In terms of the calendar, October is packed with important and interesting stuff. The feast day of St. Francis on the 4th. The feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on the anniversary of the battle of Lepanto on the 7th. Sts. John Henry Newman on the 9th, Ignatius of Antioch on the 17th, and John Paul II on the 22nd. The anniversary of the miracle of Fatima on the 13th. And this Saturday, the 28th, MILVIAN BRIDGE DAY!!

Yay - I know you are all frantically getting ready for your Milvian Bridge Day parties, but in case anyone missed this lecture in Church History class, the battle of the Milvian Bridge is the one where Constantine defeated his rival to become emperor of the western empire. It's also the one where he had a dream or vision of the sign of Christ, and heard the heavenly Voice say, "In this sign, (you will) conquer!" This victory led to the legalization of Christianity in the next year.

Now, the "sign" may have been the cross (and in some versions of the story, it is), but it was probably the monogram of Christ, perhaps superimposed on a cross. The monogram is the first two letters of Christos in Greek, that is, the letter Chi (looks like an X and includes both the C and the H from the English "Christ" ), and the letter Rho (looks like a P). So the monogram (not Jesus' initials, exactly, but more like an abbreviation), would look like the photo here.

So how will you celebrate Milvian Bridge Day? I checked online and I can't find where the parades are. None of my neighbors invited me over for a costume party (Tammy and I were going to go as Constantine's horse). But that's OK because we will be celebrating the baptism of our grandson, Zachary James, and Tammy and I will be the godparents. So, just a reminder, we won't have The Journey this Saturday, but we will have The Piazza on Sunday evening. So I won't see you on Saturday this week, but I hope you have a very merry Milvian Bridge Day, and a happy All Hallows Eve.