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October 23
Boethius, James the Just, and Lucy Craft Laney
David Barnhart
October 23, 2025
Bolivia, 2009.
Today is the feast day of Saint Severinus, known more widely as Boethius, who was martyred in 524. He was a philosopher who believed that the study of philosophy could reveal truth about God. He translated the works of Plato and Aristotle for Christian scholars. His most famous work was The Consolation of Philosophy. He ran afoul of the Emperor Theodoric and was executed because he was outspoken about government corruption in Rome.
Today is also a feast day, in the Lutheran, Episcopal, and Eastern Orthodox churches, for James the Just, or James the Brother of Jesus, who was martyred in they year 62 or 69. James was a leader in the early church at Jerusalem when Christianity was still widely perceived as a Jewish cult.
Today marks the death, in 1933, of Lucy Craft Laney, educator and civil rights activist from Georgia, who founded the Haines Institute for Industrial and Normal Education. Her pedagogy would influence a number of future activists and educators, including Mary McLeod Bethune.
Today is also the day, in 2001, when the Irish Republican Army began disarming after peace talks. And in 1915, 25,000 women marched in New York City demanding the right to vote.
Reflection:
In The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius wrote
“Among the wise there is no place at all left for hatred. For no one except the greatest of fools would hate good people. And there is no reason at all for hating the bad. For just as weakness is a disease of the body, so wickedness is a disease of the mind. And if this is so, since we think of people who are sick in body as deserving sympathy rather than hatred, much more so do they deserve pity rather than blame who suffer an evil more severe than any physical illness.”
and
“Nothing is miserable unless you think it so; and on the other hand, nothing brings happiness unless you are content with it.”
Prayer: Great Spirit, so much of our experience depends upon our perception. Tune our perceptions so that we more easily fall into gratitude and compassion rather than bitterness or anger. Amen.