Saints Andrew Kim Taegon, Priest, and Paul Chong Hasang, and their Companions, MartyrsOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSt Andrew Kim Taegǒn, Paul Chong Hasang, and companions For centuries, Korea was closed to all outside influences, and all contact with foreigners was forbidden. No missionaries went there. Nevertheless, a number of laymen sought to find out all that they could about the outside world, through the annual embassy to Peking. Some books about Christianity fell into their hands, and they were converted. Because of the secrecy involved, it is impossible to date the origin of Christianity in Korea with any precision: it may have started in the early 17th century, but the first known baptism is that of Ni-Seoung-Houn, who was baptized under the name of Peter when he visited Peking in 1784.The first known martyrs are Paul Youn and James Kouen, who in 1791 refused to offer sacrifice on the death of their relatives. Over the next century, over ten thousand Korean Christians were executed, with great cruelty; and many others perished.For most of this period the church in Korea had no priests and was an entirely lay phenomenon. In 1794 the first priest to visit Korea, a Chinese, found a community of 4,000 Catholics who had never seen a priest. He was executed in 1801. Two further Chinese priests, sent at the request of the Korean Church, had a similarly brief ministry. Some thirty years later, at the request of the Korean Catholics, Pope Leo XII established the Prefecture Apostolic of Korea, and a new missionary phase began. The first of these missionaries, a French priest from the Paris Foreign Mission Society, entered the country in 1836 and was beheaded three years later. Many others followed. Andrew Kim Taegǒn, the first Korean priest, was secretly trained in Macao, entered Korea in 1845 and was executed in 1846, together with his father. A lay apostle, St Paul Chong Hasang, and many others perished at the same time. A further major persecution occurred in 1866.In all, 103 of the Korean martyrs are celebrated today: they are mostly lay men and women: some married, some not; some old, some young, some even children. “The Korean Church is unique because it was founded entirely by laypeople. This fledgling Church, so young and yet so strong in faith, withstood wave after wave of fierce persecution. Thus, in less than a century, it could boast of 10,000 martyrs. The death of these many martyrs became the leaven of the Church and led to today’s splendid flowering of the Church in Korea. Even today their undying spirit sustains the Christians of the Church of Silence in the north of this tragically divided land.” – Pope John Paul II at the canonization of the Korean Martyrs, May 6, 1984.

Friday of week 23 in Ordinary Time, or The Most Holy Name of Mary Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(The Most Holy Name of Mary) (Saint Ailbe) He founded the monastery and Diocese of Emly, (then called Imlech), which became very important in Munster. A ninth-century Rule bears his name. The details of his life have been obscured by legend. He was probably a disciple of St Patrick and ordained by him. He may have died in 528 or in 541. See the article in Wikipedia.

Friday of week 24 in Ordinary Time, or Saint Januarius, Bishop, Martyr Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Januarius) Nothing is really known about St Januarius. The tradition is that he was a bishop of Benevento who was martyred at Puteoli in the early fourth century, but no historical records exist. His body lies in Naples, where his cult is taken very seriously indeed.See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.(St Theodore of Tarsus (601 - 690)) He was born in Tarsus, in modern Turkey. A Greek by birth, he became a monk in Italy. He was not ordained priest until at the age of 65 he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Vitalian. He arrived in England in 669 and spent the rest of his life reorganising and reforming the life of the Church throughout the country, holding visitations and synods, establishing new dioceses and a great school at Canterbury, and reconciling divisions between the Celtic and Roman ecclesiastical traditions. He died at Canterbury on 19 September 690. He is remembered for his scholarship and for bringing unity and organisation to a divided church.(Our Lady of La Salette)

Thursday of week 24 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Edith of Kemsing (961 - 984)) She is also known as Edith of Wilton.She was the daughter of King Edgar, who abducted Wulfthryth, her mother, from her convent at Wilton, in Wiltshire. (For this act St Dunstan imposed on him the penance of not wearing his crown for seven years). Wulfthryth returned to her cell as soon as she could escape, and Edith was born there. She became a nun with Edgar’s consent, and refused his offers of the abbacy of three different communities, remaining in the cloister under her mother, now Abbess of Wilton.In 978, after the murder of her half-brother, Edward the Martyr, certain magnates wished her to become Queen, but she refused. She was conspicuous for her personal service of the poor and fondness for wild animals. She had a church of St Denis built at Wilton, and died, at the age of 23, three weeks after its dedication.See also the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.(Saint Stanisław Kostka (1550-1568)) Stanisław Kostka (1550-1568) was born into a noble family in Poland. In 1567 he was sent to the Jesuit college in Vienna to complete his studies. Soon after, he expressed the desire to enter the Society of Jesus. The local Jesuit authorities, fearing the negative reaction of his father, hesitated to receive him. Stanisław, quickly grasping the difficulty raised by the opposition of his family, walked the 500 miles to Germany, from where with the encouragement and blessing of Saint Peter Canisius, the provincial superior, he went on to Rome. He was admitted to the Society of Jesus there. In the novitiate, Stanisław was blessed with mystical experiences. He died of illness on August 15, 1568.(Saint Juan Macias, Religious)

Wednesday of week 24 in Ordinary Time, or Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop, Doctor , or Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Virgin, Doctor Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Robert Bellarmine (1542 - 1621)) He was born in Montepulciano, in Tuscany, and became a Jesuit. He taught theology in Rome, and was active in disputation against the Protestants, where his effectiveness was increased by his charity and moderation. He was a moderating influence in the Galileo affair, and gave Galileo much friendly advice. In due course he was nominated a cardinal and archbishop of Capua; but it is for his writings that he is chiefly known. He did not only write controversial works: he also wrote two catechisms and some devotional commentaries on the Psalms and on the Seven Last Words.See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.(Saint Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)) Hildegard was born in Bermersheim in Germany in 1098, and in 1115 she entered the Benedictine abbey at the Disbodenberg. Around 1150 she founded the monastery at Rupertsberg, near Bingen, which she ruled as abbess.She was expert both in natural science and in music. In her contemplative prayer she received mystical revelations which she communicated in very many written works, directed at clergy and laity alike. She preached penitence and disproved doctrinal errors, so that even princes and Popes turned to her for advice. She died of an illness in 1179.(St Albert of Jerusalem (c.1150-1214)) St Albert of Jerusalem, as Patriarch of Jerusalem, wrote the foundational document that constitutes the Carmelite Rule in the early thirteenth century, and is honoured as the rule or lawgiver of the Carmelites.Albert Avogadro was born in Castel Gualetri, Italy, during the middle of the twelfth century. He was educated in theology and law, and entered the Canons Regular of the Holy Cross at Mortara in 1180. Albert, gifted in leadership, was named Bishop of Bobbio in 1184, then Bishop of Vercelli in 1185, and then Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1205. In each of these roles he is noted for his pastoral leadership and skill as a conciliator and peace maker. While he was Patriarch of Jerusalem (1206-1214), Albert wrote a formula vitae, or way of life, for the hermits living on Mount Carmel, the founding community of the Carmelite Order. Often referred to as the Rule of St Albert, the document reveals a deep familiarity with Scripture and an authentic understanding and expression of Christian spirituality. On the 14th September 1214, Albert was attacked and killed during a procession of the Feast of the Holy Cross, in Acre, Israel.MT

Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, MartyrsOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassPope St Cornelius ( - 253) Cornelius was made bishop of the church in Rome in the year 251. He fought against the Novatian schismatics, and established his authority with the aid of Cyprian.The emperor Gallus sent him into exile, and he died at Civitavecchia in June 253. He is buried in Rome.See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.St Cyprian (210 - 258) He was born in Carthage and spent most of his life in the practice of the law. He was converted to Christianity, and was made bishop of Carthage in 249. He steered the church through troubled times, including the persecution of the emperor Decius, when he went into hiding so as to be able to continue looking after the church. In 258 the persecution of the emperor Valerian began. Cyprian was first exiled and then, on the 14th of September, executed, after a trial notable for the calm and courtesy shown by both sides.Cyprian’s many letters and treatises shed much light on a formative period in the Church’s history, and are valuable both for their doctrine and for the picture they paint of a group of people in constant peril of their lives but still determined to keep the faith.See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.(St Ninian (c.360 - 432)) He was born in Cumbria and was ordained bishop in Rome in 394. He landed at Whithorn in Galloway in 397 and built a white-painted stone church there which was called Candida Casa, “White House.” From this centre he preached the Gospel in Scotland.

Our Lady of SorrowsOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassOur Lady of Sorrows The devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows flourished in the Middle Ages, and the hymn Stabat Mater was composed for it. Although it is officially celebrated today, the day after the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, popular devotion in many parts of the Mediterranean celebrates it with processions on the Friday before Holy Week.(Saint Mirin (565-620)) Saint Mirin or Mirren is also known as Mirren of Benchor (now called Bangor), Merinus, Merryn and Meadhrán. A contemporary of the better known Saint Columba of Iona and disciple of Saint Comgall, he was prior of Bangor Abbey in County Down, Ireland. He later took oversight of the monastery and thus became the prior of Bangor Abbey. He left Ireland on a missionary journey to the west of Scotland, where he founded a monastery around which there grew up the present city of Paisley.

The Exaltation of the Holy CrossOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassDante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) Dante, who died on this day in 1321, is probably the greatest Catholic poet ever. “The Divine Comedy” is a massive poem narrating a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise – it is simultaneously a vision, an imaginative poem, a spiritual journey, a commentary on life and politics, a deep work of psychology, and a synthesis of the then still revolutionary theology of St Thomas Aquinas.Too many people think of “grim Dante” of the Inferno (Hell), the inventor of grotesque punishments, and that is all they know of and read. Fools! The horrors of Hell are the horrors of sin itself, nothing more, nothing less: sin stripped of the false romanticism we give it. It is where the poem starts from, not where it is going. The most human of the three books is the Purgatorio (Purgatory), where you see ordinary, fallible men and women – people like you and me – no longer able to sin, or wanting to, but still bearing the stain and being purged of it. Suffering there is, but there is also joy.Incidentally, Dante was the first Italian to use a language other than Latin for serious work, and he is, more or less, the creator of Italian as a literary language.Read him, and pray for him. He wrote of the vision of God; may he be experiencing it.The Exaltation of the Cross What are these Christians about, exalting an instrument of torture?First, we rejoice that something so terrible should have been transformed into a means of redemption for the whole human race.Second, we remind ourselves of the fact that Christianity is not an abstract and spiritual religion. It springs from God’s direct intervention in the affairs of the world, a real historical event involving real people and, in the end, a real execution on a real cross. We may theorize and theologize all we like; but all our theorizings and theologizings are nothing without the history on which they are based. Take away that history – take away the Cross – and Christianity is nonsense.

Saint John Chrysostom, Bishop, DoctorOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSt John Chrysostom (349 - 407) He was born in Antioch. After a thorough education, he took up the ascetic life. He was ordained to the priesthood, and became a fruitful and effective preacher.He was elected Patriarch of Constantinople in 397, and was energetic in reforming the ways of the clergy and the laity alike. He incurred the displeasure of the Emperor and was twice forced into exile. When the second exile, to Armenia, had lasted three years, it was decided that he should be sent still further away, but he died on the journey, worn out by his hardships.His sermons and writings did much to explain the Catholic faith and to encourage the living of the Christian life: his eloquence earned him the surname “Chrystostom” (the Greek for “golden mouth”).See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

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.