I first saw the Latin inscription, BEATUS VIR, above the Bishop’s stall in the choir of Lincoln Cathedral during Evensong in 1991. My halting translation then was “Blessed Man.” I thought it was an attribution to the bishop. I was wrong. They are the first words of Psalm 1 in Latin translated in English as “Blessed is the man….” The first words of each Psalm are carved around the choir beginning with the bishop’s stall. But I always hoped that the Bishop should be a good man.
Is there such a thing as a good man? One might doubt it after hearing of so many celebrities and politicians who surrendered their virtue, their manliness, to the unholy trinity of Power, Mammon, and Eros. They now live as castaways, flotsam on a littered sea.
But I have known a few good men who never sold their birthright, who did not “hold their manhoods cheap.”
In subsequent posts, I will tell the stories of George, Curt, Frank, Keith, Bill, and Billy. These were men not much esteemed by the world; fame did not come their way (with one exception). They were little known in their time, but like God’s men and women of old, “God is not ashamed to be called their God” (Heb 11:16 NAS) and these were “men of whom the world was not worthy” (Heb 11:38 NAS).
Image from the Alban Psalter
This Mind 
You are doing a good job with these, Bill.
The first one was a shock to my system, and that night I dreamed my dad was dying again, in a bed in our living room. It was very painful. But this one did not cause that.
Take care Deb
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Dear Deb, I am so sorry to have caused you pain by opening a wound that has yet to heal. I will speak of your Dad again, but it will be praise for the man and nothing of his last years. Blessings on you, dear sister-in-law!
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