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Early Fathers

 John Chrysostom here gives eloquent praise to the passionate love of Christ that drove St. Paul to face persecution and hardship with joy and leave behind the honors and benefits of the world.  It is read each year on January 25, the Feast of the...

December 26, The Second Day of Christmas, has been observed as the Feast Day of Saint Stephen, Protomartyr, since at least the fifth century.  Fulgentius of Ruspe, a North African bishop, here notes how fitting it is that the birthday of love should be followed...

This excerpt from St. Augustine's Treatise on John's Gospel (Tract. 123, 5: CCL 36, 678-680) is read on the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6. It focuses on the real meaning of the gift-giving for which St. Nicholas is famous--the self-giving love of a...

Here Faustinus shows how our Savior Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit, the oil of gladness, as both priest and king. In this he is unlike all Old Testament figures except Melchizedek. It is used in the Roman Catholic Office of Readings for...

Augustine on the famous words of Jesus "anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and sister and my mother." This indicates Mary's true greatness as a disciple, one who conceived not only in body, but in faith; Augustine...