St. Ignatius of Antioch

Today in the traditional Roman calendar is the feast of St. Ignatius of Antioch. I had the opportunity a few days ago to attend his feast in a local Melkite Greek-Catholic Monastery. Growing up, we always heard of the early Christian martyrs in Rome but never discussed them in any great detail as Presbyterians. We knew people were killed for Christ, but that was it. It wasn’t until I was 26 and interested in the Church did I read of St. Ignatius or those like him.

From today’s Matin’s reading (scraped from DivinumOfficium.com)

From the book of St. Jerome, Presbyter (priest), on the Ecclesiastical writers.

Ignatius was the third Bishop of Antioch after the Apostle Peter. When Trajan stirred up his persecution, he was condemned to be devoured by wild beasts, and sent to Rome in chains. When on his journey thither he arrived at Smyrna, where Polycarp, the disciple of John, was Bishop, he wrote an Epistle to the Ephesians, another to the Magnesians, a third to the Trallians, and a fourth to the Romans and after leaving Smyrna, he addressed a further Epistle to the Philadelphians, and another to the Smyrnians, along with a private Epistle to Polycarp, to whose care he commended the Church of Antioch. In this last he quoteth a passage regarding the Person of Christ from the Gospel, which I have recently translated.

“It is fitting that, as we have made mention of a man of so much importance, we should also note briefly the Epistle which he addressed to the Romans. I am on my way, saith he, from Syria to Rome, and am already fighting with beasts on sea and on land all the way. I may say I am chained day and night to ten leopards, for indeed the soldiers, who have charge of me, are no better. The more courteous I am to them, the worse they use me. But still their wickedness is good schooling for me, though I know that my mere sufferings cannot in themselves gain me justification. I earnestly wish for the beasts which are to devour me; at any rate, I pray they may put me out of pain quickly, and ( fly on me willingly, that I be not like some other Martyrs, whose bodies the animals have refused to touch. If I find that they will not come on, I will run at them as quick as I can, to make them devour me. Let me be, my little children I know what is good for me.

I feel now that I am beginning to be Christ's disciple; I desire none of those things which are seen, if so be I may find Christ Jesus. I care not that there come upon me fire, or cross, or wild beasts, or breaking of my bones, or sundering of my members, or destruction of my whole body, yea, or all the torments of the devil, if only so be I may win Christ. “

When he was brought condemned to the theatre, and heard the roaring of the beasts which were to devour him, he felt so strong an eagerness to suffer, that he cried out I am Christ's wheat, and so let the beasts' teeth be my mill, that I may be ground, and be found to make good bread. He suffered in the eleventh year of Trajan. What was left of his body lieth at Antioch, in the graveyard outside the gate which leadeth toward Daphne.

Without Further Ado - My Rebound 62 Breviary

Back in Advent I sent away my Benziger Brothers 1962 (64) Roman Breviary in English to be rebound. Unfortunately, I did not take a picture of its delapidated condition. Truly this was the "Veleteen Breviary". I even put contact paper over its tattered leather cover to make it usable. The ribbons (which the bindery sent back) were frayed and barely long enough from 45 years of life. I had put tape on the ends and man was it ugly.

Voila.

I opted for the semi-yapp cover which hangs over the edge of the book in order to protect the pages from errant scuffs. The years were not so kind to the pages but they are in tact (save for the first page). But they aren't covered you say? Bah! That extra half inch of leather does a lot. Trust me.

The leather is thick, not thin or flimsy.

Here is the bottom of the book. The quality of McSpadden's premium calfskin is wonderful. It feels like butter in your hand. You can see that I asked for six ribbons: 1) Proper of Season 1 2) Proper of Season 2 - post Pentecost 3)Ordinary 4)Psalter 5)Proper of Saints 6)Commons. You need all six when using a totum, as opposed to a Breviary split into parts, where 5 are sufficient. Notice the colors. They are not the ones I asked for. It was meant to have all dark ribbons and I even gave them a specific color order...so I don't know what happened. Some light ribbons discolor over time. I hope these don't.

You can see why I opted to protect the pages.

Above you see how the cover extends out from under the book when it is open. The semi-yapp does a nice job framing the text block so your eyes focus on the psalms and prayers while reading. I didn't expect this effect but it is akin to putting up a new painting in a frame that enhances the art and draws your attention to it. Notice the ribbon has re-enforced edges along the sides.





There is another slight disappointment here in that the title on the spine is off-center. You don't have to look too closely to notice. This is an unfortunate part of getting a book rebound: one should have realistic expectations. It is not lined up by a computer but by hand and having this corrected would probably mean sending it back and having the whole thing done over. So I'll live with it as is. My Liber Usualis by the way, also bound by McSpadden's, is centered properly.




The Breviary opens flat but the text block doesn't. This is due to little flaps that McSpadden's puts along the inside cover in order to protect the binding. They loosen up with time and are eventually unnoticeable. This is part of the breaking-it-in process. Do not be alarmed if you get a book rebound and it comes back like this - it's meant to give your book a longer life.

It just looks great, doesn't it?

They used a different grain of calfskin for my Liber Usualis. The Liber is much more flexible. The Breviary is stiff right now but it won't stay that way. The semi-yapp technique used here prevents it from doing (or attempting) "Bible Yoga". With the sensitivity of the older pages in this book however this comes out as a plus. I'm glad it came back this way.

So there you have it. Another good experience with book binding. Originally I paid $75 for the book and it cost $86 to get this project done. I have seen lesser books of this kind on eBay go for over $500. They were not freshly bound in a semi-yapp calfskin. So this was worth every penny and maybe a few extra.

McSpadden's Book Bindery does not nickel and dime you by the way. The gold stamping and ribbons were included in the flat fee for both of my projects. On a hardcover I have there right now the die of a crest I re-drew cost extra from the die-caster but they don't appear to be charging me for the stamping itself. I like these people and hope you will too, should you send a book their way for a shiny new coat.

Breviary is back

Just out of the box. More in a day or so.

Statues in the Church

In this Youtube video I saw someone posted via Facebook, Tim Staples shows that God commanded the making of statues. It is a good defense of the Catholic tradition of doing so.

New CMAA DVD

Massive

The March for Life is the most massive thing I've ever been to.

Mass for life on EWTN

The Vigil Mass for Life is on television right on EWTN. I love the
shrine but I'm kinda glad I'm not there tonight.

Oh you didn't know it was on? It started at 6:30 but you can still
catch it. The procession should last a good 3 to 4 unecessary hours.

Pope Benedict has finished his book.

The Pope has finished the second half of his work "Jesus of
Nazareth". Now I must dust off the first part and actually finish
it. I really enjoyed the first half until something else caught my
attention...

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/popes_second_book_on_jesus_of_nazareth_is_finished/?utm_source=feedburner

Sent from my iPhone

Breviary Rebind - On its way back!

I am waiting with an irrepressible ebullience.

Today I received word from the binder that my Benziger Breviary will be on its way back tomorrow. I had it done in a nice black calfskin with a gold embossed Cross on the front complete with a semi-yapp (of full...can't remember right now) cover.

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures when it comes in. I bought this velveteen breviary with the thought in mind that I would have it rebound. It should be here next week.