearance in New Video as Meghan Markle Shares 'Special Gift' Prince Harry Got Them

Meghan added, “I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out and also to be forgiving with myself through that. It’s a learning curve."

Though she began As ever in the kitchen, Meghan plans to expand the brand to home decor, telling Inc, "I hope that people see that reflected in whatever it is that I’m creating and putting out there. It’s just an extension of me."

As ever plans to unveil new items seasonally, expanding beyond culinary products into hospitality and home offerings.

And her biggest fan remains her proud husband, Prince Harry, who told PEOPLE in an exclusive cover story last week, "I am so happy for my wife and fully support absolutely everything she’s done and continues to do. I'm incredibly proud.”

https://people.com/meghan-markle-rebranded-her-company-after-first-name-was-word-salad-11719537?utm_campaign=peopleroyals&utm_content=new&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwY2xjawJ2MTFleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFTaTJvRU9naW84Q05sMnZqAR74tFATubI7QYzxUHZtG1DmZ_JhWKJsZxLTb_9UAT78O7x1KUyp63OszDvVgw_aem_KDFDYO8JrhKG9o9Th0l6Hg

Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub[a] (c. 1137 – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin,[b] was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, he spearheaded the Muslim military effort against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, the Ayyubid realm spanned Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen, and Nubia.

Alongside his uncle Shirkuh, a Kurdish mercenary commander in service of the Zengid dynasty,[6] Saladin was sent to Fatimid Egypt in 1164, on the orders of the Zengid ruler Nur ad-Din. With their original purpose being to help restore Shawar as the vizier to the teenage Fatimid caliph al-Adid, a power struggle ensued between Shirkuh and Shawar after the latter was reinstated. Saladin, meanwhile, climbed the ranks of the Fatimid government by virtue of his military successes against Crusader assaults and his personal closeness to al-Adid. After Shawar was assassinated and Shirkuh died in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin as vizier. During his tenure, Saladin, a Sunni Muslim, began to undermine the Fatimid establishment; following al-Adid's death in 1171, he abolished the Cairo-based Isma'ili Shia Muslim Fatimid Caliphate and realigned Egypt with the Baghdad-based Sunni Abbasid Caliphate.

In the following years, Saladin led forays against the Crusaders in Palestine, commissioned the successful conquest of Yemen, and staved off pro-Fatimid rebellions in Egypt. Not long after Nur ad-Din died in 1174, Saladin launched his conquest of Syria, peacefully entering Damascus at the request of its governor. By mid-1175, Saladin had conquered Hama and Homs, inviting the animosity of other Zengid lords, who were the official rulers of Syria's principalities; he subsequently defeated the Zengids at the Battle of the Horns of Hama in 1175 and was thereafter proclaimed the 'Sultan of Egypt and Syria' by the Abbasid caliph al-Mustadi. Saladin launched further conquests in northern Syria and Upper Mesopotamia, escaping two attempts on his life by the Assassins before returning to Egypt in 1177 to address local issues there. By 1182, Saladin had completed the conquest of Islamic Syria after capturing Aleppo but failed to take over the Zengid stronghold of Mosul.

Under Saladin's command, the Ayyubid army defeated the Crusaders at the decisive Battle of Hattin in 1187, capturing Jerusalem and re-establishing Muslim military dominance in the Levant. Although the Crusaders' Kingdom of Jerusalem persisted until the late 13th century, the defeat in 1187 marked a turning point in the Christian military effort against Muslim powers in the region. Saladin died in Damascus in 1193, having given away much of his personal wealth to his subjects; he is buried in a mausoleum adjacent to the Umayyad Mosque. Alongside his significance to Muslim culture, Saladin is revered prominently in Kurdish, Turkic, and Arab culture. He has frequently been described as the most famous Kurdish figure in history.

Early life

Saladin was born in Tikrit in present-day Iraq. His personal name was "Yusuf"; "Salah ad-Din" is a laqab, an honorific epithet, meaning "Righteousness of the Faith".[7] His family was of Kurdish ancestry,[8][9][10][11][12] and had originated from the village of Ajdanakan[9] near the city of Dvin in central Armenia.[13][14] He was the son of a Kurdish mercenary, Najm ad-Din Ayyub.[6] The Rawadiya tribe he hailed from had been partially assimilated into the Arabic-speaking world by this time.[15]

In Saladin's era, no scholar had more influence than sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani, and Saladin was strongly influenced and aided by him and his pupils.[16][17] In 1132, the defeated army of Zengi, Atabeg of Mosul, found their retreat blocked by the Tigris River opposite the fortress of Tikrit, where Saladin's father, Najm ad-Din Ayyub served as the warden. Ayyub provided ferries for the army and gave them refuge in Tikrit. Mujahid ad-Din Bihruz, a former Greek slave who had been appointed as the military governor of northern Mesopotamia for his service to the Seljuks, reprimanded Ayyub for giving Zengi refuge and in 1137 banished Ayyub from Tikrit after his brother Asad ad-Din Shirkuh killed a friend of Bihruz. According to Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad, Saladin was born the same night his family left Tikrit. In 1139, Ayyub and his family moved to Mosul, where Imad ad-Din Zengi acknowledged his debt and appointed Ayyub commander of his fortress in Baalbek. After the death of Zengi in 1146, his son, Nur ad-Din, became the regent of Aleppo and the leader of the Zengids.[18]

Saladin, who now lived in Damascus, was reportedly fond of the city, but information on his early childhood is scarce.[18] About education, Saladin wrote, "Children are brought up in the way in which their elders were brought up". According to his biographers, Anne-Marie Eddé[19] and al-Wahrani, Saladin was able to answer questions on Euclid, the Almagest, arithmetic, and law, but this was an academic ideal. It was his knowledge of the Qur'an and the "sciences of religion" that linked him to his contemporaries;[20] several sources claim that during his studies, he was more interested in religious studies than joining the military.[21] Another factor which may have affected his interest in religion was that, during the First Crusade, Jerusalem was taken by the Christians.[21] In addition to Islam, Saladin knew the genealogies, biographies, and histories of the Arabs, as well as the bloodlines of Arabian horses. More significantly, he knew the Hamasah of Abu Tammam by heart.[20] He spoke Kurdish and Arabic and knew Turkish and Persian.[22][23]

Personality and religious leanings

Coin of Saladin, wearing Sasanian-style merlon crown,[24] dated AH 578 (AD 1182/3).[25]

According to Baha ad-Din ibn Shaddad (one of Saladin's contemporary biographers), Saladin was a pious Muslim—he loved hearing Quran recitals, prayed punctually, and "hated the philosophers, those that denied God's attributes, the materialists and those who stubbornly rejected the Holy Law."[26] He was also a supporter of Sufism and a patron of khanqahs (Sufi hostels) in Egypt and Syria, in addition to madrasas that provided orthodox Sunni teachings.[27][26] Above all else he was a devotee of jihad:[28]

The sacred works [Koran, hadith, etc.] are full of passages referring to the jihad. Saladin was more assiduous and zealous in this than in anything else.... Jihad and the suffering involved in it weighed heavily on his heart and his whole being in every limb; he spoke of nothing else, thought only about equipment for the fight, was interested only in those who had taken up arms, had little sympathy with anyone who spoke of anything else or encouraged any other activity.

In 1174, Saladin ordered the arrest of a Sufi mystic, Qadid al-Qaffas (Arabic: قديد القفاص), in Alexandria.[26] In 1191, he ordered his son to execute the Sufi philosopher Yahya al-Suhrawardi, the founder of the Illuminationist current in Islamic philosophy, in Aleppo. Ibn Shaddad, who describes this event as part of his chapter on the sultan's piety, states that Al-Suhrawardi was said to have "rejected the Holy Law and declared it invalid." After consulting with some of the ulama (religious scholars), Saladin ordered al-Suhrawardi's execution.[26] Saladin also opposed the Order of Assassins, an extremist Isma'ili Shi'i sect in Iran and Syria, seeing them as heretics and as being too close with the Crusaders.[26]

Saladin welcomed Asiatic Sufis to Egypt and he and his followers founded and endowed many khanqahs and zawiyas of which al-Maqrizi gives a long list.[29] But it is not yet clear what Saladin's interests in the khanqah actually were and why he specifically wanted Sufis from outside Egypt. The answers to these questions lie in the kinds of Sufis he wished to attract. In addition to requiring that the Sufis come from outside Egypt, the waqfiyya seems to have specified that they be of a very particular type:[30]

The inhabitants of the khanqah were known for religious knowledge and piety and their baraka (blessings) was sought after... The founder stipulated that the khanqah be endowed for the Sufis as a group, those coming from abroad and settling in Cairo and Fustat. If those could not be found, then it would be for the poor jurists, either Shafi'i or Maliki, and Ash'ari in their creed.

Early expeditions

Ayyubid or Zengid soldiers in Seljuk-type clothes[31] and sharbush hats[32][33] on the Palmer Cup (1200–1215)[34]

Saladin's military career began under the tutelage of his paternal uncle Asad ad-Din Shirkuh, a prominent military commander under Nur ad-Din, the Zengid emir of Damascus and Aleppo and the most influential teacher of Saladin. In 1163, the vizier to the Fatimid caliph al-Adid, Shawar, had been driven out of Egypt by his rival Dirgham, a member of the powerful Banu Ruzzaik tribe. He asked for military backing from Nur ad-Din, who complied and, in 1164, sent Shirkuh to aid Shawar in his expedition against Dirgham. Saladin, at age 26, went along with them.[35] After Shawar was successfully reinstated as vizier, he demanded that Shirkuh withdraw his army from Egypt for a sum of 30,000 gold dinars, but he refused, insisting it was Nur ad-Din's will that he remain. Saladin's role in this expedition was minor, and it is known that he was ordered by Shirkuh to collect stores from Bilbais prior to its siege by a combined force of Crusaders and Shawar's troops.[36]

After the sacking of Bilbais, the Crusader–Egyptian force and Shirkuh's army were to engage in the Battle of al-Babein on the desert border of the Nile, just west of Giza. Saladin played a major role, commanding the right-wing of the Zengid army, while a force of Kurds commanded the left, and Shirkuh was stationed in the centre. Muslim sources at the time, however, put Saladin in the "baggage of the centre" with orders to lure the enemy into a trap by staging a feigned retreat. The Crusader force enjoyed early success against Shirkuh's troops, but the terrain was too steep and sandy for their horses, and commander Hugh of Caesarea was captured while attacking Saladin's unit. After scattered fighting in little valleys to the south of the main position, the Zengid central force returned to the offensive; Saladin joined in from the rear.[37]

The battle ended in a Zengid victory, and Saladin is credited with having helped Shirkuh in one of the "most remarkable victories in recorded history", according to Ibn al-Athir, although more of Shirkuh's men were killed and the battle is considered by most sources as not a total victory. Saladin and Shirkuh moved towards Alexandria where they were welcomed, given money and arms, and provided a base.[38] Faced by a superior Crusader–Egyptian force attempting to besiege the city, Shirkuh split his army. He and the bulk of his force withdrew from Alexandria, while Saladin was left with the task of guarding the city, where he was besieged.[39]

In Egypt

Main article: Saladin in Egypt

Vizier of Egypt

Saladin's battles in Egypt

Experimental crossbow mounted inside a shield, in the Tabṣira by Murḍi Ibn cālī Ibn Murḍi al-Ṭarsūsī written for Saladin, late Fāṭimid or early Ayyūbid Egypt, c. 1170 CE (Ms. Hunt.264, f.117, Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK).[40]

Shirkuh was in a power struggle over Egypt with Shawar and Amalric I of Jerusalem in which Shawar requested Amalric's assistance. In 1169, Shawar was reportedly assassinated by Saladin, and Shirkuh died later that year.[41] Following his death, a number of candidates were considered for the role of vizier to al-Adid, most of whom were ethnic Kurds. Their ethnic solidarity came to shape the Ayyubid family's actions in their political career. Saladin and his close associates were wary of Turkish influence. On one occasion Isa al-Hakkari, a Kurdish lieutenant of Saladin, urged a candidate for the viziership, Emir Qutb ad-Din al-Hadhbani, to step aside by arguing that "both you and Saladin are Kurds and you will not let the power pass into the hands of the Turks".[42] Nur ad-Din chose a successor for Shirkuh, but al-Adid appointed Saladin to replace Shawar as vizier.[43]

The reasoning behind the Shia caliph al-Adid's selection of Saladin, a Sunni, varies. Ibn al-Athir claims that the caliph chose him after being told by his advisers that "there is no one weaker or younger" than Saladin, and "not one of the emirs [commanders] obeyed him or served him". However, according to this version, after some bargaining, he was eventually accepted by the majority of the emirs. Al-Adid's advisers were also suspected of promoting Saladin in an attempt to split the Syria-based Zengids. Al-Wahrani wrote that Saladin was selected because of the reputation of his family in their "generosity and military prowess". Imad ad-Din wrote that after the brief mourning period for Shirkuh, during which "opinions differed", the Zengid emirs decided upon Saladin and forced the caliph to "invest him as vizier". Although positions were complicated by rival Muslim leaders, the bulk of the Syrian commanders supported Saladin because of his role in the Egyptian expedition, in which he gained a record of military qualifications.[44]

Inaugurated as vizier on 26 March, Saladin repented "wine-drinking and turned from frivolity to assume the dress of religion", according to Arabic sources of the time.[45] Having gained more power and independence than ever before in his career, he still faced the issue of ultimate loyalty between al-Adid and Nur ad-Din. Later in the year, a group of Egyptian soldiers and emirs attempted to assassinate Saladin, but having already known of their intentions thanks to his intelligence chief Ali ibn Safyan, he had the chief conspirator, Naji, Mu'tamin al-Khilafa—the civilian controller of the Fatimid Palace—arrested and killed. The day after, 50,000 Black African soldiers from the regiments of the Fatimid army opposed to Saladin's rule, along with Egyptian emirs and commoners, staged a revolt. By 23 August, Saladin had decisively quelled the uprising, and never again had to face a military challenge from Cairo.[46]

Towards the end of 1169, Saladin, with reinforcements from Nur ad-Din, defeated a massive Crusader-Byzantine force near Damietta. Afterwards, in the spring of 1170, Nur ad-Din sent Saladin's father to Egypt in compliance with Saladin's request, as well as encouragement from the Baghdad-based Abbasid caliph, al-Mustanjid, who aimed to pressure Saladin in deposing his rival caliph, al-Ad.[47] Saladin himself had been strengthening his hold on Egypt and widening his support base there. He began granting his family members high-ranking positions in the region; he ordered the construction of a college for the Maliki branch of Sunni Islam in the city, as well as one for the Shafi'i denomination to which he belonged in al-Fustat.[48]

After establishing himself in Egypt, Saladin launched a campaign against the Crusaders, besieging Darum in 1170.[49] Amalric withdrew his Templar garrison from Gaza to assist him in defending Darum, but Saladin evaded their force and captured Gaza in 1187. In 1191 Saladin destroyed the fortifications in Gaza built by King Baldwin III for the Knights Templar.[50] It is unclear exactly when, but during that same year, he attacked and captured the Crusader castle of Eilat, built on an island off the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. It did not pose a threat to the passage of the Muslim navy but could harass smaller parties of Muslim ships, and Saladin decided to clear it from his path.[49]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saladin

[In the year 1110, a mysterious order called the Prieuré de Sion appeared upon the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This mysterious secret order, the Prieuré de Sion, was eventually to crown the first king, the first Christian king of Jerusalem. When they appeared in the Temple Mount in 1110, they recruited nine knights to comb, to scour the Temple Mount, the passages and caverns and tunnels beneath for the ancient remains of the relics of their religion.]

Later in A.D. 1118, nine knights, [supposedly] concerned for the welfare of pilgrims to the Holy Land, bound themselves together in the creation of a knightly Order. [This order, again existing of nine knights, just like the original nine knights, were commissioned by the Prieuré de Sion.] In under two hundred years [folks] this organization had become one of the most powerful single entities—if not the greatest—[power ever to exist] in Europe. [They were the first international bankers. The first that ever existed in the world.] A few years later it was utterly destroyed. [They say, however, as you're going to find out, they were not destroyed at all, but merely driven underground.] The zeal of religion, the conditioning which made men support a dedicated cause with all of their might, was likewise the instrument of their destruction. Nothing less than religious fervor could have smashed the Order: as nothing less could have created it.

[And folks, you're going to find it difficult to believe, but the rise of this order and destruction, at least publically, of this order has such a great bearing on events today that you could say that everything that has happened since has been brought about by this one series of acts.]

Were the Knights Templar devil-worshippers, secret Saracens indulging in obscene orgies? Did they adore a head, spit on the Cross, use the word, 'Yallah' [which means literally in Arabic,] (O Allah!) in their rituals? Did they learn their ways from the terrible sect of the Assassins?

[Well, yes folks, they did. And they are the link—at least, in that day, would have been considered the modern link—between the ancient Mystery Religion of Babylon and Europe. For the religion had come to Europe long, long before the Templars ever emerged, and made their appearance in the ancient worship of the sun by the Druids and the Celts, and the tribes, the Germanic tribes who had made their way thousands of years ago from the Middle East up through Asia, and across Russia and into Europe. They brought Mystery Babylon with them, and practiced it as what we now know of today as the pagan religion. And Stonehenge is actually an ancient Babylonian temple of the sun. And you will find how all this connects later.]

[But the origin of this was lost, and the ability to control large numbers of people, by the use of the hidden knowledge of the ages, was lost. It wasn't until the Knights Templar bought [sic] and brought the Mystery Religion of Babylon to Europe, that the ancient, ancient worship of the sun again took hold. Amongst the Christian countries, in the guise of Christianity, which was itself at that time—I'm not talking about the teachings of Christ now, I'm talking about the perversion of the teachings of Christ—the melding of the teachings of Christ with the ancient worship of the sun, the Mystery Religion of Babylon which became the Catholic church was indeed another branch of the ancient Mystery Religion of Babylon. And some of you out there may be confused from all of this.]

[If you've been listening from the beginning of this series, then you're right on target; you're not confused, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you picked up this series somewhere in the middle, then you need to call Stan and order the studio quality tapes. They're in stereo, they're on TDK tapes, first-quality tapes and crystal clear. You need to order this series from the first tape, the very first, and that was broadcast on February the 12th, I believe, a Friday. But anyway, Stan will know. Give him a call at (602) 567-6109. That's (602) 567-6109 or write to Stan and ask him for an information packet at P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322. That's P.O. Box 889, Camp Verde, Arizona, 86322.]

[Now, folks,] the original objective of the Order [of the Temple—Knights Templar], which immediately because the subject of applause throughout Christendom, was to combine the two functions of monk and knight, to live chastely and fight the Saracents with the sword and spirit. The Sweet Mother of God [at least outwardly they say] was chosen as their patroness; and they bound themselves to live in accordance with the rules of St. Augustine, electing as the their first leader Hugh de Payens. [Now] King Baldwin II granted him a part of his palace to live in and gave them a grant toward its upkeep. [Now the part of the palace they lived in was an ancient mosque, which was built upon the actual location of the old Temple of Solomon, on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.]

[The Knights Templar] vowed to consecrate their swords, arms, strength and lives to the defense of the mysteries of the Christian faith; to pay complete and utter obedience to the orders of the Grand Master; to fight whenever commanded, regardless of perils, for the faith of Christ as they understood it. Among the vows taken which were forbade their yielding even a foot of land to the enemy [whoever the enemy was] and not to retreat, even if attacked in the proportion of three to one. They choose the name militia temple—Soldiers of the Temple—after the temple supposedly built by Solomon in Jerusalem, near which they had been assigned quarters by the King. [But in reality had nothing to do with the Temple of Solomon.]

Some say that the Templars derived their idea of their Order from that of the Hospitallars, who looked after Catholic pilgrims to Palestine; for there was little hospitality to be had from the native Orthodox Christians of those parts. Others hold that there was an even older Order from which they received their inspiration. No reliable evidence is, at this point however, available. [According to the "establishment" historians, although for those who really, really research the true history of the secret orders, and specifically the Knights Templars, there's a direct connection to the Assassins and the Roshaniya.]

Although the Templars were so poor than two men had to share a horse [they say, but that is not true at all] (and their Seal commemorated this decades after they became one of the richest communities of their time), they soon attracted favorable notice and support. [Now, the two knights riding a horse was a symbol of sacrifice. It denoted their vows of poverty. In truth, each knight now only had a horse, but he had what they called a yeoman. He had a spare horse, he had a pack horse, and he had several horses in reserve, and a whole train of servants. But the Knights Templar were the first true—as we know it in modern times, in modern times there were others before, but they were the first true in modern times—and by modern, 112 I'd say, from the time that Europe escaped from the old tribal of paganism. In other words in 1110, I consider that to be beginning of the modern age. Although historians may disagree with me, it's the beginning of everything that has happened since, and everything that's happening today can be traced right to the door of the Knights Templar, and that's why I say that. They were the first modern order to practice what we now know as true Communism. They were the ones who brought international Socialism into Europe, which has always been the tenet and the creed of the Mystery Religion of Babylon.] Only one year after their establishment, Fulk, Count of Anjou, who had come to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage, joined as a married member and gave them an annual grant of thirty pounds of silver. This example was soon followed by other devout Western princes.

For the first nine years of their existence, the knights continued to live a life of chastity and poverty in accordance with their vows. They adopted a striped black and white banner, called the Beauséant, after their original piebald horse; and this word also became their battle-cry. Special raiment they had none, and they wore whatever clothes were given to them by the pious. But little by little, as one writer puts it, they were to become “haughty and insolent”.

[And the black and white banner, the translation of the meaning of which was for the, again, exoteric, for the real meaning of the black and white banner was the meaning of the androgynous god, the positive and the negative, the black and the white, the yin and the yang, the male and the female combined into one, and that was the real meaning of the black and white banner. And it's carried forth today on the floor of many of the temples of Freemasonry where the black and white checkered pattern exists, and in one famous cathedral in Europe built by the Knights Templar. They disguised their esoteric religion in an exoteric manner that would be accepted by Christianity.]

Baldwin of Jerusalem, who had been a prisoner in the hands of the Saracens and knew of their disunity, realized at about this time that Islam must eventually unite against the Christian invasion, and the decided that the Templars who prove ideal allies in the battles which were to come. In 1127, therefore, he sent two Templars with his strong recommendation to the Pope, applying for official recognition of the Order by the Holy See. [And this is the first time that the Templars even were considered to be close to the center of religion, the Christian religion in that day, the Catholic church, the Pope. For they were not commissioned as a Christian order; they were not commissioned by the Pope or by the church, and this is a big myth that the Knights Templar started out to protect the church and to protect the pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. They were established first, primarily, and foremost as a branch of the ancient order of the Religion of Mystery Babylon. And it's indicative of the strategies that they've used since to endear themselves to whatever the established power, or the beliefs of the majority of the people might be.]

[When they went to see the Pope,] they had an introduction to St. Bernard himself, the Abbot of Clairvaux, who was known to be admirer of theirs, and who was a nephew of one of their envoys. Then the Grand Master himself arrived in Europe, and received the eulogistic opinion of the Abbot: “They go not headlong into battle, but with care and foresight, peacefully, as true children of Israel. But as soon as the fight had begun, they rush without delay upon the foe . . . and know no fear . . . one has often put to flight a thousand; two, ten thousand . . . gentler than lambs and grimmer than lions; theirs is the mildness of monks and the valor of the knight.” [Now folks, this was a strong recommendation, and this testimonial was part of the campaign of the Templars in their efforts at recognition of the Pope. All of you who have thought that they began as a religious order in the first place are so way off base that it's pathetic. And neither were the Jesuits a religious order in the first place, but we'll get that together in another broadcast.] [But] on the 31st [of] January [in the year] 1128, the Master appeared before the Council of Troyes. This formidable body consisted of the Archbishops of Rheims and Sens, ten bishops and a number of abbots—including St. Bernard himself - presided over by the Cardinal of Albano, the Papal legate. They were approved; and Pope Honorius chose for them a white mantle, completely plain. The red cross was added by order of Pope Eugenius III in 1146. [And see, you thought the Templars thought of this. Nope not at all. This was mandated by two Popes: first, the white mantle, completely plain; and then later the red cross was added by Pope Eugenius III in 1146.]

Hugh de Payens now took his delegation through France and England, and collected a number of recruits. Gifts and grants were showered upon the Order; lands, rents and arms were forthcoming from all quarters. Richard I of England was enthusiastic about them. By 1133, King Alfonso of Aragon and Naverre, who had fought the Spanish Moors in twenty-nine 113 battles, had willed his country to them; although when the Moors finally laid him low his nobles prevented the Templars from claiming their rights. [Nevertheless, this was of great honor. In fact, to my knowledge and to our research into history, it never had before been done.]

In 1129 the Master, accompanied by three hundred knights, recruited from the noblest houses of Europe, led a huge train of pilgrims to the Holy Land. It was at this time that the Templars formed part of the Christian contingent which, allied with the Assassins, tried to take Damascus. [And it wasn't the first time nor the last that the Christian Knights Templar, or supposedly Christian Knights Templar (they really weren't Christian at all) were allied with the Assassins.] Were they (as the Orientalist von Hammer alleges)109 connected in some secret way with the Assassins? [Yes, our research shows that it is a historical fact. And it is also a historical fact that the Assassins were prepared to adopt Christianity if they could gain greater power thereby (Christianity, that is, on the surface, just as the Knights Templar had done)]. Hammer points to the similarities of the two organizations. The followers of Hasan Ibn Sabah were in contact with the Templars, and had a similar method of organization. They were in existence before the Templars were formed: “The Ismailians ([or] Assassins) was the original, and [folks] the Order of the Templars, [was] the copy.”

The balance of Western opinion is against this contention; more particularly because, one feels from wide reading of historians, great sympathy is felt for the cruelly treated and a arbitrarily dispossessed Templars. Thus Keightley, who made a close study of the Order those who would claim that the Templars were an Assassin branch [but, when you do research into the (laughs) associations and memberships of Keightley, you'll find that Keightley was himself a Knight Templar. And he said:]

“When, nearly thirty years after their institution, the Pope gave them permission to wear a cross on their mantle, like the rival Hospitaller Order, no color could present itself to well suited to those who daily and hourly exposed themselves to martyrdom as that of blood, in which there was so much of what was symbolical. With respect to internal organization it will, we apprehend, be always found that this is for the most part of the growth of time and the product of circumstances; and it always nearly the same where these last are similar.”110

[And you find this kind of rhetoric, semantics, all throughout the writings of those who wish to cover the true origin and the true meaning of Mystery Babylon.]

The famous question of the three thousand gold pieces paid by the Syrian branch of the Assassins to the Templars is another matter which has [of course] never been settled. One opinion holds that this money was given as a tribute to the Christians; the other, that it was a secret allowance from the larger to the small organization. [Which it really was as the Assassins wished to expand their control and remember their original goal was to take over the entire world by the systematic infiltration and control of each individual country.] Those who think that the Assassins were fanatical Moslems, and therefore would not form any alliance with those who to them were infidels, should be reminded that to the followers of the Old Man of the Mountains only he was right, and the Saracens who were fighting the Holy War for Allah against the Crusaders were as bad as anyone else who did not accept the Assassin doctrine.

[And it is true today: “If you are not one of us, you are nothing.” “The ends justify the means.” “The strength of our Order exists in the fact that we manifest ourselves under many different names and many different occupations, and sometimes even seem to oppose ourselves. But at the highest level, we are of one mind."

And I could go on, and on (laughs), and on, and you all know that I could go on and on and on. For I have studied this for so many years that I eat, drink and sleep it. Oh yes.]

[Well, eventually] grave charges against the Templars during the Crusades included the allegation that they were fighting for themselves alone. More than one historical incident bears this out. The Christians had besieged the town of Ascalon in 1153, and were engaged upon burning down the walls with large piles of inflammable materials. Part of the wall fell after a whole night of this burning. The Christian army was about to enter, when the Master of the Temple (Bernard de Tremelai)

109 Chevalier Joseph von Hammer, The History of the Assassins: Derived from Oriental sources, 1835

110 Thomas Keightley, Secret Societies of the Middle Ages, 1837

claimed the right to take the town himself. This was because the first contingent into a conquered town had the whole spoils. As it happened, the garrison rallied and killed the Templars, closing the breach. There seem good grounds for believing that the power which they had gained caused the Templars to devote their efforts as much to their own Order's welfare as to the cause of the Cross, in spite of their tremendous sacrifices for that cause. Having no loyalty to any territorial chief, they obeyed their Master alone, and hence no softening political pressure could be put upon them. [Well,] this might well have led to an idea that they were an invisible super-state [and that is exactly the fact]; and this does show some similarity with the invisible empire of the Assassins. If none can deny their bravery, their high-handedness and exclusivity, in less than a hundred and fifty years after their founding gave them the reputation of considering themselves almost a law unto themselves.

[No longer reading] And now, dear listeners, we get into the meat, the direct connection between the historical events and the events that are happening today. Don't miss even one episode of this series. Good night, and may God bless each and every one of you.

(Outro music: Stardust)111

The Templars and the Assassins (aired March 2nd, 1993)

https://viefag.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/transcripts-of-william-cooper-s-mystery-babylon-series.pdf

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0t8Bh14g3gkKebPECgrPaXWFgAbU2daXeXah1VvEvBgjHcGscWm8ZQc6z9ZRMvu8Al

Meaning of the first name

Lorey

Origin 

English

Meaning 

Variant of Lori, Related to Laurel

Variations 

Glorey, Gloreya, Malorey

*Some content has been generated by an artificial intelligence language model, in combination with data sourced from Ancestry records and provided by BabyNames.com.

The name Lorey is a variant of Lori, which is derived from the Latin word laurus, meaning laurel. The laurel tree was historically associated with victory and honor, as laurel wreaths were awarded to victors in ancient Greece and Rome. This connection imbues the name Lorey with connotations of achievement and distinction. As a feminine given name, Lorey carries a sense of elegance and timelessness, often appealing to parents seeking a name that is both unique and grounded in tradition.

The name Lorey, while more contemporary in usage, can trace its origins back to the broader appeal of laurel as a symbol from ancient civilizations. Over time, variations of the name Lori emerged, leading to the development of Lorey. The usage of names associated with laurels became popular in the English-speaking world, particularly in the 20th century, as parents sought names that evoked both nature and success. Variants like Lori and Lorey reflect cultural shifts toward softer names that maintain historical significance while offering a modern feel.

In contemporary contexts, Lorey is recognized as a unique and appealing choice for parents naming their daughters. It remains associated with qualities of beauty and achievement, often appealing to those who appreciate names that are less common yet possess rich meanings. As society continues to embrace diverse naming practices, the name Lorey stands out, honoring its roots while enjoying a place in modern naming trends. It is less frequently encountered than its variants, making it a distinctive option in today’s name landscape.

https://www.ancestry.com/first-name-meaning/lorey

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was created in 1098, when the members of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem and elected Godfrey of Boulogne, or Godefroi de Bouillon, duke of Lower-Lorraine, as king of Jerusalem. The city was itself finally taken back by the Muslims in 1291, although the title continued to be claimed for centuries.

The Corpus Inscriptionum Crucesignatorum is online, listing inscriptions from the Crusader times that have been found in the Middle East.

The Arms

The Arms of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem are well-known: Argent a cross potent between four crosses or. It is the most well-known violation of the rule of tinctures.

Insignia or the Order of the Holy Sepulchre

Insignia of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (from Diderot's Encyclopédie. They are A cross potent between four crosslets gules.

Whether these arms were ever used by the kings of Jerusalem is another matter. According to an article by Hervé Pinoteau in the Cahiers d'Héraldique, vol. 4, the earliest representation of the cross potents between crosslets is on the seal of a nephew and ward of John of Brienne, king from 1210 (the seal is from 1227). The arms of Jerusalem also appear on a reliquary called "la cassette de Saint-Louis" which he dates to 1236. (See also an article by Elliot Nesterman on early evidence of the Cross of Jerusalem).

Claimants to the Throne

The arms of Jerusalem pop up in a number of places. The reason for this is the rather tortuous history of the throne and title. The short version is this: three lines stemmed from Queen Isabeau (d. 1206), the eldest of which ruled in absentia until 1268, at which time the two other lines entered in dispute over the succession. From this dispute stems the claims of (1) the kings of Cyprus and (2) the kings of Sicily. The claim to Cyprus (1) became object of dispute in 1474 as the result of an usurpation: the claims of the usurper (1a) passed to Venice, while those of the displaced ruler (1b) passed to Savoy. As for the claims of the kings of Sicily (2), it became part of the dispute in 1434 between the duke of Anjou and the king of Aragon. The claims of the former (2a) passed briefly to the kings of France (1494-1515) and were later resurrected by the dukes of Lorraine in 1700 (whose descendants became emperors of Austria), while the the claims of the latter (2b) passed along with Sicily itself to the kings of Spain (1506-1700), then becoming the object of yet another dispute until returning to a younger son of the king of Spain in 1738; henceforth the title was used both by the kings of Spain and those of the Two Sicilies.

The kingdom of Jerusalem was founded as a consequence of the 1st crusade of 1099. Godefroi de Bouillon died in 1100 and was succeeded by his brother Baudoin I (+ 1118) and a great-nephew Baudoin II (+ 1131), who left an eldest daughter Mélissende. She passed the throne to her husband Foulques d'Anjou (+ 1147), and to her sons Baudoin III (+ 1163) and Amaury or Amalric (+ 1173). Amaury had a son and successor Baudoin IV (d. 1185), and two daughters, Sybille and Isabeau (1169-1206).

Sybille married in 1176 William of Montferrat (+ 1177), by whom she had a posthumous son Baudoin. She was then married in 1180 to Guy de Lusignan (d. 1194), count of Jaffa and Ascalon who was also appointed regent of the kingdom by the invalid Baudoin IV. But Baudoin IV then changed his mind, took away the regency, and abdicated in 1182 in favor of Sybille's son Baudoin V. This child died in 1186, soon after his uncle, and Sybille became queen of Jerusalem, and was crowned with her husband Guy de Lusignan. However, a rival in the person of Conrad of Montferrat, brother of Sybille's first husband, rose up. In the end an agreement was reached: Guy would retain the title for his life, Conrad would marry Sybille's sister Isabeau and succeed as well as his posterity. By that time, the city itself had actually been lost. Sybille had died in 1190, Conrad was murdered in 1192, leaving only a daughter Marie (1191-1212), and Guy renounced his claim in 1192 and bought the island of Cyprus from Richard Lionheart who had just conquered it from the Byzantine empire.

This left only Isabeau as the heir, and she became queen in 1192. All subsequent claims to the throne of Jerusalem stem from her. She married the same year Henri de Champagne (1166-97), who became king with her and died in 1197, leaving two daughters Alix and Philippa. Queen Isabeau next married Amaury de Lusignan (1145-1205), elder brother of Guy and his successor as king of Cyprus, by whom she had Sybille (married to Leo II of Armenia) and Mélissande. Isabeau died in 1205 and was succeeded by her eldest daughter Marie (1191-1212), married to Jean de Brienne (d. 1237) in 1209. Their only daughter Isabeau (1211-28) was married to the Emperor Frederic II who forced his parents-in-law to turn over the throne to him in 1225. Frederic was succeeded as Emperor and king of Jerusalem by his only child of that marriage, Conrad (1228-54), himself succeeded by his only child Conradin of Hohenstaufen 1252-68), who lost his throne of Naples and his life to Charles of Anjou. With him the issue of queen Isabeau's first daughter died out.

The Hohenstaufens were ruling in absentia, and their rule was not liked. The local barons managed to induce various people to claim the regency. Alix de Brienne, second daughter of queen Isabeau, had married Hughes de Lusignan (d. 1218), son of Amaury by a previous wife, and king of Cyprus. Alix died in 1246 and her son Henri (1218-53) succeeded her as regent of Jerusalem. At his death, his son grandson Hugues II (1252-67) was a minor and the widow Plaisance (d. 1261) was regent of both Cyprus and Jerusalem. At her death, a new regent was required; the late king Henri had two sisters Marie (d. 1252) married to Gauthier de Brienne, and Isabelle (d. 1264), married to Henri de Poitiers. The elder one's son, Hugues de Brienne, was passed over in favor of the younger one's son Hugues d'Antioche as regent of Cyprus, while Isabelle herself was accepted as regent for Jerusalem. On her death in 1267, Hugues de Brienne's attempt to claim his rights was rebuffed and the throne of Cyprus, along with the regency of Jerusalem, passed to Hugues d'Antioche, whose descendants assumed the name of Lusignan and reigned over Cyprus.

At the death of Conradin, the issue of Queen Isabeau's eldest daughter became extinct. Hugues III of Cyprus, descended from her second daughter and already regent, now claimed the throne. But another claim emerged through the third daughter of Queen Isabeau, Mélissende, who married Bohémond IV of Antioch (uncle of Hugues III) and whose only daughter Marie of Antioch claimed the throne as being closer in kinship to Isabeau. She was unsuccessful and Hugues III was crowned king of Jerusalem in 1269. She went to Rome to plead her case with the Pope, and was eventually induced to cede her rights in 1277 to Charles of Anjou, whom the pope had established as king of Naples and Sicily (the same who had defeated Conradin in 1268). Henceforth there were two lines of claimants, the kings of Cyprus and the kings of Naples.

The kings of Cyprus continued to be crowned kings of Jerusalem, although from 1277 to 1282 the remnants of the kingdom (Acre) were actually under Charles d'Anjou's control, and the kings of Cyprus only gradually restored their authority. But soon after, with the fall of Acre in 1291, there was nothing left of the kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1458 Jean III, last male of the line, died without male heirs. His only sister Anne had (d. 1462) married Louis I de Savoie. His only daughter Charlotte (d. 1487) was recognized as queen of Cyprus, Armenia and Jerusalem, and married to her first cousin Louis de Savoie. But she was dethroned in 1460 by a bastard son of her father, namely Jacques II (d. 1473), and fled to Italy. Ultimately, in 1485, she ceded her rights to her husband's nephew Charles I, duke of Savoie, and his successors; at that point the dukes of Savoie (later kings of Sardinia and kings of Italy) added the title of king of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia to their titles and the arms to their achievement. The kings of Italy used the title until 1946.

Jacques II died in 1473, leaving a widow Caterina Cornero (1454-1510), from the Venitian aristocracy. His posthumous son Jacques III soon died. The city of Venice turned Cyprus into a protectorate, and, in 1489, forced Caterina Cornero to return to Venice and cede her rights to the Republic. From then on, the Republic of Venice also added the title and arms of Jerusalem, Cyprus and Armenia to its own, until 1797 when the Republic was abolished and its territories handed over to Austria by the Treaty of Campo-Formio. Cyprus was under Venetian control until 1571 when it was conquered by the Turks. Venice became part of the kingdom of Italy in 1866.

Meanwhile, the kings of Sicily also claimed the title of king of Jerusalem. In 1282, Charles d'Anjou lost Sicily and his descendants reigned in Naples only (albeit under the title of kings of Sicily) while Sicily itself was ruled by branches of the house of Aragon. When the descendants of Charles d'Anjou became extinct in 1434, the two claimants were René d'Anjou and Alfonso, king of Aragon and Sicily, and the latter won, at which point his successors the kings of both Sicilies added the claim of Jerusalem to their own. René's claim was resurrected by his grand-nephew king Charles VIII of France in 1494, who managed to conquer and briefly hold Naples, and who used the title of Jerusalem, as did his successor Louis XII (but no other French king did so). In 1506 the Two Sicilies was finally regained by king Ferdinand of Aragon, and henceforth possessed, along with the claim to Jerusalem, by the kings of Spain, descendants of Fernando's daughter Juana and her husband Philip of Habsburg, until their extinction in male line in 1700.

As a result of the war of Spanish Succession (1701-13), Naples and Sicily were ceded by Spain to the Habsburg emperor Charles VI in 1720, and the pope duly invested the emperor with the titles of king of Sicily and Jerusalem on June 5, 1722 (the kingdom being a papal fief). In the course of the war of Polish Succession (1733-38), the younger son of the king of Spain, Don Carlos, managed to conquer the Two Sicilies, a conquest recognized by the peace of Vienna of 1738, and by the pope in the same year. Carlos became king of Spain in 1759 and left Naples and Sicily to his younger son Ferdinand, whose descendants reigned until 1860. The kings of Spain continued to use the title of Jerusalem until 1931, as did the kings of Two-Sicilies.

On the other hand, René's daughter Yolande married Ferry de Vaudémont, one of whose sons became duke of Lorraine. The modern house of Lorraine took up the claim to Jerusalem in 1700 (although it wasn't the best claimant from a genealogical point of view, as pointed out by W. A. Reitwiesner) when duke Leopold returned to his duchy after 28 years of French occupation, and adopted a closed royal crown and the style of king of Jerusalem. His son François, duke of Lorraine, married the Empress Maria-Theresa, and their descendants as rulers of Austria inherited the claim. The arms of Jerusalem could be seen in the grand arms of State of the Austrian Empire in the 19th century and the title was used until 1918.

Other Crusader States

There is very little evidence on the arms of the Crusader states. The traditional arms of the kingdom of Jerusalem are not known before the 1230s, when the city had already been lost. Numismatic evidence is scant, epigraphic evidence even more so (there are very little heraldic traces of the Crusaders in the Middle East, outside Cyprus; see an interesting exception).

Numismatic evidence

The best work is Gustave Schlumberger's Numismatique de l'Orient Latin (Paris, 1878; reprint Graz 1954). In a coin auction catalogue I recently received, coins from Tripoli feature:

Obverse: horse with cross above, Reverse: a cross between four roundels (bronze, Raymond II 1137-52)

Obv: cross patty, Rev: eight-point star (Bohemond VI, 1251-75, silver gros)

Obv: cross slightly patty, Rev: three-towered castle (Bohemond VII, 1275-87, silver gros)

I believe the 8-pt star was a recurrent motif on Tripoli coins.

Coins of Antioch feature:

Raymond Roupen (1216-19): helmeted head between crescent and 5-pt star, Rev: cross patty with crescent in one quarter. (coins from early 12th c. have a bust of St Peter and inscriptions, or the Mother of God facing nimbate).

Interestingly, coins from Cyprus (1306-1473) constantly feature on the reverse a cross potent between four crosses, never crosslets but sometimes patty or formy. But what is peculiar is that the main cross is "quadrat in the centre", that is, its center is thickened by a square. This is, according to Parker's Glossary, called a cross of S. Chad, because it features in the arms of the see of Lichfield and Coventry, of which S. Chad was the first bishop. The quadrating on the Cyprus coins is much less pronounced than in the drawing in Parker, but this is nevertheless quite intriguing.

Other evidence

monuments (carved arms, epitaphs, etc): two or three epitaphs with arms are known; some graffiti carved on marble columns of the church of the Nativity in Bethleem were made by 14th-15th c. pilgrims. That's all that survived. One notable exception: the tomb of Philippe d'Aubigni in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.

Monuments in the West: Marguerite, daughter of Louis d'Acre, vicomte de Beaumont, himself son of Jean de Brienne, king of Jerusalem, was married to Bohemond VII, count of Tripoli (d. 1287) and eldest son of Bohemond VI, last prince of Antioch. She died in France in 1328, and her tomb in the abbey of Maubuisson was described as "parsemée de croix de Jérusalem dans des losanges de gueules, et de lions rampants dans des losanges de sable fleurdelisés" in Du Cange's Familles d'Outremer (Paris, 1869, p. 486). The tomb was destroyed in 1793 (reference to Dulaure, Environs de Paris, vol. 2, p. 331, n. 2, which I have not checked).

objects: a handful survive, mainly from Cyprus.

seals: Gustave Schlumberger's Sigillographie de l'Orient Latin (Paris, 1943) is probably quite comprehensive, and there is little heraldry to glean from it. Lots of seals of the kings of Jerusalem, princes of Antioch, counts of Tripoli are known, but they bear no arms. See for example the seals of Baudoin II (1118-31), Amalric (1162-75), Jean de Brienne (1212-37). In Antioch, Raymond of Poitiers (1136-49) is shown riding a horse and bearing a cross on his shield and banner, but that's it. Among lesser barons, the Ibelin family, lords of Arsur and Beyrut apparently had "Or a cross patty gules". The device certainly appears on their shields and banners as shown on their seals. Aside from that, there are arms here and there: Hugues de Giblet (Biblos) has a 8-pointed star, the Porcellet family has a boar passant, the lordship of Loron or Thoron was a lion rampant.

There is more armory from Cyprus and Constantinople; but then, those arms are well known. The Courtenay arms appear on Philippe de Courtenay's seal (d. 1283). Interestingly, the earlier emperors of Constantinople, Baudoin of Flanders (d. 1205), Henri I (d. 1216), Baudoin II (d. 1261) all use the lion of Flanders, although one contemporary cronicler describes Henri riding in battle with a coat-armour gules semy of crosses or. Villehardouin, princes of Achaia, use the family arms of a cross recercelee; later, Louis a cadet of Burgundy who claimed Achaia added a quarter of Villehardouin to his arms of Burgundy ancient (14th c.). Achaia was also claimed by a junior branch of Savoy, who differenced with a bend.

https://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/jerusale.htm

1236

June 29 – Siege of Córdoba: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) capture Muslim Córdoba from Emir Ibn Hud, as part of the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula.[2]

July – At a diet (princely convention) in Piacenza, Emperor Frederick II proclaims his wish to recover all Italy for the Holy Roman Empire.[3]

Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins.

May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1236

Atheism: resisting it with all our forces is a special mission given to the Society by the supreme pontiff, 253 2°; a mission which should permeate all forms of our apostolate, 254; our efforts are to be directed toward nonbelievers, ibid.; toward that end, an experience of God must be fostered in ourselves, 223 §§3-4, 224, 247

1° 2° 3° 6°;

and also in others, by means of the Spiritual Exercises, 271

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

The idea of uniting the Templars with the Hospitallers was first argued publicly in a book published in 1305 by Raimon Llull, a renowned illuminatus from Majorca. Llull’s book, Libre de Fine, (“Free At Last”) appeared in the midst of a raging controversy between the French monarchy and the Roman papacy over who held jurisdiction over the Templars. That is the subject of our next chapter.

Rulers of Evil

by F. Tupper Saussy

https://dn790006.ca.archive.org/0/items/rulers-of-evil-f.-tupper-saussy/Rulers%20of%20Evil%20-%20F.%20Tupper%20Saussy.pdf

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The alumbrados of Castile were a movement that caused much trouble during the first three decades of the sixteenth century. Their ideas were represented by the “Big Three” beatas who, under noble patronage, for at least a decade previous to the arrest in 1524 of the “mother” of the movement (Isabel de la Cruz) had successfully proselytized and spread their ideas throughout Old and New Castile.1

The alumbrados certainly were a charismatic bunch; they enjoyed success with the elites of Castilian society, comuneros, but above all with women and conversos. As a religious movement led by women the alumbrados were part of a growing trend of individual, charismatic female piety. By the time of Cardinal Cisneros’s death in 1517, however, the era of the alumbrados and their grassroots converso spirituality was nearing its end. While the actual heyday of their movement was short-lived the alumbrados made a huge impact upon the minds Prospering in the environment of Catholic spiritual exploration fostered by the personal theological interests of the Archbishop of Toledo Cardinal Ximenez de Cisneros the alumbrados presented an interiorized approach to Christianity. Equipped with the meditational practice of dejamiento the alumbrados stressed the importance of an individual, pseudo-mystical “abandonment” to God and His will. They also emphasized the insignificance of external rituals and works, calling them ataduras or “shackles” to the material world, ties that only served to hinder one’s abandonment to God.

of the Inquisitors who prosecuted them and upon the Spanish religious imagination, an impact that would last across seas and time."

EL SABOR DE HEREJIA: THE EDICT OF 1525, THE ALUMBRADOS

AND THE INQUISITORS’ USAGE OF LOCURA

By

JAVIER A. MONTOYA

http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0041385/montoya_j.pdf

Alumbrado, (Spanish: “Enlightened”, ) Italian Illuminato, plural Illuminati, a follower of a mystical movement in Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries. Its adherents claimed that the human soul, having attained a certain degree of perfection, was permitted a vision of the divine and entered into direct communication with the Holy Spirit. From this state the soul could neither advance nor retrogress. Consequently, participation in the liturgy, good works, and observance of the exterior forms of religious life were unnecessary for those who had received the “light.” The Alumbrados came primarily from among the reformed Franciscans and the Jesuits, but their doctrines seem to have influenced all classes of people. The extravagant claims made for their visions and revelations caused them to be relentlessly persecuted. The Inquisition issued edicts against them on three occasions (1568, 1574, and 1623)."

https://www.britannica.com/event/Alumbrado

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Pali Buddha (“the Awakened One, the Enlightened One”), from buddha (“awakened, enlightened”), from Sanskrit बुद्ध (buddha, “awakened, enlightened”), past participle of बोधति (bodhati, “to wake, to awaken”). Distantly related to English bid and bede. Also cognate with Russian будить (buditʹ, “to wake up”)."

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Buddha

Gautama

surname of the Buddha, from Sanskrit Gotamah, properly a patronymic, literally "descendant of the greatest ox," from superlative of gauh "ox, bull, cow."

https://www.etymonline.com/word/buddha

Unam Sanctam

One God, One Faith, One Spiritual Authority

Pope Boniface VIII - 1302

Bull of Pope Boniface VIII promulgated November 18, 1302

Urged by faith, we are obliged to believe and to maintain that the Church is one, holy, catholic, and also apostolic. We believe in her firmly and we confess with simplicity that outside of her there is neither salvation nor the remission of sins, as the Spouse in the Canticles [Sgs 6:8] proclaims: ‘One is my dove, my perfect one. She is the only one, the chosen of her who bore her,‘ and she represents one sole mystical body whose Head is Christ and the head of Christ is God [1 Cor 11:3]. In her then is one Lord, one faith, one baptism [Eph 4:5]. There had been at the time of the deluge only one ark of Noah, prefiguring the one Church, which ark, having been finished to a single cubit, had only one pilot and guide, i.e., Noah, and we read that, outside of this ark, all that subsisted on the earth was destroyed.

We venerate this Church as one, the Lord having said by the mouth of the prophet: ‘Deliver, O God, my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog.’ [Ps 21:20] He has prayed for his soul, that is for himself, heart and body; and this body, that is to say, the Church, He has called one because of the unity of the Spouse, of the faith, of the sacraments, and of the charity of the Church. This is the tunic of the Lord, the seamless tunic, which was not rent but which was cast by lot [Jn 19:23- 24]. Therefore, of the one and only Church there is one body and one head, not two heads like a monster; that is, Christ and the Vicar of Christ, Peter and the successor of Peter, since the Lord speaking to Peter Himself said: ‘Feed my sheep‘ [Jn 21:17], meaning, my sheep in general, not these, nor those in particular, whence we understand that He entrusted all to him [Peter]. Therefore, if the Greeks or others should say that they are not confided to Peter and to his successors, they must confess not being the sheep of Christ, since Our Lord says in John ‘there is one sheepfold and one shepherd.’ We are informed by the texts of the gospels that in this Church and in its power are two swords; namely, the spiritual and the temporal. For when the Apostles say: ‘Behold, here are two swords‘ [Lk 22:38] that is to say, in the Church, since the Apostles were speaking, the Lord did not reply that there were too many, but sufficient. Certainly the one who denies that the temporal sword is in the power of Peter has not listened well to the word of the Lord commanding: ‘Put up thy sword into thy scabbard‘ [Mt 26:52]. Therefore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spiritual sword and the material. But indeed, the latter is to be exercised on behalf of the Church; and truly, the former is to be exercised by the Church. The former is of the priest; the latter is by the hand of kings and soldiers, but at the will and sufferance of the priest.

However, one sword ought to be subordinated to the other and temporal authority, subjected to spiritual power. For since the Apostle said: ‘There is no power except from God and the things that are, are ordained of God‘ [Rom 13:1-2], but they would not be ordained if one sword were not subordinated to the other and if the inferior one, as it were, were not led upwards by the other.

For, according to the Blessed Dionysius, it is a law of the divinity that the lowest things reach the highest place by intermediaries. Then, according to the order of the universe, all things are not led back to order equally and immediately, but the lowest by the intermediary, and the inferior by the superior. Hence we must recognize the more clearly that spiritual power surpasses in dignity and in nobility any temporal power whatever, as spiritual things surpass the temporal. This we see very clearly also by the payment, benediction, and consecration of the tithes, but the acceptance of power itself and by the government even of things. For with truth as our witness, it belongs to spiritual power to establish the terrestrial power and to pass judgement if it has not been good. Thus is accomplished the prophecy of Jeremias concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical power: ‘Behold to-day I have placed you over nations, and over kingdoms‘ and the rest. Therefore, if the terrestrial power err, it will be judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual power err, it will be judged by a superior spiritual power; but if the highest power of all err, it can be judged only by God, and not by man, according to the testimony of the Apostle: ‘The spiritual man judgeth of all things and he himself is judged by no man‘ [1 Cor 2:15]. This authority, however, (though it has been given to man and is exercised by man), is not human but rather divine, granted to Peter by a divine word and reaffirmed to him (Peter) and his successors by the One Whom Peter confessed, the Lord saying to Peter himself, ‘Whatsoever you shall bind on earth, shall be bound also in Heaven‘ etc., [Mt 16:19]. Therefore whoever resists this power thus ordained by God, resists the ordinance of God [Rom 13:2], unless he invent like Manicheus two beginnings, which is false and judged by us heretical, since according to the testimony of Moses, it is not in the beginnings but in the beginning that God created heaven and earth [Gen 1:1]. Furthermore, we declare, we proclaim, we define that it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pontiff.

https://www.papalencyclicals.net/bon08/b8unam.htm

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in the United States on November 7, 2028, to elect the president and vice president of the United States for a term of four years.

In the 2024 elections, the Republican Party gained a majority of seats in the House of Representatives and Senate. Incumbent president Donald Trump won a non-consecutive second term; per the limits set by the 22nd Amendment, he is constitutionally barred from being elected president again.[1]

Background

See also: 2024 United States elections

The Republican Party returned to power in the United States with a government trifecta in January 2025 following the 2024 election. Trump, who was elected president in 2016 but lost a re-election bid in 2020 to Joe Biden, and JD Vance, a then-senator from Ohio defeated vice president Kamala Harris, who began her campaign following Biden's exit from the 2024 election, and Minnesota governor Tim Walz. Trump's victory was credited to a post-pandemic surge in inflation,[a] a migrant crisis at the U.S.–Mexico border,[b] and a global anti-incumbent backlash.[8][9][10] In addition, Republicans secured control of the Senate, flipping four seats and earning a three seat majority, while also retaining a House majority, though the party's majority narrowed to three seats after losing two seats.[11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2028_United_States_presidential_election

25th Amendment

Presidential Disability and Succession

 

Section 1

In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.

Section 2

Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.

Section 3

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Section 4

Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

     

Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.

https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv

Raphael Gamaliel Warnock[1] (/ˈrɑːfiɛl ˈwɔːrnɒk/ RAH-fee-el WOR-nok; born July 23, 1969) is an American politician and Baptist pastor serving as the junior United States senator from Georgia, a seat he has held since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Warnock has been the senior pastor of Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church since 2005.[2][3]

Warnock was the senior pastor of Douglas Memorial Community Church from 2001 to 2005.[4] He came to prominence in Georgia politics as a leading activist in the campaign to expand Medicaid in the state under the Affordable Care Act. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 United States Senate special election in Georgia, defeating incumbent Republican Kelly Loeffler in a runoff election.[5]

Warnock and Jon Ossoff are the first Democrats elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia since Zell Miller in 2000.[6][7] Their elections were critical in securing a 50–50 Senate majority for Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as the tie-breaking vote.[8] Warnock was a reliable supporter of Joe Biden's legislative efforts during his presidency.[9][10] He was reelected to a full term in 2022, defeating Republican nominee Herschel Walker.

Warnock is the first African American to represent Georgia in the Senate, the first Black Democrat elected to the Senate from a Southern state, and the second black U.S. Senator directly elected from a Southern state, after Tim Scott.[11][12][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael_Warnock

Louis Raphaël I Sako (Arabic: لويس روفائيل ساكو;[1] born 4 July 1948) is a Chaldean Catholic prelate who has served as Patriarch of Baghdad since 1 February 2013. Pope Francis made him a cardinal on 28 June 2018.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Rapha%C3%ABl_I_Sako

Sako Limited (natively Sako Oy)[1] is a Finnish firearm and ammunition manufacturer located in Riihimäki, Kanta-Häme in southern Finland. It also has owned the Tikka brand of bolt-action rifles since 1983, and is now owned by the Italian firearm holding company Beretta Holding. The name Sako comes from the company's former name Suojeluskuntain Ase- ja Konepaja Oy (lit. 'Civil Guard Gun and Machining Works Ltd').

History

In 1919, two years after Finland declared independence from the Russian Empire, the Suojeluskuntain Yliesikunnan Asepaja (Civil Guard Supreme Staff Gun Works) opened in a former Helsinki brewery to repair private arms and recondition Russian military rifles for Finnish service.[2] The rifle repair shop became financially independent of the civil guard in 1921. The Suojeluskuntain Yliesikunnan Asepaja moved from Helsinki to an ammunition factory in Riihimäki on 1 June 1927, and reorganized as SAKO in the 1930s. Sako started exporting pistol cartridges to Sweden in the 1930s and continued manufacturing submachine gun cartridges through World War II.[3]

Another Finnish firearms manufacturer Tikkakoski, which owned the Tikka brand, was merged into SAKO in 1983.[4] In 1986, the arms manufacturing division of the government-owned Valmet conglomerate (which itself had been derived from the Valtion Kivääritehdas, VKT) was merged with Sako and called Sako-Valmet, with ownership split evenly between Nokia and Valmet. After further organizational shifts in state ownership, the company was sold to the Italian Beretta Holding in 2000.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAKO

The United States presidential line of succession is the order in which the vice president of the United States and other officers of the United States federal government assume the powers and duties of the U.S. presidency (or the office itself, in the instance of succession by the vice president) upon an elected president's death, resignation, removal from office, or incapacity.

The order of succession specifies that the office passes to the vice president; if the vice presidency is simultaneously vacant, the powers and duties of the presidency pass to the speaker of the House of Representatives, president pro tempore of the Senate, and then Cabinet secretaries, depending on eligibility.

Presidential succession is referred to multiple times in the U.S. Constitution: Article II, Section 1, Clause 6, the 12th Amendment, 20th Amendment, and 25th Amendment. The vice president is designated as first in the presidential line of succession by the Article II succession clause, which also authorizes Congress to provide for a line of succession beyond the vice president. It has done so on three occasions. The Presidential Succession Act was adopted in 1947, and last revised in 2006. The 25th Amendment, adopted in 1967, also establishes procedures for filling an intra-term vacancy in the office of the vice president.

The Presidential Succession Act refers specifically to officers beyond the vice president acting as president rather than becoming president when filling a vacancy. The Cabinet has 15 members, of which the secretary of state is highest and fourth in line (after the president pro tempore of the Senate); the other Cabinet secretaries follow in the order of when their departments (or the department of which their department is the successor) were created. Those heads of department who are constitutionally not "eligible to the Office of President" are disqualified from assuming the powers and duties of the president through succession and skipped to the next in line. Since 1789, the vice president has succeeded to the presidency intra-term on nine occasions: eight times due to the incumbent's death, and once due to resignation. No one lower in the line of succession has ever been called upon to act as president.

Widely considered a settled issue during the late 20th century, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 demonstrated the potential for a decapitation strike that would kill or incapacitate multiple individuals in the presidential line of succession in addition to many members of Congress and the federal judiciary. In the years immediately following the attacks, numerous wide-ranging discussions were started, in Congress, among academics and within the public policy community about continuity of government concerns including the existing constitutional and statutory provisions governing presidential succession. These discussions remain ongoing. One effort put forward by the Continuity of Government Commission, a nonpartisan think tank, produced three reports (2003, 2009, and 2011), the second of which focused on the implicit ambiguities and limitations in the succession act, and contained recommendations for amending the laws for succession to the presidency.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succession

The conspiracy is racist, considering Blacks, Hispanics, and Aboriginal Peoples to be inferior races of useless eaters. They believe or at least profess that the Anglo/Aryan race is the true Israel (British Israel and Christian Identity for the dupes and an Anglophile Secular Humanism for the leaders) and thus the Master race. They have convinced the so-called useless eaters that they are friends, benefactors, and protectors. In the meantime they plan to enslave these poor People under socialism or eliminate them altogether. The Illuminati has convinced them that Karl Marx is their savior, and the sheople follow this Judas goat eagerly.

There will be no individual Rights only privileges. These will be granted or denied at will by the world supra government. All property is to be owned by the State. There will be a redistribution of wealth. They plan to eliminate class differences and reduce the standard of living to a lower level in the advanced nations, such as the united States, and to a higher standard of living in the so-called third world nations. This leveling of the standard of living will be accomplished through a global economic collapse which is in its beginning stages. The economic collapse will fulfill the goal of Marx and Engles' Communist Manifesto mandating the elimination of the middle class. The graduated income tax was the first implementation of this process and is one of the planks of the Communist Manifesto. NAFTA and GATT are a part of this process encouraging industry to move into third-world nations in order to exploit cheap labor.

All existing religions will disappear. The only religion will be the state religion (humanism or illuminism).

All County and State governments will be eliminated and replaced with regional government. These regional governments (Home Rule) are already in place. Regionalism is gradually taking control throughout America.

There will be no more cash. Trade will be accomplished by a system of computer credits with accounts accessed through debit cards or computer chip implants. The cards or implants will also serve as personal identification, drivers license, and etc. When this is completed the human race will be shackled to a computer in a never ending cycle of debt. No action or movement will ever again be private.

MAJESTYTWELVE by William Cooper Copyright © 1997 William Cooper All Rights Reserved

HOTT - MAJESTYTWELVE (hourofthetime.com)

https://www.hourofthetime.com/majestyt.htm

Tulsi Gabbard (/ˈtʌlsi ˈɡæbərd/; born April 12, 1981) is an American politician and military officer serving since 2025 as the eighth director of national intelligence (DNI). She has held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021, and previously served as U.S. representative for Hawaii's 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. A former Democrat, she became an independent in 2022 and later joined the Republican Party in 2024. Gabbard was the youngest state legislator in Hawaii from 2002 to 2004.

Gabbard joined the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003 and was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to 2005, where she served as a specialist with a medical unit, and received the Combat Medical Badge. In 2007, Gabbard completed the officer training program at the Alabama Military Academy. She went to Kuwait in 2008 as an Army Military Police officer. In 2015, while also serving in Congress, Gabbard became a major with the Hawaii Army National Guard. In 2020, she transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2021.

In 2012, Gabbard was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Hawaii's 2nd congressional district. She became the first Samoan American and Hindu American member of U.S. Congress. During her tenure in Congress, she served on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and the House Foreign Affairs Committee. She supported the military campaign to defeat Islamic extremism but opposed the U.S. intervention in the Syrian civil war. In her fourth term, Gabbard also served on the HASC Subcommittee on Intelligence, which oversaw military intelligence and counterterrorism.

Gabbard launched her 2020 presidential campaign running on an anti-interventionist and populist platform, but dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden in March 2020. Previously, she also served as vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2013 to 2016 but resigned to endorse Bernie Sanders for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. After her departure from Congress in 2021, Gabbard took more conservative positions on issues such as transgender rights, border security, and foreign policy. In 2022, she spoke at the conservative CPAC conference and left the Democratic Party.

In 2024, Gabbard endorsed Donald Trump for the presidential election and joined the Republican Party later that year. After Trump nominated Gabbard for DNI, her past statements on Syria and the Russian invasion of Ukraine drew scrutiny and concern. Many veterans and Republicans defended Gabbard's record, noting her military service and Congressional experience. In February 2025, she was confirmed by the Senate, becoming the highest-ranking Pacific Islander American government official in U.S. history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsi_Gabbard

Isaiah 14:12-17

1599 Geneva Bible

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O [a]Lucifer, son of the morning? and cut down to the ground, which didst cast lots upon the nations?

13 Yet thou saidest in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, and exalt my throne above beside the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the [b]North.

14 I will ascend above the height of the clouds, and I will be like the most high.

15 But thou shalt be brought down to the grave, to the side of the pit.

16 They that see thee, shall [c]look upon thee and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, and that did shake the kingdoms?

17 He made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof, and opened not [d]the house of his prisoners.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Isaiah 14:12 Thou that thoughtest thyself most glorious, and as it were placed in the heaven: for the morning star that goeth before the sun, is called Lucifer, to whom Nebuchadnezzar is compared.

Isaiah 14:13 Meaning, Jerusalem, whereof the Temple was of the North side, Ps. 48:2, whereby he meaneth that tyrants fight against God, when they persecute his Church, and would set themselves in his place.

Isaiah 14:16 In marveling at thee.

Isaiah 14:17 To set them at liberty: noting his cruelty.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah%2014%3A12-17&version=GNV

Nevada man arrested on kidnapping charges in Naomi IRION case, woman still missing

Troy Driver, of Fallon, was taken into custody by the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

March 26, 2022, 8:35 AM PDT

By Minyvonne Burke

A 41-year-old Nevada man was arrested Friday on kidnapping charges nearly two weeks after a woman vanished from a Walmart parking lot.

Troy Driver, of Fallon, was taken into custody by the Lyon County Sheriff's Office. Deputies are still searching for the victim, Naomi Irion, 18.

A pickup truck believed to be connected to the kidnapping was also recovered and taken into evidence, the sheriff's office said in a Facebook statement.

Further details about Driver's arrest were not immediately available.

Irion was last seen around 5 a.m. March 12 in the parking lot of a Walmart in Fernley. Her brother, Casey Valley, 32, said surveillance video from the store showed a man in a mask and hoodie walk to the parking lot from the direction of a dirt lot. The man then circled Irion’s car before forcing his way in.

"He circled around the parking lot maybe to make sure there were no witnesses," Valley said. "He came up behind the car and forced his way into the driver’s side of the car. Maybe her door was unlocked. He either said or did something to make her move to the passenger seat, and then he drove her car away into an unknown direction."

Irion's car was later found in an industrial area in Fernley. Police said her vehicle was searched, forensically analyzed and the evidence recovered is being tested."

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nevada-man-arrested-kidnapping-charges-naomi-irion-case-woman-still-mi-rcna21688

https://www.facebook.com/4williamdunn/posts/pfbid0s1WnfyN8zDnr5PtinrnfMZ9r1X3dn89e6hF9D1nWe7VvsBtnsRLnkCyxKTvY2K4el

Recusal and Order of Appointment - Court on 10.28.2028

Info Brock Law

Attachments

Mon, Oct 20, 12:40 PM (7 days ago)

to me

Good Morning,

Mr. Dunn, we hope this email finds you well.

This email serves to inform you that your case has been transferred to the Fernley Justice Court and you are scheduled to appear on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 8:00 a.m.

Can you confirm that you have received this email?

--

Kind Regards,

Brock Law, LTD.

phone: (775)993-9683

email: info@brocklawnevada.com

Mailing Address: P.O. Box 222

Winnemucca, Nevada 89446

NOTICE:  This communication, including any attachments, may contain confidential information and is intended only for the individual or entity to whom it is addressed.  Any review, dissemination, or copying of this communication by anyone other than the recipient is strictly prohibited by the electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 U.S.C. 2510-2521.  If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email, delete and destroy all copies of the original message.

City of Fernley.org

Case No. 25-CR-276 3G

FILED

2025 OCT 15 PM 12:37

JUSTICE OF THE PEACE

IN THE JUSTICE COURT OF DAYTON TOWNSHIP

IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF LYON, STATE OF NEVADA

a

CLERK

9 THE STATE OF NEVADA,

Plaintiff,

10

VS.

RECUSAL AND ORDER

WILLIAM FRANCIS DUNN IV

OF APPOINTMENT

Defendant.

Pursuant to the provisions of Nevada Revised Statutes 1.230 and inasmuch as there may be actual or implied bias, the undersigned Judge of Dayton Township Justice Court, County of Lyon, State of Nevada, does hereby recues herself from the above-entitled matter.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Judge Lori Matheus be, and hereby appointed to preside over the above-entitled matter. The case is hereby transferred to Canal Township Justice Court for further proceedings. The next court date will be held at 595 Silver Lace Blvd, Fernley, Nevada on October 28, 2025 at 8:00 am.

DATED this 15th day of October, 2025.

Camille Vecchiarelli Justice of the Peace

Judge temporary suspends case in Fernley kidnapping, killing

Driver’s lawyers continue to argue he can’t legally be tried in Lyon County

Troy Driver Mugshot(Lyon County Sheriff's Office)

By Scott Sonner

Published: Aug. 24, 2022 at 2:17 PM PDT

RENO, Nev. (AP) - A rural justice of the peace has suspended proceedings in justice court for a man accused of kidnapping and killing a Fernley teenager until a state judge can decide whether he should undergo a competency examination.

Canal Township Justice of the Peace Lori Matheus originally ordered Troy Driver of Fallon to appear in Lyon County District Court for a competency hearing before a preliminary hearing is scheduled in her Fernley courtroom next month.

Her new ruling says that state law requires her to suspend further proceedings “if a doubt arises as to the competency of the defendant.”

“The district court can make the necessary orders regarding any required examinations in this case,” Matheus wrote Aug. 22.

Meanwhile, Driver’s lawyers continue to argue he can’t legally be tried in Lyon County for the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Naomi Irion, which occurred in neighboring Churchill County.

Matheus earlier set a preliminary hearing Sept. 13-15 to determine if there’s enough evidence to bound him over for trial. She also had planned to hear jurisdictional arguments then.

Driver faces six charges in addition to first-degree murder, including sexual assault, robbery and destroying evidence.

Prosecutors maintain he can be tried in Lyon County on all charges because he kidnapped Irion from a Walmart there before he shot and buried her “all as one continuous course of conduct.”

Copyright 2022 KOLO. All rights reserved.

https://www.kolotv.com/2022/08/24/judge-temporary-suspends-case-fernley-kidnapping-killing/

Lori Ann Matheus (age 56) is listed at 1449 Mill Creek Rd Fernley, Nv 89408 and is affiliated with the Non-Partisan Party. Lori is registered to vote in Lyon County, Nevada.

Lori Matheus's Voter Registration

Party Affiliation: Non-Partisan

Registered to Vote In:  Lyon County, Nevada

Registration Date:  05/18/2002

Voter Status: ActivePrecinct: 27.01

Congressional District: Cd2

House District: Ad38

Senate District: Sd17

School Board District: Ed2

https://voterrecords.com/voter/73052433/lori-matheus

Meet Your DA – Stephen Rye

Stephen Rye

Lyon County District Attorney

Yerington Office

31 S. Main Street

Yerington, NV 89447

Office: (775) 463-6511 or (775) 246-6130

Fax: (775) 463-6516

Email:    stephenbrye@yahoo.com  

Registered sex offender driving ice cream truck linked to unlicensed Denver business

Jun 20, 2024

Denver's Department of Excise and Licenses said not only is The Ice Cream Wagon operating without a license but there is no record of an application or license for Keith Frazier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7kv3Vqwdo8

Rye hosting Ice Cream Social at Black Bear Sunday

Author:  Robert Perea

Upload date: 10/07/2022 09:27 PM

https://www.fernleyreporter.com/article/3846,rye-hosting-ice-cream-social-at-black-bear-sunday    

(AOC-Supreme Court of Nevada) 88366540

565 E Main St Fernley NV 89408

AOC-Supreme Court of Nevada - Organizer

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Correct?

Court Reminders <nvcourtnotification@ecase.io>

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AOC-Supreme Court of Nevada Logo

WILLIAM DUNN, You have a STATUS CONFERENCE on 12/30/2025 08:00 AM at Fernley - Canal Township Justice Court, 565 E Main St, Fernley, NV, 89408. If you have questions, contact the court directly 775-575-3355 as this is an unmonitored mailbox. Reply STOP to opt-out.

Rituals and worship

According to M.J. Vermaseren and C.C. van Essen, the Mithraic New Year and the birthday of Mithras was on 25 December.[v][w] Beck disagreed strongly.[43](p 299, note 12) Clauss states: "The Mithraic Mysteries had no public ceremonies of its own. The festival of Natalis Invicti, held on 25 December, was a general festival of the Sun, and by no means specific to the Mysteries of Mithras."[44]

Mithraic initiates were required to swear an oath of secrecy and dedication.[45]

Mithras was thought to be a "warrior hero" similar to Greek heroes.[46]

Mithraic catechism

Apparently, some grade rituals involved the recital of a catechism, wherein the initiate was asked a series of questions pertaining to the initiation symbolism and had to reply with specific answers. An example of such a catechism, apparently pertaining to the Leo grade, was discovered in a fragmentary Egyptian papyrus (Papyrus Berolinensis 21196),[45][47] and reads:

Verso

[...] He will say: 'Where [...]?'

'[...] is he at a loss there?' Say: '[...]'

[...] Say: 'Night'. He will say: 'Where [...]?'

[...] Say: 'All things [...]'

'[...] are you called?' Say: 'Because of the summery [...]'

[...] having become [...] he/it has the fiery ones

'[...] did you receive?' Say: 'In a pit'. He will say: 'Where is your [...]?'

'[...] [in the] Leonteion.' He will say: 'Will you gird [...]?'

'[...] death'. He will say: 'Why, having girded yourself, [...]?'

[...] this [has?] four tassels.

Recto

Very sharp and [...]

[...] much. He will say: '[...]?'

'[...] of the hot and cold'. He will say: '[...]?'

'[...] red [...] linen'. He will say: 'Why?' Say:

[...] red border; the linen, however, [...]

'[...] has been wrapped?' Say: 'The savior's [...]'

He will say: 'Who is the father?' Say: 'The one who [begets] everything [...]'

[He will say: 'How] did you become a Leo?' Say: 'By the [...] of the father [...]'

Say: 'Drink and food'. He will say: '[...]?'

[...] in the seven-[...]

Mithraic relief with original colors (reconstitution), c. 140–160 CE; from Argentoratum. Strasbourg Archaeological Museum.

Almost no Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its rituals survives;[o] with the exception of the aforementioned oath and catechism, and the document known as the Mithras Liturgy, from 4th century Egypt, whose status as a Mithraist text has been questioned by scholars including Franz Cumont.[x][48] The walls of mithraea were commonly whitewashed, and where this survives, it tends to carry extensive repositories of graffiti; and these, together with inscriptions on Mithraic monuments, form the main source for Mithraic texts.[49]

Feasting

The archaeology of numerous mithraea indicates that most rituals were associated with feasting – as eating utensils and food residues are often found. These tend to include both animal bones and also very large quantities of fruit residues.[4](p 115) The presence of large numbers of cherry-stones in particular would tend to confirm mid-summer (late June, early July) as a season especially associated with Mithraic festivities. The Virunum album, in the form of an inscribed bronze plaque, records a Mithraic festival of commemoration as taking place on 26 June 184. Beck argues that religious celebrations on this date are indicative of special significance being given to the summer solstice; but this time of the year coincides with ancient recognition of the solar maximum at midsummer, when iconographically identical holidays such as Fors Fortuna (ancient Rome), Saint John's Eve, and Jāņi (Lithuania) are also observed.

For their feasts, Mithraic initiates reclined on stone benches arranged along the longer sides of the mithraeum – typically there might be room for 15 to 30 diners, but very rarely many more than 40 men.[4](p 43) Counterpart dining rooms, or triclinia, were to be found above ground in the precincts of almost any temple or religious sanctuary in the Roman empire, and such rooms were commonly used for their regular feasts by Roman 'clubs', or collegia. Mithraic feasts probably performed a very similar function for Mithraists as the collegia did for those entitled to join them; indeed, since qualification for Roman collegia tended to be restricted to particular families, localities or traditional trades, Mithraism may have functioned in part as providing clubs for the unclubbed.[50] The size of the mithraeum is not necessarily an indication of the size of the congregation.[27](pp 12, 36)

Altars, iconography, and suspected doctrinal diversity

Each mithraeum had several altars at the further end, underneath the representation of the tauroctony, and also commonly contained considerable numbers of subsidiary altars, both in the main mithraeum chamber and in the ante-chamber or narthex.[4](p 49) These altars, which are of the standard Roman pattern, each carry a named dedicatory inscription from a particular initiate, who dedicated the altar to Mithras "in fulfillment of his vow", in gratitude for favours received.

Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altars, indicating regular sacrificial use, though mithraea do not commonly appear to have been provided with facilities for ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals (a highly specialised function in Roman religion), and it may be presumed that a mithraeum would have made arrangements for this service to be provided for them in co-operation with the professional victimarius[51](p 568) of the civic cult. Prayers were addressed to the Sun three times a day, and Sunday was especially sacred.[52]

It is doubtful whether Mithraism had a monolithic and internally consistent doctrine.[y] It may have varied from location to location.[30](p 16) The iconography is relatively coherent.[26] It had no predominant sanctuary or cultic centre; and, although each mithraeum had its own officers and functionaries, there was no central supervisory authority. In some mithraea, such as that at Dura Europos, wall paintings depict prophets carrying scrolls,[54] but no named Mithraic sages are known, nor does any reference give the title of any Mithraic scripture or teaching. It is known that initiates could transfer with their grades from one Mithraeum to another.[4](p 139)

Mithraeum

See also: Mithraeum

A mithraeum found in the ruins of Ostia Antica, Italy

Temples of Mithras are sunk below ground, windowless, and very distinctive. In cities, the basement of an apartment block might be converted; elsewhere they might be excavated and vaulted over, or converted from a natural cave. Mithraic temples are common in the empire; although unevenly distributed, with considerable numbers found in Rome, Ostia, Numidia, Dalmatia, Britain and along the Rhine/Danube frontier, while being somewhat less common in Greece, Egypt, and Syria.[4](pp 26–27) According to Walter Burkert, the secret character of Mithraic rituals meant that Mithraism could only be practiced within a Mithraeum.[55] Some new finds at Tienen show evidence of large-scale feasting and suggest that the mystery religion may not have been as secretive as was generally believed.[z]

For the most part, mithraea tend to be small, externally undistinguished, and cheaply constructed; the cult generally preferring to create a new centre rather than expand an existing one. The mithraeum represented the cave to which Mithras carried and then killed the bull; and where stone vaulting could not be afforded, the effect would be imitated with lath and plaster. They are commonly located close to springs or streams; fresh water appears to have been required for some Mithraic rituals, and a basin is often incorporated into the structure.[4](p 73) There is usually a narthex or ante-chamber at the entrance, and often other ancillary rooms for storage and the preparation of food. The extant mithraea present us with actual physical remains of the architectural structures of the sacred spaces of the Mithraic cult. Mithraeum is a modern coinage and mithraists referred to their sacred structures as speleum or antrum (cave), crypta (underground hallway or corridor), fanum (sacred or holy place), or even templum (a temple or a sacred space).[aa]

In their basic form, mithraea were entirely different from the temples and shrines of other cults. In the standard pattern of Roman religious precincts, the temple building functioned as a house for the god, who was intended to be able to view, through the opened doors and columnar portico, sacrificial worship being offered on an altar set in an open courtyard – potentially accessible not only to initiates of the cult, but also to colitores or non-initiated worshippers.[51](p 493) Mithraea were the antithesis of this.[51](p 355)

Degrees of initiation

In the Suda under the entry Mithras, it states that "No one was permitted to be initiated into them (the mysteries of Mithras), until he should show himself holy and steadfast by undergoing several graduated tests."[56] Gregory Nazianzen refers to the "tests in the mysteries of Mithras".[57]

There were seven grades of initiation into Mithraism, which are listed by St. Jerome.[58] Manfred Clauss states that the number of grades, seven, must be connected to the planets. A mosaic in the Mithraeum of Felicissimus, Ostia Antica depicts these grades, with symbolic emblems that are connected either to the grades or are symbols of the planets. The grades also have an inscription beside them commending each grade into the protection of the different planetary gods.[4]: 132–133  In ascending order of importance, the initiatory grades were:[4](p 133–138)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithraism

AI Overview

The names Lawrence and Laura both derive from the Latin word laurus, meaning "bay laurel". Lawrence originated as a masculine name from the Roman family name Laurentius ("man of Laurentum") and is associated with the laurel wreath of victory, often linked to Saint Lawrence. Laura is the feminized version of laurus and represents victory or honor.

Lawrence

Origin: Latin (Laurentius)

Meaning: "Man of Laurentum," an ancient Italian city possibly named for the abundance of laurel trees. It is also strongly associated with the "bay laurel" plant.

Connection to victory: The laurel wreath was a symbol of victory in ancient Rome, a connotation that carries through the name.

Key figure: Saint Lawrence, a martyr who is a central figure in the name's history, notes Quora.

Laura

Origin: Latin (laurus)

Meaning: "Bay laurel".

Connection to victory: Like Lawrence, the name is linked to the laurel wreath, symbolizing victory, honor, and fame.

Gender: It is the feminized form of the name, notes Wikipedia.

AI responses may include mistakes. Learn more

Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.

Born to actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, Dern embarked on an acting career in the 1980s, and rose to prominence for her performances in Mask (1985), and in David Lynch's films Blue Velvet (1986) and Wild at Heart (1990). She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role of the titular orphan in the drama film Rambling Rose (1991), and her first Golden Globe for her performance in the television film Afterburn (1992). She achieved international recognition for her role as Ellie Sattler in Steven Spielberg's adventure film Jurassic Park (1993), a role she later reprised in the sequels, Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

After winning two Golden Globes for her performances as Katherine Harris in the television film Recount (2008), and Amy Jellicoe in the comedy series Enlightened (2011–2013), Dern garnered her second Academy Award nomination for her performance as the mother of Cheryl Strayed in the biopic Wild (2014). She portrayed Renata Klein in the drama series Big Little Lies, winning a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award, and reunited with Lynch for Inland Empire and Twin Peaks: The Return. She had supporting roles in the films Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017), Little Women (2019), and Marriage Story (2019). Her performance as a divorce lawyer in Marriage Story won her an Academy Award and her fifth Golden Globe Award as Best Supporting Actress.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Dern

Early Female Transgender Identity after Prenatal Exposure to Diethylstilbestrol: Report from a French National Diethylstilbestrol (DES) Cohort

by Laura Gaspari 1,2,3,†,Marie-Odile Soyer-Gobillard 4,5,†ORCID,Scott Kerlin 6,Françoise Paris 1,2,3 andCharles Sultan 1,*

2. Patients and Methods

This study was based on a French national retrospective cohort of DES-treated women (HHORAGES-France Association) (n = 1200) and their families. Detailed standard questionnaires were obtained from all DES mothers when they joined the HHORAGES-France Association and all DES children were already adults at this time. The answers to this online questionnaire were used to select women who met the following inclusion criteria: (1) at least two pregnancies with two viable male babies (same father) among whom the first child was not exposed in utero to DES (pre-DES), followed by one or more children with fetal exposure to DES (DES); (2) confirmed data on the total DES dose (health record or physician’s observation). The cumulative dose D administered to the French pregnant mothers was 4050 mg < D < 7300 mg. This is considered a medium-low-dose cohort, in accordance with the observations by Tournaire et al. [31] and compared with the higher doses administered in the United States (7550 mg < D < 12,742 mg). The answers to the questionnaires were also used to identify women with a DES son who presented female gender variance. We then contacted all DES sons with female gender variance and we carried out an individual interview with them.

The local university hospital ethics committee approved this study (ID IRB No. 202301531), and all patients gave their informed consent through the HHORAGES-France Association (CNIL: J B/EM/DC042793, N° 1006460).

All DES sons who identified as transgender women underwent karyotyping at their local hospital at the moment of transition.

https://www.mdpi.com/2039-4713/14/1/10

Thomas Trace Beatie (born 1974[1]) is an American public speaker, author, and advocate of transgender rights and sexuality issues, with a focus on transgender fertility and reproductive rights.[2]

Beatie came out as a trans man in early 1997. Beatie had gender-affirming surgery in March 2002 and became known as "the pregnant man" after he became pregnant through artificial insemination in 2007.[3] Beatie chose to be pregnant, with donated sperm,[4][5] because his wife Nancy was sterile.

The couple filed for divorce in 2012. The Beatie case is the first of its kind on record, where a documented legal male gave birth within a marriage to a woman, and for the first time, a court challenged a marriage where the husband gave birth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Beatie

Tracing boards are painted or printed illustrations depicting the various emblems and symbols of Freemasonry. They can be used as teaching aids during the lectures that follow each of the Masonic Degrees, when an experienced member explains the various concepts of Freemasonry to new members. They can also be used by experienced members as reminders of the concepts they learned as they went through the ceremonies of the different masonic degrees.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracing_board

Exoteric Masonry, which is only the husks of the Mystic Order formed by the Sons of Cain has in modern times attracted the masculine element with its positively polarized physical vehicles, and educated them in industry and statecraft, thus controlling the material development of the world. The sons of Seth, constituting themselves the Priestcraft have worked their spell over the positive vital bodies of the feminine element to dominate the spiritual development. And whereas, the sons of Cain working through Freemasonry and kindred movements, have openly fought for the temporal power, the Priestcraft has fought as strenuously and perhaps more effectively, by stealth, to retain their monopoly upon the spiritual development of the feminine element. To the casual onlooker it would seem as if there were no decided antagonism between these two movements at the present time, but though Freemasonry of today is but a shell of its true ancient mystic self, and though Catholicism has been terribly tarnished by the touch of time, in that one thing there is no difference, the war is as keen as ever, the efforts of the Church are not concentrated upon the masses however as much as upon those who are seeking to live the higher life, so that they may gain admission to the Mystery Temple and learn how to make the Philosophers’ Stone. As mankind advances in evolution, the vital body becomes more permanently positively polarized giving to both sexes a greater desire for spirituality, and though we change from the masculine to feminine in alternate embodiment, positive polarity of the vital body is becoming more pronounced regardless of sex, and this accounts for the growing tendency towards Altruism which is even being brought out by the suffering entailed by the great war we are now fighting, for all agree that they are seeking to obtain a lasting peace where the swords may be made into plowshares, and the spears into pruning hooks. In the past humanity has been claiming universal brotherhood as a great ideal, but we must come closer than that to be in full accord with the Christ. He said to his Disciples “ye are my friends.” Among brothers and sisters hate and enmity may exist, but friendship is the expression of love and cannot exist apart from that. This is therefore the magic word which will eventually level all distinctions, bring peace upon earth and goodwill among men. This is the great Ideal proclaimed by the Rosicrucian Fellowship, an Ideal which points the shortest way to the New Heaven and the New Earth, where the sons of Cain and the sons of Seth will eventually be united.

FREEMASONRY AND CATHOLICISM

by MAX HEINDEL

https://dn720206.ca.archive.org/0/items/freemasonryandca017137mbp/freemasonryandca017137mbp.pdf

Laura Dern’s Mother, Prolific Actress Diane Ladd, Dead at 89: ‘Flying With Her Angels Now’

Jennifer Lenhart

Mon, November 3, 2025 at 1:19 PM PST

2 min read

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Actress Diane Ladd, whose career spanned eight decades, died at 89 on Monday, November 3.

“My amazing hero and my profound gift of a mother, Diane Ladd, passed with me beside her this morning, at her home in Ojai, Ca.,” her daughter, Laura Dern, wrote in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter.

“She was the greatest daughter, mother, grandmother, actress, artist and empathetic spirit that only dreams could have seemingly created,” Dern continued.

“We were blessed to have her,” she added. “She is flying with her angels now.”

Born and raised in Mississippi, the actress — who was a cousin of Tennessee Williams — got her start with small roles on TV shows including Naked City, Gunsmoke and The Fugitive, and a regular role on the soap opera The Secret Storm.

One of her first major film roles was opposite Jack Nicholson in Chinatown in 1974, the year she landed her scene-stealing role as sassy waitress Flo in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, which earned her the first of three Academy Award nominations.

Her other notable films include National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Ghosts of Mississippi and Primary Colors. She also appeared in the films Wild at Heart, Rambling Rose, Citizen Ruth and Inland Empire, as well as the TV show Enlightened, alongside Laura, who she shared with her ex-husband, actor Bruce Dern. (They had another daughter, Diane Elizabeth, who died in an accidental drowning when she was 18 months old.)

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Following a health crisis in 2023, she and Laura wrote the memoir, Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love (and Banana Pudding).

“We pretend death doesn’t happen. It’s kind of sad, because you got born—and that happened—and you can bet your bottom booth, death’s gonna happen too,” Ladd told Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper in 2023.

“It’s nice to be prepared together, and help each other be prepared for life itself and death itself, and the continuation of the immortal soul. You do it through love and joy, living a great life, holding the door when somebody comes behind you, and saying ‘Thank you,’ and “Please,’ ” she continued. “I mean, it doesn’t hurt to be a little kind and raise up our evolution here and be a bit more evolved. That doesn’t hurt or cost us anything. It helps make paradise, paradise.”

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This story Laura Dern’s Mother, Prolific Actress Diane Ladd, Dead at 89: ‘Flying With Her Angels Now’ first appeared on National Examiner. Add National Examiner as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/laura-dern-mother-prolific-actress-211937584.html

Doink, Mabel & Mo vs. Jacques, Jeff Jarrett & Pierre

Date: 13.04.1994

Promotion: World Wrestling Federation

Match type: Six Man Tag Team

Event: WWF Superstars #396 (Card with guide)

https://www.cagematch.net/?id=111&nr=107422

1987 Slammy Awards

The Slammy Awards returned a year later, now honoring the events and individuals involved within the professional wrestling aspect of the World Wrestling Federation. The second edition of the ceremony (referred to in commercials and on-air as the 37th annual Slammy Awards) took place on December 16, 1987, from Caesars Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It aired in syndication on December 19, 1987.[11][14][13] The ceremony was hosted by Jesse Ventura and Gene Okerlund.[15] Musical numbers were performed by Vince McMahon (singing the song "Stand Back")[16] and Jimmy Hart (singing "Girls in Cars"), with the entire WWF roster performing "If You Only Knew" as the show's closing number.[16][15]

Winners are listed first, highlighted in boldface.[11][14][13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slammy_Award

AI Overview

As of September 2025, there has been no 37th General Congregation of the Society of Jesus. The most recent assembly was the 36th General Congregation (GC 36), which met in Rome in October 2016.

What is a General Congregation?

A General Congregation (GC) is the highest governing body of the Society of Jesus, a Catholic religious order. A GC can be called for two main reasons:

To elect a new Superior General: This happens when the previous Superior General resigns or dies. In 2016, GC 36 was called after Father Adolfo Nicolás announced his resignation.

To address important matters: A GC can be called by the Superior General to discuss and act on significant issues concerning the order, the Church, and the world.

Key outcomes of the 36th General Congregation (GC 36)

The last General Congregation made two major decisions for the Society of Jesus:

Election of a new Superior General: The delegates elected Father Arturo Sosa Abascal of Venezuela as the 31st Superior General.

Declaration on reconciliation and justice: The assembly released a decree titled "Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice," which recommitted the order to the service of faith and the promotion of justice, continuing a priority first established at the 32nd General Congregation.

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Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, Named Next Provincial of the Jesuits of Canada

March 15, 2024 — The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) announced the appointment of Fr. Jeffrey S. Burwell, SJ, as the next provincial of the Jesuits of Canada. This appointment is the culmination of a thoughtful, prayerful process of consultation and discernment, marking a significant milestone for the Canadian Province.

Fr. Jeffrey Burwell, SJ

Fr. Burwell will succeed Fr. Erik Oland, SJ, assuming his new responsibilities on July 31, 2024, with an inaugural Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Toronto. A special celebration will also take place at the Jesuit infirmary in Richelieu, Quebec, on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 2024.

Fr. Burwell, 48, is an educational specialist whose doctoral research took him to the Holy Land, where he focused on Catholic schools in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. A lecturer in Catholic studies, first St. Paul’s College at the University of Manitoba and now Campion College at the University of Regina, he balances university work with pastoral service as a chaplain to police (RCMP) and to prisoners. He dedicates his university holidays to ministering in the Dene and Cree Indigenous communities of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Holding positions as a local superior since 2017 and a province consultor since 2021, Fr. Burwell brings a profound understanding of the Jesuit mission and a significant appreciation for Canada and Haiti’s diverse cultures.

This leadership change comes at a time when the Society of Jesus seeks to deepen its engagement with contemporary challenges, oriented by their Universal Apostolic Preferences: showing the way to God through the Spiritual Exercises and discernment; walking with the excluded; journeying with youth; and caring for our common home.

A Jesuit provincial leads a specific geographic region. This role is deeply spiritual, with responsibilities that extend beyond administrative tasks to include guiding the province’s mission and providing spiritual and pastoral care for its members. Provincials generally serve a six-year term.

There are five provinces within the Jesuit Conference of Canada and the United States. The Canadian Province of the Society of Jesus encompasses a wide range of works, including colleges/universities, secondary and pre-secondary schools, parishes, retreat houses, formation in spirituality, Indigenous ministries, social justice center and ecological endeavors.

The Jesuits of Canada, together with their partners, look forward to supporting Fr. Burwell in his new role as they continue to serve the mission of the Church and society in Canada and beyond.

https://www.jesuits.org/stories/jeffrey-s-burwell-sj-named-next-provincial-of-the-jesuits-of-canada/

The Montreal Screwjob (also called the Montreal Incident)[1][2][3] was a professional wrestling incident where the outcome of a major match was changed without one of the wrestlers being informed – in order to "screw over" Bret Hart, who was in bitter conflict with his employer, WWF owner Vince McMahon at the time. It occurred on November 9, 1997, at the Survivor Series pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. During the WWF Championship match between Shawn Michaels and champion Hart, Vince McMahon, who was in charge of matches and storylines, and producer of the show – and a small number of WWF employees, most significantly the referee – covertly changed the predetermined outcome of the match in favor of Michaels; the screwjob occurred without Hart's knowledge, causing him to lose the Championship. Hart took the incident as a personal insult, because he did not wish to lose the title on "home soil" in Canada. Since this event, the term "screwjob" has come into wrestling parlance.

Hart had been WWF Champion since August 1997. A week prior to Survivor Series, Hart, who had performed for the WWF since 1984, agreed to join rival wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from December 1997. McMahon sought to prevent Hart from leaving the WWF as champion, but Hart was unwilling to lose to Michaels – with whom he had a legitimate feud – at Survivor Series, due to the match's location. The match was originally planned to end in disqualification, causing Hart to retain the title, and then losing or forfeiting it at a later date. Instead, as the match approached the 20th minute (a standard length for a televised WWF title match), under McMahon's direction, referee Earl Hebner ended the contest, as Michaels held Hart in the sharpshooter submission hold (Hart's signature move); although Hart did not submit, Michaels was declared the winner by submission and became WWF Champion. Michaels and other officials left the arena in a scramble, after which were several altercations backstage involving the pair and a number of other WWE superstars and staff, including McMahon being punched in the face and knocked unconscious by Hart.

As a result of the screwjob, McMahon and Michaels elicited angry responses from Canadian audiences and others for many years, with McMahon viewed by many fans to have betrayed Hart, who was one of the WWF's longest-tenured and most popular performers at the time. The incident is considered as one of the beginnings of the Attitude Era,[4] and unintentionally led to the creation of McMahon's villainous on-screen character, "Mr. McMahon", on WWF television broadcasts.[5] The Montreal Screwjob has garnered a notorious legacy; accounts differ as to who exactly was involved in the plan and the extent of their involvement, while some wrestling fans, performers and bookers believe the incident was an elaborate work executed in collaboration with Hart, which he denies. Hart did not return to the WWE until his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in April 2006. Later legitimately reconciling with McMahon and Michaels, Hart returned in January 2010 for his first live appearance on WWE programming since the incident, with the screwjob used in a storyline between McMahon and Hart, leading to a match at WrestleMania XXVI. Longtime industry writer Mike Johnson referred to the screwjob as "arguably the most talked-about [event] in the history of professional wrestling".[6][7][8] The incident was partly chronicled in the documentary film Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows (1998).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Screwjob

Montreuil (French pronunciation: [mɔ̃tʁœj] ⓘ), also known unofficially as Montreuil-sous-Bois (pronounced [mɔ̃tʁœj su bwa]), is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 6.6 km (4.1 mi) from the centre of Paris, in the Seine-Saint-Denis department and in the Métropole du Grand Paris. With a population of 111,367 as of 2020, Montreuil is the third most populous suburb of Paris after Boulogne-Billancourt and Saint-Denis. It is located north of Paris's Bois de Vincennes (in the 12th arrondissement), on the border with Val-de-Marne.

Name

The name Montreuil was recorded for the first time in a royal edict of 722 as Monasteriolum, meaning "little monastery" in Medieval Latin. The settlement of Montreuil started as a group of houses built around a small Merovingian monastery.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreuil,_Seine-Saint-Denis

Église St-Pierre de Montmartre

Montmartre & Northern Paris,Paris,France,Europe

Montmartre & Northern Paris

All that remains of the former Benedictine Abbey of Montmartre, this church dates back to the 12th century and is one of the oldest in Paris, though it has been much restored. Built atop a Roman temple to Mars, it was witness to the founding of the Jesuits in 1534, who met in the crypt under the guidance of Ignatius of Loyola.

Some say that the name Montmartre is derived from ‘Mons Martis’ (Latin for Mount of Mars); others prefer the Christian ‘Mont Martyr’ (Mount of the Martyr), a reference to the 3rd-century St Denis, who, according to legend, walked across Montmartre and on to the site of today’s Basilique de St-Denis after having been beheaded by Roman priests.

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/france/paris/montmartre-and-northern-paris/attractions/eglise-st-pierre-de-montmartre/a/poi-sig/1264286/1323143

The Carolingian dynasty (/ˌkærəˈlɪndʒiən/ KARR-ə-LIN-jee-ən;[1] known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charles Martel and his grandson Charlemagne, descendants of the Arnulfing and Pippinid clans of the 7th century AD.[2] The dynasty consolidated its power in the 8th century, eventually making the offices of mayor of the palace and dux et princeps Francorum hereditary, and becoming the de facto rulers of the Franks as the real powers behind the Merovingian throne. In 751 the Merovingian dynasty which had ruled the Franks was overthrown with the consent of the Papacy and the aristocracy, and Pepin the Short, son of Martel, was crowned King of the Franks. The Carolingian dynasty reached its peak in 800 with the crowning of Charlemagne as the first Emperor of the Romans in the West in over three centuries. Nearly every monarch of France from Charlemagne's son Louis the Pious till the penultimate monarch of France Louis Philippe have been his descendants. His death in 814 began an extended period of fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and decline that would eventually lead to the evolution of the Kingdom of France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Name

The Carolingian dynasty takes its name from Carolus, the Latinised name of multiple Frankish kings including Charlemagne and Charles Martel.[3] The name originates from a common Germanic word, rendered in Old High German as Karl or Kerl,[4] meaning 'man', 'husband', or 'freeman'.[5]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolingian_dynasty

THE CONFLICT: PRIORY OF SION VERSUS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Secret societies by virtue of their very secrecy have often kept historians at bay, and the historians, reluctant to confess their ignorance, prefer to diminish the consequence of their subject. Freemasonry.. is of vital importance to any social, psychological, cultural or political history of eighteenth-century Europe, and even to the founding of the United States; but most history books don't even mention it. It is almost as if an implicit policy obtained: If something cannot be exhaustively documented, it must be irrelevant and thereby not worth discussing I at all. Investigators of the Holy Grail' Freemasonry, French and English, as we know it today, finds its loots in two organizations of the Middle Ages - the Priory of Sion and the Order of the Knights Templar. What follows is the fascinating, if sometimes complicated and obscure history, of how these two modern, anti-Christian secular secret societies - English and French Freemasonry - developed from two groups that themselves had roots in the occult. We will see how the Priory of Sion desired to rule the world from the throne of David in Jerusalem through its counterfeit Jewish Merovingian bloodline, and how its own creation, the Knights Templar, moved beyond its role as police and protector of Sion to financial masters of medieval Europe. We will trace the alliance of Sion and the Templars, their dispute over the discovery of Solomon's treasures, and the terrible intrigues which followed that led to the undoing of the Templars in their struggle over wealth, power, and politics. We will reveal the beliefs of these two groups: that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene; that a spiritual god of good (Satan) battles a material god of evil; that Lucifer, not Jesus, deserves worship; that a "Spear of Destiny" (later sought and possessed by Hitler) allows the holder to rule the world. We will also present data about the whereabouts of King Solomon's wealth, the plan to one day return it to Jerusalem, and reveal that the ultimate goal of these two groups is world government, and that their descendants, English and French Freemasonry, desire the same. The Historical Trail: The Priory of Sion and the Holy Grail In 1982 and 1986 three secular revisionist authors, Michael Baigent~ Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln published Holy Blood, Holy Grail followed by The Messianic Legacy. These two books dramatically reveal a secret order structured in the manner of Freemasonry, and founded in Europe twelve centuries before the Grand Lodge was officially formed in 1717. This order protects both the Holy Grail and the Merovingian bloodline, which bloodline carried Mystery Babylon into the Catholic Church in 496 A.D. 56 The Holy Grail, of course, is the so-called cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. The Merovingians, owners of the Holy Grail, teach that Jesus fathered children by Mary Magdalene. The Merovingians claim to be the offspring of that "holy" union, and as such, assert they are Jews of the Davidic line.

In Revelation 17:3-5 the apostle John describes a vision, which Rev. J. R. Church in Guardians of the Grail believes is fulfilled in the Grail legend. The Whore of Babylon is holding in her hand a golden cup full of blasphemy. Church believes the cup is the blasphemous Holy Grail Another element of the Grail legend is the spear supposed to have pierced the side of Jesus, also known as the Spear of Longinus or the Spear of Destiny. Whoever possesses this spear, so the legend goes, will rule the world. The Merovingians, whose descendants are the Habsburg pretenders to the Austrian throne today, are in possession of the spear. It is on display in the Habsburg museum in Vienna, Austria~ No one, however, knows the location of the Holy Grail. At least no one is telling. Although heretical, this secret society should not be discounted, for it is alive and well today. In fact, in 1956, an Order calling itself the Prieure de Sion, or Priory of Sion, registered itself publicly for the first time with the French government. (Sion is French for Zion.) It is from this Order that the legend of the Holy Grail originated five centuries after Christ's death. Rev. Church remarks of this organization: This mysterious group is presently made up of over 9,000 men, including Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, and Moslems. The members of this secret sect should be considered unfaithful to their respective beliefs, for in reality they are neither Christian nor Catholic, they are neither Jew nor Moslem. Their doctrine sidesteps the basic tenets of those beliefs and replaces them with the teachings of their greatest prophet - whom they believe to be Buddha.2 From this secret order J. R. Church believes will come the Anti-Christ, for he writes, "Their ultimate goal is world government!'

Scarlet and the Beast

by John Daniel

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zCd0nFuvnM4OYWuVW5QUBCpsTfBv5bYx/view?usp=sharing

The Quebecers were a professional wrestling tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from in between 1993 and 1994 and again in 1998 who consisted of Quebecer Jacques and Quebecer Pierre. They also worked as The Amazing French-Canadians in World Championship Wrestling under their given names from 1996 to 1997.

History

Jacques Rougeau had previously worked for the WWF both as a tag team wrestler with his brother Raymond Rougeau as The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and later on as a singles wrestler under the name The Mountie (the Quebecers have since been sometimes confused with the Rougeau Brothers).[5] Pierre had worked on the independent circuit until 1993 where he met Jacques Rougeau in Puerto Rico.

World Wrestling Federation

Jacques and Pierre were paired up by the WWF, dressed in red and black uniforms that were reminiscent of Jacques’ previous identity as “The Mountie”. They even played off Vince McMahon's legal troubles over the Mountie gimmick by giving the team a theme song that said "We're Not the Mounties", but otherwise was the same as Jacques’ “Mountie” theme song. They were also teamed up with a young charismatic talker, Johnny Polo, who portrayed a preppy rich kid.

They debuted on the July 24, 1993 episode of WWF Superstars[6] and were quickly pushed to the top of the tag team division, challenging The Steiner Brothers for the titles. The match was fought under "Quebec Province Rules" where the tag titles could change hands via disqualification.[4] Jacques took advantage of this rule by tricking Scott Steiner into swinging a hockey stick as a foreign object and getting disqualified, causing the Quebecers to win the titles.[7] In this same match, Polo debuted as the Quebecers' manager by coming to ringside during the match, sporting a Montreal Canadiens sweater.

Their feud with the Steiners continued, they were on opposite sides of the 1993 Survivor Series main event when they joined the "Foreign Fanatics" team with Ludvig Borga and Yokozuna against The Steiners, Lex Luger, and The Undertaker. However, Pierre was replaced by Crush in an injury storyline. The Steiner Brothers never managed to regain the titles from the Quebecers and soon the Quebecers started to defend against other teams.

Apart from the Steiners, the Quebecers focused on teams they deemed easily beatable, including jobbers like Barry Horowitz and Reno Riggins. Horowitz brought in the “1-2-3” Kid as his partner, leading to a series of title defenses against the Kid with changing partners. On January 10, 1994, the Kid and Marty Jannetty won an upset victory and won the gold.[8] However, they lost the titles back to the Quebecers a week later. At the 1994 Royal Rumble, The Quebecers were the opponents during the match where Owen Hart turned on Bret Hart,[9] but only served to bring the turn about, not as integral players in the developing storyline.

The Quebecers looked strong, defending the titles against all comers, including Men on a Mission, who were unsuccessful in their challenge at WrestleMania X, but managed to win the titles in London during a UK tour.[10] They regained the belts two days later in Sheffield.[11] The Quebecers luck finally ran out when they came up against the recently face turned team of The Headshrinkers, who won the tag team titles from them on Monday Night Raw in Burlington, VT, which was the only time a title change occurred in Vermont, causing the team to argue after the match and then fight. After they lost to the Headshrinkers in Montreal; Jacques was attacked by Pierre, who blamed Jacques for costing them both the match and the titles. Their brief feud culminated in Jacques’ (first) retirement match at the Montreal Forum in 1994, which Jacques won.

In early 1995, Pierre was repackaged as a pirate named "Jean-Pierre Lafitte." In early vignettes, Pierre would mention his previous gimmick as the Quebecer and explained that he changed his look and that Pierre's full name was "Jean-Pierre Lafitte" and was a pirate the whole time. Pierre was released in December 1995.

World Championship Wrestling

Retirement did not last for Jacques Rougeau, as he returned to the ring in 1996 where he reunited with Pierre in World Championship Wrestling. The team had been renamed The Amazing French Canadians and Pierre had reverted to his real name, Carl Ouellet, to avoid trademark issues with the WWF. The duo retained their patriotic nature as they would enthusiastically wave flags of Canada and Quebec during their entrances, in addition to having the Canadian national anthem as their entrance theme. During that time period, they were managed by Col. Robert Parker, who dressed like a comical French Legionnaire and added a smattering of French words to his trademark southern drawl. They began feuding with Harlem Heat, as a result of tension between Parker and Harlem Heat's manager, Sister Sherri. After Harlem Heat defeated the Amazing French Canadians at World War 3 on November 24, 1996,[12] Sherri won the right to fight Parker for five minutes. Parker was beaten down by Sherri, but the rivals later reconciled and fell in love with one another.

The French Canadians participated in what turned out to be Arn Anderson's last wrestling match before his retirement, losing to Anderson and Steve "Mongo" McMichael.

The Amazing French Canadians lost to their old rivals the Steiner Brothers at Clash of the Champions XXXIV on January 21, 1997.[13]

Return to the WWF and beyond

In mid-1997, Jacques and Pierre were released from WCW and signed with the WWF, making their return in the early part of 1998. Gone were the Mountie uniforms, replaced by maple leaf adorned uniforms reminiscent of their run in WCW. The team was only used sporadically, primarily in losing effort at No Way Out 1998 against The Godwinns[14] and as nondescript participants in the tag team battle royal at WrestleMania XIV before leaving the federation again. Their last match together was in a three-way in Montreal against Mark Henry and Godfather and The New Age Outlaws, which the Outlaws won, on August 2, 1998.

After leaving the WWF, Jacques and Pierre briefly appeared together in WCW as a part of Lance Storm’s Team Canada, but did not team up. Jacques opened up a wrestling school and runs a part-time promotion which both he and Pierre appear for on occasion. Jacques is semi-retired from the ring while Pierre wrestles mostly in Canada, mainly for the Montreal-based International Wrestling Syndicate and the Hull-based CPW International promotion, as Pierre Carl Ouellet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quebecers

Ultramontanism is a clerical political conception within the Catholic Church that places strong emphasis on the prerogatives and powers of the Pope. It contrasts with Gallicanism, the belief that popular civil authority—often represented by the monarch's or state's authority—over the Church is comparable to that of the Pope.

History

The term descends from the Middle Ages, when a non-Italian pope was said to be papa ultramontano – a pope from beyond the mountains (the Alps).[1] Foreign students at medieval Italian universities also were referred to as ultramontani.

After the Protestant Reformation in France, the concept was revived but with its directionality reversed to indicate the man "beyond the mountains" in Italy: the Pope. The term ultramontain was used to refer to Catholics who supported papal authority in French affairs – as opposed to the Gallican and Jansenist factions, who did not – and was intended as an insult implying lack of patriotism.[1] From the 17th century, ultramontanism became closely associated with the Jesuits.[2]

In the 18th century the term came to refer to supporters of the Church in any conflict between church and state. In Austria ultramontanists were opposed to Josephinism, and in Germany to Febronianism. In Great Britain and Ireland ultramontanists resisted Cisalpinism, which favored concessions to the Protestant state in order to achieve Catholic emancipation.

In eighteenth-century Spain, the Bourbon monarchs began implementing policies of regalism, which expanded the power of the monarchy and sought to bring the Catholic Church under its jurisdiction in all matters except the spiritual sphere. Charles III of Spain's ministers, Count of Floridablanca and the Count of Campomanes rejected the arguments of the ultramontanists that the Church had inalienable rights in the secular sphere.[3] The regalist reforms that the Spanish crown sought to implement were not completely successful, and the resistance to them were attributed to support for the Society of Jesus, which had been expelled from the Spanish Empire in 1767, but prior to that were educators.[4]

In Canada, the majority of Catholic clergy despised the French Revolution and its anti-clerical bias and looked to Rome for both spiritual and political guidance. There were many laymen and laywomen who supported these ideals as key to preserving Canadian institutions and values. For this reason they were called ultramontanists. The ultramontanes distrusted both the Protestant anglophone and francophone politicians, but the Church found it easier to deal with British governors, who appreciated the role of the Church in containing dissent, than with the francophone liberal professionals who were secularists.[5]

First Vatican Council

Main article: First Vatican Council

According to Catholic academic Jeffrey P. von Arx,

The threat to the Catholic Church and the papacy through the 19th century was real, and the church’s reaction to that threat was understandable. Indeed, the church remained threatened on all sides. On the left, secular liberals sought to reduce or eliminate the role of the church in public life and civil society (by suppressing church schools, for example, and expelling religious congregations). The more radical heirs of the revolution and the socialists and communists into whom they evolved remained committed to the church’s utter destruction. But the threat was also from the nationalist right. Otto von Bismarck’s Kulturkampf was aimed directly at the Catholic Church, imposing state supervision of Catholic schools and seminaries and government appointment of bishops with no reference to Rome.[6]

The response was a condemnation of Gallicanism as heretical:

[W]e condemn and reject the opinions of those who hold that this communication of the supreme head with pastors and flocks may be lawfully obstructed; or that it should be dependent on the civil power, which leads them to maintain that what is determined by the apostolic see or by its authority concerning the government of the church, has no force or effect unless it is confirmed by the agreement of the civil authority.[7]

The council also asserted papal primacy. In July 1870, it issued the Dogmatic constitution Pastor aeternus, defining four doctrines of the Catholic faith: the apostolic primacy conferred on Peter, the perpetuity of this primacy in the Roman pontiffs, the meaning and power of the papal primacy, and Papal infallibility.

[W]e teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world.[8]

Von Arx compares this to "the great empires and national states of the 19th century, which used new means of communication and transportation to consolidate power, enforce unity and build bureaucracies".[6] "Cardinal Henry Edward Manning in Great Britain thought unity and discipline within the church were of the utmost importance in protecting the church and advancing its interests in a liberal, democratic state, and so he was one of the strongest advocates of the ultramontane position."[6] The English bishops at the council were characterized by their ultramontanism and described as "being more Catholic than the Pope himself".[9]

Reaction

Other Christian groups outside the Catholic Church declared this as the triumph of what they termed "the heresy of ultramontanism". It was specifically decried in the "Declaration of the Catholic Congress at Munich", in the Theses of Bonn, and in the Declaration of Utrecht, which became the foundational documents of Old Catholics (Altkatholische) who split with Rome over the declaration on infallibility and supremacy, joining the Old Episcopal Order Catholic See of Utrecht, which had been independent from Rome since 1723.[7]

As with previous pronouncements by the pope, liberals across Europe were outraged by the doctrine of infallibility and many countries reacted with laws to counter the influence of the church. The term "ultramontanism" was revived during the French Third Republic (1870–1940) as a pejorative way to describe policies that went against laïcité, a concept rooted in the French Revolution. The French philosopher Jacques Maritain noted the distinction between the models found in France and the separation of church and state in the United States in the mid-twentieth century. He considered the US model of that time to be more amicable because it had both "sharp distinction and actual cooperation" between church and state, what he called "an historical treasure" and admonished the United States, "Please to God that you keep it carefully, and do not let your concept of separation veer round to the European one."[10]

After Italian Unification and the abrupt (and unofficial) end of the First Vatican Council in 1870 because of the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, the ultramontanist movement and the opposing conciliarism became obsolete to a large extent. However, some very extreme tendencies of a minority of adherents to ultramontanism – especially those attributing to the Roman pontiff, even in his private opinions, absolute infallibility even in matters beyond faith and morals, and impeccability – survived and were eagerly used by opponents of the Catholic Church and papacy before the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) for use in their propaganda. These extreme tendencies, however, were never supported by the First Vatican Council's dogma of 1870 of papal infallibility and primacy, but were rather inspired by erroneous private opinions of some Catholic laymen who tend to identify themselves completely with the Holy See.

At the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium, the Catholic Church's teaching on the authority of the pope, bishops and councils was further elaborated. The post-conciliar position of the Apostolic See did not deny any of the previous doctrines of papal infallibility or papal primacy; rather, it shifted emphasis from structural and organizational authority to doctrinal teaching authority (also known as the magisterium). Papal magisterium, i.e. papal teaching authority, was defined in Lumen gentium No. 25 and later codified in the 1983 revision of Canon Law.

Controversy

Some, such as the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, have claimed the Catholic social teaching of subsidiarity can overrun ultramontanism and has the potential to decentralize the Catholic Church,[11] whereas others defend it as merely a bureaucratic adjustment to give more pastoral responsibility to local bishops and priests of local parishes.[12]

Challenges to ultramontanism have remained strong within and outside Roman jurisdiction.[13] Ultramontanism has particularly overshadowed ecumenical work between the Catholic Church and both Lutherans and Anglicans.[14] The joint Anglican-Roman Catholic International Consultation published The Gift of Authority in 1999, highlights agreements and differences on these issues.[15]

Position of other traditional churches

Ultramontanism is distinct from the positions adopted by the other traditional churches, particularly the Anglican communion, Eastern Orthodox communion, the Oriental Orthodox communion, the Old Catholic Church, or the Church of the East. These churches regard the pope as having been primus inter pares when the churches were united in full communion, and generally still acknowledge that status today, albeit in an impaired form due to disunity; similarly they do not recognize the doctrines of infallibility or the pope's alleged universal jurisdiction over patriarchates and autocephalous churches other than that of Rome itself, except insofar as this is part of the concept of primus inter pares.[16]

In the joint agreed statement "The Gift of Authority" (1999) the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion were agreed on the collegial nature of the life and work of bishops.[17]: 148 Similarly both churches acknowledged the role of episcopal primacy within the college of bishops.[17]: 151 On the question of the universal primacy of the Pope, the joint report found common ground, and stated that a "particular conclusion" of their discussions had been "that Anglicans be open to and desire a recovery and re-reception under certain clear conditions of the exercise of universal primacy by the Bishop of Rome";[17]: 159 nonetheless a clear distinction remained between the Anglican view of a universal primacy exercised within a universal collegiality, and the Catholic view of a universal primacy with actual universal jurisdiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultramontanism

The Hamburg cell (German: Hamburger Zelle) was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany, that included students from different Arab countries who eventually came to be key operatives in the September 11 attacks. Important members included Mohamed Atta, who led the four hijacking teams in 2001 and piloted American Airlines Flight 11; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, who conspired with the other three members but was unable to enter the United States; Marwan al-Shehhi, who piloted United Airlines Flight 175; and Ziad Jarrah, who piloted United Airlines Flight 93 and failed to hit a target in Washington, D.C.. Other members included Said Bahaji, Zakariya Essabar, Mounir el-Motassadeq, and Abdelghani Mzoudi.

Background

On November 1, 1998, future-hijackers Mohamed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh moved into a spacious apartment (two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen) together on Marienstraße. Here they formed the secretive Hamburg cell, which also included other minor participants in the 9/11 plot. They met together three or four times a week to discuss their anti-American and anti-Israeli views and to decide how best to fight for their cause.

As late as 1999, the four core members of the group had intended to wage jihad in Chechnya, where Islamic jihadists were rebelling against Russia. The 9/11 Commission Report notes in Chapter 5 that "according to bin al-Shibh [who is now in U.S. custody], a chance meeting on a train in Germany caused the group to travel to Afghanistan instead. An individual named Khalid al Masri (or Khalid al-Masri) approached bin al-Shibh and Shehhi (because they were Arabs with beards, bin al-Shibh thinks) and struck up a conversation about jihad in Chechnya. When they later called Masri and expressed interest in going to Chechnya, he told them to contact Abu Musab in Duisburg, Germany. Abu Musab turned out to be Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who was well known to U.S. and German intelligence.

Bin al-Shibh, Shehhi and Jarrah visited Slahi in Duisburg, where he convinced them that it would be best to train in Afghanistan first, because further experience would be useful, and anyway it was difficult at that time to get into Chechnya. Slahi instructed them to travel to Karachi, Pakistan, then to the Taliban office in Quetta, Pakistan, where they were to contact a man named Umar al-Masri. Atta and Jarrah left Hamburg during the last week of November 1999. Shehhi left by himself around the same time; bin al-Shibh followed two weeks later. Slahi denies any involvement with Al-Qaeda by 1999, having previously fought with the group against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. He attests that he hosted the trio as an act of hospitality to fellow muslims.

"Umar al-Masri" turned out to be a nonexistent person. The name was a code word that instructed members of the Taliban office to escort the men to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where they were convinced to join the al-Qaeda network and wage jihad against America. They met with Osama bin Laden himself and swore their loyalty to him. Mohamed Atta was chosen by Bin Laden as the leader of the group that would attack America; Atta would contact Bin Laden several more times before the attacks. The men then returned to Germany to enroll in flight training school, and later moved on to flight training schools in the United States at the recommendation of one of their instructors based in Germany.

The members of the Hamburg Cell were a boon to the 9/11 plot, which Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had proposed to Bin Laden in 1996. The Hamburg students were fluent in English, educated, accustomed to the Western lifestyle, radically Islamic, and capable of learning to pilot aircraft. "Bin Laden and Mohammed Atef wasted no time in assigning the Hamburg group to the most ambitious operation yet planned by al-Qaeda," the 9/11 Commission Report says.

Many al-Qaeda members lived in the Hamburg apartment at various times. In all, 29 men listed the apartment as their home address while Mohamed Atta's name was on the lease. Reportedly, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed visited the apartment repeatedly.

German intelligence monitored the apartment, but did not find any evidence against the residents. Both the United States' Central Intelligence Agency and German Intelligence have received criticism for failing to share information on these and other al-Qaida members.

Hamburg Cell film

The film Hamburg Cell is a docudrama on the planning and execution of the attacks. A co-production between Channel 4 in the UK and CBC in Canada, it was shown in the UK during September 2004, amid criticism that this was too close to the anniversary of the attack. Using computer-generated imagery, the film's producers were able to show the twin towers of the World Trade Center, before the attack, in the background. Ziad Jarrah is featured calling his girlfriend, Aysel Sengün, from a public telephone at the airport, repeating the words 'I love you' over and over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_cell

The Deutsche Bank Building (formerly Bankers Trust Plaza) was a 39-story office building located at 130 Liberty Street in Manhattan, New York City, adjacent to the World Trade Center site. The building opened in 1974 and closed following the September 11 attacks in 2001, due to contamination that spread from the collapse of the South Tower. The structure was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, which also designed the Empire State Building.

The building was purchased by Deutsche Bank when it acquired Bankers Trust in 1998. It was part of the skyline of Lower Manhattan, and was demolished between 2007 and 2011. 5 World Trade Center will eventually replace the building, expanding the ground space on which the World Trade Center stands, as this land was not part of the original World Trade Center.

September 11th

The collapse of the South Tower during the September 11 attacks tore a 24-story gash into the facade of the building, knocked out a load-bearing column,[3] and destroyed 158,000 square feet of floor space.[4] Additionally, an elevated plaza[5] that was located at the base of the building was destroyed by the collapse.[6]

One person is known to have died within the building during the attacks.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsche_Bank_Building

Katharina von Bora (German: [kataˈʁiːnaː fɔn ˈboːʁaː]; 29 January 1499? – 20 December 1552), after her wedding Katharina Luther, also referred to as "die Lutherin" ('the Lutheress'),[1] was the wife of the German reformer Martin Luther and a seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation. Although little is known about her, she is often considered to have been important to the Reformation, her marriage setting a precedent for Protestant family life and clerical marriage.[2]

Ancestry

Katharina von Bora was the daughter to a family of Saxon lesser nobility.[3][4][5] According to common belief, she was born on 29 January 1499 in Lippendorf, but there is no evidence of this in contemporary documents. Due to there being multiple branches in her family and the uncertainty of her birth name, there are diverging theories about her place of birth.[6] One of them proposes that she was born in Hirschfeld and that her parents were Hans von Bora zu Hirschfeld and his wife, born Anna von Haugwitz.[7][8] It is also possible that Katharina was the daughter of Jan von Bora auf Lippendorf and his wife Margarete, both of whom were only mentioned in 1505.[9]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharina_von_Bora

The Cistercian Order

Main article: Cistercians

In 1075 Robert de Molesme, a Benedictine monk from Cluny Abbey, had obtained the permission of Pope Gregory VII to found a monastery at Molesme in Burgundy. At Molesme, Robert tried to restore monastery practice to the simple and severe character of the original Rule of Saint Benedict, called "Strict Observance". Being only partly successful in this at Molesme, Robert in 1098 led a band of 21 monks from their abbey at Molesme to establish a new monastery. The monks acquired a plot of marsh land just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium") and set about building a new monastery there which became Cîteaux Abbey, the mother Abbey of the newly founded Cistercian Order.[10]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluniac_Reforms

Finally, the Constitutions train us all for perfection, instructing us in the weapons to be used in combatting our three fierce and raging adversaries. They teach us how to counter the lust of the flesh with chastity, the lust of the eyes with poverty, and the pride of life with obedience. I shall say nothing of our observance of chastity (in which we should imitate the purity of the angels so far as our frailty allows), or of our OBSERVANCE of poverty (which is so STRICT that neither churches nor professed houses may acquire any rents, lands, or even perpetual endowments). As for obedience, however, by which we consecrate the chief and noblest part of ourselves to God, our Constitutions require of us that it be so prompt, eager, perfect, and integral that we do not swerve even a hairsbreadth from our superiors commands. In matters falling under obedience, not only must our action be guided by the superior s command and our will by his will, but even something much more difficult our understanding by his understanding.

To sum up: men crucified to the world, and to whom the world itself is crucified[7] such would our Constitutions have us to be; new men, I say, who have put off their affections to put on Christ;[8] dead to themselves to live to justice; who, with St. Paul in labors, in watchings, in fastings, in chastity, in knowledge, in long suffering, in sweetness, in the Holy Spirit, in charity unfeigned, in the word of truth, show themselves ministers of God[9] and by the armor of Justice on the right hand and, on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, by good success finally and ill success, press forward with great strides to their heavenly country. This is the sum and aim of our institute.

And so I beseech you, brothers in the Lord, that we may walk in a manner worthy of our vocation,[10] and, in order to know that vocation, may read and reread these Constitutions that have been bestowed upon us by the gift of God. Let us study them day and night. Let us vie with each other in learning them, pondering them, and keeping them. If we do so, our name will be matched by our lives and our profession made manifest in deed.

Farewell in Christ.

Rome, the house of the Society of Jesus, 1559 [7]

The Constitutions of The Society of Jesus and Their Complimentary Norms

A Complete English Translation of the Official Latin Texts

THE INSTITUTE OF JESUIT SOURCES

SAINT LOUIS, 1996

https://web.archive.org/web/20200211182223/https://jesuitas.lat/uploads/the-constitutions-of-the-society-of-jesus-and-their-complementary-norms/Constitutions%20and%20Norms%20SJ%20ingls.pdf

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Turning Point USA

Wednesday, December 3, 2025 at 6:00AM

Honored to have Vice President JD Vance join the incredible lineup for our sold-out AmericaFest 2025 🇺🇸 AMFEST.COM

https://www.facebook.com/turningpointusa/posts/pfbid02zZgXHjL1SMY1RFTRpt4uzhCNhHxamPZ9xd178TG2m1sk9wFFruJhSoQCwR3b9xMgl

Amos 2

1599 Geneva Bible

2 Against Moab, Judah, and Israel.

1 Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not turn to it, because it burnt the [a]bones of the king of Edom into lime.

2 Therefore will I send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the palaces of Kerioth, and Moab shall die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of a trumpet.

3 And I will cut off the judge out of the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, saith the Lord.

4 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, [b]I will not turn to it, because they have cast away the Law of the Lord, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err after the which their fathers have walked.

5 Therefore will I send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

6 ¶ Thus saith the Lord, For three transgressions of [c]Israel, and for four, I will not turn to it, because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for [d]shoes.

7 They gape over the head of the poor, in the [e]dust of the earth, and pervert the ways of the meek: and a man and his father will go in to a maid, to dishonor mine holy Name.

8 And they lie down upon clothes laid to pledge [f]by every altar: and they [g]drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God.

9 Yet destroyed I the [h]Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks: notwithstanding I destroyed his fruit from above, and his root from beneath.

10 Also I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you forty years through the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.

11 And I raised up of your sons for Prophets, and of [i]your young men for Nazirites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord?

12 But ye gave the Nazirites wine to drink, and commanded the Prophets, saying, Prophesy not.

13 Behold, I am [j]pressed under you as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.

14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the [k]swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty save his life.

15 Nor he that handleth the bow shall stand, and he that is swift of foot, shall not escape, neither shall he that rideth the horse, save his life.

16 And he that is of a mighty courage among the strong men, shall flee away naked in that day, saith the Lord.

Footnotes

Amos 2:1 For the Moabites were so cruel against the king of Edom, that they burnt his bones after that he was dead: which declared their barbarous rage, seeing they would revenge themselves of the dead.

Amos 2:4 Seeing the Gentiles that had not so far knowledge were thus punished, Judah which was so fully instructed of the Lord’s will, might not think to escape.

Amos 2:6 If he spare not Judah unto whom his promises were made, much more he will not spare this degenerate kingdom.

Amos 2:6 They esteemed most vile bribes more than men’s lives.

Amos 2:7 When they have spoiled him and thrown him unto the ground, they gape for his life.

Amos 2:8 Thinking by these ceremonies, that is, by sacrificing, and being near mine altar, they may excuse all their other wickedness.

Amos 2:8 They spoil others and offer thereof unto God, thinking that he will dispense with them, when he is made partaker of their iniquity.

Amos 2:9 The destruction of their enemies and his mercy toward them, should have caused their hearts to melt for love toward him.

Amos 2:11 Ye contemned my benefits, and abused my graces, and craftily went about to stop the mouths of my Prophets.

Amos 2:13 You have wearied me with your sins, Isa. 1:14.

Amos 2:14 None shall be delivered by any means.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%202&version=GNV

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