Thursday, July 31, 2014
Saint Ignatius, Confessor
Although the cycle of the time after Pentecost has shown us many times already the solicitude of the Holy Spirit for the defense of the Church, yet today the teaching shines forth with a new luster. In the sixteen century Satan made a formidable attack upon the holy city by means of a man who, […]
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Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Saints Abdon and Sennen, Martyrs
The decrees of Eternal Wisdom ordained that the West should be honored before the East with the glory of martyrdom. Yet when the hour had come, Jesus was to have, beyond the Tigris, millions of witnesses by no means inferior to their forerunners, astonishing heaven and earth by new forms of heroism. Impatient of the […]
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Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Saint Martha, Virgin; Ss. Felix, Simplicius, Faustinus, & Beatrice, Martyrs
Magdalene this time was the first to meet our Lord. Scarcely a week had elapsed since her glorious passage, when she repaid her sister’s former kind office and came in her turn saying: “The Beloved is here and calleth for thee.” And Jesus preventing her, appeared himself and said: “Come, my hostess; come from exile, […]
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Monday, July 28, 2014
Ss. Nazarius, Celsus, and Victor, Mm., and Saint Innocent, Pope and Confessor
Nazarius and Celsus bring glory to the Church of Milan, by appearing on the cycle today. After lying forgotten for three centuries in the obscure tomb that had received their precious remains in the time of Nero, they now receive the united homage of East and West. It was nine years since the triumphal day […]
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Sunday, July 27, 2014
The Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
The Dominical cycle of the Time after Pentecost completes today its first seven. Previous to the general adoption of the changes introduced into the Sunday Gospels for this portion of the Year, the Gospel of the multiplication of the seven loaves gave its name to the seventh Sunday; and the mystery it contains is still […]
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Saint Pantaleon, Martyr
The East celebrates today one of her greater martyrs, who was both a healer of bodies and a conqueror of souls. His name, which recalls the strength of the lion, was changed by heaven at the time of his death into Panteleemon, or all-merciful; a happy presage of the gracious blessings our Lord would afterwards […]
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Saturday, July 26, 2014
Saint Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Uniting the blood of kings with that of pontiffs, the glory of Anne’s illustrious origin is far surpassed by that of her offspring, without compare among the daughters of Eve. The noblest of all, who have ever conceived by virtue of the command to “increase and multiply,” beholds the law of human generation pause before […]
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Friday, July 25, 2014
Saint James the Great, Apostle; Commemoration of Saint Christopher, Martyr
Let us today hail the bright star which once made Compostella so resplendent with its rays that the obscure town became, like Jerusalem and Rome, a center of attraction to the piety of the whole world. As long as the Christian empire lasted, the sepulcher of St. James the Great rivaled in glory that of […]
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Thursday, July 24, 2014
Saint Christina, Virgin and Martyr
Christina, whose very name fills the Church with the fragrance of the Spouse, comes as a graceful harbinger to the feast of the elder son of thunder. The ancient Vulsinium, seated by its lake with basalt shores and calm clear waters, was the scene of a triumph over Estruscan paganism, when this child of ten […]
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Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Saint Apollinaris, Bishop and Martyr; Commemoration of Saint Liborius, Bishop
Ravenna, the mother of cities, invites us today to honor the martyr bishop, whose labors did more for her lasting renown than did the favor of emperors and kings. From the midst of her ancient monuments, the rival of Rome, though now fallen, points proudly to her unbroken chain of Pontiffs, which she can trace […]
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