Saint Sebastian's Day

Saint Sebastian was already listed as a martyr by 350CE. As most of us know, he was filled full of arrows, survived to taunt the emperor, and finally beaten to death. I'm sure he was perfectly horrid to be around and that his martyrdom came as a relief to all who knew him.

What a card, eh? A note of interest. The Saint Sebastian convent and parish house in Venice is no longer used for the church. Its major wall is used by the students at the University of Venice to post their pornographic caricatures of and bawdy poems about one another. One of them, when I was there, had a gorgeous comparative lit MA graduate drawing with her breasts talking post-modern theory with one another. Another one pictured a male philosopher sitting on the toilet looking at a girlie mag as his erect penis (with a face) asked the"philosophical" questions: "Is there an ontological point to all this? Do I have a place in the scheme of things?"---and so on. There were many other drawings, and obscene rants and poems along this line. They were all sublime. I wanted to enroll in school there at once

But the most damning one was a very straightforward drawing of a serious young man. All it said was, "Vittorio has always been the joy of his mother and the priests." That was it! The most saintly of those Venetian students was plastered there on the side of Saint Sebastian's as a truly pathetic figure. Saint Sebastian must be very proud. Perhaps he'll send an arrow to Vittorio. We can be sure Vittorio will be more than happy to use it on sinners. And his mother,the priests, and Saint Sebastian will all be proud.

Need I say that Venice is my kind of place?

New Hymn

Today seems to be a celebration of the Virgin Mother. So in that spirit, and the belated spirit of Christmas, I submit:

Hello, Mary
Well it is me, Harry,
I'm so glad you've given birth to our Dear God
You're looking good, Mary, really good, Mary
The Father really must have checked out your swell bod.

Look at that star, Mary
It's so bright it's scary
And it's shining down on you and Baby God
And then the Kings, Mary
Bring some Things, Mary
You can pawn them if you need to buy some food.

We Hail your name, Mary
When we get lame, Mary
And we a need a miracle to get us through.
Please Indulge us, Mary
Keep us from TB and beriberi
And then we'll say a Rosary and Honor You.

More verses to come,
Harry Palme