Friday Links: March 27, 2020
What do Katy Carl, Michael Rennier, Dantedi, Paintings of the Inferno, and a Poet Obsessed with the Annunciation Have in Common?
The Flannery-Haunted World—Joshua Hren, John Emmet Clarke
In this podcast, Thomas V. Mirus from Catholic Culture.org interviews Joshua Hren and John Emmet Clarke, editors in chief of Wiseblood Books and Cluny Books. Mirus introduces Cluny's role as "preserving and reintroducing forgotten Catholic classics of the 20th century," by "republishing crucial writers like François Mauriac, Charles Peguy, and Romano Guardini." Mirus describes Wiseblood as “publishing new works of poetry, fiction and non-fiction which maintain both a high literary standard and very high standard of Catholicism.”
Of interest to Dappled Things readers, Wiseblood Books editor, Josuah Hren, mentions our Editor-in-Chief Katy Carl with high praise, when he is discussing the Wiseblood press's new residency program. Hren was already familiar with Katy Carl's excellence as an editor, when he read her "extremely promising" novel in progress, and he encouraged her to apply. Carl will be the first Wiseblood Books writer-in-residence, the "guinea pig," as he said, or all who will participate in the future.
Livestreamed Masses and Stations of the Cross, Homilies, and a Fascinating Conversion Story
Dappled Things Associate Editor and contributor, Fr. Michael Rennier is a former Episcopal clergymen who converted to Catholicism in 2011 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 2016. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his wife and six children (at last count), where he is the pastor of Epiphany of Our Lord Parish. You can access the parish's livestreamed Masses and Stations of the Cross here or at the parish's Facebook page.
Extraordinarily well-written and spiritually literate homilies from Father Rennier about this time of coronavirus avoidance are all linked on the March page at his Wordpress blog. The most recent is How fear of pandemic leads to sin.
On March 1, the first Sunday of Lent—before coronavirus fear began to spread and before Masses were suspended—in this homily Remember who you are, Fr. Rennier mentioned this Wendell Berry poem, "The Peace of Wild Things," and it feels perfectly apropos for the feelings many of us are experiencing this year as Lent plays out. (Although, since many public parks are closed, and many of us are "sheltering in place," we may have to seek the still water in the spiritual depths of our souls, with Christ.)
Other links of interest, starting with Fr. Rennier's conversion story:
The Ordination of a Priest—with photos
March 25, Dantedi
As you may recall, Dante's Commedia begins with these lines, "In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost." Dante's journey through Hell and Purgatory to Paradise and the Beatific Vision began at midday on March 25. In preparation for the celebration of the 700th anniversary of Dante's death in 2021, Italy instituted March 25th as its annual National Dante Day—Dantedi. Everyone in Italy was invited to mark the day by reading and sharing the "verses of timeless charm" by Dante. Dario Franceschini, Italy's culture minister - "The many initiatives already planned move to the internet. This is why I appeal to artists: on 25 March, read Dante and post your content. Dante is the Italian language, he is the very idea of Italy. And it is precisely at this moment that it is even more important to remember him in order to stay united." When a FB friend, a longtime now-retired book store owner, read a Facebook post I wrote about this, she suggested that Dante lovers should start gathering every year to read the Divine Comedy on Dantedi, similar to how some avid James Joyce fans gather to re-read "Ulysses" every year on Bloomsday, June 16.
Dante's Inferno Art Exhibition Planned for 2021
Figurative painter Eric Armusik has been working for several years now on an ambitious goal: to create forty 4 x 5 feet panel paintings of scenes from Dante's Inferno. The paintings he's completed so far are here. When they are done, this series of paintings will be shown in a traveling museum exhibition in 2021 – the 700th Anniversary of Dante’s death. For more details about his Dante's Inferno painting project, see here.
Eric Armusik’s painting of Canto 1 of the Inferno.
March 25, The Solemnity of the Annunciation—in a Poet Convert's Faith
“'The Annunciation has always been an obsession of mine, though it’s hard to say why,' [convert poet Sally Read] explained. 'I do find that various saints, prayers or passages of Scripture find you. Even as an atheist I published two poems about the Annunciation, and my favorite painting was always Fra Lippi’s Annunciation. Since my conversion I’ve written a further three poems on the subject." She recalled that when she was praying about what to write she 'saw the shape of the Annunciation very clearly — God swooping towards us and his hair-raising nearness; our anxiety as to what might be asked of us; our finding our identity in God; our consent to our vocation; and finally the periods when God does not seem so near.'”— A Writer’s Annunciation at Walsingham: Convert poet Sally Read returns to England’s Marian shrine
The Annunciation by Fra Filippo Lippi, circa 1450–3. National Gallery, London
So many good links this week, I created Friday Links, Part II: March 27, 2020.
