Catholic Fire

St. John Neumann was born in 1811 in Bohemia to Philip, who was German and owned a stocking factory, and Agnes Neumann who was Czech. John was a small and quiet boy with four sisters and a brother, and was named after Saint John Nepomucene. An excellent student, John early felt drawn to religious life. As a seminarian at Budweis, Bohemia, he studied astronomy and botany in addition to theological topics. He studied theology at Charles Ferdinand University at Prague in 1833. John Neumann's ordination was delayed by the Austrian government so he began work with the North American mission in New York in 1836. After being ordained he was sent to minister to the German speaking immigrants who were clearing the forests by Niagara Falls. John was a traveling missionary on the East Coast, then a parish priest in Baltimore. He was consecrated Bishop of Philadelphia in 1852 and was responsible for the building of 100 churches and 80 schools. He also wrote two catechisms and many newspaper ar...

This Friday, November 25, the 80th anniversary of the martyrdom of Father Miguel Agustin Pro will be observed. Miguel Agustin Pro was born January 13, 1891, in Mexico. From his childhood, he was known for his high spirits and happy personality. The son of an affluent mining engineer and a pious and charitable mother, Miguel had a special affinity for the working classes. At 20, he became a Jesuit novice and shortly afterwards was exiled due to the Mexican revolution. He traveled to the United States, Spain, Nicaragua and Belgium, where he was ordained in 1925. Father Pro suffered greatly from a severe stomach disorder. When his health did not improve after several surgeries, his superiors permitted him to return to Mexico in 1926. At this time, the revolutionary government in Mexico had banned all religious practice. The churches were closed and priests were in hiding. The government was particularly focused on finding and persecuting priests. Father Pro became a great master of disgui...

Today is the feast of St. Martin de Porres, the first black American Saint. He was the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a young freed slave woman from Panama, who may have been black or of Indian blood. His father was repelled by the darkness of his son's skin at birth and abandoned him, leaving the child-raising to his mother. At age 12, Martin was apprenticed to a "surgeon," at that time a combination of barber, druggist, physician and surgeon. Once trained, he began to use his skills to serve the poor. At fifteen, he became a lay brother at the Dominican Friary in Lima, where he worked as a barber, a farm laborer, a clothier, and a care-giver for the sick. Each day Martin distributed food to the hungry, he was doctor to the sick, and he helped to establish an orphanage and a hospice for abandoned babies. Martin devoted himself to severe penances. In turn, God endowed him with many graces and an abundance of spiritual gifts: visions, ecstasies, bilocation (be...

The second Gospel was written by St. Mark, who, in the New Testament, is also called John Mark. St. Mark and his mother, Mary, were highly regarded in the early Church, and his mother's house in Jerusalem served as a meeting place for Christians there. It was to her house that St. Peter fled following his miraculous escape from prison. St. Mark is believed to be the young man who ran away when Jesus was arrested (Mark 14:51-52), and the "John whose other name was Mark" (Acts 12:25). St. Mark, a cousin of Barnabas, accompanied Saint Paul on his first missionary journey and later went with him to Rome. He was a disciple of Saint Peter whose teaching was the basis for Mark's gospel. Mark is said to be the founder of the church of Alexandria. St. Mark is the patron saint of attorneys and notaries. "Go out into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." ~Mark 16:15 Prayer Lord, help me to follow in the footsteps of St. Mark and to fall in love w...

Katharine, the second daughter of Francis Anthony and Hannah Langstroth, was born on November 26, 1858. Katharine’s mother, Hannah, passed away about one month after her birth. A few years later, Katharine’s father, a wealthy and prominent banker and philanthropist, married Emma Bouvier – a distant aunt to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onasis. Emma was a deeply religious woman. Three years later, Emma gave birth to her own child, a third daughter whom they named Louise. The deeply religious couple taught their children that wealth was meant to be shared with others, particularly the poor. The three siblings – Elizabeth, Katharine and Louise were inseparable. They traveled out west together where they encountered Native American Indians who lived on reservations and learned of their plight. These travels instilled within Katharine the desire to alleviate the sufferings of the Indians along with the oppressed among the Black people.When she visited Pope Leo XIII in Rome, Katharine asked hi...

Blessed Villana was the daughter of Andrew de'Botti, a Florentine merchant, was born in 1332. When she was thirteen she ran away from home to enter a convent but her attempts were unsuccessful and she was forced to return. To prevent her from running away again, her father gave her in marriage to Rosso di Piero. The rejection at the convent and the marriage seemed to change Villana. She became lazy and worldly, concerned only with pleasure. One day, as she was about to go out for entertainment, dressed in a gorgeous gown adorned with pearls and precious stones, she looked at herself in a mirror. To her dismay, the reflection that met her eyes was that of a hideous demon. A second and a third mirror showed the same ugly form. Thoroughly alarmed and recognizing in the reflection the image of herself as her sinful soul, she tore off her beautiful clothes and put on in the simplest clothes she could find. Weeping, she ran to the Dominican Fathers at Santa Maria Novella to make a full c...

Daily Lenten Devotions: Tuesday, the Second Week of Lent Today's Saint : St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows For More Information about St. Gabriel and Today's Liturgy, go here . This Day in History 1860 - Abraham Lincoln makes a speech at Cooper Union in the city of New York that was largely responsible for his election to the Presidency . 1939 - American Civil Rights Movement : Sit-down strikes are outlawed by the Supreme Court of the United States . 1971 - Doctors in the first Dutch abortion clinic (the Mildredhuis in Arnhem ) start to perform abortus provocatus . 1973 - The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee, South Dakota . 1991 - Gulf War : U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that " Kuwait is liberated." Births 272 - Constantine I , Roman emperor (d . 337 ) 1807 - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow , American poet (d. 1882 ) 1886 - Hugo Black , U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d . 1971 ) 1891 - Anne Samson ...

Today is the memorial of St. Claude de la Colombiere . Here is one of his famous prayers. Despair Prayer (Prayer for God's Mercy and Pardon for Sin) Lord, I am in this world to show Your mercy to others. Other people will glorify You by making visible the power of Your grace by their fidelity and constancy to You. For my part I will glorify You by making known how good You are to sinners, that Your mercy is boundless and that no sinner no matter how great his offences should have reason to despair of pardon. If I have grievously offended You, My Redeemer, let me not offend You even more by thinking that You are not kind enough to pardon Me. Amen. ~Saint Claude de la Colombiere