I just discovered that I have an unexpected Name Day on May 19th. Catholics celebrate their Name Day as another birthday in honor of the patron saints on feast days of the one after whom they are named. There are a few St. Roberts, with Bellarmine being the most famous, Read more…
On this day of Pope Francis’s funeral, first of all we pray for the repose of his soul. Everyone would acknowledge, no matter the side on which they would land, that Francis’s Pontificate was controversial and divisive, particularly in matters of doctrine and liturgy. I don’t find any need to Read more…
Today is the feast of St. Isidore, a peasant farmer on the outskirts of Madrid. He lived from about 1070 to 1130, and Mardid was liberated from Muslim rule when he was a boy. With his saintly wife, Maria Toribia, he had one son. He was known for the miraculous Read more…
James and John make a bold request in Mark 10: “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mark 10:37). Jesus invites them to follow him into his Passion but essentially says “no” to this request, because: “to sit at my Read more…
I was recently interviewed by Maria Wiering of Our Sunday Visitor about the upcoming beatification (on Sep. 10th) of the Ulma Family, who was martyred by the Nazis for hiding Jews on their farm in Poland. Although only a few points could make it into the final article, I’m providing Read more…
I have already remarked on the fact that Pope Francis made a non-Catholic a Doctor of the Catholic Church. St. Gregory Narek was a monk in the Armenian Apostolic Church, who died in the early 11th century. Figures like St. Gregory, provide examples of how Eastern Churches have brought saints Read more…
I just finished reading John Anthony McGuckin’s The Eastern Orthodox Church: A New History. Rather than a traditional chronological history, McGuckin offers reflections on the nature of the Orthodox Church through particular figures and events of history. As a professor at Oxford and publishing the volume with Yale University Press, Read more…
This post completes a trilogy on the saints. The first two focused on convert-saints from Protestantism and modern Benedictine saints. Advent and Christmas lead us to talk about child saints. We have the patron saint of children, St. Nicholas, on December 5; we focus on the Annunciation and Visitation, which Read more…
My last post focused on saints who converted from Protestantism. This post looks at another angle on the saints, modern saints from the Benedictine tradition. November 13th is the feast of All Benedictine Saints. The Benedictines have more Saints and Doctors of the Church than any other order, largely because Read more…
The litany of the saints that we pray today for All Saints Day includes a prayer: “Bring back to the unity of the Church all those who are straying, and bring all unbelievers to the light of the Gospel.” The saints themselves show us the path toward this unity. About Read more…