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…
Today the Church joins the celebration of all the saints in one festival. The feast of All Saints should inspire us with tremendous hope. Among the saints of heaven are some whom we have known. All lived on earth lives like our own. They were baptized, marked with the sign of faith, they were faithful…
Today, the Church prays for all those of her children who, in the purifying suffering of purgatory await the day when they will be joined to the company of saints. At no time is there accomplished in clearer fashion the twofold duty of charity and justice deriving from every Christian from the fact of his…
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…
