Saint Agnes and True Feminity

Today, the universal Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Agnes, a young Virgin Martyr, who perished by the sword under the reign of Diocletian...

Tolkien’s Legacy

The death of Christopher Tolkien as a nonagenarian ends a legacy, for it was this youngest son of the great J.R.R. that took –...

The Costa and Celibacy

Pope Emeritus Benedict and Cardinal Sarah have just released a book in defence of clerical celibacy, just as Pope Francis is pondering relaxing the...

Back to Ordinary Time, With Hilary and Mungo

With the feast of Christ's Baptism yesterday, we enter back into what we now call 'Ordinary Time', a term not opposed to 'extraordinary' -...

Memento Mori

A blessed and joyous feast of the Baptism of the Lord, commemorating the beginning of Christ’s public ministry which, as more than exegete has...

Intending Death and Drinking Deep

January 7th  was the fifth anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo attacks in France, when the offices of the satirical magazine – which made fun...

Ite ad Joseph with Brother Bessette

Today is the feast of the one of Canada's most beloved saints, her own home-grown Andre Bessette (1845-1937), a humble and obscure lay-brother who founded...

Pope Francis’ Troubling Terminology

There is a principle in theology – which applies to other sciences as well – that we interpret the less authoritative, the less precise...

Happy New Year to All Our Readers, in Music and Song

A blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, known more commonly in the secular world, if that is not tautological, as New Year's Day...

Adelaide, Netflix, Anathema Sit

Saint Adelaide, whose memorial was yesterday in that broad calendar of the blessed, was the first, and as far as I know only, Empress...