Christian Today

St. Sylvester - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Sylvester, Roman Catholic Priest and was Pope for twenty-four years and eleven months.The Council of Nice was assembled during his reign, in the year 325,

Bl. John Alcober - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Alcober, Roman Catholic Dominican Martyr in China. Born in Gerona, Spain, he entered the Dominicans, being sent in 1728 to China as a missionary. Arrested in 1746 by Chinese officials, he was held in prison until strangled to death. He died with Blessed Peter Sanz and other Dominicans. Feastday Dec 30

St. Anysia - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Anysia, Roman Catholic Martyr of Greece. She was a wealthy woman of Salonika, in Thessaly, who used her personal funds to aid the poor. A soldier accosted her in the street and tried to drag her to a pagan sacrifice. Anysia resisted and was killed when the soldier attacked her with his sword. feastday Dec 30

Bl. William Howard - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. William Howard, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. He was arrested on the false accusation of complicity in the so-called Popish Plot and imprisoned for two years before finally being beheaded on Tower Hill. Feastday Dec 29

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: St. Thomas of Canterbury and St. John Stone : Over at the National Catholic Register , please find my post on St. Thomas of Canterbury today, on his feast. I also tell the story of St....

Bl. Michael Nakashima - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Michael Nakashima, Roman Catholic Jesuit martyr of Japan. A native Japanese, Michael was admitted to the Society of Jesus because of his holiness and courage. He hid priests and was placed under arrest for many months for harboring missionaries. Michael was then taken to Shimabara and was scalded to death in the hot springs at Mount Ungen. Feastday Dec.25

Pope Francis: 'Urbi et Orbi' Christmas Message 2016- text - Indep : The power of this Child, Son of God and Son of Mary, is not the power of this world, based on might and wealth; it is the power of love. It is the power which created the heavens and the earth, which gives life to all creation: to minerals, plants and animals; it is the force which attracts man and woman, and makes them one flesh, one single existence; it is the power which gives new birth, pardons faults, reconciles enemies, and transforms evil into good. It is the power of God.

23rd December: Saint Thorlac - Independent Catholic News : Bishop. Born in Iceland in 1133, St Thorlac went to Paris and Lincoln to study. When he returned home he is said to have ignored advice to marry a rich widow - at a time when many other Icelandic priests were married - and instead started a house of canons regular at Thykkviboer. He was consecrated bishop of Skalholt in 1178 and set about reforming the Church in Iceland, drawing up a code for both laity in clergy. He died on this day in 1193, and was canonised by bishops in the national assembly in 1198.

The Calvinist Roots of American Anti-Intellectualism Donald Trump a Calvinist?

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: This is Real: The Incarnation : From Blessed John Henry Newman's Parochial and Plain Sermon, " Unreal Words ": What I have been saying comes to this:—be i...

22 December - Blessed Jacopone da Todi - Independent Catholic News : Italian Franciscan Friar from Umbria. Born in 1230, he wrote many songs of praise and was an early pioneer in Italian theatre, being one of the earliest scholars who dramatised Gospel subjects. Born Jacopo dei Benedetti, he was a member of a noble family. He studied law in Bologna and became a successful lawyer. In his late 20s, he married a young noblewoman, named Vanna, who was a pious and generous woman.

Pillar of Fire, Pillar of Truth | Catholic Answers WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF LIFE? Old catechisms asked, "Why did God make you?" The answer: "God made me to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in the next." Here, in just 26 words, is the whole reason for our existence. Jesus answered the question even more briefly: "I came so that [you] might have life and have it more abundantly" (John 10:10).

21 December - St Peter Canisius - Independent Catholic News : Jesuit Priest and Doctor of the Church. Peter Canisius worked tirelessly to defend the Catholic faith during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Switzerland. The restoration of the Catholic Church in Germany after the Reformation is largely attributed to the work there of the Society of Jesus, which he led.

20th December - Saint Dominic of Silos - Independent Catholic News : Abbot. A patron of pregnant women. St Dominic was born in 1000, at Rioja in Navarre. His parents were farmers and he worked the land with them for some years before becoming a monk. He was later ordained priest and became prior at St Milan de la Congolla. However after a dispute over property rights he was exiled with two companions. Ferdinand I of Old Castile welcomed these monastic refugees

19th December - St Thomas De and Companions - Independent Catholic News : Thomas De, Dominic Uy, Augustine Moi, Francis Xavier Mau, Francis Man were Vietnamese catechists who were martyred together in 1839 under the persecution of the Emperor Minh Mang. Thomas De was a tailor who entered the Dominicans as a tertiary. Arrested on the charge of giving aid and shelter to foreign missionaries, he was strangled at the age of 26. Augustine Moi, also a Dominican tertiary, worked as a day labourer.

Pope reflects on Mary and Joseph, mystery of God's closeness with humanity - Independent Catholic News : Thousands gathered in St Peter's Square for the Angelus with Pope Francis. The Holy Father reflected on the day's Gospel which he said 'shows us two people, who more than any other, have been involved in this mystery of love: the Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph. The mystery of love, mystery of the closeness of God with humanity.' 'Mary is presented in the light of the prophecy that says: 'Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.' The Evangelist Matthew recognizes what had happened in Mary, that she conceived Jesus as a work of the Holy Spirit.

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: Holy Cards and the English Reformation : I am almost never surprised now that I'll find some connection to the English Reformation almost everywhere I look--for example, this...

18th December - St Samthan - Independent Catholic News : Irish nun. This 8th century saint was a foster child of King Cridan of Cairbr Gabrah. He had planned to arrange a marriage for her, but she decided to become a nun instead. After training under St Cognat at Arnaide in Donegal she founded a convent at Clonbrony in Co Longford. Samthan is named in the litany and the canon of the ancient Stowe Missal.

18th December - St Samthan - Independent Catholic News : Irish nun. This 8th century saint was a foster child of King Cridan of Cairbr Gabrah. He had planned to arrange a marriage for her, but she decided to become a nun instead. After training under St Cognat at Arnaide in Donegal she founded a convent at Clonbrony in Co Longford. Samthan is named in the litany and the canon of the ancient Stowe Missal.

16th December - Saint Adelaide - Independent Catholic News : Empress, wife and mother. This much-loved 10th century saint lived in Alsace. After her first husband, King Lothair of Italy, died in 950, she became the second wife of King Otto the Great (whose first wife had been Edith, sister of the English king). In 962 Adelaide and Otto were crowned emperor and empress of the Holy Roman Empire, by Pope John XII. After Otto died in 973, Adelaide suffered many family and political troubles.

17th December - Saint Lazarus of Bethany - Independent Catholic News : The brother of Martha and Mary. The account of Lazarus being raised from the dead by Jesus, led to his widespread veneration in Jerusalem, which was witnessed by the Spanish pilgrim Etheria in 390. Nothing more is written about him in the New Testament. According to tradition however, the Jews of Jaffa placed Lazarus and his sisters in a leaky boat in which they somehow sailed safely to Cyprus.

15th December - Saint Mary di Rosa - Independent Catholic News : Nun and foundress of the Handmaids of Charity. St Mary took seriously Jesus' words that whoever helped the least of his brethren did it to him. Born in 1813, in Brescia, northern Italy, since she was a young girl Mary was always very concerned about the poor and sick. She regularly visited the women and child factory workers who lived in appalling conditions.

Pope laments poverty in Americas on Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Independent Catholic News : Pope Francis celebrated Mass last night in St Peter's Basilica for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. In his homily the Holy Father reflected on how the feast reminds us that we are not orphans, saying Our Lady teaches us to look on our brothers and sisters with her eyes full of love... Our beloved American continent has grown accustomed to seeing thousands and thousands of children and young people on the street, begging and sleeping in train stations or wherever they find space... And they feel that there is no space for them on the 'train of life''.

13th December 2013 - Saint Lucy - Independent Catholic News : Patron saint of eyesight. St Lucy was martyred during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian during the 3rd century. According to legend, when she refused to give up her faith she was blinded, but her sight was miraculously restored. She was finally killed with a sword. There are churches dedicated to her in Rome, Naples and Venice as well as two in England.

14th December - Saint John of the Cross - Independent Catholic News : Carmelite friar, and one of Spain's foremost poets, mystics and theologians. St John was born in Toledo in 1542 to a noble but poor family. His was brought up by his mother, went to a poor school, and was then apprenticed to a silk weaver. He had little aptitude for this trade and in 1563 joined the Carmelites. He studied theology and was ordained priest in 1567. St Theresa of Avila persuaded him to join the Discalced Reformed

Wish Pope Francis happy birthday by email - Independent Catholic News : The Vatican has created new email addresses for well wishers to leave birthday messages for the Pope. Pope Francis turns 80 on December 17th. According to his staff, Pope Francis will be working 'just as normal' on the day itself. He will receive the President of Malta in an audience and will later meet with the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, Cardinal Marc Oullet, as well as other guests and dignitaries. He will also celebrate Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Vatican, along with those Cardinals who are living and working in Rome.

Deciphering the Guadalupe Code : It is a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe and each year it draws millions on pilgrimage. Many reading this, I expect, will be familiar with the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Bl. Thomas Holland - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Thomas Holland, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Thomas was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. Feastday Dec.12

12th December - Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe - Independent Catholic News : The feast in honour of Our Lady of Guadalupe goes back to the sixteenth century. According to records of the time, a poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honour of Our Lady.

11 December - St Daniel the Stylite - Independent Catholic News : Hermit. Daniel was born at Maratha in Mesopotamia in 409. At the age of 12 he decided he wanted to join a monastery. The abbot consulted with his parents and admitted him to the community. Years later he visited St Simeon Stylite, who lived on top of a pillar, and received a blessing from him. Daniel stayed in the monastery until he was 42, but never forgot his meeting with St Simeon.

10th December - St Eulalia - Independent Catholic News : Child martyr. She was one of the early Christian martyrs of Spain. The daughter of a noble family, during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian, Eulalia refused to make sacrifices to the gods and was burnt alive at Merida in around 304. She was said to be only about 12 years old. The Spanish poet Prudentius wrote that a white dove flew over her as she died and snow covered her dead body.

Saint of the Day for Saturday, December 10th, 2016 - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Thomas Somers, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. Arrested for being a priest, he was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn with Blessed John Roberts. Feastday Dec.10

St. Eustace White - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Eustace White, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr, hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Feastday Dec. 10

Bl. John Mason - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Mason, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. hanged, drawn, and quartered with Sts. Edmund Gennings, Palydore Plasden. and Blessed Sidney Hodgson. Feastday Dec.10

The Freedom of Mary’s Immaculate Conception : Today the Church celebrates the great Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It is the day we celebrate how Our Heavenly Mother was the first to receive the merits of her Divine Son’s Paschal Mystery. Unlike us, she was born without the taint of Eve’s sin coursing through her. Do we contemplate this great mystery? What …

8th December - Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Independent Catholic News : The dogma of the Immaculate Conception holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is often confused with the virginal conception of Jesus. Today's feast was first approved by Pope Sixtus IV in 1476. In 1830 St Catherine Laboure experienced a vision in which she saw Our Lady standing on a globe with rays of light emanating from her hands.

Pope Francis: Never lose hope - Independent Catholic News : During his General Audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis began a new series of catecheses on 'Christian Hope'. In our times, which seem so dark, the Pope said we often feel 'lost in the face of the wickedness and the violence that surround us.' We may even feel 'discouraged, because we feel powerless, and it seems the darkness might never end.' But we should never give up hope, because God, with His love, journeys with us, He does not desert us, and the Lord Jesus has overcome evil, and opened up the path of life.'

7th December - Saint Ambrose - Independent Catholic News : Bishop of Milan. Saint Ambrose was born at Trier in 339. He was the son of the Pretorian Prefect of Gaul. He studied Greek rhetoric and poetry and became a successful advocate. In 370 he became governor of Aemilia and Liguria at Milan. When the first Arian bishop died, he appealed for peace at the noisy assembly called to elect his successor.

Pope: Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by Christ - Independent Catholic News : During morning Mass at Casa Santa Marta on Monday, Pope Francis focussed on the theme of the renewal that the Lord brings. Let us allow ourselves to be transformed by Christ; let us allow ourselves to be able to be re-created, freeing us from our sins, he said. Only by calling our sins by their name, he said, will we be able to allow God to make us new women and men. The desert will bloom, the blind will see, the deaf will hear. The first reading, from the Prophet Isaiah, speaks to us about renewal, the Pope said.

The Sabbath is a Day of Freedom : On a Sabbath day, Jesus sets free a woman who was crippled for eighteen years by Satan (Luke 13:10-11, 16). On a Sabbath day, Jesus says to her, “Woman, you are loosed” (Luke 13:12). You are free. You are enslaved to your infirmity no longer. Jesus unties the knots in her back so she again …

Our Supersubstantial Bread : “Grant us this day our daily manna.” -Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XI The Lord has left us a mystery to contemplate.  It is right there in the middle of the “Our Father” when Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Mt. 6:11) This is generally recognized to mean pray for our …

The Great News that Comes in the Flesh : In ancient Hebrew, there are two words that seem totally unrelated in meaning but nonetheless share a close linguistic connection. Finding out why this connection exists will further illuminate one of the greatest truths at the heart of Christianity. One of the words is baw-sar’, meaning news, or good tidings. The other is baw-sawr’, defined …

St. John Almond - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. John Almond, Roman Catholic Priest and English Martyr. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. Feastday Dec.5

St. Crispina - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Crispina, Roman Catholic Martyr. Arrested for being a Christian, she was taken before Proconsul Anulinus at Thebaste, in Numidia, and was ordered to deny Christ. Crispina refused and was tortured and publicly ridiculed then she was beheaded. Feastday Dec.5

St. Nicholas Tavigli - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Nicholas Tavigli, Roman Catholic Franciscan Martyr of Jerusalem. He then went to the Holy Land to preach among the Muslims and was martyred at Jerusalem. Feastday Dec.5

5th December - Saint Sabas - Independent Catholic News : Patriarch. Born in Cappadocia (modern-day Turkey) in 438, Sabas is one of the most highly regarded patriarchs among the monks of Palestine and is considered one of the founders of Eastern monasticism. After an unhappy childhood in which he was abused and ran away several times, Sabas finally sought refuge in a monastery. While family members tried to persuade him to return home, the young boy felt drawn to monastic life

DR Congo: Franciscan nun killed - Independent Catholic News : A Franciscan nun was killed in DR Congo last week. Sr Marie-Claire Kahambu was killed in Bukavu as she worked in her office at a girls' training centre that she was running. According to Jimmy Ndumba of 'Beni Lubero Online', two men wielding knives, on the afternoon of 29 November, scaled the wall of the Mater Dei Parish, burst into the office of Sr Marie Claire and stabbed her several times before running away with some money belonging to the centre. The attack was described as an'odious crime committed against a peaceful and defenceless servant of God.'

Bl. Jerome de Angelis - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Jerome de Angelis, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and Martyr in Japan. He was burned alive in Edo. Feastday Dec 4

St. Francis Galvez - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Francis Galvez, Roman Catholic Priest and Martyr in Japan. Francis was burned alive in Edo. Feastday Dec 4

St. Lucius - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Lucius Roman Catholic Ruler of Britain who wrote to Pope St. Eleutherius for missionaries. A convert, he established the dioceses of London, England, and Llandalf, Wales. Feastday Dec.3

Bl. Edward Coleman - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Edward Coleman, Roman Catholic layman and English Martyr. He was executed at Tyburn. Feastday Dec.3

3rd December - Saint Francis Xavier - Independent Catholic News : Jesuit missionary. Patron of foreign missionaries. St Francis was a Basque Spaniard, born in 1506 at the castle of Xavier in Navarre. He studied at the University of Paris where he met Ignatius Loyola and joined the group of seven who took their vows at Montmarte in 1534. They were ordained priests three years later in Venice. In 1541, Francis sailed from Lisbon with Simon Rodriguez, for Goa, at the invitation of the King of Portugal. He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio for the East. The journey took thirteen months.

Scripture Speaks: The Voice Crying Out in the Desert : John the Baptist prepared the Jews for the first Advent of Jesus by baptizing them at the Jordan River.  Today, we find him yelling out, “You brood of vipers!” to some who came to see him.  How indelicate! Gospel (Read Mt 3:1-12) Our Advent Gospel reminds us that repentance and the fruit that comes from …

2nd December - Saint Viviana - Independent Catholic News : Early Christian martyr. St Viviana (also known as Bibiana) and her sister St Demetria were both martyred for their faith in a purge of Christians conducted in 363 by the brutal prefect of Rome, Apronianus. The prefect had gone on the rampage after he lost an eye in an accident and became convinced that Christians were to blame. He killed large numbers of people, including the girls' parents Flavian and Dafrosa.

Pope Benedict XVI: Evangelist to the World : Through his lifetime of bridge building, Benedict XVI proposes to be the Virgil to the Dantes of our generation, calling for both a New Evangelization and a new metanoia — a sacramental return to Christ and His Church. The Father of the West who had guided the poet has become the Holy Father who did the unthinkable, and now he wishes simply to be called Father Benedict even amidst the celebrations of his service.

St. Callistus - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. Richard Langley Roman Catholic English Martyr, hanged, drawn, and quartered. Feastday Dec.1

Bl. John Beche - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Beche, Roman Catholic Benedictine English Martyr, tortured and then hanged, drawn, and quartered. Feastday Dec.1

Bl. John Beche - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online Bl. John Beche, Roman Catholic Benedictine English Martyr, tortured and then hanged, drawn, and quartered. Feastday Dec.1

St. Alexander Briant - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online St. Alexander Briant, Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest and English Martyr, tortured and then hanged, drawn, and quartered at Tyburn. Feastday Dec.1

1st December - Saint Edmund Campion - Independent Catholic News : Jesuit priest and martyr. Born around 1540, Campion was the son of a London bookseller and educated at Christ's hospital. He won a scholarship to St John's College Oxford in 1557 where he was a brilliant and popular student. When Queen Elizabeth I visited Oxford in 1566 he was chosen by the university as orator to welcome her. Edmund was ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1569, but openly expressed his uncertainty about his religious beliefs.

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: The Temptation of a Martyr: Blessed Alexander Crow... : Wikipedia has this brief entry for today's martyr: Alexander Crow (died 1586/7) was born in Yorkshire around 1550. He took up an earl...

Supremacy and Survival: The English Reformation: 435 Years Ago Today at Tyburn : From Gerard Kilroy, Edmond Campion biographer extraordinaire, a reflection  on the response in England and abroad after his execution on D...