Welcome, Happy Catholic Readers!

Welcome to my little podcast of public domain poems, stories, novels, essays, and stuff that seemed like a good idea to read at the time.
For those of you who occasionally see me around the comboxes of St. Blog’s, including Julie D’s place — yep, it’s the same Maureen. Also the same Suburban Banshee who runs Aliens in This World. (Not the same as Maureen Martin, though.)

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#274: Part 3 of The Romance of Morien by Anon.

Morien continues, as Sir Gawain finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“But Sir Gawain, the Father of Adventure, who was wont to be received
with honour, wist not that the knight whom he had slain was son to the
lord of the castle.”

Part 3

29:31.

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#273: Part 3, “The Prisoner of Cell 13″ by Jacques Futrelle

The story continues as the warden starts to feel sorry for the professor, and the professor starts to spend lots of time with the rats.

Part III: “The Prisoner of Cell 13”

11:36.

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#272: Part 2, “The Prisoner of Cell 13” by Jacques Futrelle

The story continues. Now that Professor Van Dusen’s gotten into that Death Row cell, how is he going to get out? It seems he has a plan, but it doesn’t seem to be a very good one….

Part II: “The Prisoner of Cell 13”.

15:33.

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#271: Part 1, “The Prisoner of Cell 13” by Jacques Futrelle

Mystery Thursday returns to America with a classic story from a famous mystery writer. Famous, that is, if you lived in that golden time between the turn of the century and the First World War.

A native of Pike County, Georgia, Jacques Futrelle first made his mark in the newspaper world, working his way up from printer’s devil to the offices of the Atlanta Journal, where he set up the sports department. In 1897, he became telegraph editor for the New York Herald and moved to New York’s Gramercy Park with his bride. He worked 24 hours a day for the duration of the Spanish-American War. Afterwards, he understandably left newspaper work for a few years, worked as a theater manager in Virginia, and then came back in 1904 to work for Hearst’s new newspaper, the Boston American.

All this time, Futrelle had been writing, and he was prolific. Now his efforts began to bear huge fruit. He was published in magazines like the Saturday Evening Post. He started to rule the small world of American mystery — until he and his wife sailed on the Titanic. He made sure his wife got a place in a lifeboat (she hesitated to leave him, but was forced in by an officer), then went back to die. He had written several stories on their trip to England, which also are still in a watery grave.

(Max Allan Collins lets the couple solve some mysteries in his novel The Titanic Murders. I’ve never read it, but Collins is pretty reliable.)

It’s only fair to warn you that the main character of this story, Professor S. F. X. Van Dusen, is not only a continuing character, but also one of the great sleuths. He was a huge influence on the character of Nero Wolfe (and so was his dynamic with his sidekick, whom you’ll meet later). One supposes, btw, that the F. X. stands for “Francis Xavier”, and hence that Van Dusen was raised Catholic. Which is interesting, since Futrelle descended from Huguenots and wasn’t Catholic, as far as I know.

Part I: “The Prisoner of Cell 13”

15:57.

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Welcome, Freepers!

I’m glad you came for St. Irenaeus, and I hope you stay for the whole variety of audiobooks I do. Try the sidebar for a convenient grouping of different kinds of material, or the “About” link above for an explanation of how I do things around here.

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#270: Ch. 31, Book I, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Book I of Against Heresies ends with a very short account of the Cainites and their Gospel of Judas. (Quite likely the same one that was just in the news.) Then Irenaeus sums up Book I and tells us his intentions for Book II (apologetics arguments and theology).

Ch. 31: Doctrines of the Cainites

5:56.

I’m finding Irenaeus very relevant to my life, frankly, so I think I’ll go on reading Book II. I hope everyone else is enjoying him, too.Btw, don’t forget that today is his feastday! It’s the commemoration of his martyrdom under Septimus Severus’ persecution in 202, and thus his swift entry into Heaven! Happy St. Irenaeus Day, everybody!

Father, you called St. Irenaeus to uphold Your truth and bring peace to Your Church. By his prayers, renew us in faith and love, that we may always be intent on fostering unity and peace… As the holy bishop Irenaeus reached eternal glory by being faithful unto death, so may we be saved by living our faith….

The Troparion for his feast over on the Eastern side is even better!

Thou hast shown thyself, O God-inspired Irenaeus, as a guide to the orthodox faith, a teacher of true worship and purity. O star of the universe and companion of bishops, O wise one. Through thy light thou hast enlightened all, O harp of the Spirit. Therefore, intercede with Christ God to save our souls.

Here’s a link to some archeology being done on the site which was once the church built over his grave. (I think that’s the gist, but I don’t read French.) Some nice pictures of what the church once looked like.

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#269: Ch. 30, Book I, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues with a lengthy account of the beliefs of the Ophites and Sethians, which in this case means yet another Aeon cosmology and legend. We also get perhaps the most lopsidedly male cosmology yet, and a creation story which Has Issues (and is not particularly work-safe for one short bit).

Ebullition, by the way, means “a sudden outpouring or outburst” or “boiling over”.  Ophite means “snake-ite”.

Ch. 30: Doctrines of the Ophites and Sethians

23:52.

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#268: Chs. 28-29, Book I, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues with a few more accounts of heresies, in which we learn that being a pupil of a saint and martyr doesn’t protect you from turning into a dumerazel later in life. Unless you actually listen to him, of course.

Chs. 28-29: Doctrines of Tatian, the Encratites, the Barbeliotes or Borborians, and Others

10:51.

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#267: Chs. 25-27, Book I, Against Heresies by St. Irenaeus of Lyons

Against Heresies continues with an account of still more heresies. Carpocrates’ ideas are pretty entertaining, as they also bring in reincarnation in a way guaranteed to cause bad karma. 🙂 We also get to hear all about the Nicolaitanes (as mentioned in the Book of Revelation!) and Marcion, a definite un-favorite of the Church who apparently had more on his program than just deleting Scripture. (Though you’d think that’d be plenty.)

Chs. 25-27: Doctrines of Carpocrates, Cerinthus, the Ebionites, the Nicolaitanes, Cerdo, and Marcion

18:47.

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#266: Hymns 3 and 4, The Pearl by St. Ephrem of Syria

We continue reading seven hymns (songs of praise) on the theme of a pearl, which Ephrem uses as a “type” of the Church and the Son, as well as itself.

I think they’re all very beautiful. The amazing thing (for those of us with pretensions to songwriting) is how easily Ephrem tosses off huge amounts of imagery, comparison, and metaphor. Ideas which would be the subject of a stanza or a whole song for others are a line — or half a line! — to Ephrem’s rolling boil of an imagination.

Hymns 3 and 4

10:02

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Monday’s Podcast Will Be a Bit Late.

I didn’t get home from my trip till late last night, and I didn’t get it done this morning. But it should be up sometime tonight. I apologize for the inconvenience.

UPDATE: So will Tuesday’s. I am still beat from the trip.

UPDATE: Okay, forget about both of them. Let me try getting Wednesday up, instead.

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Well, That Didn’t Work.

Apparently my understanding of how WordPress publishes things was faulty. So I just put all the podcasts for this week up early, and you'll find them below. Enjoy!

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#265: Chs. 09-10, Book 1, The Ascent of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross

This part is on how desires muddy the soul with unnecessary interests in things not worthy of it, and how desires sap the soul’s strength.

Chs. 09-10, Bk. 1: Desires Muddy and Weaken the Soul

16:10.

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#264: Part 2 of The Romance of Morien by Anon.

Morien continues as the newly allied knights come to a parting of the ways.

Part 2

29:20.

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