The seven Machabees were brothers martyred with their mother under Antiochus Epiphanes in about the year 150 before Christ. There is an account of their wonderful death in the Old Testament (2 Mach. 7). The seven brothers suffered, one after another, the most exquisite torments with invincible courage and constancy while their heroic mother stood…

Before his religious life, St. Alphonsus practiced for some time at the bar and was fast growing in reputation when an incident occurred which was the catalyst for his apostolic labors and learned writings. Alphonsus, in his defense of a case of great importance pleaded so ingeniously that the president felt disposed to give judgment…

He was of the sect of the Pharisees and a doctor of the law in the highest reputation at Jerusalem. St. Paul recommended himself to the Jews by saying that he had been his scholar. When the Jews were deliberating to put the apostle to death, St. Gamaliel prevented such a resolution and indirectly showed…

At the end of the twelfth century the Church in France was ravaged by the Albigensian heresy, a doctrine that was entirely unchristian and constituted a social evil. Effective measures were required to combat it. Where others had failed, a Spanish canon, Dominic Guzman, succeeded. He was notable for his learning and love of poverty…

The church of Our Lady of the Snow was the basilica that Pope Liberius built in Rome, in the fourth century on the Esquiline Hill on the site of the present church of St. Mary Major. Our Lady showed the site of her sanctuary to a nobleman, indicating its boundaries by a miraculous fall of…

Twice in the course of the year the Church commemorates our Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor—during Lent, on the second Sunday, in order to bear witness to His Divinity as His Passion draws near, and again today to celebrate His exaltation in glory. The feast of the Transfiguration had long been kept on August 6…

With John Peter Carafa, the future Pope Paul IV, Cajetan of Thiene founded in 1523 the first congregation of Clerks Regular, a new form of institute which corresponded with the needs of the time. Trust in God was its principal rule; its members were forbidden to ask for alms and depended entirely on the spontaneous…

Born at Dardilly, near Lyons on May 8, 1786, St. John Mary Vianney was ordained priest at Grenoble in 1815. He was parish priest of Ars for nearly forty-two years and his influence still endures in the parish which he sanctified. His pastoral zeal, his mortifications and miracles transformed the population. Crowds flocked to the…

In St. Lawrence we have a sensible demonstration how powerful the grace of Jesus Christ is which is able to sweeten whatever is bitter and harsh to flesh and blood. A lively faith like that of the martyrs would make us condemn the honors and pleasures of the world and measure the goods and evils…

St. Lawrence, Pope Sixtus II’s archdeacon was martyred on August 10, 258, a few days after the Pope himself and other members of the Roman clergy had suffered a similar fate, all of them victims of Valerian’s persecution. The prefect of Rome, imagining that the Christians had hid considerable treasures was extremely desirous to secure…

St. Tiburtius is a Roman martyr (286) and subdeacon who was betrayed to the persecutors, condemned by Fabian to many torments and at length beheaded on the Lavican road, three miles from Rome, where a church was afterward built. St. Susanna, a Roman virgin, is said to have been niece to Pope Cajus. Having made…

St. Clare of Assisi was the first woman to practice the life of entire poverty as taught by St. Francis. Placed by him at the head of a few companions in the small convent of San Damiano, she governed her community for forty-two years thus founding at the gates of Assisi the Order of Poor…

One of the most illustrious martyrs who suffered in the reign of Gallus was St. Hippolytus, one of the twenty-five priests of Rome who had the misfortune for some time to have been deceived by the hypocrisy of Novatian and Novatus and to have been engaged in their schism; but this fault he expiated by…

The Assumption is the most important of our Lady’s feasts; the Church prepares us for it by a vigil. On November 1, 1950, Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption. Thus he solemnly proclaimed that the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the close of her earthly career, was taken up, body and…

Desiring to associate St. Joachim with the triumph of his blessed daughter, the Church transferred his feast from March 20 to August 16, the day after the Assumption. Leo XIII whose baptismal name was Joachim, raised this feast and that of St. Anne to the rite of double of the second class. The name of…

A canon of Breslau, St. Hyacinth joined the Dominican Order in Rome during the lifetime of the founder, in about the year 1217. He returned to Cracow with the first band of Dominican missionaries. The newcomers spread over all the northern countries into Russia, the Balkans, Prussia and Lithuania. St. Hyacinth preached the crusade against…

Saint Agapitus was a martyr of Praeneste (Palestrina) not far from Rome. He suffered in his youth about the year 275. His cultus, which is very ancient, was particularly popular in the eternal city where Felix III (492) caused a church to be built in his honor. Ancient inscriptions show clearly the great confidence placed…

Born at Ry (Orne) in France, St. John Eudes founded a society of priests known as the Eudists and a congregation of nuns, the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity. He rendered immense services to the Church by the seminaries that he founded and by the missions that he preached in almost all the provinces…

It is an especial joy to celebrate the feast of St. Bernard soon after the Assumption for one of his titles to fame is due to the tenderness and piety with which he hymned the glories of Mary in his prayers, sermons and writings. Born in 1090 of a noble Burgundian family, at the age…

Born at Dijon in 1572, St. Jane Frances, after her marriage to Baron de Chantal, showed herself as an admirable wife and mother. At the death of her husband when she was twenty-eight, she decided to remain a widow in order to occupy herself with education of her children. She devoted all her energies to…

This great and humble man had an unusual vocation; he took his degree at the University of Paris, entered the Servite Order as a lay-brother, became general of the Order, and was obliged to flee to avoid being made pope. He was a great worker for peace in thirteenth-century Italy rent by the strife of…

St. Bartholomew is the disciple introduced to our Lord by Philip under the name of Nathanael, whom He praised in the words: “That is a true Israelite in whom there is no guile.” St. Like mentions him among the twelve whom Christ, after a night of prayer, chose to be witnesses of His life, His…

Louis IX who became King of France at the age of twelve was religiously trained by his mother, Blanche of Castille. Throughout his life he remained deeply devout and as a king his conduct was that of a real saint. “He was,” said Bossuet, “The holiest and most just king who ever wore the crown.”…

The long pontificate of St. Zephyrinus (198-217) was a period marked by the persecution of Septimus Severus, the struggle against heresy and the organization of the Christian community in Rome. In the person of the Pope the Roman Church asserted her claim as the appointed guardian of the true faith.

The son of a nobleman of Aragon, St. Joseph Calasanctius was born in 1556. At an early age he felt called to devote himself to the education of youth. This ideal he realized in Rome in 1597 by founding a new congregation of Clerks Regular known as the Piarists. The institute developed rapidly but the…

Augustine was born at Tagaste in North Africa in 354. At first he followed his mother’s example and advice but later fell into a licentious way of life: “My sins increased like a rolling snowball,” he wrote in his Confessions. In her distress, Monica turned to God in prayer and tears and remained with her…

The Church, having celebrated the earthly birthday of St. John the Baptist on June 24, today honors the anniversary of his martyrdom. Besides Our Lord and Our Lady, St. John the Baptist is the only one whose birth and death are thus celebrated. Today’s Gospel relates the circumstances of his execution. He had the courage…

A century after the discovery of the New World there was born at Lima, the capital of Peru, the first flower of holiness to bloom in South America. Her name was Isabella but her fresh complexion earned her the name of Rose by which she is always known. From her childhood she lived solely for…

St. Raymund Nonnatus, who devoted his life to the ransoming of Christians held prisoner by the Mohammedans, was one of the first members of the Order of Our Lady of Ransom founded by St. Peter Nolasco and St. Raymund of Penafort. Having been sent to Africa he obtained the freedom of many captives; he offered…