Franciscan Tertiary Blessed Franz Jägerstätter: the Prophet of Nonviolence, and Noncompliance
Saturday, May 21st, is the feast day of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter - the anniversary of his baptism - and it would benefit us to...
Eugène de Mazenod’s Oblation
Fittingly, in this month of Mary, we celebrate on this May 21st Saint Eugène de Mazenod (+1861), the 19th century founder of the Missionaries...
Father Magallanes’ Mexican Martyrdom
The twentieth century saw the rise of various vicious anti-Catholic regimes, totalitarian and ruthless in their demonic fury to stamp out the Church. Ecrasez...
Bernardine, Usury and the Holy Name
Saint Bernardine of Siena (+1444) lived through a tumultuous time in the Church's history (but, then, what time is not?). The Great Western Schism...
Pope Saint John I, and Another Pope’s Birthday
We celebrate today, Pope John Saint I (+526). One might wonder why it took five centuries for a Pope to be chosen with this...
Saint Paschal Baylon’s Humility and Joy
The life of Paschal Baylon (1540 - 1592) has much in common with that of his fellow Franciscan, Joseph of Cupertino (+1633). They were...
Brendan the Navigator
Saint Brendan (+577) the sixth century Irish monk, called the 'Navigator', is reputed to have discovered Canada a full millennium before John Cabot's –...
Matthias’ Greatness Given
Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them
So wrote the Bard in his 1602 play the Twelfth Night, and...
St Leopold Mandić: The Great Little Man and Apostle of Confession
It was on this day, Mary 12th 1866, at Herzegovina, close to the Kotor Gulf, in Herceg Novi, or Castelnuovo in Dalmatia on the...
Dame Julian of Norwich
(As mentioned in our post on Our Lady of Fatima, this is also the day that Blessed Julian of Norwich began to receive her...