Friday Highlights and Spiritual Insights

Memorial of St. Ambrose, bishop and doctor
Old Calendar: St. Ambrose

Saint of the Day: Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor (Brief Bio, Quotes, and Prayers)

Today's Mass Readings

On This Day in Catholic History

1254 Pope Innocent IV, who became pope in the middle of the tremendous controversy with Holy Roman emperor Frederick II, died (b. Sinibaldo Fieschi ca. 1195, Genoa; became pope in 1243).

1965 Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras simultaneously lift mutual excommunications that had been in place since 1054.

Birthdays

521 - Saint Columba, apostle to Scotland, was born in Donegal (d. 9 June 597, Iona).

1598 - Sculptor and architect Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, best known for "The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa," was born in Naples (d. 28 November 1680).

1873 - Willa Cather, American novelist (d. 1947)

1942 - Harry Chapin, American singer and songwriter (d. 1981)

1952 - Susan Collins, American politician, the junior U.S. Senator from Maine and a Republican.

1956 - Larry Bird, American basketball player

1967 - Tino Martinez, American baseball player
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