RELIGION | Lisa's History Room

Archive for the ‘RELIGION’ Category

The Secret Service Code Names

Posted in Barack and Michelle Obama, Frank Sinatra, Jackie Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jr., Kennedys, the, PEOPLE, POLITICS & GOV'T, Prince Charles of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Queen Elizabeth II, RELIGION, Ronald Reagan (& Nancy), ROYALTY/NOBILITY, tagged Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, biographies of politicians, Frank Sinatra, George H. Bush, George W. Bush, Gerald Ford, Hillary Clinton, Jackie Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, John F. Kennedy, John McCain, Laura Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Michelle Obama, pictures of Kennedy assassination, pictures of Reagan assassination attempt, Pope John Paul II, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, richard nixon, Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin, Secret Service agent Clint Hill, the White House, U.S. Presidents, U.S. Secret Service code names on February 9, 2011| 11 Comments »

The U.S. Secret Service provided security for Pope Benedict XVI at the Papal Mass in Washington, D.C., on April 17, 2008. Although the agents have no official uniform and can be seen wearing anything from tuxedos to blue jeans, they are often identified by their dark sunglasses, listening devices, and lapel pins bearing the agency's gold star logo.

The United States Secret Service uses code names to refer to the President of the United States, his family, other officials, and places. Originally, these code names were designed to protect sensitive communications, back in the day before restricted communications were routinely encrypted. Nowadays, there is no need to keep these names secret. Nevertheless, The Secret Service who guards the First Family and other U.S. officials continues to use the code names for clarity, brevity, and tradition. (1)

The U.S. Secret Service Star Logo. The U.S. Secret Service protects the President and First Family, other officials of the U.S. government, and visiting dignitaries.

General Code Names

President of the United States: POTUS

First Lady of the United States: FLOTUS

Vice President of the United States: VPOTUS

The Obamas

Barack: Renegade

Michelle: Renaissance

Malia: Radiance

Sasha: Rosebud

The Bushes

George W.: Tumbler

Laura: Tempo

Barbara: Turquoise

Jenna: Twinkle

The Clintons

Bill: Eagle

Hillary: Evergreen

Chelsea: Energy

The Bushes

George H.: Timberwolf

Barbara: Tranquility

The Carters

Jimmy: Deacon

Rosalynn: Dancer

Amy: Dynamo

Secret Service agents respond to the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr. on March 30, 1981. President Reagan took a bullet in the abdomen but made a full recovery.

The Reagans

Ronald: Rawhide

Nancy: Rainbow

The Fords

Gerald: Passkey

Betty: Pinafore

The Nixons

Richard: Searchlight

Pat: Starlight

The Johnsons

Lyndon: Volunteer

Lady Bird: Victoria

Lynda Bird: Velvet

Luci Baines: Venus

A motorcade carries President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy through the streets of Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Texas Governor John Connally and wife Nellie ride in front of the Kennedys.

: Secret Service agent Clint Hill stood on the running board of the car behind the Kennedy’s limo.

: Agent Hill heard the first shot that hit President Kennedy. Mr Hill is the figure in the famous Zapruder film of the killing which shows him climbing onto the back of the president’s limousine. “I heard the first shot, saw the president grab his throat, lurch left, and I knew something was wrong,” recalled Hill in the book, The Kennedy Detail. Jackie Kennedy can be seen crawling out the back of the car onto the trunk to get help for her slain husband, slumped in the seat.

Agent Hill got in the back seat with Mrs. Kennedy and the president and shielded them with his body on the way to Parkland Hospital.

The Kennedys

John F.: Lancer

Jackie: Lace

Caroline: Lyric

John Jr.: Lark

Other Individuals

Queen Elizabeth II: Kittyhawk, Redfern

Prince Charles: Unicorn

Frank Sinatra: Napoleon

Pope John Paul II: Halo

Sarah Palin: Denali

John McCain: Phoenix

Places

The White House: Castle

The Capitol: Punchbowl

(1) Source: Wiki “Secret Service Codename”

Read Full Post »

St. Lawrence and the Holy Chalice

Posted in PEOPLE, RELIGION, St. Lawrence, tagged biographies of saints, blood of Christ, Christian history, Christian martyrs, Christian persecution, Christianity, Emperor Valerian, Laurence of Rome, Pope Sixtus II, Roman Catholic history, St. Laurence, St. Lawrence, the Eucharist, the Holy Chalice, the Roman Empire, transubstantiation on March 4, 2010| 8 Comments »

St. Lawrence (or Laurence) of Rome d. 258

Saint Lawrence (or Laurence) of Rome (c. 225-258) is one of the most honored of the Christian martyrs. Not much is known of him. He may have been born in Huesca, Spain. A deacon of the Roman Catholic Church during a time of Christian persecution, Lawrence was entrusted with safeguarding the Church’s holy relics, among them the Holy Chalice. In Christian history, the Holy Chalice is believed to be the cup Jesus and his Apostles drank wine from at the Last Supper. At this first Eucharistic feast, Jesus consecrated the wine for the Apostles to drink, thus changing it into the blood of Christ.

: Detail from “The Last Supper,” by Juan de Juanes, oil, 1560s, showing Jesus with the elements of the Christian Eucharist: bread and wine. The cup pictured is The Holy Chalice of Valencia, believed to be the cup Jesus and the Apostles drank wine from at the Last Supper. This Holy Chalice is one of four believed to be the actual cup used in the Last Supper. The Holy Chalice of Valencia (Spain) is believed to be the chalice St. Lawrence rescued from Rome in 258 A.D.

From 257-261 A.D., the Roman Emperor Valerian was aggressively persecuting Christians and stripping the Church of power and property. In 258 A.D., he ordered the beheading of Pope Sixtus II. Alarmed, Lawrence immediately began selling church possessions and giving away the money to the poor. For safekeeping, he gave the Holy Chalice to a soldier to spirit it away to Lawrence’s homeland in Spain, in present-day Aragon.

The Holy Chalice of Valencia

Then came the order from the Roman prefect (commander) for Lawrence to turn over all the treasures of the Church. Lawrence rushed out into the city. He gathered together lepers, the blind, the sick, widows, orphans, the elderly, the poor, the crippled, and the homeless and took the crowd to be presented to the Roman prefect.

“Here,” Lawrence announced to the commander, gesturing at all the people assembled, “here is the church’s treasure.”

The commander was incensed. He ordered that Lawrence be stripped of his clothing and bound with ropes. He had Lawrence laid on his back upon a gridiron and roasted over a slow fire.

"The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence," oil on wood, by Masters of the Acts of Mercy (Austrian, Salzburg, c. 1465)

After prolonged and indescribable suffering, Lawrence is said to have quipped to his torturers:

“One side is done now; you can turn me over now.” (which they did, turning him face down above the flames)

After saying a prayer for the Christian conversion of Rome, he died.

St. Lawrence is the patron saint of cooks and comedians alike. In art, he is often portrayed carrying a long cross on his shoulder and a gospel book in his hand. His emblems are the gridiron and a bag of money for the poor. (1)