We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us (Saint Bernard of[…]
Month: October 2025
Saint Alphonus Rodriguez
One year after Martin Luther supposedly pinned his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg (they were likely mailed to his superiors, but legends abound), Alphonsus Rodriguez (1532 – 1617) was born in Segovia, Spain. The latter lived in some ways a life almost the direct opposite of the fiery and[…]
The Bishops of Ontario Prepare for the Second Vatican Council
This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council and also the sixty-third anniversary of the opening of the Council on October 11, 1962, the Feast of Our Lady’s Divine Maternity in the usus antiquior. At its closing in 1965, Pope Paul VI, the pope who would bring the Council[…]
Luther’s Fateful All Hallowed Eve
(Here is a re-post of a reflection on this ‘All Hallow’s Eve’ anniversary of the generally accepted date for the formal start of the ‘Reformation’, when legend has it that Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Catholilc Church at Wittenberg on this day in 1517. More likely, as historians attest, he[…]
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God, our Saviour through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and for ever (Letter of Saint Jude, Apostle)
Saints Simon, Jude and Desperate Causes
All of the Apostles have a feast day, and on this third last day of October, in the crisp days of fall, we celebrate Saints Simon and Jude, the latter, in particular, being invoked as the patron of desperate causes. On that note, this is also the day that Emperor Constantine won his victory over Maxentius at[…]
Pope Benedict and Saints Simon and Jude
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Saint Peter’s Square Wednesday, 11 October 2006 Simon and Jude Dear Brothers and Sisters, Today, let us examine two of the Twelve Apostles: Simon the Cananaean and Jude Thaddaeus (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot). Let us look at them together, not only because they are always placed next to[…]
Whose Land Is It, After All?
The difficulty with apologies is that at some point someone’s going to take you at your word. If we claim that we’re living on unceded – which is to say stolen – land, it seems inevitable that the land will be demanded back. This is no longer in the esoteric realm of academic discourse, or[…]
Leo, Francis and Tradition on the Death Penalty
Late this past month, the pontiff, upon leaving Castel Gandolfo, the papal retreat on Lake Albano near Rome, took time to take a few questions from the media. An American journalist asked for his views on Cardinal Cupich’s recent decision to give the Rerum Novarum Award for lifetime achievement to U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (Democrat-Illinois) — a self-identifying Catholic[…]
Musical Offering: Hassler, Grieg and Our Lady
A blessed Sunday to one and all! German composer Hans Leo Hassler was born on this October 26th in 1564, bringing much of the genius and style of Italian renaissance polyphony into his compositions. Although a Protestant (an early one, given his era), much of what he wrote was Catholic, in theme, sympathy and text,[…]