Blessed Columba Marmion
A Great Irish Benedictine Today is the feast of a great Irish saint! Born and educated in Dublin, Joseph Marmion served as a curate in...
Thérèse
Some years ago, as a love offering for the feast of my dear Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face, I...
Thérèse and Hope
About thirty–five years ago, a certain monk was on a quest to deepen his capacity for living the theological virtue of hope. He was battling...
In Thanksgiving to Saint Rita for a Favour Received
The saints befriend those whom God entrusts to them. Often the saints introduce themselves into one’s life by means of a reference in conversation, the...
Blessed Vladimir Ghika
A Saint of Our Times Beatified five years ago on 31 august 2013, Vladimir Ghika was born on December 25, 1873 in Constantinople, today’s Istanbul,...
Saint Mariam of Jesus Crucified
La Petite Arabe The message of the “Little Arab,” Mariam Baouardy, Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified, canonised on 17 May 2015, is well suited to...
O Doctor Mellifluus
Inflamed With Zeal The liturgy describes Saint Bernard as a man all ablaze with zeal for the house of the Lord. The little phrase, “inflamed...
Eight Days Would Be Enough
It is good, I think, to be reminded of Saint Peter Julian Eymard’s “secret” for arriving at a fully Eucharistic life: The secret for arriving...
Supplica to Saint Vincent de Paul
Thank You to Saint Vincent de Paul A Supplica is a prayer of supplication composed according to a certain literary genre that remains popular in...
Angels appointed to watch over us (VII: The First Degree)
29 Jan. 30 May. 29 Sept. Let us be on our guard, then, against evil desires, since death hath its seat close to the entrance...
Supplica to Saint Rita of Cascia
The saints befriend those whom God entrusts to them. Often the saints introduce themselves into one’s life by means of a reference in conversation, the...
Ut sit et fortes quod cupiant et infirmi non refugiant (LXIV:1)
Let him so temper all things, that the strong may have something to strive after, and the weak nothing at which to take alarm. (Chapter...
Neurosis, Mental Suffering . . . and Grace
Caryll Houselander (1901 – 1954) writes out of her own experience, and gets it right. Miss Houselander refers to the childhood experiences of Saint Stanislaus...
Cum sanctis tuis (XIV)
CHAPTER XIV. How the Night-Office is to Be Said on Saints’ Days17 Feb. 18 June. 18 Oct. On the Festivals of Saints, and all other...
Saint Ildephonsus of Toledo
Doctor of the Virginity of Mary Today is the feast of Saint Ildephonsus, Archbishop of Toledo (+ 23 January 667). Dom Guéranger calls him the...
Saint Antony of the Desert, Father of Monks
Saint Antony and Signor Siciliano Isn’t this a wonderful painting of Saint Antony? Flemish Jan Gossaert painted it in Rome in 1508 as the right...
Wreathe the Door of Thy Heart
December 26 Saint Stephen the Protomartyr The painting is by Blessed Fra Angelico (1400-1455). Blessed Fra Angelico’s paintings are theological; they are a holy preaching...
Saint Bruno
Saint Bruno at the Cinema Curiously, Saint Bruno, the father of those who love solitude, found himself very much in the media in recent years....
Blessed Bartolo Longo
Blessed Bartolo Longo There is a marvelous figure of holiness inscribed on the calendar today: Blessed Bartolo Longo, the great Apostle of the Rosary and...
Days of Grace
I have always experienced the last days of September and the first week of October (September 29 — October 7) as a moment of spiritual...