The Divine Lamp tagged me for the “Five People Meme.” The question is: “If you could meet and have a deep conversation with any five people on earth, living or dead, from any time period, who would they be?” It’s hard to know what to make of the question. Some of my favorite authors (William Faulkner, Robert Frost) were not known for their sparkling and genial conversation. (Come to think of it, neither am I.) And I don’t know if I could emerge alive from a conversation with Evelyn Waugh or St. Jerome. I can’t imagine what I’d say to St. Augustine, other than “Can I have your autograph — and your blessing?” So some folks probably made my lists just because I know precious little about their biographies or personalities — or because I’ve heard one or two anecdotes that make them seem to be good company. As for the celebrities: At least for some of them, I’d like our conversations to turn into lessons. If I could host all five of them at once, it would make for quite a jam session.
SAINTS
1) The Blessed Virgin Mary (Hi, Mom)
2) St. Josemaria Escriva
3) St. Maximilian Kolbe
4) St. Ambrose of Milan
5) St. Ignatius of Antioch
THOSE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING CANONIZED
1) Alvaro del Portillo
2) Solanus Casey
3) John Henry Newman
4) Pope John Paul II
5) Pope John Paul I
HEROES FROM YOUR NATIVE COUNTRY
1) St. John Neumann
2) Bl. Francis X. Seelos
3) Bishop Michael O’Connor
4) Demetrius Gallitzin
5) Boniface Wimmer
AUTHORS
1) Theodore Roethke
2) Wilfrid Sheed
3) David Scott
4) Phyllis McGinley
5) Flannery O’Connor
CELEBRITIES
1) Paul Simon
2) Dion DiMucci
3) Eric Clapton
4) Scott Hahn
5) Rod Argent
I don’t know what I’d say to St. Augustine either, since I don’t speak Latin or Greek.
Duuuuude, salvete!
Mister Aquilina,
Thank you for being kind enough to respond to my MeMe request. Argent by the Tiber tagged me, and as I said in her combox, five people haven’t been to my site, how can I pick five people to “tag.” You and Mister Barber of SINGING IN THE REIGN were the only two to respond; thank you very much.
My Good Bulb! The pleasure is all mine. The “Mister” is my father’s, though. For some reason, WordPress keeps blocking you as spam. Thus your comments are sometimes delayed till I check the filter, which might take days. My apologies for the lag. Keep up the good work. And keep reading Michael Barber — he’s good for the soul!