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24 Jul 05 - 10:15 AM (#1526979) Subject: happy? - July 24 (Instant coffee) From: Abby Sale According to the Nestlé company & most almanacs, "The world's first instant coffee was invented by Nestlé [on 7/24/1938] and named Nescafé." It was also invented in 1901 by Sartori Kato, a Japanese scientist working in Chicago, however it was not marketed commercially.
Copyright © 2005, Abby Sale - all rights reserved What are Happy's all about? See Clicky |
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23 Jul 14 - 04:23 PM (#3644678) Subject: happy? - July 24 (Christina the Astonishing) From: Joe Offer I hope Abby Sale will forgive me for adding to his "happy?" column, but this is just too interesting. I discovered this late last night, and I could hardly wait until this morning to tell my wonderful wife, Christina, that the saint for tomorrow, July 24, is... St. Christina the AstonishingVisionary (1150–1224) Christina, a peasant girl born near Liège in Belgium, was orphaned at the age of fifteen. At twenty-two she suffered a seizure so severe that she was pronounced dead. As she was carried into church in an open coffin she suddenly sat up and flew up to the rafters "like a bird," as she later explained, to escape the smell of sin. When the priest coaxed her down she related an extraordinary story—of how she had been shown the souls suffering in purgatory, and then led into the court of heaven, where she was offered a choice. She might either remain in heaven or "return again to Earth to accomplish a mission of charity and suffering," relieving the suffering of those in purgatory and, through her example, inspiring sinners to be converted. Without hesitation, Christina chose to return, and immediately she woke up in her own funeral Mass. Christina's subsequent way of life provoked contrasting reactions. She dressed in rags and slept out in the open; she would climb and perch on treetops; she would jump into flames, without suffering harm, or swim in the frozen River Meuse. Viewed by many as mad she was often taunted and persecuted. But others, including the respected Cardinal James de Vitry, regarded her as a holy prophet. She spent her last years in a convent, where she evidently was a model of obedience, and died at the age of seventy-four. "O most beloved body! Why have I reviled you? O best and sweetest body, endure patiently." —St. Christina the Astonishing (from "Give Us This Day" Magazine - saint biographies written by former Catholic Worker editor Robert Ellsberg, son of Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame) If you read stories like these as stories, they can be entertaining and colorful and fun; and they can have some good lessons for us to learn. If you take them as literal truth and view them either critically or uncritically, it can lead you into some seriously problematic thinking. It's really a shame to let the truth get in the way of a good story. Better to just read the story and enjoy it. More Christina stories at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_the_Astonishing
(Nicholas Edward Cave) recorded by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Christina the Astonishing Lived a long time ago She was stricken with a seizure At the age of twenty-two They took her body in a coffin To a tiny church in Liege Where she sprang up from the coffin Just after the Agnus Dei She soared up to the rafters Perched on a beam up there Cried "The stink of human sin Is more that I can bear" Christina the Astonishing Was the most astonishing of all She prayed balanced on a hurdle Or curled up into a ball She fled to remote places Climbed towers and trees and walls To escape the stench of human corruption Into an oven she did crawl O Christina the Astonishing Behaved in a terrifying way She would run wildly through the streets Jump in the Meusse and swim away O Christina the Astonishing Behaved in terrifying manner Died at the age of seventy-four In the convent of St Anna |