Party Vibe

In both Catholic junior schools I attended although they were (then) a bit shy about teaching kids about “the birds and the bees“; the sisters and the secular teachers (all more full on feminist lefty hippies than I even encountered at my non religous high school) always taught us to respect nature and often mentioned that bees were especially holy; good for the environment and beneficial to humans they would not sting you if you didn’t harrass them.

Just looked up the chemicals mentioned in the bees honey and they are also present in various flowers that the bees would pollinate; extracts from these flowers and/or honey often went into beer and stronger drink once widely obtainable via European monasteries and convents before the Reformation (although some of these brews pre-date Christianity and were inherited from “Paganism/New Age” or original Germanic religions and cultures).

It may not be coincidence either that folk who drank this stuff regularly (but in reasonable moderation) would not be harmed but inspired to go wandering about mountains in peace with nature (others would be frightened of Bears etc) and more inclined to believe there is all sorts else than the earthly world present amongst us 😉

in the 900s it was not uncommon to pray to bees (from the Vatican Library) although this implies there was some sort of “bee whisperer” types who would need to be quite chilled out to avoid getting stung and convince a swarm of wild bees to enter whatever hives/enclosures were provided; although if they had a quiet area full with suitable flowers it would not be impossible..

(old high German)

Kirst, imbi ist hûcze
Nû fliuc dû, vihu mînaz, hera
Fridu frôno in munt godes
gisunt heim zi comonne

Sizi, sizi bîna
Inbôt dir sancte Maria
Hurolob ni habe dû
Zi holce ni flûc dû

Noh dû mir nindrinnês
Noh dû mir nintuuinnêst
Sizi vilu stillo
Uuirki godes uuillon

Hochdeutsch
Christ, der Bienenschwarm ist hier draußen!
Nun fliegt, ihr meine Bienen, kommt.
Im Frieden des Herren, unter dem Schutz Gottes
kommt gesund zurück.

Sitzt, sitzt, Bienen.
Der Befehl kommt von der Jungfrau Maria.
Ihr habt keinen Urlaub.
Fliegt nicht in den Wald.

Weder sollt ihr von mir entgleiten.
Oder vor mir flüchten.
Sitzt im absolut Stillen
und erfüllt Gottes Willen.

English (a version of this was also used by “Pagan” Anglo/Saxons)

Christ, the bee swarm is out here!
Now fly, you my animals, come.
In the Lord’s peace, in God’s protection,
come home in good health.

Sit, sit bees.
The command to you from the Holy Mary.
You have no vacation;
Don’t fly into the woods;

Neither should you slip away from me.
Nor escape from me.
Sit completely still.
Do God’s will.

He doesn’t have to (nor do priests or nuns); although they are all encouraged to learn and regularly use more than one language (this can apparently delay mental deterioration in middle age and beyond and seemed to work for the local nuns where I lived as many of them were able to teach in schools well into their 70s and 80s).

Currently Pope Francis either uses a full size Bible or Missal on a traditional lectern (for special occasions such as reading prayers for the refugees) but uses just 2 sheets of A4 paper for the daily audiences; which must be in relatively small type – many men his age would struggle to read this even with spectacles or hold the paper steady.

Robes/habits are well supplied with large pockets which can house not just a medium size Bible plus other various prayer books as well as agendas and miscellaneous items including 40 cigarettes and 1980s era bottles of European sherry, that are bulbous in shape and around 80mm wide at the bottom – the priest and all the sisters who frequented the shop I worked at thus proved their holiness as they could easily have nicked many bottles without being noticed…

Taking psychedelic drugs is not classed as a mortal sin in mainland Europe (the catechism in current use outside the Anglosphere conveniently predates UN prohibition law anyway) and even contravening domestic law is not a mortal sin if such law can be proven as unjust in the first place (a lot of the nuns were active on the peace convoy, anti nuclear protests and all sorts else in the 80s). Not sure if the honey at Castel Gandolfo where the Popes 500 000 bees are kept (these produce 280 000 metric tons of the stuff per year) is as psychedelic but there has been “mad honey” reported in AT and CH. It was once popular in Europe as a recreational substance but will make you quite ill if you eat too much so has been replaced by modern stuff…

For the same reason any other Christian would; you are encouraged to read it but not actually expected to memorise the whole lot (or may wish to read it in a different language to your normal one).

Anglicans and some Muslims seem to have a trend of encouraging rote learning of verses (which is a big factor to younger people getting discouraged from religion or drawn towards extremism) and other Protestants dumb down their versions of the bible and leave out whole bits.

Even Pope Francis isn’t likely to rest an Ipad or similar tablet on the lectern; unlike real books they run out of power or crash at inconvenient times (there was some court case recently with Apple and Apples own lawyer had his Ipad crash during the middle of it and had to use a printout of his notes..)