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
On this January 12th here in Canada we celebrate Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700), founder of the Congregation of Notre-Dame, alongside the first official ‘school’ in what were the the untamed wilds of Canada. A missionary from France in the mid-seventeenth century, she faced innumerable difficulties in her first years in the nascent Quebec City –[…]
The memorial of Saint Gregory of Nyssa, even if not in the universal calendar, is on this January 10th. Gregory is one of the ‘Cappadocian Fathers’, along with his elder brother, Saint Basil the Great, and their companion, Saint Gregory of Nazianzen – the latter two we celebrate on, January 2nd. Gregory is a highly[…]
Today, January 8th, is the feast of Saint Raymond of Penyafort (1175-1275), one of the first Dominicans (officially known as the Order of Preachers) eventually becoming the third Master General of the Order (after Saint Dominic himself, and Jordan of Saxony), and a fellow Dominican with his even-more famous confrere, Thomas Aquinas, with whom he[…]
On January 7th here in Canada we honour one of our most beloved homegrown saints, André Bessette (1845-1937), a humble lay-brother who went on to found Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. A sickly boy, brought up in a difficult childhood mired in poverty in rural Quebec, his lumberjack father was killed by a falling tree,[…]
Today is the feast of Saint John Neumann – whom we should distinguish from Saint John Henry Newman, the English Oratorian and fellow saint; as well as from the non-ordained layman John von Neumann, the great Hungarian-American mathematician and scientist, who helped devise what we now know as the ‘computer’. Today’s John Neumann was born[…]
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774 – 1821) signifies what America once was and, by the grace of God, may yet be again – the true ‘MAGA’, if you will, not based on money, but spiritual riches. That said, Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born into financial largess – the proverbial rich heiress – and was married[…]
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 4 July 2007 Saint Basil (1) Dear Brothers and Sisters, Let us remember today one of the great Fathers of the Church, St Basil, described by Byzantine liturgical texts as “a luminary of the Church”. He was an important Bishop in the fourth century to whom[…]
BENEDICT XVI GENERAL AUDIENCE Paul VI Audience Hall Wednesday, 8 August 2007 Saint Gregory Nazianzus (1) Dear Brothers and Sisters, Last Wednesday, I talked about St Basil, a Father of the Church and a great teacher of the faith. Today, I would like to speak of his friend, Gregory Nazianzus; like Basil, he too was[…]
When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…so that we might receive adoption as sons (Gal.4:4).⧾ On this the last day of the Christmas Octave and the first of the New Year, we celebrated the divine maternity of our Mother and Queen, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Today’s Solemnity[…]
On this last day of the calendar year, we celebrate in muted tones the mysterious and shadowy Pope Saint Sylvester I, who reigned from 314, the year after Constantine made Christianity legal after his momentous victory at the Milvian Bridge, until his death on this day in 335. In the commemorative reading from today’s Office,[…]
