*Image: Sleeping Hermaphroditus (Hermaphrodite endormi) by an unknown Roman sculptor, 2nd century AD (after a Greek original of the 2nd century BC) [The Louvre, Paris]. The mattress upon which Hermaphroditus sleeps was made by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1620.
Leila Marie Lawler is the author of The Summa Domestica: Order and Wonder in Family Life, a three-volume work on the home and the woman’s role in it, and God Has No Grandchildren, a guided reading of Casti Connubii. She co-authored The Little Oratory with David Clayton. She writes at Like Mother, Like Daughter and Happy Despite Them.
Note: I apologize to our friends, both those of you whom I know personally and those I don’t, for our temperamental donations page. I’ve spoken with the techies, but I don’t discount some diabolical intervention, which the exorcists I trust say infest our devices in these days. In any event, tomorrow is Sunday. And we don’t fundraise on the Lord’s Day. So now’s the time. I have enough confidence in readers that I don’t feel the need to explain why you should support us. And in past years you’ve never failed. We’re one week into our end-of-year fundraising. We’re doing well ‘Net and Devil notwithstanding. If you haven’t given already, however, push past all those obstacles. We don’t know how long sites like ours will be allowed to exist online. But the day may not be far off. So let us act while we can. – Robert Royal