March 7 is the dies natalis, the heavenly birthday — and therefore the traditional liturgical commemoration — of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, a Dominican friar who combined childlike innocence, guileless humility, and fervent prayer with one of the most towering intellects the human race has ever seen. He has been put forward by…
The Church is in the midst of a battle between warring ideologies in the secular and ecclesiastical courts. One combatant is a certain confederation of groups that push for the normalization of homosexuality in the Church and the redefining of sacramental marriage. The other combatant is the traditional, orthodox wing of the Church that promotes…
Many who have studied the life and pontificate of Pope Paul VI are convinced that he was far from exemplary in his conduct as pastor; that he not only did not possess heroic virtue, but lacked certain key virtues; that his promulgation of a titanic liturgical reform was incompatible with his papal office of handing on that…
A week before my high school graduation in 2002, the horrid priest abuse scandal broke. A few days later, the media swarmed our bishop following our Baccalaureate Mass. Thanks be to God, I had had only positive encounters with bishops and priests up to that point. A few months after the priest abuse scandal made…
Author’s Note: The following is largely excerpted from a longer essay that first appeared on OnePeterFive on August 8th, 2014, entitled In Search of The Curé: A Small Pilgrimage to Ars, which tells the story of a pilgrimage I took there in 1999. Unless otherwise noted, the photos below were taken on that journey. Saint…
Image: Statue of Saint Germaine Cousin by Alexandre Falguière – by Wikimedia Commons Germaine Cousin was a 16th-century shepherdess who lived from 1579 to 1601. Born with a lame right hand and the disease scrofula (a non-tuberculous infection of the lymph nodes of the neck), she projected quite an unsightly appearance. The only child of…
A true patron saint for our times.
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.— Matthew 1:24 In the Gospel passage for today’s Mass (March 19th), Saint Joseph’s virtues appear in subtle but distinct relief: his humility, his justice or righteousness, his unwavering faith, his reverential fear of the…
The Church has told us countless times to go to St. Thomas for guidance in matters of philosophy and theology. Over the centuries this authoritative counsel has been a source of motivation for countless schools and seminaries, teachers and scholars. But just who was this saint, what were the main lines of his life, and…
While teaching a theology class to men in formation for the diaconate, I asked, “When was the last time you heard a homily on Hell?” None of the sixteen could recall. “And Heaven?” Only two. The exchange reminded me of an observation made by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn in his book Loving the Church (Ignatius Press,…
“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” – Apocalypse 12:1 “How do we know Mary ascended into heaven?” I asked. I was standing in the clergy dining room of my high school, where I had…
