"Would He drive away the Herodian princes as He had scattered the money-changers?" Image from Wiki Commons. Some line breaks added below, with some headings taken from the original Table of Contents. Fr Coleridge's book on St John the Baptist takes us up to the close of the saint's ministry, but not his life. Nonetheless, …
"... a sign of danger, secret pride, or coldness of charity." Murillo, Wiki Commons. Some line breaks added below, with some headings taken from the original Table of Contents. The following extract from Fr Coleridge's book on the ministry of St John the Baptist sheds an interesting light on more "recent" devotions adopted by the …
Continue reading St John the Baptist and recent devotions – Fr H.J. Coleridge SJ, 1882
Sometimes it can feel like Heaven uses dates in a providential way. Editors' Notes 13th May 1917 was the date of the first apparition at Fatima, in which Our Lady brought a vital message to a suffering world. But on the same day, Eugenio Pacelli, later Pius XII, was made a bishop by Benedict XV. …
Continue reading Why was St Robert Bellarmine declared a Doctor of the Church? Pius XI
"A consolatory thought for those who see their span of life crumbling away under their feet - and they, apparently, doing nothing." Image: Rubens, St Gregory of Nazianzus Wiki Commons CC Editor's Note: St Basil and St Gregory had a lifelong friendship, which nonetheless included tension towards the end of St Basil’s life. In 379, …
Continue reading St Gregory Nazianzen and the Crisis in the Church – Cardinal Newman
"The condition was accepted mockingly, as a thing impossible to be executed." Editors' Notes The narrative below comes from the very colourful text The Phantom World, by Dom Augustin Calmet, published first in 1746 and revised in 1751. This interesting work looks at accounts of vampires and other mythical creatures, and considers various possible explanations …
Continue reading St Stanislaus and the dead man in his grave
"Now for the first time she is raised to that pre-eminent throne of suffering." Murillo's Virgen Dolorosa – CC Wiki Commons. Some line breaks added below, with some headings taken from the original Table of Contents. FromThe Thirty YearsOur Lord’s Infancy & Hidden LifeFr Henry James Coleridge1885 Burns and Oates, London, 1915154-63 The change of …
Continue reading When Our Lady became the Mother of Sorrows – Fr H.J. Coleridge SJ, 1885
"... It becomes obvious that we have continual though silent record of decisions and acts of St Joseph." Photo by Saint John's Seminary on Unsplash. Some line breaks added below, with some headings taken from the original Table of Contents. Editors' Notes It is sometimes suggested that the Gospels have relatively little to say about …
"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
"I am the priest whom he intends to prepare him for death."
"Ye play with your palms and crowns beneath the very altar." There are many moments of beauty and pathos in the Church's year. But few are so equally filled with both bitterness and glory as the feast of the Holy Innocents. It is very noticeable that Christ's coming to the world is marked with blood …