Culture Time! Slash Women Having Orgasms

First, something nice from St. Francis of Assisi.  Then the really filthy stuff.

The Canticle of Brother Sun -- thought to be the first poem written in Italian, if I have comprehended the gist of the New Yorker article I just read.  For many, the key to enjoying this is to put aside the notion that it's a prayer and really just absorb it as poetry.  The brother/sister device is nicely done.  Not for nothing that St. F of A is the patron saint of ecology.

Me?  I think it's quite beautiful.

The Canticle of Brother Sun

Most High, all powerful, good Lord,
Yours are the praises, the glory, the honor,
and all blessing.

To You alone, Most High, do they belong,
and no man is worthy to mention Your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Praise be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon
and the stars, in heaven you formed them
clear and precious and beautiful.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.

Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through those who give pardon for Your love,
and bear infirmity and tribulation.

Blessed are those who endure in peace
for by You, Most High, they shall be crowned.

Praised be You, my Lord,
through our Sister Bodily Death,
from whom no living man can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin.
Blessed are those whom death will
find in Your most holy willl,
for the second death shall do them no harm.

Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility.

Me?  I'm as religious as the next guy.  Witness this, from my series of Catholic saints, titled "St. Joan Receives the Spirit of the Lord" ...

(But really she's just having an orgasm)

And this, titled "The Ecstasy of St. Theresa" ...

(Ditto the orgasm business, although it's a bit harder to tell here.  I should also tell you the painting is thirteen feet wide, two panels, and really fills up a living room wall.  It annoys me that I have such a small-file picture of it)

The Ecstasy of St. Theresa is, of course, inspired by Bernini's sculpture of roughly the same name (he spells it Teresa), widely hailed as the most erotic religious sculpture in the world ...

Here's the money shot ...

Dude, she is totally getting off.

Different angle ...

I'm gonna have to go upstairs and take a shower.

This, from the Saint herself:

“I saw in his hand a long spear of gold, and at the iron's point there seemed to be a little fire. He appeared to me to be thrusting it at times into my heart, and to pierce my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and to leave me all on fire with a great love of God. The pain was so great, that it made me moan; and yet so surpassing was the sweetness of this excessive pain, that I could not wish to be rid of it. The soul is satisfied now with nothing less than God. The pain is not bodily, but spiritual; though the body has its share in it. It is a caressing of love so sweet which now takes place between the soul and God, that I pray God of His goodness to make him experience it who may think that I am lying.”

Do I have to spell it out?