Bob Diddley, rock on in heaven

I'm a day late to pay tribute to the great Bo Diddley, about whom many of you have read by now. There is a lengthy piece in the Los Angeles Times here. This great photo comes from there.

Rockin' Padre Mickey has weighed in, of course, as has prolific Greensboro blogger Ed Cone (Ed's has a video clip).

Now there is a square guitar in the heavens.

P.S. P.J. has a fine memorial post, with a link to the New York Times tribute and some music.

June 2: Blandina and companions, martyrs at Lyon: the Amphitheater of the Three Gauls

About a decade ago I went to Lyon for the first time. That's going there as opposed to going through there, which happens a lot when you are a Parisian going either to the mountains or to the Mediterranean.

I stayed for a few days with a friend and his family and got the grand tour, or at least the important tour: the arena where the martyrs died (my hosts were fervent Catholics, so I didn't have to do any convincing to get to that site), the neighborhood with a lot of labor history (Lyon is a big textile city), and several foodie locations (Lyon is well known for its cuisine). Also the faculty of Catholic theology (which didn't have a website at the time - I see they now have online learning, too).

The arena of the early Christian martyrs is called l'Amphithéâtre des Trois Gaules, the Amphitheater of the Three Gauls, and here it is.
To this day, the primate of the French Catholic Church is not the Archbishop of Paris, who does have a special status --I mean, having Notre Dame as your cathedral church does give you a certain je sais exactement quoi-- but the Archbishop of Lyon (which the French do not spell with an "s" at the end, the Brits stuck that on), who is known as le Primat des Gaules, Primate of the Gauls, and that's Gaul in the plural, with an s, just like the name of the amphitheater. This link will tell you (in English) why there are three Gauls and what they are. Or, if you studied Latin as a kid and read Caesar's Bellum Gallicum, even just the first paragraph, you will know the answer.

(Oh, glory be to Godde, I actually made a blog link to something in Latin. Isn't there a special snobby bloggy award for this? ;-))

For more on the martyrs and the who, what, where, when, how, and why of their witness ("martyr" means "witness" in Greek) and their feast day, do visit Grandmère Mimi and Padre Mickey.

Here is some detail of the amphitheater, with a map of it below so you can see what the original was like and what pieces of it endure.

You can see the entrance to the amphitheater. That's where the beasts came out and headed for the Christians.
Blandina has a church named for her in Lyon with both a sculpture on the portal of the church and a stained glass window. She is represented with two large kittehs, er, lions.

Grant us, O Lord of life,

the strength to witness with courage and clarity

as did Blandina and her companions

and to speak to the world

your truth and love,

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Kennedy in surgery at Duke

The Senator is having risky brain surgery in our fair state. Oremus.

More politics: Obama and his church

Rmj at Adventus has a sharply worded, well-worth-reading critique of the Senator-Obama-leaving-Trinity episode. Read it here.

A Tuesday postscript: Cardinal George puts Fr. Pfleger (who mocked Clinton from Trinity pulpit) on leave for a bit.

YSL, RIP

This was a designer who liked women. They don't all.

Rest in peace, Monsieur Saint Laurent.

The scoop in French is here and here.

A chronology of YSL's life and work is here.

And, again in French, some quotes from the master. I shall translate a few of them tomorrow once I have had some rest from my travels and given the proper attention to Mademoiselle Maya Pavlova, who is elegant in slender grey with white gloves and boots.

As promised:

High fashion [couture] is a mistress who costs a lot of money; she only has seven years to live. (1974)

Nothing is more beautiful than a naked body. The most beautiful clothes a woman can wear are the arms of the man who loves her. But for those who have not had the good fortune to find that happiness, I am there. (1983)

I have always thought that style was more important than fashion. Those who have made an imprint with their style are rare, whereas fashion-makers are legion. (1993)

I have participated in the transformation of my era. I did so with clothing, which is certainly less important than music, architecture, painting (...) Be that as it may, I did it. (2002)