A friend who works at a long-term care home, where many of the residents suffer from Alzheimer’s, sent me this webpage on a new technology. It’s developed by an engineer from Quebec (made in Canada!), whose grandmother has the disease. He visits her, and a minute later, she forgets,...
Holy Communion Prayer
In ancient years You bled upon a tree.
May You bleed upon this altar now for me.
The Host raised high, the Cup aloft …
beat my heart to murmurings soft.
I eat the bread and sip the wine,
bread from Your flesh, blood from Your vine.
In vision veiled now I see
me...
This memorial of the Guardian Angels goes back to the year 1500, the very dawn of the Protestant ‘Reformation’, seventeen years before Luther would pin his theses to the church door at Wittenburg on All Hallow's Eve, when the whole of Europe was still at least nominally Catholic. Although...
On the first day of October we celebrate the Saint of the Little Way, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face (1873 - 1897), also known after the place of her birth and upbringing, Lisieux. She was a cloistered nun who entered the Carmel at the...
(On this memorial of Saint Jerome here is a reflection by contributor Alexa Bulman, on the 'thumos' of the saints, their passion and drive, who did no things by half, but always in full measure, flowing over. The good Jerome was given a fiery, choleric disposition, which he used...
The limits recently placed on the Latin Mass at the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri in Toronto bring to the fore the quasi-Hegelian tension between Benedict’s Summorum Pontificum and Francis’ Traditiones Custodes. By the former, the TLM – as it is somewhat inaccurately called, but we take is as given...
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 7 November 2007
Saint Jerome (1)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, we turn our attention to St Jerome, a Church Father who centred his life on the Bible: he translated it into Latin, commented on it in his works, and above all, strove to live it in...
All saints change history, often in ways that are mysterious and opaque, but at times more obviously. Such is Saint Jerome (347 - 420), to whom we may attribute the first truly 'critical' version of the Bible, the edito typica, the official, Catholic version of the Holy Word of...
(Contributor Tate Pumfrey here offers a window into the Church's traditions and customs, which are of venerable lineage, but, we should add, no longer binding on Catholics. That said, one may follow some or some part of these customs out of devotion. The Church leaves much up to our...
Michaelmas of 1724 - the 29th of September, now the feast of all the Archangels - saw the first performance of J.S. Bach's cantata, Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir, (Lord God, we all praise thee), honouring the great Saint Michael, 'he who is like God'. The text of...
The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him (Rev. 12:9).
Today in the Archdiocese of Toronto we celebrate the Feast of St. Michael, the Archangel and...
A blessed feast of the Archangels to all our readers! This day is traditionally called 'Michaelmas', with the focus on the 'one who is like God' who does battle with the devil. But as Father Scott Murray's article on the Saint Michael prayer points out, in the liturgical reform...
France has been called 'the eldest daughter of the Church', and her indispensable and providential role in the history of Christendom looms large indeed. The Church is almost as much 'French' as she is 'Roman'. That eldest daughter has become the prodigal daughter, wandering far from the Faith, from...
This October 4th marks the 800 anniversary of the death of Saint Francis of Assisi in 1226. In preparation for that day of grace, here is a collection of a few prayers written by the saint - and who better to compose prayers? - that may comprise a kind...
This is not the stuff of which martyrs are made - So purportedly said Thomas More, who loved all the good things of life, his home at Chelsea, filled with his family, his books, and boon companions. The last thing he likely wanted to do was die for what...
The life of Saint Vincent de Paul (1581 - 1660) - he always signed his name 'Depaul', perhaps so people would not think of him as noble - spans a fractious time in France, with the wars of religion nearing their apex, mixed up with bitter claims over land and...
I just returned from Martyrs' Shrine in Midland with our Schola from Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College - and a blessed feast to one and all. We pilgrimaged the 3.5 hour trip to provide the music for the Mass commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the...
Today in Canada we celebrate the Canadian Martyrs, who are commemorated on October 19th in the rest of the world. They are fitting examples and intercessors for our times, unhinged as we are from our moral law, our customs, our traditions and our history. As the new barbarians take...
Hermanus of Reinchenau (1013 – 1054) called ‘Contractus’ due to the deformity purportedly caused by spina bifida and a cleft palate (as well as suffering from cystic fibrosis) – was a remarkable figure in the middle ages, a veritable renaissance man well before the renaissance, even if he did...
Cosmas and Damian, according to our tradition, were twin brothers, both Syrian physicians and converts to Christianity, who dedicated themselves wholly to their noble vocation, offering their services free of charge. (This may be something to ponder in our days of medical personnel making multiple six-figure incomes, even if...
We should mention the hidden life of Saint Pacificus (1653 - 1721), a Catholic priest in Italy who lived a hidden and mortified life, in part since he is the patron saint of those suffering from chronic pain, of whom there are many, perhaps some reading these few words.
He...
