ARTICLES - HOT OFF THE FAGGOT

Vatican has defrocked three Boston-based priests for abuse

Amplify’d from news.bostonherald.com

Vatican has defrocked three Boston-based priests for abuse

By Conor Lodge and Carla Gualdron

The Vatican has ousted three men from the priesthood years after they were accused in sex , the Archdiocese of Boston said yesterday.

“These men are no longer to function, or present themselves as priests, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying,” said archdiocese spokeswoman Kelly Lynch.

In 2002, Frederick J. Cartier was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the early 1970s. By the time the allegation was received, Cartier had been out of ministry for more than 20 years, the archdiocese said.

Louis J. Govoni was accused in 2002 of sexually abusing a minor in the mid-1970s.

He has been absent without permission from the archdiocese since 1978.

Frederick Guthrie took a leave from the archdiocese in July 2001 and later that same year was charged in New Hampshire with using a computer to solicit a minor.

He pleaded guilty.

All three men sought through a voluntary process to be removed from the clerical state, the archdiocese said.

“Although it will not help the victims regain what has been stolen from them in the past, it will help prevent it from happening again in the future,” said lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, who a decade ago represented a client who alleged he had been abused by Govoni at the age of 15.

Read more at news.bostonherald.com
 

The Hidden History and our Invisible Guides

Dog Poet Transmitting…….


At the metaphysical site yesterday, I tried to share certain information that I consider critical to the times that are now fast approaching. I’m a student of occult history. Basically, what that means is the hidden history that is not generally known, as opposed to the commonly accepted lies and exaggerations that make up the history they don’t hide, because they have no shame and because it profits them.


It’s well known, to those who have studied occult history that certain individuals show up at critical times. The Comte de St. Germain and Cagliostro (or someone calling themselves by those names- grin) appeared prior to the French Revolution and directly warned a number of people about what was coming. Few heeded them. It’s said that Marie Antoinette saw St. Germain from the cart carrying her to execution. Cagliostro was supposed to be in The Bastille when they stormed it. He was not present. You hear tales of these men being charlatans, the same way you see Helena Blavatsky routinely slandered by people who never met her.


Hysteria is running manic in the halls of the moment. Hallway monitors are clapping blackboard erasers together and looking for suspicious behavior, or any opportunity to put some polish on their brown noses. Uninformed experts on all secret societies are unrestrained in their caterwauling, about how every member of every society that has ever been are all evil. These are the people who make up the Jacobins in any revolution. Neither side of the equation is ever in the right, because they seek predominance, instead of harmony; that’s why the chief occupation of those who fill the empty suits, is to sell the centrist and moderate candidacies, even though they are anything but what they are painted.


Make no mistake; the world is going to be stood on its head by socio-political upheaval and by Mother Nature. You can include the shifting of the magnetic poles by the latter into the equation. Consonant with this, large portions of the population are going to go demonstrably insane. They are already mad but still operating along predictable routines, which give the impression of sanity but they are not sane, nor willing to become so.


Into this restless uncertainty; this cauldron of confused and ever changing shapes, are appearing light workers who mean to assist those seeking the same. Because I know they are here and continuing to arrive, I feel like I ought to mention it. I usually get three crowds of visitors to my sites; those who begin to read the material and find that it’s not the sort of meat and potatoes- the material world is all there is- people and they soon go away, the people who hear a resonance and continue to return, the people who take my words and replace them with other words so that they can announce themselves as an alternative but don’t actually possess one. Everyone’s welcome and it’s my hope they’ll take anything useful and apply it to their lives.


Fundamentally schooled Christians from that religion, long ago hijacked by the neo-Pharisees, get antsy about malefic spirits and want to do their ‘my way or the highway’, the Holy Spirit is the only spirit thing. Powerful entities for good and ill are here this moment and some of them are operative in the minds of thousands due to sympathetic resonance to whatever they represent. It will become much clearer and a great deal more confusing shortly and each of us will be drawing from the well of our choice. Our well of choice is determined by the values we hold. Every sincere seeker is guided by one force and tested by another. These are both variant applications of a single force, engaged in a process of tempering and refining. All of the social, political and religious traditions that have been established for a length of time are now passing away. They are going to be dramatically transformed, according to the new template that impresses itself upon the world of form, as you read these words.


The degree of personal pain coming can be determined by the degree of attachment held for the things being recycled. Some people are neck deep in dogma and cant and couldn’t bear the thought that their whored out doctrines are going to be replaced with new living creeds and a rearrangement of the archetypes. A lot of people have their own identity knitted up with that of the tradition they worship in. It’s an extension of their ego and a guarantee that they are right and everyone else is wrong. They can’t seem to accept that there’s only one deity and that it is the same one in every religion and that the prophets and saviors were all extensions of the same eternal personality, manifesting in different ways to adjust to the cultures and mores that it appears in.


That personality is afoot again in the heart of humanity, where it is permitted to come, barring that, the antithesis is in residence. This is no time and no place to be stuck in the mire of bankrupt traditions. The living truth is on the doorstep and you will see it in every transformative act that is sweeping away the crystallized evil and deception that has held the world in thrall.


A lot of expensive funerals are on the menu for people like D. Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger and assorted. Their hour of departure is drawing nigh and you will see the truth of ‘the bigger the limousine, the bigger the asshole inside’. Israel’s final days are at hand and that is a wonderful prospect to consider. The power is being removed from the applications controlled by the TPTB and they’re not going to handle that very well. All power is on loan from one source. Both the evil and the good exist for demonstration purposes, in this TV show called Life. Just as the poles are shifting, the balance of power is shifting into other hands. It’s all orchestrated and it’s all under control. The same way that they say you can’t tell the players without a program, guidance is at hand for those willing to imbibe it.


The speed of the changes is accelerating, soon that is going to be awesomely apparent. If you’re putting your trust in the powers of the old world to sort it all out, you are backing the wrong horse. You’re going to see some tragic and comic sights. In these times, justice has a sense of humor and there are no real limits to what may or may not happen.


My suggestion for people to look within for guidance is well founded. Generally the world is allowed to operate in a certain manner and exceptional souls always have the opportunity to motor past those captivated by the sights. Ordinary souls ping pong off of each other with their Karma and play role reversal from lifetime to lifetime. Present time is providing an exception to this long prevailing status quo. Anyone can achieve greatness in this hour and chances for that are abundant.


Out in the quiet of the countryside you can hear the whistle of the train from a long way off. Sooner or later the train is going to pull into the station and no one should be surprised when that happens. People frothing at the mouth with scripture would be well advised to consider that scripture has a living source and that words are without power unless there is a connection to the power that makes them ring. Finding the source and seat of that power is the preeminent concern. Anything else is a waste of time and that is going to be proven in spades.


Every one of us has a pending date with destiny and that destiny can be incredible beyond the reach of words to define or it can be a sad and enduring disappointment. Every time this sort of thing comes around the conditions are the same. People are immersed in trivial, material pursuits. Things begin to go very wrong and then more wrong as the opportunity to catch on, presses itself upon the living situations of everyone present. Irrespective of all the warnings, for some reason, the mass of humanity chooses not to see what is happening. They are going to see however, like it or not.


I’ve said pretty much all I have to say more times than I can recall. I suppose I’ll go on saying these things until I’m transferred to another department. It is important to keep in mind that all of these things are closer than they seem. Well, we’ll see.


End Transmission…….


There will be a radio show this evening at 7:30 Central Time or you can download it the next day.




Martin
Read more at smokingmirrors.blogspot.com
 

Something is Hidden in the Remote Places of the World.

Dog Poet Transmitting.......

Don’t ask me why or how, because I don’t know, but I think Pakistan is the powder keg or the goal. Something there is about Pakistan. It’s certainly not about terrorists. It certainly isn’t about intimidation and the killing of innocents, who don’t have two sticks to rub together much of the time. I suppose the argument can be made about threatening Russia and China, failing that, I don’t see what the tactical value is. You can’t hold on to these areas. They can’t hold on to Afghanistan and the parts of Pakistan that they are attacking are even harder to contain and there’s nothing and hardly anyone to contain there. There must be something more going on, only I can’t see it.

Over the years I have read and heard a great deal about the wild places on this planet. There are legends and myths that have to do with The Andes; the Himalayas, Mongolia, The Hindu Kush and sundry. It’s been rumored for a long time that remnants of more ancient civilizations, as well as alien residents, have quartered themselves in remote locales. I’ve heard tales of civilizations inside the Earth and of airships rising from and descending into portholes in the planet. I’ve no way of knowing how true any of this is. I just hear about it.

We know that there hasn’t been a Bin Laden around in a long time. We know that there’s no such thing as Al Qaeda, outside of CIA constructs. We know that terrorism is largely a weapon of established governments, whose main industry is domestic repression and year round Halloween mockups of the invisible straw man, who is looking to come in through the bathroom window.

When you think about how right everything could be, given all of the new technology, you have to wonder about the need to screw everything up beyond recognition. The level of government and corporate insanity is impressive, by any measuring device you want to use. It seems to me that there is another poisonous mist that has taken over the leaders and shakers of the world, the same way that one has taken over the minds of the masses in countries that don’t react like Egypt just did but most certainly should.

That’s all beside the point because revolution is coming everywhere, like it or not. It’s coming externally and internally. It’s going to grind your materialist dreams into dust and it’s going to shake the dreamer from his matrix-pod. It’s going to be hard as nails on those attached to the departing constructs of all the traditions and infrastructures of a time whose term has been reached and it’s going to go gentle on those who are striving in the moment to liberate themselves from these confinements.

I have occasionally used an image that dovetails with this whole engine of irresistible change. It features a prison house where the inmates have been confined for times past remembering. Suddenly there are noises and lights that have not been heard or seen before. There is confusion among the warders and fear of the unknown is palpable throughout. The liberator has arrived and he is going from cell to cell and releasing the prisoners. The prisoners do not want to leave. They wrap their arms into the bars to resist their deliverance. They climb under their bunks. They cry out in terror at the arrival of everything they have dreamed of and then forgotten was ever possible. Now it is there and no one wants any part of it.

Every age is held together by an integrity of being, which exists for the term of its scheduled time. Once that time has come to an end, the integrity melts away and a new schematic comes into play. Ages, cultures and periods of history are all on the clock and they come and go accordingly. Religious traditions extend through the period of an age and sometimes longer, although they are no longer religions at that point; only what’s left of the launch pad for what followed it; dead, empty words and toxic, mind numbing, sleep inducing, rituals. These are all passing away now. It’s all going.

I hear that the last time the magnetic poles switched was around 800,000 years ago. I hear hysteria in descriptions of what is to come. No one knows but that hasn’t stopped all these doomsday oracles from selling their books and theories on the back of it. Fear sells.

The currency of corporate, religious belief is engaging the same devaluation mechanism as the currency of paper. Imaginary foodstuffs are being traded back and forth on the stock exchange for the purpose of raising the costs of basic foodstuffs all over the world. Those who have not been grateful for what they have had are going to learn the real currency value of gratitude. Nothing demonstrates the value of anything as much as the loss of it.

Evil and ignorance exist in as many multiples are there are ways to be misinformed and to get things wrong. Each of these is a religion that exists because of the faith invested in it by the worshipper, even if he/she is all alone in the church of their choice. Evil presupposes that one is not surrounded by abundance and cared for by unseen hands. Evil necessitates the imperative that one must seize what one desires, or plot the means to acquire it. After awhile it becomes the natural and instinctive activity of everyone to have to conspire against the fortunes of their fellows, in order to guarantee their own. This is all passing away. This is all going but it’s not going easy or quiet. If you’ve thrown your lot in with these, then I expect to hear your cries of outrage, when everything you were after, sails away before your eyes.

It is understandable that most people would have little idea of what has come upon them. They’ve been schooled on lies since they learned to walk. They’ve been minded and indoctrinated by the television and given their moves by popular songs. They’ve adopted the outfit of the fool to insure the delivery of the undesirable, which only reveals itself as such in the experiences that follow. Fatigue and disappointment are the dependable gifts of the world in which we live. Do they see this? Do they adjust to something deeper and more enduring? No, they do not. They are certain they got a dud but the next box will contain the real thing. The real thing does not present itself in a perishable item.

This is the unreal world and it hides the real world and that may be its most important purpose. Something immensely powerful is hiding in the wild and difficult to reach places of the world. Now this world is making war on that world and there is something in the wilds of Pakistan that is being warred on and it’s not for resources or geo-political advantage. It’s for the possession of secrets that are hidden in secret places. This is why there is a general hatred being directed at all secret societies without any differences made between them. The rulers and shakers of the unreal world have discovered that there are powerful potencies and possibilities, hidden in places that are hard to reach and they want their hands on them before someone else gets there first. They’ve been playing with the wisdom of the ancients and the promises of things hidden for some time now and they realize that what they want must be contained in what is hidden in the remote locations of the world. Somehow they think the possession of something guarantees an understanding of its use but... nothing could be further from the truth. All they will do is to very quickly destroy themselves, because these powers demand self mastery as the prelude to any positive application of their force.

It is not only the desire to gain these powers that drive them. They are threatened by their very existence. These powers are evidence that they will sooner or later be destroyed, simply because they do not possess them. They can’t win either way but they have managed to deceive themselves that they can. All wars are magical wars directed from invisible planes of existence into the manifest. Balance gone missing has reached critical mass and there is little time to set it right and little inclination to do so. The supreme quick fix is needed and then to the bunkers while turmoil rages without.

It’s not going to go down like this in any way that is reflected, in their painstaking planning and scheming, to survive at the expense of their fellows. They cannot even survive in a room with each other for long. You’re going to see it all but… from what perspective is it going to be revealed? Are you the student profiting from the lesson provided or are you the lesson that others are meant to learn from?

End Transmission.......

There will be a radio show Sunday night at 7:30 Central Time. See the masthead button for radio show downloads.

I am Alive
This Smoking Mirrors Template was designed for Visible and friends, but is dedicated to Poncho.

Martin Kearns
Read more at smokingmirrors.blogspot.com
 

Shocking indictments in Philadelphia

Amplify’d from www.americamagazine.org
Author: Kevin Clarke

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams was most recently in the national headlines for the arrest of a Pennsylvania abortionist and his staff because of a little house of horrors they were maintaining in West Philadelphia. Today he announced some other alleged horrors out of Philadelphia in the indictment of three priests—68 year old Edward Avery, 64 year old Charles Engelhardt, and 47 year old James Brennan—and a parochial school teacher, 48 year old Bernard Shero. They have been charged with rape, indecent sexual assault and other criminal charges.

Shocking enough, but Williams has also arrested 60-year-old Monsignor William Lynn, the Secretary for Clergy for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia under Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. Lynn has been charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the assaults because of his handling of these cases and allegations which stem from assaults on two boys which took place between 1998 and 2000.

Williams said Lynn, who served as Secretary of the Clergy from 1992 to 2004, "supervised two of the abusers . . . knew they were dangerous and chose to expose them to new victims." I'm trying to think of another instance of this, but this may be the first time a diocesan official has been criminally implicated for negligence or obstruction.

"As a Roman Catholic myself, this is not a happy thing for me to have to do," Williiams said. "The criminal acts that occurred here are not representative of my religion. They are the bad acts of individual men. I recognize all the good that the Roman Catholic Church has done and continues to do in the world. But I am sworn to uphold the law, and I will do what is necessary to protect children." The DA called for improvements in the law to allow for more aggressive measures against people in authority who may have contributed to a cover-up for abusers. More worrisome is his suggestion that active pedophiles may still be lurking among the Philadelphia clergy.

"Even more troubling, the grand jury believed that many priests—dozens of them—have remained in ministry despite solid, credible allegations of abuse," he said. "It is time for the church to remove all credibly accused priests from ministry, and to put protection of children ahead of protection from scandal."

The investigation suggest there are as many as 30 active Philadelphia priests with allegations of sexual abuse in the past, a charge denied by Bishop Daniel Thomas. "There are no Archdiocesan priests currently in ministry who have an established or admitted allegation of sexual abuse of a minor," Thomas said.

The Grand Jury report is stomach-churning reading to say the least. You can also view Williams's statement. Along with approving the criminal charges, the Grand Jury also recommended that the Archdiocese of Philadelphia overhaul its procedures for assisting victims and for removing priests accused of molesting minors.

Read more at www.americamagazine.org
 

The World’s Most Mysterious Manuscript

Amplify’d from blogs.smithsonianmag.com

A page from the Voynich manuscript (via wikimedia commons)

When book collector Wilfrid M. Voynich acquired several items from a Jesuit college near Rome in 1912, he discovered a manuscript like no other. Now know as the “Voynich manuscript,” it had weird writing in some unrecognizable language and biological, botanical and astronomical images that may give some clue as to what is in the book but more often lead to more confusion.

Many have attempted to decipher the book, including some of the world’s best code breakers, but none have been successful. (The book now belongs to Yale University, though anyone who is interested in trying to read it can view the entire manuscript online.)

A Prague alchemist, the earliest known owner, had the manuscript in the early 17th century. On his death, it passed to a friend who sent the book to a Jesuit scholar in Rome. It stayed with the Jesuits for some 200 years before being sold to Voynich.

But who wrote the manuscript and when are unknown. Possible suspects over the years have included a Franciscan friar, Roger Bacon, in the late 13th century; the personal physician of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II, in the early 1600s; even Voynich himself, with the manuscript suspected of being a fake.

Science has given some clues as to when the book was created. In 2009, a team led by Greg Hodgins of the University of Arizona was allowed to take four tiny samples of the paper, just 1 millimeter by 6 millimeters each, for radio-carbon dating. They found that the manuscript was created in the early 15th century, which has helped narrow down the list of possible creators.

Studies of the ink have shown that they are consistent with inks used in the Renaissance period. “It would be great if we could directly radiocarbon date the inks, but it is actually really difficult to do. First, they are on a surface only in trace amounts” Hodgins said. “The carbon content is usually extremely low. Moreover, sampling ink free of carbon from the parchment on which it sits is currently beyond our abilities. Finally, some inks are not carbon based, but are derived from ground minerals. They’re inorganic, so they don’t contain any carbon.”

And so, the search continues.


Posted By: Sarah Zielinski — Books,Physics,Picture of the Week | Link | Comments (1)



Read more at blogs.smithsonianmag.com
 

The Jesuit who fostered devotion to the Sacred Heart

Amplify’d from www.catholicherald.co.uk

The Jesuit who fostered devotion to the Sacred Heart

St Claude de La Colombière (February 15) had the misfortune of being in London at the time of the alleged Popish Plot

Claude de La Colombière (1641-82) was a Jesuit who fostered the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a counter to the rigorous teaching of the Jansenists. He also had the misfortune to be in London at the time of the alleged Popish Plot.

The third of five children, Claude de La Colombière was born at St Symphorien d’Ozon, south of Lyon, into a family with some claim to nobility. One of his brothers became a monk; another vicar-general to the Bishop of Quebec. His sister joined the Visitandines. By way of compensation, his elder brother Humbert, described as a monk who remained in the world, embraced the Law and fathered 13 children.

Claude attended the Jesuit College in Lyon before serving his noviciate at Avignon, winning golden opinions as a preacher. There followed four years at the Society of Jesus’s establishment for l’élite d’une élite in the Latin Quarter of Paris. He was ordained in 1669.

But while the world heaped praise and flattery upon La Colombière, he himself saw chiefly his own imperfections, and the threat of eternal damnation which lies upon those who fall foul of the mercy of God. 

Fearful, he tightened his spiritual bonds to such a degree that some critics have discerned “un ascète au miroir”, who thought of holiness “comme un série de performances”.

Such constraint, if it ever existed, dropped away after 1675, when La Colombière was appointed Father Superior at the convent in Paray-le-Monial, southern Burgundy. Here he encountered Marguerite-Marie Alacoque, whose visions of the Sacred Heart had aroused considerable scepticism among her fellow Sisters.

La Colombière, however, thought quite otherwise, seeing her experiences as the seal of God’s infinite love, mercy and forgiveness. His support for Marguerite was crucial in the development of the devotion to the Sacred Heart. The Father Superior’s reputation, however, also shone at court. In 1676 La Colombière was sent to London by Louis XIV as preacher to Mary of Modena, wife of the Duke of York, later James II.

For three years he lived in St James’s Palace. It was in England, nevertheless, that he rid himself of his worldly ambitions. While the cold weather affected his health, he greatly admired the faithfulness of the English Catholics under the crazed persecution led by Titus Oates.

In 1679 La Colombière himself was incarcerated for three weeks in the King’s Bench prison in Southwark, and then banished. Charles II, so dependent on subsidies from Louis XIV, for once stood up for an innocent Catholic.

La Colombière lived another three years in France, writing of his “exile” from England. In 2007 his bones returned briefly to London, travelling to and fro under the Channel in the boots of extremely Catholic cars.

Read more at www.catholicherald.co.uk
 

Jesuit Praises Elections in Sudan

Amplify’d from www.jesuit.org

Jesuit Praises Elections in Sudan

Sudan electionsJesuit Father Richard O’Dwyer, who is Project Director for Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in Lobone, praised the recent elections in Sudan, saying that “many other African nations would do well to emulate Southern Sudan in terms of its electoral standards.”

According to sources reported by Voice of America, more than 90 percent of Southern Sudanese have voted in favor of independence.

“I returned to Lobone the second week of January. There was not a hint of panic or complaint to be found. People here were voting as if it was second nature and a lifelong habit,” said Fr. O’Dwyer.

“When one realizes that Southern Sudan is one of the poorest and least developed places in the world, I feel a great deal of admiration for the manner in which both registration for and the referendum itself has been conducted,” he added.

O’Dwyer recognizes the need for good governance, significant investment in the region and training the people in trades and professions.

“To sit back complacently and expect oil revenue to simply develop the country, as if by the waving of a magic wand, would not only be disappointing, but a disastrous mistake,” he said. [JRS Dispatches]

Read more at www.jesuit.org
 

The Day The Beasts Head Wound Was Healed: Lateran Pacts: a bird's eye view

Lateran Pacts: a bird's eye view
On February 11th 1929, the Lateran pacts were signed by Cardinal Gasparri for the Holy See and by Mussolini for the Italian State. Pacts which take their name from the Lateran Palace premises attached to to the Lateran Basilica , the Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, the venue for negotiation and final signing of the pacts .


In an interview with Veronica Scarisbrick , Professor of History at the University of Virginia in the United States, Jesuit Father Gerald Fogarty focuses on these pacts and specifies the difference between the Treaty and the Concordat signed eighty two years ago: "... the Lateran Treaty guaranteed the creation of Vatican City State, the spiritual sovereignty of the Holy See therefore. The Concordat regulated relationships between the Church and the Italian government within Italy...and then finally there was an agreement, a third pact that was signed in regard to financial remuneration and so forth ... so this definitively ended the Roman Question."

Father Fogarty also highlights the importance of these pacts for the Universal Church : "...the little plot of land was to guard the spiritual sovereignty of the pope and his communication with the Church throughout the world..in order to guaranteee the spiritual autonomy, authority , freedom of communication of the pope there had to be some type of Catholic State guarding that , so therefore they created Vatican City State .."

Finally our historian explains how by becoming an independent state , Vatican City acquired the right to communicate with other states. That's why the day after the signing of the pacts Pius XI entrusted Marconi with the task of setting up the Vatican's radio station, one inaugurated two years later .

Listen : RealAudioMP3
Read more at www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org
 

Sri Lankan priest gets bail

Amplify’d from www.cathnewsindia.com

Sri Lankan priest gets bail

Sri Lankan priest gets bail thumbnail

A Tamil Jesuit priest accused of having had links with Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels has been freed on bail after a court hearing Feb. 10.

Father Paul Satkunanayagam and five other people were arrested at a hotel in the city of Dambulla, 264 kilometers north east of Colombo on February 9.

According to hotel sources, six American INGO workers had come to the hotel before the arrests to obtain details from the priest about the current flood situation in the eastern part of the country.

Media reports said the priest and the five others arrested were allegedly in possession of CDs containing war songs that were sung by LTTE rebels.

None of the Americans were among those arrested.

Father Satkunanayagam was to meet the Bishop of Batticaloa and later make a press statement, according to Trincomalee-Batticaloa diocese spokesman, Father Joe Mary.

“Father Satkunanayagam works at a NGO in Batticaloa and offers counseling there, Father Mary said

“Most media outlets have been given false information about the priest,” he added.

Father Satkunanayagam is being investigated by the Security Intelligent Service and Criminal Investigation Division (CID) who probe alleged Tamil rebel activities.

Father Paul Satkunayagam, who is in his 70s and is not keeping good health, is a well-known priest in Batticaloa. He studied in the United States at Loyola University in Chicago, where he obtained a doctorate in Psychology.

Source: ucanews.com

Read more at www.cathnewsindia.com
 

Mysterious crypto-book dated to 15th century

The "Voynich manuscript" was found in 1912 at the Villa Mondragone, a one-time papal palace complex near Rome which was at the time being used as a scientific college by the Jesuit order of the Catholic church – formerly famous for their deviousness and secrecy. Book dealer Wilfrid Voynich found the tome among a chestful of volumes offered for sale by the Jesuits.

Amplify’d from www.theregister.co.uk

Mysterious crypto-book dated to 15th century

Real life Da Vinci codex features nude ladies, too

A mysterious book written in a language or code that no cryptographer has ever managed to crack has been verified as being written in the early 15th century, which has upset some of the theories on its origin.

Text from the 'Voynich manuscript'

People were making up garble-languages well before J R R Tolkien came along

The "Voynich manuscript" was found in 1912 at the Villa Mondragone, a one-time papal palace complex near Rome which was at the time being used as a scientific college by the Jesuit order of the Catholic church – formerly famous for their deviousness and secrecy. Book dealer Wilfrid Voynich found the tome among a chestful of volumes offered for sale by the Jesuits.

The book is full of bizarre illustrations and contains writing in an unknown and so far undecipherable script. The pictures appear to depict such things as unidentifiable plants, astronomical and astrological objects (suns, moons, stars, signs of the zodiac), curious cosmological diagrams and so forth. There is a section which mainly shows naked women in pools or bathtubs interlinked by elaborate networks of pipework, some parts of which resemble human organs.

Voynich, who died in 1930, theorised that the book had been written by the famous 13th-century friar and polymath Roger Bacon, a sort of early Leonardo da Vinci figure often credited with the introduction of gunpowder to much of Europe and conceptual invention of flying machines, steam engines etc.

This theory at least has now been conclusively disproven, as boffins at the University of Arizona have used radiocarbon dating to discover that the book was produced at some point between 1404 and 1438 – well after Bacon's time. The dating was done last year, but Arizona uni has announced [1] the new information publicly this week to coincide with a National Geographic Channel doco.

Crazy illo of nudie hairband ladies splashing about in green jelly

Other theories on the puzzling manuscript abound: some suggest that Voynich created it himself and concocted the Bacon notion to boost its value – this has now been shown to be untrue as well. Others have suggested that the book was penned by various prominent alchemists, astrologers, physicians or other savants of various periods from the medieval to the 17th century – possibly as an encoded work (this was a common practice at times) or as a hoax or sting of some sort.

An illustration from the 'Voynich manuscript'

What the bloody hell's supposed to be going on here?

Since the 1912 re-discovery, various capable cryptographers have tried to decipher the script used in the book, but all have failed. This has led to speculation that the writing is all or mostly gibberish: that any information present is concealed using steganography rather than cryptography, and that any real messages are buried amid irrelevant padding.

The prospect also exists that even if the script does actually have meaning, that the information encoded is nothing more than alchemical or astrological mumbo-jumbo: methods for transmuting base matter into gold or predicting the future from star charts, or bogus sympathetic-medicine homeopathy cures and such like. Much of the accepted body of scientific knowledge in the early 15th century consisted of such stuff.

Still, as the Arizona uni spokespersons note, "this tome makes the Da Vinci Code look downright lacklustre" – and at least it is now confirmed as being very old.

If any of our crypto or stegano enthusiast readers fancy having a go, detailed imagery of the manuscript is available here [2]. ®

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