Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf

Today’s Saint Hugh of Châteauneuf (1053 – 1152) is not to be confused with Saint Hugh of Lincoln (1140 – 1200), although their life spans overlapped briefly, both were bishops and both were connected with the Carthusians. Today’s Hugh – the French one – helped to found Saint Bruno’s Order of hermits, while the other Hugh – the English one – was a member of the Order, and eventual bishop of the diocese of Lincoln in southern Britain.

Hugh of Châteauneuf was a proponent of the Gregorian reform, named after Pope Saint Gregory VII (1015 – 1085), the great Pope (whose name in life was Hildebrand) who strove to bring the Church of the ‘dark ages’ – rife with concubinage, secularism, simony and all sorts of ills – into the light. Hugh, renowned for his piety and morals, was elected bishop of Grenoble while still a layman, and set to work, battling with overbearing secular rules, not least Guigues of Avon, for the rights and freedom of the Church.

Perhaps Hugh is best known for giving land to Saint Bruno and his six companions, seeking a refuge from the world to begin their hidden Order, dedicated to prayer, the praise of God and manual labour. The good bishop spent much time with these hardy band of monks, and was said nearly to have adopted their way of life, as much as he might and still maintain his episcopal duties.

Thus it was in 1084 that the Grand Chartreuse was founded in a beautiful, snowy, rocky remote location at the base of the Alps, which still stands to this day, a thousand years later. As the Carthusian motto states, crux stat, dum volvitur orbis – the cross stands, while the world turns.

A good thought, on this last day of Lent, as we enter into the Triduum.

We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee, for by Thy Holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world. 

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→

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→

Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers

Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→