Our Lady of the Snows: Santa Maria Maggiore
On August 5th, we celebrate the dedication of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the highest church in the hierarchy of churches dedicated to...
Saint Jean Vianney, a Priest for Priests
On this day, August 4th, in 1859 - the same year that Darwin published his specious Origin of Species that, sadly, shook the faith...
Saints Eusebius of Vercelli and Peter Julian Eymard
The Church commemorates two pastors today, separated by a millennium and a half: The fourth-century Eusebius of Vercelli (+371), the first bishop we know...
Alphonsus of Ligouri, A Moral Teacher for All Ages
Saint Alphonsus Ligouri (1696 - 1787) was a renaissance man, whose kind was a rarity in his era, centuries after the renaissance, and even...
Revolution, Paris and the Olympics
The French Revolution casts a long shadow. It seems the generational guilt in casting off the 'shackles' of the Church, which entailed also the...
Ignatius and His Companions of Jesus
When we read the life of Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), perhaps to our surprise, he seems to belong more to the early days...
Saint Peter Chrysologous: How To Preach a Homily
Saint Peter Chrysologous (+450) was, as the traditional account has it, chosen bishop of Ravenna in 433 after the then-reigning pontiff, Pope, Sixtus III,...
Science, Pseudoscience…and Miracles
One of the key differences between science and pseudoscience, according to Karl Popper, was falsifiability. Science, properly speaking, presents hypotheses that can be tested,...
Saint Bridget, Sweden’s Charitable Bibliophile
Long before Sweden was known for ABBA and IKEA – two exports not to everyone’s taste, even if billion-dollar brands – along with a...
Mary Magdalene’s Marvelous Metanoia
A blessed feast of Mary Magdalene, which - or who - was raised from memorial status in the liturgical revisions of 1969 to a...