Recent posts

[emphasis]

#1

Philosophy / Locke's mechanistic checks-and...

Last post by Geremia - August 14, 2026, 11:20:36 PM

Madison et al. were clearly deists/materialists, influenced by Newton in their idea of "justice" as a "balancing of (vector) forces" between opposing "factions;" the more opposing "factions," the more balanced ("just") the country will be. They think citizens are like molecules in an ideal gas! Improving the system by statistical analysis, not the perfection of the citizens, is their solution.

Dr. John Rao's foreword to Wemhoff, John Courtney Murray attributes this mechanistic conception of politics to Locke:

Locke's modus operandi allows so many denominations to function and command popular attention that they end by "checking and balancing" one another out of any practical social significance. Fight all they want, none of them can ever win control of the political order, which is left to be dominated by the godly "pragmatists".

Related to this is John Adams's 2 October 1780 letter to Jonathan Jackson where he warns against a two-party system (my emphasis):

There is nothing I dread So much, as a Division of the Republick into two great Parties, each arranged under its Leader, and concerting Measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble Apprehension is to be dreaded as the greatest political Evil, under our Constitution.

^{🎩-tip: OldPadawan}

#2

General Discussion / Epstein New Mexico ranch exorc...

Last post by Geremia - August 13, 2026, 07:54:31 PM

source: LifeSiteNews, "Epstein ranch exorcised by Catholic priest over three days"

#3

Catholic Resources / TF-IDF

Last post by Geremia - August 11, 2026, 10:51:21 PM

TF-IDF

#4

Catholic Resources / Re: The Distant Reader

Last post by Geremia - August 08, 2026, 08:00:45 PM

Under "stacks" there's a subfolder "pamphlets" with the description "about half (2,700 PDF files) of the Hesburgh Libraries Catholic Pamphlets Collection".

https://distantreader.org/stacks/pamphlets/

I wonder if there's overlap with the

University of Notre Dame Catholic Pamphlets Collection
They span from 1800 to 2010, but the post Vatican II ones (e.g., the 1969 Catholics and Masons: Now Good Friends!) are not recommended.
There are catechisms (like the New St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism) and many other good books. They're also categorized.

that Archive.org since took down.

#5

Catholic Resources / The Distant Reader

Last post by k42s - August 08, 2026, 02:40:23 PM

Came across the site The Distant Reader. Under "stacks" there's a subfolder "pamphlets" with the description "about half (2,700 PDF files) of the Hesburgh Libraries Catholic Pamphlets Collection".

#6

General Discussion / Re: Fr. Cyprian on St. Joseph

Last post by AngelLMills - August 03, 2026, 03:52:11 AM

Fr. Cyprian, O.S.B.—prior of Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery, New Mexico—speaks of St. Joseph @34:02:

What a beautiful reflection! Thank you for sharing

#7

Catholic Resources / Re: «Acta synodalia Sacrosanct...

Last post by k42s - July 29, 2026, 06:15:41 PM

A few years ago Matthew Hazell completed the scans. Check New Liturgical Movement for all the links.

I do have a question: how can I find out for each final document who the signatories were? I am specifically interested in who did not sign certain documents. For the close of the council when three documents were promulgated I find this list but it's not clear to me if these "Ego"s are what I'm looking for. Other sites talk about "placet" and "non placet."

More specifically, I'm looking to see if "Marcellus Lefebvre, arch. tit. Synnadensis in Phrygia" signed Dignitatis Humanae (Religious Liberty), Unitatis Redintegratio (Ecumenism) and Lumen Gentium (Collegiality).

#8

Forum-Related / Re: Recommendations on saving ...

Last post by k42s - July 12, 2026, 03:08:00 AM

As an indirect answer, I suggest using Obsidian Web Clipper. It converts a web page and its contents into a Markdown (.md) file that can be saved into your Obsidian vault or anywhere on your computer. Calibre handles .md files and can also convert into .epub and other formats.

I was inspired from this blog post. I also make use of the RSS Dashboard Community Plugin.

#9

Forum-Related / Recommendations on saving web ...

Last post by justjeff - July 11, 2026, 01:41:25 AM

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum, hopefully it can be moved if it is.

I occasionally run across an article on a website that I would like to save and import into Calibre so I can find it more easily in the future.

Assuming the article is in .html format, is it usually easier, or more beneficial for other reasons to save it by Selecting the text and then "print to .pdf", or to copy & paste it into something like LibreOffice and save it that way before importing? Or perhaps to save it in html format or some other way?

#10

General Discussion / Benedictio librorum

Last post by Geremia - July 09, 2026, 09:49:07 PM

BENEDICTIO LIBRORUM Adjutorium nostrum, et cetera. Oremus. Oratio. Descendat, Domine, virtus Spiritus Sancti super hunc librum [(hos libros)], qui eum [(eos)] mundando purificet et bene ✠ dicat atque sanctificet, et omnium in eo [(eis)] legentium clementer corda illuminet, et verum intellectum tribuat, sed et intelligendo tua præcepta conservare et implere secundum voluntatem tuam bonis operibus concedat. Per Dominum. Et aspergantur aqua benedicta.

BLESSING OF BOOKS Our help, etc. Let us pray. Prayer. May the power of the Holy Ghost, O Lord, descend upon this book [(these books)], cleanse, purify, bless ✠, and sanctify it [(them)], and may He mercifully enlighten the hearts of all who read it [(them)], and grant true understanding, and also, through understanding, to keep and fulfill your precepts according to your will by good works. Through the Lord. And [(it is)] they are sprinkled with holy water.

—Manuale ad usum Sarum (Sarum Use Manual) in the Publications of the Surtees Society, vol. 63 (1875) p. 101*, quoted in "Is there a blessing for books?"