Pipians

The Holy Father using Twitter has brought a number of responses from the Blogosphere, not least Mulier Fortis' Habemus Tweet.

I'm sure we can do better in Latin than 'tweet', though.  My mind goes cranking back thirty years to reading Catullus about Lesbia's wretched dead sparrow*. There we find in Lugete, o Veneres Cupidinesque (poem 3)

…circumsiliens modo huc modo illuc
ad solam dominam usque pipiabat.

So, pipiare is 'to tweet'.

Now someone who's Latin is better than mine ought to make a noun out of it. Pipia? So Habemus pipiam?


* and yes, I know it might mean something else, so don't bother posting rude comments.

The stuff to give the er, prime minister

Bishop Joseph Devine is not a man to mince his words. He has written to the Prime Minister to tell him exactly what he thinks of him. Here's a taster:

'So where next for David Cameron’s spiritual mission?... While I cannot speak for other creeds, let me be quite frank with you. So far as the Roman Catholic Church...is concerned, you are out of your depth. We will take no finger-prodding lectures from anyone or any group devoid of moral competence.'

Wow! And there's lots more like it. The letter itself doesn't appear to be around on the internet, but there is an interesting discussion of it here on Archbishop Cranmer's blog. (H/t Simon Cotton).

Thank you, Bishop Devine. Keep it coming.

Old rite train

This is locomotive 34067 'Tangmere' crossing the River Adur at Shoreham at 9.20 this morning. A chilly morning, with the river at nearly low tide.

If you look at the movie full size, you should clearly see the neo-gothic Lancing College chapel and the much-filmed art-deco Shoreham Airport terminal building which often appears on period productions (often standing for Croydon Airport) and dramas, such as Poirot. At the end of the train is a diesel locomotive; not to push, but to provide heating for the carriages.

(okay, perhaps not so clear; the precision lost something in the uploading—you'll have to take my word for it!)

Read this

Read this.

There are still good people in the world.

H/T Dom Martin Browne of Glenstal Abbey (via Facebook)