Catholic Fire

Today, the Church celebrates the life of Saint John Ogilvie, a former Calvinist who was martyred in Scotland during the Protestant Reformation. St. John Ogilvie was born of a noble Scottish family in 1579 and was raised as a Calvinist. He converted to Catholicism at the age of 17 when he studied abroad at the Scots College in Louvain, Belgium. He attended several Catholic schools and soon discovered a call to join the Jesuits. In 1599, he entered the Jesuit novitiate in Vienna and was ordained in Paris in 1610, the year before the last two Jesuits working in Scotland were obliged to leave as persecution intensified. He returned to Scotland in November 1614 disguised as a soldier, and began to preach in secret, celebrating mass clandestinely in private homes. However, his ministry was to last less than a year. In 1614, he was betrayed and arrested and taken to jail. There, he suffered terrible tortures, including being kept awake for eight days and nine nights, in an attempt t...

January 4th is the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, a single woman, a wife, a mother, a widow, a lay woman and a religious sister. She was the foundress of the first American Catholic parish school, the first American community of women religious (the Sisters of Charity), and the first American orphanage. This first native-born American saint was born on August 28, 1774 in New York to a wealthy and illustrious Episcopalian family. Elizabeth Ann Seton was born Elizabeth Ann Bailey, the daughter of Dr. Richard Bayley, the first professor of anatomy at Columbia College, and Catherine Charlton, daughter of an Anglican minister. A daughter of the American Revolution, she was linked by birth and marriage to famous families in New York and enjoyed the luxuries of the upper class. Early Sufferings Sufferings which occurred early in her life made her realize that life on earth is only temporary. Elizabeth's biological mother died when Elizabeth was only three years old; her you...

by Jean M. Heimann Today, October 9, is the feast of Blessed John Henry Newman, one of the great intellectuals of the 19th century. Newman was a theologian, philosopher, teacher, preacher, writer, and spiritual guide. Born on February 1, 1801 in London, the oldest of six children in a middle class family of three boys and three girls.  His father, John Henry Newman, was a moderately successful banker; his mother, Jemima Fourdrinier, was the daughter of a paper manufacturer. Raised as an Anglican, Newman began his religious quest as an adolescent, which continued throughout his life. When Newman was 15 years old, he read Force of Truth by Thomas Scott (1747-1821), an influential preacher, which made a strong impression on him.  Consequently, he experienced a profound conversion, which granted him a strong sense of God’s presence in His life. From that time on, God was at the center of his life.  Scott’s writings also inspired Newman with a strong faith in the Tr...

Today, the universal Church celebrates the life of Saint John Ogilvie, a former Calvinist who was martyred in Scotland during the Protestant Reformation. St. John Ogilvie was born of a noble Scottish family in 1579 and was raised a Calvinist. John converted to Catholicism at the age of 17 at the Scots College in Louvain, Belgium. He attended several Catholic schools and soon discovered a call to join the Jesuits. He entered the Jesuit novitiate in Bohemia in 1599 and was ordained in Paris in 1610, the year before the last two Jesuits working in Scotland were obliged to leave as persecution intensified. He returned to Scotland in 1614 with a fellow Jesuit and they made converts in Glasgow and Edinburgh. John was betrayed by a potential convert, imprisoned, interrogated, then tortured for the names of active Catholics. He gave no information. “Your threats cheer me; I mind them no more than the cackling of geese,” he told his captors. Asked if he feared to die Father John replied...

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