Daybreak

Saturday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Aidan of Lindisfarne; born in Ireland, may have studied under St. Senan  before becoming a  monk at Iona; became bishop of Lindisfarne and was known for his knowledge of the Bible, his learning, his eloquent preaching, his holiness, his distaste for pomp, his kindness to the poor, and the miracles attributed to him; founded a monaste...

Friday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Jeanne Jugan, 1792-1879; foundress of the Little Sisters of the Poor; born in the French region of Brittany during the French Revolution; at 25, she joined the Congregation of Jesus and Mary; in 1837, she rented a small cottage with two others, where they formed a small community devoted to prayer, helping the poor, and teaching catech...

Thursday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of the Martyrdom of St. John the Baptist Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/29/24 Gospel: Mark 6:17-29

Wednesday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Augustine of Hippo, 354-430; sinner-turned-saint; spent years dabbling in heresy and sin, while his mother prayed and fasted for him; through grace, instruction from St. Ambrose, and God speaking to him through scripture, Augustine became one of the great saints of the early church; he turned, with a holy fierceness, against the decadent...

Tuesday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Monica, 330-387; she became distressed when she learned that her son, Augustine, had accepted the Manichean heresy ("all flesh is evil") and that he was living an immoral life; she prayed and fasted for him; Augustine came under the influence of St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan; at Easter 387, St. Ambrose baptized Augustine and several of h...

Monday of the 21st Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Jeanne-Elisabeth Bichier des Ages, 1773-1838; foundress of the Congregation of the Daughters of the Cross, a disciple  of  St. Andrew Fournet; Jeanne was of noble birth, but she committed herself to the service of oth­ers; her congregation was designed for teaching and hospital service; she died at Le Pay, Poitiers, France, and was can...

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/25/24 Gospel: John 6:60-69

Feast of St. Bartholomew, apostle Saturday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/24/24 Gospel: John 1:45-51

Friday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Rose of Lima, 1586-1617; born to parents of Spanish descent in Lima, Peru; took St. Catherine of Siena as a model; when her parents fell into financial trouble, Rose worked in the garden all day and sewed at night; her parents tried to force her to marry, and forbade her to enter a convent; she continued her life of penance and soli...

Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of the Queenship of Mary Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/22/24 Gospel: Matthew 22:1-14

Wednesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Pope St. Pius X; 1835-1914; became pope at the age of 68; encouraged Italian Catholics to become more politically involved; stood up to France's renunciation of its agreement with the Holy See; denounced the ill treatment of indigenous peoples on the plantations of Peru; sent a relief commission to Messina after an earthquake, and sheltered r...

Tuesday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153; joined the Citeaux abbey at the age of 20; the valley was renamed "Clairvaux," valley of light; Bernard was frequently lured away from the monastery to settle long-standing disputes; he intervened in a full-blown schism and settled it in favor of the Roman pontiff against the antipope; he was called to preac...

Monday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. John Eudes, 1601-1680; found the greatest need to be for seminaries; founded a new order, the Eudists, or Congregation of Jesus and Mary, dedicated to the formation of diocesan clergy; probably best known for the central theme of his writings: Jesus as the source of holiness; Mary as the model of the Christian life Office of Reading...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/18/24 Gospel: John 6:51-58

Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary, 975-1038; born a pagan, baptized at 10; succeeded his father and adopted a policy of Christianizing the country; asked the pope to provide for the church's organization in Hungary. crowned king on Christmas day, 1001; established a system of tithes to support the church; he was easily accessible to all, especiall...

Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven Thursday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/15/24 Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Wednesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, 1894-1941; joined the Conventual Franciscans, and was ordained at 24; founded the Militia of the Immaculata, and the magazine, "Knight of the Immaculata"; in 1939, Fr. Kolbe was arrested by Nazis, but released only three months later; in 1941, Fr. Kolbe was arrested again, and sent to Auschwitz; a prisoner had escaped, a...

Tuesday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of Saints Pontian and Hippolytus, pope and antipope; Pontian was the first pope to abdicate; he struggled with the schismatic movement which supported the  antipope Hippolytus; Pontian was arrested by Roman officials in 235; Hippolytus was reconciled to the church before his martyrdom; both died in 235 Office of Readings and Morning Praye...

Monday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, 1572-1641; married to--and then widowed from--Baron de Chantal, by whom she had six children, three of whom died in infancy; after her husband's death, Jane sank into deep dejection; she met St. Francis de Sales, who became her spiritual director; he told Jane of his plan to found an institute of women that...

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/11/24 Gospel: John 6:41-51

Feast of St. Lawrence, 225-258; a Roman deacon under Pope St. Sixtus II, assigned to care for the material goods of the church; when ordered by the prefect of Rome to turn over the treasures of the church, he gathered a large number of the blind, lame, maimed, leprous, orphaned, and widowed, and said, "These are the treasures of the church"; Lawrence was martyred by being roasted on a gridiron; af...

Friday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, 1891-1942; a brilliant philosopher who stopped believing in God when she was 14, Edith Stein was so captivated by reading the autobiography of Teresa of Avila that she began a spiritual journey that led to her baptism in 1922; twelve years later she imitated Saint Teresa by becoming a Carmelite, taking...

Thursday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Dominic, 1170-1221; on a journey through France, he came face-to-face with the Albigensian heresy, and was commissioned to be part of the preaching crusade against it; Dominic and three Cistercians began itinerant preaching, and eventually became a community, the beginning of the Order of Preachers, or Dominicans; Dominic’s ideal, and that...

Wednesday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of Pope St. Sixtus II; elected pope in 257, and repaired the rift between the sees of  Rome  and  Carthage  that had developed over the issue of  baptism and rebaptism; forbidden to hold services, Sixtus and his deacons worshipped in the cemetery chapel; in 258, soldiers broke into the chapel and beheaded Sixtus, along with four of his...

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord Tuesday of the 18th Week in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 8/6/24 Gospel: Mark 9:2-10