Tuesday of week 1 in Ordinary Time, or Saint Hilary, Bishop, Doctor Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Hilary of Poitiers (- 367)) Hilary was born at the beginning of the fourth century. He was elected Bishop of Poitiers in 350. He fought strongly against Arianism and was exiled by the Emperor Constantius. His works are full of wisdom and learning, directed to the strengthening of the Catholic faith and the right interpretation of Scripture. He died in 367. He was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1851.(St Kentigern or Mungo (518 - 603)) Kentigern was born in about 518. At the age of 25 he went as a missionary on the Clyde. A community grew up around him, known as “Clasgu” (“dear family”), and this is now the city of Glasgow. He was consecrated as bishop in 540. A strong anti-Christian movement forced him into exile in Wales, where he founded a monastery at what is now St Asaph’s. After 573 he spent eight years at Hoddam in Dumfriesshire before returning to Glasgow in 581. He died there on 13 January 603. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.

Monday of week 1 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110 - 1167)) Aelred was born in Hexham in around 1109. His family was well connected and at an early age he was sent into the service of King David of Scotland. There he rose to the position of Master of the Royal Household. In time he became attracted to the religious life, but he was also much attached to the life he lived at court and to King David himself. It took a considerable personal struggle for him at the age of 24 to give up his secular pursuits and to enter the newly founded Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx in Yorkshire in 1133. At 34 he moved from there and took charge of a new foundation in Lincolnshire. But within four years he had returned to Rievaulx as Abbot where he remained for the rest of his life. He died in 1167.Aelred is remembered both for his energy and for his gentleness. His writings and his sermons were characterised by a deep love of the Scriptures and by a very personal love of Christ ‘as friend and Saviour’. He was sensitive and understanding in his dealings with his fellow monks and under his direction the monastery at Rievaulx grew to an extraordinary size. He did not enjoy robust health and the last ten years of his life were marked by a long and painful illness. His position as Abbot required him to travel on visitation to monasteries not only in England and Scotland but even in France, and the physical suffering and exhaustion which this incurred seems to have been considerable. A contemporary account of the last year of his life describes him as being left helpless on his bed unable to speak or move for an hour after celebrating his morning Mass.Aelred was a singularly attractive figure, a man of great spiritual power but also of warm friendliness and humanity. He has been called the St Bernard of the North.Middlesbrough Ordo (St Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620 - 1700)) Born in Troyes in France, she went to Canada at the age of 33, where she taught and devoted herself to works of corporal mercy. She returned to France twice to gather new recruits, and founded the Congregation of Notre-Dame de Montréal, a non-enclosed order which established and ran many schools and is still active today, across the world. She died on 12 January 1700. See the article in Wikipedia.(St Benet (Benedict) Biscop (c. 628–690)) He was born of a noble Northumbrian family and was for a time a thegn of King Oswiu.While returning from a journey to Rome, he visited Lérins, a monastic island off the Mediterranean coast of Provence, and stayed there for two years, from 665 to 667, during which he took monastic vows and the name of “Benedict”.Ecgfrith of Northumbria granted Benedict land in 674 for the purpose of building a monastery. He went to the Continent to bring back masons who could build a monastery in the Romanesque style, and St Peter’s, at Jarrow, was the first ecclesiastical building in England to be built in stone. Its library became world-famous and it was here that Benedict’s student Bede wrote his famous works.For the last three years of his life Benedict was bed-ridden. He suffered his affliction with great patience and faith. He died on 12 January 690.

The Baptism of the LordOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassThe Baptism of the Lord (Saint Paulinus of Aquileia, Bishop) (Bl. Bernard Scammacca OP (1430 - 1487)) Dominican Friar and Priest.Blessed Bernard was born in Sicily in the year 1430. As a young man he suffered a serious leg wound which became the means of his conversion from a life of dissipation. He entered the Dominican Order in 1452 and strove to conform himself to Christ crucified through works of charity, acts of penance and contemplation of the Passion. Bernard was especially known for his care of the sick and the poor and he established a hospital to serve them. He promoted the regular life in the Order and was a gifted preacher. He died on January 11, 1487.

10 JanuaryOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Bl. Ann of the Angeles Monteagudo OP(1602 - 1686)) Dominican Nun and Virgin.Blessed Ann was born in Arequipa, Peru, in the year 1602 and in 1619 professed solemn vows in the monastery of St. Catherine of Siena. There she fulfilled the offices of sacristan, mistress of novices and prioress. She was completely taken up in prayer with God, yet did not neglect the needs of her neighbors. She died in Arequipa on January 10, 1686.(Bl. Gonsalvo of Amarante OP (c.1187 - 1259)) Dominican Friar and Priest.Born around 1187 in the diocese of Braga, Portugal, Blessed Gonsalvo became a parish priest. After spending fourteen years traveling about the Holy Land and the sanctuaries of Rome, he took up the eremitical life. Eventually he was inspired to enter the Dominican Order. After his introduction to religious life he obtained permission to return with a companion to Amarante, the scene of his earlier solitude, and there took up the life of a hermit once again. He spent his time in contemplation, ascetical practices and in catechizing the people of the area. He died at Amarante in 1259.

9 JanuaryOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Adrian of Canterbury (d. 710)) Feeling called to the monastic life, Adrian left his native North Africa and joined the Benedictines in Italy. Renowned for his scholarship and holiness, he was elected abbot of his monastery and later nominated archbishop of Canterbury. Out of humility he declined the appointment to archbishop, but volunteered to go to England as a missionary. He endured various trials and even imprisonment on his journey to Canterbury, since he was taken for a spy. Once in England, he was appointed abbot of the monastery of Sts Peter and Paul where he lived for 39 years, actively involved in preaching and education. He died in 710.(St Andrew Corsini (c.1315-1374)) Andrew was born into nobility, a member of the powerful Corsini family of Florence, and was one of 12 children. He joined the Carmelite community at the Carmine on the southern bank of the Arno sometime before the year 1338. This community was known for its sanctity and regular observance amidst a more tumultuous environment of religious life in the early Renaissance period. After completing his studies in Florence he was teacher of the younger students in the community.During the 1348 general chapter at Metz, he was made Tuscan provincial and briefly lead the province through the ravages of the Black Death that was to claim over 100 Carmelites. This election was short-lived because in October 1349 Pope Clement VI nominated him to be bishop of Fiesole, a town about 5 miles north-east of Florence. Taking up his episcopal duties in March of the following year, Andrew was faced not only with the consequences of the Black Death, but also with a diocese that had been neglected by his predecessors. The diocesan bishops of Fiesole had not lived in the diocese for over a century leaving the cathedral and diocese to fall into ruin. Andrew moved swiftly to repair the material and spiritual damage to his diocese, working tirelessly to rebuild the cathedral, restore parish churches, and improve the moral life of his priests.Andrew went about establishing a small religious community around him, disbanding the large Episcopal entourage and reducing the number of house servants to six. He also invited two friars from the Carmine to live with him in community. He considered himself the “father and helper of the poor” and devoted special care to the sick in the wake of the devastation brought about by the plague. He was also an eloquent preacher of reconciliation, and a successful peacemaker in Fiesole, Florence, Prato and Pistoia.After his death in January 1374, Andrew was venerated in Fiesole and Florence as a devout religious and an outstanding bishop whose life demonstrated the pattern for a true shepherd of the Christ’s people.MT (The Translation of the Black Nazarene) In 1606 a priest of the Order of Augustinian Recollects (Recoletos) came from Mexico to the Philippines bringing with him a dark image of Jesus Christ carved from mesquite wood, upright but kneeling on one knee and carrying a large wooden cross. The dark portrayal of Christ reflected the native culture of its Mexican sculpture. The image was enshrined in the first church of the Recoletos at Bagumbayan (Luneta) with St. John the Baptist as patron. The image became known as the Black Nazarene. It became the focus of widespread and fervent devotion and on 9 January 1767 it was transferred to the church at Quiapo, where it still is. The anniversary of this translation of the statue to its present location is celebrated by millions of people each year.

8 JanuaryOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Nathalan (-678)) Nathalan, or Nachlan or Nauchlan, was born in the village of Tullich (now in Aberdeenshire), for which he was eventually appointed bishop. As well as the church in Tullich, he also built churches at Bothelim and Colle. He possessed a large estate, which he cultivated and distributed his harvest generously to the poor. He was one of the apostles of the region.(St Peter Thomas (1305-1366)) Peter Thomas was born into a poor peasant family in the southern Périgord region in France. His piety and skill as a teacher attracted the attention of the Carmelite prior of Bergérac, who invited him to join the Carmelite community there at age twenty-one. He taught in various houses of study until he was sent to University in Paris for advanced scholarship. While his studies were still in progress he was elected by the Order as its procurator general to the Papal Court at Avignon in 1345. Peter Thomas proved to be a brilliant diplomat, all the while committed to an austere, simple and prayerful life of a Carmelite friar. He was known to have a disarming humility that enabled him to converse with peasants, soldiers and sailors just as easily as high government officials. After being made Bishop of Patti and Lipari in 1354, he was entrusted with many papal missions to promote peace and unity with the Eastern Churches. He held positions of Papal Legate for the East, Archbishop of Crete and Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, all the while working for peace and unity between churches of East and West. His work ended in 1366 when he died of a fever at Famagosta on Cyprus, where his body was then buried in the Carmelite church there.St Peter Thomas lived as a devout Carmelite and was a diplomatic healer and reconciler, reminding us that finding common ground and bringing reconciliation are always possible with God’s help.MT

7 January, or Saint Raymond of Penyafort, Priest Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Raymond of Peñafort (c.1175 - 1275)) He was born near Barcelona somewhere between 1175 and 1180. He was educated at the University of Barcelona, where he taught canon law for fifteen years. After a spell at the University of Bologna he returned to Barcelona in 1222 and became a Dominican. At the command of Pope Gregory IX he organised, codified and edited canon law, which, when he started, was nothing better than a chaotic accumulation of isolated decrees. He was elected to be General of the Dominicans and gave the order an excellent set of regulations for its better governance. He died in 1275. Among his works, the Summa casuum is noteworthy. This gives guidance as to how the sacrament of Penance may be administered justly and with benefit to the penitent. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.(St André Bessette (1845 - 1937)) He was born in Québec and joined the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1872: the parish priest sent this functionally illiterate, frail young man to the Congregation with the words “I am sending you a saint”. He had great confidence in Saint Joseph and recommended prayer to him to all who were sick. So many were cured that Brother André himself was acclaimed as a miracle-worker, and when he died on 6 January 1937, a million people filed past his coffin. He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 17 October 2010. See the article in Wikipedia.(Saint Cnut the Duke, Martyr)

The Epiphany of the LordOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassThe Epiphany of the Lord

5 JanuaryOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St John Neumann (1811 - 1860)) He was born in Bohemia and studied for the priesthood. His bishop would not allow him to be ordained because the diocese had too many priests already, and eventually he went to the United States and was ordained in New York in 1836. He was consecrated Bishop of Philadephia in 1852 and died there in 1860. See the article in Wikipedia.

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.