THE GREAT "Os"

A reminder that December 17, we start the “O” ANTIPHONS at Vespers, prayers that are recited or chanted in an ancient tradition leading up to Christmas.

                                       Sister Ansgar Holmberg, CSJ

Composed in the sixth or seventh century, the seven O Antiphons are taken from the Book of the prophet Isaiah and the first letters of each antiphon form the Latin word SARCORE, which read backwards is ERO CRAS, which means ‘Tomorrow I come,’

Each night, the O Antiphons progress with ever-increasing anticipation of the coming of Emmanuel (God is With Us.) In this prayer, we express our deep longing for the coming of the Messiah.

These Antiphons have a three-fold structure. Each begins with “O” a term of wonder and amazement that gets our attention that something new is going to happen. Then, each Antiphon includes a Messianic name to describe Jesus, such as Wisdom or Key of David. And finally, each Antiphon concludes with a call for Jesus as God to come rapidly to save us. In our modern times, so filled with a lack of hope, they give voice to our poignant longings to be saved.

Dec. 17 — “O Sapientia”/“O Wisdom” (Isaiah 11:2-3; 28:29) 

Dec. 18 — “O Adonai”/“O Lord” (Is. 11:4-5; 33:22)

Dec. 19 — “O Radix Jesse”/“O Root of Jesse” (Is. 11:1; 11:10) 

Dec. 20 — “O Clavis David”/“O Key of David” (Is. 9:6; 22:22) 

Dec. 21 — “O Oriens”/“O Dawn of the East” (Is. 9:2) 

Dec. 22 — “O Rex Gentiu”/“O King of the Gentiles” (Is. 2:4; 9:7) 

Dec. 23 — “O Emmanuel”/“God with Us” (Is. 7:14)

MORE STAMPS- AROUND THE WORLD

In searching for more postal stamps for Christmas, I am amazed at the variety of design and also the countries producing religious themes, such as Sri Lanka and Micronesia.

 The choice of designs is highly variable, ranging from an overtly religious image of the Nativity, to secular images of Christmas trees, wreaths, Santa Claus, and so forth. A country may maintain a unified theme for several years, then change it drastically, in some cases seemingly to follow "fashion moves" by other countries. For instance, during the 1970s many countries issued Christmas stamps featuring children's drawings, with the young artist identified by name and age.

 

The choice of secular or religious designs is frequently a bone of contention in some countries; church leaders often see secular designs as diluting the meaning of the holiday, while postal officials fear that overly religious designs could lead their secular or minority-religious customers to avoid the stamps, leaving millions unsold, and even expose the postal administration to charges that they are violating laws prohibiting the promotion of a particular religion.

 In the United States, annual discord over "secular" versus "religious" designs was eventually resolved by the Postal Service issuing some of each per year; typically a group of 4–6 related secular designs, plus a religious design (usually depicting the Madonna and Child). 

To avoid difficulties attendant upon contracting for original designs with a religious theme, the latter have typically been adapted from Old Master paintings hanging in U.S. galleries, thus qualifying as depictions of art. In the United Kingdom, the Royal Mail resolves the difficulty by issuing "religious" and "secular" themed designs in alternate years.

 Given the state of our materialistic society, we should be glad to have a religious themed Christmas stamp in our own country. It should give us hope that all is not lost in today’s increasingly mixed-up world. 

OUR LADY OF SEATTLE ON SHAW ISLAND

 

For years I have admired the artwork of DANIEL MATSUI, and recently a friend in Seattle gave us a beautiful giclee print of this drawing  by this artist, which was commissioned for  her parish church, St. Luke in Shoreline.

On his website Daniel,writes:  I combined iconographic elements from the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady, Undoer of Knots with decorative elements from the art of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest.

Its shape suggests a copper shield. In the border, pairs of animals approach Noah’s Ark. This is a reference to Chief Seattle, who took the baptismal name Noah. The Ark I based on a Tlingit bone carving of a spirit canoe.

The figure of Mary is dressed similar to a statue in the church, but carrying the Christ Child in a sling. She stands on a crescent moon, a snake underfoot, with twelve stars about her head. The Greek nomina sacra inscriptions are abbreviations for Jesus Christ and Mother of God.”

The piece is beautifully framed and will have a pride of place in our chapel.  One has to see it in person to appreciate the colors and details.  Daniel is noted for his fine work which is reminiscent of medieval art.  He says he draws inspiration from Gothic illuminated manuscripts, painting and tapestries.  While his work is collected around the world, I wish it was more widely known on our country.  Heaven knows we need more truly good art in our Churches today.

Daniel earned an undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where he studied various art mediums, concentrating mostly on ink drawing and printmaking. He also worked in modern styles and considered pursuing a career in comics or film animation- thank God he changed his mind!.

In 2004, he was received into the Church at the Easter Vigil. This motivated him to revisit his interest in religious art. His mother had been raised  Catholic, but he was never baptized.

“Even though I didn’t have any real religious formation or catechism that endured, there was some exposure to the Mass—not regular but some exposure and I had the idea that the Catholic faith was the one true faith.  That experience of the liturgy also formed a connection in my mind between medieval art and the Catholic faith. Those were strongly associations which maybe wouldn’t have been if I had more of a typical parochial upbringing in the 1980s and 1990s.” 

Once can certainly see an Asian influence in his art. His paternal ancestors came to the United States about a century ago from Japan, though he says “his interest in Japanese art did not come through my family, but through my patrons.”

 Daniel has a very Benedictine approach to selling his art. “I like to sell directly to people and price my art in such a way that I can attract patronage from ordinary people. I like to see my work in homes and I don’t want to play the games where I get gallery representation, set my prices at an unbelievably high level, and expect to sell one or two pieces a year—if I’m lucky.”  Almost all his art is I privately commissioned.

 Speaking about Our Lady of Seattle,Father Brad Hagelin, pastor of St. Luke's says,“It’s a very creative piece. It’s obvious that it comes from a place of devotion. This is the artist’s calling. It was like commissioning an icon from a monk who has a great devotion.”

(Image used with kind permission of artist)

NEW BIRDS IN A VANISHING WORLD

 

One of the best things about the month of December, is the annual Christmas Bird Count ( for us it will be on the 17th this year).  About four years ago I was in Arizona for meetings, and my friend Judy took me hiking/birdwatching somewhere in mountains. On the trail we met a very friendly man, who was looking for birds and gave us some clues where to find a few I was searching for.

 Later, I found he was a well-known naturalist, who weekly leads walks on all facets of life, from plants to insects (he loves moths) to birds.

In his last newsletter there was a reference to a book (which I have ordered for Christmas) which deals with new species. We think all life, as we know it, is rapidly disappearing, especially birds, but nearly 300 species of birds have been described since 1960, a year when many ornithologists thought that world’s avifauna had been nearly fully catalogued. (10,824 species thus far listed)

This book shows a different story! Amazing as it might sound, ornithologists are still discovering, on average, five or six bird species that are completely new to science each year. What's more, these aren't all just obscure brown birds on tiny islands.  The new species include warblers,  woodcreepers, antbirds, tyrants, owls, parrots and parakeets, and even a puffbird.

Most of the newly-found species come from South America and about half of the total of new species are Sub-Saharan,  Africa  being the third most productive region for new birds.

From 2000-2009, scientists described on average seven new bird species worldwide every year. Scientists working in the southern Amazon have recorded an incredible 15 new species of birds according to the Portuguese publication Capa Aves. In fact, this is the largest group of new birds uncovered in the Brazilian in the Amazon in 140 years.

 Finding new species fast is important in the midst of a worldwide mass extinction, which seems to be hitting birds particularly hard. An example  are the potentially undiscovered species which die off in Australia’s huge fires.  And while countless others are quietly snuffed out elsewhere in the world, scientists need to redirect their efforts towards discovering new species, before they are gone forever.

 According to the blurb for the book,each species account discusses the story of the discovery, with photographs of the birds where available, along with a discussion of what is known about the species' biology, habitat, and distribution, with a strong conservation message. Most of the species in the book are either vulnerable or endangered.

Always interested in birds from Peru I found several new species: A new species of bird from the heart of Peru remained undetected for years until researchers identified it by its unique song.

 A species of  manakin, Machaeropterus eckelberryi, was discovered during a 1996 expedition to Peru. The bird was different from the local subspecies of striped manakin, but nearly identical to the subspecies (Machaeropterus regulus aureopectus) found in the distant Venezuelan tepuis. But  what divided it from other species was its distinctive voice.

This manakin’s song lacks undertones and has a one-noted rising vocalization, rather than two-noted falling vocalization with undertones or a falling monosyllabic vocalization with undertones.

 It was given the name Machaeropterus eckelberryi, commemorating the 20th century bird illustrator Don Eckelberry.  (Photo:  Kevin Berkoff)

Another lovely Peruvian bird is the Inti tananger. The species is named after the Incan sun god Inti, as a reference to its bright yellow plumage and its tendency to sing late into the morning when the sun is higher in the sky.  It breeds in and around the Machariapo Valley in western Bolivia from roughly November to March, then disperses northward along the east slope of Andes into southern Peru. It inhabits forest that has a large amount of bamboo in the understory. Its song, given from an elevated perch, is a jaunty up-and-down series that could be roughly transcribed as “pretty bird, pretty bird…” or “so pretty, so pretty…” It only sings on its breeding grounds, and is otherwise very shy, secretive and hard to see.

Another lovely species is the Cordillera Azul antbird (Myrmoderus eowilsoni). It has been found only in the Cordillera Azul, San Martín Region, of Peru where its natural habitat is humid montane forest. It was described only in 2018 by Andre Moncrieff and colleagues and given the name Myrmoderus eowilsoni. to honor the American naturalist Edward Osborne Wilson (who spent his life studying ants- not birds).

The antbirds are found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. This genus consists of more than 200 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, and bushbirds. Most species live in forests, although a few are found in other habitats. I remember them from my time in Peru. 

I look forward to finding more species to study (in a book of course).

CHRISTMAS STAMPS- AROUND THE WORLD

                                                   

Christmas stamps, as we know them are not that old. It is a matter of debate as to which was the first Christmas stamp. The Canadian map stamp of 1898 bears an inscription "XMAS 1898", but it was actually issued to mark the inauguration of the Imperial Penny Postage rate.    

The Christmas connection has long been reported to have been the result of quick thinking; William Mulock was proposing that it be issued on 9 November, to "honor the Prince" (meaning the Prince of Wales), but when Queen Victoria asked "what Prince?" in a displeased manner, Mulock realized the danger, and answered "Why, madam, the Prince of Peace."

 In 1935, British Forces troops stationed in Egypt were issued with a Christmas stamp for their mail home.

In 1937, Austria issued two "Christmas greeting stamps" featuring a rose and zodiac signs. In 1939, Brazil issued four semi-postal stamps with designs featuring the three kings and a star, an angel and child, the Southern Cross and a child, and a mother and child.

In 1941 Hungary also issued a semi-postal whose additional fees were to pay for "soldiers' Christmas". The first stamps to depict the Nativity were the Hungary issue of 1943. These were all one-time issues, more like commemorative stamps than regular issues.

 The next Christmas stamps did not appear until 1951, when Cuba issued designs with poinsettias and bells, followed by Haiti (1954), Luxembourg and Spain (1955), then Australia, South Korea, and Liechtenstein (1957). In cases such as Australia, the issuance marked the first of what became an annual tradition.   

 Many more nations took up the practice during the 1960s, including the United States (1962) and United Kingdom (1966).   By the 1990s, approximately 160 postal administrations were issuing Christmas stamps, mostly on an annual basis.

Ukraine 2021 stamp combined both religious and historical motifs, as we can see Jesus and his mother Mary, as well as the Cossacks and Volodymyr the Great, a ruler of Kievan Rus' and a person who Christianized it. The stamp was designed by the artist Mykola Kochubei.

AUSTRALIAN CHRISTMAS

When looking for Christmas foreign stamps, I came across this artist, who happened to die on Christmas day 2019  at the age of 99.  

LEOPOLDINE POLDI MIMOVICH was born in 1920 and grew up in the village of Sankt Johann in the Pongau region of Austria (now a part of Italy). Her father was an artist and she learned much from working with him.  Her first husband, who she met at age 16, died in the war. 

She studied sculpting in Vienna and then later at the School of Wood Sculpture in Hallstatt from 1943 to 1949. She married Ljubisa (Leo) Mimovich, a Serbian, who had been held in a prisoner of war camp near Leopoldine's village. When the couple were married Leopoldine lost her Austrian citizenship and so had to emigrate. 

She and Lou initially applied to migrate to America, where her aunt was living. Their application took so long to process, they applied to migrate to Australia. They had one daughter, Gabrielle.

Arriving in Melbourne, after much difficulty, Leopoldine went to work in a shirt factory and Lou at Hoffman's brickworks. Leopoldine then moved to Myer department store where she worked in the furniture carving department for a number of years.  During this time she also began doing commissioned carvings. Throughout this time she found the industry to discriminate against women, whose work was less respected and financially undervalued.

Leopoldine and Leo finally purchased a house in the Melbourne eastern suburbs where she set up her studio and undertook commissions which reflected her Austrian traditions and Catholic background.

Over time her work evolved into a more impressionistic, free- flowing form, adopting local materials such as Huon pine.  When she could no longer sculpt in her late 80s she took up painting icons which she was able to do into her mid 90s.  Her works are represented in numerous churches and public buildings around the country.

Her crucifixes grace the walls of the Mawson Inter-Denominational chapel in the Antarctic and the United Nations building in New York. Other works are in England, the United States, Germany, Japan, Korea, Honolulu and New Guinea.

In these joyous paintings, the traditional Christmas story of the birth of Christ is presented in an Australian setting, complete with a rich array of native flora and fauna. 

The 65c stamp shows a calmly Madonna and Child amid the colorful Australian bush and an array of native flora, including Banksia wattle, eucalypt and waratah. 

Various animals, such as a magpie. kookaburra, owl, koala, possum, wallaby, sulphur-crested cockatoo, and parrots are perched in the foliage, paying homage to the Christ Child. 

The international stamp, $2.60, shows the more domestic scene of Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. Their setting suggests the manger but, instead of the traditional cattle and sheep, they are surrounded  by native animals and their young in the bush.

It was fun for me to see the birds and animals I had seen in the wild some 15 years ago.

CHRISTMAS STAMP- A TRADITION IN USA

 

Soon people all over the world will be sending out Christmas cards, in spite of so many now sending via the internet. I thought this Advent it would be interesting to find religious stamps from other countries

Every year since 1966,  the United States has issued a religious Christmas stamp, usually of the Madonna and Child. Most are found in a US museum, and many are by Old World masters.

2020 was  Our Lady of Guapulo (18th century), unknown artist from Cuzco, Peru, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. Enrobed in a pyramidal gown speckled with jewels and holding a scepter woven with roses and leaves, a crowned Virgin Mary looks down at a similarly adorned Christ Child in her left arm. A red rosary ropes across the center of her dress and down to her right. Cost of stamp was 60 cents.

But the first religious theme caused the Post Office Department some difficulty. An assistant to the PMG demonstrated this concern when he wrote to a lawyer, on March 22, 1966, “This would be the most religious design we have ever used on a postage stamp and we would like an opinion from your office as to whether a stamp based on this painting would violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.” It was the lovely Madonna and Child by the Flemish artist, Hans Memling.  Note it cost a mere 5 cents.  Long gone are those days.

Perhaps my favorite Christmas stamp was 2009 Tiepolo Madonna of the Goldfinch (c. 1767), which is in our National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.