My dear readers, this is what is on my mind today, as my first offering after passing through the Holy Door at Saint Peter’s Basilica…
Anything you can’t take with you is not your life.
And on this feast of Saint Margaret Mary…
Let Us Remember D-Day (and little-known WWII stories)
I realized when I saw “D-Day” on my calendar today, that I never learned much about this historical day which turned the tide of World War II. So I embarked on some research which spiraled in several directions…
I personally have a deep connection to WWII and have done lots of research on Nazi Germany over the years, which led me to discovering the Catholic martyr, Fr. Alfred Delp. My father, named Joseph, was almost killed by a shrapnel bomb, as a recruit of the “Seabees”. I think he was performing an operation, disengaging these land mines, when this happened. I remember the horrifying scars on his back. I remember the dramatic blue and red tattoo on his arm. I remember his Navy hat in the hallway closet.
The Seabees (cleverly taken from “CB,” Construction Battalion) were Navy soldier engineers/builders/craftsmen, formed specifically for WWII and its unique challenges (they would also conduct clean-up in destroyed areas). The USA needed to establish infrastructure around the world and these were the highly qualified men to do it. Not only did they have to build, but build as covertly as possible. Many of these guys were both tough and intellectual, knowing how to wield a gun while doing calculus in their heads! Those who knew my father would laugh, as this is exactly who he was, perfect for the job, a macho Sicilian from Brooklyn who went on to design machines for factories. Apparently, he was recruited as an electrical engineering student of the Illinois Institute of Technology (this is what I have gleaned, as he passed when I was very young).
My father told the story of a little-known suicide mission in the Philippines, undertaken by his courageous fellow Seabees. If he had volunteered himself, you would not be reading these words. This was one war story which seemed to imprint itself indelibly upon his heart. And this may be the first time it has ever publicly been told. I won’t be able to get the technicalities right, so I won’t try. It was an effort to disrupt Japanese communication systems, which were electrically dependent. The engineer had to go into an electrical box and blow it up, dying in the process.
Here is a recent article honoring the Seabees, which are still in existence and also played a role in the D-Day invasion. Today, they do all the same work, only it’s more high-tech and they also are called to help after natural disasters…
“From erecting entire bases in the jungles of Vietnam to constructing floating causeways for D-Day landings, the Seabees have pulled off some of the most audacious engineering feats in military history. Their work has enabled some of the most crucial missions in modern warfare…Beyond the battlefield, former Seabees have gone on to revolutionize the civilian construction industry, carrying their skills and discipline into the world of infrastructure development. Despite their vital role, the Seabees often remain in the shadows of military history. Their contributions deserve more recognition, as they are the foundation—literally—of countless military victories. The Seabee ethos is one of resilience, innovation, and determination.”
Blood, Sweat, and Concrete: Inside the World of the Seabees
USN for Life ~ you can get cool gear here too!
Moving on to another story, my father’s brother, Uncle Sal, was one of the survivors of the sinking of the “Sammy B” ship off the coast of the Philippines. Most of the crew survived, but had to swim in shark waters for 3 days. I should not have to tell you what my uncle and the other men witnessed and suffered in those 3 days. He was so traumatized, he lost his voice for a time. Salvatore went on to become Chief Architect of Walt Disney World in Florida, influencing a generation of architects. After seeing the absolute worst life could offer up, he dedicated himself to the creation of a fantasy paradise…also, a little-known story of American 20th-century history.
Back to D-Day, the largest sea invasion in history, here’s an article from yesterday, which includes video footage and a pep-talk by Eisenhower…
“By being able to get forces into Normandy, the Allies were able to begin their advance into northwest Europe. Though World War II lasted nearly another year in Europe, the success of Operation Overlord led to the liberation of France and allowed the Allies to fight the Germans in Nazi-occupied Europe. The US’ National World War II Museum says that a good way to appreciate the significance of D-Day is to imagine what would have happened if the operation had failed. According to the museum, another landing would have not been possible for at least a year. In this time, Hitler could have strengthened Nazi-occupied Europe’s coastal defenses, developed aircraft and weapons, bombed the UK even more heavily and continued his killing campaign.”
What is D-Day? How the Normandy landings led to Germany’s defeat in World War II
CNN World
Let us pray for those who lost their lives on D-Day, on both the Allied and Axis sides, and for their families who suffered with so much grief…and for all the souls touched by that terrible war. Let us pray for mercy for the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Let us seek to console Our Lord’s Heart for these crimes. Though this is said to have ended the war, we know as Catholics, civilians may never be targeted. I would also like to remember my husband’s Uncle Harry, a young man killed in Germany in WWII.
As we approach Pentecost…
“Come Holy Ghost, fill the hearts of Thy faithful and kindle in them the fire of Thy love. Send forth Thy Spirit and they shall be created. And Thou shalt renew the face of the earth.”
May peace reign in Holy Church and throughout the world!
Let Me Introduce Myself
After 6 years on this blog, maybe it’s time to tell you a bit about me. Here goes my life story (sorry, there is only one version…the long one)…
Chiara Florence Mathews
I started life in Levittown, New York, in the late 60’s. This was the first of William J. Levitt’s idyllic post WWII communities. My formative years were a beautiful initiation into this world. To a degree, my personality was formed by Levitt’s vision. I have never lost, through great trials, that spirit of beauty, order and exuberance that Levittown gave me. Of course, I also must credit my loving parents. Though not devout, they sent me to Catholic school and gave me some understanding of the Faith.
It all went south when my father died of heart attack when I was barely 7 years old. My mother was left confused and helpless, with 3 children still at home (my oldest brother was already out of the house). 2 years later, she married a Jewish man and we lived a strange dual-religion life, with Judaism being predominant. This led to spending several months in a communal “ulpan” in Beersheba, Israel, when I was 10 years old. It was an incredible thing visiting the Holy Land at such a young age and it changed the direction of my thinking and my understanding of the world. I remember walking across the desert to the bus station (quite a walk) and thinking, “Maybe Jesus walked in this very spot.” We spent a few days in Jerusalem and visited the Western Wall of the Temple, the significance of which I did not comprehend. As is customary, I wrote something and placed it within the wall. I have no idea what I wrote. This was nothing like a pleasure trip. The experience was fraught with difficulty and terror, peppered with moments of great wonder. I am deeply grateful for it and everything I learned about Judaism, which enriched my understanding of Catholicism and the life of Our Lord.
My teenage years were spent in New Jersey, in a spiritual search for truth and an immersion in music, creative writing and theater. I also took an interest in books about the future, as I had an inkling that we might be headed toward calamity. After making the rounds of Protestant churches and considering conversion to Mormonism, a friend invited me to come to the city with his family, to see a priest they knew. This priest was none other than one of the greatest Catholic theologians of the 20th century, Fr. John A. Hardon (there is now a cause for his canonization). To me, he was just a nice old man. I spent a few minutes privately with him and confided that I was confused. The only thing I remember him saying is, “Pray the Rosary every day.” He handed me blue plastic Rosary beads, which I cherish to this day. Through the same friend, I met my future husband, from a devout Catholic family. He was able to explain all the things about Catholicism which I did not understand. I made the decision at the age of 18 to return in fullness to the Catholic Faith.
At Glassboro State College (now Rowan University), NJ, I majored in music. After meeting Fr. Michael T. Mannion, famed for his work in post-abortion healing and the director of the campus Newman Center, I started a pro-life club. We accomplished some great things, but received a lot of flack for it. I left to pursue my dream of becoming a singer/songwriter in Manhattan, but wound up working all the time to pay my rent. Eventually, I continued college at the State University of New York in Purchase. I was one of a group of winners in a recorded music competition, which gave me the opportunity to present my work on a CD put out by the college. This led to a meeting in the Sony building in the city, with a well-known producer. He likened one song to Leonard Cohen and was interested in working with me. I was supposed to record a few more things and come back. I never entered the Sony building again.
With John Paul II’s “Motu Proprio Ecclesia Dei" in 1988, my husband-to-be brought me to the Tridentine Mass. At the age of 21, just down the block from Grand Central Station, at Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s former parish, Saint Agnes, I wept while kneeling. Seeing what I had been deprived of growing up…The most beautiful thing this side of Heaven*, I was forever changed. In the ensuing years, this is where my spirituality and intellect would take shape, through the extraordinary oratory of theologians Fr. George Rutler and Fr. John Perricone. This is where we would be married. This is where our only child would be baptized.
Work during my 20’s included teaching music, a series of office jobs and a difficult position at Good Counsel as a live-in counselor at one of their homes for women and children. I got to know the director, Chris Bell, and his famous pro-life wife Joan Andrews Bell (I had sung 2 of my songs at their wedding reception prior to working there-Joan had asked me to do so, because she really liked a song I had sent her). Fr. Benedict Groeschel was part of the ministry and we would occasionally have retreats with him. My pro-life activism also led me to NYC’s pregnancy center pioneer Chris Slattery and sidewalk counseling at some of the worst clinics in the city. All this gave me life experience well beyond my young years.
From Levittown to the Negev Desert to the death camps on Main Street, it’s no wonder my music sounded like Leonard Cohen. But gradually, I realized Cohen’s “cold and broken Hallelujah” could not be mine. There was another “Hallelujah” which called me. And I began to see, looking at the Signs of the Times, that the jig was up anyway.
After 10 years together, I married the young man who helped me so much in the spiritual life. We had a beautiful big baby right away. I became ill with Chronic Fatigue Pain Syndrome, which I still suffer from. We bought a house on Long Island, not far from Levittown. In the past 20 years, I have continued with pro-life work, in addition to volunteering in various capacities (church, school and community garden projects). I have had training in preparedness/back to nature subjects, including the Cornell University Master Gardener class. I am also proud to have pioneered a program with a local Montessori school, which has introduced thousands of Long Island children to gardening, at the annual Huntington Tulip Festival. [Since the writing of this bio, I have been attending conferences in the Northeast US, dealing with preparedness and agrarianism…in addition to pioneering the “Eclipse Pilgrimage of Mercy,” which was nationally promoted. I am now receiving speaking and interview engagements and am looking to start parish meetings.]
I was very deeply affected by the terrible events of 9/11. As I learned more about what happened, I began to realize this was not the world I thought I was living in. There was something very wrong with the story and I had to get to the bottom of it. Hence my “truther” journey, which involved in-depth study of the control-structure of the world. This led to many esoteric topics. I have been connecting the dots for the past 2 decades, which prepared me for understanding the events of the past year [Covid] and the elements of deception and agenda involved.
Realizing, as I suspected long ago, that we are approaching volatile times, a new dream emerged, of creating a Catholic ministry to deal with the issues before us. I started a blog 13 years ago and this is the current version of it. The vision of Nomen Christi Apostolate started to form about 9 years ago, as ideas came into greater maturity, including my thesis of “The Authentic Life.” Simply stated, this is the way God intended us to live, close to nature and communal, which is also the safest, most self-reliant kind of life. The vision continues to evolve. It is my goal to move out of cyberspace and into the real world. I have become more interested in helping people to create rural refuge communities, apart from the culture. I touch on theology from time to time. I should say, I am not a theologian but I like to meditate on these topics. I have been influenced by the best of the best and I give them all the credit.
I might add that in terms of my community vision, I have lived in a variety of communal places, which has given me insight into how this type of living works (or doesn’t work). Not only the ulpan in Israel and Good Counsel Homes, but also single women’s residences and multi-generational living.
My husband is an Information Technology manager. I would never have been able to navigate the computer world without him, so he has been an integral part of this work. Our son has an engineering degree from the University of Southern California. Our Shihpoo Frankie (named after Saint Francis) has degrees in cuteness and begging.
As for music, I will sing with Saint Cecilia on a cloud one day…
PS What have I learned from it all? I’ve learned this.
* famous quote by Fr. Frederick Faber, 1814-1863