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A small leather case containing a fragment of bone claimed to be a relic of St Clement, a pope who was martyred almost 2,000 years ago, has been found in rubbish collected from central London. The waste disposal firm is now appealing for suggestions from the public for a more suitable final resting place for a saint than a bin. The box, originally sealed with red wax and tied with crimson cords, contained a scrap of bone under a glass dome, with a faded strip of paper labelling it “Oss. S Clementis” – bone of St Clement. St Clement is...

On St. Clement of Rome"The Church Has a Sacramental, Not Political Structure"VATICAN CITY, MARCH 7, 2007 (ZENIT.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address at today's general audience. The Pope is beginning a new cycle of catecheses on the Apostolic Fathers, starting with St. Clement of Rome. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters, During the past few months we have meditated upon the figures of each individual apostle and the first witnesses of the Christian faith, those mentioned in the New Testament writings. Now, we will turn our attention to the Apostolic Fathers, that is, to the first...

November 23, 2004Tuesday of the Thirty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time Reading IRev 14:14-19 I, John, looked and there was a white cloud,and sitting on the cloud one who looked like a son of man,with a gold crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.Another angel came out of the temple,crying out in a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud,"Use your sickle and reap the harvest,for the time to reap has come,because the earth's harvest is fully ripe."So the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth,and the earth was...

November 23, 2002Saturday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time Psalm: Saturday Week 49 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Gospel Reading IRev 11:4-12 I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:Here are my two witnesses:These are the two olive trees and the two lampstandsthat stand before the Lord of the earth.If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouthsand devours their enemies.In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.They have the power to close up the skyso that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.They also have power...

THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES, OR THE METAPHYSICS OF MUSIC . . . According to tradition, the harmonic structure of music was discovered by Pythagoras about the fifth century B.C. Pythagoras experimented with a stretched piece of cord. When plucked, the cord sounded a certain note. When halved in length and plucked again, the cord sounded a higher note completely consonant with the first. In fact, it was the same note at a higher pitch. Pythagoras had discovered the ration 2:1, of the octave. Further experiments, plucking the strings two-thirds of its original length produced a perfect fifth in the...