Eric Scheske

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History

2024: 800-Year Anniversary of the Franciscans' Arrival in England

2024: 800-Year Anniversary of the Franciscans' Arrival in England

The year 2024 marks the eight-hundredth anniversary of the arrival in England of the Friars Minor, sent personally by Saint Francis of Assisi, and the establishment of England’s first Franciscan friary in Canterbury in 1224. The Franciscans followed the Dominicans, who had already arrived in England in 1221, and

The Rise of the Holy Men

The Rise of the Holy Men

So holy men left. They left for the desert and became the forerunners of the monks, though these early counter-culture revolutionaries were “in some ways less comparable to modern monks and nuns than to modern drop-outs, supporters of gurus, or others . . . who abandon the conventional world . . .”. Gibbon, The Fall of

1273: Apex of Western Civilization

1273: Apex of Western Civilization

December 6, 1273. That's the date St. Thomas Aquinas had such an intense experience or vision during Mass, that he stopped writing. For 35 years, Aquinas had used the written word to explain pretty much everything. He provided proofs of God's existence that atheists still struggle

The Importance of Manners

The Importance of Manners

💡George Washington, the first President of the United States, was known to have studied a book called Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour In Company and Conversation. This book was based on a set of rules compiled by French Jesuits in the 16th century and was a guide to proper

Britain’s Oldest Pubs—Some Over 800 Years Old—Still Open

Britain’s Oldest Pubs—Some Over 800 Years Old—Still Open

from Epoch Times

No Room in the Inn — What Inn?

No Room in the Inn — What Inn?

Dwight Longenecker at The Imaginative Conservative

Western Civilization Hit Its Apex During Advent 1273

Western Civilization Hit Its Apex During Advent 1273

A civilization can, indeed, advance and decline at the same time. Eric Voegelin, New Science of Politics, 132. As civilization advances, the sense of wonder declines. Abraham Heschel, God in Search of Man Modern civilization is gnostic civilization. Gnostic civilization is left-hemispheric civilization. Gnosis: Knowledge. Specifically, explicit knowledge, the kind

Parliament Created the Great London Gin Craze

Parliament Created the Great London Gin Craze

“[N]oe sort of Brandy Aqua vite or other Spirits or distilled Waters of any Kingdome Country or place whatsoever shall after the said foure and twentyeth day of August be imported into the Kingdoms of England or Ireland . . .”. If you read the Wikipedia entries about England’s Great Gin

Absinthe Minded

Absinthe Minded

Barnaby Conrad III at the New Criterion

The John's Penance

The John's Penance

One thing from Chapter 11 of Tom Holland's excellent Dominion: A clerical disciple of Abelard argued that, when determining the severity of penance for patronizing a prostitute, the woman's hotness should be taken into account.