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reetings from Australia. 

Welcome to this Red-Letter Day. Below you will find today's global celebrations, birthdays and events.

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Pip Wilson

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Today is

Fortune favours the brave.
Virgil; The Aeneid

Each of us bears his own Hell.
Virgil; ibid

It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air – there's the rub, the task.
Virgil; ibid

Yield not to evils, but attack all the more boldly.
Virgil; Eclogues 

Trust one who has gone through it.
Virgil; ibid

It was at Rome, on the 15th of October 1764, as I sat musing amid the ruins of the capitol, while the bare-footed friars were singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter [presently the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli], that the idea of writing the decline and fall of the city first started to my mind ... But my original plan was circumscribed to the decay of the City, rather than of the Empire.
Edward Gibbon, describing the genesis of his history, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, which he commenced on October 15, 1764 and completed in the hour before midnight on Wednesday, June 27, 1787

After laying down my pen, I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, the sky was serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected from the waters, and all nature was silent. I will not dissemble the first emotions of joy on recovering my freedom, and perhaps, the establishment of my fame. But my pride was soon humbled, and a sober melancholy was spread over my mind, by the idea that I had taken on an everlasting leave of an old and agreeable companion, and that whatsoever might be the future fate of my History, the life of the historian must be short and precarious.
Edward Gibbon, describing the completion of Decline and Fall

I am at a loss how to describe the success of the work, without betraying the vanity of the writer. The first impression was exhausted in a few days; a second and third edition were scarcely adequate to the demand; and the bookseller's property was twice invaded by the pirates of Dublin. My book was on every table, and almost on every toilette.
Edward Gibbon, on the popularity of Decline and Fall

Faith means not wanting to know what is true.
Friedrich Nietzsche, German philospher, born on October 15, 1844

Seventy-seven albums, 27 wives, over two hundred court appearances. Harassed, beaten, tortured, jailed. Twice-born father of Afro-beat. Spiritualist. Pan-Africanist. Commune king. Composer, saxophonist, keyboardist, vocalist, dancer. Would-be candidate for the Nigerian presidency. There will never be another like him.
Jay Babcock, Mean Magazine (Dec 1999 - Jan 2000), on Fela Kuti, Nigerian musician/activist, born on October 15, 1938

It is a curious phenomenon that God has made the hearts of the poor, rich and those of the rich, poor.
Vinoba Bhave (September 11, 1895 - November 15, 1982) the first Satyagrahi in Mahatma Gandhi's Anti-War Individual Satyagraha movement, October 15, 1940

What we should aim at is the creation of people power, which is opposed to the power of violence and is different from the coercive power of state.
Vinoba Bhave

A country should be defended not by arms, but by ethical behaviour.
Vinoba Bhave

I'm not interested in the bloody system! Why has he no food? Why is he starving to death?
Bob Geldof, Irish rock musician, in Ethiopia during the famine, October 15, 1985

October 15 is the 288^th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (289^th in leap years), with 77 days remaining.
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Feast day of St Teresa of Ávila (Teresa of Avila; Teresa of Jesus), virgin, foundress of the Reformation of the Discalced (Barefooted) Carmelites

(Sweet sultan, Centaurea moschi, is today's plant, dedicated to this saint.)

Teresa was a Spanish Roman Catholic mystic and monastic reformer; born at Ávila (85 km or 53 mi north-west of Madrid), Old Castile, March 28, 1515 .

She was born as Teresa de Cepeda y Ahumada to an aristocratic family. Her father might have been a Jewish convert named don Alonso Sanchez de Cepeda. St Teresa forbade any discussion of ancestry within the 'Carmel', as any one of the 17 convents she founded throughout Spain and France is called.

Of the 33 Doctors of the Church, only Teresa, St Catherine of Siena, and St Thérèse of Lisieux are females.

Teresa was a contemporary and compatriot of St Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits. In her forties she read the Confessions of St Augustine and was truly converted to Christianity, although she had been a nun (against her father's wishes) since the age of 17. She experienced levitation, visions and ecstasies and a remarkable, orgasmic-like mystical piercing of her heart by a 'spear of divine love':

"I saw close to me an angel in bodily form ... not very large, but small; very beautiful, his face a flame, he must have been one of the highest angels ... In his hand I saw a golden dart, long, the tip red with fire. This dart entered my heart many times and reached my insides; in drawing out the dart it seemed he was taking my insides with it; he left me all inflamed in great love for God. The pain was so deep that it made me moan; and it was so excessive the sweetness this unbearable pain plunged me into, that there was no way for me to stop, nor was the soul satisfied with any less than God himself. This is not a physical but a spiritual pain, though the body has some share in it – even a considerable share." (Life, 29,3)

In France once to found a Carmelite convent, the wheel of her carriage broke in a rut, tossing her outside on a wet and stormy night. She complained to God, "If this is how you treat Your friends, no wonder You have so few". She apparently had a good sense of humour; being short, she described herself as "half a friar". One of her prayers: "From silly devotions, and from sour-faced saints, good Lord, deliver us!"

Anecdotally, she died at Alba de Tormes on the "long night" from October 4 to October 15 of 1582, while Spain and the Roman Catholic world switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar (see below) and eleven days were skipped. Her body was later found to be incorrupt; her heart shows signs of transverberation (piercing of the heart), and is displayed at Alba with her body.

St Teresa was the inspiration for one of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's most famous works, The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa.

Her patronage includes bodily ills, headaches, lacemakers, laceworkers, loss of parents, opposition of Church authorities, people in need of grace, people in religious orders, people ridiculed for their piety, and sick people (source).

I'll have what St Teresa is having

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Feast day of St Agileus Feast day of St Antiochus (Andeol) of Lyons Feast day of St Aurelia of Strasbourg Feast day of St Bruno of Quefort Feast day of St Callistus of Huesca Feast day of St Cannatus of Marseilles Feast day of St Euthymius the Younger Feast day of St Gaius of Korea Feast day of St Lucian of Antioch Feast day of St Odilo Feast day of St Sabinus Feast day of St Severus Feast day of St Thecla of Kitzengen (Tecla), abbess Feast day of St Wulfram of Sens Shop Saints Click for Eastern Orthodox liturgical days Ram Mating Ceremony, Anatolia, Turkey (Oct 1 - 20)    Doburoku (unrefined sake) Festival, Shirakawago, Gifu Prefecture, Japan (Oct 14 -19) White Cane Safety Day, USA   National Grouch Day, USA National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, USA Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day was thought of by Robyn Bear. After having had six miscarriage with little to no support, she felt a day was needed for parents, grandparents, siblings, friends, and the world to unite and remember these beloved babies. Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day is recognized throughout the United States and Canada with remembrance ceremonies and candlelit vigils and an International Wave of Light with participants lighting candles at 7:00 p.m. around the world to honour and remember the children. Official website    Congressional proclamation   Third Friday in October, National Mammography Day, USA First proclaimed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. On this day, or throughout the month of October (National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, USA), radiologists provide discounted or free screening mammograms. In 2002, more than 680 American College of Radiology (ACR) accredited facilities took part. Did you know there is a kind of breast cancer that usually doesn't present with lumps?  Tell J-9 you've read it!         On which day of the week were you born? Find out here 70 BCE Virgil (Publius Vergilius Maro; d. September 21, 19 BCE), Latin poet (Eclogues; The Aeneid) who was a real man who became like a deity. To the medieval mind he was a necromancer rather than a poet. Virgil: larger than life Many fables were told about this Roman poet whose persona grew to mythological proportions by the time of the Middle Ages. His birth was announced by an earthquake in Rome, and he grew to be skilled in the magical arts, or so it is said. Virgil made a lamp that lit every street in Rome; he was said to have founded the city of Naples upon eggs, as a magical charm for protection. On one of Naples's gateways he erected two statues: one had a happy face, the other a deformed and miserable one. If one was to enter the town near the happy statue, that person would prosper; if near the sad statue, the person would have a contrary fate. On another gate he erected a statue of a fly, the presence of which kept out flies from Naples for eight years. He built baths that cured all ills, and surrounded his house with a stream of air that served as a wall. Virgil also constructed a bridge of brass which took him anywhere he pleased. A beautiful woman whom he courted told him to come to her castle tower by night. She would let down a basket on a rope for him to ascend; but she left him dangling halfway up the tower wall. When the Emperor of Rome was troubled by rumours of rebellion, he called on the poet, who made for him a statue representing each of the provinces, and one representing Rome. The former all turned their backs on the latter, and rang bells, thus warning the emperor of the coming rebellion. Read on at the Virgil page in the Scriptorium     1542 Jellaladin Mahommed Akbar (Akbar the Great; d. 1605), Mughal Emperor 1608 Evangelista Torricelli, Italian inventor of the barometer in 1643 1814 Mikhail Lermontov (d. 1841), author 1816 Sir John Robertson (d. May 8, 1891), land reformer, explorer and politician. Chairman of the trustees of the Royal National Park (second national park in the world) and responsible for its reservation; anti-Federationist; president of the Reform Club 1877 - 82 Lawson & Co: associations with Henry and Louisa Lawson 1829 Asaph Hall, astronomer 1844 Friedrich Nietzsche  (d. 1900), German philosopher (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) 1880 Marie Stopes, Scottish author, campaigner for women's rights and pioneer in the field of family planning, who struggled against the Church of England and the Catholic Church for her cause 1881 PG Wodehouse, (d. 1975) prolific British comic novelist, creator of Jeeves the butler 1894 Moshe Sharett (d. 1965), second Prime Minister of Israel 1898 Boughera El Ouafi, Algerian athlete 1900 Mervyn LeRoy (d. 1987), film director 1903 Otto Bettmann, founder (in 1935) of the Bettmann Archive, famous image resource which today boasts more than 11 million images 1905 CP Snow, English physicist and novelist (Strangers and Brothers series of novels) 1908 John Kenneth Galbraith, Canadian economist 1909 Robert Trout (d. 2000), reporter 1913 Klaus Barbie, war criminal 1917 Arthur M Schlesinger Jr, political commentator, author 1917 Jan Miner (d. 2004), American actress 1920 Mario Puzo (d. 1999), American novelist 1924 Lee Iacocca, industrialist 1924 José Quintero, theatre director and teacher 1924 Mark Lenard (d. 1996), actor 1926 Michel Foucault (d. 1984), philosopher 1926 Evan Hunter (Ed McBain, Curt Cannon), author 1926 Jean Peters, American actress 1930 FM-2030 (d. July 8, 2000) born Fereidoun M. Esfandiary, transhumanist philosopher. Esfandiary changed his name to FM-2030 to reflect the hope and belief he would live to celebrate his 100th birthday in 2030. 1931 Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, Indian president and scientist 1937 Barry McGuire, folk-rock solo singer; in the 1960s, he was best known for his hits 'Eve of Destruction' and 'Sins of the Family', both written by PF Sloan. He is mentioned with Roger McGuinn in the song 'Creeque Alley' by The Mamas & the Papas, with whom he was friends (he was a member of the New Christie minstrels with Papa John Phillips). McGuire also starred for a year in the Broadway musical Hair. In the 1980s, McGuire left the music industry and settled for a time in Australia.   1938 Fela Kuti (Fela Anikulapo Kuti; b. Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti; d. August 2, 1997), or simply 'Fela', Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, pioneer of Afrobeat music, human rights activist and political maverick (he appeared in court 356 times and was imprisoned on three occasions). His death in Lagos in 1997 (he succumbed to AIDS-related heart failure) was mourned by the nation and as many as one million people attended his funeral. "A fearless champion of the oppressed, Fela was also a utopian visionary. He proclaimed his compound, where he resided with his extended family, band mates and street toughs, an independent nation for the marginalized masses, free from the laws and jurisdiction of the Nigerian government. He called this counterculture haven the Kalakuta (Swahili for 'rascal') Republic, named after a prison cell he once occupied. Fela's face-offs with the government turned violent on several occasions; military raids of Kalakuta in 1974 and 1977 destroyed the compound, brutalized its inhabitants, and left Fela hospitalized and imprisoned. An alleged currency-smuggling violation while trying to board a plane for his 1984 American tour led to his arrest and imprisonment for over eighteen months." Black President: The Art and Legacy of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti Father Fela    Chief priest of the shrine    Fela Project    Fela Kuti (BBC)    More    More   1942 Penny Marshall, actress, comedienne, film director 1946 Richard Carpenter, singer, pianist, composer (Carpenters) 1957 Mira Nair, Indian director 1959 Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York 1959 Emeril Lagasse, chef 1959 Todd Solondz, director 1970 Eric Benet, singer 1975 Ginuwine, singer   Phew!! Have a rest before the big This day in history section Send a free e-card to friends and family for today's celebrations and any topic Do you forget birthdays and anniversaries? Schedule your cards to be sent during the coming year. Zodiac birthday Free astrology e-cards Diwali, or Divali [ Varies ] Birthdays