Catholic Fire

The saint of the day for June 24th is St. William of Vercelli, hermit, abbot, and founder of a religious congregation known as the Hermits of Monte-Vergine. William was born to noble and wealthy parents in Vercelli, Italy in 1085. He lost his father and mother in his infancy and was raised by a relative. At age fifteen, he made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. When he returned, he became a hermit in Naples and lived there on an uninhabited mountain in solitude. However, he became famous after he worked a miracle, curing a blind man. His desire to live a contemplative life and to focus on God was interrupted; consequently, he moved to another mountain. On this mountain, he built a beautiful church in honor of Our Lady. His holiness attracted  many followers and, in 1119, he established the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or Mount of the Virgin. These sons of Our Lady lived in great poverty. Some of the monks began to complain that the rule was too strict and the...

Br. Emmanuel Orrino, OSB, offers his thoughts on the Gospel for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time.  The readings can be found HERE .

In 2007 the monks of St. Benedict's Abbey celebrated 150 years of stability in Kansas. Here is the history of their community, which they created: The monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey pray and work for the glory of God and the good of the world. Five times every day, the Benedictine monks gather together to pray through the Liturgy of the Hours and the Eucharist and lift the needs of the world up to God; and from those times of prayer flows the work the men perform in service to God and others. The monks of St. Benedict’s Abbey serve as pastors and ministry support for several parishes in Northeast Kansas and beyond. They serve the students, faculty, and staff of Benedictine College and Maur Hill-Mount Academy in Atchison; as priests, teachers, confessors, and spiritual directors. And they serve as chaplains, regionally and nationally, for religious houses, prisons, colleges, and various ministries. Learn more at their website . Like them on Facebook  and follow them on T...

Blessed Maria Adeodata Pisan i was born into a noble family in Naples, Italy in 1806. Her father was an alcoholic and was exiled after being involved in a revolt. Maria's grandmother raised her. When her grandmother died, the 10 year-old was sent to a boarding school until she was 17. During these years, Maria declined several marriage proposals because she preferred to lead a quiet life of prayer. When she turned 21, she entered the Benedictine Community in St. Peter's Monastery and took the name Maria Adeodata. She made her solemn profession two years later. In the cloister, Maria was a seamstress, sacristan, porter, teacher and novice mistress. Her fellow nuns and many people outside the cloister benefited from her charity. Maria Adeodata wrote various works, the most well-known of these is a collection of her personal reflections between the years 1835 and 1843 titled “The mystical garden of the soul that loves Jesus and Mary”. She was an abbess fro...

Saint Hildegard, Benedictine abbess, mystic and visionary, lived from 1098 to 1179. She was born at Bermersheim, south of Mainz in present day Germany. She was the tenth child born to a noble family. As was customary with the tenth child, which the family could not count on feeding, she was offered to God by her parents as a child oblate. A very gifted young woman, Hildegard began to have visions of luminous objects at the age of three, which she kept to herself. At the age of eight, Hildegard was placed under the care of the anchoress, Jutta, a relative, who lived in a nearby hermitage. In time this developed into a full Benedictine community which was subject to the male abbey of Saint Disibod. Hildegard received the habit at the age of fifteen and for the next seventeen years lived a strictly enclosed contemplative life. Her visions were later written down in a book called Scivias (an abbreviation of Scito vias Domini, ‘Know the ways of the Lord’). In 1136 she was elected abbess of...

"Laetetur Cor Quaerentium" Gregorian meditation Let the hearts that seek The Lord rejoice' Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice! Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgements he uttered, CHOIR,ORGAN,IMAGES of-Pluscarden Benedictine Abbey Via EJG Catholic.

A beautiful dedication to Roman Catholic Monks is presented here - mostly Benedictine with a bit of Carthusian thrown in. Photos were taken in France, England, USA, Italy, and Canada.