Blessed Maria Luiza Merkert (1817–1872) stands as a luminous example of Christian charity in the 19th century, embodying the Gospel call to serve "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40). Born on September 21, 1817, in Nysa (then Neisse, Prussia, now in Poland), she was the second

'He who goes about to take the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass from the Church plots no less a calamity than if he tried to snatch the sun from the universe.' (St. John Fisher)

PURGATORIAN MANUAL: FOURTEENTH DAY—THE SPECIAL DUTY OF CHILDREN TOWARDS THEIR DECEASED PARENTS "Honor thy father, and forget not the groanings of thy mother. Remember that thou hadst not been born but through them, and make a return to them ; as they have done for thee." (Eccl.

A new Gallup poll finds that only 49% of Americans say that religion is important in their lives—showing a dramatic decline of 17% in the past decade. washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/…

Conversation with God and with Men 1. Let us recall again the sentence in which “The Imitation of Christ” paraphrases an idea of Seneca. (Ep. 7) “As often as I have been amongst men, I have returned less a man.” (Bk. I, c. xx, 2) The writer goes on to explain what he means by

Today the Church celebrates the Memorial of St. Albert the Great (1206-1280). Albert, the "light of Germany," called the Great because of his encyclopedic knowledge, was born in 1193 at Lauingen, Donau. He studied at Padua, where under the influence of the second Dominican

Saint Liutpold III, known in English as Saint Leopold III and revered as "Leopold the Good," stands as one of the most venerated figures in Austrian history. Born around 1073 in the Babenberg family castle near Melk, Austria, Liutpold was the son of Margrave Leopold II and a

In the turbulent landscape of 19th-century France, where political upheaval and personal loss intertwined, Hélène Marie Philippine de Chappotin de Neuville emerged as a beacon of unyielding faith. Born on May 21, 1839, in Nantes to a noble Catholic family—her father an engineer

In the shadowed annals of World War II, where the clamor of war drowned out cries for mercy, figures like Venerable Placido Cortese emerged as beacons of quiet defiance. Born Nicolò Matteo Cortese on March 7, 1907, in the coastal town of Cres—then part of the Austro-Hungarian

Few stories evoke the raw brutality of ideological hatred as profoundly as that of Blessed Juan Duarte Martín, a young Spanish deacon whose life and death became a testament to unwavering fidelity during the Spanish Civil War. Born on March 17, 1912, in the rural village of

The University of Notre Dame drops explicit "support for Catholic mission" from new staff values list. Now it's just an "umbrella" over vague terms like Community and Innovation. ndsmcobserver.com/article/2025/1…

PURGATORIAN MANUAL: SIXTEENTH DAY—THE EFFICACY OF PRAYER FOR THE SUFFERING SOULS "It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from their sins." ( 2 Mach., xii. 46. ) Prayer for the dead is holy because pleasing to God; wholesome, because

In the vast, untamed frontiers of 17th-century South America, where the Río de la Plata basin stretched across what are now Paraguay, Argentina, and southern Brazil, a trio of Jesuit missionaries embodied the collision of European evangelism, indigenous resistance, and colonial

In Catholic devotion, few titles evoke such profound tenderness and hope as Salus Infirmorum—Latin for "Health of the Sick." This invocation is rooted in centuries of prayer and pilgrimage, Salus Infirmorum encapsulating the Blessed Virgin Mary's role as a maternal intercessor,

St. Gertrude the Great (1256–1302) is the only woman in the Catholic tradition to bear the epithet "the Great." Born on January 6, 1256—the Feast of the Epiphany—in the modest town of Eisleben in Thuringia, Germany, Gertrude entered the world amid the intellectual and spiritual

St. Margaret of Scotland was born in Hungary (1046), where her father was living in exile, and likewise spent her childhood there as an unusually devout and pious girl. In the course of time she went to England, when her father was called to high office in his fatherland by his

New Yorkers are turning to Catholicism as priests report a surge in converts. trib.al/NOQPpCt

'Be of good courage, for neither grace nor the help of the Sacred Heart will be wanting to you. Our Lord wishes to save you; He will not let you perish as long as you do not willfully do what you know displeases Him.' (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque)

Evil Literature 1. As far back as 1886 Leo XIII in his Encyclical "Pergrata Nobis" deplored the extent to which evil literature was perverting morals and insidiously attacking the faith. Elsewhere he wrote: "Every day we see new falsehoods emerging with unbelievable audacity,