A reading from the first Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians 1 COR 4:6b-15
Brothers and sisters: Learn from myself and Apollos not to go beyond…
Born in Harlem on August 2nd, 1924, novelist and essayist James Baldwin (1924 – 1987) is regarded as one of America’s greatest writers. At the time of his death on December 1st, 1987, Baldwin was working with sculptor and printmaker Leonard Baskin (1922–2000) of the Gehenna Press to publish a fine press edition of an unpublished work. Gypsy and Other Poems features six of Baldwin’s poems that reveal an intimate, introspective side of the writer.
Read More
This post walks you through the 285-day trip of Hawaii King Kalākaua as the first monarch to circumnavigate the globe in 1881, showing many of the routes and places he traveled or visited through maps and images at or near the time period.
Read More
Victims of the French Revolution, these blesseds witnessed to their faith by refusing to take a civil oath which amounted to a denial of their faith. On a single day in Paris, 185 priests and religious were martyred.
Read More
Saint Joseph Calasanz dedicated his life to poor children. He gathered teachers to help him, and eventually organized the Clerks Regular of Religious Schools–also known as the Piarists or Scolopi. But his work was not without opposition, as some objected to the education of the poor.
Read More
A member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, Saint Rose of Lima lived a life of penance and devotion to the poor at home under the disapproving eyes of her parents.
Read More
Wanting to be a simple monk in the quiet of a monastery, Bernard of Clairvaux was called instead to be a very active member of the Church in his day.
Read More
Saint John Eudes was a noted preacher and confessor. He founded several seminaries because he saw the need for clerical formation. He also founded a couple of religious communities to address other needs that he saw. Saint John had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Read More
First reading from the Book of Proverbs Prv 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed…
Saint Dominic became aware that the preacher had to practice what he preached and connect with the people of God. He and a few Cistercians formed what was the beginning of the Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans.
Read More
Excitement about the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics is sweeping our own nation’s capital, as it is in so many places around the world. Here at the Library of Congress, we’re certainly marking the occasion. The Informal Learning Office (ILO) recently hosted an Olympics-themed Family Day, and afterward they published a blog post about it where …
Read More
While the British military burned the federal properties of Washington during the War of 1812, some soldiers sought souvenirs to commemorate their conquest of the nascent U.S. capital. Seized by a British officer, one particular American bible in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division bears the marks of its dramatic removal, its captivity, and later its homecoming to the United States.
Read More
A readsing from the Book of Jeremiah JER 13:1-11
The LORD said to me: Go buy yourself a linen loincloth; wear it on your loins, but do…
For a good many years, when I was in the library, they would not buy science fiction and fantasy books, because those were considered trash… So I fought and fought to get them on library lists.” -Andre Norton (Dream Makers Volume II: The Uncommon Men & Women Who Write Science Fiction, 1983) The first woman …
Read More
A reading from the Book of Hosea Hos 2:16, 17c-18, 21-22
Thus says the LORD: I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and…
This post features selected maps that were created under the auspices of the Federal Writers’ Project.
Read More