Weekly Insight
All the Myriads Upon Myriads of Saints
A blessed solemnity of All Saints to all our readers! Its institution goes back to its official institution by Pope Gregory III (731 â 741) as a commemoration of all the countless martyrs who...
Pope Benedict and All the Saints
HOLY MASS ON THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Vatican Basilica
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Our Eucharistic celebration began with the exhortation: "Let us all rejoice in the Lord". The...
Luther’s Fateful All Hallowed Eve
(Here is a re-post of a reflection on this 'All Hallow's Eve' anniversary of the generally accepted date for the formal start of the 'Reformation', when legend has it that Luther nailed his 95...
Blessed Terence O’Brien and Saint Alphonsus Rodriguez
This penultimate day of the month of October - the eve of all hallowe'ed eve - is the memorial of the Irish bishop and martyr, Terence O'Brien (1601-1651), put to a brutal death on...
Pike, Hasan, the Church and the Death Penalty
The death penalty has been in the news of late. There was the âbotchedâ execution of Christa Pike on September 30th, the memorial of Saint Jerome. Iâm not sure the hermit saint had an...
Saints Simon, Jude and Desperate Causes
All of the Apostles have a feast day, and on this third last day of October, in the crisp days of fall, we celebrate Saints Simon and Jude, the latter, in particular, being invoked as the...
Pope Benedict and Saints Simon and Jude
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peterâs Square
Wednesday, 11 October 2006
Simon and Jude
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today, let us examine two of the Twelve Apostles: Simon the Cananaean and Jude Thaddaeus (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot)....
Casting Stones with a Log in the Eye
Conservative commentator and writer George Weigel in a recent column makes some rather damning â and I use that term advisedly â accusations against Candace Owens, accusing her of the âgrave sinâ of âanti-semitismâ....
Non Nobis Domine
This brief motet - if one may term it so - has a renaissance feel to it, but is from the 1989 film, Henry V, whose director and lead role was Kenneth Branagh, and...
Saint Crispin, Agincourt and the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales
This day, October the 25th, is Saint Crispin's Day - or, rather, the feast of Saint Crispin and Crispianus, for let us not forget that there were two brothers put to death during the...
Anthony Mary Claret, On Fire for God
Anthony Mary Claret died on this day, October 24th, 1870, after a long, full and adventurous life, demonstrating how much one man can do if he puts his mind and will wholeheartedly to the...
Euthanasia in the Land Down Under: An ‘Apparent’ Good, but Actual Evil
The culture of death is voracious. Once it begins to feed, it is never satiated; the categories of the killable are never finally enough.- Wesley J. Smith
Exactly 109 years ago, the Great War was...
The Fightin’ Friar of Capistrano
John of Capistrano (+1456), whom we celebrate on this 24th of October, lived a life very much in the âworldâ at first, studying law, and becoming involved with the political machinations of the fractious...
Energy Devouring Claude
Claude is a hungry beast. No, not someone's croissant-and-cheese devouring boyfriend - well, let us rephrase that, for he might be, given modern people's artificial romantic proclivities. Rather, Claude is the 'personification' of Anthropic...
The Late, Great Saint John Paul II
Today marks the memorial of Pope Saint John Paul II, who was beatified on May 1st, 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI, and canonized three years later by Pope Francis on April 27th in 2014....
