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…
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…
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…
St. Leonard was a French nobleman of great reputation was converted to the faith by St. Remigius. Finding it very difficult to resist the need for him among the king's court, he retired privately to the monastery of St. Mesmin. Aspiring after a closer solitude he left his monastery and retired to a forest, outside…
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…
