Weekly Insight
The Black Madonna: Our Lady of Częstochowa
This feast of the 'Queen of Poland' is a national holiday in that great nation, with thousands of pilgrims flocking to her shrine at Jazna Gora, where the precious image of Our Lady of Częstochowa...
Celebrating Our Baptismal Day
On this day, I was baptized in Saint Patrick's church, in Dumbarton, Scotland, on the commemoration of King Saint Louis IX and Saint Joseph Calasanz, at least in the revised calendar. I recommend that...
Saint Louis IX: A Most Christian King
(Here is a reprise of Kaleb Hammond's reflection on the great medieaval king, whom we celebrate today)
St. Louis IX (1214-1270) has been considered by many to be the greatest king of medieval Christendom. As...
Saint Joseph Calasanz, a Teacher for Teachers
We would be remiss if we did not at least remark on this day on the great and sadly forgotten Saint Joseph Calasanz (+1648), a zealous priest, pastor, reformer and educator, who more or...
Good King Louis, Ruling, and Ruled, by Truth
The indomitable Cardinal Sarah exhorted in an article in CWR, to French scouts, on pilgrimage to Vezelay in France, that they should emulate the noble virtues of King Saint Louis IX, providing a...
Saint Bartholomew, aka Nathaniel, In Whom There Was No Guile
A blessed feast of Saint Bartholomew, to one and all! Like many of the Apostles, we don't know all that much about the life of today's saint. Our Tradition identifies Bartholomew with the 'Nathaniel'...
Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
It is an unfortunate accident of history – insofar as we may speak of accidents, when all things are guided in their providential design by a good and provident God – that today’s feast...
Pope Benedict and Saint Bartholomew
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 4 October 2006
Bartholomew
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In the series on the Apostles called by Jesus during his earthly life, today it is the Apostle Bartholomew who attracts our attention. In...
Petrine Papal Primacy
In light of today's readings on this Sunday, and Christ bestowing the papal office on Saint Peter, here is the text of Pastor Aeternus, the dogmatic constitution from the First Vatican Council (1879) defining...
The Enigmatic and Ecstatic Life of Rose of Lima
Rose of Lima (+1617), whose birth name was Isabel, was called 'Rose' when a servant saw her face mystically transformed into the beautiful flower soon after she was born. Sure enough, Isabel-Rose would go...
The Church Under Persecution: Father Józef Grasewicz, the Survival of Faith in Soviet Belarus, and the Story of the Divine Mercy Image
On 23 August 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR concluded a non-aggression pact that, in reality, constituted a political and military alliance aimed at bringing Central and Eastern Europe under their joint control. The...
Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth
A blessed memorial of the Queenship of Mary, - as queen of heaven and earth, of angels and men. Although the Church has always celebrated the glories of the Mother of God, this feast...
Palestrina’s Tu Es Petrus
As a meditation on this Sunday's liturgical theme, here is a reprise of Palestrina's motet Tu Es Petrus, based on Matthew's 16:18-19. The motet was first published in 1572, at the height of the...
Homeric Reduction: An Odyssean Review
With Robert Fagles’ 1996 translation of Homer’s Odyssey fresh in my mind, I went to see Chrisopher Nolan’s new film a couple weeks ago. My biggest takeaway was that the movie wasn’t that “bad”...
The Tragedy of Jason Arday, and What It Says of the Modern University
‘Oh what a tangled web we weave/ When first we practice to deceive’ (Sir Walter Scott, from Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field, 1808)
I had not heard of Jason Arday until last week, and...
