Catholic Insight

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 4 November 2009 Two Theological Models in Comparison: Bernard and Abelard Dear Brothers and Sisters, In my last Catechesis I presented the main features of 12th-century monastic theology and scholastic theology which, in a...

GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 21 October 2009 Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today I would like to talk about St Bernard of Clairvaux, called "the last of the Fathers" of the Church because once...

(Contributor Kaleb Hammond offers here an intriguing historical analysis of J.R.R. Tolkien's small but significant role in the work on the Jerusalem Bible. His translation of the Book of Jonah - modified by editors,...

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Wednesday, 19 August 2009 (Video) Saint John Eudes and the formation of the diocesan clergy Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today is the liturgical Memorial of St John Eudes, a tireless apostle of the devotion to the...

A contemporary of his fellow Frenchman, Descartes, Saint John Eudes (+1680) was of quite a different mind and spirit. Rather that meditate like Descartes on whether he existed or not - cogito, ergo sum...

August 18th is the traditional feast of Saint Helena, a barmaid in Britain who caught the eye of the co-emperor Constantius Chlorus, who married her. Their son was Constantine the Great, who defeated the...

For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples (Is. 56: 7). In any given region or country, a common language is a source of unity. You may be familiar with...

Until her recent elections, Hungary was one of the few nations standing against the tsunami of insanity washing over the rest of Europe, threatening to deluge civilization as we know it. As may be...

Saint Roch (1295 - 1376?) - also known as Rock, or, in Scotland, Rollox, not to be confused with the luxury watch brand which is almost a homophone. Roch, whose feast we celebrate on...

A blessed and glorious solemnity of the Assumption to one and all! A day commemorating the taking up of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven at the end of her earthly...

In Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy, the poet puts these words in the mouth of St. Bernard of Clairvaux as he gazes on the beauty of Our Lady in Paradise: O Virgin Mother, daughter...

On this Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, body and soul, here to help celebrate is a magnificent rendition of the Ave Maria by Felix Mendelssohn. This may seem...

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,...

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...

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...