How medieval chefs made fast days easier
Natasha Frost at Atlas Obscura described how medieval chefs handled meat-free days. It wasn’t just Fridays, she noted, but Wednesdays, to observe when Judas betrayed Christ, and Saturdays, to commemorate the Virgin Mary – not to mention the whole of Lent.
Those living inland, she said, were forced to endure “weeks upon weeks of muddy-tasting freshwater fish or salted herring and cod”. One 15th-century schoolboy wrote: “Thou will not believe how weary I am of fish … I have eat none other than salt fish this Lent, and it has engendered so much phlegm within me that it stops my pipes that I can scarcely speak nor breathe.
“Robbed of their eggs and dairy,” Frost wrote, “medieval chefs were forced to get creative, often plumping for the same substitutes many 21st-century vegans choose.” Almonds were a “crucial tool”, used to make cheeses and turned into foods that masqueraded as eggs and bacon.
There were also “flagrant misinterpretations” of what was or was not a fish. Sea mammals such as dolphins and porpoises were allowed, as were beavers’ tails, “which were scaly and apparently tasted enough like fish to qualify”.
Displaced Christians deserve their own film
The effort to look after displaced Christians in Iraq and Syria is like “Dunkirk in reverse – the idea isn’t to get people out, but to help them stay,” wrote John L Allen at Crux upon the release of the blockbuster film Dunkirk.
Mainstream aid focuses on refugee camps, where Christians are reluctant to go for fear of further persecution, instead taking refuge in “churches, schools, clinics, hospitals, social service centres, even the homes and properties of other Christians”.
And they’re supported by Catholic groups like Aid to the Church in Need and the Knights of Columbus. Hundreds of thousands of Christians “have been kept alive, were able to remain with their families, and given some hope of better things to come,” he wrote.
How an entire town was excommunicated
An entire town in Spain was excommunicated in the 13th century “when the castle of Trasmoz was accused of being a safe haven for witches and wizards,” wrote Daniel Esparza at Aleteia. Tramoza, in the province of Zaragoza, had a reputation for witchcraft – a cover-up, it seems, for the noise of the castle’s residents forging coins.
Over the years relations between Church and town got worse. As secular land, it didn’t pay any taxes to the monastery. Then the monastery diverted water from the village. Events escalated, and in 1511 Tramoza was “officially cursed” by the archbishop, with the support of Julius II. “Since the curse had papal approval, only the pope can lift it. So far, no pope has.”
✣Meanwhile…
✣ The Reformation has been turned into a musical comedy. A Monk’s Tale, a 60-minute hurtle through events that led to Martin Luther pinning his 95 theses on the Wittenberg church door, is to be performed at Edinburgh’s Fringe festival from tomorrow until August 23.
James Cady, the writer of BBC comedy series Bluestone 42, created the show. He said: “Explaining Luther today is not easy. To [many people] the first Luther that leaps to mind is a civil rights leader, a TV detective or a Superman baddie. So there is a lot of groundwork to cover.”
✣ A video of Hollywood star Jim Carrey giving a speech about forgiveness has been watched by 725,000 people.
Jim Carrey was speaking at Homeboys Industries, a organisation established by Fr Greg Boyle in Los Angeles in 1988 that is dedicated to helping “former gang-members and the previously incarcerated”.
Carrey, who was raised a Catholic and has had depression and bipolar disorder, said that suffering leads to “one of two choices: we either decide to go through the gate of resentment, which leads to venge- ance… or we go through the gate of forgiveness, which leads to grace.”
He added: “You’ve made the decision to walk through the gate of forgiveness… just as Christ did on the cross.”
✣The week in quotations
Free our homeland from the claws of communism Plea by Venezuela’s bishops to the Virgin Mary Twitter
As Christians we know of no moderation … We are called to the extremes of charity, virtue [and] grace Bishop Davies on ‘extremism’ Homily at Lourdes
I entrust little Charlie to the Father Pope Francis Twitter
It is now time to send missionaries to the world Archbishop Julio Muraty on Zambia’s growing Church CNA
✣Statistic of the week
113 The number of deaths during protests in Venezuela over the last four months Source: Associated Press
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