On February 11, 1858, a 14 year old girl named Bernadette Soubirous had an encounter with a "beautiful lady" when she was gathering firewood on the French side of the Pyrenees, near a town called Lourdes. Here she tells the story of that encounter with...
Eye-witness of the 16th century martyrdom of Japanese Martyrs, the Jesuit Paul Miki and companions. For their feast day on February 6....
Here Don John Bosco provides some guiding principles for youth ministry based on his legendary success at evangelizing and teaching young boys on the streets of Turin Italy during the days of the Industrial Revolution. In a day when harsh corporal punishment was the...
Francis de Sales, one of the great masters of the spiritual life, here makes clear that devotion, his term for the pursuit of holiness, is not something tied to a specific state of life. All people, in a way appropriate to their own calling...
This is an excerpt that recounts the famous apparition of the Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, to the Indian, Juan Diego, on Tepeyac hill outside of Mexico City in the year 1531. The annual Feast commemorating this marvelous event is celebrated on December 12. [dropcaps...
Prayer & table blessing for Thanksgiving Day. In the United States, Thanksgiving Day is a holiday with special religious significance. Originally it was celebrated by the Pilgrims and the Native Americans to give thanks to God after the harvest of 1621. In 1863 President...
Pope Pius XI on St. Josaphat, martyr and apostle of unity. Born in the Ukraine to Orthodox parents in 1580, St. Josaphat embraced the Catholic faith and became a Basilian monk. Ordained to the priesthood and chosen bishop of Polock, he worked for the unity...
Charles Borromeo, the bishop apostle of Northern Italy during the Catholic Reformation, on the primacy of prayer, read on his feast day, November 4. Though he is here addressing priests, his advice on meditation, distractions and recollection is valuable for all Christians....
Between the years 1642 and 1649 eight members of the Society of Jesus were killed in North America after brutal torture. These Jesuits had worked diligently to bring the native Americans of the region of what is now Upper New York and Canada to the...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']A[/dropcaps]nnunciation of the Angel to Mary This is the brightest point which links Heaven and earth; the greatest event of the centuries. The Son of God, the Word of the Father, by Whom all was made that was made in the...