Monday, July 14, 2025

Weekly Insight

Saint Camillus de Lellis: Alea Iacta Est

A true saint for our times is the one we celebrate today - Camillus de Lellis (+1614) (we will follow the Canadian calendar, and for those American readers who would like to reflect on...

A Message to the Camillians in the Jubilee Year

MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER TO THE CAMILLIAN FAMILY ON THE 450TH ANNIVERSARY OF THEIR FOUNDER'S BIRTH   To Fr Angelo Brusco Superior General of the Order of Clerics Regular Servants of the Sick (Camillians) The joy that accompanies the...

Fifteenth Sunday: The Good Samaritan and the Thirst of God

(A blessed Sunday to all our readers. Here’s one from our archives, in a reflection from Father Marco Testa, which bears fruit in reading, and re-reading).   Take care of him and when I come back,...

Saint Henry and Cunegunde’s Heavenly Rule

We could do with more leaders such as Saint Henry (+1024, 'Emperor of the Romans' and 'King of the Italians', the last of the 'Ottonian' line - descended from the Emperor of the recently...

Orange Day and Saint Oliver Plunkett, the Last Martyr of the Protestant ‘Reformation’

July the 12th is ā€˜Orange’ Day, celebrated still with fervour in Northern Ireland, commemorating the defeat of the rightful Catholic king of the Stuart line, James II of England and Ireland (and VII of...

Swtizerland and Frauenthal

Upon arriving in Zurich from Vienna, I had an hour or so before I caught a connecting train down to Knonau and the convent. So thought I would take a stroll through the ā€˜old...

Pope Benedict on Saint Benedict

BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE St Peter's Square Wednesday, 9 April 2008 Saint Benedict of Norcia Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today, I would like to speak about Benedict, the Founder of Western Monasticism and also the Patron of my Pontificate. I...

Saint Benedict: Ora et Labora

A blessed feast of Saint Benedict (+543), as we commemorate the monk credited with saving what we know as 'civilization'. As a student in the decadence of sixth century fin de siĆØcle Rome, Benedict...

Holy Wars Medieval and Modern, Briefly Considered

From the time of Muhammad on, Islam has conquered lands by force of arms. The great warrior Charles Martel stopped the Muslim invasion of France in the 8th century. His grandson, Charlemagne, having gained...

Not All Prophets Wear Tin Foil: A Critical Review of QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross

In an age of spiritual confusion, eroding trust, and institutional abdication, QAnon, Chaos, and the Cross, edited by Michael W. Austin and Gregory L. Bock, is a timely, if uneven, intervention. This volume gathers...

Pope John Paul II Canonizes 119 Martyrs of China

CAPPELLA PAPALE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF 123 NEW SAINTS HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II Sunday 1 October 2000 1. "Your word is truth; sanctify us in your love"Ā (Gospel Acclamation,Ā Italian Lectionary; cf.Ā JnĀ 17:Ā 17). This invocation, an echo of Christ's...

Myriads of Martyrs for China

Through the centuries there have been untold thousands of martyrs in China, and July 9th is chosen as the day to commemorate them, for it was on this day in 1900 that the Chinese...

A Pilgrimage from Vienna to Rome

I decided to make a pilgrimage to Rome, prompted by the Jubilee year, and walking through the Holy Doors. But I couldn’t just show up in Rome, so to make a pilgrimage of it,...

Fourteenth Sunday: Ite Missa Est!

See I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves (Lk. 10:3). ā§¾ The commission of the seventy disciples to go and to prepare for Our Lord’s own coming is a commission...

Message of John Paul II to the Bishop of Albano for the Centenary of the Death of St. Maria Goretti

To my Venerable Brother Bishop Agostino Vallini of Albano 1. A hundred years ago, on 6 July 1902, Maria Goretti died in the hospital at Nettuno, brutally stabbed the day before in the little village...