Saint Sylvester I
Sylvester I was pope from the year 314 to 335 — a long pontificate during a crucial period in the history of the Church, right after the Edict of Milan, which gave Christians legal recognition. Yet, despite the importance of the era, Sylvester’s role as bishop of Rome does not stand out as much as […]
Saint Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket, once chancellor of the kingdom and a close companion of King Henry II, changed completely when he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury — a post that also carried the papal legation for England. From that moment, he became a true defender of the Church’s freedom against the claims of the English crown. He […]
The Holy Innocents
This feast is very ancient, although not all Churches celebrate it on the same day. The Roman liturgy calls them Innocentes; in Africa, Spain, and Gaul they preferred to simply call them infantes. Saint Ambrose used the word bimuli, meaning “two-year-olds.” Other terms like pueri or parvuli (children, little ones) do not carry quite the […]
Saint John
Another of the comites Christi (see what we mentioned about Saint Stephen) is Saint John the Evangelist. The feast day of December 27 already appears in 4th-century documents, both in the West and in the East. However, throughout the Church, John has been, and still is, celebrated on different dates. In earlier times, December 27 […]
Saint Stephen
Even though the Acts of the Apostles (chapters 6 and 7) gives great importance to the martyrdom of the most famous among the first seven deacons of the Church, it tells us nothing about the actual date of Stephen’s passion. By the 4th century, however, his feast was already being celebrated very close to the […]
Nativity of the Lord
God has arranged things so that we do not know with precision the two most important dates in history: the birth of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, in Bethlehem, and His death on Calvary near Jerusalem. Christmas is originally a Western feast. It first appeared in Rome during the first half of the 4th […]
Saint John of Kanty
John of Kanty, as he called himself—originally from Kęty, Poland—was born there in 1390. He earned doctorates in both philosophy and theology and, after being ordained a priest, received a canonry in Kraków, where he also taught theology at the university. For a time, he served as tutor to the princes of the Polish royal […]
Saint Peter Canisius
Peter Kanijs (Canisius) was born in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. Against his father’s wishes, he studied theology and also earned the title of magister artium. He always kept a deep love for learning; he edited the works of Saint Cyril of Alexandria, Saint Leo the Great, Hosius of Córdoba, and the letters of Saint Jerome. […]
Saint John of the Cross
John of Yepes was born in Fontiveros (Ávila) into a noble family that had fallen on hard times. At twenty-one, when he became a Carmelite, he took the name John of St. Matthias. After being ordained a priest, he thought of joining the Carthusians, but Saint Teresa of Ávila dissuaded him and won him over […]
Saint Lucy
The Acts of her Passion, written in the 5th century or later, are completely legendary. Still, the historicity of Saint Lucy herself is certain, thanks to the discovery in 1894 of a burial inscription marking her tomb (loculus) in the catacombs of Syracuse. This inscription dates back to the early 5th century and is the […]