St. John the Baptist was called by God to be the forerunner of His divine Son. In order to preserve his innocence spotless, and to improve the extraordinary graces which he had received, he was directed by the Holy Ghost to lead an austere and contemplative life in the wilderness, in the continual exercises of […]
ST. AUGUSTINE was born in 354, at Tagaste in Africa. He was brought up in the Christian faith, but without receiving baptism. An ambitious school-boy of brilliant talents and violent passions, he early lost both his faith and his innocence. He persisted in his irregular life until he was thirty-two. Meanwhile his mother, St. Monica, […]
MONICA, the mother of St. Augustine, was born in 332. After a girlhood of singular innocence and piety, she was given in marriage to Patritius, a pagan. She at once devoted herself to his conversion, praying for him always, and winning his reverence and love by the holiness of her life and her affectionate forbearance. She […]
ST. JOSEPH CALASANCTIUS was born in Aragon, in 1556. When only five years old, he led a troop of children through the streets to find the devil and kill him. He became a priest, and was engaged in various reforms. Once he heard a voice saying, “Go to Rome,” and saw a vision of many […]
St. Philip Benizi was born in Florence, Italy on the Feast of the Assumption, 1233. That same day the Order of Servites was founded. As an infant at the breast, Philip broke out into speech at the sight of these new religious, and begged his mother to give them alms. Amidst all the temptations of […]
Born Joseph Melchior Sarto on June 2, 1835, this remarkable man described himself in his will, “I was born poor, I lived in poverty, I wish to die poor.” His place of birth was the little village of ‘Riese in northern Italy. His parents nine other children, two of whom died in infancy. When the […]
Polish Franciscan priest (January 8, 1894 – August 14, 1941) who worked to combat the religious indifference of his day. He founded the Militia of the Immaculata, and a companion magazine, Knights of the Immaculata, first published in 1922. His special apostolates included ministry toward the conversion of Masons. After the Germans occupied Poland in […]
THE Church celebrates this day the memory of St. Eusebius, who opposed the Arians, at Rome, with so much zeal. He was imprisoned in his room by order of the Emperor Constantius, and sanctified his captivity by constant prayer. For the Catholic Encyclopedia article on him, click here. An earlier Saint of the same name, […]
ST. RADEGUNDES was the daughter of a king of Thuringia who was assassinated by his brother; a war ensuing, our Saint, at the age of twelve, was made prisoner and carried captive by Clotaire, King of Soissons, who had her instructed in the Christian religion and baptized. The great mysteries of our Faith made such […]
Sts. Pontian and Hippolytus were rivals for the papacy. During Pontian’s pontificate (AD 230-235) the schism led by Hippolytus of Rome came to an end. Both Pontian and Hippolytus were exiled by the emperor Maximinus Thrax to Sardinia. According to Liber Pontificalis he died along with Hippolytus in the Sardinian mines, but not until the […]
AGRESTIUS CHROMATIUS was vicar to the prefect of Rome, and had condemned several martyrs in the reign of Carinus. In the first years of Diocletian, St. Tranquillinus, being brought before Chromatius, assured him that, having been afflicted with the gout, he had recovered a perfect state of health by being baptized. Chromatius was troubled with […]
While the Saracen army of Frederick II. was ravaging the valley of Spoleto, a body of infidels advanced to assault St. Clare’s convent, which stood outside Assisi. The Saint caused the Blessed Sacrament to be placed in a monstrance, above the gate of the monastery facing the enemy, and kneeling before it, prayed, “Deliver not […]
ST. LAURENCE (or Lawrence) was the chief among the seven deacons of the Roman Church. In the year 258 Pope Sixtus was led out to die, and St. Laurence stood by, weeping that he could not share his fate. “I was your minister,” he said, “when you consecrated the blood of Our Lord; why do […]
Thomas Cajetan was born in northern Italy, at Vicenza, in 1480, of pious and noble parents, who dedicated him to our blessed Lady. From childhood he was known as the Saint, and in later years as “the hunter of souls.” A distinguished student, he left his native town to seek obscurity in Rome, but was […]
OUR divine Redeemer, being in Galilee about a year before His sacred Passion, took with Him St. Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, Sts. James and John, and led them to a retired mountain. Tradition assures us that this was Mount Tabor, which is exceedingly high and beautiful, and was anciently covered with green […]
THERE are in Rome three patriarchal churches, in which the Pope officiates on different festivals. These are the Basilics of St. John Lateran, St. Peter’s on the Vatican Hill, and St. Mary Major. This last is so called because it is, both in antiquity and dignity, the first church in Rome among those that are […]
St. Sharbel Makhluf (1828-1898). Ordained in Lebanon in 1862, he lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death. His body was examined and determined to be incorruptible in 1950. Many miracles have been associated with his grave site. Canonized in 1977.
ST. APOLLINARIS was the first Bishop of Ravenna; he sat twenty years, and was crowned with martyrdom in the reign of Vespasian. He was a disciple of St. Peter, and made by him Bishop of Ravenna. St. Peter Chrysologus, the most illustrious among his successors, has left us a sermon in honor of our Saint, […]
Not only among members of the Carmelite Order but also among increasing numbers of the laity is today’s Feast held in great honor. According to old records, it commemorates an incident in the life of St. Simon Stock. In 1251 at Aylesford in England, the holy friar was privileged to witness an apparition of Our […]
Statue of St. Kateri Tekakwitha on the outside of the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, near Quebec City. Born in 1656 at Ossernenon, Iroquois Confederacy. Died April 17, 1680, at Kahnawake (near Montreal) Canada. Beatified June 22, 1980, Vatican City by Pope John Paul II Canonized October 21, 2012, Vatican City by Pope Benedict XVI
THE illustrious martyrdom of these Saints happened at Rome, under the Emperor Antoninus Pius (reigned AD 138 to 161), one of the so-called good emperors. His son, Marcus Aurelius, is likewise listed among the good emperors by secular historians, notwithstanding that he too was a persecutor of Christians. The seven brothers were the sons of […]
The 120 martyrs honored on this day died in China between 1648 and 1930; they were canonized in Rome on Oct. 1, 2000. Augustine Zhao Rong was a Chinese solider ordained as a diocesan priest and martyred in 1815. He was associated with Bishop John Gabriel Taurin Dufresse (Paris Foreign Mission Society) who was martyred […]
