1609
The first thing George Frideric Handel’s oratorio ‘Messiah’ did was to set a hundred and forty-two prisoners free.
George Frideric Handel’s Oratorio ‘Messiah’ tells the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, entirely through quotations from the Bible. Its premiere was given in Dublin during the Lenten fast, and from the very beginning it touched hearts and changed lives.
Picture: © Steve Evans, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1610
Fate and a vicious professional thief named Fagin conspire to trap orphan Oliver Twist into a life of crime.
‘Oliver Twist, or, The Parish-Boy’s Progress’ is a novel by Charles Dickens. First published in February 1837, it has been dramatised for film and TV many times, and turned into a popular musical named ‘Oliver!’. Here is the first part of a two-part summary of the plot.
Picture: © Derek Harper, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1611
The proof of Thomas Ferres’s rags-to-riches tale is quite literally written in stone, but popular lore adds some tantalising and romantic detail.
The rags-to-riches story of Thomas Ferres (d. 1631) has blended fact with a good deal of romantic fiction. But Thomas was a real historical figure, and however he came by his wealth, the way he used it to help the poor and vulnerable is deeply moving.
Picture: © Simon Armstrong, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1612
Josiah Wedgwood, a village potter whose disability meant he could not use a potter’s wheel, brought about a quiet revolution in English society.
The rich have always had nice things; what changed in the eighteenth century was that, because of private enterprise and the industrial revolution, the poor started to share them too. Josiah Wedgwood was one of the pioneers who changed the lives of the poor for the better.
Picture: © Derek Harper, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 4.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1613
Anti-Christian governments don’t make us free, they just impose their own, illiberal morality.
Edmund Burke MP explained to the new secularist French Revolutionaries that if you reject Christian self-control, the government will impose its own morality, and then you won’t be free anymore.
Picture: © Martin, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015
1614
A warning not to be forgetful of others, even in triumph.
King Minos of Crete reneged on a promise to sacrifice a white bull to Poseidon, and it went mad. Heracles captured it, but that was not the end of the story...
Picture: © tango7174, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC-BY-SA 3.0.. Source.
Posted March 13 2015