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Thursday of the Third Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. Peter Canisius, 1521-1597; born in Holland; he had edited and written several volumes on Church history and theology, been a delegate to the Council of Trent, and reformed the German  universities from heresy; he was called to Vienna to reform their university, and administered the diocese for a year; in 1565, the pope called on him to...

Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Dominic of Silos, 1000-1073; Benedictine abbot who refused to surrender some of the order's lands to the crown, so he was exiled to Castile; King Ferdinand I made him  abbot  of  St. Sebastian   Abbey at Silos, now called St. Dominic's; Dominic reformed the abbey, built the cloisters in Romanesque style, and started a  scriptorium that be...

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Anastasius I; a Roman by birth, elected pope in 399; he was among the first to condemn the works of Origen; he also urged the church in North  Africa to continue its struggle against Donatism; died in 401 and was buried in the cemetery of Pontian Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/19/23 Gospel: Luke 1:5-25

Monday of the Third Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Winebald; born in Wessex, England, the brother of Saints Willibald and Walburga; traveled to Rome, and at the invitation of St. Boniface, gathered together a group of English missionaries and went to  Germany in 739; with his brother, he founded the monastery of Heidenheim, Germany, where he served as abbot with his sister as abbess; helped...

Third Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/17/23 Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28

Saturday of the Second Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Adelaide, 932-999; entered an arranged marriage at about 15 to Lothair of Italy; when Lothair died, his successor tried to force Adelaide to marry his son; she appealed to Otto of Germany, who conquered Italy and married Adelaide; the two became rulers of the Holy Roman Empire; after Otto's death, Adelaide established many monasteries and...

Friday of the Second Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Maria Crocifissa di Rosa, 1813-1855; born in Brescia, Italy; cared for the spiritual needs of young girls working in her father's mills, volunteered at the Brescia hospital during the cholera epidemic of 1836, and founded a home for girls and a school for deaf mutes; in 1840, she became superior of a group of religious who cared for the sic...

Thursday of the Second Week of Advent Memorial of St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591; Carmelite priest who, along with Teresa of Avila, vowed himself to the primitive rule; in his efforts at reform of the order, he encountered increasing opposition, misunderstanding, persecution, and imprisonment; in prison, his spirit came into the light, revealing him as a mystic-poet; John died at the age of 49 O...

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent Memorial of St. Lucy, virgin and martyr; lived in Syracuse, and was martyred in the persecution of Christians in the early Fourth Century; legend has it that her mother arranged for her to marry a pagan, after she had promised her life to Christ; Lucy prayed to St. Agatha, who appeared to Lucy in a dream, said that Lucy's mother would be cured of her illness,...

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/12/23 Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

Monday of the Second Week of Advent Optional Memorial of Pope St. Damasus I, 304-384; when elected pope, Damasus had to endure the existence of an antipope, Ursinus, elected and consecrated by a minority; this resulted in violent battles between two basilicas; supporters of the antipope even had Damasus accused of a grave crime, from which he had to clear himself in civil court and a Church synod;...

Second Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/10/23 Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

Saturday of the First Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. Juan Diego, 1474-1548; Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531; the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady; in time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish, and compassionate catechist, who taught by word and especially b...

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Friday of the First Week of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/8/23 Gospel: Luke 1:26-38

Thursday of the First Week of Advent Memorial of St. Ambrose, 337-397; he was an otherworldly man involved in the great issues of his day; in his disputes with the Emperor Auxentius, he coined the principle: “The emperor is in the Church, not above the Church”; Ambrose was largely responsible for the conversion of St. Augustine Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/7/23 Gospel: Matthew 7:21...

Wednesday of the First Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. Nicholas, 270-343; Fourth-Century bishop of Myra, a city in Lycia, a province of Asia Minor; the best known legend of St. Nicholas has him secretly helping a poor man to provide dowries for his marriage-age daughters; by a twist of the tongue, St. Nicholas, in legend, became Santa Claus Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/6/23...

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Sabas, 439-532; became a monk at the age of 18, and was allowed to live in a remote cave for five days per week at the age of 30; moved farther into the desert, and was followed by some men who desired to join him in solitude; over the years, he traveled throughout Palestine, preaching the true faith and successfully bringing back many to t...

Monday of the First Week of Advent Optional Memorial of St. John Damascene, 676-749; famous for his writings against the iconoclasts, who opposed the veneration of images; for his treatise,  Exposition of the Orthodox Faith , a summary of the Greek Fathers, of which he became the last; and he is known as a poet, one of the two greatest of the Eastern Church Office of Readings and Morning Prayer fo...

First Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/3/23 Gospel: Mark 13:33-37

Saturday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Bibiana, virgin and martyr; Bibiana and her sister Demetria suffered under the persecution of the Roman governor, Apronianus in the latter half of the Fourth Century; they were stripped of possessions, but remained in their house, praying and fasting; Apronianus summoned them, and Demetria professed her faith and fell dead at his fee...

Friday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Edmund Campion, 1540-1581; Jesuit convert to the Catholic faith; in England, he preached one to three times a day, mentally preparing his homilies while traveling on horseback, winning many converts; captured by Elizabethan authorities in July 1581, tortured on a rack, and sentenced to death Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12...

Feast of St. Andrew, apostle; brother of St. Peter; reputed to have preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras in about 60 A.D. on an X-shaped cross Thursday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/30/23 Gospel: Matthew 4:18-22

Wednesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Radbod of Utrecht, 850-917; became bishop of Utrecht, Holland, in 900; known for his aid to the poor, and for his poetry; died in France, where he was forced to move, due to an invasion by the Danes Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/29/23 Gospel: Luke 21:12-19

Tuesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Catherine Labouré, 1806-1867; became a member of the Daughters of Charity, and received two visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary; in the second one, she showed Catherine an image, and asked that it be struck on a medal; after her confessor took the story to the archbishop, he had 2,000 Miraculous Medals struck; Catherine spent the next...

Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. James Intercisus; a Christian, and a favorite of King Yezdigerd I of Persia; Yezdigerd launched a persecution of Christians, and James apostasized; he later repented, and was executed in 420 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/27/23 Gospel: Luke 21:1-4