His feast day was yesterday, but today is the day that he was born and died. He is perhaps the least known of the thirty-three doctors of the Church. That should not be so. There is a stunning painting of … Continue reading
Category: History
Happy Battle of Toulouse Day!
You all know what June 9 is! And in case you didn’t, the ever-helpful and editable Wikipedia will tell you: The Battle of Toulouse (721) was a victory of a Frankish army led by Duke Odo of Aquitaine over an … Continue reading
A Note on History
One of the few things on which most Americans will agree is that dates are not worth remembering. A typical conversation might run like this: “Oh! You’re going to college?”
Father Augustus Tolton, First Black Priest in the U.S.
“They’re watching me,” he wrote to Saint Katharine Drexel, his confidant and benefactor. One of the Catholic websites I frequent offers a video about a Black American priest by the name of Augustus Tolton. I could see by the black … Continue reading
Mar Matthew Gregory Nakkar, A Syrian Saul
(1795-1868) (Reprinted with Permission) Editor’s Introduction: In the Arab Catholic world there is a rich treasury of liturgical rites. The Ancient Syrian Rite — that of Antioch — is the “parent rite” of five “children”: The Maronite Rite, discussed at … Continue reading
Crowns for Armenia
Armenia, a land of towering mountains, fertile valleys, shimmering lakes[1] , and shifting borders, is located on the continent of Asia, between the Black and the Caspian Seas, pressed between Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. In the past, Greater Armenia’s … Continue reading
Father Bernard Vaughn’s Humor
(A story about Father Bernard Vaughn) One day, Father Bernard Vaughn was in a small town in Lancashire, called Wigan. He was leaving the town, and was standing in the railroad station awaiting the train, which was late. He went … Continue reading
Joseph Chihwatenha: Red Man Without a Cause
From 1542-1834, there were 117 martyrs who shed their blood for the Faith in the land that became the United States. During those years all of them had been referred to Rome as candidates for canonization. Only the three of … Continue reading
Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza
Genocide: an ancient crime; a relatively new word; a horrific event in which one group of people attempts to completely eliminate another group; a modern crime. All of these apply to the word, one of the most awful in human … Continue reading
Blessed John Mazzucconi and the New Guinea Battlefield
A few weeks ago I was browsing in the biography section of our monastery library, when a book with an attractive blue cover caught my eye. On the cover was a color photograph of a beach in the Pacific islands … Continue reading
Martyred Mother and Four Daughters Exemplars for World Meeting of Families
This is an astounding story of a mother and her four daughters killed for their Faith by the Communists during the Spanish Civil War. Mexico City, Jan 10, 2009 / 02:28 am (CNA).- Among the five families Pope Benedict XVI … Continue reading
Royal Russian Converts: The Two Princes Galitzin
The name Galitzin should be known and loved by every American Catholic. Prince Dimitrius Augustine Galitzin was the second priest ordained in the United States, and the first to receive all of his clerical orders here. He worked as a … Continue reading