Catholic Digest

Praying with the Marianists

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

During the chaos of the French Revolution, when Catholicism was under attack, a resourceful priest named Father William Joseph Chaminade found a clever way to bring Mass to the people. Disguised as a tinker, he woul...

New prayers, same Mass

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Changing the prayers of the Mass is not something Catholics take lightly. Parishes throughout the English-speaking world are now in the process of coming to grips with a new translation of those very prayers. In 2009, after se...

Our Lady of the Rosary

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Our Lady of the Rosary
Feast Day: October 7th

When the Holy League fleet of Christian allied forces (the Papacy, Spain, the Republic of Venice, Knights Hospit...

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Thérèse of Lisieux
Feast Day: October 1st

The youngest daughter of a watchmaker, Thér&...

St. Jerome

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Jerome

Feast Day: September 30

An enthusiastic college student who enjoyed visiting “the tombs of the ma...

Saint Matthew

Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Matthew
Feast Day: September 21st

Matthew, Levi, Son of Alpheus, tax-collector. Regardless of his name, Matthew’s occupation meant ...

Saint Peter Claver

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Peter Claver
Feast Day: September 9th

The horror of human cargo being unpacked from the suffocating hell of slav...

St. Augustine

Tue, 30 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Augustine

Feast Day: August 28

One of the great figures of Western civilization, St. Augustine played many roles d...

New 9/11 memorial parks

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

In the 10 years since the terrorist attacks, communities in New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania have raised funds and built memorial parks to honor the legacy of the nearly 3,000 people who perished when four passenger airplanes were hijacked by ...

St. Rose of Lima

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Rose of Lima

Feast Day: August 23rd

A child so strikingly beautiful she was renamed “Rose” after a maid saw her and said in a...

Saint Thomas More

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Thomas More
Feast Day: June 22

An exceptional lawyer who embraced a philosophy of compassion and equality, Thomas More was a Londoner and devo...

Saint Boniface

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Boniface
Feast Day: June 5

Armed with a papal letter and the formidable seal of the leader of the Franks, Boniface the scholar dauntlessly declared war on...

Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque
Feast Day: June 6

Praying lying prostrate with her face to the ground, Sister Margaret hoped that her Holy Hour would enable her...

Feast of the Holy Trinity

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Feast of the Holy Trinity
June 7

In 1680, after finishing a sermon before a crowd of thousands in an enormous Vienna square, Augustinian preacher Abraham Sant...

Saint Joan of Arc

Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Saint Joan of Arc
Feast Day: May 30

Fearlessly charging into battle beneath a white and gold banner emblazoned with holy icons, Joan of Arc holds a remarkable...

Saint Rita

Mon, 23 May 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Saint Rita
Feast Day: May 22

A native of Italy born in 1381, Rita wanted to be a nun at a young age. Instead, her parents arran...

St. Philip

Mon, 09 May 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Philip
Feast Day: May 3

Thought to have been a shy but focused individual, it was Philip that Christ turns towards right before the miraculous feeding of the multitude, asking, &l...

Remembering Pope John Paul II

Mon, 02 May 2011 05:00:00 GMT

“Watch the doors!” The voice of the frustrated subway conductor bellowed out of the speakers, but the thick crowds trying to push their way on to the train paid no attention. “If you don’t clear the doors ...

St. James the Lesser

Mon, 02 May 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. James the Lesser
Feast Day: May 3

James the Lesser, meaning younger, is traditionally celebrated as being the author of a letter in the New Te...

Saint Catherine of Siena

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Catherine of Siena
Feast Day: April 29

Though at the time He said nothing to her, six-year-old Catherine would never forget the encounter she had of Our Lord in 1353. She beheld a vis...

Saint Mark

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Mark
Feast Day: April 25

Represented by the winged lion, St. Mark the Evangelist has been an exceptionally popular subject for Venetian artists, ever since his remains were relocated ...

Saint George

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Saint George
Feast Day: April 23

Wielding a honed sword or battle spear, the numerous images of armor clad Saint George fearlessly standing over a writhing dragon has echoed ...

Is it a sin to work on Sunday?

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT

I recently heard a priest say that we should only do things like visit the sick or elderly and not do unnecessary work on Sundays. I can’t visit the sick or elderly every Sunday, and I feel better doing something rather than ju...

Saint Stanislaus of Cracow

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Stanislaus of Cracow

Feast Day: April 11

Descended from Polish nobility in 1030, Stanislaus received a formal educ...

The Annunciation of the Lord

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

The Annunciation of the Lord

March 25

Though not accepted by the Church as scripture, the apocryphal gospel of James ...

Saint Joseph

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Joseph

Feast Day: March 19

Though not accepted by the Church as scripture, the apocryphal gospel of James (written...

Saint Patrick

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Saint Patrick

Feast Day: March 17

Irish raiders kidnapped Patrick from his family&r...

Our Lady of Lourdes

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Our Lady of Lourdes
Feast Day: February 11

While many miracles have taken places in Lourdes, France, where Mary appeared to a 14-year old girl named Bernadette in 1858, one of the account...

Saints Cyril and Methodius

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Saints Cyril and Methodius

Feast Day: February 14

Celebrated as the “apostles of the southern Sl...

Saint Jerome Emiliani

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Saint Jerome Emiliani
Feast Day: February 8

Venetian Commander of the Castelnuovo Fortress in northern Italy, Girolamo Emiliani (1481-1537) was captured when the town fell to...

Praying with the Jesuits

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:00:00 GMT

In the mid 1960s, a French Jesuit named Joseph de Guibert offered a charming analogy about spirituality, first made in the Middle Ages. A spirituality is like a bridge, he said. Every bridge does pretty much the same thing: It gets you from one pl...

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Thomas Aquinas

Feast Day: January 28

The son of an Italian count, Thomas was born ...

Saint Francis de Sales

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Francis de Sales

Feast Day: January 24

Immediately after his ordination in 1593, Fra...

Saints of New Orleans

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

Since the Vatican canonized the first saint from America — St. Elizabeth Ann Seton — an inordinate number of saints (and near saints) have been born in or became famous for their work in New Orleans or Louisiana. With...

Saint Agnes

Mon, 17 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Agnes

Feast Day: January 21

A Roman Christian girl of legendary beauty, Agnes was executed d...

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:00:00 GMT

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

Feast Day: January 4

Born just two years before the United States won its independence from E...

Mysteries of the Eucharist (part 2)

Tue, 14 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Why do we call this eucharistic presence “real”?

The word real comes from a Latin word, res, which means thing. So to identify this presence as real — or “thi...

Saint Gregory III

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

Saint Gregory III

Feast Day: December 10

A Syrian cardinal so well renowned for his deep piety and intellect that the ...

Saint Nicholas

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

St. Nicholas
Feast Day: December 6

A fourth century bishop born in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor, Nicholas was known for his devoutness, compa...

Mysteries of the Eucharist (part 1)

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 05:00:00 GMT

What do we mean by “presence”?

In its most general sense, presence means being with another. We all experience presence in several familiar ways. I...

Saint Francis Xavier

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

St. Francis Xavier
Feast Day: December 3

Raised in the Castle of Xavier near Pamplona, Spain, Francis’ parents sent him to study at the university of Paris when he was seventeen...

Advent and ways to pass the time until Christmas

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

The countdown to Christmas day, or Advent, is arguably one of the best parts of Christmas. Many of us have fond childhood memories of marking a great big X over a day on the calendar, lighting the candles on an Advent wreath, and partici...

The Nun of Kenmare

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

In Dublin, Ireland, on a cold December night in 1881, Sister M. Francis Clare (Margaret Anna) Cusack, stepped off the train from Tuam and wearily made her way to the Poor Clare convent at Harold’s Cross. She rang the bell, and as soon a...

All Saints Day

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

All Saints Day
Feast Day: November 1

The Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints to honor the belief that every saint, ...

St. Leo the Great

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

St. Leo the Great
Feast Day: November 10

In the long history of the Church, there are only three popes who have ever earned t...

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

St. Frances Xavier Cabrini
Feast Day: November 13

A remarkable woman from humble origins, Frances was one of thirteen childre...

St. Margaret of Scotland

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 05:00:00 GMT

St. Margaret of Scotland
Feast Day: November 16

Granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, king of Wessex, Margaret was raised in Hung...

The monks, the monastery, and the missal

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

A long time ago — more than 1,350 years, actually — the monastery of Melrose stood at a bend in the River Tweed, in the border region between England and Scotland. And in that monastery one day, its revered abbot, Eata, knelt i...

Giving 101: 5 crucial questions for Catholics

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

*The following is an excerpt from the article "13 Crucial Questions for Catholics" that appeared in the October 2010 issue of Catholic Digest.

1.

St. Francis Borgia

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 05:00:00 GMT

St. Francis Borgia

Feast Day: October 10

On his deathbed, the final two lines written in Francis’ diary were...