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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…

Gregory was born in Cappadocia. He pursued advanced studies in Athens at the same time as St. Basil with whom he always remained on terms of devoted friendship. St. Gregory, at first Bishop of Nazianzus and then of Constantinople, occupied the imperial see at a very troubled period. He resigned his office for the sake…

Bishop of Florence, St. Antoninus was a member of the Dominican Order. He was so opposed to accepting this title that Pope Eugenius IV had to order him to obey his command under penalty of excommunication. After many tears, Antoninus complied. His usual saying was that all the riches of a successor of the apostles…

The feasts of the Apostles throughout the year were formerly all holidays. That of SS. Philip and James celebrates the solemn translation of their relics to the church of the Holy Apostles at Rome, which is dedicated to them, and where they still rest. The station is made there on all the Ember Fridays and…

The holy martyrs venerated today have in common the place of their cultus which is the catacomb of Domitilla, well known to pilgrims in Rome. Nereus and Achilleus, two Roman soldiers were converts; they were beheaded for their faith and their bodies rest in a basilica which may be as early as the fourth century.…

A member of the Society of Jesus, St. Robert Bellarmine was a professor of theology and preacher at Louvain (1569-76), he taught controversial theology at Rome, where he was St. Aloysius Gonzaga’s confessor. Sixtus V sent him on a diplomatic mission to France; he became provincial of the Jesuits at Naples, and was made a…

Today the Roman liturgy celebrates the feast of a martyr of Tarsus whose relics were taken to Rome at an early date. St. Boniface was a steward of a very wealthy and beautiful lady, Aglae. Together these two were involved in criminal activities but one day Aglae said to Boniface, “I have heard that they…

St. John Baptist de la Salle belonged to a great family at Rheims. He became a priest and canon of the diocese of Paris, but renounced his canonry to devote himself to educating poor children. He founded a new religious Congregation, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, which soon spread throughout the world. The Brothers…

Bishop of Gubbio, his native city, St. Ubaldus is remembered in central Italy as a bishop who was entirely devoted to the duties of his office. He led a life of exceptional austerity. The saint often defended his flock in public dangers. Hearing one day that a sedition was raised in one of the streets,…

St. Paschal, a poor shepherd boy of Aragon, at the age of twenty-four entered the Order of Discalced Franciscans as a lay brother where he became a model of austerity, obedience and absolute poverty. His meditation on the things of God was so profound that he was often in ecstasy; he had a great devotion…

A Dalmatian bishop, St. Venantius made a glorious confession of his faith and after suffering many torments was beheaded in the persecution of Decius in 250, at Camerino of Ancona in Italy. He is patron of Camerino in the Roman Marches.

St. Peter Celestine was Pope only for a few months. He was about seventy when he was dragged from his monastic solitude and made to accept the heavy charge of head of the Church; the Holy See had been vacant for twenty-seven months; he could not refuse. But a few months later he voluntarily resigned…

Born in 1380, St. Bernardine of Siena at an early age left the world in order to lead a hermit’s life; then, at the age of twenty-two, he entered the Franciscan Order, one of whose glories he is. Having been made General of the Order, he resigned this charge in order to devote himself to…

St. Hospitius shut himself up in the ruins of an old tower near Villafranca, in Provence, in a peninsula which is still called from him San-Sospis. He girded himself with an iron chain, lived only on bread and dates and was honored with the gifts of prophecy and miracles. He died in 681 on which…

St. Rita (Margarita) after eighteen years of married life, lost, by death, her husband and her two sons. Called afterwards to the religious state, she professed the Rule of St. Augustine at Cascia her native town, near Spoleto, in Central Italy. In a life-long and terrible malady her patience, cheerfulness and union by prayer with…

Julia was a noble virgin at Carthage who when that city was taken by Genseric in 439 was sold for a slave to a pagan merchant of Syria. Under the most mortifying employments for her station, by cheerfulness and patience she found, besides her sanctification, a present happiness and comfort which the world could not…

A native of the kingdom of Leon in Spain, St. John embraced in his own country the austere order of the Barefooted Observantine Franciscans. Being sent by the authority of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide to preach the faith in the kingdoms of Fez and Morocco, he discharged himself with such great zeal that the…

In the eleventh century the Church, held in subjection by lay princes, was ravaged by grave disorders in the moral life of the clergy. But it was not long before a movement for reform began to take shape. To this a monk of Cluny, Hildebrand, gave his adhesion. He was the principal advisor of Alexander…

Born in Florence in 1515, St. Philip Neri lived all his life in Rome and was one of the most influential persons of his times. He was a man of original character and happy disposition, but his soul was burning with an ardent and unbounded love of God and for people of all conditions, with…

Born at Jarrow in Northumberland, England, Bede was entrusted as a young lad to the care of St. Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth. Having himself become a monk, Bede, “the most observant and the happiest of monks,” was also one of the most learned churchmen of his time. He wrote very full commentaries on Holy…

St. Augustine, a monk of Mount Coelius in Rome, was sent by St. Gregory to England to preach the Gospel to the Anglo-Saxons. It is now known that this mission was undertaken at the express wish of the Anglo-Saxon kings who desired that their subjects, by the grace of baptism, might benefit by the ancient…

A Florentine of the noble family of Pazzi, St. Mary Magdalen became a Carmelite nun at the age of sixteen. She practiced great mortification for the salvation of infidels and sinners, taking as her motto: “to suffer, not to die.” She died in 1607, and her body, which she had so greatly mortified, still remains…

St. Felix I, who governed the Church from 268 to 273, was buried after his martyrdom in the “crypt of the popes” at the catacomb of St. Callixtus.  Pope St. Felix commanded that Masses be offered over the tombs of martyrs.  This union of the martyrs with the sacrifice of the Mass shows that their…