Category Archives: classical education

“The noblest and best music”

Posted on April 6, 2013 by marklangley

In light of the prior post we really can’t avoid asking the question “for what reasons did Socrates say that philosophy is the noblest and best of music?” As readers of the Phaedo are aware Socrates was alluding to the … Continue reading →

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The Hidden Harmony Is Better Than The Apparent Harmony.

Posted on April 4, 2013 by marklangley

One of Plato’s teachers was Cratylus who in turn was a disciple of Heraclitus who was the author of the title of this post: “The hidden harmony is better than the apparent harmony.” Not surprisingly the central character in Plato’s … Continue reading →

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Education And Second Thoughts

Posted on March 30, 2013 by marklangley

As often noted in this ‘little journal’ which is ostensibly about liberal education and the “formation of Catholic liberally educated ladies and gentlemen,” liberal education is supposedly something that frees students. I say “supposedly” because as a high school teacher, … Continue reading →

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The “Four Hymn Mass” Is Not The Church’s Vision.

Posted on March 27, 2013 by marklangley

Well… we have been discussing sacred music and its role in the liturgy, and it might occur to someone to ask “What does all this have to do with Catholic Classical Education?” and “Why are we spending so much time … Continue reading →

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Sacred Music and The Catholic School II

Posted on March 21, 2013 by marklangley

115. Great importance is to be attached to the teaching and practice of music in seminaries, in the novitiates and houses of study of religious of both sexes, and also in other Catholic institutions and schools. To impart this instruction, teachers … Continue reading →

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St. Francis On Liberal Education

Posted on March 16, 2013 by marklangley

Well call me a prophet! The very eve of the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as our new Pope Francis, the Holy Spirit must have moved me to quote St. Bonaventure speaking about whom? Why, of course, St Francis! Not … Continue reading →

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Finisque ab Origine Pendet

Posted on March 12, 2013 by marklangley

Incidentally, I haven’t read much of the Roman poet Manlius who “flourished” in the first century AD. But his famous line “Finisque ab origine pendet” from the fourth book of his Astronomicon appears to have been adopted by Phillips Exeter Academy as … Continue reading →

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Anaxagoras on Liberal Education

Posted on March 10, 2013 by marklangley

“Other things have a part of everything, but mind is unlimited and self-ruling and is mixed with nothing, but is itself alone by itself….” Anaxagoras, the great pre-Socratic philosopher who, Aristotle says, was like a sober man among drunkards was the … Continue reading →

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“This Pertains Most Of All To Human Nature”

Posted on March 9, 2013 by marklangley

Speaking of the Third Commandment and the relevance that it has to liberal education, we can do no better than to hear the Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman defend the very notion of “knowledge for its own sake.” This is the … Continue reading →

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Third Commandment: Remember to Have Leisure!

Posted on March 4, 2013 by marklangley

I was noticing the emphasis on the word “leisure” in The Catechism of the Catholic Church in reference to the Third commandment: Remember To Keep Holy the Sabbath. 2184 Just as God “rested on the seventh day from all his work … Continue reading →

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