Sinner or saint, perfect we ain’t!
Sigrid Undset (1882-1949) was a model of women’s achievement both in her writing and her personal life. Writing at a time when female authors were known for fluff romances, her stories were taken seriously – and she even didn’t have to change her name to George (as in Sand or Eliot). Undset was young, attractive, …
The rugged life of Ukrainian Catholic Martyr Blessed Nykyta Budka (1877–1949) shows that Christianity and grit run deep in the Ukrainian soul. When you read about the Eastern Rite saints who lived under Roman persecution, you might wonder if they were really as heroic as their biographers say they were. It was so long ago. …
Ukrainian Catholic Martyr Blessed Nykyta Budka: Die with your Boots on Read More »
St. Josaphat was born a child of divorce. By this I don’t mean that his parents split up but rather that his Church did. By the time he was born in 1580 in what is now Ukraine, the Great Schism of 1054 was hundreds of years old but no less bitter. I won’t go into …
If you ever wondered whether the holy men and women of the Old Testament are considered saints by the Church, December has your answer. The Eastern Rite calendar contains the individual feast days of five prophets: Nahum, Habacus, Sophonias (aka Zephaniah), Aggeus, and Daniel. That’s not all. The two Sundays before Christmas are devoted to …
Just in time for Halloween, this month’s saint was a real charmer. Literally. Don’t get him mixed up with the other, famous, respectable St. Cyprian who was once bishop of Carthage and is now mentioned in the Mass. This is the other one. The one who went around conjuring up Satan. Cyprian was born in Antioch …
St. Gianna Molla embraced life with gusto. She was adventurous and passionate by nature. Her oldest child, Pierluigi, remembers that his mother loved to drive fast. If the roads were clear she put the pedal to the metal. She was that way with love too. Whatever or whomever she loved, she loved daringly with her whole …
St. Gianna Molla Told her Future Husband “I Love You” First Read More »
While we’re all talking about the must-see new series, I Forgive, hosted by Immaculee Ilibagiza on EWTN, here is an interview I once did with her. When Immaculée Ilibagiza first published her memoir Left to Tell, it was with the modest hope of sharing the book with friends. Her agent, however, told her to quit …
July’s saint may have a funny name but let me tell you, Saint Olha (890 – 969) was no joke. Just ask the Drevlians. They murdered her husband so she murdered them — 5,000 of them. Mafia style. That was before her conversion to Christianity. Olha, whose feast day is July 11, was a Viking …
“Was it your child we could hear ALL during Mass?” the lady demanded to know. She took me by surprise. Who was this person? I’d never seen her before at the Latin Mass. I blinked a few times to adjust to this rare greeting. Then it became clear: she was talking about two-year-old Joe. It had …
It took me twelve years to complete this modesty article. Why the rush? Let’s just say I enjoy this topic about as much as men enjoy talking about childbirth. Would it surprise you to learn that I’m not alone? Many of my friends feel the same way. I’m not talking about my neighbors who wash the car …
How do these conversations get started? My seatmate on the flight was a sixteen year old cowboy named Cody. The flight attendant had come around handing out wine which I accepted with delight. Traveling stresses me out. Cody, who looked twenty-five, said no thanks. “I don’t drink,” he told me. “I’m a Christian.” “I do,” …
So, What Exactly ARE Your Sins? Let’s Talk Catholic Confession Read More »
We all have our plans but God has his. Read about St. Patapius, an early Christian hermit gathered crowds wherever he went and became a reluctant celebrity. It always happens. You go off to be by yourself and the kids find you. You just want to pray and savor the silence but it’s, “Can you …
Saint Patapius: Early Christian Hermit and Reluctant Celebrity Read More »
There is just too much to tell about this month’s saint so let’s start with the one thing no Catholic can resist, a gift shop. If you are a fan of St. Bernadette of Lourdes, you probably own a little plastic bottle of miraculous healing water. Mine is shaped like the Virgin Mary and was …
On February 13, 2016, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, a man of tremendous influence in the world, unexpectedly passed from it – into eternity. His son, Father Paul Scalia, a priest with the Diocese of Arlington (Virginia), celebrated his funeral Mass. Standing before Justice Scalia’s family, friends, and peers in the Basilica of the National …
I’ve kissed a lot of relics as a Catholic, but one never kissed me back – until now. I’m talking about the daughter of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, Gianna Emanuela Molla, who is in attendance at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia all week (this article originally appeared in The National Catholic Register, 9-24-15), …
A Visit with a First Class Relic, Gianna Emanuela Molla Read More »
Mother Teresa passed into eternal life in 1997. Many people had the good fortune to meet her personally, (like Susan Conroy, pictured) but I never did. Or did I? On a family visit to Washington, D.C., in 2007, our missionary friend, Patrick, took us to an AIDS hospice run by Mother Teresa’s order, the Missionaries of Charity. …
Who was this lady of refinement, so different from the Belgian farmer turned priest, who dared waste herself in that forsaken place?
I love being middle aged. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t love the mousy gray hair which loiters at my temples, even though Miss Clairol and I kick it out every ten weeks. I don’t love my matching set of grandma hands – why oh why didn’t I soak my hands in Ivory dish detergent …
Some spiritual works of mercy are more popular than others. “Comfort the Sorrowful” and “Counsel the Doubtful,” for example, have their own line of greeting cards with flowers and small, fuzzy animals on them. People buy them by the millions. But then there’s “Admonish the Sinner.” Has anybody bothered testing the market for this one? …
Do we really get Mother Mary? We know God made her perfectly sinless. She needed to be perfect, because Jesus would take his human nature from her. That’s why she was humble, meek, and so, so good. And that’s where we get stuck. Everybody focuses on Mary’s goodness. Some see her as a model disciple …