Catholic Fire

By Jean M. Heimann On November 15, the Church celebrates St. Albert the Great, "the light of Germany", uniquely named the “Universal Doctor” because of his vast knowledge and writings. He was the greatest German philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages. A Dominican priest and the Bishop of Regensburg, Germany, he was the first of the medieval academics to apply Aristotle’s philosophy to Christian thought. Albert was born in Lauingen on the Danube, near Ulm, Germany in 1206 to a knight from a noble family. As a young man, he studied at the University of Padua and there he met Blessed Jordan of Saxony, the Dominican who made the rounds of the universities of Europe, attracting the best young men of the universities into the Dominicans. At age 16, Albert entered the Dominican Order and was ordained a priest in 1228. He was then sent to teach in Cologne, where he was renown for his lectures on the Sentences of Peter Lombard. After several teaching assignments in h...

Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor. He is regarded as one of the most important of the Western Fathers of the Church. St. Leo the Great (d. 461) was born in Rome of Italian nobility. As a deacon of the Church, he opposed the heresy of Pelagianism, which taught that grace was not necessary for salvation, but was rather a bonus that God granted to those who earned it by their good works. He was elevated to the office of Pope in 440 and reigned as pope for twenty-one years. As pope, St. Leo labored strenuously to safeguard the integrity of the faith and vigorously defended the unity of the Church. He affirmed the full divinity and humanity of Christ. His most famous writing, commonly known as the Tome of St. Leo (449), was the basis of the Council of Chalcedon's dogmatic definition of Christ as one Divine Person possessing two complete natures, human and divine. When Attila the Hun marched on Rome, Leo went out to meet him and pleade...

November 4 is the memorial of St. Charles Borromeo (1538 - 15840), Bishop of Milan and one of the great reformers of the sixteenth century. He is is the patron of catechists, catechumens, spiritual directors, and spiritual leaders. Charles was born at the Castle of Arona in northern Italy to wealthy and powerful parents. His father, Count Gilbert Borromeo, was a man of virtue and skill, and his mother was a member of the famous Medici family of Milan, sister of Angelo de Medici, who was to become Pope Pius IV. Raised in a pious family, Charles was deeply devoted to the Passion of Christ and to the Blessed Mother. He received the clerical tonsure at age twelve and was educated at the Benedict Abbey of Saints Gratian and Felinus. He earned a doctorate in civil and canon law at the University of Pavia. When his uncle, Cardinal de Medici, was elected pope in 1559, as Pius IV, Charles was made cardinal-deacon and administrator to the archdiocese of Milan while still a lay person a...

On November 3, we celebrate the feast of St Martin de Porres, a Peruvian Dominican Brother whose life of charity and devotion led to his canonization as the first black saint of the Americas. Martin was born in Lima, Peru in 1579, the son of a Spanish knight, Don Juan de Porres and the former Panamanian slave Ana Velazquez. His father initially refused to acknowledge the boy publicly as his own, because Martin, like his mother, was black. Though Martin's father later helped to provide for his education, his son faced difficulties because of his family background. At age 12, Martin studied to be a barber, which at that time meant he was also a druggist, a physician and a surgeon. Once trained, he began to use his skills to serve the poor. He became very well known for his compassion and skill as a barber, and cared for many people as well as animals. Martin was a pious child, who began praying at a young age. He had a deep devotion to our Lord’s Passion, and prayed for di...

On October 31, we celebrate the eve of All Saints. Pope Sixtus IV in 1484 established November 1, the feast of All Saints, as a holy day of obligation and gave it both a vigil (known today as "All Hallows' Eve" or "Hallowe'en") and an eight-day period or octave to celebrate the feast. By 1955, the octave of All Saints was removed. All Hallows' Eve Halloween or All Hallows' Eve is not a liturgical feast on the Catholic calendar, but the celebration has deep ties to the Liturgical Year. These three consecutive days — Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day — illustrate the Communion of Saints. The Church Militant (those on earth, striving to get to heaven) pray for the Church Suffering (those souls in Purgatory) especially on All Souls Day and the month of November. We also rejoice and honor the Church Triumphant (the saints, canonized and uncanonized) in heaven. We also ask the Saints to intercede for us, and for the souls in Purgatory. ...

October 28 is the feast of Sts. Simon and Jude, apostles and martyrs. The name of St. Simon usually appears eleventh in the list of the apostles. The first cousin of Jesus, he was born at Cana and is surnamed "The Zealot." He preached in Egypt, Spain, and Libya, leaving behind him the fertile hills of Galilee, where he had been engaged in the healthful cultivation of the vineyards and olive gardens. He later rejoined his brother, Saint Jude, in Persia, where they preached and died as martyrs together. He is the patron of tanners and woodcutters. St. Jude, also called Thaddeus or "Courageous", is the author of the short epistle in the New Testament. He was the apostle who asked the Lord at the Last Supper why he had manifested himself only to the disciples and not to the whole world (John 14:22). He was the son of Cleophas and the woman named Mary who stood with the Blessed Virgin Mary at the foot of the Cross as Our Lord was redeeming the world. He is ...

By Jean M. Heimann Blessed Bartholomew was born circa 1200 at Vicenza, Italy Vicenza in Northern Italy, and belonged to the noble family of Breganza. He received the habit of the order from Saint Dominic's own hands on occasion of the holy founder’s visit to Vicenza in 1220. He was a very virtuous man and within a short time, he became prior of the monastery, effectively overseeing several monasteries with great wisdom and fruitfulness. Seven years later, he became Master of the Sacred Palace, an office which had been first held by Saint Dominic himself. It was during this period that Blessed Bartholomew composed his scholarly commentary on the work of Saint Denis, entitled "From the Heavenly Hierarchy.”  In 1246, Pope Innocent IV appointed Blessed Bartholomew as Bishop of Cyprus, were he served for two years. He was then sent as Papal Legate to King Louis IX of France, who was then carrying on the Crusade against the infidels. The two saints became good friends and ...

October 15 is the feast of St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), virgin and Doctor of the Church. She helped reform the Carmelite order and founded seventeen monasteries. Teresa de Ahumada y Cepeda was born in Avila, Castile, Spain, on March 28, 1515.  Her family was prominent, as her father was a wealthy merchant.  Teresa was the "most beloved" among her nine brothers and sisters.  From her youth, she showed great zeal and piety, as well as courage.  However, the one trait of Teresa that stood out the most was her strong will.  When she was seven years old, St. Teresa ran away with her brother to the land occupied by the Moors in hopes of attaining the crown of martyrdom.  However, they only made it a few miles down the road. Teresa was considered by all those around her to be exceptionally beautiful. She also had an irresistible charm, a sharp wit, a kind nature, and was lively and animated. She was extroverted and sociable. Everyone loved to be around...

October 12 is the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar -- the Blessed Virgin Mary's first apparition in history. The Blessed Mother appeared to Saint James the Apostle, the brother of Saint John the Evangelist, on the bank of the river Ebro in Saragossa, Spain. Unlike every other recorded apparition, this one took place during the earthly life of the Mother of God. Our Lady of the Pillar is the patroness of Spain and all Hispanic peoples. Seven years after the death of Jesus, St. James reportedly traveled as far west as Spain to the village of Saragossa in northeast Spain. St. James became disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition tells us that on January 2, 40 A.D. while he was deep in prayer, the Blessed Mother appeared to him and gave him a small wooden statue of herself and a column of jasper wood and instructed him to build a church in her honor: "This place is to be my house, and this image and column shall be the title and altar of the temple that y...

On October 6, we celebrate the feast of St. St. Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian order. He was born at Cologne, Germany around 1030. He studied at the school of the Cathedral of Rheims (France) at an early age. He became Canon of the Cathedral and was made the Rector of the University in 1056. Bruno was one of the most remarkable scholars and teacher of his time: "...a prudent man whose word was rich in meaning." Following an attempt at a solitary life of short duration, he entered the region of Grenoble, where the Bishop, the future Saint Hugues, offered him a solitary site in the mountains of his diocese. In June 1084, the Bishop himself led Bruno and six of his companions to the primitive valley of Chartreuse on a wild mountain range on the edge of the French Alps. There they built a hermitage, consisting of a few log cabins opening towards a gallery which allowed them access to the communal areas of the community -- church, refectory, and chapter room -- without...

“Mankind will not have peace until it turns to the Fount of My Mercy.” -- Words from our Lord to St. Maria Faustina Kowalska WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 3, 2016 – Today the world faces unprecedented global financial crises, record-breaking natural disasters, global terrorism and the greatest exodus of refugees to Europe since World War II. Our world is also under great threats from countries like Iran, North Korea and China. With the closing of Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy, and to help combat these grave threats, a grassroots coalition of Catholic organizations worldwide is mobilizing for the 24th International Week of Prayer and Fasting (IWOPF), from Oct. 2 – 10, 2016. This year the Coalition is joining together with the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy and Priests for Life and other groups. They are uniting to pray and fast for the following goals: Conversion of peoples and nations To build a culture of life To defend the sanctity of marriage and family life For pe...

October 3 is the feast of St. Mother Theodore Guérin (also known as Anne-Thérèse Guérin) was born Oct. 2, 1798, in the village of Etables, France. Her devotion to God and to the Roman Catholic Church began when she was a young child. She was allowed to receive her First Communion at the age of 10 and, at that time, told the parish priest that someday she would be a nun. The child Anne-Thérèse often sought solitude along the rocky shore near her home, where she devoted hours to meditation, reflection and prayer. Anne-Thérèse’s father, Laurent, who served in Napoleon’s navy, was away from home for years at a time. When Anne-Thérèse was 15 years old, her father was murdered by bandits as he traveled home to visit his family. The loss of her husband nearly overwhelmed Isabelle and, for many years, Anne-Thérèse bore the responsibility of caring for her mother and her young sister, as well as the family’s home and garden. Anne-Thérèse was nearly 25 years old when she entered the ...

September 30 is the feast of St. Jerome, a Father and Doctor of the Church. Translator of the Bible into its official Latin version (the Vulgate), brilliant scholar, monk, traveler, teacher, letter writer, and consultant to Popes and Bishops, St.Jerome is one of the most important figures in the history of the Church. St. Jerome was born in Dalmatia (near Aquileia, north of Rome) around 340 to a wealthy Christian family. At the age of 20, Jerome was sent to study in Rome, where he became fluent in Latin and Greek and developed a love for the classical writers. Here he acquired many worldly ideas, made little effort to control his pleasure-loving instincts, and lost much of the piety that had been instilled in him at home. He travelled throughout western Europe with a friend but that ceased when he had a conversion experience in Trier and decided to become a monk. He joined a community in Aquileia in 370, where he met some who would become his close friends and others his enemies....

The saint of the day for September 28 is Saint Lorenzo (Lawrence) Ruiz (1600-1637), a husband and father, the first saint of the Philippines and the first Filipino martyred for the Christian Faith.  He and 15 others were martyred at Nagasaki, Japan in 1637. The group included two consecrated women, two other laymen, two brothers and nine priests. Lorenzo Ruiz was born at Binondo, Manila, Philippines to a Chinese Father and a Filipino mother who were both Catholic.  Educated by the Dominicans, he was a devoted and active Catholic, a member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary, and a third order Dominican.  He was a husband and father of two sons and a daughter. In 1636, while working as a clerk for the Church, Lorenzo was falsely accused of murder and forced to leave his country. The Dominican fathers who knew Lorenzo arranged to have him take a ship to Japan. Soon after arriving in Japan, Lorenzo was captured for being Catholic and brought to Nagasaki, where he...

Saint Cosmas and Saint Damian Dressing a Chest Wound by Antoine de Favray Photo Credit: Welcome Library September 26 is the optional memorial of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. Cosmas and Damian were twin bothers born in Syria in the third century. They were also doctors, and they became known as “the holy money-less ones" because they cared for the sick free of charge. The strange practice of accepting no money for medical care was their way of embodying God’s providential love and care for his people. And folks took notice.           The twin brothers were arrested on September 27, during the persecution of Christians by Diocletian in 303. Soon after, the faithful brothers defied death by water, fire and crucifixion before they were finally beheaded in Cilicia, along with their three brothers. They were buried in Cyrrhus, Syria.         Veneration to Cosmas and Damian began immediately. The faithful asked for their intercession, espec...

On September 12, the Church celebrates the feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary to teach us how useful and advantageous it is for us to invoke her holy name in our needs. The name Mary by which we honor the Most Blessed Virgin means "Star of the Sea". It is, says Saint Bernard, very well given to her, because she is indeed a star which enlightens, guides, and leads us to a harbor in the stormy sea of this world. The feast of the Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary was first observed in Cuenca, Spain in 1513.  In 1683, Pope Innocent XI extended the celebration of the feast day to the universal Church, to be celebrated on September 12th, four days after the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Mother.  With the revisions of the Roman Missal in 1970 following the Vatican Council II, the feast day was removed from the universal calendar, although the Votive Mass remained.  However, Pope John Paul II in the third edition of the Roman Missal, issued...

On September 7, we celebrate the feast day of Saint Regina (also known as Saint Reine, died in 386), virgin and martyr. Saint Regina is the patron saint against poverty and patroness of torture victims. Tradition tells us that Regina was born in the third century in eastern France. Her mother died in childbirth, and she was left to be raised by her father, Clement Alise, a wealthy pagan. He placed her in the care of a Christian nurse, who secretly baptized her. When her father learned of her Christianity, he threw her out of the house and forced her to live with the nurse who raised her. Due to the family’s poverty, Regina helped out by working as a shepherdess. When she was fifteen, the local prefect, Olybrius, became captivated with her and insisted that she marry him. When she refused, she was arrested as a Christian, tortured, and beheaded. In art, Regina is portrayed as a maiden bound to a cross with torches applied to her sides, imprisoned with a dove appearing on a shi...

Today marks the feast day of Saint Teresa of Calcutta - a beautiful servant of God who is one of our most celebrated mothers and a universal symbol of God's merciful and preferential love for the poor and forgotten. She has been widely known as both a model of mercy and of charity. There is no one more renowned for practicing the heroic virtue of charity than Blessed Teresa of Calcutta! A diminutive figure, just under five feet tall, she gave every ounce of strength she had to care for the poorest of the poor with love, prayer, and all the gifts God had given her. Mother Teresa’s parents named her Agnes—or Gonxha in her own language. One of four children born to an Albanian chemist and his wife, Agnes had a comfortable childhood. However, when she was about eight years old, her father died suddenly, which left the family in financial straits.  At the age of twelve, Agnes felt called to religious life to help the sick and the poor, and by the age of fifteen, she had focuse...

The month of September is traditionally dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary with the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows being commemorated on September 15. The feast of Our Lady of Sorrows commemorates the seven great sorrows which Mary lived in relation to her Son, as they are recorded in the Gospels or through tradition. The Seven Sorrows are: the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into Egypt, the loss of the Holy Child at Jerusalem for three days, meeting Jesus on his way to Calvary, standing at the foot of the Cross, Jesus being taken down from the Cross, and the burial of Christ. Devotion to the sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary dates back to the twelfth century, when it was first established in monastic circles under the influence of St. Anselm and St. Bernard. The Cistercians and then the Servites started to spread it. It was widely embraced during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, especially in the Rhineland and Flanders, where Confraternities of the Sorrowful Mothe...

The saint of the day for August 30 is St. Jeanne Jugan (1792 – 1879), also known as Sister Mary of the Cross. During the 19th century, she founded the Little Sisters of the Poor with the goal of imitating Christ's humility through service to elderly people in need. Born on Oct. 25, 1792 in a port city of the French region of Brittany, Jeanne Jugan grew up during the political and religious upheavals of the French Revolution. Four years after she was born, her father was lost at sea. Her mother struggled to provide for Jeanne and her three siblings, while also providing them secretly with religious instruction amid the anti-Catholic persecutions of the day. Jeanne worked as a shepherdess, and later as a domestic servant. At age 18, and again six years later, she declined two marriage proposals from the same man. She told her mother that God had other plans, and was calling her to "a work which is not yet founded." At age 25, the young woman joined the Third Order...