Abandoned_Altars

Incorruptible

Being pretty much a hermit, it takes a lot to pry me out of my cave. Last night, I was dragged by my sister to see her husband in the opening night of a play, called “Incorruptible“, written by Michael Hollinger, put on by a local company. I went largely out of politeness, but they thought it was right up my alley, and yowie wowie, they could not have been more right.

Incorruptible is a comedy about a monastery in 13th Century France that’s about to go under. The bones of their patroness saint have stopped working miracles and so the pilgrims have stopped coming; desperate measures are called for. Very funny as well as surprisingly historically accurate about the trafficking of fraudulent holy relics.

I had a great time. I’d forgotten how much fun local live theatre can be; actually enjoyable to be with other humans for once! All the actors are excellent, and the dialog is fast-paced and witty. Scariest nun I’ve ever seen too, and that’s saying something! (And yet it was written by a Quaker.) For me, though, not a bad start to the holiday season. In any case, it sure beat the hell out of yet another production of The Nutcracker.

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The subject line is the first clue, I believe, from Dan Brown’s THE DA VINCI CODE, but it applies equally well to ANGELS & DEMONS, especially the cinematic version, which I saw this weekend. What a con job! The many disappointed reviews only tell part of it…

This is a little odd. After all, Ron Howard is a very talented filmmaker, and the director of APOLLO 13 certainly knows full well how to craft a film like this. With his proven track record, he can call on enough money and talent to deliver thrilling action sequences in spectacular settings with arcane explanations made sensible and effective by A-list actors.

O, if only he would use his tremendous gifts for good, instead of evil!

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Everyone’s heard the sweet story of St. Valentine, a Christian martyr imprisoned by the Romans, who encouraged his followers while he waited for the chop by writing them messages on heart-shaped leaves. From this supposedly we get the whole Valentine’s Day thing. What the saint had to do with Cupid however, has never been really explained, except that in mid-February birds in England and France began to court. Of course, it doesn’t really matter as long as it gets the job done.

In any case, as with most pious myths, it ain’t necessarily so.

In the first place, there are three different St. Valentines, whose feasts are celebrated on February 14. But none of them may be the actual source of the celebration.

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