Aleteia, Meg Hunter-Kilmer: Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy had no way of knowing that he would be such an enormous failure. Born to a noble Irish family in 1455, McCarthy studied in Paris, served in a tribunal in Rome, and was made … Continue reading

Aleteia, Meg Hunter-Kilmer: Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy had no way of knowing that he would be such an enormous failure. Born to a noble Irish family in 1455, McCarthy studied in Paris, served in a tribunal in Rome, and was made … Continue reading
Aleteia, Judy Landrieu Klein: St. Pius of Pietrelcina is still fondly known as “Padre Pio” and I gratefully remember the day I was “introduced” to him in the mid-1990s. It happened when my dry cleaner, Curt, dropped off a relic … Continue reading
Today is the feast day of Saint Porphyrius. He was an actor or “comedian” in Rome when Emperor Julian the Apostate ruled (361-363). Julian had reinstituted persecution against the Christians. The amazing fact about Porphyrius is that he was converted while … Continue reading
Pope Francis will visit his tomb in Colombia on the 10th. CNA has a summary of the saint’s life here. I wrote a short biography of Saint Peter Claver here. CNA: During his trip to Colombia, Pope Francis will visit … Continue reading
Aleteia, Philip Kosloski: Katharine Drexel was a pioneer in many ways. After seeing the plight of the Native Americans, she founded a religious order that she hoped could help relieve the suffering of the poor and vulnerable minorities of the country. … Continue reading
Aleteia, Larry Peterson: His Muslim captors sensed and actually revered the sanctity of their prisoner. They told him if he would never say anything against Mohammad they would give him his freedom. He said he could never make such a … Continue reading
National Catholic Register, Peter Jesserer Smith: A small group of Catholic faithful in Florida never imagined that a simple inquiry into a mysterious plot of land in Tallahassee would reinvigorate a dream shared over three centuries by the king of Spain, … Continue reading
National Catholic Register, Kevin di Camillo: I have written elsewhere of the second-bestselling book of all time, Thomas à Kempis’s Imitation of Christ. (Second, of course, only to the Bible.). But what was the most influential book among medieval and Renaissance Catholics? Here I … Continue reading
Aleteia, Meg Hunter Kilmer: St. Mark Ji Tianxiang was an opium addict. Not had been an opium addict. He was an opium addict at the time of his death. Story is here.
There are three saints who were actually born in what would be, or later became, the United States: Mother Seton, Catherine Drexel, and Kateri Tekakwitha, the Iroquois virgin. And one Blessed, Sister Miriam Theresa Demjanovich from Bayonne, New Jersey. Father … Continue reading
As recorded by the Protestant minister Thomas Fuller in his Church History of Britain Rorate Caeli: After the lieutenant of the Tower had received the writ for his execution, because it was then very late, and the prisoner asleep, he was loath … Continue reading
Below is a YouTube video from an older episode of Reconquest. For this show, I am joined by Dr. Alexandra Wilhelmsen. Our subject is Saint Ferdinand III, the Crusader and liberator of Catholic Spain, who united the two Iberian Kingdoms of … Continue reading
National Catholic Register, Joseph Pronechen: Most everyone knows of Our Lady of Fatima. Most everyone has heard of St. Padre Pio. But how many know that Padre Pio was very seriously ill, bedridden, and Our Lady of Fatima visited him … Continue reading
Aleteia, Meg Hunter Kilmer: Towards the end of his life, Blessed Ceferino Giménez Malla (1861-1936) probably looked like a thousand other old men praying the Rosary after daily Mass. But his path to holiness wasn’t typical, nor was his pursuit of … Continue reading
New Liturgical Movement, Gregory DiPippo: One of the most unusual true stories in the annals of Catholic hagiography is that of Bl. Carino, the assassin of the Saint whose feast is traditionally kept today, Peter the Martyr. Carino was one of … Continue reading
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