It was March of 1585. After three exhausting years spent traveling halfway around the world, Julian and his friends, all Japanese converts to the Catholic Faith, looked out on Rome. They were probably the first Japanese to gaze on the Eternal City, which seemed like something out of a dream. As they … Read more
In February 2015, the world was stunned by a video released by ISIS, the Islamist terrorist movement, showing the beheading of twenty-one Christians who preferred death rather than submitting to Islam. They were kidnapped Coptic Orthodox Christians and were slaughtered in Libya. Their attitude was heroic and worthy of admiration. The terrorists’ … Read more
July 17 is the feast of the sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne who were guillotined on this day in 1794 during the French Revolution. The Church often, but not always, celebrates the feast of martyrs on the day they died because it is the most glorious day of their lives. They were born … Read more
On June 22, the Church celebrates the memory of Saint John Fisher and Saint Thomas More, both martyred in England for refusing to join Henry VIII’s revolt against the Papacy. “Let me Sleep Another Hour” We will begin with a narration of the saint’s life and especially his death that follows: Before … Read more
The noted Abbot Prosper Guéranger comments on a passage from Saint Bernard’s Sermon of the Feast of the Holy Innocents. Saint Bernard notes: “In Saint Stephen, we have both the act and the desire of martyrdom; in Saint John, we have but the desire; in the Holy Innocents we have but the … Read more
Monday, November 19, 2018, might have seemed like a normal day for Jamie Schmidt. Little did she know when she entered Catholic Supply, a religious goods store in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, that this ordinary day would be her last. Nor did her family ever dream her life would come to a … Read more
In this twilight of mud and opprobrium, the whole world, sleepy and ashamed, is allowing itself to slide down the successive abysses of a gradual acceptance of Communism. However, in this panorama of general devastation, Cardinal Mindszenty has risen as the great nonconformist, the international troublemaker whose unbreakable refusal saves the honor … Read more
In the history of the Church, many martyrs died for the Faith. Starting with Saint Stephen the Protomartyr shortly after the Resurrection, they were the first to be remembered, venerated for their public witness and raised to the altars with the title of saint. There are also those who denied the Faith … Read more
From the patience which the martyrs showed during their tortures, we should learn to suffer with holy resignation the crosses and afflictions of this life; poverty, sickness, persecution, insults, injustice, and all other evils, are but trivial when compared with their sufferings. The reflection that it was the will of God that … Read more
Religious persecution is a frequent topic of discussion in our country and for good reason. The mere mention of Kim Davis or the Little Sisters of the Poor, is sufficient to conjure up images of a heavy-handed bureaucracy and unjust laws that brook no restraint. Upholding one’s Christian beliefs on polarizing issues … Read more