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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Olympics and Catholicism: "citius, altius, fortius"

Yesterday's USA Today had a nice piece on the religious roots of the Olympics.

I was not aware that the Olympic theme "faster, higher, stronger" (citius, altius, fortius) was coined by a Catholic priest. The priest, Fr. Henri Didon, is also understood by some to be the founder of the modern Olympiad based on the tradition he started in the late 19th century at this seminary of organizing Olympic games.

Nothing is written, thankfully, on whether the seminarians wore cassocks to compete or...er...went more traditional Greek.