Ferias are those days of the week on which neither a Feast nor a Vigil is celebrated. The Mass of the previous Sunday is offered except when that day has a Mass of its own as in Lent and on the Ember Days. On Ferias of the 4th class, the priest has the option of…

One of the chief agents of the reform of the Church in the sixteenth century, the successful conclusion of the Council of Trent owed much to St. Charles Borromeo. He was made a cardinal at the age of twenty-one and Archbishop of Milan not long afterwards. He held synods and councils, established schools and religious…

St. Bertille was born of one of the most illustrious families in the territory of Soissons and by her piety acquired the true nobility of the children of God. Through the guidance of St. Ouen, she entered the monastery of Jouarre. When Queen Bathildes, wife of Clovis II re-founded the abbey of Chelles she requested…

He was Greek, a disciple of St. Peter and appointed by him bishop of Padua, where he planted the faith, and in the neighboring cities of Concordia and Vicenza. He died in the year 103 and was buried outside the walls of the city in the monastery of St. Justina in which a sumptuous marble…

In the persecution of Diocletian, four brothers employed in offices of trust and honor at Rome, were apprehended for declaring against the worship of idols, and martyred. Their names were Severus, Severianus, Carpophorus and Victorius. Five other martyrs called Claudius, Nicostratus, Symphorianus, Castorius and Simplicius, who suffered the same persecution, were buried in the same…

The foundation of the Lateran basilica goes back to the time of Constantine, on the morrow of the last persecutions. The palace of the Laterani on the Coelian Hill belonged then to Constantine's wife Fausta. After his conversion the Emperor gave it to the Pope as his private residence and founded in it the church…

Born in Sicily and christened Lancelot, after studying law, Andrew Avellino was ordained and henceforth only accepted pleas in the ecclesiastical courts. But he soon gave up his career at the bar and joined the Theatine Clerks Regular. His great love of the cross caused him to be given the name of Andrew. Having become…

St. Martin is the first bishop and confessor honored by the Church in the West. He was a principal apostle of Gaul, where his feast used to be kept as a holy-day of obligation with an octave and popular rejoicings. Born in Pannonia, he came to Gaul as a soldier. At the age of eighteen…

Pope from 649-654, St. Martin I was a courageous defender of the faith against heresy. He held a council at Rome which condemned the Monothelite heresy which taught that Christ had no human but only a divine will. The heretical emperor, Constans II, had him treacherously arrested and taken to Constantinople. After many sufferings and…

Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Mother Cabrini could do all things in Him who gave her strength. At the command of Pope Leo XIII, St. Frances Cabrini was sent to the Americas to assist the Italian immigrants whose faith was threatened in the new world. She became their mother. An intrepid…

A Catholic of the Ruthenian rite, St. Josaphat was an apostle of the return of the Orthodox schismatics to the Church of Rome. At the age of twenty he became a Basilian monk, and while still young was made superior of his monastery, then archimandrite of Vilna and finally Archbishop of Polotsk. The young Archbishop's…

St. Albert, the son of a German nobleman, was studying at Padua when the Master General of the Dominicans, Jordan of Saxony, succeeded in attracting him to that Order. He was to become one of its greatest glories. After taking his degrees at the University of Paris he taught philosophy and theology at Paris and…

St. Gertrude, a Benedictine nun of the monastery of Helfta in Saxony, is one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages. She was favored by visions of our Savior and has left a marvelous account of them in a book which she called “Revelations” or “The Herald of Divine Love.” St. Gertrude introduced the…

St. Gregory was bishop of Neocaesarea in Asia Minor and was famous for the holiness of his life and his wisdom, but even more so for the numerous miracles that he wrought. Even during his lifetime he was known as “Thaumaturgus,” the wonderworker. His faith was of the sort that “can move mountains.” As a…

The whole Church celebrates today the dedication of the two great Roman basilicas of St. Peter at the Vatican and of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls. The basilica of St. Peter stands on the site of the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, where stood Nero’s circus. It was here that St. Peter was executed. Recent excavations…

Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary, and wife of Duke Louis IV of Thuringia, was widowed at the age of twenty. She had three children, and died when she was twenty-four. St. Elizabeth has remained famous for her great kindness and inexhaustible charity towards the poor and the sick. Left to herself without…

St. Felix appears to have been one of the courageous companions of St. John of Matha in the foundation of the Trinitarian Order for the redemption of captives in the hands of the Moslems. He died in 1212, at Cerfroid, the motherhouse of the Order, in the diocese of Meaux.

The three feasts of the birthday of Our Lady, the holy Name of Mary and her Presentation in the Temple correspond in the Marian cycle with the first three feasts of the cycle of feasts of our Lord; namely, Christmas, the Holy Name of Jesus and His Presentation in the Temple (February 2). The feast…

St. Cecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs. Her body was discovered in 822 and transferred to the title-church that bears her name in Trastevere in Rome. In her youth, St. Cecilia consecrated her virginity to God, yet was compelled by her parents to marry a nobleman named Valerian.…

St. Clement was converted to the faith by Sts. Peter and Paul and was so constant in his attendance on these apostles, and so active in assisting them in their ministry, that St. Jerome and other fathers call him an apostolic man. He was named pope in 91 and reigned for almost 10 years. St.…

St. John of the Cross was the great ally of St. Teresa, whose feast is on October 15, in the reform of the Carmelites; he introduced the primitive observance among the friars as she did among the nuns. For this reason he was subject to great persecution. He was a man of complete self-renunciation, great…

From time immemorial St. Catherine has been venerated at the monastery of Mount Sinai when, in the fifteenth century, the monks discovered her body. It is said of her that she was a young Christian of Alexandria who rejected the advances of the Emperor Maximinus and routed a meeting of learned men gathered together to…

St. Sylvester, the son of a lawyer, had himself studied law at Bologna before becoming a canon of Osimo, his native town. He was a zealous and fervent priest. His determination to retire into solitude was caused by the sight of the decomposing corpse of a friend. He at first lived as a hermit at…

Born in Ireland, St. Virgil traveled to France where he assisted King Pepin until that king recommended him to the see of Salzburg. Virgil trembled at the prospect, and for two years commissioned Dobda, a bishop whom he had brought with him from Ireland, to perform the Episcopal functions reserving to himself only the office…

St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, was the very first of the disciples to know Jesus; at the Master’s call he at once left his nets and followed Him to become a “fisher of men.” We know hardly anything of his subsequent apostolic career. The old accounts of his martyrdom depict him crucified on…