Silent Night, Heilige Nacht – A Night of Peace and Joy
The beloved hymn Silent Night was first performed on Christmas Eve, 1818, fittingly at Saint Nicholas parish in Oberndorf in what was then the...
John of Kanty’s Holy Hidden Life
On this Christmas Eve's Eve, we quietly celebrate the commemoration of John of Cantius (1390 - 1473), or 'Kanty' in the original Polish transliteration...
The O Antiphons and the Latter Days of Advent
On December 17th we begin the seven days of proximate preparation for Christmas, analogous to the more familiar twelve days of Christmas, which follow...
Peter Canisius the Indefatigable
Saint Peter Canisius (1521-1597) was a Dutch Jesuit back in the earliest days of the Order, one of the first to join Ignatius' company,...
Saint Dominic of Silos and His Chanting Monks
Saint Dominic of Silos died on this December 20th, in 1073, at the monastery he had founded in the southern part of northern Spain....
Solzhenitsyn: A Soul in Exile
I just finished reading Joseph Pearce’s biography of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, subtitled ‘A Soul in Exile’, a remarkable book, packing a very full life into...
Pope Damasus: The Faith, the Bible and the Mass of All Time
We owe quite a lot to Pope Saint Damasus (305 - 384), who oversaw the universal Church during the tumultuous era of the lingering...
Juan Diego, Hidden Keeper of the Tilma
Amare nesciri - 'love to be unknown' - exhorted Saint Philip Neri (+1595), founder of the Oratorians, who himself was an unknown teenager in...
I am the Immaculate Conception
I am the Immaculate Conception
These are the words Our Lady said to Saint Bernadette Sobirous, when the young saint asked the 'beautiful lady' who...
Would the Real Saint Nicholas Please Stand Up?
Saint Nicholas of Myra (+343) has gone down in legend in more ways than one. His general story follows below, but through the years...