Daybreak

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of the Seven Founders of the Order of Servites; in 1240, seven noblemen of Florence mutually decided to withdraw from the city to a solitary place for prayer and direct service of God; in 1244, they adopted a religious habit, similar to the Dominican habit, and chose to live under the rule of St. Augustine; they came to the United States...

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/16/25 Gospel: Luke 6:17, 20-26

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Jordan; met St. Dominic in Paris in 1220, and became a Dominican; on the death of Dominic in 1222, Jordan was elected second master general of the Dominicans; he expanded the order; he was a powerful preacher; St. Albert the Great became a Dominican after hearing one of Jordan's sermons; Jordan died in a shipwreck in 1227, on his wa...

Friday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Saints Cyril and Methodius; Ninth Century brothers in a part of Greece inhabited by many Slavs; they became missionaries, teachers, and patrons of the Slavic peoples; when the Duke of Moravia requested political independence and ecclesiastical autonomy, it changed the lives of Cyril and Methodius; Cyril invented an alphabet; together they trans...

Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Catherine de Ricci, 1522-1589; born in Florence, Italy; entered the convent of Dominican nuns in Prat, Tuscany, in her fourtheenth year; became novice mistress, and then subprioress; at 25, she became perpetual prioress; she corresponded with St. Philip Neri, and--while yet living--appeared to him in Rome in a miraculous manner; she...

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Julian the Hospitaler; killed his noble parents in a case of mistaken identity; he and his wife went to Rome, and received absolution; on returning home, he built an inn and a hospital for the poor, caring for a leper--reputed to be an angel Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/12/25 Gospel: Mark 7:14-23

Tuesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/11/25 Gospel: Mark 7:1-13

Monday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Scholastica, 480-542; twin sister of St. Benedict; founded a religious community for women near Monte Cassino, where Benedict governed; the twins visited each other once per year; on their final visit, Scholastica sensed that he death was near, and asked Benedict to stay until the next morning; he refused, so Scholastica asked God to make i...

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/9/25 Gospel: Luke 5:1-11

Friday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Luke the Younger; Tenth Century hermit and wonder-worker whose solitary hermitage in Thessaly, Greece, became known as the Soterion, “the place of healing”; he tried to become a religious but was arrested as an escaped slave and imprisoned for a time; he finally became a hermit on Mount Joannitsa. near Corinth; there he w...

Thursday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Paul Miki and companions, the Japanese martyrs; in 1597, 26 martyrs of Japan were crucified on a hill, now known as the Holy Mountain, overlooking Nagasaki; among them were priests, brothers, and laymen, Franciscans, Jesuits, and members of the Secular Franciscan Order; Brother Paul Miki, a Jesuit and a native of Japan, has become the be...

Wednesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Agatha, 230-251; arrested as a Christian in Sicily during the persecution of Decius; she was tortured, and sent to a house of prostitution to be mistreated; she was preserved from being violated, but was put to death; patroness of Palermo and Catania Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/5/25 Gospel: Mark 6:1-6

Tuesday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Andrew Corsini, 1302-1373; born in Florence, he was wild in his youth, but converted to a holy life and became a Carmelite monk; he became known in Florence as a prophet and a miracle worker; he was named bishop of Fiesole in 1349, a post which he held for twelve years; he was sent by Pope Urban V to Bologna to settle disputes betwe...

Monday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr; Blaise was a good Fourth Century bishop in Armenia, but was forced to flee to the back country due to persecution; when hunters encountered him and began to carry him off to prison, he was approached by a woman whose son had a fishbone caught in his throat; at Blaise's command, the boy coughed up the bon...

Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 2/2/25 Gospel: Luke 2:22-40

Saturday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Brigid of Ireland, 451-525; born into slavery to Brocca--a Christian, who was a slave--and Dubthach, a Leinster chieftain; many stories of Brigid's purity followed her childhood; Dubthach took her to the king of Leinster, intending to sell her, but the king convinced him to set Brigid free, saying, "Her merit, before God, is greater...

Friday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. John Bosco, 1815-1888; ordained in 1841, and began serving young people; after serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, Don Bosco opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys; by 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets; with the enco...

Thursday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Bathidis, 626-680; born in England, enslaved and taken to Neustria in the Frankish kingdom; she became friends with King Clovis III, married him in 649, and bore him three sons; when Clovis died in 657, Bathildis served as regent for Clotaire III; she had founded a Benedictine convent at Chelles, as well as St. Denis Monastery and C...

Wednesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Dallan Forgaill; a Sixth Century kinsman of St. Edan of Ferns, born in Connaught and a great scholar who, through his application to study, became blind.he composed a poem in honor of St. Columba, published after Columba's death, upon which Dallan's sight was restored; murdered by pirates in 598 Office of Readings and Morning Praye...

Tuesday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, 1225-1274; joined the Dominicans in 1243; studied under Albert the Great; held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, and directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo; his greatest contribution to the Church is his writings; the Summa Theologiae deals with the whole of Catholic theology; lef...

Monday of the Third Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Angela de Merici, 1474-1540; born in Italy; joined the Third Order of St. Francis and embraced austerity; in a visionary experience, she felt called to found a “company” of women; at age 60, Angela and 12 other women began the Company of St. Ursula, the first model for a "secular institute"--the women lived in the world...

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 1/26/25 Gospel: Luke 1:1-4, 4:14-21

Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul Saturday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 1/25/25 Gospel: Mark 16:15-18

Friday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Francis de Sales, 1567-1622; studied law in Padua, and then entered formation for priesthood; after his ordination, he was elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a center for Calvinists; through his preaching and distribution of pamphlets explaining true Catholic doctrine, he was quite successful; at 35, he became bishop of Geneva,...

Thursday of the Second Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Marianne Cope, 1838-1918; born in Germany; her family migrated and settled in Utica, New York, in 1840; she entered the Sisters of the Third Order of Saint Francis in Syracuse, New York, in 1862; in 1883, she and six sisters left for Hawaii; in 1888, Mother Marianne and two sisters went to Molokai to open a home for “unpro...