James A. Ryder (1800–1860) was an American Catholic priest who led
several Jesuit institutions. He studied at Georgetown College before
entering the Society of Jesus in 1815. Ryder was then sent to Italy,
where he studied and taught theology. He continued as a professor upon
his return to the United States in 1829, and became the president of
Georgetown on May 1, 1840. He established the university's observatory
and liquidated its debt, while gaining a reputation as a talented
preacher. For two years of his term, he was also the provincial superior
of the Jesuits' Maryland Province. In 1845, Ryder became the second
president of the College of the Holy Cross. He then returned to
Georgetown as president in 1848, where he oversaw construction of a new
Holy Trinity Church and accepted a group of physicians to form a School
of Medicine. Ryder then assisted in founding Saint Joseph's College in
Philadelphia, and became its president in 1856. From 1857 until his
death, he preached and did pastoral work.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Ryder>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1625:
Dutch–Portuguese War: Portuguese and Spanish forces
recaptured the Brazilian city of Bahia, which had previously been
captured by the Dutch Republic.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recapture_of_Bahia>
1786:
The Marriage of Figaro (audio featured), an opera buffa by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Marriage_of_Figaro>
1950:
Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to receive
the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwendolyn_Brooks>
1974:
Argentine president Juan Perón expelled Montoneros from a
demonstration in the Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires, forcing the group to
become a clandestine organization.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Montoneros_from_Plaza_de_Mayo>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
synaesthesia:
1. (neurology, psychology) A neurological or psychological phenomenon
whereby a particular sensory stimulus triggers a second kind of
sensation.
2. (by extension) The association of one sensory perception with, or
description of it in terms of, a different perception that is not
experienced at the same time.
3. (art, literature) A literary or artistic device whereby one kind of
sensation is described in the terms of another.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/synaesthesia>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn
vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence,
arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor,
blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into
justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely
required no character.
--Catch-22
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Catch-22>