Old alters

[MarkThompson]

Please translate for those of us who only know a few words in latin.

The written book will be proferred
In which all is contained,
When the world shall be judged.

Therefore when the judge shall sit
All that hides, shall appear
Nothing unpunished shall remain.
That was just a joke, though. Adeodatus tried to call down the wrath of God by cutting and pasting the first two stanzas of the Dies Irae (because you can’t get away with calling for God’s judgment upon people in English around here), then Acolythus Sum tried to do . . . something, by quoting the next two, which have nothing to do with anything, and it was all so ridiculous that I chimed in with the following two.

 

[malphono]

… and it was all so ridiculous that I chimed in with the following two.

If you’ll excuse this intrusion, it seems to me that it goes beyond ridiculous.

How many of the altars on e-bay actually contain the consecrated stone? And the accusations of simony? Such would only apply if the seller was a member of the faithful (and even then, only if the stone were intact and/or if the seller were aware that the altar had been consecrated) and was doing the sale in contradiction of what the seller knew was right.

 

[MarkThompson]

If you’ll excuse this intrusion, it seems to me that it goes beyond ridiculous.

How many of the altars on e-bay actually contain the consecrated stone? And the accusations of simony? Such would only apply if the seller was a member of the faithful (and even then, only if the stone were intact and/or if the seller were aware that the altar had been consecrated) and was doing the sale in contradiction of what the seller knew was right.

This is true. I don’t particularly approve of the sale or destruction of old altars (though destruction is to be preferred to sale, right?), but the refrain of “These evildoers are doing Satan’s work / May God condemn them!” which crops up frequently on these forums is pretty tiresome. I thought doing it in Latin was clever, but then to quote the next two utterly unrelated stanzas (“The trumpet, a wondrous sound scattering / Through the sepulchers of the regions”) like it meant something or was some sort of magical Latin incantation was so hilariously bizarre that I thought it called for a response.

 

[malphono]

This is true. I don’t particularly approve of the sale or destruction of old altars (though destruction is to be preferred to sale, right?)

Good question. Destruction is rather final, but in a sale there is a chance (perhaps a remote one, but a chance nonetheless) that such an altar might again be used for its intended purpose. Then, again, it might end up as someone’s backyard bbq sideboard, to which destruction is indeed preferable.

but the refrain of “These evildoers are doing Satan’s work / May God condemn them!” which crops up frequently on these forums is pretty tiresome. I thought doing it in Latin was clever, but then to quote the next two utterly unrelated stanzas (“The trumpet, a wondrous sound scattering / Through the sepulchers of the regions”) like it meant something or was some sort of magical Latin incantation was so hilariously bizarre that I thought it called for a response.

And the response was classic!