Our Liberation and the Liberal Arts
Fr. George W. Rutler The opening day of the term has not changed much since Shakespeare's time, with "the whining school-boy with his satchel / And shining morning face, creeping like snail / Unwillingly to school." (As You Like It)In 1825, Sir William Curtis (MP) coined the phrase "reading, writing and arithmetic," which harkens back to the classical Greek and Latin curricula of the trivium (grammar, rhetoric and logic) and the quadrivium(arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy).
Pope Sylvester II, who died in 1003, had his own "Three R's," having been bishop sequentially of Reims, Ravenna and Rome. He was one of the most learned popes ever, as well as being the first French one: he invented the pendulum clock and the hydraulic organ, wrote on mathematics, natural science, music, theology and philosophy, and introduced to Europe the decimal system of Arabic numerals. Superstitious folk (including those who resented his strictures against simony and clerical marriage) read into his three R's some sign that he had sold his soul to the Devil to get his phenomenal IQ.
The Liberal Arts, as the classical curriculum is known, are called that because they are meant to liberate man from ignorance and indecent slavery to falsehood. This is why tyrants and schemers hate classical learning. In Nazi Germany, Archbishop Josef Frings of Cologne lamented: "The clergy are no longer allowed to give instruction in the elementary schools, and religious instruction has been reduced to a minimum, if not cut altogether." This was not a threat exclusive to Germany or occupied Belgium or Vichy France. In neutral Ireland the bishops opposed a "School Attendance Bill," eventually ruled unconstitutional by the highest judiciary bench, the Cúirt Uachtaracha, which would have required parents to send children only to state-approved schools. Read more...
-Used with permission from Fr. George W. Rutler
Auriesville Pilgrimage
Some of our students and teachers walked the 62-mile, 3 day event.
The Wonderful Colors of a Hare
The hare's fur turns brown in the summer but white in the winter. When the snow falls, everything gets wonderfully covered in white. With white fur it is easier for the hare to hide from its enemies. In the summer it is also easier to hide with brown fur. That is the reason why a hare's fur changes colors. Hares are wonderful because they can change colors. If all animals could change colors this world would be so strange!
-Gabrielle, age 10
Puzzles, Puzzles, Puzzles
The World's Best Train Puzzle
Out West, there's a single-track railroad that goes through Old Baldy Mountain. Inside the mountain, the tunnel is only wide enough for one train. At exactly two o'clock one day, two trains entered the tunnel from opposite directions. Five minutes later each train came out of the opposite entrance of the tunnel. Neither train was damaged in any way. Now how on earth was this possible?
The Solution to Last Month's Spelling Puzzle:
1. NODPAL is Poland 2. DSNCAOLT is Scotland 3. RILBAUGA is Bulgaria 4. ELANP is nepal 5. GLEDANN is England 6. UANMARI is Rumania 7. SATNKPIA is Pakistan
How well did you do?
In the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Sr. Mary Joseph, M.I.C.M. |
IHM School Patrons
We thank our new patrons to IHM School and thank you for your generosity and concern for Catholic education.
For all of our Patrons and Guardian Angels, we are truly grateful. You are in our community's prayers everyday and you can feel confident in the fact that Catholic education is alive and well because of your generosity!
Catholic Education
IHM School Headmaster
Professor Brad Grinstead Contact me Here
Pumpkin Festival Fundraiser
Every year a dedicated group of students and parents headed by Jill Bosonetto work many long hours making...candy apples! This fundraiser is one of our most successful and has become a New Hampshire tradition. People from all over New England and elsewhere converge on Keene, New Hampshire every year to partake in the festival. IHM School is represented by these generous souls for the benefit of educating our children in a traditional Catholic setting. A big THANK YOU to Jill, her family and all those who worked to make the fundraiser a success!
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