The Past is Already Written

“There are few people whom I really love and still fewer of whom I think well. The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of merit or sense.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice (1813)

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Chocolate (JTBC, 2019-2020) 💕

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SAINTS OF THE DAY (July 17)

A contemporary of the American Revolution and of Blessed Junipero Serra, Francisco Garcés was born in 1738 in Spain, where he joined the Franciscans.

After ordination in 1763, he was sent to Mexico.

Five years later, he was assigned to San Xavier del Bac near Tucson, one of several missions the Jesuits had founded in Arizona and New Mexico, before being expelled in 1767 from all territories controlled by the Catholic king of Spain.

In Arizona, Francisco worked among the Papago, Yuma, Pima, and Apache Native Americans.

His missionary travels took him to many places, including the Grand Canyon and California.

Friar Francisco Palou, a contemporary, writes that Father Garcés was greatly loved by the indigenous peoples, among whom he lived unharmed for a long time.

They regularly gave him food and referred to him as "Viva Jesus," which was the greeting he taught them to use.

For the sake of their indigenous converts, the Spanish missionaries wanted to organize settlements away from the Spanish soldiers and colonists.

But the commandant in Mexico insisted that two new missions on the Colorado River, Misión San Pedro y San Pablo and Misión La Purísima Concepción, be mixed settlements.

A revolt among the Yumas against the Spanish left Friars Juan Diaz and Matias Moreno dead at Misión San Pedro y San Pablo.

Friars Francisco Garcés and Juan Barreneche were killed at Misión La Purísima Concepción, the site of Fort Yuma.

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Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, The Princess Royal (born 2 April 1955) is a member of the Thai royal family.

She is the second daughter of King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) and Queen Sirikit, and the younger sister of King Vajiralongkorn (Rama X).

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Briton Rivière RA (14 August 1840 – 20 April 1920) was a British artist of Huguenot descent.

He exhibited a variety of paintings at the Royal Academy, but devoted much of his life to animal paintings.

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Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, Marquess of Dalí de Púbol (11 May 1904 – 23 January 1989), known as Salvador Dalí, was a Spanish surrealist artist renowned for his technical skill, precise draftsmanship, and the striking and bizarre images in his work.

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Oscar-Claude Monet (14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it.

During his long career, he was the most consistent and prolific practitioner of Impressionism's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions of nature, especially as applied to plein air (outdoor) landscape painting.

The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, Sunrise (Impression, soleil levant), which was exhibited in 1874 at the First Impressionist Exhibition, initiated by Monet and a number of like-minded artists as an alternative to the Salon.

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Alice Raingo Hoschedé Monet (19 February 1844 – 19 May 1911) was the wife of department store magnate and art collector Ernest Hoschedé and later of the Impressionist painter Claude Monet.

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On July 16, the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

Mount Carmel is the mountain in the middle of the plain of Galilee on which the prophet Elijah called down a miracle of fire from the Lord to show the people of Israel who had strayed that "The Lord is God!" and that the prophets of Baal were worshipping a false god.

There is a tradition that traces the Carmelite Order's informal beginnings to the prophet Elijah himself, even though there is no evidence of this.

The formal beginnings are attributed to a group of monks who, in the 13th century, began living and praying on the mountain.

They venerated the Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and from this veneration was derived the name Carmelite.

In 1226, the Rule of the Order was approved by Pope Honorius III, and 21 years later, St. Simon Stock, an Englishman, was elected superior of the Order.

On 16 July 1251, the Blessed Virgin appeared to Simon and gave him the brown scapular and promised her protection to all those who wear the brown habit.

Pope Pius X decreed in the early 20th century that this blessing of the Blessed Virgin would extend to all who wear the medal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.

The Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel was instituted by the Carmelites sometime between 1376 and 1386.

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📸 Bureau of the Royal Household

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Hemiunu, Architect of the Great Pyramid

Who was the architect of the Pyramids of Egypt?

The Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is the largest pyramid in the entire world. It is clearly one of the most impressive structures that mankind has ever made.

This being the case, it is worth asking who was responsible for the construction of the pyramid.

While Pharaoh Khufu was the monarch in whose reign it was constructed, there is no reason to assume that he personally designed it. So, who did?

• The discovery of Hemiunu, Architect of the Great Pyramid

In the vicinity of the Great Pyramid of Giza, there are several large cemeteries. Some of these contain the tombs of members of Khufu’s extended family. Others contain tombs of important court officials.

In one of the cemeteries to the west of the Great Pyramid of Giza, there is a particularly large tomb called a mastaba.

This is a large, rectangular building with a flat roof and inward-sloping sides. It is much larger than all the other tombs in that particular cemetery.

In this large tomb, or mastaba, archaeologists discovered that it was the tomb of an individual who was quite important to the construction of the Great Pyramid.

The name of this court official was Hemiunu. The archaeologists found an impressive statue depicting Hemiunu in this tomb with unusual lifelike realism.

• What do we know about Hemiunu?

The discovery of Hemiunu’s tomb revealed some important information.

For one thing, his tomb revealed that he was the vizier of Egypt. The vizier was the second most powerful person in Egypt after the king.

Additionally, the inscriptions in this tomb refer to him as the ‘seal-bearer’ of the king. This means that he had the king’s royal seal and was able to grant official approval.

This reinforces the fact that Hemiunu exerted considerable power over the country.

The inscriptions in the tomb also give him a variety of titles in which he is called the priest of various gods.

However, some scholars believe these may merely be honorific and don’t actually refer to real functions he performed.

From a comparison with inscriptions from other sites, historians have concluded that Hemiunu was the son of a prince named Nefermaat.

This prince, in turn, was the son of King Sneferu. In other words, Hemiunu was actually the nephew of Pharaoh Khufu in whose reign Hemiunu was vizier.

• Hemiunu as the architect of the Great Pyramid

With these facts in mind, what is the basis for the conclusion that Hemiunu was the architect of the Great Pyramid of Giza?

Ultimately, this conclusion comes from one of his titles that we see in his tomb. Scholars generally translate this title as “Overseer of All Construction Projects of the King.”

We know that Khufu was the king who got his people to construct the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Hence, it stands to reason that Hemiunu, being the Overseer of All Construction Projects of the King, would have overseen the construction of that pyramid.

In reality, this does not necessarily mean that he was an architect in the sense that we understand that role today.

Did he sit at a table and plan out the design of the pyramid in a drawing? Or did he have a role more similar to a manager, overseeing the work of a team of architects?

Simply put, we do not know what exactly his role entailed. Nonetheless, it is clear he was the one who was generally responsible for the pyramid’s construction.

Therefore, it does make sense that he participated in planning its design.

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📷 Seated statue of the architect Hemiunu, who is credited with the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu (Great Pyramid of Giza)

Old Kingdom 4th Dynasty, 2570 BC (GEM)

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Pierre-François Bouchard (29 April 1771 – 5 August 1822) was a French Army officer and engineer.

He is most famous for discovering the Rosetta Stone, an important archaeological find that allowed Ancient Egyptian writing to be understood for the first time in over a millennium.

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