John Paul Meenan, Editor
Andre Grasset, Canada’s First Homegrown Beatus
Blessed André Grassett was the first Canadian to be beatified - not quite the first 'saint', which requires canonization, and that honour belongs to...
The Legendary Hermit, Saints Giles, or Egidio
The life of Saint Giles, as many mediaeval saints, is steeped in legend. What we do know is that he had quite a following,...
Labour Day, Leisure and Life
Labour Day is a rather prosaic name for the last holiday of summer. Why not, 'blow out day', or 'the end of leisure, and...
Saint Raymond, the Not-Born, and Saint Aristedes, the Apologist
Saint Raymond Nonnatus, who died on this day in 1240, was a Mercedarian priest, whose Order, as their name implies, was taskedwith ransoming Christian...
The Not so Hidden Life of Blessed John Juvenal Ancina
Saint Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians and the ‘second Apostle’ of Rome, recommended reading books beginning with ‘S’, that is, lives of...
The Baptist Loses his Head
The celebration of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist - an expeditious entrance into heaven - is sort of a bookend to the...
Augustine’s Long Pilgrimage to Truth
A blessed feast of the great Saint Augustine (354-430), bishop and doctor of the Church, and one of the greatest theologians in her history....
The Persevering Prayer of Monica
Monica is the patron saint of mothers - not least, those who pray for the conversion of their children, an integral part of the...
The Black Madonna: Our Lady of Częstochowa
This feast of the 'Queen of Poland' is a national holiday in that great nation, with thousands of pilgrims flocking to her shrine at Jazna...
Saint Joseph Calasanz, a Radical Reformer
We would be remiss if we did not at least remark on this day on the great and sadly forgotten Saint Joseph Calasanz (+1648),...