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
As students prepare to bid farewell to summer and head back to school, Catholic education in Ontario may be at a crossroads. In Ontario, as in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Catholic schools are government-funded under a separate public school system. About a third of Ontario students — well over 500,000 — are estimated to attend Catholic[…]
The life of Saint Giles, as many mediaeval saints, is steeped in legend. What we do know is that he had quite a following, his popularity attested by the countless places, villages, cities, churches are named after him, including the Italian variant of his name, Egidio. He was a hermit, likely in the 6th century,[…]
Saint Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians and the ‘second Apostle’ of Rome, recommended reading books beginning with ‘S’, that is, lives of the saints, so that we may imitate at least some degree of their virtues. He himself wanted all of his own spiritual sons to achieve sanctity, but in as hidden a[…]
The celebration of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist – an expeditious entrance into heaven – is sort of a bookend to the summer; you may recall that June 24th, just after the end of spring, was the solemnity of his birth. Now, as summer draws to its close, we celebrate his death. A[…]
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[…]
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[…]
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[…]
