Sixtus II, Pope and Martyr
A blessed memorial of Pope Saint Sixtus II and Companion Martyrs, who were beheaded along with six of his deacons in witness to the Faith, on the sixth of August, in the year of our Lord 258, under the persecution of Emperor Valerian. Many priests, bishops and laity were put to death, and Sixtus was one of the first to receive the palm of martyrdom. He would be followed a few days later by another of his deacons, Lawrence, one of the few non-Apostle saints to be honoured with the full rank of a ‘feast’.
We also honour today Saint Gaetano Cajetan (1480-1547), not to be confused with the ‘other’ Cajetan, whose name was Thomas, a famed commentator on Saint Thomas Aquinas (who lived around the same time). Rather, this Cajetan was a true reformer in the time of the inaptly named Protestant ‘reformation’, a lawyer, medical worker and priest, who founded the religious order of the Theatines, after the city of Chieti where they arose (their more accurate and full name is the Congregation of Clerics Regular of the Divine Providence). The Theatines were one of a group of new Orders (primary amongst them, the Society of Jesus) which helped renew and revitalize the Church during the tumultuous 16th century, leading into the modern era.
On the note of the witness of the hierarchy, a good read is the recent fine article by Father George Rutler, a summary of a forthcoming book on the qualities requisite in a pastor, especially a parish priest. Practical good advice, and I look forward to the fuller treatment. If only every priest were to fulfil, even at the most basic level, the requirements of the priesthood, the world would be a very different and a far better, place. The same, of course, goes for the laity. God does not ask much of us, really, for His yoke really is ‘easy’ and His burden ‘light’, if we but obey His voice. It is when we resist, and kick against the goad, that things get difficult.
Here is advice from today’s Office of Readings, from Saint Cyprian, himself a bishop, in Carthage, who would be martyred himself a month or so after Pope Sixtus, in September, soon after penning these prophetic words:
I ask you to make these facts known to the rest of our fellow bishops, in order that by the exhortation of their pastors the brethren everywhere may be strengthened and prepared for the spiritual combat. Let all our people fix their minds not on death but rather on immortality; let them commit themselves to the Lord in complete faith and unflinching courage and make their confession with joy rather than in fear, knowing that in this contest the soldiers of God and Christ are not slain but rather win their crowns.
Farewell in the Lord, dearest brother.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→