The Cappadocians and the Last Days
Today's fourth-century saints, Saints Basil of Caesarea (+379) and Gregory of Nazianzen (+389), comprise, together with Basil's brother Gregory of Nyssa (+395), the trio...
Theotokos, or Christotokos? A Christmas Heresy Begets a Christian Truth
Was Christ was a human person? That may seem an odd question, to which most of us might reply, of course He was! (or...
Mother of God, New Year’s Eve, the Te Deum and Auld Lang Syne
A very blessed Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God - of which more, anon - as well as New Year's Eve, the latter much...
The Hope of the Holy Innocents
The feast of the Holy Innocents, which we celebrate appropriately enough within the octave of Christmas, might seem a troubling commemoration at first glance....
Saint John’s Eagle-Eyed View
Today is the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, also called the ‘Beloved’, as the one closest to the heart of Our Lord, likely...
On the Feast of Stephen…
As the mid-19th century hymn has it, Good King Wenceslaus first went out, on the feast of Stephen, when the snow lay 'round about,...
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,...