May 26

On today’s date in 1328, fearing that Pope John XXII wanted him dead, Franciscan Friar William of Occam escaped Avignon. The Pope resented the Franciscan teaching, promoted by Occam, that Jesus and the Apostles rejected the ownership of property. William is credited with creating the theory known as “Occam’s Razor”: “The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most likely to be correct.”

Today marks the death of the Venerable Bede, whose feast day was yesterday. Today also marks the death of Quadratus of Athens in the year 129, a saint who was one of the first Christian apologists, defending Christianity against its critics before the Emperor Hadrian. 

Today is the birthday, in 1936, of Natalya Gorbanevskaya, a poet, journalist, and activist from Russia who was forcibly committed to a psychiatric hospital, a way that authoritarian regimes often deal with political dissidents. After being released because of her pregnancy, she sought asylum and eventually became a citizen of Poland. A recent article in the Guardian points out that China is still using this practice against those who speak out. Weaponizing the language of mental health is a common tactic for authoritarian regimes.  

Today marks the death of Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor whose experience caused her to fight against the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and for Palestinian rights. She was also an activist for affordable housing and Black Lives Matter. She faced tremendous opposition from pro-occupation activists.

Reflection

Natalya Gorbanevskaya wrote:

Hedy Epstsein said, 

And articulating an important principle of Jewish ethics, she said,

Prayer: Author of Truth, in the face of tremendous opposition, against imprisonment, against accusations of moral failure and psychological insanity, your people continue to speak truth to power. Those workers of oppression who cannot argue with us about facts will attack our character. Give us the strength and wisdom to not be shaken by their poisonous rhetoric. Amen.