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Jeanne d’Arc, known in English as Joan of Arc, was a teenage girl from Domrémy in northeastern France who played a crucial role during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France in 1429 – 1430. She claimed to have received visions and messages from saints instructing her to support Charles VII, the Armagnac Dauphin of France, and help him claim the French throne. (Henry VI of England also claimed to be the rightful King of France.) Whatever these visions and messages were, her presence and apparent charisma, if not her actual military leadership, purportedly inspired the French military supporters of Charles. Those soldiers had become demoralized by a number of defeats at the hands of the English and their Burgundian allies. Relief of the English siege of the city of Orléans, and other battle victories appears to have given Jeanne credibility, and because of her sex and age, embarrassment to the English forces.

After the victories that cleared the route from Chinon, where Charles sojourned, Jeanne and the French army escorted Charles to Reims to be crowned in the traditional venue there.

After Charles’s coronation, Jeanne participated in the unsuccessful siege of Paris in September 1429 and the failed siege of La Charité in November. Her role or presence in these defeats reduced the Charles and his court’s confidence in her. In early 1430, Jeanne as part of a company of volunteers to relieve Compiègne, which had been besieged by the allies of the English, was captured by Burgundian troops in May 1430.

After trying unsuccessfully to escape, Jeanne was sold to the English in November. She was put on trial by Bishop Pierre Cauchon on accusations of heresy, which included blaspheming by wearing men’s clothes, acting upon visions that were demonic, and refusing to submit her words and deeds to the judgment of the church. In reality, these charges were mostly bogus. Her real “crime” was political. The English military and other authorities were certain a mere slip of a girl, as they doubtless regarded her, had to be an agent of the devil if she was successful in preventing their loss of the city of Orléans. Enlisting Cauchon, who was in their political pocket and would rig the trial to curry favor with them, was a tactic to obtain Church approval. Jeanne was declared guilty and burned at the stake in Rouen on May 30, 1431, aged about nineteen.

In 1456, an inquisitorial court re-investigated Jeanne’s trial and overturned the verdict, declaring that it was tainted by deceit and procedural errors. A bit late for her, of course. Subsequently, Jeanne has been described as an obedient daughter of the Roman Catholic Church, an early feminist, and a symbol of freedom and independence. She is popularly revered as a martyr. During the centuries that followed, especially after the French Revolution, she became a national symbol of France. Interestingly, she has been used by both the political left and right to be a patron for their ends. In 1920, Jeanne d’Arc was canonized by Pope Benedict XV and, two years later, was declared one of the patron saints of France. She is portrayed in numerous cultural works, including literature, music, paintings, sculptures, cinema, and theater.

There is a certain amount of legend connected with Jeanne d’Arc, but the transcripts of both the condemnation and the exoneration trials are available (in early modern French). No historian doubts that Jeanne participated in the exploits for which she is known, even though character of that participation is uncertain. The real significance is the part of the lore of France, both in the ancien régime, the two empires of the Napoleons, and the five Republics that Jeanne, or La Pucelle became. As we say out here in the West, even if the legend becomes fact — print the legend.¹

NOTES:

The actual name Jeanne (pronounced “sz-ahn”– hence in English “Joan”) was known by in her time is uncertain.

There is a fine museum in the archbishop’s palace adjacent to the cathedral in Rouen that chronicles Jeanne d’Arc life and subsequent treatment by history.

REFERNCES :

Pernoud, Régine & Clin, Marie-Véronique Joan of Arc – Her Story. Translated and revised by Jeremy duQuesnay Adams, late professor of history Southern Methodist University.
(St. Martin’s Press, New York 1998).

Duby, Georges et Andrée Les Procés de Jeanne d’Arc (the Trials of Joan of Arc) (Gallimard, Paris 1973, paperback).

Leonard Cohen’s Joan of Arc, sung live by Jennifer Warnes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOh8SQxad2c a haunting rendition

1. See The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, John Ford, dir. (1962) ↩︎

“In a world where carpenters resurrect, all things are possible” — James Goldman,The Lion in Winter (1966)

Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV, was born and raised in Chicago and its suburbs, educated at Villanova, a Catholic Augustinian university near Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He joined the Augustinian order of friars there, but spent most of his career as a priest and bishop in Peru. Although English is his first and native language, he is reported to be fluent in Spanish, Italian, Latin (probably required to be Pope), and others. He did not speak in English when making his first public address, preferring Italian, the first language of the majority of his live audience. As the Vatican is in the midst of Rome, and celebrating a new Pontiff has been a traditional Roman holiday, the language choice was understandable.

An American elected Pope. What does that mean? “America” was coined by a German cartographer in honor of Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci, referring to the continents of the Western Hemisphere: North, South, and perhaps Central America ,and associated islands. In that sense, the late Pope Francis, born and raised in Argentina, could be considered “American.” Common use has applied America, and its demonym, when unqualified, to the United States and inhabitants. Because of Leo’s peripatetic ministerial career, perhaps he is the first Pan-American Pope.

Robert Prevost’s family heritage of the Pope is illustrative. It appears that his ancestors hailed from many places. In addition to the Italian, French, Spanish, there is the Creole. The latter indicates some African heritage. Possibly, if one applies the infamous “one-drop rule” he might qualify as black. In that case, perhaps some might claim Leo to be the first African Pope. He has not.

Global Pope might be the appropriate description. Christianity, once confined to Europe and its fringes, is a global religion, and the majority of its adherents are Roman Catholic. That appellation, however, seems somewhat oxymoronic. Lower-case “catholic” is from the Greek and means universal. Other versions of Christianity describe themselves as catholic – most notably the Anglican Communion. “Roman” with the empire long gone, seems a bit parochial. Be that as it may, the ultimate definition and interpretation of the Church’s doctrine still resides in the environs of Rome.

Robert Prevost took the name of Leo as a paean to the 19th Century Leo XIII who had significant influence on American Catholics toward he end of that Century. That Leo called for fair treatment of workers and their right to unionize, criticized laissez-faire capitalism, and condemned socialism and communism. Leo XIV seems attuned to that namesake in that regard.

What might be Leo’s Norte Americano early years experience bring to the Papacy? Well, according to some sources the Vatican’s finances are in trouble and are need of reform. As President Calvin Coolidge observed on eh 1920s, the chief business of America is business. The really has not changed over the past century. Perhaps this Pope has recognized that American business know-how and will bring it to the Vatican, at least to some degree.

Because of past statements he has made, it is unlikely he will end clerical celibacy or allow the ordination of women. Changing those policies in the U. S. and other Anglophone nations might be welcomed by, at least acceptable to most Catholics in those regions, it would not be so in the so-called Global South where such policies, particularly women clerics, would be counter to local custom. The Church has been successful in large part by adapting its rituals to indigenous cultures.

The salient significance of Leo XIV may be that he is the fourth non-Italian and second non-European to be Pope, reflecting the globalization of Christianity, and the Catholic Church in particular. Latin, formerly used in liturgy, has given way to vernaculars. English is now the international language, and the United States is the premier Anglophone country. Though the European and North American components of Western Civilization have been in the process of secularization, the basic message of the once Jewish carpenter from Galilee, promulgated in a number of versions, still resonates there and has now throughout the entire world.

Note: Although it has been said that Leo XIV was the first Pope who spoke English as his native language, a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal corrected that misapprehension observing: “The first was Adrian IV, who was born in Hertfordshire, England, and reigned from 1154 to 1159. His birth name was Nicholas Breakspear, which certainly has a literary English ring to it. He lived during the transition from Old English to Early Middle English but was at least as much an Anglophone as most natives of Chicago.”

On May 14, 1948, David Ben Gurion declared the existence of the State of Israel and its independence. Shortly after the news arrived at Washington D.C., President Truman officially recognized the new nation, the United States being the first country to do so. Since then, Israel has been America’s only consistent friend and ally in the North Africa/Middle East region.

As most of us know, Israel was founded as a country to be a haven for Jews, who had been systematically, oppressed, and exterminated since the diaspora beginning in 70 A.D. At least in Europe that oppression was by Christians, notwithstanding their founder was a Jew. Israel’s neighbors, mostly Muslim, opposed the Jewish state from the beginning and, with several exceptions, have not let up for the past 77 years. The most recent atrocity was the October 7, 2023 wholesale murder and hostage taking by the Hamas terrorists from their base in the Gaza strip.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, and the Israeli leadership, understandably sick and tired of the attacks on their citizens. Have responded in kind, though hindered somewhat by the international community. Even, the United States under the prior Administration hedged its bets. One would hope the new one will give its wholehearted support to Israelis.

One lesson for those who deplore the suffering of Gaza inhabitants who are not Hamas is how the American and its allied forces, mainly British, World War II. German and Japanese civilians were subject to relentless bombing and destruction, collateral damage necessary to end the aggression. Neither country has troubled the world since.

We Americans should send birthday greetings to Israel. Someday, perhaps, it will be Happy Birthday.

I am not a basketball fan. Never have been one, and have not paid much attention to college or professional sports as an adult. I live in Dallas, Texas and am an insatiable consumer of news and current events in print and electronic media (radio, television, Internet) and often in the company of colleagues and friends who are sport fans. Consequentially, like everyone else in North Texas and in particular Dallas (other than those who live in caves), I knew about the accomplishments of Luka Doncic, the star of the Dallas Mavericks. His being traded to the Los Angeles Lakers (during the season) was unexpected and extremely disappointing to many fans. The this past week there were protests at least one game where the heckling became so intense that one particularly enthusiastic fan was evicted. Demonstrations against Luka’s trade outside the arena almost matched the intensity of recent political ones. No torches and pitchforks, however.

All this brought back some memories when I was a serious baseball fan, which was quite a long time ago. In the summer of 1959 before I started high school, I became interested in baseball and gained quite a bit knowledge of the historical and current players of major league teams as well as our then local minor-league team in Dallas. Major league games were broadcast on network radio regularly during the season. Networks carried some televised games, one of which was NBC’s “Game of the Week.” At that time the major league teams were concentrated in the Northeast, although there have been some expansion to the West Coast notably the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants in 1958 had located to Los Angeles and San Francisco respectively. Otherwise, the westernmost team in the majors was the Kansas City Athletics, who had moved to that city from Philadelphia earlier in the 1950s.

As a result, in order to be a major-league fan I had to pick a team from another city to root for. My family had migrated to Texas from the Cleveland Ohio area in 1951, so I picked the Cleveland Indians, an American League Team. Pretty good pick for 1959. The star of team was Rocky Colavito. Rocky had the ardor of the Indians’ fans equivalent if not in excess of that of current Maverick fans. He was the American League’s home-run champion, hitting 42 during the 1959 season; in that year he hit four consecutive homers in a game against Baltimore in the Orioles home stadium. Nevertheless, in April 1960, the Indians’ general manager Frank Lane inexplicably traded Colavito to the Detroit Tigers.

This trade brought out the torches and pitchforks, figuratively if not literally, against Lane, who had traded away every player from what had been fairly successful team he had inherited when he became GM in 1957. Lane lasted another year with Cleveland before moving on, possibly because he feared for his bodily integrity. The Indians, however, during the subsequent 34 years never finished a season within 11 games of first place. Rocky Colavito did return to Cleveland for the 1965 – 1967 season and was welcomed back, but the magic was not quite the same. The Cleveland Plain Dealer sportswriter Terry Pluto chronicled the story in The Curse of Rocky Colavito: A Loving Look at a Thirty-Year Slump (1994).

Perhaps Luka will come back to the Mavericks some day. Whether this trade results in the Curse of Luka Doncic remains to be seen.

Alissa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum, better known by her nom de plume Ayn Rand, was born February 2, 1905. She entered the United States during the 1920s, became a citizen, and lived here the rest of her life. She died in March 1982. I mention her birth name because her Russian nativity and early years explain a lot of her thinking and themes.

Rand was born into late imperial Russia and spent her teen and early adult years during the Bolshevik revolution and the early Soviet Union. Born in Saint Petersburg, she was 12 years old when the Bolshevik revolution upended her life. Her father’s pharmacy business was expropriated by the revolutionaries and the family had to leave town. Alissa managed to obtain a secondary education in Crimea and later returned to Saint Petersburg (renamed Leningrad) where she graduated from the State university, after being purged as being “bourgeois” and later reinstated along with a few others at the insistence of scientists. She came to the United States on a visa to visit relatives in Chicago, remained in America, and became a citizen in 1929.

Rand’s writing in the 1930s through the late 1950s consisted primarily of fiction. Her notable works in that genre were Night of January 16th, a courtroom drama; We the Living, a dystopian short novel; The Fountainhead; and her magnum opus Atlas Shrugged, both novel.

In publishing the latter tome — it’s 1,084 pages in the 35th Anniversary edition – Rand stated that she was aware that she was challenging the cultural tradition of 2000 years. If that cultural tradition regards wealth and its pursuit as a vice and poverty as a virtue, denounces entrepreneurs as “robber barons” and portrays them in popular literature and media as villains, Atlas Shrugged certainly challenges it.

These works extol individual freedom and capitalism and are fiercely anti-Socialist and anti-all types of collectivist political and economic systems. After Atlas Shrugged, Rand spent the rest of her career as an essayist and an advocate of the philosophy expounded in her novels — individualism, rational self-interest and what she termed Objectivism. Collectivism is the ultimate evil according to Rand, as the basis of socialism, communism, and fascism. The identity politics of today would certainly draw her ire. ¹

Ayn Rand’s promotion of capitalism and the free enterprise system is matched by several well-known economists, both classical and recent. Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Friedrich Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, and Milton Friedman have all extolled the virtues of free markets and the relationship of capitalism to individual freedom. None have supplied the emotional heft to promote that theory in the dismal science of economics that Rand provided in her novels. Or so observes Rainer Zitelmann, writing in the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal, January 30, 2025. ²

Ayn Rand’s condemnation of collectivism, that is, ascribing perceived group characteristics to all individuals in the perceive group, particularly when the group membership is involuntary, is salient. Her essay, published in 1963, in which she said racism was the worst form of collectivism in that it ascribed moral worth and characteristics of a collective of ancestors to individuals, is illuminating. An excerpt is worth repeating here.

“Racism is the lowest, most crudely primitive form of collectivism. It is the notion of ascribing moral, social or political significance to a man’s genetic lineage — the notion that a man’s intellectual and characterological traits are produced and transmitted by his internal body chemistry. Which means, in practice, that a man is to be judged, not by his own character and actions, but by the characters and actions of a collective of ancestors.” ³

A personal note. In the 1960s, and indeed even today, many so-called liberals have characterized capitalism and limited-government conservatism as racist and oppressive towards members of minority groups, at that time mainly black persons living under racial segregation, legal in much of the South, but also cultural and informal elsewhere. The 1964 Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, an outspoken free market and limited government conservative, was denounced as racist. Because I agreed with most (but not all) of his conservative principles, many of my then peers accused me of being inherently racist. Rand gave me the intellectual ammunition to refute such accusations.

1. “Fascism” as well as “racism” and even “democracy”, among other words, have lost their meaning and have become all-purpose epithets. For more on this issue see George Orwell’s 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language” available in numerous sources in print and on line. ↩︎
2. See https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-ayn-rand-contradiction-reason-emotion-capitalism-economics-0c5b12b7? ↩︎
3. The Objectivist Newsletter (September 1963) reprinted in The Virtue of Selfishness, p. 176 (Signet Books 1964) ↩︎

The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy (JLPP) is a law review at Harvard Law School published by an independent student group. It was established in 1977 as a conservative and libertarian alternative to left-wing oriented publications on campus. It is the flagship law review for the Federalist Society, an organization for like-minded lawyers, students, and other interested persons. The Society has been influential in selection of Supreme Court justices and other federal judges.

The Federalist Society established the annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture Series “in Barbara’s memory because of her enormous contributions as an active member, supporter, and volunteer leader” ¹

Bari Weiss gave the 22nd lecture in November 2023, titled “You Are the Last Line of Defense.” It is published in the Spring 2024, Volume 47, No. 2 of the JLPP. Ms. Weiss’ topic is defense of free speech, but also a condemnation of the toleration of anti-Semitism in academia and culture, especially in the legacy and social media, and elsewhere. Ms. Weiss does not seek to ban expression of contrary views; quite the opposite. Her concern is that when viewpoint expression segues into acts of violence and obstruction, particularly when those acts serve to intimidate and prevent expression of opposing viewpoints they must be resisted. She particularly faults the media, legacy and social, and even the current U. S. Government for pusillanimously failing to resist such intimidation. The people of the United Sates of America are the Last Line of Defense.

Bari Weiss is a journalist who has worked for the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and is now a contributor for the German Die Welt and a Substack newsletter “The Free Press” she founded, and has sought to “position herself as a reasonable liberal concerned that far-left critiques stifled free speech.” Ms. Weiss has defended free speech on campus and in the media. She resigned from the New York Times in 2020 in protest over the newspaper’s not defending her against alleged bullying by her colleagues and maintaining that Twitter [prior being purchased by Elon Musk in 2023] “has become [the NYT’s] ultimate editor.”

In her resignation letter Ms. Weiss explains: “As the ethics and mores of [Twitter had] become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative. My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views…”²

I commend reading the transcript of her lecture to every one interested. It can be found at the link below. One cannot do Ms. Weiss justice by attempting to paraphrase or summarize her speech. Nevertheless, the following quotation from it that expresses what it means to fight back as a line of defense.

“New York coffee shop owner Aaron Dahan had all of his baristas quit when he placed an Israeli flag in the window and began fundraising for Magen David Adom—the Israeli Red Cross.

“But his café didn’t close—quite the opposite. Suppliers sent him free shipments of beans and cups. Community members picked up shifts for free. There were lines around the block to buy a cup of coffee. The café made $25,000 in a single day.”³

What a great response from those who would not stand idle and cower in the face of such outrage!

Full disclosure: I am and have been a member of the Federalist Society since law school. The Israeli flag flies along with the U. S. flag in front of our home.

Footnotes

1. Barbara Kay Olson was an American lawyer, conservative television commentator, and author. She was a prominent critic of the Clinton administration and wrote two books about Hillary Clinton. Olson was also a frequent guest on news programs and a co-founder of the Independent Women’s Forum. She died a as a passenger on American Airlines Flight 77 that was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 Islamist terrorist attacks. Her husband Ted Olson, a founding member of the Federalist Society was Solicitor General in the Bush administration at the time of the attacks. ↩︎
2. https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter ↩︎
3. JLLP at https://fedsoc.org/commentary/fedsoc-blog/22nd-barbara-k-olson-memorial-lecture-by-Bari-Weiss ↩︎

Happy New Year! Here are some of my favorite movie quotes. Anyone who wishes to add, please do so by comment or email.

Sherif Ali: Truly, for some men nothing is written unless THEY write it

— Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Eleanor of Aquitaine: Love, in a world where carpenters get resurrected, anything is possible.

— The Lion in Winter (1969) 

Lt. General Frank Benson: Never tell a soldier that he does not know the cost of war.

—  Eye in the Sky (2015)

James Donovan (lawyer: I have a mandate to serve you. Nobody else does. Quite frankly, everybody else has an interest in sending you to the electric chair.
Rudolf Abel (Soviet Spy)l: All right…
James Donovan: You don’t seem alarmed.
Rudolf Abel: Would it help?

— Bridge of Spies (2015)

Leslie Benedict: Money isn’t everything, Jett.
Jett Rink: Not when you’ve got it.

Jett Rink: Bick. I’m a rich ‘un. I’m a rich boy. Me, I’m gonna have more money than you ever thought you could have – you and all the rest of you stinkin’ sons of… Benedicts.
Uncle Bawley: Bick, you shoulda shot that fella a long time ago. Now he’s too rich to kill.

— Giant (1956)

Tuco: When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.

— The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)

[News paper reporter]: No, sir. This is the west, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.

— The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) 

[Zhivago’s father-in-law]: [A] committee of Rvvolutionary Justice has expropriated my house in the name of the people. Very well, I’m one of the people too!

— Doctor Zhivago (1965) 

[Other gangster]: Rules? In a knife fight?!

— Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Luke: Yeah, well… sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand

Captain: You gonna get used to wearin’ them chains afer a while, Luke. Don’t you never stop listenin’ to them clinking. ‘Cause they gonna remind you of what I been saying. For your own good.

Luke: Wish you’d stop being so good to me, Captain.

— Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Corporal Miller: There’s always a way to blow up explosives. The trick is not to be around when they go off.

— The Guns of Navarone   (1961)

Didont: With luck, no one will be hurt.
Labiche: No one’s ever hurt. Just dead.

— The Train (1964) 

Thomas More: Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake!

— A Man for All Seasons (1966)

Eleazar ben Yair: You say you will catch us, and kill us? I invite you to try.
Cornelius Flavius Silva: You invite me to try? Your country is one long and narrow graveyard already; your cities are flatter than your deserts, your temple has been destroyed and most of the survivors are slaves, all for seven years of our ‘trying’. Give us our due, man, we know how to kill.

— Masada (1981) TV series

Martin Howe: People gotta talk themselves into law and order before they do anything about it. Maybe because down deep they don’t care. They just don’t care.

— High Noon (1952)

Julia: The German public toilets are always so clean. So much cleaner than ours in America.

— Julia (1977)

Harmonica: The reward for this man is 5000 dollars, is that right?
Cheyenne: Judas was content for 4970 dollars less.
Harmonica: There were no dollars in them days.
Cheyenne: But sons of bitches… yeah.

— Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

Little Bill Daggett: I don’t deserve this… to die like this. I was building a house.
Will Munny: Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.

Will Munny: It’s a hell of a thing, killing a man. Take away all he’s got and all he’s ever gonna have.
The Schofield Kid: Yeah, well, I guess they had it coming.
Will Munny: We all got it coming, kid.

— Unforgiven (1992)  

Alma as a Girl: My name is Alma and Alma is Spanish for soul. Did you know that?

— Summer and Smoke (1961)

Alva Starr: New Orleans is certainly not a place where a person needs to feel the pain of separation for long.

— This Property is Condemned (1966)

Shane: A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.

— Shane (1953)

Senator: Fred Van Ackerman: What I did was for the good of the country.
Senator: Bob Munson: Fortunately, our country always manages to survive patriots like you.

Senator Seabright Cooley: Haven’t had this much fun since the cayenne pepper hit the fan!

— Advise and Consent (1962)

Devlin Warren: [dusting himself off] Ah, I don’t know what to say. Never begged before. Turned my stomach. I suppose I should have been grateful you gave me the job.
George Washington McLintock: “Gave?” Boy, you got it all wrong. I don’t give jobs, I hire men.

— McLintock (1963)

Atticus Finch: If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.

—To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

The Dallas Bach Society’s annual performance of Handel’s Messiah has been a Christmas tradition over twenty years. These performances have always been enjoyable and a high point of the season for this writer and family.

A friend once asked me if the Messiah lyrics were an English translation, knowing that Handel was a German, born in Halle, Saxony, and had been the court musician for the Elector of Hannover. They were not.

The English lyrics of Messiah were taken by the librettist Charles Jennens from the King James Version of the Bible. He took most of the selections from the Old Testament; others were from Gospels, St. Paul’s epistles, and Revelation. Jennens had compiled two other Biblical oratorios for Handel, Saul and Israel in Egypt, selections of which are often included in compilations or “greatest hits” albums. Handel wrote the music for Messiah in less than a month, a super feat. Jennens was for some reason disappointed in the result, but given the work’s surviving the test of time, whatever his objections, they were rather misplaced.

There have been several revisions of Messiah, some made by Handel, and later by Mozart and other composers. These edits were not substantive, at least not for the untrained ear, including mine. Some appear to be longer and there have been differences of the size of the chorus. In some, contra-tenors (and in the 18th Century perhaps castrati) sing the alto parts. The version Dallas Bach Society’s Artistic Director and conductor James Richman chose for this 2024 performance was the April 1742 manuscript for the work’s premier in Dublin.

The remarkable feature of Messiah, apart from Handel’s magnificent music, was Jennens’ lyrical selections from the Bible. Of all the numerous versions of the Christian Bible, few have the literary quality and grandeur of the King James Version. Some have maintained that it is the greatest prose ever written in the English language. King James I commissioned a group of 54 scholars, termed ”divines”, to create an Authorized Version in English. These men spent seven years pouring over previous texts and translations including Tyndale’s, Coverdale’s, the Geneva Bible, and others, before the work was printed in 1611. These men were contemporaries of William Shakespeare, who made his own significant contribution to the development of modern English.

It is interesting that the King James Version was made by a committee, belying conventional wisdom.

There is debate over the accuracy and faithfulness to the Greek and Hebrew texts, mainly by those who use the Bible as a textbook to validate their own beliefs — but no matter. King James Version’s significance and value are in the beautiful and inspiring language contained throughout the book. A brief rendition of a passage used by Jennens exemplifies this:

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.

Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

The phrasing and cadence of this language is, as expressed in the last verse, Wonderful. The beauty of the work of God’s Secretaries, as Adam Nicolson’s 2003 book was titled, coupled with the music of George Frederic Handel, is certainly an inspiration to Christians of all denominations, especially at Christmas, but it has considerable value to those of the purely secular mind as well.

Note: There was a story that the Elector-Prince George of Hannover was annoyed when Handel abruptly resigned as court musician in 1710 and took up residence in Britain. Handel became concerned when the Elector became George I, King of Great Britain that the new king would express his previous annoyance. Not to worry, George was glad to have Handel again and forgave any offense he had taken.

A Wonderful and Merry Christmas to all.

___

References:

Nicolson, Adam, God’s Secretaries, The Making of the King James Bible, HarperCollins Publishers, 2003.

Bucholz, Robert & Key, Newton, Early Modern England 1485 – 1714, Blackwell Publishers, 2004.

Of interest might be a book just published Every Valley by Charles King. it was reviewed by Barton Swain in the December 21, 2024 Wall Street Journal. Swain reports it to be the story of Handel, Jennens, and creation of Messiah. I have not read this book as of today.

It’s funny how some things seem to converge during a time. Last month I received a request from the World War II Museum in New Orleans for a donation. I had previously become a charter member, so it informed me that a could add honorees for service in the War to an on line plaque (see below). As it happened, at home we have been watching a British TV series Foyle’s War a mystery drama about a detective and his cases in Hastings during the war. This past week, I noticed and article by Larry P. Arnn, President of Hillsdale College, commemorating the 150th birthday of Winston Churchill on this past November 30. This prompted me to re-publish a blog post.

Two years ago I wrote and posted an essay on the occasion of Churchill’s birthday. Here is an updated version of “He Saved Us All”

In The American Heritage History of World War II (first published in 1966), C. L. Sulzberger, New York Times columnist (and member of the family that owns that newspaper) wrote this.

“Remember him, for he saved all of you: pudgy and not very large but somehow massive and indomitable; baby faced, with snub-nosed, square chin, rheumy eyes on occasion given to tears: a thwarted actor’s taste for clothes that would have looked ridiculous on a less splendid man… .He fancied painting, at which he was good, writing at which he was excellent, and oratory, at which he was magnificent….

“This was the man, bloodied at Omdurman [an 1898 battle in Sudan] and Cuba, among the Pathans and Boers, long before most of those he led were even born, who guided Britain to victory in World War II — and, one might add, who was the guiding spirit for the whole free world. For had Britain succumbed, as it had ever logical reason to do so in 1940, probably no successful coalition could have been formed.”

Sulzberger, of course, was lauding Winston Churchill, who was born on this day 148 years ago. Churchill took over as prime minister of Great Britain when Hitler’s Germany had run roughshod over all the opposition on the European continent and was threatening that island nation. In spite of a fierce air war, in which the Royal Air Force, inspired by Churchill’s indomitable spirit, managed to shoot down and destroy more than five times the number of warplanes it lost to Herman Goering’s Luftwaffe and effectively won the Battle of Britain. After it became clear that an amphibious invasion was not going to work, Hitler turned to terror bombing of England cities and what became known as the Blitz. Throughout all of this, and for the next four years, Churchill remained steadfast and defiant. His grit led Britain and its empire, along with American allies, to total victory over the Nazi state.

In hindsight, and most historians appear to agree, had Great Britain made peace with Hitler in 1940 when it seemed prudent to do so, Nazi Germany would have won, as it almost did anyway.

On November 30 of this year, sixty years after his death, it is appropriate to commemorate Winston Churchill. He was the man of the 20th century. Where Hitler attempted to destroy Western Civilization, Churchill saved it.

Note: Churchill was Prime Minister from May 1940 until July 1945. After Germany surrendered in May 1945, he called an election, but his party was defeated. He again became PM in 1951 and was Queen Elizabeth’s first (of 17) Prime Minister when she succeeded to the throne the next year upon the death of her father King George VI.

Note: Churchill was Prime Minister from May 1940 until July 1945. After Germany surrendered in May 1945, he called an election, but his party was defeated. He again became PM in 1951 and was Queen Elizabeth’s first (of 17) Prime Minister when she succeeded to the throne the next year upon the death of her father King George VI.

See

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/shows-honorees-data?Account_Number=007-436-826

Arnn’s essay:

https://newcriterion.com/article/one-hundred-fifty-years-of-churchill/?

National and world events today are characterized as Dire Times by many in the various media (mostly anti-social, despite being characterized otherwise) and perhaps even from pulpits and street corners.

Sixty-one years ago today, a Friday as it is again this year, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated — murdered — in Dallas, Texas. I have written previously about where I was and what I was doing and how the news of President Kennedy’s death affected me. Those who might be interested can read that 2020 post.

Sixty-plus-one years ago, and onward for a while, many regarded November 22, 1963 as a day of wrath and doom. At times, especially in the 1960s, it seemed to some of us that we were on the eve of destruction — recall the eponymous Barry McGuire song. Doom was imminent.

It was not, as it turned out, the eve of destruction at all.
In retrospect, the next half century reminds me of the Antrobus family in Thornton Wilder’s play The Skin of Our Teeth: humankind bungling onward, but incrementally upward. There is no way to know whether the nation, or the world, would have been better off, worse off, or about the same if Lee Harvey Oswald had not fired the shots, or if he had missed. We almost had a similar event last July. But contra-factual historical speculation is a fool’s errand.

Dies Irae is Latin for Day of Wrath. These are the first words of a recitation in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass and other Christian denominations’ liturgy, recited or sung in the sequence preceding the proclamation of the Gospel. Vatican II in the 1960s eliminated its use in the Catholic liturgy as too reminiscent of Medieval negative theology. Its use in other denominations has lately not been obvious. It may have been used and sung in Latin at Kennedy’s funeral. Perhaps its most recognizable musical renditions today are in Mozart’s Requiem and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique – the latter containing the ominous tolling of a funeral bell.

The first stanza in an English translation of the hymn is “Day of wrath and doom impending, David’s word with Sibyl’s blending, Heaven and earth in ashes ending!”

But the Dies Irae is a long poem and has been abbreviated for musical compositions and for liturgical use. If you look at the whole poem, you see that its finale is not as pessimistic and negative as critics allege. I end this essay with the final stanza and include it here especially for the soul of President John F. Kennedy: “Lord, all-pitying, Jesus blest, Grant them thine eternal rest. Amen.”