Christian Today

Why do the terrorists hate the Catholic Church so much? - Living Faith - Home & Family - News - Catholic Online

Bl. Richard Bere - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Richard Bere, Roman Catholic Monk and English Martyr. When he and his fellow monks voiced their opposition to the planned divorce of King Henry VIII from Catherine of Aragon, they were starved to death in Newgate Prison. Feastday Aug.31

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Princess Diana's Great-Great-Great Uncle : The Honorable George Spencer, son of the 2nd Earl Spencer, now known as Servant of God Father Ignatius Spencer, is thus the Great-Great...

Amazing but true: many people still don’t know how pro-abortion Hillary Clinton is and why pro-lifers support Donald Trump

St. Pelagius, Arsenius, and Sylvanus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Pelagius, Arsenius, and Sylvanus, Martyrs in Spain, they were hermits who resided in the area around Burgos, in Old Castile, who were put to death by Muslim Moors. Feastday Aug.30

St. Richard Martin - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Richard Martin, Roman Catholic English Martyr, a devout Catholic. Arrested for giving shelter to priests, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tybum with Blesseds Richard Leigh, Edward Shelley, John Roche, Richard Flowers, and St. Margaret Ward. Feastday Aug.30

Bl. Richard Leigh - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Richard Leigh, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, arrested for being a priest and, with Blesseds Richard Martin, Edward Shelley, John Roche, Richard Flowers, and St. Margaret Ward, was executed at Tybum. Feastday Aug.30

Bl. Edward Shelley - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Edward Shelley, Roman Catholic English Martyr, He sheltered priests and was hung at Tyburn. Feastday Aug.30

30th August
 - St Margaret Clitherow, St Fiacre - Independent Catholic News : Martyr. Margaret Clitherow was born in 1555, in Middleton, Yorkshire, into a Protestant family. Her father Thomas Middleton was Sheriff of York from 1564 to 1565. Margaret was married at the age of 15 to John Clitherow who had a thriving butchery trade; the couple had three children and lived in The Shambles. Although her husband remained a Protestant, Margaret converted to Roman Catholicism three years

29th August - 

St John the Baptist - Independent Catholic News : Most information about St John comes from the Gospels. The Roman historian Josephus also mentions him. He was the son of Zachariah a Temple priest and Elizabeth, a quite old cousin of the Virgin Mary. An angel foretold his birth, adding that he would prepare people for the Lord. Scriptures tell us that when Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, came to visit Elizabeth, the infant John leapt in his mother's womb in recognition of the Lord.

Jihad attacks Catholic priest and attempts to detonate suicide bomb during Sunday Mass - Asia & Pacific - International - News - Catholic Online

Bl. Richard Herst - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Richard Herst, Roman Catholic English Martyr, hanged at Lancaster on August 29 because of his refusal to deny Catholicism. Feastday Aug.29

28th August 
- St Augustine of Hippo - Independent Catholic News : Bishop and doctor of the church, St Augustine was born in Tagaste, Algeria, in 354. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, St Monica, he was brought up a Christian but not baptised. Augustine studied rhetoric at Carthage and became a lawyer, but he gave this up and took up teaching and further study. For nine years he was absorbed by philosophy and Manichaeism, completely rejecting Christianity and following a hedonistic lifestyle.

Bl. Thomas Felton - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Thomas Felton, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, hanged at lsleworth, London. Feastday Aug.18

Bl. Robert Morton - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Robert Morton, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. He was executed at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. Feastday Aug.28

Bl. William Dean - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. William Dean, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, originally a minister who was converted to Catholicism,  executed in Nile End Green, London.Feastday Aug.18

Bl. Hugh More - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Hugh More, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr He was a native of Lincolnshire, educated at Oxford. After converting while at Reims, Hugh was martyred at Lincoln’s Inn Fields by hanging. Feastday Aug.18

Bl. William Guntei - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. William Guntei, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr of Wales. A native of Raglan, Gwent, Wales, he was a Catholic who received ordination at Reims, France, in 1587. He returned to England to work for the Catholic mission. Captured, he was hanged at Shoreditch. Feastday Aug 28

St. Edmund Arrowsmith - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Edmund Arrowsmith, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. He was convicted of being a Catholic priest, sentenced to death, and hanged, drawn, and quartered at Lancaster on August 28th. Feastday aug 28

Bl. Thomas Holford - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Thomas Holford, Roman Catholic English Martyr. Raised a Protestant, he worked as a schoolmaster in Herefordshire until converting to the Catholic faith. He left England and was ordained at Reims in 1583. Going home, he labored in the areas around Cheshire and London until his arrest. He was hanged at Clerkenwell in London. Feastday Aug.28

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Coincidentally: Katherine of Aragon's Grave : When two stories about Katherine of Aragon's grave at Peterborough Cathedral appear in my in-box, I just can't ignore the coincid...

The Saints Teach Us How to Trust God : Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. -Hebrews 10:23 In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks very movingly about the need to rely on our Father’s loving care: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, …

Bl. Thomas Percy - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Thomas Percy, Roman Catholic English Martyr. For three years in prison, refusing fervently to abjure his faith in return for his freedom. Thomas was finally beheaded at York. Feastday Aug 26

Only Jesus is Enough : Some of Jesus’ commandments to us seem a bit out of reach. For example, he commands us, “Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). Be like God. We are even to become one with him. This is the whole purpose of God becoming …

Bl. Louis Sotelo - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Louis Sotelo, Franciscan martyr of Japan. Louis Was a noble of Spain, who was ordained and sent to Manila, Philippines, in 1601. He went to Japan in 1603 but was exiled. Returning to Spain in 1613, he visited Rome in 1622, and then went again to Japan. He was arrested in Nagasaki and burned alive at Shimabara. Feastday Aug 25

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Elizabeth I and Her Catholic Subjects : Jessie Childs, the author of God's Traitors: Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England , had this article ("Elizabeth I's War...

24th August 

- Saint Bartholomew - Independent Catholic News : Biblical scholars these days generally think St Bartholomew was the same person as Nathaniel. Nothing is known for certain about him. The Roman Martyrology says he was one of the apostles who went to India and Armenia, and was eventually tortured and put to death there. Jesus said Bartholomew was a man without deceit. The surprised future disciple asked Jesus: 'How do you know me?' Jesus answered:

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Coincidences on August 22 : On August 22nd, 1553, John Dudley, the First Duke of Northumberland, was executed for his role in the attempted coup d'etat to place hi...

22nd August
 - Saint Symphorian - Independent Catholic News : Saint Symphorian. Martyr. This third or fourth century saint was one of the most revered martyrs of Roman Gaul. A fifth century church was built in his honour at Autun, near the place of his death. According to tradition, St Symphorian was accused of showing contempt for the goddess Cybele during a festival in her honour. He was dragged before the governor and flogged but refused to recant.

St. Rose of Lima and the Fragrant Love Born of Suffering : With St. Rose of Lima we find another astounding saint and loving hound of the Lord, and yet, at a superficial level, her life and her lessons may seem very odd, extreme, and strange to us today. Although known for her surpassing beauty and her childlike heart, she is perhaps known best for self-inflicted penitential suffering and self-mortification hardly surpassed in the life of any saint, and an earthly death at merely thirty-one years of age.

St. John Kemble - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John Kemble, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. At the age of eighty-one, he was arrested at Pembridge Castle, the home of his brother. He was falsely charged in the Titus Qates Plot and condemned for being a Catholic. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Hereford. Feastday Aug 22

Bl. Richard Kirkman - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Richard Kirkman, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, he was arrested near Wakefield. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered near York with Blessed William Lacey, on August 22, for denying the supremacy of Queen Elizabeth I as head of the Church of England. Feastday Aug 22

Under Mary's Holy Name: Victory in Vienna, September 12, 1683 : As Christian Europe tore at her own throat during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) the Ottoman Turks missed a golden opportunity to strike their centuries-old enemy.  Why?  They were themselves absorbed with war in Persia.  Moreover, they were beset by a turbulent period of harem intrigue and governed—or not—by a string of ineffectual and self-indulgent …

St. Cyriaca - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Cyriaca, Roman Catholic Widowed Martyr and patroness of St. Laurence, sometimes called Dominica. St. Laurence, deacon and martyr, used Cyriacas villa in Rome to distribute alms to the poor. She was scourged to death for the faith. The church of St. Mary in Dominica was named after her. Feastday Aug. 21

21st August 
- Saint Pius X - Independent Catholic News : Pope. Born in 1835, he was the son of a shoemaker and postman who lived near Treviso in Italy. Pope Pius went to the local village school before joining the seminary near Padua. He spent the next 17 years in parish work before being appointed chancellor of the diocese in Treviso. Nine years later, he became bishop of Mantua, then patriarch of Venice and cardinal.

20th August
 - Saint Bernard of Clairvaux - Independent Catholic News : Cistercian monk and abbot of Clairvaux, St Bernard was born in 1090 near Dijon in Burgundy. As a young man he was known for his charm, wit, eloquence and learning. At the age of 22, together with 32 companions, including four of his brothers, he became a monk at a poverty-stricken reformed monastery at Citeaux.

St. Leovigild and Christopher - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Sts. Leovigild and Christopher, Martyrs of Cordoba, Spain, put to death under the Muslim ruler of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman II. Leovigild was a priest and Christopher was a monk. Feastday Aug 20

19th August - Saint John Eudes - Independent Catholic News : French priest. Founder of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary. St John was born in 1601 to a farming family in Ri, Normandy. He was educated by the Jesuits at Caen. In 1623, inspired by Philip Neri, he joined the French Oratorians, staying with them for 20 years, preaching and caring for the sick during a series of epidemics that swept through France. He was one of the most popular preachers of his day. He also found many women's refuges. In 1643

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: What I'm Reading Now: Margaret Pole : On Tuesday, August 23, I'll be one of the stops on the Amberley Publishing blog-tour for Susan Higginbotham's Margaret Pole: The C...

Bl. Bartholomew Monfiore - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Bartholomew Monfiore, Bl. James Denshi, Bl. Paul Sanchiki, Roman Catholics and martyrs of Japan. Japanese crew members of Blessed Joachim Firayama's ship. Arrested for his Christian faith, he was beheaded at Nagasaki. Feastday Aug. 19 Bl. John Foyamon, Roman Catholic Martyr of Japan. A scribe on the ship carrying Blessed Peter Zufliga, he was beheaded at Nagasaki with Blesseds John Yano and John Nangata. Feastday Aug. 19 Bl. Thomas Koyanangi, Roman Catholic Japanese martyr. Arrested as a passenger on the ship of Blessed Joachim Firayama-Diz, he was beheaded at Nagasaki, Feastday Aug. 19

In Christ, We’re Not Afraid Anymore : Demons are real. Evil spirits exist. They hate you. They hate me. They hate the lunatic boy in the gospel (Matt 17:15, 18). The demon torments this boy and causes him to fall often into fire and often into water, just to hurt him, or even to try to kill him (Matt 17:15; Mark 9:22). …

Oppose Egg Donation Research Compensation Bill

Bl. James Guengoro - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Blesseds James, Thoffias and Mary Guengoro Japanese martyrs. James was the son of Blesseds Thoffias and Mary Guengoro. James was only two at the time of his crucifixion at Kokura. Feastday Aug. 18

17th August
 - Saint Jeanne Delanoue - Independent Catholic News : Foundress of the Sisters of Providence, St Jeanne was born in Saumer, in France in 1666. As a young woman she had a reputation for being small, flirtatious and bossy. When she grew up she took charge of the family draper's shop. At the age of 26, she met the Abbe Genetau and a visionary called Francoise Suchet. From this point she gave all her goods to the poor and turned her home and shop into a hostel for them.

Bl. Caspar and Mary Vaz - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Caspar and Mary Vaz, Roman Catholic Martyrs of Japan. They were husband and wife and tertiaries of St. Francis. Both of them and several others with them were martyred in Nagasaki. Caspar was burned alive, and Mary was beheaded. Feastday Aug. 17

Bl. John of Saint Martha - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John of Saint Martha, Roman Catholic Franciscan Martyr of Japan. He was born in Prados, Spain, in 1578, and ordained a Franciscan in 1606. Sent to Japan, he mastered that nation's language and worked in the missions. He was arrested in 1615 and spent three years in prison before being beheaded. John was beatified in 1867. Feastday Aug 16

St. Stephen the Great - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Stephen the Great, Roman Catholic King. He gave his patronage to Church leaders, helped build churches, and was a proponent of the rights of the Holy See. Stephen also crushed the pagan counter reaction to Christianity, forcibly converting the so-called Black Hungarians after their failed rebellion. In recognition of his efforts, Stephen was anointed king of Hungary in 1000, receiving the cross and crown from Pope Sylvester II. Feastday Aug 16

Bl. Mary Magdalen Kiota - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Mary Magdalen Kiota, Roman Catholic Dominican tertiary and Japanese Martyr. A princess of Japan and relative of a local lord, she was a Dominican tertiary. Arrested for sheltering missionaries, she was burned alive at Nagasaki. Feastday Aug. 16

Theotokos: Mary is the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church - U.s. - News - Catholic Online

15 August - Saint Tarcisio - Independent Catholic News : Tarcisius was a twelve-year-old acolyte who lived in 3rd century Rome during a time of persecution, when Christians gathered in the Catacombs for Mass. Each day a deacon would be sent to the prisons to carry the Eucharist to Christians who had been condemned to death. One day there was no deacon and so Tarcisius was sent. He was stopped by a crowd of boys on the Appian Way who beat him

Pope: Church doesn't need bure : The Church doesn't need bureaucrats, she needs impassioned missionaries with fire in their hearts, Pope Francis told pilgrims in St Peter's Square during the Angelus on Sunday. He warned that without this fire, the Church risked becoming a cold or merely lukewarm Church, made up of cold and lukewarm Christians, and urged his listeners to reflect on their own attitudes. Quoting from Jesus' words where he said: 'I have come to bring fire to the earth and how I wish it were blazing already!'

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: " Ignem veni mittere in terram"! : Yesterday the Sunday Gospel was from St. Luke (12:49-53): Jesus said to his disciples:“I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I ...

St. Maximilian Kolbe - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Maximilian Kolbe, in 1941 he was arrested again and sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. On July 31, 1941, in reprisal for one prisoner's escape, ten men were chosen to die. Father Kolbe offered himself in place of a young husband and father. And he was the last to die, enduring two weeks of starvation, thirst, and neglect.Feastday Aug.14

St. Otranto Martyrs ~ Antonio Primaldo - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Otranto Martyrs, Antonio Primaldo was martyred in 1480 by Ottoman invaders after he refused along with approximately 800 others, to convert to Islam. Primaldo will be beautified and elevated to sainthood in a ceremony on May 12, 2013 by Pope Francis.

13th August - 
Saint Benilde - Independent Catholic News : De La Salle brother and teacher. Born in 1805, at Thuret, Puy de Dome, in France, Pierre was educated by the De la Salle brothers and joined them in 1825. He excelled at cooking and teaching. Two years after his profession he was made superior of his community and school at Billom. In 1841 he was entrusted with the foundation of Saugues where he spent the rest of his life as superior and headmaster.

St. Hippolytus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Hippolytus, Roman Catholic Martyr of Rome with Concordia and other companions. Feastday Aug 13

St. James Nam - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. James Nam, Roman Catholic Vietnamese martyr. A native of Vietnam, he became a priest and joined the Paris Society of Foreign Missions. Seized in the anti Christian persecutions, he was beheaded with Sts. Anthony Dich and Michael My.  Feastday Aug.12

St. Anthony Peter Dich - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Anthony Peter Dich. Roman Catholic Martyr of Vietnam. He was a native of Vietnam, a farmer who was beheaded for sheltering a priest, St. James Nam. Anthony was canonized in 1988. Feastday Aug.12

St. Michael My - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Michael My, Roman Catholic Martyr of Vietnam. He was the mayor of a town in Vietnam when the persecution of Christians started. Michael was martyred with Blessed Anthony Dich, his son-in-law, and with St. James Nam. Feastday Aug. 12

12th August - 

St Jane Frances de Chantal - Independent Catholic News : Widow and foundress of the Order of the Visitation. Born of a noble Burgundian family, in 1572, St Jane Frances married a baron at the age of 20. Three of their children died very young but four survived. After only nine years of married life, her husband was killed in a hunting accident. Three years later she met St Frances de Sales, who became her guide and counsellor. When her children became older, she

Mother Angelica’s Ten Eucharistic Lessons : Mother Angelica left us many priceless pearls, none of which are sugar coated. “I live because of the Eucharist”. With these poignant words of Mother Angelica reveal her identity as an apostle of the Eucharist.

Don't Give in to Discouragement : Psychologists tell us that one of the chief evils of our age, an evil apparently less evident in earlier ages, is that of easy defeat. Be this as it may, most people who are honest with themselves would probably have to admit to indulging in despondency. They are fortunate if they have nothing worse to …

St. Clare - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Clare, Roman Catholic Nun. Foundress of an order of nuns now called "Poor Clares." Patron of sore eyes. Feastday Aug. 11

St. Philomena - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Saint Philomena, Roman Catholic Virgin and Martyr. Patroness of the Living Rosary and the Patroness of the Children of Mary, is the only person recognized as a saint solely on the basis of her powerful intercession, although pertinent revelations regarding her life have been recorded. Her relics are now preserved in Mugnano. Feastday Aug. 11

The Prophetic Dream of Don Bosco and the Leadership of the Pope - U.s. - News - Catholic Online

10th August - 

Saint Laurence - Independent Catholic News : St Laurence was a deacon who worked closely with Pope Sixtus II. He was martyred a few days after him during the persecutions of the Emperor Valerian. According to the legends, in the three days before he was executed he gave everything he owned to the poor. The prefect of Rome had ordered him to bring him the wealth of the church. Instead he gathered thousands of lepers, blind and sick people, orphans and widows, brought them to the prefect

St. Asteria - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Asteria, Roman Catholic laywoman and Virgin Martyr, sister of St. Grata. Asteria and her sister were martyred at Bergamo, in Sicily, Feastday Aug. 10

St. Lawrence - Martyr - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Lawrence, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr. Saint Lawrence was one of seven deacons who were in charge of giving help to the poor and the needy. Feastday Aug,10

The ‘Mad Virtues’ of a Secular Society : It’s not just evil that plagues us. It’s also misplaced good things. So, G.K. Chesterton suggests in a particularly insightful passage in Orthodoxy: The modern world is not evil; in some ways the modern world is far too good. It is full of wild and wasted virtues. When a religious scheme is shattered (as Christianity …

St. Edith Stein - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Edith Stein, Roman Catholic Nun. Teresa was arrested, and was sent to the concentration camp Teresa died in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. Feastday Aug. 9

http://myemail.constantcontact.com/EWTN-taught-me-how-to-pray-again-.html?soid=1101159180991&aid=6sCPlX_KHtY

St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Roman Catholic Nun. together with Father Julian Tenison Woods, founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and a number of schools and welfare institutions throughout Australasia with an emphasis on education for the poor, particularly in country areas. She is the only Australian until now, to be recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint. Feastday Aug. 8

Bl. John Felton - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Felton, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. John nailed a copy of the Bull of Pope St. Pius V excommunicating Queen Elizabeth I to the doors of the bishop of London’s residence. Arrested and imprisoned, he was racked three times before being martyred in St. Paul’s churchyard. Feastday Aug.8

8th August 

 - Saint Dominic - Independent Catholic News : Founder of the Dominicans. St Dominic was born at Calaruega in Castile in 1170, the youngest son of the town warden. His uncle educated him and he became an Austin Canon at Osma cathedral. In 1201, he was made sub-prior. Three years later, on his way to Denmark he met the Cathars for the first time. These were a popular sect that lived communally and had a number of extreme beliefs including the idea that the body was of no importance.

7th August - St Cajetan - Independent Catholic News : Founder and reformer. The son of a count, Cajetan was born in Vicenza, Italy, in 1480. He graduated from the University of Padua with law degrees. After working in the papal offices in Rome he was ordained a priest in 1516 and returned to to his home city. In spite of opposition from his family, he began organising charitable work among the sick and poor of the city, eventually founding the Congregation of Clerks Regular, or 'Theatans'

St. Claudia - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Claudia, Roman Catholic mother of Linus, who became the second Pope. Feastday Aug 7

St. Cajetan - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Cajetan, Roman Catholic priest and religious reformer, who helped found the Theatines. Patron of workers; gamblers; job seekers; unemployed people; Albania; Italy; Malta; Argentina; Brazil; El Salvador; Guatemala. Feastday Aug 7

6th August 

- Saint Sixtus - Independent Catholic News : Pope and martyr. St Sixtus was a Greek philosopher who became a Christian and was made Pope in 257. In that year, the Emperor Valerian issued his first decree condemning Christianity. He ordered that the farms and estates, honours, goods and even lives of those who refused to renounce their faith should be sacrificed.