Some history for today.

Today (July 12) is the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne.  Sort of.  The opposing sides also had two opposing calendars, the Irish Catholics the Gregorian and the British Protestants the Julian, so the anniversary could also be said to be July 1st.

William of Orange came out on top of the battle, and Seamus Acaca would flee and end his days in exile.  In the years following the battle, Irish Protestants would wear Orange in commemoration of their victory.  This habit would lead in the late 1700's to the creation of the Orange Lodge.  The Lodge would spread to all corners of the Empire, but took a very special hold in what is now Ontario, and in particular the city of Toronto, where the Lodge would never pass up a change to remind the Catholics just who was in charge here.

Doors to heaven

In this video I take a break from discussing history to instead discuss some religious iconography, specifically why Catholic Churches often have a bull, a lion, an angel, and an eagle depicted and why placement matters.

A forgotten memorial

A short video I shot about an old, slowly disintegrating memorial in Toronto raised in honour of the men who fought the Battle of Limeridge in 1866 and raised by the longstanding nemesis of Catholics in Toronto, the Orange Lodge.

Where everything changed.

Another one of my videos.  Here I talk about an event I have mentioned many times on this blog- the arrival of the famine Irish in 1847- at the place where it happened.

Where the Bodies are Buried, 1.

 

For some reason, YouTube will not allow me to share my short videos to Blogger.  Here is the link to my little video about the burial place of the famine Irish in Toronto. The link doesn't even go live, so if you could be so kind to copy and paste.

https://youtube.com/shorts/u8qmDqhbPng?si=6RUUqa7lfEbHDo2C

Not where it began.

I recently started a YouTube channel wherein I have been posting short videos about history (mostly Toronto's thus far).  My videos are so far me visiting some of the places around the city and discussing their (usually) lost or forgotten history.  They are shot on my phone and thus far I haven't been editing them, so you can hear the wind, people and cars passing by, bells ringing, etc.   I was going to post a short video about a wall, but for some reason I couldn't share that to blogger, so I am sharing this one instead. If you are so inclined, drop by and watch a few. 

We have a Pope

Robert Prevost took the name of  Leo XIV.  

Let us remember him in our prayers.