Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, Bent Iron, and Summer’s Solstice
On this 21st day of June, we remember Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (+ 1591), a Jesuit scholastic who died at what we might consider the...
Romuald’s Eremetical Reform
Saint Romuald (+June 19, 1025/27) was a tenth-century monk, founder of the strict Camaldolese Order, named after their primary benefactor, Maldoli, who, impressed by...
Ephraim’s Mission of Beauty
(We missed Saint Ephraim on his post-1969 feast of June 9th, so here are a few words on the great Syrian mystic on his...
Ignorance Versus Nescience: What Should We Know, and not Know?
In this era of information deluge, with facts, factoids, opinions, posts, podcasts, articles, books, and the ever-expanding Wikipedia, raining down upon us, the question...
Saint Germaine Cousin – A True Cinderella
Not many Catholics know of Germaine Cousin (+1601) today, which is likely how the saint would have liked it, for she lived an obscure,...
All For Katy’s Wedding
On this day in 1525, Martin Luther married Katherine von Bora. Luther was – ontologically speaking – still a priest, a member of the...
Saint Anthony of Padua…or Lisbon
Saint Anthony of Padua is usually named historically after the city-state in northeastern Italy where he died after his brief but full life at...
Saint Barnabas and Keeping up the Good Fight
It is fitting that we celebrate the Apostle Barnabas, the ‘son of consolation’, or the ‘son of encouragement’, in this season of the Holy...
Impure Thoughts and Morose Delectation
What we know of the saints is the least part of them.
So quipped Saint Philp Neri (+1595), and it is a saying that...
Saint Columbkille, the Irish Apostle to Scotland
If you will forgive a little parochialism, today is the feast of Saint Columbkille (521-597), also called Columba, who is not celebrated in the...