St. Peter was born in Verona about 1205; his parents were Manichaeans, but he was converted and entered the Order of Preachers with the ambition not only of preaching the faith but of giving his life for it. He had his wish, for in the course of his apostolic work he was assassinated by the…
Catherina Benincasa, born in Siena, was favored with visions from the age of seven. Becoming a tertiary of the Dominican Order in 1360, she acquired great influence by her life of prayer and extraordinary mortifications as well as by the spread of her spiritual writings. Her continual appeals for civil peace and reform of the…
In former times the Church christened pagan festivals, making use of dates and ceremonies and endowing them with a Christian significance. In accordance with this tradition she has placed the civil observance of Labor Day under the powerful patronage of St. Joseph, the humble workman whom God chose to watch over the childhood of the…
Bishop of Alexandria and a great defender of the orthodox faith, throughout his life St. Athanasius opposed the Arian heresy. By denying the Godhead of the Word the Arians turned Christ into a mere man, only higher in grace than others in the eyes of God. St. Athanasius took part in the Council of Nicea…
St. Alexander became pope in 109 and held the Holy See ten years. He died in 119 and is ranked among the martyrs in the canon of the Mass. Martyrologies join with him two companions, Eventius and Theodulus who suffered with him, or at least about the same time of his happy death. The bodies…
The Church reminds us what St. Augustine owed to his mother by attributing to the prayers of St. Monica the conversion of her son and by choosing for the Gospel on her feast the account of the raising from the dead of the son of the widow of Naim. St. Monica was born at Tagaste…
St. Pius V, who was born in 1504, joined the Dominicans at the age of fourteen; he was sixty- two when elected Pope. His reign, though short, was one of the most fruitful of the sixteenth century. To Protestantism, which had proclaimed the Reformation, St. Pius replied by applying the decrees of the Council of…
All his lifetime he was remarkable for his almsdeeds, and it was a law with St. Eadbert to lay aside yearly the tenth part of his goods for the poor. He was ordained successor to St. Cuthbert in the see of Lindisfarne, Scotland in 687 and most worthily governed that church eleven years. It was…
Bishop of Cracow from 1072 to 1079, St. Stanislaus was put to death by Boleslas II, king of Poland. After five different attempts to remonstrate King Boleslas for his terrible immorality which had earned him the surname of The Cruel, St. Stanislaus excommunicated the king. In response, the king with his guards, followed St. Stanislaus…
St. Michael, the holy archangel has ever been honored in the Christian church. To thank his adorable goodness for this benefit of his merciful providence, this festival was instituted by the Church in honor of the good angels: in which devotion she has been encouraged by several apparitions of this glorious archangel. Among others it…
