bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Use of Alternative Promoters for Enhanced Transgene and sgRNA Expression in Atlantic Salmon Cells
Authors: Reza Mohammad Ali Noman , Harvey Thomas Nelson , Regmi Axmee , Torgersen Jacob Seilø , Sandvik Guro Katrine
Published: August 2024

This study facilitates design of expression vectors and lentivirus tools for gene editing of Atlantic salmon. We have characterized widely used heterologous promoters and novel endogenous promoters in Atlantic salmon cells. We used qPCR to evaluate the activity of several U6 promoters for sgRNA expression, including human U6 (hU6), tilapia U6 (tU6), mouse U6 (mU6), zebrafish U6 (zU6), Atlantic salmon U6 (sU6), medaka U6 (medU6), and fugu U6 (fU6) promoters. We also evaluated several polymerase type II (pol II) promoters by luciferase assay. Our results showed that hU6 and tU6 promoters were the most active among all the tested U6 promoters, and heterologous promoters (CMV, hEF1α core) had higher activity compared to endogenous Atlantic salmon promoters sHSP8, sNUC3L, sEF1α. Among endogenous pol II promoters, sEF1α and sHSP8 displayed higher activity than sNUC3L, sHSP703, sHSP7C, sXRCC1L, and sETF. We observed that extending the promoter sequence to include the region up to the start codon (ATG) resulted in a significant increase in expression efficiency for sNUC3L and sEF1α. We also show that mutating the PRDM1 motif will significantly decrease the activity of the sEF1α promoter. The presence of the PRDM1 motif in sHSP8 promoter was also associated with relatively high expression compared to the promoters that naturally lacked this motif, such as sNUC3L. We speculate that this short sequence might be included in other promoters to further enhance the promoter activity, but further experiments are needed to confirm this. Our findings provide valuable insights into the activity of different promoters in Atlantic salmon cells and can be used to facilitate further transgenic studies and improve the efficiency of transgene expression in Atlantic salmon.
Newsvendor problem with discrete demand and constrained first moment under ambiguity
Authors: Cinfrignini Andrea , Petturiti Davide , Stabile Gabriele
Published: August 2024

We study a single period newsvendor problem under ambiguity in the presence of a discrete random demand. Ambiguity is introduced in the model by $$\epsilon $$
ϵ
-contaminating the newsvendor’s prior probability measure with respect to two suitable classes of probability measures, assuring that the lower expected demand and the upper expected demand are both equal to the prior expected demand. Assuming that the newsvendor has a pessimistic attitude towards ambiguity, we characterize the order quantity that either maximizes the lower expected profit or minimizes the upper expected loss. Since the two contamination classes are cores of two distinct belief functions, we show that the maximin and minimax problems translate in the maximization and minimization of two distinct Choquet integrals.
From mixed to hybrid facies volcanic debris avalanche at Colima Volcano: sedimentology and numerical modeling as evidence of transport and emplacement mechanisms
Authors: Roverato Matteo , Capra Lucia
Published: August 2024

Numerous partial collapses of Colima Volcano have occurred in its history, accompanied by the emplacement of volcanic debris avalanche deposits (VDADs). The collapse that generated the Tonila VDAD (T-VDAD; ~ 1 km3; ~ 15Ka cal. BP) occurred during “wet” paleoclimatic conditions in a high humidity environment, and water within the volcanic edifice, which played a significant role in the volcano’s instability and avalanche transport. This study aims to provide new data on the processes involved in the transport and emplacement mechanisms of debris avalanches based on a detailed granulometric and microtextural characterization and numerical modeling. In general, T-VDAD exhibited massive dynamic behavior during its transport, without segregation process, although some variation of the grains-size occurs from proximal to distal reaches from the source. At microscopic level, evidence suggests particle–particle interactions of rapid, high-energy, high velocity collisional nature, promoting comminution, which increases the fines content with distance. The general high content of fine material into the T-VDAD, combined with a significant water content within the mass before the collapse, due to partial edifice saturation, may have contributed to enhance its mobility. The T-VDAD mobility is here tested with the Titan2d numerical model; results show important paleo-topography implications and that the Coulomb frictional model with basal friction angles similar to previously tested cases best fits the areal propagation of the T-VDAD, confirming that, despite the fluid content that enhanced downslope transformation, the flow still behaved as a homogeneous and incompressible continuum with energy dissipation concentrated within its base.
A Direct Approach to the Polar Representation of Plane Tensors
Authors: Picchi Scardaoni Marco
Published: August 2024

We show we can derive the so called polar representation of 2D symmetric second and fourth order real tensors essentially just relying on the spectral theorem for unitary tensors in the complex field. The use of a coordinate-free approach allows us to clearly and methodically detect rotation-invariant quantities and to readily (and directly) deduce the representation theorems.
“The Logic of Monsters:” Pere Alberch and the Evolutionary Significance of Experimental Teratology
Authors: Sánchez Arteaga Juanma
Published: August 2024

This paper offers an historical introduction to Pere Alberch's evolutionary thought and his contributions to Evo-Devo, based on his unique approach to experimental teratology. We will take as our point of reference the teratogenic experiments developed by Alberch and Emily A. Gale during the 1980s, aimed at producing monstrous variants of frogs and salamanders. We will analyze his interpretation of the results of these experiments within the framework of the emergence of evolutionary developmental biology (or “Evo-Devo”). The aim is understand how Alberch interpreted teratological anomalies as highly revealing objects of study for understanding the development of organic form, not only in an ontogenetic sense—throughout embryonic development—but also phylogenetically—throughout the evolution of species. Alberch's interpretation of monsters reflects the influence of a long tradition of non-Darwinian evolutionary thought, which began in the nineteenth century and was continued in the twentieth century by people such as Richard Goldschmidt, Conrad H. Waddington, and Stephen Jay Gould. They all proposed various non-gradualist models of evolution, in which embryonic development played a central role. Following this tradition, Alberch argued that, in order to attain a correct understanding of the role of embryological development in evolution, it was necessary to renounce the gradualist paradigm associated with the Darwinian interpretation of evolution, which understood nature as a continuum. According to Alberch, the study of monstrous abnormalities was of great value in understanding how certain epigenetic restrictions in development could give rise to discontinuities and directionality in morphological transformations throughout evolution.
Unconscious Emotions and the Limits of Phenomenology: Husserl, Lipps and Freud
Authors: Gyemant Maria
Published: August 2024

Can an emotion be unconscious? The aim of this paper is to answer this difficult question. Is it possible for an emotion to be a fully lived experience and at the same time remain unknown to the subject? Or, in clearer terms, how can one have a feeling without actually feeling it? At first sight, it seems impossible to imagine the existence of unconscious emotions. If, unlike ideas and other cognitive experiences, the essence of an emotion does not lie in its content but in the way it is experienced, in “the way it feels like,” then the expression “unconscious emotions” itself seems to be a contradiction. However, if we place ourselves from the point of view of the psychoanalytical theory of the unconscious, this statement creates a problem. Most of the unconscious processes revealed in the course of an analysis have strong emotional connotations. A phenomenology of emotions cannot ignore the results and theories brought forth by Freud and his psychoanalysis, whose most important discoveries concern emotions and their impact on the rest of the psychological life of the subject. If unconscious emotions question the limits of phenomenology, my aim in this paper is to show the way phenomenology can take in order to push these limits further. I will start by explaining the way phenomenology traditionally conceives emotions and their relation to other mental phenomena, using mainly Brentano and Husserl’s view on emotions. However, I will show further that there is a way that allows us to conceive the possibility of emotions that do not belong to consciousness. It is the way of a dynamic phenomenology, inspired by the works of Theodor Lipps, which constitute the main philosophical reference in the works of Sigmund Freud.
Polysyndeton, Social Media, and the Contested Meanings of January 6, 2021
Authors: Fowler Randall , Moist John T.
Published: August 2024

Adapting a Burkean approach to rhetorical tropes, this essay argues that polysyndeton comprises a significant trope shaping political communication via social media. We argue that polysyndeton reflects the cultural dynamics of liquid modernity and furnishes an organizational logic to a particular domain of human symbolic action, namely, social media. Because polysyndeton dually stresses amplification and association, grouping things that do not have a necessary relationship and delivering them to an audience as an undifferentiated mass, it is perfectly suited to serve as a lens for interpreting the political and cultural complexities of our present era, including the Capitol Riot of January 6, 2021.
On the Monotonicity of the Stopping Boundary for Time-Inhomogeneous Optimal Stopping Problems
Authors: Milazzo Alessandro
Published: August 2024

We consider a class of time-inhomogeneous optimal stopping problems and we provide sufficient conditions on the data of the problem that guarantee monotonicity of the optimal stopping boundary. In our setting, time-inhomogeneity stems not only from the reward function but, in particular, from the time dependence of the drift coefficient of the one-dimensional stochastic differential equation (SDE) which drives the stopping problem. In order to obtain our results, we mostly employ probabilistic arguments: we use a comparison principle between solutions of the SDE computed at different starting times, and martingale methods of optimal stopping theory. We also show a variant of the main theorem, which weakens one of the assumptions and additionally relies on the renowned connection between optimal stopping and free-boundary problems.
Gricean insinuation and the fake one-way mirror effect
Authors: Witek Maciej
Published: August 2024

The insinuating speaker, when successful, achieves two goals: they introduce a contentious content into a conversation while simultaneously marking it as not being officially stated. This positioning allows the speaker to plausibly deny any intention behind the implied message when challenged. I argue that reconciling the communicative nature of insinuation and its off-record status within the Gricean framework of overt communication appears to present a significant conceptual puzzle. In this paper, I address this challenge by introducing the notion of Gricean insinuation, which I define as communication that is both partially overt and partially covert. I start by exploring the nature and complexity of the insinuation puzzle mentioned earlier and reviewing two existing Gricean solutions to it. Then, I proceed to analyse three concepts relevant to the insinuation phenomenon: indirectness, cancellability, and plausible deniability. Following this, I introduce the concept of Gricean insinuation. In particular, I use the common ground framework to elucidate what I refer to as the ‘Fake One-Way Mirror Effect’, and apply the resulting model to explain some examples of insinuation as acts of off-record communication. In conclusion, I assess the model’s effectiveness and propose directions for future research.
Radiomics and 256-slice-dual-energy CT in the automated diagnosis of mild acute pancreatitis: the innovation of formal methods and high-resolution CT
Authors: Rocca Aldo , Brunese Maria Chiara , Santone Antonella , Varriano Giulia , Viganò Luca , Caiazzo Corrado , Vallone Gianfranco , Brunese Luca , Romano Luigia , Di Serafino Marco ,   R O I Segmentation Collaborative Group, Bellifemine Fabio , De Chiara Francesca , De Lucia Dalila , Pacella Giulia , Avella Pasquale
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a common disease, and several scores aim to assess its prognosis. Our study aims to automatically recognize mild AP from computed tomography (CT) images in patients with acute abdominal pain but uncertain diagnosis from clinical and serological data through Radiomic model based on formal methods (FMs).

Methods

We retrospectively reviewed the CT scans acquired with Dual Source 256-slice CT scanner (Somatom Definition Flash; Siemens Healthineers, Erlangen, Germany) of 80 patients admitted to the radiology unit of Antonio Cardarelli hospital (Naples) with acute abdominal pain. Patients were divided into 2 groups: 40 underwent showed a healthy pancreatic gland, and 40 affected by four different grades (CTSI 0, 1, 2, 3) of mild pancreatitis at CT without clear clinical presentation or biochemical findings.

Segmentation was manually performed. Radiologists identified 6 patients with a high expression of diseases (CTSI 3) to formulate a formal property (Rule) to detect AP in the testing set automatically. Once the rule was formulated, and Model Checker classified 70 patients into “healthy” or “unhealthy”.

Results

The model achieved: accuracy 81%, precision 78% and recall 81%. Combining FMs results with radiologists agreement, and applying the mode in clinical practice, the global accuracy would have been 100%.

Conclusions

Our model was reliable to automatically detect mild AP at primary diagnosis even in uncertain presentation and it will be tested prospectively in clinical practice.
Bartonella rochalimae in a flea collected from a Mephitis macroura in Sonora Mexico
Authors: Fernández-González Adriana M. , Herrera-Mares Angel , Ramírez-Corona Fabiola , Acosta Roxana , Suzán Gerardo
Published: August 2024

Purpose

At least thirty species of wild carnivores have been recorded harboring Bartonella, and one of the most common pathogenic species infecting them is Bartonella rochalimae, which can cause endocarditis in humans and dogs. This bacterium can infect various mammals including wild carnivores, as well as ectoparasitic vectors such as fleas and ticks. Here we report the presence of B. rochalimae, in a Pulex simulans flea collected from a Mephitis macroura skunk in the municipality of Santa Cruz in Sonora, Mexico.

Methods

Fleas were collected from a M. macroura in Sonora, Mexico, in October 2019. They were identified to species level and subsequently tested for the presence of Bartonella using molecular tools including conventional PCR, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis.

Results

A total of 10 P. simulans fleas (one male, nine females) were collected from the M. macroura skunk. The PCR and phylogenetic analysis indicated a prevalence of 10% (1/10) and a sequence clustered with the clade of B. rochalimae.

Conclusions

We confirmed the presence of B. rochalimae in a P. simulans flea collected from a M. macroura skunk in the area of Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico. Based on our results and previous studies in northern Mexico, which are consistent, it is necessary to continue monitoring Bartonella in M. macroura skunks and their fleas, since they could be important reservoirs of this bacterium in northern Mexico.
Climate Change and Aging: Implications for Psychiatric Care
Authors: Mehta Michelle M. , Johnson Anne E. , Ratnakaran Badr , Seritan Ioana , Seritan Andreea L.
Published: August 2024

Purpose of Review

We reviewed recent evidence regarding the impact of climate change (specifically, high ambient temperatures, heatwaves, weather-related disasters, and air pollution) on older adults’ mental health. We also summarized evidence regarding other medical problems that can occur in aging adults in connection with climate change, resulting in psychiatric manifestations or influencing psychopharmacological management.

Recent Findings

Older adults can experience anxiety, depressive, and/or posttraumatic stress symptoms, as well as sleep disturbances in the aftermath of climate disasters. Cognitive deficits may occur with exposure to air pollutants, heatwaves, or post-disaster. Individuals with major neurocognitive disorders and/or preexisting psychiatric illness have a higher risk of psychiatric hospitalizations after exposure to high temperatures and air pollution.

There is a growing body of research regarding psychiatric clinical presentations associated with climate change in older adults. However, there is a paucity of evidence on management strategies. Future research should investigate culturally appropriate, cost-effective psychosocial and pharmacological interventions.
Mit Sportsozialarbeit gegen Gewalt im Amateurfußball!?
Authors: Kaya Fatih , Schweitzer Helmuth , Uslucan Hacɪ-Halil
Published: August 2024

Bei gewalttätigen Auseinandersetzungen auf Fußballplätzen von Amateurvereinen unter Spieler_innen und gegen Schiedsrichter_innen unter Mitwirkung von Zuschauer_innen stehen häufig Beteiligte mit internationaler Familiengeschichte – insbesondere solche muslimischen Glaubens – im Mittelpunkt. In Abgrenzung zum dominierenden Narrativ eines vermeintlichen „Integrationsunwillens“ eingewanderter Minderheiten analysiert der Beitrag aus (post)migrantischer Perspektive das Fußballspiel als Kampfarena für die Kompensation fehlender gesellschaftlicher Anerkennung diskriminierter allochthoner junger Menschen. Einige wenige von ihnen reagieren auf ihre Marginalisierung auch mangels alternativer, gesellschaftlich positiv bewerteter Handlungskompetenzen notfalls mit Gewalt als Möglichkeit zur Erfahrung von Selbstwirksamkeit. Die in dieser Einleitung zum Themenschwerpunkt skizzierten Ursachen und Präventionsvoraussetzungen für verbale und physische Aggression im Amateurfußball werden in den folgenden Beiträgen näher beleuchtetet.
Association between orphanhood, mental distress and suicide risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults in Zimbabwe
Authors: Chipalo Edson
Published: August 2024

An estimated 761,000 children have been orphaned primarily due to HIV/AIDs in Zimbabwe. Being an orphan is one of the adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) that can lead to poor mental health outcomes, including higher levels of mental distress and suicide risk behaviors for vulnerable adolescents and young adults. This study examines the prevalence of orphanhood and its association with mental distress and suicide risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults in Zimbabwe. Data for this study was derived from the Zimbabwe Violence Against Children and Youth Survey (ZVACS). The sample size included 8,715 participants aged 13 to 18 years old. The prevalence of orphanhood was determined using chi-square tests. Four logistic regression models were employed to examine significant association between orphanhood and two outcomes (i.e., mental distress as measured by the Kesler 6 and lifetime suicide risk behaviors). The results showed that the prevalence of being an orphan was higher for adolescents and young adults with primary education or lower (48.4%), experienced moderate/severe mental distress in the past 30 days (45.3%), reported lifetime suicide thoughts/attempted suicide/self-harm (45%), were females (38.5%), and aged 18-24 years old (44.6%), respectively. Additionally, regression results showed that being an orphan was associated with higher odds of reporting moderate/severe mental distress in the past 30 days, and lifetime suicidal thoughts, attempted suicide or self-harming behaviors among adolescents and young adults. This study underscores the need to prioritize mental health interventions, including screenings for mental distress and suicide risk behaviors, as well as providing robust social support to orphans and their families with limited resources. Further research is needed to understand protective and risk factors associated with longitudinal effects of mental distress and suicidal tendencies for vulnerable orphans in Zimbabwe.
The Free Man in the Free Church
Authors: Swanston Hamish
Published: August 2024

Just over a hundred years ago Count Cavour enunciated the gran Principio: Libera Chiesa in libero Stato. Today, although there are still many places, not all of them professedly anti-Christian, where such a principle is not at work, theologians seem more eager to shew us that the freedom Christ has given us is not a freedom from opposition and contradiction but a freedom to live responsibly in the free Church. The emphasis on freedom is no rash and young intrusion, it is an emphasis encouraged by the first authority.
The Vocation of Celibacy among Laywomen
Authors: Alexander Alex
Published: August 2024

While the third session of the Vatican Council has many problems of the highest importance to consider, for the benefit of the whole Church and also for particular sections of it, there seems to be extant today a situation of comparatively recent origin which has never been thoroughly examined, discussed, or pronounced upon in any authoritative discourse, and yet it is one of which more people are becoming increasingly conscious: it is the problem of celibate women and the part they play the mystical body.
St Moses the Black
Authors: Felicity Sister
Published: August 2024

Among the picturesque figures of the Fathers of the Desert this Moses stands out like a silhouette against the white glare of the desert of Scete. In his youth he was a slave in the household of an official of the Egyptian government but was dismissed because of the flagrant immorality of his life, but more particularly because he was an inveterate thief and this of course would be harder on his master's purse and property than any spare-time debauchery.
Does the Bible Suffice as the Source of Faith
Authors: Arenhoevel Diego
Published: August 2024

A Dominican who is at the same time an exegete tends to suffer from a lingering bad conscience which on days like this can become quite acutely painful. As a Dominican he should follow and esteem the teaching of St Thomas, but in actual fact his memories of the illustrious friar are of a friendly voice which he listened to once upon a time in his youth. Now other voices speak to him in the rough violent language of the Canaan he has entered, which make, I'm afraid, extensive demands on his thinking.

In order to relieve my conscience I will start off, at least, in the direction of Thomism and, true to the scholastic way of doing things, begin with the status quaestionis. We begin then by trying to clarify the sentence we have taken as our theme.
Resuscitating the Parish
Authors: Tom  , Brogan Mary
Published: August 2024

In apostolic times unity among the faithful was understood as a direct consequence of assuming the new life in Christ. St Paul sees the reconciliation of man with man and particularly of Jew and Gentile as effected through the crucified Christ. ‘But now in Christ you who were once far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who has made us both one—(that he) might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross’ (Eph. 2. 14-16). Through baptism we become members of this body ‘For by one Spirit we were all baptised into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free’ (1 Cor. 12.13) whose head is Christ while we ‘are one body in Christ and individually members one of another’ (Rom. 12. 5).
Preaching to Adults
Authors: Quinn Edward
Published: August 2024

‘Remember that your congregation consists if characters from Saturday Night and Sunday Morning’, said the film critic to a preacher. He was annoyed, as most of us would be. Beer-swilling adulterers like Arthur Seaton may well be present occasionally at mass, but they are not likely to be regular churchgoers; and even if they were, we cannot overlook the vast numbers of ordinary decent Catholics who only want as much to do with such types as charity strictly requires. And if we are reminded that there are also good people in this film, we can still say that they do not adequately represent that great varitations which we can find in most large churches on Sunday. But the reminder does draw attention to an often neglected aspect of our preaching: the congregation.
The Mass of the People
Authors: Campbell Duncan
Published: August 2024

As s Priest, with the small authority of a priest that can be humbly accepted by higher authority, or quietly ignored, I should like to submit proposals for the form our celebrating mass might now take. To suggest changes at all, without offence, is difficult. All likely readers of this page will know the mass as an important, cherished and familiar ceremony in its present form, with roots deep in feelings and imagination, the sense of history and art, one's Catholic upbringing and loyalty. A whole tissue of potent, unrealised emotion attaches to the tiniest details and circumstances, making us shudder to think of change for the sake of change, or of any 'Playing about'. Brother Choleric's tense, aristocratic, is intellectual nun, hands up in revulsion at the mention of dialogue mass, is so funny because so true—of us all.
Who is my Brother?
Authors: Westow T. L.
Published: August 2024

The Council of Trent condemned heresies, as Councils have done since the beginning until Vatican II. It arrested such corruption as had been denounced by the Christian people. It laid down businesslike rules for the re-organization of a rather lax ecclesiastical society, it set up seminaries and effective visitations, and it provided the material for a full-bodied Canon Law which for four hundred years prevented any further epidemic demic of scandals, thereby restoring the good name of the church in the eyes of secular society. But as a social document it failed, and failed egregiously. The period which followed on the Council of Trent is known historically as the Counter-Reformation.
Signs and Wonders
Authors: Redfern Martin
Published: August 2024

‘“If Christ rose from the dead, His religion and His doctrine are divine; but Christ rose again from the dead, therefore His religion and His doctrine are divine.” The first of these propositions is true; because, if Christ rose from the dead, it must have been by His own power, or by the power of God; if by His own power, by that very fact He would prove Himself God; if by the power of God, this would prove beyond doubt His divine mission … The second proposition, namely, but Christ rose again, only asserts one of the most certain historical facts … This miracle is the object of the attacks of all the incredulous, for this once admitted, no one could deny the divine mission and the Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Liturgical Reform and the Council
Authors: Evans Illtud
Published: August 2024

In the preamble to its Constitution on the Liturgy, the second Vatican Council has clearly established the place of liturgical reform within that framework of the Church's inner renewal which is the Council's primary concern. ‘The sacred Council has for its aims the daily reinvigoration of the Christian life of the faithful, the better adaptation to the needs of our own time of those institutions that are subject to change, the fostering of everything that can contribute to the union of those who belief in Christ, and the strengthening of all that can call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church. For those reasons the Council considers it has a special obligation to undertake the reform and promotion of the liturgy.’
Exploring the Old Testament
Authors: Rhymer Joseph
Published: August 2024

In the introduction to Theology and the University John Coulson writes ‘… we ask for a laity better educated in their religion.’ The Old Testament is the soil from which that religion sprang: it will not be necessary to have to justify its inclusion in any syllabus for lay religious education. Anyone who honestly tries to penetrate into a field of study quickly realises how vast it is and how little he knows about it; this is particularly true of the Old Testament, but before I say why I think this is so I want to tell you why I am speaking to you about it. It is not because I claim any particular knowledge of the Old Testament but because I am a student of it and have tried to teach others about it, from eleven-year olds to theological students and ordinary lay people.
The Mass and the Community of God
Authors: Middleton Neil
Published: August 2024

We all know that the mass is the centre of our lives, that it is the most important thing in the life of the Church; but often we have to make a real effort to see this. It is not the obvious proposition it ought to be. We even have to make an effort to show that the Church really thinks this, rather than simply saying it for effect. What began as a common meal, feeding the people of God both with physical food and with the food of scripture, has become a largely silent ritual performed by one man with his back to the people in a dead foreign language. The bread which we eat has been carefully manufactured to look as little like bread as possible, and there has grown up a tradition that one should, out of reverance, avoid chewing it. Clearly there are reasons why all this should be so, some of them better than others, but looking at our modern liturgy from a distance shows why it is so hard to believe the truth about it.
What is the Church?—V
Authors: McCabe Herbert
Published: August 2024

In this article and the next I want to say something about the sacraments of penance and the anointing of the sick. What I have to say is more than usually tentative; where it differs from what is more commonly taught it should be regarded as an attempt to throw additional light on the topic, not to supplant accepted ways of thought.

First I must explain why I treat these two sacraments together: it is because I regard each of them as a sacrament of return to the eucharist. Each of them belongs to a situation in which the Christian is for one reason or another prevented from sharing fully in the mass. Penance deals with the obstacles created by sin, anointing with those due to sickness. As I have suggested earlier, we get the clearest view of any sacrament when we see how it is eucharistic, how it is related to the common meal that symbolizes Christian love. To see how a sacrament—or anything else for that matter—belongs to the eucharist is to see its function in the Church; for the Church is centred upon the Lord's Supper.
Prayer and Family Life
Authors: E.M.G.B.
Published: August 2024

Both prayer and family life are very much private affairs, and in particular no two Catholic families face the same set of circumstances when trying to lead the Catholic life of prayer. This therefore is my justification for launching into a description of our family background, since without this it is hard for others to know what is, or is not, applicable in their case. (This whole question of applicability seems to me a fundamental one in the spiritual life, since so much discouragement, or even real harm, can be caused by trying to force a devotion or a way of life on those who are not naturally called or fitted for that way.) In the first place both my wife and I have a certain bond in that the religious backgrounds of our families are somewhat similar.
Penance and the Church
Authors: Hardwick Edgar
Published: August 2024

Modern reflection on the sacrament of penance stresses three points: the special dimension of sin committed after baptism, i.e., its relation to the Church; the cultic nature of the sacramental remission of this sin; and the pastoral value of the sacrament of penance. The angle of approach is theological rather than juridical or moral, seeking an understanding of the sacrament of penance in the light of the mystery of the Church.

The Church is the continuation in time of the incarnation of Christ and the realization through the centuries of the salvation of mankind worked by him. One aspect of the incarnation and of the work of salvation was to manifest the definitive, eschatological judgment of God on sin; this aspect is seen above all in the death of Christ: ‘God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and of sin, hath condemned sin in the flesh’ (Rom. viii, 3).
‘I Have Sinned Against the Lord’
Authors: Weatherhead Benet
Published: August 2024

Israel encountered the one true living God at Sinai in a manifestation of fire and storm, and when they set out again to take the land he had promised their forefathers, they were bound to him in the living bond of the covenant; as his people and a holy people they were to worship him alone, and to obey the elementary moral law he had established among’ them. Whatever the religious practices of Israel had been until then and whatever they assimilated from their neighbours in Canaan and further afield, only that was now acceptable which could be used or reinterpreted in the light of this unique revelation and relationship. The golden calf was not acceptable as an image of the living God, because he could not be represented by lifeless images.
Penance in the Early Church
Authors: Booth Edward
Published: August 2024

THE full significance of our Lord's ‘Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God’ (Matt, v, 8) is only to be understood in a setting of worship. Behind it is the thought of the psalm: ‘Who shall ascend into the mountain of the Lord; or who shall stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands, and the clean of heart…’ (Ps. xxiii, 31f). Man must become pure in his inmost being; and he must do so as a preparation for worship. But the man who conceives such desires discovers within himself impeding faults. These cause him grief; and the acknowledgment of being in such a state is to be penitent. Penitence as a prelude to the sacrifice of worship is the theme of Ps. 1: ‘A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humbled heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
Congregational Music
Authors: Durand Michael
Published: August 2024

‘It is most important that when the faithful assist at the sacred ceremonies … they should not be merely detached and silent spectators, but, filled with a deep sense of the beauty of the liturgy, they should sing alternately with the clergy or the choir, as it is prescribed.’

(Pius XI. Divini Cultus, §9.)

Music, to be suitable for congregational use, must clearly possess certain distinguishing qualities, which it will be wise to try and define at the outset. Firstly it must be simple. Even in parishes where no prejudice against congregational singing exists to be overcome, it is necessary both to avoid the discouragement caused by attempting music too elaborate mclodically, too complex rhythmically, or of too great vocal compass; and to avoid, even worse, complacency in the unworthy performance of too difficult works. Secondly, it should be sufficiently appreciable in terms of current musical idioms to embody the virtues of popularity.
Rosa Mystica
Authors: Holdsworth Philip
Published: August 2024

We hear the words of the Mother of God and we think how much the generations have fulfilled them. Over the centuries, increasingly, men have recalled the wonder that is Mary and have held her blessed. What is that glory in her soul that causes us to halt and gaze in awe and love? Rosa mystica, the mystic rose, is before us and therein is a whole world of mystery, a life, a deep-set complex of relations. Look into the heart of a rose, of a rosebud, you will see an interweaving, interscrolled patterning of petals and from it you will breathe a scent as of all heaven. So, in the Spirit, is Mary, containing the divine mysteries and breathing the very ‘odour of Christ Jesus. ‘The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.'
Friendship in Christ
Authors: Farrell Jane
Published: August 2024

They are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and he who is seated on the throne will diffuse his glory on them. No longer will they thirst or hunger. No longer will the sun or any heat strike them. For the Lamb before the throne will be their shepherd and will guide them to the springs of living waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. (Apoc. vii, 14-17.)

Already, to us who are yet in via, there belongs some share in this apocalyptic vision. Already there is diffused upon us some measure of God's glory, in that grace which is the seed of glory. And so we need not wait until angelic trumpets herald the parousia; already God is accomplishing in us these very wonders that St John saw in heaven.
A Miscellany of Missals
Authors: Evans Illtud
Published: August 2024

It is to Pope St Pius X that the modern liturgical movement owes its greatest debt, and it is from his motu proprio of 1903, issued within three months of his election as pope, that all subsequent initiatives derive their authority. His immediate concern was the reform of sacred music, but he stated unequivocally the principles of any true liturgical advance, namely the need to ‘maintain and promote the dignity of the house of God, in which the solemn mysteries of religion are celebrated, and in which the Christian people gather to receive the grace of the sacraments, to assist at the holy sacrifice of the altar, to adore the most august sacrament of the body of the Lord, and to unite themselves with the prayer of the Church in the public and solemn celebration of the liturgical offices'.
The Bible in Worship
Authors: Evans Illtud
Published: August 2024

When we say that the Bible is the word of God we mean first of all that God is its author. That is to say God inspired human writers to compose the books which we call the Sacred Scriptures. But he did not dictate them: the human authors were not mere secretaries who had no words of their own to utter. But they were inspired, and inspired by the Holy Spirit who is the Truth itself. God used these men as his instruments: he respected, as it were, their own gifts and skill, their mental outlook and their individuality of style and diction. But he preserved them from error, for they were to write of God's own work—and in that there can be no lie. If God exists, then God can neither deceive nor be deceived: he is not merely truthful, he is the Truth, and so the words that are his are true.
Joachim of Flora and 'The Everlasting Gospel'
Authors: Budge H. G.
Published: August 2024

The Abbot Joachim, who founded the Abbey of Flora among the mountains of Calabria in 1189, is one of the most original and interesting figures of the Middle Ages. He was famous in his own generation for his prophetic vision and saintly life, and was a source of inspiration to his followers for two hundred years. Dante assigns him a place with the great teachers of the thirteenth century, in his Paradiso, where Saint Bonaventure points out the shining spirit at his side as:

'Calabria's Abbot, Joachim, endow'd with soul prophetic'

The great Florentine had lost his faith in Papal and Imperial powers to enlighten the darkness of those times, and may well have embraced Joachim's hope of a spiritual renewal of Christendom by a sudden illumination of the divine purpose in history.
Edel Quinn
Authors: Mould Daphne Pochin
Published: August 2024

‘What is the use of life and health if we cannot throw them away for so great a King and Lord?’ asked St Teresa of Avila, and her words could stand as a kind of headline for the life of Edel Quinn, whose cause for beatification has lately been introduced. For it was a woman fighting a losing battle against tuberculosis who blazed the Legion of Mary’s trail over much of Africa. Yet you could meet Edel and not notice anything particular about her, a Dublin typist going to daily mass, spending her free time for the legion; there are thousands more hke that. And this gives special interest to her beatification cause; that she was so much of the ordinary stream of Irish Catholicism and achieved such extraordinary results makes her appear a kind of patron and pace setter for the contemporary lay apostolate.

Edel Quinn was born in Kanturk, Co. Cork, on September Hth, 1907.
Knowledge and Holiness and St Thomas Aquinas
Authors: Deman Thomas
Published: August 2024

In the case of the majority of saints, sanctity and knowledge seem to be two different things. Our admiration goes to the heroic penances they have imposed upon themselves, the uncompromising apostolate they have carried out, the outpourings of love which have been their heart's expression or the martyrdom which has crowned their life. As a general rule, we do no realize that intellectual excellence may have a connection with tb merits which raise a Christian to the altars. The interest of the case of St Thomas Aquinas is that in him we are compelled to investigate this problem. That the Church solemnly canonize him less than fifty, years after his death is a fact, as is also tn circumstance that his life was given in a remarkable degree to the work of the mind. It was spent in intellectual activity as exclusive and intense as one could wish.
Making a Mime
Authors: Heddon Rosemary
Published: August 2024

How is a mime made? Surely the methods must be as varied as the makers, so that any description will to some extent, be personal.

First, the choosing of a theme. Mime is essentially simple: in its action, in its presentation, in its appeal, and to derive full value from it, the underlying idea needs to be simple too; simple because it is basic, a statement of fact, which is not to deny that it may be profound. Indeed, it is through the simple straight forward movements of mime that some of the deepest mysteries of our faith may be illustrated.

The theme of this mime was to be twofold: the linking thread was to be that of the angels, whose name both in Hebrew and Greek means ‘a messenger', and it was in this manner that thw were to be shown, as God's messengers to man.
Robert Grosseteste on the Monastic Life
Authors: Farmer Hugh
Published: August 2024

Robert Grosseteste, one of the greatest men of the thirteenth centurf England and bishop of Lincoln from 123 5-125 3, was in frequent contact with the numerous religious houses in his diocese. Often his high-handed but probably necessary actions as Visitor were not appreciated by the communities which experienced them. His correspondence moreover shows him complaining to the abbot of Fleury about the irregular lives of some of his monks belonging to cells in his diocese, and giving sarcastic advice to the canons of Missenden on the choice of their future superior. But the present letter to the monks of Bury St Edmunds is witness to do much more cordial feeling, and shows the bishop's deep esteem for the Hje led by these monks in accordance with ideals which he shared.
Blessed Margaret Ward
Authors: P. C. C.
Published: August 2024

Like many other members of the Catholic gentry in penal times, Margaret Ward had to earn a livelihood in domestic service. She was born in Cheshire at Congleton and went to live in London with another gentlewoman named Mrs Whitall, probably in the capacity of companion or housekeeper.

The Catholics of the district around Bridewell, where she lived, were much agitated by the plight of a secular priest named Richard Watson who was imprisoned in the gaol there. Margaret would hear his story, how during his first imprisonment he had been so weakened by starvation, vermin and close confinement in the fetid atmosphere of the place, that he had renounced his faith and attended a Protestant service.

Afterwards, his conscience becoming a greater misery than all he had endured in the gaol, nothing would satisfy him but to go to confession and be reconciled.
The Early Martyrs
Authors: Attwater Donald
Published: August 2024

It is from veneration of the early martyrs that the whole great business of the cult us of the saints in the Christian Church derives. Whatever the dignity and importance and interest of the saints whose festivals figure in the various calendars of the Church, those feasts must all, without exception, give place to the anniversary of the martyrs in point of antiquity. Already in the second century the annual commemoration of St Polycarp was celebrated in Smyrna from the time of his passion; from the begining of the third century such commemorations were becoming general.

There is nothing surprising about this. For the first three hundred years of their history Christians lived in an atmosphere of martyrdom, of witness by blood. ersecution was not continuous, and it varied in intensity from time to time and from place to place, but the possibility of being called on to die for the name of the Lord Christ was never far away; and that state of affairs, again at times and in places, has recurred ever since.
Vocations and Their Recognition: III
Authors: Ryan Columba
Published: August 2024

‘Coming to the second element of a religious and priestly vocation, we learn from the Roman Catechism that those have a divine vocation who are called by the legitimate ministers of the Church. This in no way contradicts what we have said about the divine call; rather it is very closely connected with it. For the divine calling of a man to the religious and priestly state destines him to a life in public of holiness and to the exercise of a hierarchic ministry, in the visible, hierarchic society of the Church; consequently such calling ought to have also the confirmation, admission and guidance of those hierarchic rulers to whose administration the Church has been committed by God.’

In these words the Holy Father makes it clear that there would be a kind of contradiction in a vocation to the religious life of priesthood that came simply from God and did not have besides the approval of the Church, that is, of responsible ecclesiastical superiors.
The all Sufficient Sacrifice
Authors: White Victor
Published: August 2024

The Editor asks me to write on ‘the nature of sacrifice, showing how the Mass is a sacrifice’. It sounds quite simple. It is as if I were asked to speak on the nature of buttercup, and show that the flower you have picked is a butter-cup. I can get a dictionary description of Buttercup, show you Pictures of the species of Ranunculus called buttercup, compare your specimen with these descriptions and pictures, prove to you that there is no difference whatever between them, and conclude without a shadow of a doubt that you have picked an authentic, genuine sample of the class ‘Buttercup’.

We might proceed in the same way with this present assignment. We might look up the word ‘Sacrifice’ in a standard dictionary; or start from some good definition of ‘Sacrifice’ from some Doctor of the Church. Then we could take a good look at what happens at Mass, show how it fits the definition, and conclude that Holy Mass is undoubtedly a genuine specimen of the class ‘Sacrifice’.
The Pattern of Sacrifice
Authors: Dawson Clare
Published: August 2024

Psychologists, especially Jungians, have drawn our attention to the fact that in the myths and legends of the ancient world, and in the rites and ceremonies of primitive peoples, there is a recurrent pattern, varying in the arrangement of the pieces, but always conveying the same idea. There is a hero who challenges darkness, dragons, or deep waters, is slain, and rises, communicating new life to all his fellows. The hero-victim is more strong and glorious after his conquest, the light shines more brightly after its conflict with darkness, and the waters that close over the victim's head become the womb from which he is re-born, a man more complete and perfect than he was before.

The pattern is deeper down in the universe than the myths that express it. The earth itself subsists by a process of decay and renewal, of species striving after perfection, and the vegetable world repeats almost monotonously its theme of seed-time and harvest, fall, and winter sleep. Probably the scientist sees a repetition of the same design in the miniature worlds his microscope reveals.