Our Lady of the Pillar

This Marian commemoration dates back to very early in the Church’s history. In fact, it is the first ‘vision’ of Our Lady. As the story has been handed down, Mary appeared to Saint James the Apostle (the ‘Greater’) in the year 40 or so, as he was discouraged in his evangelizing efforts in Hispania (Spain). It seems even Apostles had their down days, and aren’t always successful, at least in earthly terms. She consoled him, and encouraged his return to Jerusalem, which he did, where he was martyred by beheading.

Two things make this vision unique: First, Our Lady appeared standing on a pillar, perhaps evoking the ‘stylite’ hermits – the most famous being Saint Simon – who spent their lives so perched. Second, and more to the point, the Virgin Mother was still alive at the time, making this her one and only bilocation, at least that we know of.

This got me thinking about other miraculous events in Our Lady’s life, and how much of a thaumaturge she might have been during her earthly sojourn. I suppose in light of her hiddenness – amare nesciri, love to be unknown and all that – she was not reserving the main bulk of her intercession until heaven, like the future Saint Therese, only far more powerful than even the Little Flower.

Miracles have certainly abounded through Our Lady of the Pillar through the centuries, and devotion was and still is widespread, especially in Spain, where an impressive basilica was dedicated in her honour in 1711.

Her feast was made canonical by the Sacred Congregation of Rites in 1723, to be celebrated on October 12th, which also happens to be the day Christopher Columbus discovered the ‘new world’, which he thought was China, or perhaps Japan, having no notion yet of what we now know as America, nor the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean. Hence, Our Lady of the Pillar is also the patroness of the ‘Hispanic world’.

May she intercede for us all, and grant peace, especially at this time in the Middle East, and good will amongst men. +

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→

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→

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→

Saint Gemma Galgani

On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→

An Ideological and Improper Translation

I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→