All Roads Lead to Rome
On this feast of Saint Bridget of Sweden, one of the four co-patrons of Europe (along with Saint Benedict, Saint Catherine of Siena and...
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 Metanoia
A blessed feast of Mary Magdalene, which - or who - was raised from memorial status in the liturgical revisions of 1969 to a...
Saint Lawrence of Brindisi: Bible and Cappucino
Guilio Cesare Russo was born to a family of Venetian merchants, but not in Venice, but rather far to the south, in the village...
Saint Arsenius the Great, and the Silent
Saint Arsenius, called ‘the Great’, (350 – 445), whom we recall on this 19th of July, was one of the early monks of the...
The Profound Peace of Assisi
I wasn’t quite prepared for Assisi, even if it was just what I needed. I suppose God works like that. When I got off...
Florence: Art, Beauty and Truth
Firenze! Even the name - at least in Italian - signifies energy, exuberance, enthusiasm. What is one to say of Florence in a few words?...
The Eschatological Message of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Around this time of year in the Office of Readings, or Lauds, we follow the travails of the prophet Elijah from the Book of...
Le Sieci and Christ the King
I left off these reflections with my arrival in Florence, after the Purgatory - I will not say hell, for it had its end...
Orange Day and Saint Oliver Plunkett, the Last Martyr of the Protestant ‘Reformation’
July the 12th is ‘Orange’ Day, celebrated still with fervour in Northern Ireland, commemorating the defeat of the rightful Catholic king of the Stuart...
