Weekly Insight
Saint Januarius’ Blood
Saint Januarius was bishop of Benevuento, in the south-west of Italy, about whom a number of legends are told - that he survived unscathed being burnt in a furnace, that wild bears refused to...
Todd Beamer, Our Lady and God’s Perfect Will
Precision and clarity are requisite in theology, a theme developed by the great Josef Pieper. One of the reasons for this, besides the great importance of understanding revelation correctly, is that the object of...
Saint Joseph of Cupertino’s Joyful Levity
According to the laws of physics, a man should not be able to fly, at least without technological help. But are not the 'laws of physics', as Chesterton posits, themselves miracles? Why should trees...
Saint Hildegarde von Bingen, a Renaissance Woman Before the Renaissance
Hildegarde von Bingen (+1179) is one of the newest saints in the liturgical calendar, canonized 'equipollently' by Pope Benedict XVI on May 12, 2012 (since she had always been regarded as a saint, but...
Pope Benedict and Robert Bellarmine
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
Saint Robert Bellarmine
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Born on 4 October 1542 in Montepulciano near Siena, he was the nephew, on his mother’s side, of Pope Marcellus II....
Saint Robert Bellarmine’s Clarity of Mind and Soul
In the midst of the theological and cultural confusion in which our Church is mired, we could use a few more men with the clear, disciplined, Thomistic mind of Robert Bellarmine (+1621), bishop, cardinal,...
Pope Benedict and Saint Hildegarde of Bingen
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo
Wednesday, 1st September 2010
Saint Hildegard of Bingen
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In 1988, on the occasion of the Marian Year, Venerable John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris Dignitatem on...
Saints Cornelius and Cyprian, Shepherds for Christ and Martyrs for His Truth
Saint Cornelius was Pope for a scant two years in the middle of the third century, elected in 251 and put to death in 253 in the persecution under Emperor Decius. During his short...
Mater Dolorosa, Mother of Sorrows, and the Stabat Mater
A blessed memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows to all. This feast was first celebrated in the year 1233 - in the youth of that greatest of centuries, when Thomas Aquinas was but a...
O Crux Ave Spes Unica
A blessed and glorious feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross! Also called the Triumph of the Cross and, at times, the 'Invention' of the Cross, in the original sense of that term,...
Triumph of the Holy Cross
We should glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus, in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection, through whom we are saved and delivered (Entrance Antiphon, Cf. Gal 6:14).
Today’s Feast of the Exaltation...
Pope Benedict and Saint John Chrysostom
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 19 September 2007
Saint John Chrysostom (1)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This year is the 16th centenary of St John Chrysostom's death (407-2007). It can be said that John of Antioch, nicknamed...
John Chrysostom: The Man with the Golden Mouth
Saint John Chrysostom (+407) was a model bishop, a doctor of the Church, an ascetic and contemplative monk who wanted only to retreat from the turmoil of life in the Eastern empire, and live...
Vienna and Europe Saved in the Holy Name of Mary…For a Time
September 12th commemorates the Holy Name of Mary, made sacred by the holiness of the Theotokos, the Mother of God, full of grace. It was Pope Innocent XI – a great and holy reforming Pontiff...
Three Characters in Jane Eyre as Windows into the Moral Life
I recently reread Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, which I first read when I was a teenager; now, in my thirties, I have since reread this book countless times, each time showing a new facet...
