* * *** 25% savings on Latin-language publications – through February 22, 2022

* Includes the Liturgia Horarum, Missale Romanum Altar Missal, and Missale Romanum Chapel Size Please visit: www.theologicalforum.org/Category/127/Latin_titles___25__savings_through_2_22_2022_

* * *** Sts. Cyril (d.869) and Methodius (d.885) were brothers who evangelized Moravia, Bohemia, and Bulgaria. Their ardent love for Christ would drive them to renounce wealth and status in order to fully commit themselves in service to the Lord. In 1980, St. John Paul II proclaimed them patron saints of Europe.

“O God, who enlightened the Slavic peoples through the brothers Saints Cyril and Methodius, grant that our hearts may grasp the words of your teaching, and perfect us as a people of one accord in true faith and right confession. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Proper of Saints, Daily Roman Missal)

* * *** Today marks the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to St. Bernadette. Our Lady revealed herself to Bernadette as “the Immaculate Conception,” and her loving message was a call to conversion, prayer, and charity.

“Grant us, O merciful God, protection in our weakness, that we, who keep the Memorial of the Immaculate Mother of God, may, with the help of her intercession, rise up from our iniquities. Through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Proper of Saints, Daily Roman Missal)

* * ***

— Born into a Roman noble family, St. Scholastica (ca. 480) was the sister of St. Benedict, the “father of monasticism.” Following the rule of her brother, she founded the Order of Benedictine nuns and according to the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, they spent their last day together in prayer and conversation.

* * *** St. Bakhita’s legacy is her perseverance and transformation through immense suffering.

— Born in Sudan, St. Bakhita (ca. 1869-1947) was only about 7 years old when seized by slave traders. She was resold several times and endured horrific cruelty at the hands of some of her captors. Her life journey would eventually take her to the Canossian Sisters, where she was baptized into the faith. In […]

* * *** “… for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.” (Lk 2:30-32)

— “The presentation of Jesus in the temple shows him to be the firstborn Son who belongs to the Lord. With Simeon and Anna, all Israel awaits its encounter with the Savior… Jesus is recognized as the long-expected Messiah, the ‘light to the nations’ and the ‘glory of Israel.’” (CCC 529)

* * *** “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.”

— One of the greatest philosophers and theologians of all time, the Angelic Doctor exhibited a profound holiness of life. His great work, “Summa Theologica,” was not yet finished when he died. Following a mystical experience, Aquinas declared he would write no more, “such things have been revealed to me that what I have written […]

* * ***

— Archbishop Sheen’s many works include ‘Life is Worth Living,’ ‘Way to Inner Peace,’ ‘Victory Over Vice,’ and ‘Lift up Your Heart.’

* * ***

“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ I replied, ‘Who are you, sir?’ And he said to me, ‘I am Jesus the […]

* * *** Born in the province of Savoy, St. Francis (1567-1622) was Bishop of Geneva, where he vigorously fought Calvinism. Along with St. Jane Frances de Chantal, he founded the Order of Sisters of the Visitation.

— In his well-known classic, “Introduction to the Devout Life,” St. Francis writes to all Christians, not just those called to religious vocation: “It is an error, nay more, a very heresy, to seek to banish the devout life from the soldier’s guardroom, the mechanic’s workshop, the prince’s court, or the domestic hearth… there are […]

catholicfaith