Weekly Insight
Bach’s Christmas and Epiphany Oratorio
Between 1734 and 1735, J.S. Bach composed six Oratorios - or six parts of one long Oratorio - for the Christmas season, which the Lutherans in his day still celebrated with gusto and devotion,...
The Epiphany to (the) Wise Men
A blessed and joyous Epiphany to all our readers, at least to those in Canada and other regions, where this solemnity is moved to the nearest Sunday. For the universal Church, it's on the...
Epiphany: Kneeling Humbly Before our God
On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton: The First American-Born Saint
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774 - 1821) signifies what America once was and, by the grace of God, may yet be again - the true 'MAGA', if you will, not based on money, but...
The Holy Name of Jesus
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under...
Pope Benedict and Saint Basil the Great
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 4 July 2007
Saint Basil (1)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Let us remember today one of the great Fathers of the Church, St Basil, described by Byzantine liturgical texts as "a...
Pope Benedict and Saint Gregory Nazianzus: Kindred Spirits
BENEDICT XVI
GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 8 August 2007
Saint Gregory Nazianzus (1)
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Last Wednesday, I talked about St Basil, a Father of the Church and a great teacher of the faith.
Today, I...
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal.4:4).⧾
On this the last day of the Christmas Octave and the first...
Pope Leo’s Angelus Address: The Holy Family and Holy Innocents
FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF NAZARETH
POPE LEO XIV
ANGELUS
St Peter's Square
Sunday, 28 December 2025
________________________________________
Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family, and the Liturgy offers us the story...
The Te Deum: Giving Thanks and Praise to God
There is an eschatological note to this final day of the calendar year, as there was a month ago in the end of the liturgical year with Christ the King, and the beginning of...
Saint Sylvester, the Last Saint of the Year
On this last day of the calendar year, we celebrate in muted tones the mysterious and shadowy Pope Saint Sylvester I, who reigned from 314, the year after Constantine made Christianity legal after his...
The Miraculous Figures of the Infant Jesus: History and Devotion
Among the many devotional images scattered across Central Europe, in a world shattered by regional conflicts, ideological disputes, and economic upheavals, two small figures—the Infant Jesus of Prague in the Czech Republic and the...
The Church Could Use A Few More Thomas (Ă ) Beckets
A blessed continuing 'Merrie Christmas!' to all our readers, on this sixth day of the Octave, and then on through the the twelve days, right up to the Epiphany and the Baptism of our...
In the Bleak Midwinter, Gaudete Christus Natus Est
It's lovely how the simplest tunes often - perhaps most often, maybe even always - make the most beautiful of melodies. So it is with Gustav Holst's (1874-1934) carol 'In the Bleak Midwinter' (1906)...
The Hope of the Holy Innocents
The feast of the Holy Innocents, which we celebrate appropriately enough within the octave of Christmas, might seem a troubling commemoration at first glance. Â Remembering the wholesale slaughter of all the male children two...
