Thursday of week 33 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Raphael Kalinowski (1835-1907))

Raphael Kalinowski was born to Polish parents in the city of Wilno in 1835. Poland and Lithuania were at that time occupied by the Prussian, Austrian and Russian Empires.He served in the Imperial Russian Army, but when the Poles rose against their oppressors in 1863 he joined them as Minister of War. Arrested by the Russians, he was condemned in 1864 to ten years of forced labour in Siberia. In 1877, he became a Discalced Carmelite and was ordained a priest in 1882. He contributed greatly to the restoration of many Discalced Carmelite communities in Poland that had previously been suppressed under Russian occupation. His life was distinguished by zeal for Church unity and by his unflagging devotion to his ministry as a confessor and spiritual director. He died in Wadowice, Austria-Hungary, in 1907. The town was later to become famous as the birthplace of Pope John Paul II.MT

Wednesday of week 33 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Roque González and his companions (-1628))

Saint Roque González de Santa Cruz was born in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, on 17 November 1576. He came from a noble Spanish family but also spoke the local language, Guaraní, from an early age.He was ordained priest at the age of 22 and joined the Jesuits in 1609 to work as a missionary. He was the first European to enter the region that is now the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Delicate diplomacy was required to convince the local Indian leaders that he, as a priest, was not there to prepare the way for European settlement of the land.From 1613 onwards he founded several of the Jesuit ‘reductions’ which brought Indians together to learn to live in settlements. The ‘reductions’ later became part of Brazil as a result of a territorial exchange between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Because of the support the ‘reductions’ gave the Indians as against the colonial authorities, they were one of the reasons for the suppression of the Jesuits by the Portuguese Empire in the mid-18th century.In the region of Iyuí (now in Brazil) he had difficulties with the local chieftain and sorcerer (‘cacique’) Nheçu (Spanish ‘Ñezú’), who had him killed on 15 November 1628, along with his Spanish companions Juan de Castillo and Alfonso Rodríguez.They were beatified in 1934 and canonized by Pope John Paul II on 16 May 1988.(Blessed Salome, Virgin)

Tuesday of week 33 in Ordinary Time, or Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles

Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(The Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul)