AUGUSTINE was prior of the monastery of St. Andrew on the Cœlian, and was appointed missionary to England by Pope Gregory I, also a great saint. St. Augustine and his companions, having heard on their journey many reports of the barbarism and ferocity of the pagan English, were afraid, and wished to turn back. But […]
PHILIP was one of the noble line of Saints raised up by God in the sixteenth century to console and bless His Church. After a childhood of angelic beauty the Holy Spirit drew him away from Florence, the place of his birth, showed him the world, that he might freely renounce it, led him to […]
GREGORY VII, by name Hildebrand, was born in Tuscany, about the year 1013. He was educated in Rome. From thence he went to France, and became a monk at Cluny. Afterwards he returned to Rome, and for many years filled high trusts of the Holy See. Three great evils then afflicted the Church: simony, concubinage, […]
It is common for a child growing up in a Catholic home to know about Saints.[i] Many Catholic children are asked “to name that Saint”, or the most important question of all “what is your Confirmation name.” These questions take thinking and researching. There are times where researching a Saint can be almost impossible. According […]
Between 1915 and 1937, St. Christopher Magallanes, and 21 other Mexican priests – as well as three lay companions — were martyred by the anticlerical Mexican government. They supported either covertly or spiritually or even sometimes directly the Cristero Revolt, an attempt in the late 1920’s by Christians to win back religious freedom in a […]
IN 1408 St. Vincent Ferrer once suddenly interrupted his sermon to declare that there was among his hearers a young Franciscan who would be one day a greater preacher than himself, and would be set before him in honor by the Church. This unknown friar was Bernardino. Of noble birth, he had spent his youth […]
St. John held the office of Vicar of Christ from 523-526 when he was martyred at the behest of Theodoric. His official journey to Constantinople was successful in making peace at a time when Arianism had again reared its heretical head, and had created dissension between the Latin and Greek churches. The Byzantine Emperor, Justin, […]
The mystery which the Church honors on this day is at the same time that of the triumph of Jesus Christ and the hallowed hope of His disciples. The Savior, after having accomplished His mission on earth, ascends to heaven to prepare for us an abiding-place. He ascends thither as our King, Liberator, Chief, and […]
Patron of farmers and rural communities, and of the United States National Rural Life Conference. Born and died in Madrid (1070-1130). Canonized 1622. As a child Isidore entered the service of John de Vergas, a wealthy landowner from Madrid. There he worked faithfully on Vergas’ farm for the rest of his life. He married a […]
Our Lady of Fatima is a title for the Virgin Mary due to her apparitions to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the thirteenth day of six consecutive months in 1917, beginning on May 13. The three children were Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto. Many miracles have been associated with […]
Little is known of the lives of these two 1st century martyrs, whose graves are among the eariest honored by the Church. It is thought that they were soldiers, possibly members of the praetorian guard. Pope Damascus wrote a poetic epitaph for them in the fourth century, and though the slab on which is was […]
ATHANASIUS was born in Egypt towards the end of the third century, and was from his youth pious, learned, and deeply versed in the sacred writings, as befitted one whom God had chosen to be the champion and defender of His Church against the Arian heresy. Though only a deacon he was chosen by his […]
In 1955, in order to insert a Christian dimension into the May Day festivities then almost monopolized by Marxists, Pope Pius XII made May 1st an annual Church celebration, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. On that occasion the Pope noted that as labor strives to improve wages and working conditions…. the worker comes […]
CATHERINE, the daughter of a humble tradesman, was raised up to be the guide and guardian of the Church in one of the darkest periods of its history, the fourteenth century. As a child, prayer was her delight. She would say the “Hail Mary” on each step as she mounted the stairs, and was granted […]
Few men have contributed so much to spread Marian devotion as Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. He was a popular and vigorous missionary from the west of France, who died at the age of 43 in 1716, exhausted by his sermons and his penances. His famous books such as Mary’s Secret or The Treaty of True […]
ST. MARK was converted to the Faith by the Prince of the Apostles, whom he afterwards accompanied to Rome, acting there as his secretary or interpreter. When St. Peter was writing his first epistle to the churches of Asia, he affectionately joins with his own salutation that of his faithful companion, whom he calls “my […]
FIDELIS was born at Sigmaringen (southern Germany) in 1577, of noble parents. In his youth he frequently approached the sacraments, visited the sick and the poor, and spent many hours before the altar. For a time he followed the legal profession, and was remarkable for his advocacy of the poor and his respectful language towards […]
ANSELM was a native of Piedmont. When a boy of fifteen, being forbidden to enter religion, he for a while lost his fervor, left his home, and went to various schools in France. At length his vocation revived, and he became a monk at Bec in Normandy. The fame of his sanctity in this cloister […]
ST. MARTIN, who occupied the Roman See from A. D. 649 to 655, incurred the enmity of the Byzantine court by his energetic opposition to the Monothelite heresy, and the Exarch Olympius went so far as to endeavor to procure the assassination of the Pope as he stood at the altar in the Church of […]
We don’t know where Thomas was. All we know is that he missed it. All the others were huddling together behind locked doors, hoping that the authorities would be satisfied with the blood of their master and leave them alone. But Jesus wouldn’t leave them alone. Despite the locked doors, there He stood, glorious in […]
So named for the clandestine plans of Judas Iscariot. Matthew 26:14-16. “Then one of the Twelve called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priests, and said to them, ‘What are you willing to give me for delivering him to you?’ But they assigned him thirty pieces of silver. And from then on he sought out […]
