Dr. Italy
Elected on May 8, 2025, as the 267th successor of St. Peter, Pope Leo XIV’...
Saint Joseph always appears in Manger scenes during Advent and Easter time and e...
The Regina Caeli, Latin for “Queen of Heaven,” is a hymn and prayer dating back to around the 12th century, by an unknown author. In this...
St. Pope Pius X on the psalms which play a central role in the continual sacrifice of praise which is the divine liturgy of the Church. Singing the ps...
Jesus' call to enter through the narrow door seems to conflict with the idea that God wants all to be saved, that the universal, Catholic Church means...
St. Ambrose of Milan tells newly baptized Christians the meaning of the post-baptismal rites: the clothing with a white garment and the anointing with sacred chrism which we call the sacrament of confirmation or, in the Eastern churches, chrismation....
One of the greatest Fathers and Doctors of the early Church here explains how the descent of the Holy Spirit transforms us, making us sharers in the Divine Nature of the Word. The Holy Ghost changes us and empowers us to live a new...
This third in a series on Understanding the Mass focuses on the way the Lord Jesus is really present in his body, the church, as well as his real presence in the priest. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='65' color='' background_color='' border_color='']W[/dropcaps]hether they’re Catholic or not, whether they understand...
The Feast of Corpus Christi, the body and blood of Christ, was instituted during the lifetime of Thomas Aquinas as a proclamation of faith in the real presence (aka transubstantiation) of Christ's body and blood in the sacrament. This selection, read annually on...
While the word "transubstantiation" is not employed here, the substance of this doctrine of Christ's real presence in the Eucharist is evident in this passage from St. Ambrose's treatise On the Mysteries, dating to AD 380. This excerpt explains the power of the words of...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']T[/dropcaps]his day, in which for the first time I may sit in the chair of the Bishop of Rome, as Successor of Peter, is the day in which the Church in Italy celebrates the feast of the Lord's Ascension. At...
Ambrose here treats of the Holy Spirit as the abundant river of grace that flows from Jesus, the Font of life, in the form of seven channels which are the seven gifts that overflow the banks of our minds leading us to supernatural knowledge of...
This sermon by Augustine, originally delivered on the Solemnity of the Ascension, notes that we, the members of Christ's body, ascended to heaven with the Lord through love....
Augustine on the divine love, known as charity, caritas, agape, that Jesus commanded us to have for one another in the last supper discourse of the Gospel of John. This sort of love is impossible for human beings without the help of grace -- it...
Written by St. Irenaeus about 185 AD, this excerpt makes clear the Church's realistic interpretation of the eucharist as the risen body of Christ which serves as the medicine of immortality, the pledge of our own future resurrection. The real presence of the body...