Pope Benedict and Martha’s Way

BENEDICT XVI ANGELUS Courtyard of the Papal Residence, Castel Gandolfo Sunday, 18 July 2010   Dear Brothers and Sisters, We are now in the heart of summer, at least in...

Pope Benedict Reflects on Saints Anne and Joachim

On this day in 2009, at the end of his Angelus message, Pope Benedict had these brief words to say on Saints Joachim and...

Saints Joachim and Anne: Grandparents of Jesus

(From our archives:) Let us sing praises to Joachim and Anna, The couple honoured by God (as they are His kinsmen) They have borne for us the...

James the Greater and Humanae Vitae: Signs of Contradiction

Today we celebrate the great feast of Saint James 'the Greater', not because of any intrinsic superior quality to the other apostle James, 'the...

Saint Charbel’s Holy Hidden Life

God often works through hidden ways, and those who live a hidden life. Amare nesciri, as Saint Philip Neri was wont to say, 'love...

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...

Saint Lawrence of Brindisi, the Bible and Cappucino

Born Guilio Cesare Russo to a family of Venetian merchants, but far to the south, in the village of Brindisi, right down on the...

Saint Apollinaris of Ravenna

The See of Ravenna – on the north-east coast of Italy – was once, way back in the Middle Ages, nearly on par with...

Le Temoinage des Carmelites de Compiègne – The Witness of the Carmelites

It was on this day in a Parisian summer in 1794 - one day after the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel - that sixteen...

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...