Daybreak

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 10/13/24 Gospel: Mark 10:17-30

Saturday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time Saint (Blessed) of the Day: Blessed Carlo Acutis, 1991-2006; from the age of 3, showed great interest in Catholic churches; prayed before the tabernacle and went to confession weekly; taught himself how to code and build websites while still in primary school; created websites for Catholic organizations; when he developed leukemia, he offered up his suffe...

Friday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of Pope St. John XXIII, 1881-1963; firstborn of a farming family in northern Italy; as a stretcher-bearer in World War I, he had a firsthand knowledge of war; in 1925, he became a papal diplomat; named a cardinal and patriarch of Venice in 1953; a month short of his 78th year, he was elected pope; his most famous encyclicals were "Mother a...

Thursday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Francis Borgia, 1510-1572; Spanish nobleman; when widowed, he became a Jesuit priest; he only complained when someone attempted to treat as if he were still a nobleman; ultimately, he preached everywhere, and advised many important people; he helped to spread the Society of Jesus across Spain and Portugal Office of Readings and Morni...

Wednesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Denis and companions; regarded as the first bishop of Paris; Denis was sent to Gaul from Rome in the third century and beheaded in the persecution under Emperor Valerius in 258; one legend says that he was martyred on Montmartre in Paris, and then carried his head to a village northeast of the city; St. Genevieve built a basilica...

Tuesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Keyne; she lived in the Fifth Century, one of the 24 children of King Brychan of Brecknock, Wales; refused several offers of marriage, and became a hermitess; after living for several years on the banks of the Severn River in Somersetshire, England--during which she traveled widely--her nephew persuaded her to return to Wales; she fou...

Monday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary; originally named, "Our Lady of Victory," in honor of the Christian defeat of the Turks at the battle of LePanto Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 10/7/24 Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 10/6/24 Gospel: Mark 10:2-16

Saturday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, 1819-1867; born in southern Bavaria; came to the United States in 1843 to serve German-speaking Catholics; during the Civil War, he appealed to President Lincoln not to draft his Redemptorist students; died of yellow fever, contracted while visiting the sick Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 10/5...

Friday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226; a poor little man who astounded and inspired the Church by taking the gospel literally—not in a narrow fundamentalist sense, but by actually following all that Jesus said and did, joyfully, without limit, and without a sense of self-importance; he had no intention of founding an order, but once it began he prote...

Thursday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Theodora Guérin, 1798-1856; born in France; joined the Sisters of Providence in 1823; at the invitation of the bishop of Vincennes, Indiana, Sister Theodora and five sisters were sent to St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, in 1840, to teach and care for the sick poor; they persevered despite fires, crop failures, prejudice against Cathol...

Wednesday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of the Guardian Angels Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 10/2/24 Gospel: Matthew 18:1-5, 10

Tuesday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, 1873-1897; lived a cloistered life of obscurity in the convent of Lisieux, France, and her preference for hidden sacrifice converted souls; in her own words, she came to the Carmel convent “to save souls and pray for priests”; shortly before her death of tuberculosis, she wrote, “I want to spend my heaven doing good on e...

Monday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Jerome, 345-420; scripture scholar; translated most of the Old Testament from the Hebrew, and made a translation of the Bible which came to be called the Vulgate; traveled extensively in Palestine, and settled in Bethlehem, living in a cave believed to have been Christ's birthplace Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 9/30/24 Gospel: Lu...

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 9/29/24 Gospel: Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

Saturday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Wenceslaus, 907-929; son of the duke of Bohemia, and raised by his grandmother, Ludmilla, who was murdered; Wenceslaus assumed leadership of the government, and worked toward unification within Bohemia, support of the Church, and peace-making negotiations with Germany; he was assassinated by his brother Boleslav and companions Off...

Friday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, 1580-1660; born in Gascony, France, and came to lead what became known as the Congregation of the Mission, or the Vincentians; he later established confraternities of charity for the spiritual and physical relief of the poor and sick of each parish; with the help of Saint Louise de Marillac, he founded the Daughters of Chari...

Thursday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of Saints Cosmas and Damian; Arab-born Christians who were brothers, known for their skill in medicine; they refused payment for their services; their prominence made them targets in the persecution of Diocletian; they were tortured and killed in about 283; patron saints of pharmacists Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 9/26/24 Go...

Wednesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Albert of Jerusalem, 1149-1215; born in Parma, Italy; became a canon of Holy Cross Abbey in Mortoba; later appointed bishop of Bobbio, Italy, then to the see of Vercelli, where he served as a mediator between the pope and the emperor; in 1205, he was appointed patriarch of Jerusalem; near Albert's residence was Mount Carmel, where a...

Tuesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Rupert of Salzburg; bishop of Worms when Childeric III asked that he evangelize Bavaria; he converted Duke Theodo II, and the duke gave him land at Iuvavum where he established the Abbey of St. Peter and the Nonnberg Convent; Rupert also converted  pagan  temples into  Christian  churches and established the salt-mining industry from...

Monday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, better known as Padre Pio, 1887-1968; joined the Capuchins at the age of 15; in 1918, as he was making his thanksgiving after Mass, Padre Pio had a vision of Jesus; when the vision ended, he had the stigmata in his hands, feet, and side; the authenticity of the stigmata was questioned, with restrictions placed upon Padre...

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 9/22/24 Gospel: Mark 9:30-37

Feast of St. Matthew, apostle Saturday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 9/21/24 Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13

Friday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Paul Chong Hasang, and companions, the Korean martyrs; Andrew was the first native Korean priest; he was arrested and beheaded while trying to arrange water passage for more missionaries; Paul was a lay apostle and married man, also died in 1839 at age 45; along with Andrew and Paul, 98 other Koreans and three French mi...

Thursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Januarius; martyred in Diocletian's persecution of 305; he was thrown to the bears in the amphitheatre, along with his companions, but the bears failed to attack, so they were beheaded; Januarius' blood was taken to Naples, where it liquifies 18 times per year, eluding any natural explanation Office of Readings and Morning Prayer...