Feast days
Feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (November 21)
(From the writings of Saint John Eudes) All Doctors of the Catholic Church hold that the most Holy Virgin was only three years old when she left the house of her father and mother to be presented to God in the Temple of Jerusalem. This departure from the home of her parents is closely related to…
Read MoreFeast of the Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (October 11)
(Homily of Saint Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, Father and Doctor of the Church) I see here a joyful company of Christian men met together in ready response to the call of Mary, the Holy and ever-Virgin Mother of God. The great grief that weighed upon me is changed into joy by your presence, venerable Fathers.…
Read MoreFeast of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary (October 7)
(Excerpts from the writings of Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort) Ever since Saint Dominic established the devotion to the Holy Rosary (given to him by Our Lady in 1214) up until the time when Blessed Alan de la Roche re-established it in 1460, the Holy Rosary has always been called the Psalter of Jesus…
Read MoreFeast of Saint Michael the Archangel (September 29)
Prayers to Saint Michael. (A Sermon of Pope Saint Gregory the Great) We speak of nine orders of Angels, because we know, by the testimony of Holy Scripture, that there are the following: Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Thrones, Cherubim and Seraphim. Nearly every page of Scripture witnesses to the fact that there are…
Read MoreFeast of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sept. 15)
[Sermon of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church] The martyrdom of the Virgin is set before us both in Simeon’s prophecy and in the narrative of the Lord’s Passion. “This Child is destined,” the holy elderly man said of the Child Jesus, “for a sign that shall be contradicted; and thine own soul,”…
Read MoreFeast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14)
[Homily of Pope Saint Leo the Great] When Christ is exalted on the Cross, beloved brethren , do not let only those things which the ungodly have seen, come to the sight of your mind. For to them it was said through Moses, “And your life will be hanging before your eyes and you will…
Read MoreFeast of the Most Holy Name of Mary (September 12)
[Excerpts from the writings of Saint John Eudes] There are (special) qualities which the holy Doctors of the Church attribute to the Sacred Name of Mary, which are very consoling to us. Saint Epiphanius tells us that “Mary is the prodigious and admirable treasure of the Church.” “She is an inexhaustible treasure of grace and…
Read MoreFeast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8)
( A Sermon of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Father and Doctor of the Church) The hoped-for day of the Blessed and Venerable Mary ever a Virgin has now come; therefore let our earth rejoice with great gladness, illuminated by the birth of so great a Virgin. For she is the flower of the field…
Read MoreFeast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (August 22)
(Sermon of Saint Bernadine of Siena) What mortal man, unless he were protected by a divine pronouncement, would presume with his uncircumcised, his impure lips to speak briefly or at length about the true Mother of God and man – about her whom God the Father predestined before all ages to be a perpetual Virgin,…
Read MoreFeast Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15)
(Homily of Saint Peter Canisius, Doctor of the Church) The Church both reverently and frequently celebrates Feasts of the Mother of God. For She knows with certainty that it is a work pleasing to God and worthy of the faithful to honor, among all the Saints, the most saintly Mother of Our Lord and God…
Read MoreFeast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (19 days after Pentecost)
(Homily of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church) One of the soldiers thrust a lance into the side of Christ; and Divine Pro vidence had reasons for permitting this: that from the Sacred Side of Jesus Christ, the New Adam, as He slept on the Cross, there might be formed the Church, the…
Read MoreFeast Of The Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen (May 31)
(Homily of Saint Bonaventure, Doctor of the Church) The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Mother of the great King by reason of a noble kind of Conception, according to the message given her by the Angel. “Behold,” he said, “thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and thou shalt bring forth a Son”; and again, “The…
Read MoreFeast of the Epiphany of Our Lord Jesus Christ (January 6)
[Pope Saint Leo the Great] Rejoice in the Lord, my dearly beloved brethren; again I say, rejoice. For it is but a few days since the solemnity of the Birth of Christ, and the world is already illumined by the Feast of His manifestation. On this Feast Day the world acknowledges Him Who was born…
Read MoreFeast of The Most Holy Name of Jesus (Jan. 2 or First Sunday of the Year)
[Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot, Doctor and Father of the Church] Not in vain does the Holy Ghost compare the Name of the Bridegroom with oil when He makes the bride say to the Bridegroom, “Thy Name is an oil poured out.” For oil gives light, nourishment, and ointment. It feeds the flame, nourishes…
Read MoreOctave of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (January 1)
Octave of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (January 1) [Saint Augustine, Bishop, Doctor and Father of the Church] And so the Child is circumcised. Who is this Child but He of Whom it was said, “A Child is born to us, a Son is given us”? He became as one under the Law…
Read MoreNativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ (December 25)
1 First Mass of Christmas: [Pope Saint Gregory the Great] “By God’s generosity, we shall be celebrating three Masses today, and so we cannot speak at length on the Gospel reading. But the Birthday of our Redeemer demands that we say something, however briefly. Why is it that when our Lord was to be born…
Read More