Weekly Insight
Saints Edith Stein and Maximilian Kolbe: Witnesses to Hope
The philosopher and Carmelite Edith Stein (Saint Teresa Benedicta a Cruce was her name in religion), and the Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe were put both put to death at the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau,...
Sheer Cliffs and Discerning Risk
On August 13th in 1995, Alison Hargreaves, a wife and mother of two small children, summitted the notorious K2, one of the most dangerous mountains in the world, on whose ice-encrusted face 99 climbers...
Saint Cassian of Imola: A Teacher for the Ages
On this 13th day of August, we commemorate a little-known saint, Cassian of Imola, a Christian schoolmaster in northern fourth-century Italy. By edict of Julian the Apostate, he was commanded to offer sacrifice to...
Pope Benedict on Martyrdom
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
The significance of martyrdom
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today in the Liturgy we commemorate St Clare of Assisi, Foundress of the Poor Clares, a luminous figure of...
Pontian, Hippolytus, Pope and Anti-Pope, Now Saints Together
An anti-Pope is someone who thinks he's the Pope - or at least who claims to be the Pope - when in reality he is not. There's a few of them around still. And...
A Possible Addendum to the Chesterton – Darrow Debate
Recently I returned to an unsigned New York Times review of the Darrow - Chesterton debate in 1931. In that review the author quotes verbatim a remark by Darrow which I should have included...
Jane Frances de Chantal’s Visitation
Jane Frances Fremiot (+1641) was a beautiful, refined young woman from Burgundy, betrothed to the handsome Baron de Chantal at 21 years old - a veritable Austen-esque marriage of true minds, in a French...
Fauci’s Apocalypse
Apocalypse is the Greek word for Revelation, which is why the final book of the Bible goes by both names. But there is much in a name, of whatever language. Apocalypse, unlike the more...
Pope Benedict and Saint Clare of Assisi
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Hall
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Saint Clare of Assisi
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
One of the best loved Saints is without a doubt St Clare of Assisi who lived in the 13th century and...
Saint Lawrence’s Divine Comedy
Today's Saint Lawrence (+258) lives on in the legend of his own divine comedy, a Spaniard from Valencia, chosen in the very bloom of his early maturity by the intelligent and saintly Pope Sixtus...
Pope Benedict and Saint Lawrence
PASTORAL VISIT
TO THE BASILICA OF SAINT LAWRENCE OUTSIDE THE WALLS
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 1750th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE MARTYRDOM OF THE HOLY DEACON
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
First Sunday of Advent, 30 November 2008
Dear brothers...
Saint Edith Stein’s Witness to the Cross
Edith Stein (+ 1942) was a brilliant philosopher, earning her doctorate summa cum laude in August of 1916 on the problem of empathy - understanding the suffering of others. Fitting, for she came into in the...
Saint Dominic’s Battle for Truth and Goodness
Saint Dominic (+1221) was one of those souls destined from birth to do great things - as, we may suppose, all saints are in some way. But all the contemporary accounts attest to his...
Pope Benedict and Saint Dominic
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Saint Dominic Guzmán
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last week I presented the luminous figure of Francis of Assisi; today I want to talk about another Saint of the...
Saint Cajetan, Founder of the Theatines
On this day, along with Pope Sixtus and his companion martyrs, we honour Saint Gaetano Cajetan (1480-1547), not to be confused with the 'other' Cajetan, whose name was Thomas, a famed commentator on Saint...
