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, 30 August 2006 Matthew Dear Brothers and Sisters, Continuing the series of portraits of the Twelve Apostles that we began a few weeks ago, let us reflect today on Matthew. To tell the truth, it is almost impossible to paint a complete picture of him because[…]
Today we commemorate the feast of the countless martyrs of Korea, led by the indomitable convert priest, Father Andrew Kim Taegon, who was eventually tortured and beheaded by the shores of the Han River in 1846 at the tender age of 25. Thousands more were likewise killed for their faith, 103 of whom were canonized[…]
Saint Januarius was bishop of Benevuento, in the south-west of Italy, about whom a number of legends are told – that he survived unscathed being burnt in a furnace, that wild bears refused to touch him in the amphitheatre – but all we know for relative certainty is that he was put to death in[…]
According to the laws of physics, a man should not be able to fly, at least without technological help. But are not the ‘laws of physics’, as Chesterton posits, themselves miracles? Why should trees produce scrumptious apples, or water and the sky different shades of Marian blue? Why should we, hairless apes according to some,[…]
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Papal Summer Residence, Castel Gandolfo Wednesday, 1st September 2010 Saint Hildegard of Bingen Dear Brothers and Sisters, In 1988, on the occasion of the Marian Year, Venerable John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris Dignitatem on the precious role that women have played and play in the life of the Church.[…]
Hildegarde von Bingen (+1179) is one of the newest saints in the liturgical calendar, canonized ‘equipollently’ by Pope Benedict XVI on May 12, 2012 (since she had always been regarded as a saint, but never officially canonized). Her feast was extended to the universal Church, now on the same day as Saint Robert Bellarmine (so[…]
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 23 February 2011 [Video] Saint Robert Bellarmine Dear Brothers and Sisters, Born on 4 October 1542 in Montepulciano near Siena, he was the nephew, on his mother’s side, of Pope Marcellus II. He had an excellent formation in the humanities before entering the Society of Jesus[…]
In the midst of the theological and cultural confusion in which our Church is mired, we could use a few more men with the clear, disciplined, Thomistic mind of Robert Bellarmine (+1621), bishop, cardinal, doctor of the Church, and, yes, a Jesuit. But this was back in the days when the Order was young and,[…]
Saint Cornelius was Pope for a scant two years in the middle of the third century, elected in 251 and put to death in 253 in the persecution under Emperor Decius. During his short tenure, he had to deal with the machinations of his fellow schismatic bishop Novatian, who eventually declared himself the true Pope,[…]
A blessed memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows to all. This feast was first celebrated in the year 1233 – in the youth of that greatest of centuries, when Thomas Aquinas was but a young lad of eight, given as an Oblate to the Benedictines of Montecassino. It was the newly-founded Servite Order in Florence,[…]
