Charles H. Stonestreet (1813–1885) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who led several institutions in Maryland and Washington, D.C. After becoming a professor at Georgetown University, he led St. John's Literary Institution and St. John the Evangelist Church in Frederick, Maryland. He was appointed president of Georgetown University in 1851, and oversaw the expansion of its library. The following year, he became provincial superior of the Jesuits' Maryland Province, which faced growing anti-Catholicism from the Know Nothings; as a result, he forbade Jesuits from wearing their clerical attire in public. While president of Gonzaga College in Washington, D.C. (today a high school), he oversaw construction of St. Aloysius Church, becoming its first pastor. In the trial of the conspirators in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he was called to testify about a parishioner, Mary Surratt, and a former student, Samuel Mudd.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_H._Stonestreet

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1809:

American physician Ephraim McDowell performed the world's first removal of an ovarian tumor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ephraim_McDowell

1989:

Romanian Revolution: Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena were condemned to death on a wide range of charges and executed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_and_execution_of_Nicolae_and_Elena_Ceau%C8%99escu

2009:

A fire destroyed Longford's 19th-century St Mel's Cathedral, considered the "flagship cathedral" of the Irish midlands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mel%27s_Cathedral

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Kris Kringle: 1. Synonym of Christkind (“a personification of the baby Jesus who, in German-speaking parts of Europe, takes the place of Santa Claus in bringing gifts to people at Christmastime”) 2. Synonym of Santa Claus 3. Synonym of secret Santa (“a Christmas tradition where a group of people give anonymous gifts to each other, with each person randomly selected to give a gift to one other person; a person who anonymously gives a present to another in such a gift exchange”) 4. A gift given in a Kris Kringle or secret Santa gift exchange. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Kris_Kringle

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Charles Lamb, in one of his most delightful essays, sets high worth on the observance of All Fools' Day, because it says to a man: "You look wise. Pray correct that error!" Christmas brings the universal message to men: "You look important and great; pray correct that error." It overturns the false standards that have blinded the vision and sets up again in their rightful magnitude those childlike qualities by which we enter the Kingdom. Christmas turns things inside out. Under the spell of the Christmas story the locked up treasures of kindliness and sympathy come from the inside of the heart, where they are often kept imprisoned, to the outside of actual expression in deed and word. … It is the vision of the Christ-child which enables all men to get at the best treasures of their lives and offer them for use.   --Halford E. Luccock https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Halford_E._Luccock