On This Day
1124 – Pope Honorius II is consecrated, having been elected after the controversial dethroning of Pope Celestine II.[2]
Pope Honorius II (9 February 1060 – 13 February 1130), born Lamberto Scannabecchi,[2] was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 December 1124 to his death in 1130.
Although from a humble background, his obvious intellect and outstanding abilities saw him promoted up through the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Attached to the Frangipani family of Rome, his election as pope was contested by a rival candidate, Celestine II, and force was used to guarantee his election.
Honorius’s pontificate was concerned with ensuring that the privileges the Roman Catholic Church had obtained through the Concordat of Worms were preserved and, if possible, extended. He was the first pope to confirm the election of the Holy Roman emperor. Distrustful of the traditional Benedictine order, he favoured new monastic orders, such as the Augustinians and the Cistercians, and sought to exercise more control over the larger monastic centres of Monte Cassino and Cluny Abbey. He also approved the new military order of the Knights Templar in 1128.
Honorius II failed to prevent Roger II of Sicily from extending his power in southern Italy and was unable to stop Louis VI of France from interfering in the affairs of the French church. Like his predecessors, he managed the wide-ranging affairs of the church through Papal Legates. With his death in 1130, the Church was again thrown into confusion with the election of two rival popes, Innocent II and the antipope Anacletus II.
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401 – Pope Innocent I is elected, the only pope to succeed his father in the office.[2]
Pope Innocent I (Latin: Innocentius I) was the bishop of Rome from 401 to his death on 12 March 417. From the beginning of his papacy, he was seen as the general arbitrator of ecclesiastical disputes in both the East and the West. He confirmed the prerogatives of the Archbishop of Thessalonica, and issued a decretal on disciplinary matters referred to him by the Bishop of Rouen. He defended the exiled John Chrysostom and consulted with the bishops of Africa concerning the Pelagian controversy, confirming the decisions of the African synods. The Catholic priest-scholar Johann Peter Kirsch, 1500 years later, described Innocent as a very energetic and highly gifted individual “…who fulfilled admirably the duties of his office”.[2]
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Born On This Day
968 – Minamoto no Yorinobu, Japanese samurai (d. 1048)
Minamoto no Yorinobu (源 頼信, December 21, 968 – June 1, 1048) was a samurai commander and member of the powerful Minamoto clan. Along with his brother Yorimitsu, Yorinobu served the regents of the Fujiwara clan, taking the violent measures the Fujiwara were themselves unable to take. He held the title, passed down from his father, of Chinjufu-shōgun, Commander-in-chief of the Defense of the North. He served as Governor of Ise, Shinano, Sagami, Mutsu and Kai Provinces, and was the progenitor of the Kawachi Genji. He was also the predecessor of Takeda ryu.
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1095 – Roger II of Sicily (d. 1154)[41]
Roger II (Italian: Ruggero II; 22 December 1095[1] – 26 February 1154) was King of Sicily and Africa,[2] son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1127, then King of Sicily in 1130 and King of Africa in 1148.[3] By the time of his death at the age of 58, Roger had succeeded in uniting all the Norman conquests in Italy into one kingdom with a strong centralized government.
FYI
NASA: Astronomy Picture of the Day
By James Clear: 3-2-1: Happiness, the value of risk, and the importance of ambition in poetry (and in life)
McKinsey & Company: Lessons in leadership: Getting past politics to deliver for the people
A 4-step process to bridge political divides
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, hired Steve Kadish, a Democrat, to be his first chief of staff, and the two developed a four-part strategy of focusing on people, facts, the way things get done and results that they used to promote teamwork. “It’s really important to create what I would describe as a team-based approach to the way you do a lot of the work and try to build a team that has the constellation of skills you’re looking to incorporate into whatever task it is you’re trying to pursue,” Baker says.
By Marina E. Franco (Noticias Telemundo for Axios) Axios: The poinsettia’s forgotten history
Michael J. Warren, Edited by Sam Haselby, aeon: Home and the birdsong In the dark, sylvan villages of medieval England, people named places after the birds that filled the night with music
By David Redish, Next Big Idea Club: Changing How We Choose: The New Science of Morality
By Dan Sheehan, Literary Hub: The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2022
NPR: The weird, wild and wonderful stories you might have missed this year
Always A Treat: A Candy Cane Story For 350 years, candy canes have been a special part of Christmas celebrations. Originally available only in white, the classic stripes were added around 1900. Today, candy canes are available in a wide range of colors and flavors.
By Nora Loreto, By Mia Carnevale, Illustration, The Walrus: The Surprising History of Christmas Carols The history of Christmas carols demonstrates that, in all eras as with today, popular celebrations often resisted authority-imposed religious celebrations
By Arthur C. Brooks, Pocket Collections: 2022’s Top Author: Arthur C. Brooks on Rethinking Happiness The #1 most-Pocketed author of 2022 was The Atlantic’s Arthur C. Brooks, whose series on life and happiness resonated deeply with Pocket readers. Here, his top 10 articles of the year.
By Rebecca Jennings, Vox: How to Dress for Cold Weather, Explained by an Arctic Researcher How to stay warm when you’re actively trying to avoid the indoors.
Every bad winter that comes around, American need to relearn how to deal with, and dress for, cold weather. It’s more important now than ever, when staying safe out of reach from coronavirus means spending more time outside in the cold. When it comes to dressing for a hard winter, there are people who are experts in this particular area, for whom brutally cold environments are just part of the job. Cathy Geiger is a professor at the University of Delaware, and has studied the behavior of sea ice at both the arctic and Antarctic poles for more than three decades.
By Whet Moser, Quartz: A Series of Mysterious Bleeps and Bloops Defined the Early Days of the Internet Modem sounds are a dying language.
Ken Little: LIVE Bird and Ground Cam Alabama (over 50 Species Identified)!
CBS Vancouver: Cyclist clears way with homemade bicycle snowplow
Periscope Film: ” THE STORY OF DOCTOR CARVER ” 1937 GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY XD65734
Recipes
By Audrey Bruno, Domino: What Chefs Make When All They Have Is a Bag of Rice How they go against the grain.
By Kimi Goffe, Pocket Collections: 15 Perfect Pie Recipes for Cozy Weather Celebrate this season’s flavors—apples, cranberries, pecans and more—with these delicious pies special enough for your holiday table.
Just the Recipe: Paste the URL to any recipe, click submit, and it’ll return literally JUST the recipe- no ads, no life story of the writer, no nothing EXCEPT the recipe.
DamnDelicious
RecipeTinEats
- Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel June 12, 2026Firstly, thank you for the Jaffle love. 🥰 Hit the Jaffle button above to see what he got up to today! Secondly – cake. Specifically, Coffee Cake! A classic crumb cake with a jammy cinnamon ribbon, loaded with lots and lots of nubbly, extra crunchy cinnamon streusel. Outrageously good. Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel This... […]Nagi
- Introducing Jaffle! June 10, 2026Meet Jaffle! Future Chief Taste Tester. Son of a Dozer friend. A little bundle of golden, fluffy joy! 48 hours of instant happiness I didn’t expect to get a new puppy so soon after saying goodbye to Dozer. To be honest, I wasn’t sure when I’d be ready. And I had it in my head... […]Nagi
wikimedia
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 13 June 13, 2026Picture of the day An image of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on a stained-glass window located in a church in St. Peters, Missouri. Today is the feast day of the Immaculate Heart in the Roman Catholic Church.
- Wikimedia Commons picture of the day for June 12 June 12, 2026Picture of the day A memorial to victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in front the Stonewall Inn in New York City. On June 12, 2016, a terrorist shot and killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, USA.
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