Finis

Finis (pronounced fin-is, fee-nee or fahy-nis)

End; finish; death; conclusion.

1425–1475: A late Middle English borrowing, either from the French or directly from the Latin fīnis (end; limit, literally “the end" & doublet of fine).  The origin is disputed: It’s possibly from fignis from the primitive Indo-European dheygw- (to stick, set up), from which Latin gained figere & figō (I fasten; to fix) or from fidnis, from bheyd- (to split), which yielded the Latin findō (I divide).  A publishing tradition began in the fifteenth century to place finis at the end of a book, a practice which remained common until the late 1800s.  Existing in Middle English as finishen, finisshen & finischen, the modern English verb finish meant originally (late-fourteenth century) "to bring to an end" and by the mid-fifteenth century, "to come to an end".  The English form came from the thirteenth century Old French finiss- (present participle stem of fenir (stop, finish, come to an end; die)), from the Latin finire (to limit, set bounds; put an end to; come to an end), from finis (that which divides, a boundary, border), often used figuratively to suggest "a limit, an end, close, conclusion; an extremity, highest point; greatest degree.  The meaning "to kill, terminate the existence of" is from 1755.  Modern English offers a myriad of synonyms including over, finish, farewell, windup, completion, expiry, culmination, integration, fulfillment, realization, conclusion, achievement, expiration, finalization, closure, resolution, retirement, result, and outcome.  Finis is a noun

Prime Minister Attlee (left), President Truman (centre) and comrade Stalin (right), Potsdam Conference, 1945. Held in Brandenburg's Cecilienhof Palace in what would soon become the German Democratic Republic (GDR, the old East Germany), the Potsdam Conference (17 July-2 August 1945), was the last of the three (following Tehran, 28 November-1 December 1943 & Yalta, 4-11 February 1945) World War II (1939-1945) meetings of the heads of government of the UK, US & USSR.

Before the Cold War: The group photographs from the Tehran Conference (left), Yalta Conference (centre left) and Potsdam Conference (centre right & right) are among the most re-produced images from World War II.  The only constant presence among the leaders was comrade Stalin. 

Harry Truman (1884–1972; US president 1945-1953) and the USSR’s comrade Stalin (1878-1953; Soviet leader 1924-1953) attended for the duration while Winston Churchill (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) represented the UK until 24 July, leaving the following day for London to be present for the declaration of results of the general election.  He left without saying farewell to Truman and Stalin because he expected to be re-elected and return within days.  Instead, the Conservatives were defeated in a landslide and, on 28 July, the new prime minister, the Labour Party’s Clement Attlee (1883–1967; UK prime-minister 1945-1951) flew to Potsdam for the conference’s resumption.  The defeat provoked a variety of reactions within the Soviet delegation.  Comrade Stalin, who had no particular objection to elections, believing "it mattered not who voted but rather who counted the votes", was surprised, having assumed the Conservative Party would have “fixed” the result.  Churchill’s doctor noted in his diary the comment of one female Soviet soldier who, on hearing the news, said she expected Mr Attlee would “… now have Mr Churchill shot”.  On 29 July, leaving Chequers (the prime minister’s Buckinghamshire country house) for what he assumed would be the last time, Churchill signed finis in the visitors’ book.  He was too pessimistic, returning to office in 1951 and staying, despite a severe stroke in 1953, until 1955, resisting the efforts of many of his colleagues to "prise him out".

Zucchetto

Zucchetto (pronounced zoo-ket-oh or tsook-ket-taw (Italian)

A small, round skullcap worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics, a priest's being black, a bishop's violet, a cardinal's red, and the pope's white; a calotte; the style is worn also by Syriac (or Malankara Orthodox) and some Anglican clergy.

1850–1855: From the Italian zucchetto, a variant of zucchetta, diminutive of zucca (gourd, squash, pumpkin) from the Late Latin cucutia (gourd), probably from the Classical Latin cucurbita.  Depending on the country or order, a zucchetto may also be referred to as a pilus, pilos, pileus, pileolo, subbiretum, submitrale, soli deo, berrettino, calotte or calotta.  Although unattested, it may be related to the primitive Indo-European tjukka (gourd) and the alternative spelling was zuchetto which most dictionaries seem now to list as non-standard.  The Italian noun zucchetta was (1) a tromboncini (a kind of squash), (2) an ecclesiastic skullcap or (2) a military helmet worn in the 16th century.  The relationship between the small vegetable and the head-covering is the shape, the construct being zucca (gourd, squash, pumpkin) + -etto.  The etto- suffix was used to forms nouns from nouns, denoting a diminutive.  It was from the Late Latin -ittum, accusative singular of –ittus, and was the alterative suffix used to form melioratives, diminutives, and hypocoristics and existed variously in English & French as -et, in Italian as Italian -etto and in Portuguese & Spanish as -ito.  With an animate noun, -etto references as male, the coordinate female suffix being -etta, which is also used with inanimate nouns ending in -a.  It should not be confused with the homophonous suffix -eto.  Zucchetto is a noun; the noun plural is zucchettos.

The first head covering recognizably zucchettoesque was the Greek pilos which evolved also into the modern beret which was in its early forms a larger, irregularly-shaped zucchetto.  A classic medieval adaptation to the climate, it covered a monk’s tonsure (that part of the head from which the hair was shaved, a practice not formally abandoned in the Roman Catholic Church until 1972) thus providing, depending on the season, either insulation or protection from the sun.  It is similar in appearance to the Jewish kippah and this presumably was intentional although the theological basis of two differs.

Ecclesiastical fashion statement: Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023) wearing zucchetto with matching choir cape.

In the Roman church, the color of the zucchetto can be used to determine the office held but the distinctions are not absolute.  A pope for example obviously wears a white but bit that right extends also to those in orders where white vestments are worn.  Cardinals wear scarlet, archbishops, bishops and other notables amaranth and the more junior ranks black.  Apparently informally, some monks wear the brown of their traditional habits.  By convention, a prelate (a bishop or cardinal) removes his zucchetti when in the presence of a more senior appointee and all doff the things when the pope is in the room.  Observers of such things have noted that except during the most formal occasions, this etiquette seems wither to be waived or ignored.

The zucchetto is worn throughout most of the Mass, is removed at the commencement of the Preface, and replaced at the conclusion of Communion, when the Blessed Sacrament is put away, the zucchetto never worn at any occasion where the Blessed Sacrament is exposed and it’s always removed at the end of the last secret prayer, replaced after the ablutions.  Thoughtfully, there’s usually provided also a funghellino (literally “little mushroom”), a kind of hat-stand fashioned usually from brass or wood on which a zucchetto sits when not worn.

Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013-2022) & Cardinal Pell in the Vatican.

The zucchetto has also entered the long list of the Catholic Church’s list of cargo cult items.  In a tradition which is said to have be started by Pius XII (1876-1958; pope 1939-1958), cardinals & bishops, if presented with a new zucchetto, may kiss theirs and give it to the generous faithful soul.  Some prefer to take the gift, place it briefly on their heads and hand it back with a blessing.  Recent popes have also adopted the practice, presumably thinking it a good photo opportunity.  Obviously the system could be open to abuse.  Should a zucchetto which has adorned the head of a pope or cardinal fall into the hands of a voodoo priest, they could use it to make a voodoo doll.

Conglomerate & Agglomerate

Conglomerate (pronounced kuhn-glom-er-it or kuhng-glom-er-it (noun & adjective) and kuhn-glom-uh-reyt or kuhng-glom-uh-reyt (verb))

(1) Anything composed of heterogeneous materials or elements; mass.

(2) A corporation consisting of a number of subsidiary companies or divisions in a variety of unrelated industries, usually as a result of merger or acquisition.

(3) A coarse-grained sedimentary rock consisting of round rock fragments cemented together by hardened silt, clay, calcium carbonate, or a similar material. The fragments (clasts) have a diameter of at least 2 mm (0.08 inches), vary in composition and origin, and may include pebbles, cobbles, boulders, or fossilized seashells. Conglomerates often form through the transportation and deposition of sediments by streams, alluvial fans, and glaciers.

(4) Gathered into a rounded mass; consisting of parts so gathered; clustered.

(5) Consisting of heterogeneous parts or elements.

(6) Of or relating to a corporate conglomerate.

(7) In geology, of the nature of a conglomerate.

(8) To bring together into a cohering mass.

(9) To gather into a ball or rounded mass.

1565–1575: From the Latin conglomerātus, past participle of conglomerāre (to roll-up), from glomerāre (to wind into a ball), the construct being con- + glomer- (stem of glomus) (ball of yarn or thread) + -ātus (-ate).  The prefix con- was from the Middle English con-, from the Latin con-, from the preposition cum (with), from the Old Latin com, from the Proto-Italic kom, from the primitive Indo- European ḱóm (next to, at, with, along).  It was cognate with the Proto-Germanic ga- (co-), the Proto-Slavic sъ(n) (with) and the Proto-Germanic hansō.  It was used with certain words to add a notion similar to those conveyed by with, together, or jointly or with certain words to intensify their meaning and, later, to indicate being made from or bringing together of several objects.  The suffix -ate was a word-forming element used in forming nouns from Latin words ending in -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as estate, primate & senate).  Those that came to English via French often began with -at, but an -e was added in the fifteenth century or later to indicate the long vowel.  It can also mark adjectives formed from Latin perfect passive participle suffixes of first conjugation verbs -ātus, -āta, & -ātum (such as desolate, moderate & separate).  Again, often they were adopted in Middle English with an –at suffix, the -e appended after circa 1400; a doublet of –ee.  Related forms include conglomeratic, conglomeritic, conglomerated, conglomerating, conglomerateur, conglomeration & conglomeratize.

Agglomerate (pronounced uh-glom-uh-reyt (adjective & noun) and uh-glom-er-it (noun))

(1) To collect or gather into a cluster or mass.

(2) Gathered together into a cluster or mass.

(3) In botany, crowded into a dense cluster, but not cohering.

(4) In geology, a mass of angular volcanic fragments united by heat; distinguished from conglomerate.

(5) In meteorology, an ice-cover of floe formed by the freezing together of various forms of ice.

1675-1685: From the Latin agglomerātus, past participle of agglomerāre, the construct being ad- (to) + -glomerāre (to wind or add into a ball), from glomus (a ball; a mass), from globus (genitive glomeris), (a ball of yarn) of uncertain origin.  Related forms are the adjective agglomerative, the nouns agglomerator & agglomeration and the verbs (used with or without object), agglomerated & agglomerating.  The intransitive sense "grow into a mass" dates from 1730.

Conglomerate rocks (left) are those compose of mostly rounded, gravel-size clasts, a matrix of finer grained sediments, such as sand, silt or compressed clay filling the gaps between the clasts, the form held together with calcium carbonate, iron oxide, silica, or hardened clay which acts as a natural cement.  Agglomerate rocks (right) are large, coarse fragments associated with the lava flow ejected during explosive volcanic eruptions.  Although they resemble sedimentary conglomerates, agglomerates consist almost wholly of angular or rounded lava fragments of varying size and shape. Fragments are usually poorly sorted in a matrix, or appear in a mix of volcanic dust or ash that has turned to stone.

An agglomeration of Lindsay Lohan magazine covers.

Bolshevik & Menshevik

Bolshevik (pronounced bohl-shuh-vik, bol-shuh-vik or buhl-shi-vyeek (Russian))

(1) A member of the more radical majority of the Social Democratic Party, 1903–1917, advocating, inter alia, the immediate and forceful seizure of power by the proletariat (in Russia and in some factions, beyond); after 1918, a member of the Russian Communist Party.

(2) In the West, historically (mostly early-mid twentieth century), a disparaging or contemptuous term used to refer to an extreme radical or revolutionary (often lowercase).  Applied loosely, it was used (even neutrally) to refer to any member of a Communist party.

(3) In the West a term, sometimes humorous, used as an adjective (often as bolshie) applied to anyone deliberately combative or uncooperative and strident or assertive in their actions or expression of view; used especially where there was a perception of behavior of attitude in conflict with socially constructed expectations (women, nuns etc).

Circa 1915: From the Russian большеви́к (bolʹševík), from большинство́ (bolʹšinstvó) (majority) (those in the majority (Majoritarians)), the construct being bólʾsh(iĭ) (larger, greater (comparative of bolʾshóĭ (large) and thus the sourced of bolʾshinstvó (majority)) + -evik (one that is (a variant of –ovik, the noun suffix)).  The adjective bol'shiy (greater), comparative of the adjective bol'shoy (big, great) is probably most familiar from the famous Bolshoi Ballet and was from the Old Church Slavonic boljiji (larger), from the primitive Indo-European root bel- (strong), source also of the Sanskrit balam (strength, force), the Greek beltion (better), the Phrygian balaios (big, fast), the Old Irish odbal (strong), the Welsh balch (proud) and the Middle Dutch, Low German & Frisian pal (strong, firm).  The popular contraction in the West (and one now remote from its party-political origins) should always be spelled bolshie.  Bolshevik & Bolshevist are nouns & adjectives, Bolshevism is a noun and Bolshevistic an adjective.  The noun plural is Bolsheviks (Bolsheviki in the Russian which is pronounced buhl-shi-vyi-kyee).

Norman Mailer (1923–2007) and bolshie woman Germaine Greer (b 1939) at the Town Bloody Hall debate between the author and a panel of feminists, 30 April 1971, The Town Hall, New York City.  Both were well chosen, Greer was the author of The Female Eunuch (1970) which remains one of feminism's seminal texts and Mailer regarded (fairly or not) as a misogynist and one who received a suspended sentence for (twice) stabbing the second (the artist Adele Morales (1925–2015)) of his six wives.

In the twentieth century, “bolshevik” was often used as a term of disparagement, often from establishment figures disturbed by challenges to the status quo, subversive types like TS Elliot (1888-1965) and James Joyce (1882-1941) both called literary bolsheviks and some painters wore “artistic bolshevik” as a badge of honor; later, there would be feminists who proudly described themselves as “bolshie women”.  Winston Churchill (1875-1968; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) abhorred communism and not infrequently referred to the new order in Moscow as the “Bolshevik baboons” and was supportive of a multi-national military intervention in the Russian Civil War (1918-1920) but was also, strategically, a realist.  His biographer recounted how he note there were:

“…nearly half a million anti-Bolshevik Russians under arms, and the Russians themselves planned to double this figure.  If we were unable to support the Russians effectively, it would be far better to take a decision now to quit and face the consequences, and tell these people to make the best terms they could with the Bolsheviks.”

So it transpired and the small foreign forces were withdrawn but he always made clear that as Minister for War, he did this out of military necessity and not any lack of conviction that the communists should have been overthrown, telling a press conference in Washington DC in 1954 that had he “…been properly supported in 1919, I think we might have strangled Bolshevism in its cradle, but everybody turned up their hands and said, ‘How shocking!’”

Menshevik (pronounced men·she·vik, men-shuh-vik or myin-shi-vyeek (Russian))

A member of the faction of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party opposed to the Bolsheviks; inter alia, they advocated a gradualist approach to the attainment of socialism through parliamentary government and cooperation with bourgeois parties.  By 1918, the remaining members had been absorbed into the Communist Party of Russia, formed that year.

1907: From the Russian меньшеви́к (menʹševík) from меньшинство́ (menʹšinstvó) (minority) from ме́ньше (ménʹše), the comparative of ма́лый (mályj) (little), the sense being “those in a minority” (the Minoritarians), the construct being ménʾsh(iĭ) (lesser, smaller (comparative of málenʾkiĭ (small) and thus the source of menʾshinstvó minority)) + -evik (one that is (a variant of –ovik, the noun suffix)).  The source the Russian men'she (lesser), was a comparative of malo (little), from the primitive Indo-European root mei- (small).  Menshevik & Menshevist are nouns & adjectives, Menshevism is a noun and Menhevistic an adjective.  The noun plural is Mensheviks (Mensheviki in the Russian which is pronounced myin-shi-vyi-kyee).

The noun minimalist dates from 1907 in the sense of “one who advocates moderate reforms or policies" and was originally an adapted borrowing of Menshevik; as understood as "a practitioner of minimal art" it dates from 1967, the term “minimal art” being noted first in 1965.  It was an adjective from 1917 in the Russian political sense and since 1969 in reference to art.  It was comrade Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov 1870–1924 and known by his alias Lenin; revolutionary, political theorist and founding head of government (Soviet Russia 1917-1924 and the Soviet Union 1922-1924) who vested Bolshevik (as Bolsheviki meaning Majoritarians or those in the majority) and Menshevik (as Mensheviki meaning Minoritarians or those in the minority).

Comrade Lenin Agitprop.

Lenin was a classic example of a political phenomenon which would so frequently feature in twentieth century revolutionary politics: the middle-class radical.  His intellectual predisposition had already tended that way but it was after the regime in 1886 hanged his elder brother in punishment for his involvement in an attempt to assassinate the reactionary Tsar Alexander III (1845–1894; Emperor of Russia 1881-1894) that his interest shifted from the mostly theoretical.  Apparently somewhat an inept activist in his younger years, he was soon apprehended by the Tsar’s secret police and transported to Siberia where he wrote a treatise on Russian economic development in which he claimed that capitalism was already the country’s dominant mode of production, quite a startling assertion given the state of things.  He found himself on a sounder intellectual footing as a political tactician, his 1902 pamphlet What Is to Be Done? which advocated a rigid centralism in party structure, the vetting of members and a tightly enforced discipline.

Lenin actually borrowed the title from Nikolay Chernyshevsky's 1863 pro-revolutionary novel What Is to Be Done? (1863), a book not without critics but one which exerted a still often underestimated influence on those who would in the years to come build the political movements which culminated in the events of 1917.  It also drew the attention of Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) who in 1886 wrote his own What Is to Be Done? although it’s a work more of moral theology and was published sometimes as (the probably more accurate) What Then Must We Do? and (in English) as What to Do?

Lenin knew what to do.  A brief work of stark clarity, his pamphlet was quite a change from the verbose and discursive stuff of the era and attracted much attention although its uncompromising was too much for many, the second party congress of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party in 1903 ending in acrimony although Lenin did secure one pyrrhic victory, his faction winning a majority in the congress vote, enabling him to label his group the Bolsheviki (Majoritarians), the opposition responding, with some implied irony, that they were therefore the Mensheviki (Minoritarians).  The Bolsheviki accused the Mensheviki of being anti-revolutionaries and the Mensheviki labelled the Bolsheviki (and especially Lenin) dictatorial and intolerant.  Had the word fascist then existed, both sides would have used it.  As things soon transpired, defections meant Lenin didn’t long have the numbers and the Mensheviki became the majority (although both sides kept their names), prompting Lenin to damn them as usurpers and it was in this spirit the congress ended, the two factions setting up their own newspapers and network of spies, little time devoted to the revolution because of the internecine conflict.  The outbreak of revolutionary protest in 1905 was thus a surprise to both Mensheviki and Bolsheviki and neither side was sufficiently organized to take advantage of the situation which the Tsar’s forces soon suppressed with a mixture of carrot and stick.

Whether the revolution was to be in than hands of the Mensheviks or Bolsheviks was decided in the war-time chaos of 1917.  Without the war, the Tsarist regime might have endured but when in February it became clear the army were either unable or unwilling to act against the strikes and demonstrations, it became apparent to all the Tsar must abdicate which he did on 15 March (under the Gregorian calendar or 2 March under the Julian calendar then used.  The “administration” which formed in the wake of the revolution (of which the Mensheviks were a part) was from the start beset with problems, some of its own making and few were responsive to the methods adopted, the factionalized and quasi-democratic structures adopted ill suited to deal with the multiple crises of the time.  Strikes and other industrial disruptions may not have made the subsequent Bolshevik insurrection inevitable but the failure to extricate Russia from the war and the not unrelated shortages of food and medical supplies probably did.  What’s remembered as the October revolution (on 7 November (Gregorian calendar) or 25 October (Julian calendar)) was organized by the Bolshevik party and, having seized power, it wasn’t for decades relinquished.  Were there any doubt about the methods and morality of the Bolsheviks, the tsar and his family, under house arrest since March 1917, were on 16 July 1918 murdered although historians continue to debate whether Lenin personally ordered the shootings, documentary evidence impossible to assess because comrade Lenin order it all burned.

Cardinal

Cardinal (pronounce kahr-dn-l)

(1) Of prime importance; chief; principal.

(2) A color in the red spectrum.

(3) In the Roman Catholic Church, a high honor; an appointment by the pope to the College of Cardinals, ranking above all but the pope.

(4) In the Church of England, the two minor canons of St Paul's Cathedral, London who held two historic titles (Senior Cardinal and Junior Cardinal), abolished on 1 February 2016.  The only women in Western history to be styled Cardinal have been Church of England minor canons.

(5) A bird, the crested grosbeak, cardinalis cardinalis, of North America, the male of which is bright red (also called cardinal grosbeak).

(6) A woman's short cloak with a hood, originally made of scarlet cloth and popularly worn in the eighteenth century.

(7) In set theory mathematics, cardinal numbers are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality (size) of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number: the number of elements in the set. The transfinite cardinal numbers describe the sizes of infinite sets.

(8) A fritillary butterfly, pandoriana pandora, found in meadows of southern Europe.

(9) In astrology, of or relating to the signs Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn (the four zodiacal signs marking the equinoxes and the solstices).

(10) A freshwater fish, the cardinal tetra (Paracheirodon axelrodi).

(11) A type of mulled red wine (obsolete).

Pre 1150: From the Middle English from the Old English, from the Old French cardinal, from the Latin cardinālis, the construct being cardin ((stem of cardō) hinge) + ālis (the third-declension two-termination suffix (neuter -āle) used to form adjectives of relationship from nouns or numerals).   Meaning was thus something on which other things depend.  As used by the Roman church as titles for the ecclesiastical princes who constitute the sacred college, it’s short for cardinalis ecclesiae Romanae (episcopus cardinalis, in the original Latin), meaning "principal, chief, essential".  Origin of this is uncertain but meaning (and position in the Roman hierarchy) altered much over the years.  In the tituli (parishes) of the diocese of Rome, as early as the ninth century, the term cardinal was applied to any priest permanently assigned to a church or, specifically, to the senior priest of an important church, the familiar modern understanding (a prince of the church), evolving later in the middle ages.  Related forms are the adverb cardinally, the noun cardinalship and the adjectives inter-cardinal, post-cardinal & sub-cardinal.

The cardinal points (1540s) are north, south, east, west.  The cardinal sins (pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth), dating from circa 1600, are well known and much practiced; they’re referred to also as the seven deadly sins or the capital vices.  The cardinal virtues (circa 1300), divided into the natural (justice, prudence, temperance, fortitude) and the theological (faith, hope, charity), are less known and though much admired, seldom observed.

Ms Cardinal

Cardinal George Pell (1941-2023) does his bit to promote gender DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the Holy See.  Cardinal Pell, Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022; pope 2005-2013, pope emeritus 2013--2022) and Kevin Rudd (b 1957; Australian prime-minister 2007-2010 & 2013), Canberra, Australia, 2008.

It’s been suggested if Pope Francis (b 1936; pope since 2013) would like his pontificate remembered for something rather than nothing in particular, he should appoint a woman cardinal.  She would have to be from the laity; priests would never accept a cardinal-nun, except perhaps one who has taken a vow of silence and these days, they’re hard to find.  Although cardinals have most often been drawn from the priesthood, historically the title has not been limited to those holding ecclesiastical office and there have been a small number of lay-cardinals (non-ordained), the last dying in 1899.  While it’s true the 1917 Code of Canon Law permits only the ordained to be appointed, the papal theocracy is an absolute monarchy and the right pope, if so inspired, could make a woman a cardinal by issuing a motu proprio (literally “on his own impulse”, the law-making mechanism available to absolute monarchs and usually styled a "royal decree").  From the usual suspects, there would be opposition, thus it must be not only the right woman, it would need to the the right pope and a pope certainly has some room to move, the office of cardinal lies exclusively in his gift and he need consult no-one.  

If the thought of outraged theologians sounds a bit tiresome, Francis could appoint a woman and not tell anyone.  That’s because there are secret cardinals or cardinals in pectore ("in the breast" (ie in their hearts)), a medieval invention whereby a pope would appoint a cardinal but not publish his name, an act provided for in canon law as creati et reservati in pectore.  It was a mechanism created to protect the lives of those for whom wider knowledge of their elevation might have put them in harm's way.  An in pectore creation is known only to pope and appointee so, should the pope die before revealing the cardinal in pectore's identity, the person's status as cardinal expires.  The last pope known to have named cardinals in pectore was Saint John Paul II (1920–2005; pope 1978-2005) who created four, including one whose identity was never revealed.  This is the sort of cloak and dagger stuff practiced by the Vatican, the Freemasons and the Secret Society of the Les Clefs d’Or.

In July 2022, in what proved a surprisingly wide-ranging interview with the Reuters news agency, Pope Francis revealed he would be appointing two women to the Dicastery for Bishops, the committee which assists the pontiff in the selection of bishops.  It's a matter thought of some significance because the creation of bishops is a pope's personal prerogative and while under no obligation to following the advice of the dicastery, it seems unlikely he would not take advantage of the symbolism of the committee's afforcement by women by making their influence apparent.  Historically, the Dicastery for Bishops had maintained an all-male membership.

The pope was responding to questions about the place of women in the Vatican establishment; the Praedicate evangelium (an apostolic constitution reforming the Roman Curia, published and promulgated in March 2022) and which dicasteries might in future be entrusted to lay-members of the Church, especially women.  The pope responded by saying he was "...open should an opportunity arise", adding that "...two women will be going to the Congregation of Bishops, on the commission to elect bishops.  In this way, things open up a little bit.”  Too this he added that he sees "in the future" the possibility of lay people being appointed to lead certain Vatican departments such as the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, the Dicastery for Culture and Education, or the Vatican Apostolic Library.  To illustrate how things were opening up, he mentioned the appointment in 2021 of Sister Raffaella Petrini (b 1969) as deputy governor in the Vatican City Governorate, making her the first woman to hold the position and the earlier assumption by Francesca di Giovanni (b 1953) of the office of undersecretary for the multilateral sector in the Secretariat of State's Section for Relations with States and International Organizations, another first.

Other notable appointments by Pope Francis include Sister Nathalie Becquart (b 1969; a French member of the Xaviere Missionary Sisters), as co-under-secretary of the Synod of Bishops (which prepares the big meetings of bishops held every few years) and Sister Alessandra Smerilli (b 1974; of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians), as Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.  Within the bureaucracy, there have been women in upper-level positions for some time including Barbara Jatta, the first female director of the Vatican Museums, Nataša Govekar (b 1975; Director of the Theological-Pastoral Office of the Dicastery for Communication and Cristiane Murray (b 1962; deputy director of the Holy See’s Press Office, all of whom were appointed by the current pontiff.  Critics did note that except for some "technical" positions, the jobs allocated to women tended to be either at the "deputy" and "assistant" level or in roles that were advisory rather than decision-making but all concede there has been progress and Praedicate evangelium allowing any baptized Catholic, including lay men and women, now to head most Vatican departments.

Not unexpectedly, the Reuters correspondent appears not to have brought up the matter of women being appointed to any clerical office, a matter successive popes have not merely dismissed but banned from being even discussed.  Nor was there any mention of a revival of the idea of lay cardinals, an office in abeyance since 1899 and apparently precluded by the 1917 revisions to Canon Law although, as an absolute sovereign of both Church and state, a pope could issue a motu proprio creating any baptized Catholic a lay-cardinal, man or women.  Subject only to bitchy letters of complaint (a dubia) from outraged bishops and pedantic theologians, what a pope rules actually becomes the law, a convenient arrangement for a head of state and one asserted (without some  success) by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945; head of government (1933-1945) & head of state (1934-1945) in Nazi Germany) and (with less support) by Richard Nixon (1913-1994; US president 1969-1974).

Lindsay Lohan in costume as nun with Smith & Wesson .50 Magnum revolver with 8" barrel (S&W500: SKU 163501) in promotional poster for Machete (2010).  Raised in the Roman Catholic faith, Lindsay Lohan is the ideal candidate to be the Church's first female cardinal.  Indeed, so obvious are her credentials to wear the scarlet a pope may already have appointed her Cardinal in pectore and if so, it was probably renowned Mean Girls (2004) fan Benedict who would have noted similarities between many of the movie's plot lines and the antics of the Curia.

Plot

Plot (pronounced plot)

A secret plan or scheme to accomplish some purpose, describes especially as such if for some hostile, unlawful, or evil purpose.

(2) In fiction, the plan, scheme, or main story of a literary or dramatic work (play, novel short story etc) (also called storyline or plotline and a plat may include a number of subplots).

(3) A small piece or area of ground (often with a modifier: garden plot; burial plot et al); a measured piece or parcel of land.

(4) A plan, map, diagram or other graphic representation, as of land, a building etc (in US use synonymous with a surveyor's map.

(5) A list, timetable, or scheme dealing with any of the various arrangements for the production of a play, motion picture etc.

(6) A chart showing the course of a craft (ship or airplane).

(7) In military use, a graphic representation of an individual or tactical setting that pinpoints an artillery target (as a point or points located on a map or chart (often as target plot)).

(8) To plan secretly, especially something hostile or evil.

(9) To mark on a plan, map, or chart, as the course of a ship or aircraft.

(10) To draw a plan or map of, as a tract of land or a building.

(11) To divide land into plots.

(12) To determine and mark (points), as on plotting paper, by means of measurements or coordinates; to describe curve by means of points so marked; to represent by means of such a curve; to make a calculation by means of a graph.

(13) To devise or construct the plot of a play, novel etc.

(14) To prepare a list, timetable, or scheme of production arrangements for a play, motion picture etc.

Pre 1100: From the Middle English plot & plotte, (piece of ground) in the sense of “small area, patch, stain, piece of ground” and was often associated with actual legal title to the defined area.  This was an inheritance from the Old English plot (piece of ground) which may (it’s contested among etymologists) be from the Proto-Germanic plataz & platjaz (a patch), the origin of which is unknown.  It was cognate with the Middle Low German plet (patch, strip of cloth, rags), the German Bletz (rags, bits, strip of land) and the Gothic plats (a patch, rags).

In the 1550s it gained the sense of “ground plan, outline, map, scheme”, a variant of the Middle English plat & platte (flat part of a sword; flat piece of ground, plot of ground), itself partly a variant of the Middle English & Old English plot.  The sense of a “secret plan” emerged in the 1580s by association with the Middle French complot (crowd-, plot (ie a combined plan)) of an unknown origin but the Oxford English Dictionary notes the speculation it may have been a back-formation from compeloter (to roll into a ball) from pelote (ball).  The verb was a derivative of the noun.  Plot in the sense “a storyline or main story of a fictional work” dates from the 1640s while the now familiar phrase “plot-line” (main features of a story) seems not to have appeared in print prior to the 1940s although it may earlier have been in oral use as theatre slang in the sense of “a sentence containing matter essential to the comprehension of the play's story” since early in the century.  The noun marplot (one who by officious interference defeats a design) was from 1708 and was the name of a character in Susanna Centlivre's (circa 1669-1723) comedy The busie body.  The phrase sub-plot dates from 1812.  The specific idea of a small piece of land in a cemetery (described variously as “burial plot” or “funeral plot”) was an invention of mid-nineteenth century US English.

HP DesignJet (24 inch (610 mm)) A1 Studio Plotter Printer (steel finish; HP part-number HPDJST24ST).

In the context of (an often secret and for some unscrupulous purpose) plan or scheme, plot can be synonymous with conspiracy but while a plot can be devised by a single individual, a conspiracy by definition involves at least two.  To scheme is to plan (usually with an implication of subtlety) often craftily and typically for one's own advantage.  Words related to plot in this sense includes intrigue, cabal, conspiracy, brew, hatch, frame, design, maneuver, scam & trick.  In the sense of land it can be section, division, parcel, piece etc.  The meaning "to make a map or diagram of, lay down on paper according to scale" was a borrowing from the nefarious sense of scheming and dates from the 1580s while the intransitive sense of "to form a plan or device" is from circa 1600.  In the sense of the lines on a chart or map, there’s no exact synonym (although various shapes (lines, curves, arcs etc) may be describes as a part of a whole plot and the word was (as plotter) adopted as the name of the device (a plotter was previously an individual employed manually to draw) used to draw the lines and mark the points of plans, schematics, blueprints etc.  In idiomatic use, to “lose the plot” is to become confused or disorientated or (more commonly) to lose one's ability or judgment in a (usually stressful) situation.  Plot is really unique to English and other languages picked it up unaltered including French, Dutch, Albanian & Spanish while Czech gained it from the Old Czech which (like Serbo-Croatian), gained it from the Proto-Slavic plotъ; Indonesian picked it up from the Dutch.  Plot is a noun & verb, plotted is a verb, plotting is a noun & verb, plotful & plotless are adjectives and plotter is a noun; the noun plural is plots (the form often also used as a verb).  The verb outplot (to surpass in plotting or scheming) is rare, the derived forms being outplotted & outplotting.

A plot in progress: The Gunpowder Plotters (circa 1610), copperplate engraving conspiring by Crispijn van de Passe the Elder (circa 1564-1637)

Use of the word “plot” spiked suddenly once the “Gunpowder Plot” of 5 November 1605 became well-known.  The Gunpowder Plot was a conspiracy among English Roman Catholics to blow up the houses of parliament, killing, inter alia, King James (James Charles Stuart, 1566–1625; King of Scotland as James VI from 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I after the union of the Scottish and English in 1603 until 1625), his queen and eldest son.  Henry VIII’s (1491-1547; King of England 1509-1547) creation of the Church of England after breaking with Rome in 1534 meant the Roman Catholic Church vanished only in an institutional sense while many adherents to the denomination remained and in the years after Henry’s fiat, there had been many plots which aimed to restore Romish ways to the Isle.  The gunpowder plot was probably the most dramatic (and certainly the most explosive) and was induced by the anger of some zealous Roman Catholics (the most remembered of whom was Guy Fawkes (1570-1606) at the king’s refusal to extend more rights to Catholics.  Their probably not unreasonable assumption was that with the death of the senior royals and most of the members of the House of Commons and House of Lords, there would be such confusion the English Catholics would have their best chance to take back the government of the country and re-establish their Church.

The idea of killing the king was not new (England, like many of the nations of Europe enjoying something of a tradition of regicide) and prior to the Gunpowder Plot being put in train, there had been attempts to gain political and economic rights by negotiation but the authorities (thin-end-of-the-wedge theorists) remained intransigent and the Penal Laws (a body of laws with the practical effect of outlawing Roman Catholicism) remained in force.  Accordingly, the plotters assembled some dozens of barrels of gunpowder (an even now impressive 1½ tons (1400 kg)) and secured a lease on a vault which sat directly beneath the House of Lords, hiding the explosives beneath piles of sacks, coal and firewood.  The preparations in place, discussions were undertaken among the Catholic elite to allocate the positions in the government which would be formed once James’s daughter, the nine-year old Princess Elizabeth Stuart (1596–1662) was installed as queen.  If that seems now a strange choice (and the plot included having her brought-up as a Roman Catholic and at some tender age married off to a suitably Romish groom) it doubtlessly reflected the view the (exclusively male) plotters held of women.  Confident of their success, emissaries were dispatched to foreign courts likely to be sympathetic which included the Holy See in Rome.

Up to this point, the gunpowder plot flawlessly had evolved because the most vital part (secrecy between the conspirators) had been maintained.  However, shortly before the fuse was to be lit, one of the plotters suffered pangs of conscience at the idea of mass murder (which would include not a few Roman Catholics) and sent an anonymous letter to one member of the Lords with whom he was acquainted:

My lord, out of the love I bear to some of your friends, I have a care of your preservation, therefore I would advise you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift your attendance at this parliament, for God and man have concurred to punish the wickedness of this time, and think not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no appearance of any stir, yet I say they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not see who hurts them, this counsel is not to be condemned because it may do you good and can do you no harm, for the danger is past as soon as you have burnt the letter and I hope God will give you the grace to make good use of it, to whose holy protection I commend you.

Alarmed, his lordship alerted the authorities and the decision was taken to search the premises but to wait until closer to the day when the members were due to convene so the plotters might reveal themselves.  At this point the plot was unraveling because the nature of the warning letter became known to the plotters but, upon discovering their gunpowder undisturbed, they assumed it had been dismissed as fake news and resolved to continue, placing a lookout to watch over the vault.  It was to no avail because on 4 November, a search was undertaken and the stash uncovered.  Guy Fawkes, linked to the lease taken on the vault was arrested and, under the torture for which the Stuarts were justly famous, named his fellow plotters and the extent of their participation.  The planned insurrection quickly collapsed and while a few of the plotters made good their escape to the continent, most were either killed while fleeing or captured and executed.

Guy Fawkes in effigy burning on a 5 November bonfire.

Their planed act of terrorism caused such revulsion in England that the cause of Catholic emancipation was set back centuries and laws against them were strengthened and to add insult to injury, in January 1606 the parliament established November 5 as a day of public thanksgiving.  Known as Guy Fawkes Day, it was a popular public festival celebrated throughout the land, the highlight of which was the creation of huge bonfires upon which sat an effigy called "a guy" which had been paraded through the streets.  It's from this use that the word "guy" evolved into the present form, losing gradually the negative connotations (especially in the US) and late in the twentieth century also the exclusively male identity (the male proper name originally the French and related to the Italian Guido.).  Guy Fawkes day is still celebrated in England with bonfires and fireworks but in most of the Commonwealth, where “cracker night” had also been a fond tradition, it has suffered the fate of much in the nanny state, the humorous bureaucrats thinking fun must be had without the annual toll of eyes and fingers for which Guy Fawkes nights had become noted, the injuries increasing as fireworks became more powerful.  Australians and others might be surprised if wandering Amsterdam’s streets on new year’s eve, children happily launching some quite impressive ordnance across the canals without apparent ill-effect.

Lindsay Lohan (with body double) on location in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, for the shooting of Irish Wish.  Lindsay Lohan has (an admittedly remote) connection with the Irish, the surname Lohan an anglicization of the Irish Ó Leocháin, from Middle Irish uí Leochain, from the Old Irish úa Lothcháin (the modern alternative forms being O'Lohan, Loughan, Loghan & Logan).  Car is a Triumph TR4A (1965-1967).  Netflix have released the plotline of the upcoming Irish Wish (release slated for 2024):

When the love of her life gets engaged to her best friend, Maddie puts her feelings aside to be a bridesmaid at their wedding in Ireland. Days before the pair are set to marry, Maddie makes a spontaneous wish for true love, only to wake up as the bride-to-be. With her dream seeming to come true, Maddie soon realizes that her real soulmate is someone else entirely.