Daybreak

Friday of the Seventh Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Norbert, 1080-1134; founder of the Praemonstratensians or the Norbertines; his founding of the Order was a monumental task: combatting rampant heresies—particularly regarding the Blessed Sacrament, revitalizing many of the faithful who had grown indifferent and dissolute, plus effecting peace and reconciliation among enemies; relu...

Thursday of the Seventh Week of Easter Memorial of St. Boniface, 675-754; an English Benedictine Monk who devoted his life to the evangelization of the German peoples; made a missionary trip in 719, and found paganism a way of life; the Holy Father directed him to reform the German Church, and he was eminently successful; during a final mission to the Frisians, Boniface and 53 companions were mass...

Wednesday of the Seventh Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Petroc; born in Wales, became a monk, and went to Ireland to study; immigrated to Cornwall, England, and after thirty years made a pilgrimage to Rome and Jerusalem, at which time, he is reputed to have reached the Indian Ocean, and spent some time as a hermit on an island; he returned to Cornwall, built a chapel, established a community...

Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and companions; Charles is the patron of youth and Catholic action in most of tropical Africa; he and his companions were martyred by the Bagandan ruler, Mwanga, for refusing his immoral sexual advances; Charles was burned to death on June 3, 1886 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 6/3/25 Gospel: John 17:1-11a

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter Optional Memorial of Saints Marcellinus and Peter; Marcellinus was a priest, and Peter was an exorcist; they were beheaded in the persecution of Diocletian in 304 A.D.; Pope Damasus wrote an epitaph apparently based on the report of their executioner, and Constantine erected a basilica over the crypt in which they were buried in Rome Office of Readings and Morn...

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (in many areas) Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 6/1/25 Gospel: Luke 24:46-53

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/31/25 Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Joan of Arc, 1412-1431; born southeast of Paris, Joan was only twelve when she heard the voices of Saints Michael the Archangel, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret of Antioch; during the Hundred Years War, Joan led French troops against the English and recaptured the cities of Orléans and Troyes; Joan was captured near Compiegne, a...

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (for some dioceses) Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/29/25 Gospel: Luke 24:46:53

Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Bernard of Montjoux, 923-1008; born in Italy, became a priest, and was made vicar general of Aosta, and spent more than four decades doing missionary work in the Alps; he built schools and hospices, but is best remembered for the hospices he built to aid lost travelers; Bernard is the patron of mountaineers, skiiers, and the Alps Office o...

Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury; left Rome in 596 to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons in England; King Ethelbert welcomed him kindly, set up a residence for Augustine and his monks in Canterbury, and was, himself, baptized on Pentecost Sunday, 597; Augustine was consecrated a bishop in France, and returned to Canterbury, where he built a church and m...

Monday of the Sixth Week of Easter Memorial of St. Philip Neri, 1515-1595; moved to Rome at a young age, to devote his life to God; he spent 13 years engaged in prayer and apostolate; laypeople gathered around him, and they met as an informal prayer and discussion group, and also served poor people in Rome; at the urging of his confessor, Philip was ordained a priest and soon became an outstanding...

Sixth Sunday of Easter Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/25/25 Gospel: John 14:23-29

Saturday of the Fifth Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Joanna; wife of Chuza, steward of King Herod Antipas; she was one of the women who helped provide for Jesus and the apostles; she was also one of the three women who discovered the empty  tomb  of  Jesus  on the first  Easter  morning Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/24/25 Gospel: John 16:20-23

Friday of the Fifth Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Crispin of Viterbo, 1668-1750; born in Viterbo, Italy, studied, at the Jesuit college, and became a shoemaker; joined the Capuchin Franciscans at the age of 25, and served as gardener and cook; he called himself "the little beast of burden of the Capuchins"; during an epidemic, he effected many miraculous cures; he was also venerated for pro...

Thursday of the Fifth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Rita of Cascia, 1381-1457; born in central Italy, and wanted to become a nun, but was pressured into marrying a harsh and cruel man; she bore and raised two sons; after her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons died, she became an Augustinian nun; her austerity, prayerfulness, and charity became legendary; she frequently meditated...

Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Christopher Magallanes (1869-1927) and companions; they lived under a very anti-Catholic government in Mexico, one determined to weaken the Catholic faith of its people; churches, schools, and seminaries were closed; foreign clergy were expelled; Cristópher established a clandestine seminary; he and the other priests were forced...

Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Bernardine of Siena, 1380-1444; ran the hospital in Siena at the age of 20, during the plague; at 22, he became a Franciscan, and was ordained two years later; lived in solitude and prayer for a dozen years, but his gifts called him to go out and preach; he was known for his devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus, and devised a symbol—...

Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Pudentiana; legend has her as the daughter of the Roman senator named in St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy who gave away her wealth to the poor, aided the burials of Christians, and died at the age of sixteen Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/19/25 Gospel: John 14:21-26

Fifth Sunday of Easter Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/18/25 Gospel: John 13:31-35

Friday of the Fourth Week of Easter Saint of the Day: St. Simon Stock; brought the Carmelite order from the Holy Land to Europe, and changed it from a hermit order to one of mendicant friars; received an apparition from the Blessed Mother in 1251, in which she gave him the brown scapular Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/16/25 Gospel: John 14:1-6

Thursday of the Fourth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Isidore the Famer, 1070-1130; born in Madrid, Spain, and spent most of life as a laborer on a farm outside of the city; he was favored with celestial visions, and it is said that angels sometimes assisted with his field work; he the patron of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in the United States Office of Readings and Mornin...

Feast of St. Matthias; after the Ascension, Matthias was chosen to replace Judas in the college of Apostles Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Easter Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/14/25 Gospel: John 15:9-17

Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Fatima Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/13/25 Gospel: John 10:22-30

Monday of the Fourth Week of Easter Optional Memorial of St. Pancras; born at the end of the Third Century, and brought up by an uncle; they both became Christians; Pancras, age 14, was beheaded in the persecution of Diocletian; he is highly venerated in England Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 5/12/25 Gospel: John 10:1-10