Ruminations of an Amateur Monastic
Happy Saint Agnes Day! Saint Agnes was a young Roman lady of 12 or 13 years old who suffered martyrdom in the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in about AD 304. She was one of the youngest of the early martyrs and one of the most moving and articulate. Agnes hastened to the place of torture as a bride to […]
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Today in the United States, we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., so I thought I’d tackle the question “are there non-Catholic saints?” Seems like a simple question. First off, what’s a saint exactly? We turn to our trusty Catechism once more and find the following: 823 “The Church . . . is held, as a matter of faith, to […]
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Today is the feast of the man many consider to be the founder of Christian monasticism, Saint Anthony the Great of Egypt, the “Father of Monks”. He was born in the middle of the third century in decidedly Pagan Middle Egypt to a well-to-do, comfortable family. He spent much of his life avoiding the sorts of comforts available to him […]
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Happy Ninth Day of Christmas! Today is the Memorial of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops and Doctors of the Church. Saints Basil and Gregory Nazianzen were contemporaries from Cappadocia and great theologians of the early Church. They were lifelong friends and cohorts in fighting against the Arian heresy. Their names are sung together in the Litany of […]
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Happy seventh day of Christmas! Today the Church celebrates the memorial of Saint Sylvester I, pope and confessor. He was born in the southern Italian town of Sant’Angelo a Scala to two Roman citizens, Rufinus and Justa. He was ordained by Pope Saint Marcellinus just before the persecutions of Diocletian got underway. He survived those years of terror and saw […]
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Happy sixth day of Christmas! Today is the first day of the Christmas Octave that is not otherwise also a solemnity, feast, or memorial. That does not mean, however, that there aren’t other saints we could celebrate today in the midst of our Christmas joy. Today I’d like to talk about the Roman Martyrology, as well as the celebration of […]
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Happy fifth day of Christmas! Today, the Church celebrates the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint Thomas Becket. Over the years, I’ve written many articles on this, one of my favourite saints. I’ve provided links to them below. Many of these articles focus on the saint himself, his life and martyrdom, and others on his legacy to the Church, particularly […]
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Happy fourth day of Christmas! Today, the Church usually celebrates the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Because it’s the Sunday in the Octave of Christmas, it is instead the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. In the Holy Family, God gives us a living icon of family life: child, mother, father. Russian Icon of the Holy […]
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In our life of faith, we are given a name at Baptism, and we choose a new name at Confirmation. It was a little different for me, as I was baptized and confirmed on the same day as an adult. My mother gave me the name Thomas at my birth, and for my confirmation, I took the name of John […]
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The rest of the world thinks Christmas is over, with the possible exception of those who celebrate Boxing Day today or those fond of partridges in pear trees. Oh, how wrong they are! For like Easter, Christmas isn’t just one day, but a whole season! The Twelve Days of Christmas continue right up through the Epiphany (January 6, more or […]
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Today is Lucy’s Day! No, not that one. Saint Lucy was a Sicilian martyr. She was a wealthy young lady of Greek extraction brought up by Christian parents. She was killed during the horrific persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian in about 304. The facts surrounding her martyrdom have accreted so many legends that it’s difficult to be sure exactly what […]
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Time again for some history! If you think that the Spanish conquistadors are the ones who imposed Catholicism on the hapless Aztecs, well you’re wrong. Lord knows they tried. And tried. And failed. In the first decade of Spanish rule (1521 – 1531), only a handful of Native Americans embraced Christianity. And then… well, a miracle. Here’s the story as […]
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The Church honours Saint Benedict with two great feasts. One is not much celebrated these days, as it typically occurs during Lent, and it has been removed from the Universal Calendar. The Benedictines, of course, continue to celebrate both. To these, some Benedictine monasteries add a third feast, which is celebrated today. Icon of Saint Benedict at Mount Athos The […]
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Today is the memorial of Saint Edmund Campion. If the paintings of him are to be believed, he is a man to whom I bear more than a passing resemblance, at least in my youth. We commemorated the five hundredth anniversary of the Protestant Reformation a few years ago. Many continue to see this as a good thing. I don’t. […]
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Surrexit Odo, plenus Spiritu Sancto, et monastici Ordinis decus per orbem renovatum est. (Odo arose, filled with the Holy Spirit, and restored the glory of the monastic Order throughout the world.) —Antiphon 2, Lauds of Saint Odo Today is the memorial of Saint Odo of Cluny on some of the calendars of the Benedictine Order. Others—most especially the Congregation of […]
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Once again we come to a feast of All Saints. “But wait!” I hear you cry, “wasn’t that back on the first of November?” Right you are! But today on the Benedictine calendar is the feast of All Saints of the Benedictine Order. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside […]
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It seems fitting that Veterans’ Day – Armistice Day – is celebrated on November 11, for this is the memorial of the soldier-saint, Martin of Tours. He was a soldier turned monk turned reluctant bishop, and he was one of the first saints to be venerated who wasn’t a martyr. Saint Martin of Tours was born in A.D. 336 in […]
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