Andrew Greeley, sociology professor, Catholic priest, and best-selling novelist, was born today in 1928. His many novels (a select few are shown above), including the memorably titled The Cardinal Sins, frequently featured healthy dollops of Catholicism and explicit sex, to the extent that the National Catholic Register characterised Greeley as ‘the dirtiest mind ever ordained’.
Today in 1597, 26 Catholics were executed by crucifixion in Nagasaki, Japan. They were raised on crosses and run through with spears. The crucifixions were ordered by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the powerful feudal lord, who had come to see Catholicism and foreign influence as a threat.
Today in the year 62, an earthquake struck the Roman city of Pompeii, 17 years before the eruption of Vesuvius which buried it. The earthquake caused severe damage to Pompeii, and a tsunami which sank ships along the coast. The Roman philosopher and dramatist Seneca the Younger wrote about the disaster:
‘This tremor… inflicted great devastation on Campania… Sheep died and statues split. Some people have lost their minds and wander about in their madness.’ Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones
This is St Agatha’s Day. According to legend she was tortured to death for her faith after rejecting the attentions of a Roman consul, in the process of which torture her breasts were cut off. Consequently she was depicted in medieval artwork as carrying them on a plate. Misidentification of these items by the public led to her becoming the patron saint of bellmakers, bakers and volcanic eruptions.