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Mettlecraft Month is Here: “Imperium Armorum”
8th annual Mettlecraft Month is here! What’s Mettlecraft Month? Every November we push a bit harder, and ask a bit more more of ourselves, in our quest for true mettle. What’s mettle? Fighting aspect, physical endurance, unflagging determination, and resolute strength of body, mind and spirit.
Mettle maker #482: Imperium Armorum Week 1
Photo credit: https://www.edgarriceburroughs.com/
What’s “Imperium Armorum?” It’s Latin for “Weapon Mastery.” Why Latin? Because it inspires education and invites intellectual inquiry. One of the problems we encountered here in America is that the educated and erudite among us decided to leave the feral and unfettered fighting methods that won the Revolutionary War behind. When we fought the British, we didn’t fight fair. We didn’t stand in nice straight rows. We hid behind trees, stalked, ambushed, and tricked. Those rough ‘n’ tumble methods were the product of America’s great melting pot — including our experience fighting with native populations. They were the methods used by the everyday American, and so they made their way into the citizen army. And those methods worked.
But in the 19th century, the educated upper classes moved away from the uncultured ways of their forebears. They began to adopt European dueling rules and methodologies instead of just scrappin’ like the lower classes. Eventually even dueling died out. Various fighting sports with complex rule sets replaced the all-in fighting that had been popular in colonial times. Civilizing forces had less impact In the realm of war. But even there the elimination of barbarism took hold. In 1864 the first Geneva Convention was signed, which attempted to ensure humane treatment of war casualties, as well as the formation of the Red Cross.
Is it good that we no longer engage in public duels or seek to settle disputes with no-holds-barred combat? Of course. Is it good that we try to prevent war atrocities? Definitely. But in the realm of self-protection — when our lives and the lives of our loved ones are on the line — we should be looking to the feral and unfettered fighting forms of the frontier era: Rough ‘n’ Tumble!
Giving a Latin name to this year’s Mettlecraft Month is a reminder that we can be both civilized and feral. We can be Tarzan — civilized, educated, and cultured, at home in both black tie and buckskin, kind and decent and loving, but capable of defending the weak with the fighting prowess of the great ape.
Why weapon mastery? When I was training with Dave Durch back in September, I told him that folks didn’t seem to like training with weapons. He said that it isn’t about what what they like, it’s about what they need. It’s about attributes.
Imperium Armorum is the official reintroduction of walking stick self-defense training to the Heritage Rough ‘n’ Tumble program.
Weapon training improves our hand speed, our perception, and our sensitivity. And it also gives us a realistic understanding of how devastating hand weapons really are and how they work so that we don’t have an unrealistic view of how effective empty hand techniques would be against them.
Imperium Armorum WALKING STICK SELF-DEFENSE Week 1
~ COMPLETE THIS AT LEAST TWICE THIS WEEK ! ~
Pledge of Allegiance and Student Pledge (2 mins)
The Wheel Mettle Drill. 100 strikes vs. air with each hand — see video — 200 total (5 mins).
Basic striking and blocking combinations. Those training solo, attach a pool noodle training arm to your heavy bag and practice blocking the arm and coming back with a strike that flows naturally (20 mins).
This week’s constitutional. Complete 25 each (20 mins)
Knuckle Push-ups (holding stick in both hands)
Help-up Squats (each man holding end of a stick — if training solo, attach stick to stationary object)
Jackknifes (with wrist waggles)
Plank Rows 45° (center of stick attached to rope or chain)
Lunges (6 each direction with mix of strikes and waggles )
Get-ups (switching weapon from one hand to the other after each)
Sprints (5 to 10 yards with 2 bayonet strikes at each end)
Walking meditation with stick (13 mins)
Total: 60 mins
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Homily for the Solemnity of All Souls 11/2/25 – Father Mitch
Readings: Wisdom 3:1-6,9, Rev 21:1-5a,6b-7, Ps. 103:8,10,13-14,15-16,17-18, 1 Cor 15:51-57, John 6:35-40
John 6:35-40 World English Bible
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe. 37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. 40 This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus begins his Bread of Life Discourse with “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will not be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” How is Jesus like bread, and what type of hunger and thirst does he satisfy? There are many philosophies, religions, and self-help methods which man has created in an attempt to properly order human lives. But if we want to know how to operate, for example, a complex piece of machinery, do we consult the manufacturer of the machine, or do we ask our neighbor Darryl? To order our lives properly we should consult the manufacturer – the Creator of the Universe, Christ Logos, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Only he can satisfy our hunger and thirst for wisdom.
Who can satisfy the aching pangs of those who crave alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, and other addictions? Only Jesus is large enough to fill an emptiness so great. And what kind of sustenance can possibly replace the junk food of greed, the insatiable desire for more and more pointless possessions? Only the true nourishment of Jesus Christ, his Body and Blood in the Mystery of the Eucharist, can replace the love of things with love for neighbor. Who can relieve the starvation of those who fear death? Only Jesus, who offers eternal life.
Jesus says, “you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.” He adds, “everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life.” We often hear the popular phrase, “Seeing is believing.” Jesus is not using “seeing” and “believing” like that, in some literal sense. He isn’t saying that only those who have a vision of him, like St. Paul, St. John of the Cross, or St. Teresa of Avila, will believe in him and be with him in the life to come. By “see” Jesus means accepting the basic propositions – understanding that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died, rose, and ascended into heaven. By “see” he means grasping the basic propositions, being able to recite the various creeds with sincerity, and so on, in the same way that we “see” that 2+2=4.
But he adds that we must also “believe.” We trust in him fully and act in accordance with our understanding. We may see a parachute, and even see someone use it to fall safely to earth from an airplane. We may see and understand precisely how it works. But it’s another thing entirely to believe in the parachute and jump from the open door of an aircraft. That is what Christ wants: he wants us to see and to believe – to have enough faith and trust in him to join hands with him and take the leap.
Have we died with Christ and been reborn in baptism? Have we sought the nourishment of Christ and tried with all our hearts to replace our hunger for earthly desires with an appetite for righteousness? Have we sought out true food and true drink of the Body of Christ in the Eucharist? Have we seen and believed? Then Jesus Christ promises us that we shall have eternal life, and that we will be raised up on the last day.
If we can do this, brothers and sisters, God will give us water without cost from the spring of the water of life, we will be victorious and inherit the glory God has prepared for us in heaven, and he will be our God we will be his children (Rev 21:6-7).