A Good Friday Martyr
On 21 November 1951, in Kiev, Father Ivan Ziatyk, C.SS.R. was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for “cooperating with anti-Soviet nationalistic organization and anti-Soviet propaganda”....
The Novena to Saint Joseph
There are Catholics, belonging to a certain theological “caste”, who sniff condescendingly at novenas and other expressions of popular devotion. They forget, perhaps, the words...
Three Connecticut Natives and Saint Francesca Romana
The Monastery of Tor De’ Specchi of the Benedictine Oblates of Saint Francesca Romana is open to the public but one day a year on...
Io vado in paradiso
I must have been in fourth grade when, thanks to Sister Mary Clara’s school library, I discovered The Life of Saint Dominic Savio by Saint...
Cistercian Martyrs of England
I was deeply moved when the martyrology for today, March 8th, was read in Chapter. Hearing the names of these English Cistercian martyrs read out...
Please Join Me in Prayer
I received two urgent requests for intercessory prayer today: From Massachusetts, Father Jim O’Driscoll asks for prayer for his sister–in–law Emily suffering from cancer. Her...
Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata
Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata died on February 27, 1862 at twenty-four years of age. Pope Benedict XV canonized him on May 13, 1920. A...
Ninth Day of the Novena
Yesterday in his Angelus address, Pope Benedict XVI returned to the subject of his Lenten message: the contemplation of the Sacred Side of Jesus, pierced...
Eighth Day of the Novena
Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata, even from his place in glory, makes friends easily. Like Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and of the Holy...
Seventh Day of the Novena
The Merciful Christ wants us for Himself. “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32). And should anyone out...
Sixth Day of the Novena
On December 30, 1861 Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata , who was twenty-three years old at the time, wrote these lines to his brother Michele....
Fifth Day of the Novena
Following the same evocative rite used by Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata in 1857, young Indonesian Passionists making their First Profession are symbolically crowned with...
Fourth Day of the Novena
The fourth day of our novena coincides with the beginning of Holy Lent. At the beginning of his religious life Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata...
Third Day of the Novena
Today is the third day of our novena to Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata. At the Mass of the Holy Face we will be reading...
Second Day of the Novena
A word from Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata: Love Mary!… She is lovable, faithful, constant. She will never let herself be outdone in love, but...
Some Fond Return of Love: Praying to Saint Gabriel
Novena to Saint Gabriel of the Addolorata February 18 — 27, 2007 The liturgical memorial of Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother falls quite suitably...
Saint Claude’s Prayer to Jesus, the True Friend
I think it was in 1974 that a priest friend gave me a little book of the writings of Saint Claude La Colombière in French....
The Joy of All Our Days
A Feast in Europe In all of Europe today is the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius, co–patrons of Europe with Saint Benedict, Saint Catherine...
Wounds of the Spirit Which Never Close
A Letter of John H. Newman To Edward Heneage Dering on the Death of His Wife in 1876 My Dear Mr. Dering, I have felt...
A Pilgrim Monk
Cistercians celebrated today the memorial of Blessed Corrado (Conrad) of Bavaria. Born in 1105, Conrad was the son of Henry the Black, Duke of Bavaria....