"Before the Blessed Mary could be Mother of God... she was set apart, sanctified, filled with grace, and made meet for the presence of the Eternal." Image: La Inmaculada Concepción, Francisco Rizzi, (Source: Wikimedia commons) Editors' Introduction The gospel of the third Sunday in Lent ends with the following verses: "And it came to pass, …
Continue reading Our Lady and the Gospel – A meditation for the Third Sunday in Lent
"As literal madness is derangement of the reason, so sin is derangement of the heart, of the spirit, of the affection." Image: The Transfiguration of Christ, Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), (Source: Wikicommons) Editors' Introduction The gospel of the Second Sunday of Lent is the account of the Transfiguration. At first glance this may seem an …
Continue reading The Insanity of Sin and the Glory of Christ – The Second Sunday in Lent
"We must surrender to Him all we have, all we are. We must keep nothing back." Image: Temptation of Christ, Félix Joseph Barrias, (Wikicommons: source) Editors' Notes The season of Lent is a season of fasting. Even a cursory glance at the Collects of the Roman Missal will reveal that the Church assumes that the faithful …
Continue reading How should Catholics approach Lent today? Timeless advice from John Henry Newman
"A convert comes to learn" The supernatural origin of the Catholic religion is proved by miracles. And one of the great miracles that testifies to the truth of our faith is the rapid establishment of the Church in far-flung parts of the world, within a short time after its establishment on the day of Pentecost. This is known as a “moral miracle.”
"He brought from Rome what he found in Rome" The WM Review is pleased to publish a fascinating letter written by Bishop William Bernard Ullathorne, in defence of John Henry Newman’s writings on the Blessed Virgin Mary in his 1866 work Letter to Pusey. Ullathorne was the Bishop of Birmingham, the diocese in which Newman lived and ministered.
"My dear boys, throughout your life find a home in the Holy Family." Image: From right to left: Father Thomas Pope, Father William Neville, Father Paul Eaglesim, Cardinal Newman, the Cardinal's 'Gentiluomo', the 'Caudatario', or Trainbearer. Source: Wiki Commons Public Domain Editors' Notes A few words about the context of this short address. It was …
Continue reading What did Cardinal Newman say about the Rosary to a school of young men and boys?
"I am happy to make known its odious and shocking mysteries, known to few Britons." Image: John Bull, from Wiki Commons CC Editors' Notes Archbishop Fulton Sheen famously said: “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe …
"The Lord knows that we have undertaken a just war for the safety of our nation." In June 2019 I walked 84-miles across England following the route of Hadrian’s Wall; these are my reflections on one of the important historical sites, encountered along the route. This is an edited version of an article first published …
Continue reading Hadrian’s Wall, St Oswald and the Forgotten Triumph of Heavenfield
"He removed the error of filthy heathenism from our parents." “In the tenth year of [the reign of the emperor Maurice], Gregory, a man eminent in learning and in affairs, was elected pontiff of the Apostolic See of Rome; he ruled for thirteen years, six months, and ten days. In the fourteenth year of this …
Continue reading Portrait of a Pope: St Gregory the Great, Apostle of the English
"Be it known to you, that I am now a Christian, and bound by Christian duties." Introduction At his trial on 20 November 1587, after hearing that he had been sentenced to death for treason, the Jesuit missionary priest, Edmund Campion, delivered a final oration to the court, in which he declared: “In condemning …