St. Peter Claver was a Spanish Jesuit who came to the New World in the early 17th century and dedicated his life as an evangelist and pastor to black slaves and worked at the same time as a tireless advocate on their behalf. His...
Gregory the Great comments on the famous passage in Ezekiel 33 in which God calls the prophet to be a watchman for the house of Israel. Saint Gregory reflects on how this applies to himself as bishop of Rome and protests his inadequacy for the...
Here Leo the Great comments on the fourth, fifth and sixth of the Beatitudes, explaining why those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed as well as the merciful and the pure of heart....
An account of the death of St. Monica, mother of Augustine, written about 10 years afterwards, in her son's famous book The Confessions. Read on August 27, feast day of Monica, model of Christian Motherhood. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']B[/dropcaps]ecause the day when she was...
This excerpt from a homily by Saint Amadeus of Lausanne, read by the Church on August 22, Feast of the Queenship of Mary, extolls the virtue of the Blessed Virgin, the Queen of Peace. ...
Who are the Cardinals of the Catholic Church? Where does the word and idea of Cardinal come from, and what role do they play as electors of the Pope in the papal conclave where the election takes place? [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]he Pope, like...
The Second Vatican Council was convened by Pope John XXIII in the Fall of 1962 and was concluded in December of that same year. While the Council was in recess, John XXIII died. The task of carrying on with the council fell to his successor,...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps] n July 2005, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, stirred a controversy by writing an Op-Ed article for the New York Times entitled, "Finding Design in Nature" (New York Times, July 7, 2005). His article, submitted to the...
The veneration of saints is a feature o Catholic and Orthodox Christianity that fascinates some and bewilders others. In this article, Dr. Italy explains the process of the Making of a canonized Saint or Canonization in the Catholic Church: How it works, what it means...
A brief overview of what happens from the time of the death or resignation of a pope to the public announcement of his successor, elected by the cardinals. The papal election takes place in a secret conclave held in the Sistine chapel. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color=''...