Catholic Fire

Today is the optional memorial of St. Isidore of Seville, the patron saint of the Internet and the author of the first encyclopedia. A Confessor, Doctor of the Church, and Bishop of Seville, Isidore was born in Cartagena, Spain, 560 and died in Seville, Spain in 636. He was younger brother to Saint Fulgentius of Astigi and Saint Florentina and succeeded his brother, Leander, a monk, to the See of Seville in 599. He began as a poor student, but he turned his problem over to God and became one of the most learned men of his time. During his episcopacy he devoted his time and energy to promoting science and establishing schools and convents. He presided over the synod of Seville, 619, and the synod of Toledo, 633. He was a prolific writer whose literary works included: a dictionary, an encyclopedia, a history of Goths, and a history of the world beginning with creation. He is the patron saint of computers, computer technicians, computer programmers, and the Internet. His symbols...

Today, July 5, the Church remembers Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria. A renowned preacher and promoter of Eucharistic adoration, he founded the order of priests now known as the Barnabites. Saint Anthony Maria Zaccaria was born at Cremona, Italy, in 1502, of noble parents. His father Lazzaro died when Anthony was two, and  Antonietta, his eighteen-year-old mother, never remarried, but devoted herself to performing charitable works for the poor. She passed on her love for the poor to her son. As a child, Anthony gave his coat to a poor beggar who was shivering with cold. Anthony studied philosophy and medicine at the Universities of Pavia and Padua. He became a licensed physician at the age of 22 and returned to Cremona. He cared for his patient's physical needs, but was even more concerned about their spiritual well-being, encouraging them to frequent the sacraments to obtain spiritual healing. He studied theology, and, at the age of 26, was ordained to the priesthood. Those pr...

The saint of the day for June 4th is St. Francis Caracciolo, (1563-1608), confessor, and founder of the Minor Clerks Regular. He was born of a royal family in the Kingdom of Naples. At the age of 22, he contracted leprosy, and nearly died from it. In this trial he heard the Lord’s call and was ready to dedicate his life completely in the service of God and neighbor if he would recover. After his miraculous cure, faithful to his promise, he renounced all his properties and noble titles. He left his palace and went to Naples to prepare himself to priesthood. He was ordained priest and joined the Confraternity of the White Servants of Justice, a confraternity that looked after the spiritual welfare of prisoners and those condemned to death. He spent every possible moment in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. His thought was that it was for men that Our Lord came to us in the Eucharist, and while the angels throng Catholic churches to worship God there, men desert Him....

 Today is the optional memorial of St. Louis IX, (1215-1270). Louis IX, King of France, son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, was born at Poissy, April 25, 1215. Louis was twelve years old when his father's death made him king.At that time, his mother Queen Blanche of Castile, was declared regent and remained an important influence throughout his life. Louis had tutors who made him a master of Latin, taught him to speak easily in public and write with dignity and grace. But Blanche's primary concern was to implant in him a deep regard and awe for everything related to religion. She used often to say to him as he was growing up, "I love you my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child; but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should commit a mortal sin." At nineteen, he married Marguerite of Provence and the couple had eleven children. Louis was a model father and his children received careful instruction from him in the Christian life....

Louis IX, King of France, son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile, was born at Poissy, April 25, 1215. Louis was eleven years old when his father's death made him king. At that time, his mother Queen Blanche of Castile, was declared regent and remained an important influence in his life. Louis had tutors who made him a master of Latin, taught him to speak easily in public and write with dignity and grace. But Blanche's primary concern was to implant in him a deep regard and awe for everything related to religion. She used often to say to him as he was growing up, "I love you my dear son, as much as a mother can love her child; but I would rather see you dead at my feet than that you should commit a mortal sin." At nineteen, he married Marguerite of Provence and the couple had eleven children. Louis was a model father and his children received careful instruction from him in the Christian life. Louis brought justice to France. When, for example, a baron hanged th...

Hyacinth was born in 1185 at Lanka Castle, Kamin, Silesia, Poland. He descended from the noble family of Odrowaz, relatives of Ivo Odrowaz, bishop of Krakow. Bishop Ivo was a broad-minded man whose strong personality and powerful position in the church, greatly influenced the spiritual path which Hyacinth decided to follow. He appointed Hyacinth a canon of the cathedral and sent him to Paris and Bologna to study theology and canon law. Bishop Ivo journeyed to Rome accompanied by Hyacinth, where they met Dominic, founder of the order which would later be named after him. Bishop Ivo asked Dominic to send some friars to Poland. Since none were available, Dominic invited the Poles to join the order in Rome and promised to send them back to Poland. Thus, Hyacinth, along with a few other Poles, entered the novitiate in Rome and was ordained to the priesthood at the age of twenty. After his profession, he was appointed head of the band of missionary preachers sent into Poland. There he es...

St. Leopold Bogdan Mandic (1866-1942) was a Croatian-born Franciscan priest and noted confessor who spent most of his priestly life in Padua, Italy and was canonized in 1983. On May 12, 1866, in Croatia, a twelfth child was born to Peter and Caroline Mandic. He was named and baptised Bogdan, 'the God-given-one'. Although physically frail, from his youth he showed signs of great spiritual strength and integrity. At the age of 16 years, Bogdan left home for Italy to attend the Seraphic School where he was taught by the Capuchins at Udine and was also an aspirant to the order. Life was not easy for him there, since he was physically malformed and still delicate in health. At the age of 18, Bogdan entered the Capuchin Order as a novice at Bassano del Grappa and took the religious name of Brother Leopold. After his Profession of Vows at 23, he embarked on a course of clerical studies first at Padua and then at Venice. Finally, he was ordained in Venice at the age of 28. In the mid-...

Confessor and hermit on the Nile. Arsenius, who was born in Rome in 354, was the tutor of the children of Emperors Theodosius I the Great, Arcadius, and Honorius. At that time, Arsenius was a Roman deacon recommended for the office by Pope St. Damasus. He served at Theodosius' court in Constantinople for about ten years and then became a monk in Alexandria, Egypt. Inheriting a fortune from a relative, Arsenius studied with St. John the Dwarf and became a hermit in the desert of Egypt. In 434, he left Skete and went to the rock of Troe, near Memphis, Egypt, and to the island of Canopus near Alexandria. He died at Troe. Arsenius is sometimes called "the Roman" or "the Deacon."

John was born in Voltaggio, diocese of Genoa, Italy, in 1698. He was one of four children of Carlo de Rossi and Francesca Anfosi, who were poor, but pious parents. At the age of ten, he was taken in by wealthy friends of the family who saw to it that he was well-educated. At the suggestion of his uncle, Lorenzo de Rossi, a Church Canon, John travelled to Rome to study at the Collegium Romanum, under the Jesuits. He entered the Roman College at 13 and completed the classical course of studies but began practicing severe mortification. This practice, combined with a heavy course load and a bout of epilepsy, led to a breakdown, and he was forced to leave the college. He recuperated and completed his training at Minerva but never fully regained his former strength. At the age of 23 he was ordained (with dispensation, due to his poor health),and celebrated his first Mass in the Roman College. He was assigned to Rome, where he worked with the poor and the sick. He concentrated especially on ...