All SaintsOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassAll Saints' Day See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Friday of week 30 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Alfonso Rodríguez) Alfonso Rodriguez (1533-1617) was born in Segovia, Spain. His family played host to Saint Peter Faber, who prepared the young Alfonso for his First Communion. He left school at age 14 to help his widowed mother run the family wool business. At age twenty-seven, he married and had three children. Five years later, he found himself a widower with one surviving child, who died Soon after. He joined the Society of Jesus as a Brother at the age of thirty-eight. He spent the next forty-six years of his religious life as guest master and doorkeeper of the Jesuit college in Majorca, where he exercised a marvellous influence not only on the members of the college, but upon a great number of people who came to him for spiritual advice. He was a friend and advisor to Saint Peter Claver, encouraging him to go to the missions in South America. His daily routine, though ordinary, offered him opportunities for holiness of life: each time the bell rang, he looked at the door and envisioned that it was God who was standing outside. He was often heard to say “I’m just coming, Lord.”(In Honour of St Alphonsus Rodriguez) In honour ofSt. Alphonsus RodriguezLaybrother of the Society of JesusHonour is flashed off exploit, so we say;And those strokes once that gashed flesh or galled shieldShould tongue that time now, trumpet now that field,And, on the fighter, forge his glorious day.On Christ they do and on the martyr may;But be the war within, the brand we wieldUnseen, the heroic breast not outward-steeled,Earth hears no hurtle then from fiercest fray.Yet God (that hews mountain and continent,Earth, all, out; who, with trickling increment,Veins violets and tall trees makes more and more)Could crowd career with conquest while there wentThose years and years by of world without eventThat in Majorca Alfonso watched the door.Gerard Manley Hopkins

Thursday of week 30 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Marcellus (d. 300)) A centurion from Tingis (Morocco), he not only refused to worship Roman gods but also threw down his soldier’s insignia in front of the legion’s standards. As he did this, he proclaimed his Christian identity, his allegiance to the Lord and rejected the worship of gods made of stone and wood. He was put to death by the sword around the year 300.(The Blessed Martyrs of Winchester) Among the many English martyrs who died for their Catholic faith, five suffered in Winchester.Roger Dicconson (sometimes spelled Dickenson) was an “undercover priest”, secretly celebrating Mass and the sacraments all over England. He was born and raised in Lincoln, studied in Rheims and was ordained there in 1583. At first he worked in Winchester but was arrested and deported. He came back to work in Worcestershire. Returning to Winchester in 1591, he was arrested while celebrating Mass. He was hung, drawn and quartered alongside Ralph Milner and Laurence Humphreys on 7 July 1591.John Slade was a native of Manston, Dorset and was educated at New College, Oxford. A schoolmaster, he was arrested in June 1582 and imprisoned along with Blessed John Body (whose feast is on 3 November). They were tried in Winchester, and again in Andover in 1583, and from there John Slade was taken back to Winchester, where he was hung, drawn and quartered on 2 November 1583. He was beatified by Pius XI in 1929.Ralph Milner was brought up in Flacsted, Hampshire. A practising Anglican, he converted to Catholicism and was arrested on the very day of his First Communion. His imprisonment was hardly rigorous, for during it he found the opportunity to do much charitable work in the county. Arrested with Roger Dicconson, he was hung, drawn and quartered alongside Dicconson and Laurence Humphreys on 7 July 1591.Laurence (sometimes spelled Lawrence) Humphreys was born in Hampshire in 1571. He converted to Catholicism at the age of 18 and worked as a catechist. He was arrested after falling ill and uttering insulting language about Queen Elizabeth while in a state of delirium. Condemned to death, he made a public profession of faith on the scaffold. He was executed in 1591 and beatified by Pius XI in 1929.James Bird (sometimes known as Byrd or Beard) was born in 1574 in Winchester where his father held public office. He became a Catholic in 1584. Arrested in 1592, he was executed for his faith on 25 March that year and beatified by Pius XI in 1929.Portsmouth Ordo (Saint Thøger (-1065)) Theodgar of Vestervig (Dieter in German, Thøger in Danish) was a missionary from Thuringia who worked mostly in Jutland in Denmark, where he died and is venerated as a saint. He studied theology in England, after which he travelled as a missionary to Norway, where King Olav II Haraldsson attached him to his court. After the king’s death Theodgar left Norway and worked as a missionary on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, where he died on 24 June in or around 1065.(Blessed Dominic Collins (1566-1602)) Dominic Collins (1566-1602) was born in Youghal, Ireland. As a young man, he enlisted in the army of the Duke of Mercoeur, France. He served with distinction the cause of the Catholic League for nine years, and was appointed governor of Brittany. At thirty-two, he settled into a comfortable life in Spain. He felt, however, the call to religious life, and in 1598 was accepted into the novitiate in Santiago de Compostela as a novice Brother. In February 1601, he accompanied a Jesuit chaplain to Ireland on a mission from the King of Spain. When they landed, Ireland was being besieged by the English. Collins was arrested, imprisoned and finally sentenced to death.(Blessed Maria Teresa Tauscher (1855-1938)) Anna Maria Tauscher van den Bosch was born in 1855 in Sandow, Brandenburg (now in Poland), the daughter of a Lutheran pastor. At a young age, she was attracted to the Catholic Church and desired to become a “sister”. While serving as Director of Nursing at a mental hospital in Berlin, her desires were realised; she made her profession of faith 30 October 1888. In the following year, she read the autobiography of St. Teresa and understood that her vocation was profoundly Carmelite and one of service to the poor. She opened her first home for needy children in Berlin; others followed. In 1906, she received permission to gather her companions, to profess vows and establish the religious institute “Carmel of the Divine Heart of Jesus”, taking the name Maria Teresa of St Joseph. Despite much suffering, her work grew and prospered in Europe and North America. After a long illness, she died in the odour of sanctity, 20 September 1938 and was beatified 13 May 2006.

Wednesday of week 30 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(The Blessed Martyrs of Douai College) The English College at Douai was founded in 1568 to educate English Catholics, and in particular to act as a seminary training priests to enter England covertly, minister to English Catholics, and attempt the re-conversion of England to the faith. Simply being a Catholic priest was high treason in England at this time, with the penalty of hanging, drawing and quartering, and almost 160 of the priests from Douai were thus executed between 1577 and 1680. Each time the news of another execution reached the College, a solemn Mass of thanksgiving was sung.(Saint Colman MacDuagh (- 632)) He was the son of an Irish chieftain. He was educated at Saint Enda’s monastery in the Aran Islands. Thereafter he was a recluse, living in prayer and fasting. With the King of Connaught he founded the monastery of Kilmacduagh which he governed as abbot-bishop. See the article in Wikipedia.

Saints Simon and Jude, ApostlesOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSt Simon, Apostle Simon is eleventh in the list of the twelve Apostles. He is known as Simon the Zealot, but nothing else is known about him. His other name of “Simon Cananaeus” simply adapts another Hebrew word for “zeal” and has nothing to do with the town of Cana.See the articles in Wikipedia and Catholic Encyclopaedia.St Jude, Apostle Jude, also called Thaddaeus, is the apostle who at the Last Supper asked the Lord why he showed himself only to the disciples and not to the world. For many centuries he was scarcely venerated because people confused him with Judas Iscariot. He is the patron saint of lost and desperate causes.See the article in Wikipedia.

Monday of week 30 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Otteran) He was abbot of Meath and later came to Iona. He died in 548 and his grave on Iona was greatly revered. As a result the Vikings chose Otteran, the titular guardian of their ancestors’ ashes, as patron of the city of Waterford in 1096. He is now patron saint of the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore.

30th Sunday in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Chad ( - 672)) He was educated at Lindisfarne under Aidan. He became abbot of Lastingham and was chosen to be bishop of Northumbria, but St Wilfrid contested his appointment, and Chad obediently withdrew. He was then sent as bishop to Mercia, where he founded the see of Lichfield. His ministry there was very short (he died at Lichfield on 2 March 672), but he was immediately revered as a saint because of the holiness of his life, his outstanding humility, and his dedication to preaching of the Gospel.(St Cedd (- 664)) Like his brother Chad, he was educated at Lindisfarne under Aidan. He founded many monasteries and was sent as a bishop to evangelize the East Saxons. He established his see at Bradwell in Essex. He died at his monastery at Lastingham in Yorkshire on 26 October 664, of the plague.(Saint Alfred the Great, King)

Saturday of week 29 in Ordinary Time, or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saturday memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary) ‘On Saturdays in Ordinary Time when there is no obligatory memorial, an optional memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary is allowed.‘Saturdays stand out among those days dedicated to the Virgin Mary. These are designated as memorials of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This memorial derives from Carolingian times (9th century), but the reasons for having chosen Saturday for its observance are unknown. While many explanations of this choice have been advanced, none is completely satisfactory from the point of view of the history of popular piety.‘Whatever its historical origins may be, today the memorial rightly emphasizes certain values to which contemporary spirituality is more sensitive. It is a remembrance of the maternal example and discipleship of the Blessed Virgin Mary who, strengthened by faith and hope, on that “great Saturday” on which Our Lord lay in the tomb, was the only one of the disciples to hold vigil in expectation of the Lord’s resurrection. It is a prelude and introduction to the celebration of Sunday, the weekly memorial of the Resurrection of Christ. It is a sign that the Virgin Mary is continuously present and operative in the life of the Church.’Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy (2001), §188(The Six Welsh Martyrs and their Companions) (Frei Galvão (1739-1822)) Antônio Galvão was born in the state of São Paulo to a deeply religious family of high social and political status. He was educated by the Jesuits from the age of 13, but although he wanted to become a Jesuit this was judged inopportune because of official persecution of the order (which was suppressed in the Portuguese Empire in 1759). Instead, at the age of 16, Galvão joined the Franciscans and took the name of ‘Anthony of St Anne’ in honour of his family’s devotion to that saint.He was ordained a priest in 1762 and transferred to São Paulo, where, with only brief intervals, he spent the rest of his life. He was revered as a confessor and a healer, and popular devotion to him was such that both ecclesiastical postings and governmental decrees that would have taken him away from São Paulo soon had to be rescinded. He died there on 23 December 1822, at the Recollect House (a hermitage which he had served and defended since 1769). He was beatified in 1998 by Pope John Paul II and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 11 May 2007 during his visit to Brazil. He is the first Brazilian-born saint.(Saint Maurus, Bishop)

Friday of week 29 in Ordinary Time, or Saint Antony Mary Claret, Bishop Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Antony Mary Claret (1807 - 1870)) He was born at Sallent in Catalonia. After becoming a priest he spent several years preaching to the people throughout Catalonia and also in the Canary Islands. Returning to Spain, he established a missionary order, and founded a great religious library and publishing house in Barcelona which published millions of cheap copies of ancient and modern Catholic works. In 1851 the Pope appointed him Bishop of Santiago de Cuba. The diocese was in a terrible state and everything needed reform and renewal. He reorganised the seminary, enforced clerical discipline, and regularised thousands of marriages. He built a hospital and many schools. This was not done without opposition and he was the subject of fifteen assassination attempts.Recalled to Spain in 1857 by Queen Isabella II to act as her confessor, he did further great work for the Church. His health began to fail, and he died at the Cistercian abbey at Fontfroide.(St Magloire (-575)) Magloire was of Irish origin and was educated at Llantwit Major by St Illtyd. Together with his fellow pupil St Sampson he went to Brittany, and became Abbot of one of Sampson’s monasteries at Dol. After some years he retired to Sark, where he founded a monastery and died about 575. His remains were translated first to Léhon and later to Paris at the time of the Viking invasions.Portsmouth Ordo

Pope Francis' top diplomats met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on April 19, where the two sides discussed migrants and refugees following months of clashes between U.S. church leaders and the Trump administration over immigration policy and foreign aid.