Mary Sue, this one's for you!

The Guadalupe Advent altar frontal at St Cuthbert's, Oakland, California

I haven't gotten to the next banner yet.

In spite of my Northern European genetic make-up (Swedish and German, no less: tall, blue eyes and all), I keep protesting being born "white." I believe transgendered people who say their inner self does not match their outer plumbing. My cultural resonance is not with Scandinavia or Germany. Tengo alma latina en cuerpo sueco. (I have a Latin soul in a Swedish body. Or, at the very least, Mediterranean. Yes. Sunshine, olive oil, herbes de Provence....)

So keep your lutfisk; your lingonberries are lovely but I can live without them. Bring on the corn tortillas and chiles. And forget the repressed Lutheran second half of Fanny och Alexander. It's time to party for Our Lady, La Morenita, La Virgencita, the Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas!

San Juan Diego, ruega por nosotros.

[Mary Sue and I were both stoked to see Jane R's photo of Guadalupe in Leuven.]
--the BB

Because it warms my heart

Saint Cuthbert's feast is March 20--invariably falling in Lent. This poses a challenge to churches named in his honor; you cannot, by our current rubrics, have St Cuddy take precedence of a Sunday in Lent and you thus cannot have the sort of party one might desire for such a special saint. (He may be nearly unknown in the USA but he was rather a big deal in the UK and his name is ubiquitous there.)

A solution lies in his other feast, September 4, recalling his translation. On that day in 1104 his relics were moved into their shrine in the new Norman cathedral (Durham Cathedral). Being a medieval history nut and a creative liturgist, I decided our patronal feast would fall on the Sunday after Labor Day (close to September 4 and the day life begins anew in California churches after the summer doldrums).

This September 9 the feast was kept. Jack Pantaleo from St Aidan's in San Francisco, came and played his Celtic harp. The festal green superfrontal from the Doris Hagen altar vestments and the floral arrangements provided color.

My love for St Cuddy himself and for St Cuddy's, Oakland, prompts me to post. Oh yes, a touch of ego too; the superfrontal and the banners in the background are my design and stitchery. Since we have a sewing theme going this evening....

Sancte Cuthberte, ora pro nobis.

--the BB