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February 17, 1888.


Ronald Knox is a well known Roman Catholic who wrote on various, mainly religious, subjects. In a book of his sermons, we find this notice of cats and St. Philip. He says 

"..Of all the saints none is so full of nature as St. Philip; that is why he shocks some people, that is why he attracted Goethe.He remained all his life very much of a schoolboy, loved to make himself look ridiculous by pulling the beard of the beadle,loved to make his fashionable penitents look ridiculous by carrying his cat through the streets. How much was it a calculated effect? Did he sometimes go out of his way to play the fool? ...It is hard to say..."

In reference to Knox, it never seemed to occur to him that carrying a cat about could just be a way of demonstrating affection. Knox was born on February 17, 1888. He is best known perhaps for his book Enthusiasm, a phenomenon of which he took a dim view. One suspects St. Philip was not so stern.

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