Today's liturgy celebrates three feasts in one. The first is the Octave of the Lord. Formerly a second Mass was celebrated at St. Maria Antiqua, in the forum, whose dedication it possibly was. Traces of this are to be found in the Mass and Office which are devoted to Our Lady. The third feast is…
The name of Jesus means Savior; it had been shown in a dream to Joseph together with its meaning and to Our Lady at the annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel. The institution of this feast is relatively recent. Its origins are to be found in the Franciscan Order; the devotion and preaching of St. Bernardine…
In the year 311, in Palestine, Peter Balsam was apprehended at Aulane, in the persecution of Maximinus. He was interrogated and sentenced by Severus, governor of the province. “Of what family and of what country are you?” said Severus. “I am a Christian,” said Peter. “What is your employ?” “What employ can I have more…
Born a gentile, St. Titus seems to have been converted by St. Paul, who calls him his son in Christ. His extraordinary virtue and merit gained him the particular esteem and affection of this apostle; for we find him employed as his secretary and interpreter; and he styles him his brother, and copartner in his…
Born at Alexandria in Egypt of wealthy Macedonian parents, St. Syncletica consecrated her virginity to God at a tender age. Mortification and prayer were her principal employment. The fame of her virtue being spread abroad, many women resorted to her abode to confer with her upon spiritual matters. Her humility made her unwilling to take…
Epiphany means manifestation. What the Church celebrates today is the manifestation of Our Lord to the whole world; after being made known to the shepherds of Bethlehem He is revealed to the Magi who have come from the east to adore Him. All Christian tradition has ever seen in the Magi the first fruits of…
St. Amalberge, mother of this saint, was niece to Pepin, mayor of the palace. Gudula was educated at Nivelle, under the care of St. Gertrude, her cousin and god-mother; after whose death in 664, she returned to the house of count Witger, her father, and having by vow consecrated her virginity to God, led there…
According to their acts, and the ancient Martyrologies, though engaged in a married state, they by mutual consent lived in perpetual chastity, sanctified themselves by the most perfect exercises of an ascetic life, and employed their revenues in relieving the poor and the sick; for this purpose they converted their house into a kind of…
Agatho, a Sicilian by birth was remarkable for his charity and benevolence, a profound humility and an engaging sweetness of temper. Having been several years treasurer of the church of Rome, he succeeded Domnus in the pontificate in 679. He presided in the sixth general council which ruled against the Monothelite heresy, “Acknowledged,” says he,…
During the four years of his pontificate (138-142), St. Hyginus, successor to St. Telesphorus as Pope, opposed the heresy of Valentinus who at this period came to propagate his errors in the heart of the Christian community in Rome. He also fought the heresy of Cerdo with excommunication, twice, the second after a false repentance.
During the reign of Valerian or Diocletian, St. Arcadius was condemned to death by cutting off his limbs joint by joint. Arcadius, with a joyful countenance, surveying his scattered limbs all around him, and offering them to God said, “Happy members, now dear to me, as you at last truly belong to God, being all…
Epiphany, the manifestation of the Lord: guided by this thought the East has made the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist the central theme of its feast on January 6, the voice of the Father, the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, the testimony of John, all constituting the…
Bishop of Poitiers in the fourth century, St. Hilary was one of the great champions of Catholic belief in the divinity of Christ. By his preaching, his treatise on the Trinity, his part in the Councils, his daring opposition to the Emperor Constantius, he showed himself a courageous apostle of the truth. He could not…
It was from St. Jerome (420) that the west learnt of the life of St. Paul; the book which he devoted to the life of the first Christian hermit charmed and instructed generations of the faithful and formed the inspiration of many artists. St. Paul is said to have died in 341, in a hermitage…
Just at the time when Diocletian had spent his first violence against the Church, St. Marcellus was elected Pope (308). He reorganized the Catholic hierarchy disrupted by the persecution. His epitaph, composed by St. Damasus tells us that by enforcing the canons of holy penance, he drew upon himself the contradictions and persecutions of many…
A few days after St. Paul, the first hermit, the Church today celebrates the feast of St. Antony, the father of monks. Antony retired to the desert at about the age of eighteen in order to live in perfect solitude. The devil, for the purpose of making him give up his solitary life, appeared to…
St. Prisca was a noble Roman lady, and after many torments finished her triumph by the sword, about the year 275. She is venerated at Rome in a church of the same name on Mount Aventine. The tradition at Rome is that St. Peter consecrated an altar, and baptized there in an urn of stone…
Marius a nobleman of Persia with his wife Martha and two sons Audifax and Abachum being converted to the faith, distributed his fortune among the poor as the primitive Christians did at Jerusalem and came to Rome to visit the tombs of the apostles in the year 270. The emperor Aurelian then persecuted the church,…
Marius a nobleman of Persia with his wife Martha and two sons Audifax and Abachum being converted to the faith, distributed his fortune among the poor as the primitive Christians did at Jerusalem and came to Rome to visit the tombs of the apostles in the year 270. The emperor Aurelian then persecuted the church,…
Together with St. Cecilia, St. Agnes is one of the most famous Roman martyrs. At the height of persecution when many of the faithful, and even the clergy, were giving up the faith, she remained faithful to Christ and made the sacrifice of her youthful life. St. Ambrose and St. Damasus praised the example that…
The Church celebrates together the anniversaries of two martyrs: the great Spanish deacon, St. Vincent, burned to death at Saragossa in 304, and a Persian monk, St. Anastasius, beheaded in 628. Two famous churches at Rome are dedicated to them, some of their relics being kept in Tre Fontane, the traditional site of St. Paul’s…
Born at Penafort, near Barcelona, St. Raymund is one of the glories of the Dominicans. As a moral theologian and an outstanding minister of the sacrament of penance he placed his knowledge, which was extensive, at the service of the cause of the conversion of the Moors. He was renowned for his miracles and for…
On the eve of the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Church has fixed the feast of St. Timothy, his faithful companion on his missionary journeys. Timothy also suffered imprisonment for Christ, and gloriously confessed his name, in the presence of many witnesses; but was set at liberty. He was ordained bishop by…
The Epistle (Acts of the Apostles 9. 1-22) is the account of the conversion of him who, to the Church, is the very type of apostle, whose wonderful teaching she continually puts before us. Surpassing all his equals in zeal for the Jewish law and their traditions, which he thought the cause of God, Paul…
A disciple of St. John, who appointed him bishop of Smyrna, St. Polycarp was condemned to the stake in 156 at the age of eighty-six. He accepted martyrdom with peace and joy of soul. The account of his arrest and suffering speaks of his admirable calm and of the veneration in which the Christians of…
Born in Antioch about 347, St. John Chrysostom was a great genius. His powerful eloquence earned for him the surname of Chrysostom, or golden mouthed. With St. Athanasius, St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Basil, he forms the group of the four great doctors of the Eastern Church. He was anointed Archbishop of Constantinople. His courage…
Devoting himself body and soul to delivering Christians from captivity among the infidels and in providing for their spiritual welfare, St. Peter Nolasco founded the Order of Our Lady of Ransom which he obliged its members themselves to become prisoners of the pagans, if by so doing they could obtain the freedom of their brothers…
His ardent love of God and souls, his great kindliness, rare wisdom and sure teaching made St. Francis exceptionally influential in bringing about conversions and in guiding souls in the spiritual life. He was bishop of Geneva. He won back to the faith more than 70,000 heretics, thus restoring to the Church a great part…
A noble Roman virgin who glorified God, St. Martina suffered many torments and a cruel death for her faith, in the capital city of the world, in the third century. The city of Rome ranks her among its particular patrons. Her relics were discovered in a vault, in the ruins of her old church, and…
In St. John Bosco the liturgy honors a saint whose soul was all simplicity, joyfulness and zeal, whose trust in divine Providence overcame every difficulty and persisted through every obstacle. Born near Turin in 1815, St. John Bosco devoted his life as a priest to the poor, to prisoners and to all the unfortunate of…
