Snowfall in August

Snow on Esquiline Hill on August 5, 366

Devoted readers know that we have often referred to the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, St. Mary Major. Some of us visited this beautiful church last fall.

The location for the Roman basilica of Our Lady was determined by a small patch of snowfall which occurred in the heat of Roman summer. Fr. Zuhlsdorf has an excellent description of the Roman heat in his blog post of two years ago…

…Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has said that he will vote to confirm President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, in spite of ideological differences.

Six decades ago, there was another Carolina Senator Graham–Frank Porter Graham. He had been the President of the University of North Carolina.

Bertrand Russell

In that capacity, Graham had written to Fiorello LaGuardia, then Mayor of New York, supporting the appointment of philosopher Bertrand Russell to a temporary teaching position at City College of New York. Graham signed the letter along with a number of other University Presidents.

Meanwhile, Fr. Robert Gannon, President of Fordham, America magazine, and many others voiced their vehement opposition.

A clash of cultural presuppositions erupted. Russell was the author of, among other essays, “Why I am not a Christian.”

COMING SOON: Much more on this…