Rome Unvisited
Tomorrow I will be leaving Rome. I expect to be away from the Eternal City for the remaining summer months. I will know better what...
Envy, An Ugly Sin
Thursday of the Twelfth Week of the Year I Genesis 16:1-12, 15-16 The painting of Hagar in the wilderness is by Giovanni Lanfranco. It hangs...
Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help
This morning I walked to the Church of Sant’ Alfonso, the Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help. It was quiet and peaceful there with...
Saints John and Paul, Martyrs of Rome
Guercino did this drawing of the martyrdom of Saints John and Paul in 1630-32. He used a pen and brown ink, a brush and brown...
Marian Shrine in China To Be Blown Up
We fly to thy protection, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities but deliver us always from all dangers, O...
Called to Reflect the Face of Christ and His Mercy
The June 20th daily edition of L’Osservatore Romano contained an article on the ordination of two Olivetan Benedictine Monks of the Abbey of Santa Maria...
Saints John Fisher and Thomas More
The icon of Saint Thomas More is by the graced hand of Brother Claude Lane, O.S.B., monk of Mount Angel Abbey. O God, who didst...
The Eucharistic Heart of Jesus
On 9 November 1921, Pope Benedict XV instituted the feast of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus to be celebrated on the Thursday within the Octave...
This Beautiful One in His Robe
Come With Confidence The Church of Sant’Alfonso on the Via Merulana is one of my favourite neighbourhood pilgrimages. It enshrines the original precious and wonderworking...
Saint Romuald
I celebrated the 6:30 Mass in the Basilica’s Cappella di San Gregorio this evening. There was the usual assortment of pie donne and folks on...
Diversities of Graces
The Open Side of Jesus Crucified Look at this remarkable painting of Jesus Crucified. The focus of the composition is the wound in His Sacred...
June 19-27, Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help
I invite the readers of Vultus Christi to join me in making the Novena in Preparation for the Feast of Our Mother of Perpetual Help...
Mother Mary of St. Peter, Adorer of the Sacred Heart
June 17th is the dies natalis of Marie–Adèle Garnier, Mother Mary of St. Peter, Foundress of the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of...
Blessed Marie–Joseph Cassant
Where His Treasure Was, There Was His Heart Although it falls on a Sunday this year, for Cistercians and Trappists, June 17th will mark the...
The Immaculate Heart of Mary
Blessed Are the Pure in HeartJesus, the Son of Mary, gives us in the Sermon on the Mount the key that unlocks for us the...
Lilies and Bread
Together with two good friends I went on a little pilgrimage this morning to the Basilica of Sant’Antonio on the Via Merulana. The church was...
Per antica tradizione
Leafing through the 1941 edition of the Usi Monastici of our Congregazione Cistercense di San Bernardo in Italia, I happened upon this interesting prescription: Per...
The Beating Heart of the Church
The Church has a beating Heart: the Eucharistic Heart of Christ. This is what Pope Benedict XVI said in today’s Angelus address: “Today’s solemnity of...
Cor Jesu, Templum Dei Sanctum
Heart of Jesus, Holy Temple of God, have mercy on us. The temple built by Solomon is a figure of the mystery of the Heart...
Salve, Festa Dies
Hail, Festival Day! Hail, Day of Sion’s sweetest hymns! Hail, Day of timeless adoration! Hail, Day of lavish jubilation! Hail, Day of our most fragrant...