“If in Sodom had been wrought the miracles that have been wrought in thee, perhaps it had remained unto this day.”
Tag archives: Saints
Why was St Robert Bellarmine declared a Doctor of the Church? Pius XI
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. …
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St Gregory Nazianzen and the Crisis in the Church – Cardinal Newman
“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, …
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St Stanislaus and the dead man in his grave
“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 …
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The Holy Innocents – Liturgical Highlights
“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 …
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Conscience and Unbelief – A Sermon for St Thomas the Apostle
Holy Church would make an example of the great Apostle for our sakes, and hold him up to us in the image of his earthly weakness. Image: Wiki Commons Introduction Many traditional Catholics around the world are unable to assist at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass every Sunday – and very few are able …
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CLASSIC BOOK REVIEW: The Life of the Fathers, by St Gregory of Tours
“The Heavenly Power provides a unique and manifold gift when it gives us not only intercessors for our sins but also teachers of eternal life.” Image: St Gregory and King Chilperic, Grandes Chronique de France de Charles V, (Wiki Commons, source) Introduction While doing research for The WM Review’s ongoing series on St Gregory the …
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The Life of St Caluppa
“Poverty in this world always opens up the kingdom of heaven” Image: The Basilica at Clermont-Ferrand (Source: Wiki Commons CC) Introduction Sixth century Gaul was a brutal place. Over the course of the fifth century, Roman imperial authority had collapsed, and new kingdoms had been carved out by migrating Germanic peoples. The Romano-Gallic population was …
The Life of St Friardus
“God’s help was sought continuously not only by the martyrs, but also by those known to have led holy lives.” Image: St Friard, Thomas de Leu, (source) Introduction The early centuries of the Church were the age of the martyrs. The first saints held up for veneration by the Church were those who had died …
Portrait of a Pope: St Gregory the Great and the End of Imperial Rome
“Where is the Senate? Where the People? The very buildings we behold crumbling around us.” Image: The Favourites of Honorius, John William Waterhouse, (source). The city of Rome was still flourishing in the fourth century. In the autumn of AD 590, as a Lombard army marched on Rome and as the city tried to recover …
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