Posted on 10/10/2022 11:21:27 AM PDT by Dr. Sivana
The following is the "opening Ode" that has been sung by the Knights of Columbus Catholic men's fraternal organization at the start of every meeting right before the Pledge of Allegiance: (sung to the tune of "O Tannenbaum")
Sing ye his praises loud and long,
And let the unenlightened know,
In every echo of your song,
The great deeds done, tho’ long ago
By Columbus of the valiant soul,
Who first old Neptune has controlled,
Despite of envy, intrigue, gold,
In the dim past of long ago
With vessels three o’er stormy sea,
He thrilled the world of long ago,
While wisdom linked with destiny,
In justice scales its weight did throw.
We are his heirs; we wear his name;
We boast his deeds; we spread his fame.
Our Order is the shining flame,
That lights the gloom of long ago.
How does the reference to Neptune jibe with the First Commandment?
‘Neptune’ is a euphemism for the ocean............
Well done, brother Knight!
It is too bad you changed your uniform.
The Commandry of York Rite Masons has uniforms similar to your old one. They kept theirs!
I always though a US holiday for the guy was Catholic vote buying. He never set foot in North America.
We have a 4th of July parade every year and every year the KofC guys march by. They are wearing suits and capes and it’s 95 degrees outside. They are not young guys and are mostly in their 70’s and older. They never sweat. Never. I don’t know how it is they do not sweat but they don’t.
If you mean North America the continent then yes he did. He made it to what is now Honduras and areas around that coast.
http://www.christopher-columbus.eu/voyage-4.htm
T.P.Q.R.D.
I think it is a reference to Columbus, Ohio. ;-D
Some people have been classically educated - including some or our greatest Christian theologians - and understand the reference...
My American-American husband of Italian heritage says, ‘Lay off of Columbus!’
It’s a 49 year old holiday that the vast majority of Americans never asked for or cared about. It was only instituted by LBJ to get democrat votes from Italuan American Catholics.
That doesn’t change the fact that it means a lot to many Americans of Italian heritage; Columbus is being given the same treatment that a lot of our Founding Fathers are:
https://abc7chicago.com/christopher-columbus-statue-chicago-protest-grant-park/6326226/
Fine. Make a shrine to him in your house or church. Columbus day is to Italians what MLK day is to blacks. There are dozens of racial minorities in the country. They don't all need Federal holidays.
Columbus accomplished quite a lot, and so did MLK. I have no problem with a holiday for either. If not for Columbus and his accomplishments, the US - and you and I - might not even be here today as we are. MLK, despite his flaws, was extremely important to the cause of Civil Rights and is a hero to a large percentage of our population.
I’m not Italian, and not Black. I recognize very important people and influences in our history.
(You mentioned earlier that the holiday is ‘only’ 50 years old. But ‘under God’ was only added to our pledge of allegiance in 1954. Today, there are few who remember it otherwise. Do you think that relative historical modernity renders that sentiment illegitimate, and that Eisenhower was just appealing to voters? After all, faith in God is not a universal value, and there are dogmatic people like you today who would like to see ‘under God’ removed.)
There are dozens of ethnic and racial minorities that can go on endlessly about the accomplishments of their favorite guy. Should each one get a national holiday? The Moslems can do that with Mohammed. Hell, they never shut up about that guy. I'm sure you'll be fine when they eventually want him on the national calendar. And they will.
No. Not all of them have had a representative member that has majorly impacted and benefited our nation and history, in the way that Columbus (and MLK) did. Some may in the future, though, in which case I won’t have a problem with a holiday for them, either.
You seem to want to make this out as merely race-pandering, while ignoring the accomplishments of a particular man - and somehow comparing him with Mohammed???
That’s narrow minded and illogical. After all, this is a thread about Columbus and an organization that honors him. You’re the one who used it to introduce your general gripe about holidays commemorating people who happen to be of minority cultures.
If it’s not the case that you simply don’t like Italians or Catholics, I can only assume that you are ignorant of the impact of Columbus on European, and subsequently American, history and progress.
(Until a Muslim American benefits the US to the magnitude that these other men have done, Muslims wanting to commemorate a religious holiday can handle it the same way Jewish Americans have always handled theirs. In all of my experience, Jewish friends have taken off work and taken their kids out of school for religious holidays. The Muslim people I know have done the same for Eid or when they’ve wanted to perform Hajj.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.