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...

Today, June 23, we honor St. Joseph Cafasso, an Italian priest who was a social reformer in Turin during the 19th century. He is the patron of prison chaplains, captives, and prisoners. He was born on January 15, 1811 in northern Italy, about twenty miles from Turin. Joseph Cafasso was the third child of a family of four. His parents, who were known for their charity to the poor, were small farmers who had to supplement their scanty income by working on neighboring farms. Although he was born with a deformed spine, Joseph did not allow this defect to influence his need to do penance. Even in his childhood he had certain days set apart for penance, and he fasted every Saturday in honor of Our Blessed Lady. He also attended daily Mass, at which he often served. He was gifted with a keen intellect and a good memory, and was first in his class at school. He was ordained a priest in 1833 at the age of twenty-two. After Ordination, he was selected to be an assistant professor of mo...

Today we celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe -- one of my favorite Marian feast days. Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, brings hope into our lives. She covers us in the folds of her heavenly mantle and cradles us. She is the Mother who tenderly consoles us and protects us from evil. She is the one who carries Divine Life within her and crushed the head of the wicked serpent. She brings us life and love; hope and healing. She brought conversion to Mexico and will renew the Americas again if we pray for her intercession. History Five centuries ago, in the country now known as Mexico, senseless human sacrifices were performed. Between 20,000 and 50,000 human beings were murdered a year in the Aztec empire. Most of them were slaves and included men, as well as women, and children. An early Mexican historian estimated that one out of every five children in Mexico was sacrificed to the gods. The climax of these ritualistic killings came in 1487 when a new...

The sad story of Jahi McMath, a 13-year-old girl from California, who went into cardiac arrest after complications from a tonsillectomy last month and was declared brain dead on Dec. 12, has brought  much public attention to the difficult moral, legal and spiritual questions that all families face when a loved one is dying. Here is a timeline of the events that occurred in her case. Father Jonathan Morris weighs in on Jahi McMath case: Here is the opinion of one WV physician. However, another physician challenges this opinion. Dr. Paul Byrne, a prominent Catholic pediatrician, visited the child in the hospital and “observed her responding to her grandmother’s voice and touch with a squirming movement,” according to The Associated Press. “In my opinion, this signifies she is not dead,” Dr. Byrne said. “She should receive treatment as she is alive just like everyone else with severe head injury. If she gets treatment, she will have a chance to recover brain function.”...

Obama and McCain face off on the issue of abortion.

This is a beautiful, inspiring video from our Franciscan lay brother, Steve Silvia . "Start by doing what is necessary, than do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible." ~St Francis of Assisi

American Life League introduces its latest latest tool in the fight against the Culture of Death, "Baby Steps" with 7 additional language tracks. Check out this "window to the womb," proving the personhood of every preborn baby at every stage of life from the very beginning.

"In order to love and serve God, it is not necessary to do extraordinary things. Christ asks all men without exception to be perfect as His heavenly Father is perfect (cf. Mt 5: 48). For the great majority of men, to be holy consists of sanctifying their work, to sanctify themselves in their work, to sanctify others with work, and also to find God on the road of their life." ~ St. Josemaria - Escriva, Founder of Opus Dei