A feast of the Guardian Angels distinct from that of St. Michael was celebrated in Spain in the 16th century. In 1670 Clement X extended its celebration to the whole Church, placing it on October 2, the first free day after Michaelmas. The prime duty of the angels, who have already entered into everlasting glory,…
Mary Frances Teresa Martin was born at Alencon (Orne) in France on January 2, 1873. She was brought up in a model Christian home, and educated in the Benedictine convent at Lisieux. While still a child she felt the attraction of the cloister, and at fifteen had by persistent entreaties obtained permission to enter the…
Today the Church keeps the feast of one of her greatest saints, one of those who taking the Gospel literally, followed Christ as closely as possible. The son of a rich merchant of Assisi he was set on fame and amusement when at the age of twenty-five, hearing a passage from the Gospel his whole…
The reputation of St. Benedict attracted the noblest families in Rome to Subiaco in order to commit the education of their children to him. Placidus was brought to St. Benedict when he was no more than seven. One day, as Placidus was fetching some water in a pitcher, he fell into the lake of Subiaco.…
Canon of St. Cunibert’s of Cologne and professor of theology at Rheims, St. Bruno, decided to leave the world. After a trial of monastic life at Molesmes he withdrew to a lonely mountain in Dauphine, not far from Grenoble, and with six companions founded the hermitage of the Grande Chartreuse. Taken from his hermitage by…
It was customary in the Middle Ages, as formerly among the Romans, for the nobility to wear crowns of flowers as “chaplets.” These crowns were offered to persons of distinction as a sign of reverence. Our Lady as Queen of Heaven and of all souls has a right to the same homage, and so the…
St. Bridget belonged to the royal family of Sweden. She had eight children among whom was St. Catherine of Sweden. Her husband, with her full consent, became a monk and had a holy death in the Cistercian habit. Bridget followed his example and founded the famous monastery of Vadstena which for centuries was to become…
St. John Leonardi who was canonized by Pope Pius XI, in 1938, was one of the greatest figures among the Italian clergy in the sixteenth century. God’s intervention was marvelously manifest in his works; he was indeed one of the workers whom God raises up in His Church to extend His kingdom. As a young…
A descendant of the notorious Alexander VI, Francis Borgia spent a part of his life in collecting titles and offices of importance—at one time or other he was Marquis of Lombay, high steward of Charles V and the Empress, Viceroy of Catalonia and Duke of Gandia. Certain reverses of fortune caused him to reflect. He…
The dogma of the divine maternity of the Blessed Virgin was defined at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Mary is the Mother of Jesus; the Son of God really took her flesh, he is really her Son. In 1931, on the fifteenth centenary of this great Council, Pius XI instituted today’s feast. The Church,…
