Tuesday, April 30, 2013
St. Catherine of Siena, Virgin
Caterina Benincasa was born in Siena, Italy, to Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth dyer who ran his enterprise with the help of his sons, and Lapa Piagenti, possibly the daughter of a local poet. The house where Catherine grew up is still in existence. Born in 1347, she arrived when the black death struck the […]
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Monday, April 29, 2013
St. Peter of Verona, Martyr
He was born in the city of Verona into a family perhaps sympathetic to the Cathar heresy. Peter went to a Catholic school, and later to the University of Bologna, where he is said to have maintained his orthodoxy and at the age of fifteen, met Saint Dominic. Peter joined the Order of the Friars […]
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Sunday, April 28, 2013
4th Sunday After Easter
On this Fourth Sunday After Easter, the Church exalts the justice of God (Introit, Gospel), which is made manifest in the triumph of Christ and in that of His Mystical Bride—the Church. “The right hand of the Lord hath made manifest its power by raising Christ from the dead” (Alleluia) and by taking Him up […]
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
St. Peter Canisius, Confessor and Doctor of the Church
Peter Canisius, the remarkable Jesuit who almost single-handedly reevangelized Central Europe (hence his nom de guerre “the hammer of Protestantism”), founded dozens of colleges, contributed to the rebirth of Catholicism by his prodigious writings, and laid the groundwork for the Catholic Reformation north of the Alps. Born at Nijmegen, Holland in 1521 to Jacob Kanis […]
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Friday, April 26, 2013
Ss. Cletus and Marcellinus, Popes and Martyrs
St. Cletus I Emperor Vespasian reigned in Rome when Cletus assumed leadership of the Church. His specific responsibilities, like those of his predecessor Linus, can only be surmised because a monarchial episcopate had not yet emerged in Rome. Little is known of Cletus, perhaps due to the confusion over his name (q.v. footnote on p. […]
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
The Greater Litanies
Litanies and the Mass of Rogation for this day are of ancient origin, except the Introit, which in early days was replaced by the Litany in processions. The feast of St. Mark is of much later origin. The pagan festival, Robigalia, occurred on April 25th; young people used to go across the Milvian bridge to […]
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St. Mark, Evangelist
John Mark, later known simply as Mark, was a Jew by birth. He was the son of that Mary who was proprietress of the Cenacle or “upper room” which served as the meeting place for the first Christians in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). He was still a youth at the time of the Savior’s death. In […]
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Wednesday, April 24, 2013
St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Martyr
Fidelis has been called the “protomartyr of the Capuchin Order and of the Propaganda in Rome.” He was born in 1577, became a renowned lawyer. But feeling that this profession endangered the salvation of his soul, he decided to join the Capuchin Order and employ his extraordinary gift of eloquence in urging the faithful to […]
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Tuesday, April 23, 2013
St. George, Martyr
St. George is venerated by the Eastern Church among her “great martyrs” and “standard-bearers.” He belonged to the Roman army; he was arrested and, probably, beheaded under Diocletian, c. 304. He is the patron of England, since 800. St. George is one of the “Fourteen Holy Helpers.” Many legends are attached to Saint George. The […]
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