St Callistus I was originally a slave. Attempting to flee, he was captured and sentenced to hard labour. Later, he was ordained a deacon. He was given the task of managing a cemetery, which he managed with great wisdom. He was elected Pope in the year 217 and was martyred in about 222 or 223. […]
Today is also the Optional Memoria of St Edward the Confessor, the last but one Anglo-Saxon King of England. It was he who founded Westminster Abbey, and his shrine rests there. He was canonised in 1161 by Pope Alexander III, about a century after his death which was in 1066. May he pray for us, […]
Here is today’s Gospel, from St Luke: ‘When the crowds were increasing, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation; it seeks a sign, but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the men of Nineveh, so will the Son of […]
From our Old Testament reading, from Isaiah: ‘It will be said on that day, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”’ (Isaiah 25:9) There is a sense in which […]
These saints formed part of the second group of missionary monks sent out from Rome in the year 601, to give much needed assistance to St Augustine of Canterbury. Later, St Paulinus became the first bishop of York, and St Mellitus that of London. It is in large measure due to them that the Gospel […]
On 1 November 2025, Pope Leo XIV declared St John Henry Newman a Doctor of the Church. Newman’s long search for truth led him to seek admission to the Catholic Church on this day in 1845. He was received by Blessed Dominic Barberi at Littlemore, near Oxford. He later said: ‘From the time that I […]
Here is our Gospel reading, from St Luke: ‘He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us […]
This Feast was originally called ‘Our Lady of Victory’, to commemorate the victory of the Christian naval fleet over the Ottoman empire on this day in 1571. The then Pope, Pope Pius V, having asked all Christians to pray the Rosary for victory, attributed the victory to Our Lady’s intercession. Pope Gregory XIII, who became […]
St Bruno was born in about 1035. Following his priestly ordination, he responded to a calling from God to live a life of prayer in solitude. Accordingly, he founded the monastery of La Grande Chartreuse, in France, with six companions. The Carthusian Order was and is based on prayer and poverty, combining solitude with a […]
Saint Faustina, who died in 1938 in Krakow, recorded these words in her Diary: ‘In whatever state a soul may be, it ought to pray. A soul which is pure and beautiful must pray, or else it will lose its beauty; a soul which is striving after this purity must pray, or else it will […]