Good morning, it’s Wednesday and we’re somehow already at the end of September. Spooky season is right around the corner.
The Catholic Church has an abundance of feasts – quite literally hundreds of them, all of which have different liturgical ranks (basically levels of importance and observance).
At the top of the list are the Solemnities, which celebrate major mysteries of faith or principal saints, and include holidays like Christmas. Easter, meanwhile, is the “Solemnity of Solemnities” (AKA the “Feast of Feasts”), as it commemorates the resurrection of Christ.
A Solemnity mass includes recitation of the Gloria and the Creed plus extra scripture readings and might also start with a vigil mass the night before. Adding to the complexity here, not all Solemnities are holy days of obligation (days when attending mass is mandatory and work is supposed to be avoided, such as on the Sabbath), though all holy days of obligation ARE Solemnities.
Next up are the feasts, which honor specific aspects of the Christian mystery, titles of Jesus or Mary, or universally significant saints like the Apostles and Archangels. For feast day masses, the Gloria is recited but the Creed is omitted.
And finally, come the memorials, which commemorates all the saints on the calendar who didn’t get a feast day. Memorials can be either obligatory (the whole Church observes) or optional (up to the discretion of the celebrant).
Confused yet? It seems like lot to keep straight, but perhaps that’s because I’m on the outside looking in. I’m sure the whole Jewish calendar makes no sense to those who aren’t Jews.
So today is the Feast of Saint Jerome, which is an obligatory memorial. Saint Jerome is perhaps best known for translating the Bible into Latin directly from Hebrew instead of using the Greek translations. This version, known as the Vulgate, became the official standard text for the Roman Catholic Church.
Not surprisingly, given that pedigree, Jerome is the patron saint of librarians, translators, biblical scholars and students (he was also a Doctor of the Church – one of four) and (this one was a bit out of left field for me until I learned of his work digging and researching in holy sites in Bethlehem) archeologists.
Aside from his scholarship, Saint Jerome was known for a not-so-positive trait: His bad temper. He had a brilliant mind, yes, but also a very sharp tongue, a sarcastic wit, and a habit of calling out his fellow Christians, which explains how he also came to be the patron saint of curmudgeons, grumpy people, and those who have trouble curbing their own anger.
The more I learn about this guy, the more I like him. Crack a book – a real, dead tree one! – or visit a local library today in his honor.
It’s going to be another mostly cloudy day, though the sun might deign to make an appearance in the morning. It will be comfortable from a temperatures perspective, with highs hovering around 70 degrees.
In the headlines…
U.S. forces formally withdrew from Iraq today, ending a two-decade military presence that stoked years of devastating bloodshed and leaves behind a battered nation struggling to unshackle itself from its two most powerful, and now warring, allies.
Republican senators blocked a Democratic attempt to bring up a resolution that would force the Trump administration to report on violence and human rights violations occurring in the West Bank.
Democrats in Congress are increasingly adopting a more punitive approach to dealing with Israel, taking steps that suggest they would pursue sanctions for building new settlements and other actions against the Jewish state if they win majorities in November.
A clash in the cockpit of an airliner flying from Dubai to Tel Aviv this morning prompted Israel and Saudi Arabia to scramble fighter jets in fear of a hijacking, officials said.
An Israeli official says “major disaster avoided” after the pilot stabbed his co-pilot, attempted to hijack aircraft with over 100 Israeli passengers; Israelis on board helped subdue would-be hijacker.
Passengers described to Israeli news outlets a terrifying melee that left one crew member bleeding from a stab wound and ended with his attacker subdued by passengers. The plane landed safely at a civil-military airport in Tabuk, in northwestern Saudi Arabia.
The Treasury Department will automatically enroll millions of children in Trump Accounts under new rules released Tuesday, eliminating the need for parents to sign up for the investment program.
The auto enrollment will create accounts for more than 60 million additional children under the age of 18, according to department guidance.
The grieving Westchester parents of Sheridan Gorman, a Loyola University student allegedly killed by an illegal migrant, endorsed incumbent GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in a new TV ad, ripping his Democratic opponent Cait Conley for backing sanctuary policies.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is demanding a probe into how Cornell University responded to “horrifying” gang-rape accusations against seven frat brothers — while Ithaca’s mayor wants to nix city permits for the Ivy League school’s Greek life and other student activities.
The governor said in part that she is seeking to determine whether “Cornell met every obligation to protect its students and pursue justice.”
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin backed an upstate New York district attorney’s 2024 decision to not bring charges against several Cornell University fraternity brothers accused of gang raping a fellow student in an explosive new lawsuit.
The lawyer for the woman allegedly gang-raped by Cornell University frat brothers said that he may ask a judge to appoint a special prosecutor to the case, alleging gross bungling by the DA.
District Attorney Matthew Van Houten said a woman’s report to police in 2024 saying she had been raped at a fraternity did not support a criminal case. But he said he is now reaching out to her.
The student newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, covered the allegations of rape at a fraternity party since they were first made in 2024 and led the reporting on the case.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman unveiled a major campaign platform Tuesday — a proposal that would effectively wipe out income taxes for most New Yorkers.
Hochul’s re-election campaign and the New York State Democratic Party are heading into the final stretch of election season with more than $33 million combined in cash on hand after raising $8.4 million during the September filing period.
“Governor Hochul’s campaign and the state Democratic Party are headed into the final stretch of this race with unprecedented firepower,” Hochul campaign manager Preston Elliott said in a statement.
Hochul’s campaign announced Tuesday that it raised more than $8.5 million in contributions during the most recent reporting period, including more than $2.6 million for her reelection campaign.
New York’s race for governor is picking up speed as Election Day draws closer, with the two major-party candidates highlighting different priorities.
After the New York State Education Department denied a request from U.S. News for A.P. scores, perennially top-ranked schools plummeted.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration was dealt a blow Tuesday as a judge ruled the city must scrap its bungled rollout of the new pied-à-terre tax and start anew.
Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi ruled the city was both “arbitrary” and “capricious” when it mailed notices to more than 1,000 New Yorkers who were not actually subject to the tax on luxury second homes in the Big Apple.
“City Hall botched this rollout and should have just admitted the errors and fixed its own mistake, instead of wasting time and taxpayer dollars by fighting it in court,” said Randy Mastro, a lawyer for the homeowner plaintiffs and a former city official.
Within hours of the decision, the city filed court papers saying it would appeal — a move that would place the ruling on hold until an appellate court weighs in.
A city official said the appeal invoked the “auto stay,” which under New York law allows the city to continue with its implementation of the tax on second homes worth more than $5 million and puts Ozzi’s ruling on hold.
Also Tuesday, Suffolk County homeowners and a co-op sued the state over the pied-à-terre tax, arguing it “unlawfully discriminates against nonresidents, applies retroactively, and imposes unconstitutional burdens on homeowners and cooperative buildings.”
Casino mogul Steve Wynn and former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross joined the legal fight to halt the pied-a-terre tax, arguing the surcharge is unconstitutional because it discriminates against people who don’t primarily live in the state.
The NYPD is reviewing hundreds of instances in which officers used Flock Safety, a controversial nationwide license plate reader network that uses artificial intelligence, the department said Tuesday.
Mamdani rolled out his plan to fight antisemitism, but still refuses to adopt a formal definition of anti-Jewish hate or acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state.
Throughout the 35-page report, Mamdani’s administration details how it intends to take on antisemitism, including with tens of millions of dollars it has already allocated for hate crime prevention, as well as programs to continue celebrating Jewish traditions.
City Hall’s strategy, largely a pared-down version of ex-Mayor Eric Adams’ policy framework, invests $26 million in the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes, another $6.4 million for the Partners Against the Hate grants, along with $1 million in security.
“For generations, Jewish New Yorkers have sustained our city,” Mamdani said in a video accompanying the report. He ticked off accomplishments by famed Jews and Jewish institutions, like the composer Leonard Bernstein and Katz’s Delicatessen in Manhattan.
Mamdani suggested he didn’t approve of the NYPD’s decision last week to deploy a controversial protest response unit to arrest scores of demonstrators, including several of his own political allies. But he didn’t try to stop the deployment, either.
Citywide bus speeds hit 8.5 miles per hour in August, which is the quickest buses have moved through the city in four years, amid Mayor Mamdani and the MTA’s sweeping campaign to improve bus service.
What was supposed to have been a major economic development achievement for Mamdani has instead led to frustration from Bronx officials who are scrambling to try to salvage a transformative project.
A day after New York Times journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones publicly challenged Mamdani to confront school segregation, the mayor offered his first response to her account of the harm her daughter experienced in segregated schools.
New York City lawmakers today are set to discuss more than 20 proposals that would regulate electric bikes and scooters, after a series of fatal collisions.
New York City sanitation officials plan to jack up fines on the owners of dirty vacant lots in an effort to cut down on the trashy eyesores.
Disgraced music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is reportedly living high and large inside the Fort Dix federal prison in New Jersey — with access to a cellphone, booze and people catering to his every need.
A judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Adirondack Park Agency, some of its representatives and a hearing officer, over the vote to hold a special hearing on testing howitzers in the town of Lewis.
Measles is spiking in Otsego County, where health officials reported the highest number of infections statewide as cases of the infectious disease continue to rise in Central and Western New York.
A 50-year-old Schenectady home health aide who neglected her disabled father to the point of starvation faces up to 14 years behind bars after a jury found her guilty of endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person.
The tax levy in the Town of Rotterdam could rise by a staggering 34% next year – a spike proposed by first-year town Supervisor John Polimeni amid a financial quagmire he has blamed on his predecessor, Mollie Collins.
After spending days wandering in Rensselaer County, a bull moose’s journey ended Tuesday afternoon when a state Department of Environmental Conservation officer hit him with a tranquilizer dart.
Photo credit: George Fazio.
