Christian Today

Pope Francis reflects on the meaning of Christian joy on Independent Catholic News Pope Francis reflected on Christian joy, which we cannot buy because it is a gift from God. The Pope likened this joy given by God to the joy of a mother embracing her baby after childbirth, because it is a joy "purified" by the suffering of labour. The joy of the Christians, he said is a "joy in hope".

Pope Francis reflects on the meaning of Christian joy on Independent Catholic News Pope Francis reflected on Christian joy, which we cannot buy because it is a gift from God. The Pope likened this joy given by God to the joy of a mother embracing her baby after childbirth, because it is a joy "purified" by the suffering of labour. The joy of the Christians, he said is a "joy in hope".

Saint of the Day for Wednesday, May 28th, 2014 - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Margaret Pole, Roman Catholic English Martyr, imprisoned in the Tower of London for two years and then beheaded on May 28. She was never given a legal trial and was seventy years old when martyred.

St. Petronilla - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Petronilla, thought a spiritual daughter of St Peter and Patron Saint of The dauphins of France; mountain travellers; treaties between Popes and Frankish emperors; invoked against fever. Her emblem, like that of St. Peter, is a set of keys. Feast May 31

St. Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, & Protus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, & Protus, Roman Catholic Martyrs. Cantius with his brother, Cantianus, and his Sister, Cantianilla. They belonged to the Roman Anicii family, nobles orphaned as children and raised as Christians by one Protus. They freed their slaves, sold their estates, gave to the poor, and fled to Aquileia, Italy, when Emperor Diocletian started his persecution of Christians. Captured at Aquae Gradatae they refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods and were beheaded. Feast May 31

St. Ferdinand III of Castile - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Ferdinand III of Castile, Roman Catholic King. He rebuilt the Cathedral of Burgos and changed the mosque in Seville into a Cathedral. Feast May 30

St. Ferdinand III of Castile - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Ferdinand III of Castile, Roman Catholic King. He rebuilt the Cathedral of Burgos and changed the mosque in Seville into a Cathedral. Feast May 30

St. Ferdinand III of Castile - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Ferdinand III of Castile, Roman Catholic King. He rebuilt the Cathedral of Burgos and changed the mosque in Seville into a Cathedral. Feast May 30

Nigeria: More than 70 killed in fresh attacks by Boko Haram on Independent Catholic News Over 70 people have died this week in a series of attacks by members of the Islamist terror group Boko Haram on towns and villages in Borno and Yobe States of north eastern Nigeria

Bl. Richard Thirkeld - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Richard Thirkeld, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Executed for being a priest on May 29 at York. Feast May 29

St. William Arnaud - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. William Arnaud, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. A member of the Dominicans, he held the post of inquisitor general in Southern France during the effort to extirpate the Albigensian heresy. He was martyred by the heretics with eleven companions and is counted among the Martyrs of Toulouse. Feast May 29

Martyrs of Toulouse - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Martyrs of Toulouse, Roman Catholic Martyrs. Twelve martyrs put to death by Albigensian heretics near Toulouse, France, on the eve of the feast of the Ascension. Four diocesan priests, three Dominicans, two Benedictines, two Franciscans, and one layman died singing the Te Deum. Feast May 29

Bl. Robert Johnson - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Robert Johnson, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn with Blesseds Thomas Ford and John Short. Feast May 28

St. Melangell - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Melangell, Roman Catholic Virgin, The daughter of an Irish or Scottish king, she went to Powys, in central Wales, to become a hermitess. Ysgythrog, the prince of Powys, granted her land after meeting her on a hunting trip, and she founded a community of women, serving as abbess for thirty-seven years. Her shrine remains at Pennant Melangell. Feast May 27

St. Augustine of Canterbury - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Augustine of Canterbury, Roman Catholic  Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English" and a founder of the English Church. Feast May 27

St. Philip Neri - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Philip Neri, Roman Catholic Priest and known as the Apostle of Rome, founding a society of secular clergy called the "Congregation of the Oratory". Feast May 26

Venerable Bede - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Venerable Bede, Roman Catholic English Monk. He was a scholar and distinguished stylist, the "father" of English history. Feast May 25 Bede was born near St. Peter and St. Paul monastery at Wearmouth-Jarrow, England. He was sent there when he was three and educated by Abbots Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrid. He became a monk at the monastery, was ordained when thirty, and except for a few brief visits elsewhere, spent all of his life in the monastery, devoting himself to the study of Scripture and to teaching and writing. He is considered one of the most learned men of his time and a major influence on English literature. His writings are a veritable summary of the learning of his time and include commentaries on the Pentateuch and various other books of the Bible, theological and scientific treatises, historical works, and biographies. His best-known work is HISTORIA ECCLESIASTICA, a history of the English Church a

St. Maria Magdalen Dei Pazzi - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Maria Magdalen Dei Pazzi, Roman Catholic Discalced Carmelite mystic and healer. Feast May 25

Bl. Luis Batiz Sainz - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Luis Batiz Sainz, Roman Catholic Priest and Mexican Martyr. He was captured by government soldiers on August 14, 1926. Although there was a public outcry, the government decided to execute the priest. The next day, on the pretext of transferring him to Zacatecas, he was taken from the city together with three members of the Mexican Association for Catholic Youth. Underway, they were taken from the car and shot on the side of the road. Feast May 24 Saint David Galván Bermúdez, Roman Catholic Priest and Mexican Martyr. Bl. Jose Isabel Flores Varela, Roman Catholic Priest and Mexican Martyr. St. Manuel Moralez, Roman Catholic Semianian and Mexican Martyr. Bl. Miguel de la Mora, Roman Catholic Priest and Mexican Martyr. Bl. Sabas Reyes Salazar,  Roman Catholic Priest and Mexican Martyr. St. Salvador Lara Puente, Roman Catholic Layman and Mexican Martyr.

St. David I of Scotland - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. David I Roman Catholic king of Scotland.  Feast May 24

St. Joanna - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Joanna, Joanna was the wife of Chuza, steward of King Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee. She was one of the women who helped provide for Jesus and the Apostles and was one of the three women who discovered the empty tomb of Jesus on the first Easter morning. Feast May 24

St. Julia - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Julia, Roman Catholic Martyr. The governor tried to make Julia sacrifice to the gods. He promised to have her set free if she would, but she absolutely refused. Then the pagan ruler, in great anger, had her struck on the face and her hair torn from her head. She was next put on a cross to hang there until she died. Her feast day is May 23rd.

St. Rita - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Rita of Cassia, Roman Catholic Augustinian Nun and She is the patroness of impossible cases. Her feast day is May 22 St. Rita was born at Spoleto, Italy in 1381. At an early age, she begged her parents to allow her to enter a convent. Instead they arranged a marriage for her. Rita became a good wife and mother, but her husband was a man of violent temper. In anger he often mistreated his wife. He taught their children his own evil ways. Rita tried to perform her duties faithfully and to pray and receive the sacraments frequently. After nearly twenty years of marriage, her husband was stabbed by an enemy but before he died, he repented because Rita prayed for him. Shortly afterwards, her two sons died, and Rita was alone in the world. Prayer, fasting, penances of many kinds, and good works filled her days. She was admitted to the convent of the Augustinian nuns at Cascia in Umbria, and began a life of perfect obedienc

Bl. John Forest - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Forest, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. the confessor of the first wife of King Henry VIII, Queen Catherine of Aragon. He became a Franciscan at Greenwich at the age of seventeen and studied at Oxford. John opposed Henry’s divorce and the suppression of religious orders. Because of this he was arrested at Newgate and ordered to agree to the Oath of Supremacy. Refusing, John was dragged on a hurdle to Smithfield and then burned to death at the stake. A wooden statue of St. Derfel was burned with John. He was beatified in 1886. Feast May 22

Pope Francis: If we destroy Creation, it will destroy us on Independent Catholic News Pope Francis: If we destroy Creation, it will destroy us

St. Eugene de Mazenod - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Eugene de Mazenod, Roman Catholic Priest Patron saint of dysfunctional families. Feast May 21 Eugene de Mazenod was born on August 1, 1782, at Aix-en-Provence in France. Early in life he experienced the upheaval of the French Revolution. None the less, he entered the seminary, and following ordination he returned to labor in Aix-en-Provence. That area had suffered greatly during the Revolution and was not really a safe place for a priest. Eugene directed his ministry toward the poorest of the poor. Others joined his labors, and became the nucleus of a religious community, the Missionaries of Provence. Later Eugene was named Bishop of Marseille. There he built churches, founded parishes, cared for his priests, and developed catechetics for the young. Later he founded the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and in 1841 the Oblates sailed for missions in five continents. Pius XI said, "the Oblates are the specialists of

St. Constantine the Great - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Constantine the Great, Junior Emperor and emperor called the “Thirteenth Apostle” in the East. The son of Constantius I Chlorus, junior emperor and St. Helena, Constantine was raised on the court of co-Emperor Diocletian. When his father died in 306, Constantine was declared junior emperor of York, England, by the local legions and earned a place as a ruler of the Empire by defeating of his main rivals at the battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312. According to legend, he adopted the insignia of Christ, the chi-rho, and placed it upon his labarum - the military standards that held the banners his armies carried into battle to vanquish their pagan enemies. His purple banners were inscribed with the Latin for “In this sign conquer.” Constantine then shared rule of the Empire with Licinius Licinianus, exerting his considerable influence upon his colleague to secure the declaration of Christianity to be a free religion.

St. Bernardine of Siena - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Bernardine of Siena, Roman Catholic Franciscan missionary. He is known  as “the Apostle of Italy” for his efforts to revive the country's Catholic faith during the 15th century. His preaching was frequently directed against gambling, witchcraft, sodomy and usury - particularly as practiced by false Jews. Feast May 20

St. Basilissa - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Basilissa Roman  Catholic Martyr. After her conversion to Christianity. She was beheaded for her faith when she was denounced to Emperor Galienus by Pompeius and remained steadfast in her refusal to marry him. Feast May 20

St. Celestine - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Celestine Roman Catholic Pope. Feast May 19

St. Dunstan - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Dunstan, Roman Catholic Priest and reviver of monasticism in England, Feast May 19

Bl. Peter Wright - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Peter Wright, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and English Martyr and  put to death at Tyburn. Feast May 19

St. Pope John I - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Pope John I, Roman Catholic Pope and Martyr. John was elected Pope while he was still an archdeacon upon the death of Pope Hormisdas in 523. Feast May 18

St. Theodotus of Ancyra - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Theodotus of Ancyra, and Companions Theodotus was an innkeeper at Ancyra, Galatia (modern Turkey), who gave burial to seven virgins, Thecusa, Alexandra, Claudia, faina (Phaina), Euphrasia, Matrona, and Julitta after their martyrdom for refusing to wear pagan priestess robes and take part in a pagan festival. Theodotus was himself betrayed by an apostate and was martyred. In turn, his remains were gathered up by a Christian and sent to Malus where they received a proper burial and were enshrined in a chapel. Feast May 18

St. Elgiva of Shaftesbury - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Elgiva of Shaftesbury, Roman Catholic Queen and mother of Kings Edwy of the Saxons and Edgar, King of England,  and wife of Edmund the First. She gave up public life and became a Benedictine nun at Shaftesbury. Feast May 18

Remembering those who said no - Conscientious Objectors of WWI on Independent Catholic News Remembering those who said no - Conscientious Objectors of WWI

St. Paschal Baylon - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Paschal Baylon, Roman Catholic Franciscan lay brother and mystic. Patron of all eucharistic confraternities and congresses. Feast May 17

Bl. Antonia Mesina - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Antonia Mesina, Roman Catholic Martyr, she was murdered by a teenager when she resisted his rape attempt, Patron of martyrs; rape victims, Feast May 17

St. Simon Stock - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Simon Stock, Roman Catholic Carmelite Monk. July 16, 1251, at a time when the Carmelite Order was being oppressed. In it the Virgin Mary appeared to him holding the brown scapular in one hand. The Scapular of Mount Carmel,Feast May 16

St. Hilary - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Hilary, Roman Catholic Priest Bishop of Pavia, Italy, who was a ferocious enemy of the Arian heresy. Feast May 16

St. Dymphna - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Dymphna, Roman Catholic Laywoman Martyr,  the patron of those suffering from nervous and mental afflictions. Feast May 15

St. Jeanne de Lestonnac - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, Roman Catholic Nun and founder of religious order The Company of Mary. Feast May 15

St. Matthias - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Matthias, was the apostle chosen by the remaining eleven apostles to replace Judas Iscariot. Feast May 14

St. Victor and Corona - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Victor and Corona, Roman Catholic Husband and Wife and Martyrs. They were put to death in Syria during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Feast May 14

St. Maria Dominic Mazzarello - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Maria Dominic Mazzarello, Roman Catholic Nun and founder of the Salesian Sisters. Feast May 14

St. John the Silent - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John the Silent, Roman Catholic Bishop. He asked to be walled up and lived for seventy-five years as a silent recluse. Feast May 13

St. Juliana of Norwich - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Juliana of Norwich, Roman Catholic  English Benedictine Mystic. Feast May 13

Sts. Nereus & Achilleus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Nereus & Achilleus, Roman Catholic Martyrs, soldiers in the Roman army where they helped carry out the persecution of Christians. They probably had nothing against Christians and didn't carry for the bloody slaughter they were commanded to perform, but they obeyed these cruel orders out of fear of dying themselves. After all, that was what soldiers have always been expected to do. Prayer; Saints Achilleus and Nereus, pray for those in the military and armed forces throughout the world that they may always see God as their authority and obey God's orders first. Amen  Feast May 12

St. Flavia Domitilla - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Flavia Domitilla, Roman Catholic Martyr with Euphrosyna and Theodora. She was related to Emperors Domitian and Titus and was a great-niece of St. Flavius Clemens. She was martyred with her two foster sisters. Feast May 12

St. Solange - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Solange, Roman Catholic Martyr, a shepherdess whose beauty attracted the lustful attention of a noble in Poitiers. He kidnapped her, but when she leaped from the horse on which he was carrying her off, he pursued and killed her.

St. Peter Van - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Peter Van, Roman Catholic Catechist and Vietnamese Martyr. A native catechist, he was arrested by authorities and beheaded. Feast May 10

Bl. Thomas Pickering - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Thomas Pickering, Roman Catholic Benedictine Monk and English Martyr, he was condemned and hanged at Tyburn. Feast May 9

Bl. Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger, Roman Catholic Nun and foundress of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. Feast May 9

St. Rose Venerini - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Rose Venerini, Roman Catholic lay school teacher and her teachers  were organized as a religious congregation: they are found in America as well as in Italy. Feast May 7

St. John of Beverly - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John of Beverly, Roman Catholic Bishop. His shrine was for centuries one of the most popular pilgrim centers in England. Feast May 7

Bl. Edward Jones - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Edward Jones, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr,  hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. Feastday May 6

Bl. Anthony Middleton - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Anthony Middleton, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, hanged, drawn, and quartered in London. Feastday May 6

Bl. Anna Rosa Gattorno - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Anna Rosa Gattorno, Roman Catholic Nun and foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Anne.  Feastday May 6

Bl. Francis de Laval - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Francis de Laval, Roman Catholic Priest and the first Roman Catholic bishop of Quebec and was one of the most influential men of his day. Feastday May 6

Bl. Sadoc & Companions - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Sadoc & Companions, Roman Catholic Dominican missionaries and Martyrs. Sadoc was brought into the Dominican order by St. Dominic himself. Sent to Hungary with a group of Dominican missionaries, he labored among the Hungarians and then went on to Poland, where he founded and served as prior of a Dominican house at Sandomir, in 1260, however, the town was sacked by the advancing Mongols. Sadoc and forty-nine other friars were all put to death while singing the Salve Regina. Feastday May 5

Bl. Edmund Ignatius Rice - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Edmund Ignatius Rice, Roman Catholic founder of the Congregation of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, often called the Irish Christian Brothers.  Feastday May 5

Bl. John Haile - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Haile, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr and a companion in death of St. John Houghton at Tyburn. He was an elderly secular priest, the vicar of Isleworth, Middlesex, when he was arrested by King Henry VIII’s men. John was executed at Tyburn. Feastday May 5

St. Florian - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Florian, Roman Catholic Martyr. An officer of the Roman army, who occupied a high administrative post in Noricum, now part of Austria, and who suffered death for the Faith in the days of Diocletian. He gave himself up at Lorch to the soldiers of Aquilinus, the governor, when they were rounding up the Christians, and after making a bold confession, he was twice scourged, half-flayed alive, set on fire, and finally thrown into the river Enns with a stone around his neck. His body, recovered and buried by a pious woman, was eventually removed to the Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, near Linz. Feastday May 4

Martyrs of England - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Martyrs of England A group of 191 Blessed Roman Catholics from England who were martyrs for the faith in the British Isles. They are to be differentiated from the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales. Feastday May 4

St. Richard Reynolds - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Richard Reynolds,Roman Catholic Brigettine monk. King Henry VIII demanded royal oaths, Richard and others opposed the monarch. They were executed at Tyburn. Feastday May 4

St. John Payne - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John Payne, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Imprisoned and tortured in the Tower of London for nine months, he was finally condemned to death and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Chelmsford. Feastday May 4

Bl. Carthusian Martyrs - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Carthusian Martyrs, Eighteen Roman Catholic English monks of the Carthusian Order put to death by King Henry VIII because of their continued allegiance to the pope and the authority of the Holy See. Feastday May 4

St. Augustine Webster - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Augustine Webster, Roman Catholic Carthusian prior of the Charterhouse at Axholme, England. He was arrested in London and martyred at Tyburn. Feastday May 4

St. Robert Lawrence - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Robert Lawrence, Roman Catholic Carthusians Priests and English Martyrs, with St. John Houghton refused to sign the Oath of Supremacy, they were cruelly tortured and executed at Tyburn. Feastday May 4

Forty Martyrs of England & Wales - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Forty Martyrs of England & Wales, group of Roman Catholic martyrs who were put to death for the faith. Feastday May 4

85 Martyrs of England and Wales - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online The Eighty-five Roman Catholic Martyrs of England and Wales are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Feastday May 4

St. James the Lesser - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. James the Lesser, author of the first Catholic Epistle Feastday May 3

Sts. Timothy & Martha - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Timothy & Martha, Roman Catholic Martyrs, husband and wife, in Antinoe (modern Egypt). Timothy was a reader in the Egyptian Church who was ordered to hand over the Scriptures to Roman officials. When he refused, he was arrested and condemned with his wife of a mere three weeks, Martha. They were nailed to a wall and lingered for nine terrible days during which they gave encouragement to each other. Feastday May 3

St. Philip - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Philip, He was called by Jesus Himself and brought Nathanael to Christ. He preached in Greece and was crucified upside down at Hierapolis under Emperor Domitian. Feastday May 3

St. Philip - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Philip, He was called by Jesus Himself and brought Nathanael to Christ. He preached in Greece and was crucified upside down at Hierapolis under Emperor Domitian. Feastday May 3

Bl. Marie Leonie Paradis - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Marie Leonie Paradis, Roman  Catholic Nun. Taught in Montreal, in New York, and in Indiana. With 14 of her sisters, she founded the Poor Sisters of the Holy Family, devoted to assisting priests and seminarians, at Memramcook, New Brunswick in 1877. Feastday May 3

St. Athanasius - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Athanasius,Roman Catholic Priest. His refusal to tolerate the Arian heresy was the cause of many trials and persecutions for him. Feastday May 2

St. Zoe - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Zoe, Roman Catholic Martyr. Exsuperius, also known as Hesperus, and his wife, Zoe, both Christians, were slaves of Catulus at Pamphylia, Asia Minor, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian. When they refused to eat food offered to the Gods by their master on the birth of their son, they and their two sons, Syriacus and Theodulus, were tortured and then roasted to death in a furnace. Feastday May 2

St. John-Louis Bonnard - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John-Louis Bonnard, Roman Catholic Priest  and Martyr of Vietnam. Born at St. Christot-en-Jarret, France, he became a priest of the Paris Society of Foreign Missions and was ordained in 1850. Sent to western Vietnam, he was arrested in a persecution and beheaded. Feastday May 1

St. Bertha of Kent - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Bertha of Kent, The first Christian queen of England, a Frankish princess. She married Ethelbert of Kent, a pagan king, and she brought her chaplain, Luidhard, to the court. Ethelbert welcomed St. Augustine to Kent in 596 . Feastday May 1