COLLECTION OF CATHOLIC PRAYERS ETC.
Reading 1 Acts 4:13-21 Observing the boldness of Peter and John and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men, the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed, and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus. Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them, they could say nothing in reply….
ROME (CNS) — “The Virgin Mary told me, ‘Prepare the tomb.’” That is what Pope Francis said Mary told him when he was discerning whether to be buried in the historic Marian church where his body will be laid to rest April 26. Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major,…
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St. Cletus was the third bishop of Rome, and succeeded St. Linus, which circumstance alone shows his eminent virtue among the first disciples of St. Peter in the West. He sat twelve years, from 76 to 89. The canon of the Roman mass, (which Bossuet and all others agree to be of primitive antiquity,) Bede,…
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Rome is a city of nostalgia. It’s a place you seem to have visited even if it’s your first time. The initial sights, sounds, and smells deeply penetrate your psyche, especially if you’re Christian. That’s because, if you’re Christian, Rome is your home. A self-confessed homebody, Pope Francis didn’t “return” to Rome until 2001 when…
Read More “The Basilica of Saint Mary Major: A Fitting Resting Place for a Marian Pope” »
During the Great Jubilee Year 2000, now twenty-five years ago (April 30, 2000, specifically) Pope St. John Paul II instituted the great feast of Divine Mercy Sunday. By his declaration, the feast is to be celebrated throughout the Church on the Second Sunday of Easter each year. On that same day, he canonized Maria Faustina…
Reading 1 Acts 4:1-12 After the crippled man had been cured, while Peter and John were still speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees confronted them, disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They laid hands on Peter…
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — A Benedictine abbot and a Capuchin cardinal will offer spiritual meditations on the needs of the Catholic Church to the cardinals preparing to elect a new pope, according to the Vatican press office. Benedictine Father Donato Ogliari, abbot of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, will offer the first meditation…
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Given the late Pope Francis’ care and concern for the poor, a representative group of them has been formally invited to welcome his casket to Rome’s Basilica of St. Mary Major for burial. “The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” the Vatican press office said in a…
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Much of what we know about St. Mark, the author of the Second Gospel, comes largely from the New Testament and early Christian traditions. Mark the Evangelist is believed to be the ‘John Mark’ referred to in the Acts of the Apostles, the history of the early Church found in the Canon of the New…
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Pope Francis died on Easter Monday morning. In the deathly stillness of the Supreme Pontiff, the Church is plunged into a frenzy of activity. The death must be formally announced; his belongings gathered and saved for posterity; his funeral arranged, and of course, a new pope must be elected. But these monumental tasks are the…