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The American soldier who leaked documents to Wikileaks has been in solitary confinement *without even a conviction* for nine months. Now, he is being subjected to forced nudity every night and during public inspection daily. If anyone doubts that our government is willing to torture its own citizens, doubt no more. Bradley Manning is just 23 years old.
(Source: hipsterlibertarian, via ancientbruises)
(via ilovereadingandwriting)
Saint Valentine
In honour of Valentine’s Day, I thought we’d take a brief moment to explore ol’ Saint Valentine’s origins. There were more than a few St. Valentines in the lists of the martyred saints of ancient Rome; this is largely due to the fact that the name “Valentine” was a particularly popular one in Late Antiquity (it was derived from valens and meant “worthy, strong, and/or powerful”).
In 496 CE, Pope Gelasius I established the first feast of St. Valentine for February 14, putting ol’ Valentine’s name among those “whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” We don’t know much about the particular Valentine who gives us February 14 as his feast day, other than the fact that on this day he was buried at the Via Flaminia, north of Rome. The Valentine that appears in various martyrologies in connections with the 14th of February is described as being either a priest in Rome, a bishop, or a martyr in the Roman province of Africa.
Much later, around 1260 CE, the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine said that Saint Valentine was brought before the Emperor Claudius, and refused to deny Christ in the year 280 CE. Before he was beheaded, this Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer with his saintly powers.
(In the photo above, St. Valentine receives a rosary from the Virgin Mary)
(Source: bythegods)
Harvey, by Mary Chase (1944)
