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The Korean alphabet, hangul, is “the most scientific writing system.” One often hears that in South Korea, a society that has taken to heart Asia scholar Edwin O. Reischauer’s description of hangul as “perhaps the most scientific system of writing in general use in any country.” But whatever their scientific credentials, all the other writing systems in use (and indeed out of use) have fascinating qualities of their own, a range of which are explained in the UsefulCharts video above on the writing systems of the world — not just the alphabets of the world, mind you, but also the...

A huge mysterious medieval book, penned by a Benedictine monk on animal skin with bizarre devilish illustration and incantation. But who has the missing pages, and why? Codex Gigas – literally translated means “Giant Book”, photograph below, with a box of matches resting on it, gives an idea of the scale of the almost metre long text, it takes two people to lift it, which makes it the largest medieval manuscript in the world. The book can be found in the National library in Stockholm – it has 600 pages – all made from animal (donkey) skin, the front and...

On September 17, in 1180 A.D., poet, composer and nun Hildegard Von Bingen died. Hildegard created the word Viriditas to describe the intrinsic ability to heal of plants, people and God. The word derives from the Latin adjective viridis meaning green. I believe that Hildegard's profoundly poetic imagination would also have had in mind the Latin noun vir meaning man. My thoughts today on Hildegard's language lead me to think she thought of men as being green in a truly healing way. God Bless Hildegard Von Bingen.

A delegation of “progressive” Democrats led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) met with Colombian radical leftist President Gustavo Petro on Monday on the last leg of a tour of friendly socialist governments in Latin America. During the encounter, Petro proposed to build an “alliance for life and nature” with the group and a “change of the economic system” to overcome “climate change.” Colombia was the last stop on the Democrat delegation’s weeklong Latin American tour sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) think tank. The lawmakers also visited Brazil and Chile, where they held meetings with...

Thus always to traitors!

On the feared date of 3 April, no new Roman document with further restrictions on the traditional liturgy has appeared. However, according to our source in Rome, this in no way means that no corresponding regulations will be issued. Perhaps Francis' hospitalisation upset the original timetable, perhaps there were last-minute changes - but the document, already rumoured since January, is now apparently ready and its publication can be expected in a few days, weeks at best.

In the autumn of 2021, archaeologists of the Museum of Cultural History investigated a grave field by Tyrifjorden in Ringerike. In one of the graves, they discovered a stone with several runic inscriptions. Burnt bones and charcoal from the grave reveal that the runes were inscribed between the years 1 and 250 AD. This makes it the earliest known rune stone...Sometime between 1,800 and 2,000 years ago, someone stood near Tyrifjorden and carved runes into the 31x32 cm block of reddish-brown Ringerike sandstone. They spoke an early form of the ancient Nordic language that is the ancestor language of modern...

In the Middle Ages, the Roman alphabet and runes lived side by side. A new doctoral thesis challenges the notion that runes represent more of an oral and less of a learned form of written language....Johan Bollaert, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies... has investigated written language used in public inscriptions in Norway from the 1100s to the 1500s. Last autumn, he defended his doctoral thesis "Visuality and Literacy in the Medieval Epigraphy of Norway."The assumption that runes represent a more oral tradition is based on the idea that runic inscriptions are contextually bound and are...

The recent rescriptum approved by Francis and the Prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Roche, continues to elicit reactions. The new document, which reinforces the Motu Proprio, Traditinis custodes, establishes that the use of a parish church or the erection of a personal parish for the celebration of the Eucharist according to the Missale Romanum of 1962 and the granting of licence to priests ordained after the publication of the Motu proprio Traditionis custodes to celebrate according to the Missale Romanum of 1962, will be the responsibility of Rome.

Who can dispense with the regulations of "Traditionis custodes"? Pope Francis makes it clear that only the liturgical dicastery can do so. With the new decree now published, the Vatican can reclaim many local special permissions for the Old Mass. Pope Francis has determined that the dispensational power for Mass celebrations in the pre-conciliar form rests with the Apostolic See. A decree of the Pope published on Tuesday states that only the Vatican can grant dispensations for such Mass celebrations in parish churches or for the establishment of corresponding personal parishes.

Argentina's euphoric World Cup celebrations descended into chaos yesterday as violence broke out on the streets of Buenos Aires between fans and riot police after their star players were forced to evacuate to safety by helicopter. Officers armed with shields and batons were pelted with missiles at the Obelisco monument in the country's capital hours after fans tried to jump into the bus during the victory parade to meet Lionel Messi and his teammates. The World Cup heroes were met with a heaving crowd of an estimated five million fans who blocked their path to the Obelisco, then had to...

Archaeologists are launching a new dig to try to unearth the secrets of a 9th Century stone monument on a prehistoric mound. Bangor and Chester university experts will begin excavations at the Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen, Denbighshire... Last year excavations focussed on the mound, which was identified as an early Bronze Age cairn. It followed on from one in the 18th Century. Professor Nancy Edwards from Bangor University told BBC Radio Wales: "...This year we are going back to the cairn to one particular trench because we discovered evidence last year of the dig into the top of the...

l Salvador's president and the Chinese ambassador traded flatteries this month as they broke ground on a new national library, one of a slew of gifts China has promised this small mountainous nation as part of its vigorous quest to gain influence across Central America. As they smiled for photos, Ambassador Ou Jianhong expressed her "greatest respect" for President Nayib Bukele, a polarizing leader who has assailed El Salvador's democratic institutions and clashed repeatedly with U.S. officials. Bukele, in turn, praised Chinese President Xi Jinping, an authoritarian who has engineered China's rise at the expense of civil liberties. When the...

In a move to spread its power across the globe, Beijing has signed a new deal in a region of over 670 million people that has some concerned. n a major new move to expand its influence across the globe, Beijing has set out a wide-ranging new deal with leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean that will touch almost all aspects of life in the region of over 670 million people. One senior US analyst has warned the deal – in which China has pledged to supply nuclear technology, fund space programs and build schools teaching Chinese languages and...

Archaeologists from the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) have uncovered two objects in Oslo inscribed with Norse runic text.Excavations were being conducted in Oslo’s Medieval Park ‘Middelalderparken’ in what was once the southern part of the medieval city of Oslo. The park contains the ruins of St. Clement’s Church, St. Mary’s Church, and the former Oslo Kongsgård estate royal estate.Researchers discovered a bone inscribed in Norse and a piece of wood with inscriptions on three sides in both Norse and Latin.Professor Kristel Zilmer from the University of Oslo, who specialises in writing culture (runology) and iconography has studied...

[Catholic Caucus] Hundreds Flock to Bishop’s Latin MassFor the fifth year in a row, Catholic tradition made a quiet but profound appearance in an unsuspecting setting: before dawn, early on a Saturday morning on the campus of a public university.However, for the first year, it was led by a successor of the apostles.As was previously posted here on OnePeterFive, before dawn on December 11th, Bishop Conley, ordinary of Lincoln, Nebraska offered a Pontifical Solemn Rorate Mass at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Newman Center.Many woke early that Saturday morning to worship in so sublime a way — totaling four hundred faithful,...

What is behind the papal strangulation of the old Mass? By Fr Christopher Basden, Parish Priest of Ramsgate, England. Since the Pope’s recent brutal and unmerciful constriction of the traditional Latin Mass, many have been shocked by its unusual severity and questioned what motivates it. Liberal Catholic friends respond that it lacks the inclusivity that a broad Church demands. Friends from beyond the confines of Catholicism scratch their heads; this is the classic Roman ritual which for 1 ½ millennia was the inspiration of countless works of music, literature and art. One of the loveliest personal memories I have...

A pair of photos compares the former sanctuary and altar of St. Edward the Confessor to its new one. Courtesy Ernesto Ibarra By Jeff Grant, The Catholic SunPHOENIX — In the residential neighborhoods of southeastern Phoenix, just south of the commercial and industrial areas where Interstate 10 curves away from Sky Harbor International Airport, the faithful who worship with the Extraordinary Form of the Mass – the traditional Latin Mass – have a new home where they can celebrate their Catholic faith.St. Edward the Confessor, whose status as a parish was ended earlier this year by the Diocese of Phoenix...

Woke speech codes suffered a major setback when some Hispanic lawmakers and the country’s oldest Hispanic rights group put the kibosh on the use of the transgender-friendly term “Latinx.” The rejection of the Latinx label even extended to prominent Democratic lawmakers. “I’m Latina, you know. Latinx — that’s, bull——,” said Rep. Nydia M. Velazquez, a New York Democrat and the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the House. The League of United Latin American Citizens, the oldest Hispanic civil rights group in the U.S., also kicked Latinx to the curb. Domingo Garcia, the group’s president, told its communications team and...