Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
Inspired by Truth, Enlightening Minds for the Church in Canada and Throughout the World
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 9 January 2008 Saint Augustine of Hippo (1) Dear Brothers and Sisters, After the great Christmas festivities, I would like to return to the meditations on the Fathers of the Church and speak today of the greatest Father of the Latin Church, St Augustine. This man[…]
A blessed feast of the great Saint Augustine (354-430), bishop and doctor of the Church, and one of the greatest theologians in her history. His voluminous works – his autobiography, sermons, commentaries, letters, – helped form the mind and soul of Christian civilization. Augustine himself was nearly not the Augustine we know. In the mystery[…]
Monica is the patron saint of mothers – not least, those who pray for the conversion of their children, an integral part of the maternal vocation, as many a mother will admit. Even for those children who stay in the Faith, ‘conversion’ is an ongoing process, never-ending, in that universal call to holiness to which[…]
This feast of the ‘Queen of Poland’ is a national holiday in that great nation, with thousands of pilgrims flocking to her shrine at Jazna Gora, where the precious image of Our Lady of Częstochowa is kept and held most dear. There are untold icons and paintings of the Mother of God, just as there are[…]
Dear son, the first thing I admonish thee is that thou set thy heart to love God, for without that nothing else is of any worth. (King Saint Louis IX, +1274, in a letter to his son)
On this day, I was baptized in Saint Patrick’s church, in Dumbarton, Scotland, on the commemoration of King Saint Louis IX and Saint Joseph Calasanz, at least in the revised calendar. I recommend to Catholics to discover their baptismal day, and commemorate and celebrate it, for, in light of the ‘sacramental life’, that day is[…]
St. Louis IX (1214-1270) has been considered by many to be the greatest king of medieval Christendom. As the quintessential Catholic monarch, he ruled over what contemporary popes called a “most Christian kingdom,”[1] a sacramental harmony in which the Catholic faith was the ordering and motivating principle for all levels of society. Louis was renowned[…]
What am I doing here? Is this all there is to life? These questions occasionally surface as I sit at my desk, surrounded by beige walls, buzzing fluorescent lights, and the quiet hum of office routine. My cubicle isn’t bleak or terrible—it just feels… well, repetitive. Get up. Get dressed. Get the kids ready. Work.[…]
We would be remiss if we did not at least remark on this day on the great and sadly forgotten Saint Joseph Calasanz (+1648), a zealous priest, pastor, reformer and educator, who more or less set up what we now take for granted – universal basic education for all children, free of charge for the[…]
The 23rd of August is the anniversary of a 1973 bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. The robbery went south, descending into a hostage situation lasting two days. What was odd was that the hostages apparently began to sympathize with their captors – whose last names were Olsson and Olafsson – and refused to cooperate with[…]
