Monday of the 1st week of AdventOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Blessed Clementine Anuarite (1939 - 1964)) Nengepeta Anuarite was born in the Belgian Congo (now in North Zaire) on 29 November 1939. In 1955 she joined the Religious Institute of the “Holy Family” (Jamaa Takatifu) where she became known as Clementine. She trained as a primary school teacher and for a few years, was the matron of a boarding school. In 1964 she, and the whole community, were kidnapped by the Simba rebels. Anuarite was killed on 1 December 1964 having refused to be the wife of the Colonel.(Blessed Rafał Chyliński, Priest) (St Alexander Briant (1556-1581)) Alexander Briant (or Bryant) was born in Somerset (1556), and entered Hart Hall, Oxford (now Hertford College), at an early age. While there, he became a pupil of Father Robert Parsons, which led to his conversion to the Catholic Church. Having left the university he entered the seminary at Douai, and was ordained priest in 1578. He was assigned to the English mission in August of the following year to work as a priest in his own county of Somerset. After working only briefly he was arrested in April 1581 by a group who were searching for Father Parsons. After spending some time in Counter Prison, London, he was taken to the Tower where he was subjected to tortures that, even in Elizabethan England, stand out for their viciousness. The rack master admitted that Briant was “racked more than any of the rest,” and following a public outcry was imprisoned for a few days for cruelty. With six other priests Briant was arraigned, on November 16, 1581, on the charge of high treason, and condemned to death. In a letter to the Jesuit Fathers in England written from prison he says that he felt no pain during the various tortures he underwent, and adds: “Whether this that I say be miraculous or no, God knoweth, but true it is.” He also asked that he might become a Jesuit, having vowed to offer himself should he be released. Accordingly he is numbered among the martyrs of the Society. He was scarcely more than twenty-five years old on 1 December, the day of his martyrdom. He suffered with Edmund Campion and Ralph Sherwin.DK (St Ralph Sherwin (1550-1581)) Ralph Sherwin was born at Rodsley, Derbyshire (19 October 1550), and was educated at Eton College. He was a talented classical scholar and was nominated by Sir William Petre from Ingatestone to one of the eight fellowships which he had founded at Exeter College, Oxford. He graduated in 1574, being then accounted “an acute philosopher and an excellent Grecian and Hebrician.” The following year he became a Catholic and fled abroad to the English College at Douai, where he was ordained a priest in 1577. He left to go to the English College in Rome, where he studied for about three years. In April 1580, Sherwin and thirteen companions (including Edmund Campion and Robert Persons) left Rome for England; a few months later he was arrested while preaching in a private house in London and imprisoned in the Marshalsea prison, where he converted many fellow prisoners. After a month he was removed to the Tower of London, where he was twice tortured on the rack and then laid out in the snow. He is said to have been offered a bishopric by Queen Elizabeth if he would abandon his Catholicism, but refused. After spending a year in prison he was finally brought to trial with Edmund Campion and others on a charge of treasonable conspiracy. He denied this with the comment: “The plain reason of our standing here is religion, not treason.” He was convicted in Westminster Hall on 20 November 1581. Eleven days later he was taken to Tyburn on a hurdle along with Alexander Briant, where he was hanged, drawn and quartered. His last words were Jesu, Jesu, Jesu, esto mihi Jesus! He was the first member of the English College in Rome to be martyred.DK (St Edmund Campion (1540-1581)) Edmund Campion was born in London on January 25, 1540, received his early education at Christ’s Hospital, and, as the best of the London scholars, was chosen aged thirteen to make the complimentary speech when Queen Mary visited the city. He then attended St John’s College, Oxford, becoming a fellow in 1557 and taking the Oath of Supremacy on the occasion of his degree in 1564. Two years later he welcomed Queen Elizabeth to the university, and won her lasting regard. He was chosen amongst the scholars to lead a public debate in front of the queen. People were now talking of Campion in terms of being a future Archbishop of Canterbury, in the newly established Church of England. Although holding Catholic doctrines, reinforced by his reading of the early Fathers, he received deacon’s orders in the Anglican Church. Inwardly “he took a remorse of conscience and detestation of mind.” Eventually he went to Douai where he was reconciled to the Catholic Church and received the Eucharist that he had denied himself for the last twelve years. The college was a centre of intellectual excellence and Campion found himself reunited with many of his former Oxford friends. His studies completed he left for Rome, travelling on foot and alone in the guise of a poor pilgrim. He then entered a novitiate with the Jesuits, and spent some years in Vienna and Prague.In 1580, the Jesuit mission to England began. Campion entered England in the guise of a jewel merchant, and at once began to preach. His presence soon became known to the authorities, not least because of the challenge he made, known as the “Challenge to the Privy Council” to his allies and as “Campion’s Brag” to his enemies. As a result his position became increasingly difficult. He led a hunted life, preaching and ministering to Catholics in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, and Lancashire. On his way to Norfolk, he stopped at Lyford, near Wantage, where he celebrated Mass and preached both on July 14 and on the following day. Here after a long search he was found in hiding above the gateway. He was taken to London with his arms pinioned and bearing on his hat a paper with the inscription, “Campion, the Seditious Jesuit.” Committed to the Tower of London, he was questioned in the presence (it is said) of Elizabeth, who asked him if he acknowledged her to be the true Queen of England. He replied in the affirmative, and she offered him wealth and dignities, but on condition of rejecting his Catholic faith, which he refused to do.He was kept a long time in prison, where he was twice racked, and every effort was made to shake his defiance. He took part in a number of public debates and reportedly conducted himself so easily and readily that he won the admiration of most of the audience. He was indicted at Westminster on a charge of having conspired, along with others, in Rome and Reims to ‘raise a sedition in the realm’ and dethrone the Queen. He was sentenced to death as a traitor. He answered: “In condemning us, you condemn all your own ancestors, all our ancient bishops and kings, all that was once the glory of England — the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter.” After spending his last days in prayer he was led with two companions to Tyburn and hanged, drawn and quartered on December 1, 1581, aged 41.DK (Saint Ralph Sherwin and the Martyrs of Derbyshire) (Blessed John Beche, Abbot and Martyr)

1st Sunday of AdventOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Andrew the Apostle) He was born in Bethsaida, in Galilee, and worked as a fisherman. He may have been a disciple of St John the Baptist. He became one of the first to follow Jesus and introduced his brother, Simon Peter, to him. As one of the twelve Apostles he was widely venerated in ancient times, and became patron saint of Scotland because according to legend some of his bones were brought there and buried at the place where the town of St Andrew’s now stands.(St Cuthbert Mayne (1543-1577)) Cuthbert Mayne was born at Youlston, near Barnstaple, Devonshire, in 1543 and was executed at Launceston, Cornwall, 29 November 1577. He was the son of William Mayne; he was educated at Barnstaple Grammar School and Oxford, where he got to know a number of men who were favourable to the Catholic cause, notably Edmund Campion and Gregory Martin, who themselves went over to Douai. He was persuaded of the truth of the Catholic cause but held back initially for fear of losing his appointments and his income. Late in 1570 a letter from Gregory Martin to Cuthbert fell into the Bishop of London’s hands. He at once arranged for Cuthbert and others mentioned in the letter to be arrested. Being warned, Cuthbert managed to escape and got to Douai. There he was received into the Catholic Church, and was ordained priest in 1575. He soon left for the English mission. He went to live with Francis Tregian, of Golden Manor, in St Probus’s parish, Cornwall, who was subsequently imprisoned for harbouring him. Cuthbert was arrested in June 1577, taken to Launceston and put on trial in September. He was found guilty of high treason, and was sentenced accordingly. The trial attracted considerable attention partly because he was the first so-called ‘seminary priest’ to be tried; a legal distinction was made between ‘Marian’ priests who had been ordained in England, and ‘seminary’ priests who had studied and had been ordained overseas. His execution was delayed because one of the judges, Jeffries, altered his mind after sentence and sent a report to the Privy Council. They submitted the case to the whole Bench of Judges, which was inclined to Jeffries’s view. Nevertheless, for motives of policy, the Council ordered the conviction to stand “as a terror to the papists” and a warning to priests coming from abroad. A rough portrait of the martyr still exists.A correspondent asks us to make it clear that the “Bishop of London” who had Cuthbert arrested was not the Catholic Bishop of London. Indeed, there was no Catholic Bishop of London at that time, and there has never been one since. The last Catholic Bishop of London was deprived of his see in 1559 and died in prison ten years later.DK

Saturday of week 34 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(Blessed Bernard Francis de Hoyos (1711-1735)) Bernard Francis de Hoyos (1711-1735) was born in Torrelobatón, Spain. He entered the Jesuit novitiate at Villagarcia in 1726 and, just three months later, had his first mystical experience. Then, in early May 1733, during his theology studies, he received his decisive mission from Christ: “I wish for you to spread the devotion to my Sacred Heart throughout all of Spain.” Days later he obtained the “Great Promise”: “I will reign in Spain with more veneration than in other places.” Through his efforts, devotion to the Sacred Heart became popular throughout Spain. He is acclaimed as the first apostle of the Sacred Heart in Spain.(Bls Denis and Redemptus (d. 1638)) Pierre Berthelot was born in Honfleur, France, in 1600. He was a cartographer and naval commander for the kings of Portugal and France before he joined the Discalced Carmelites in Goa in 1635. Entering religious life, Pierre took the name Denis of the Nativity and was ordained a priest.It was also at Goa that the Portuguese lay brother, Thomas Rodriguez da Cunha, born in 1598, had made his profession in 1615, taking the name Redemptus of the Cross. Both Denis and Redemptus were sent to the island of Sumatra, where, in the town of Achén, they were imprisoned and executed because of their faith, dying as martyrs on the 29th November 1638.MT

Friday of week 34 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass

Thursday of week 34 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Fergal (c.700 - 784)) Fergal (Ferghil, Vergil, Virgil) was an Irish monk, possibly educated at Clonbroney under St Samthann and going on to become Abbot of Aghaboe. Like many Irish monks of the time, he set off on his ‘pilgrimage of the love of Christ’, in 723. He passed through France and southern Germany. He was invited to Bavaria by Duke Odilo and founded the monastery of Chiemsee. Eventually he became Abbot of St Peter’s at Salzburg. He engaged in controversy with St Boniface, but on Boniface’s martyrdom he became his successor as Bishop of Salzburg in 766 or 767. He is remembered as Apostle of the Slovenes; he also had a keen interest in mathematics and astronomy.(The Holy Crucifix of the Cathedral of Goa) This feast is linked to a miraculous event involving the famous Crucifix of the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Goa (Sé Cathedral). According to tradition, in the year 1619, a farmer was praying in the cathedral when he witnessed the miraculous movement of the eyes of the crucified Christ on the cross. This event is believed to have occurred on November 27, and it inspired widespread devotion to the crucifix.The crucifix was venerated as a symbol of Christ’s love and suffering, and the Archdiocese began to commemorate this miracle annually as a memorial. The devotion also highlights the significance of the crucifix as a central symbol of the Catholic faith, reminding the faithful of Christ’s redemptive sacrifice.This day is marked with special prayers and Masses, drawing pilgrims and the faithful to venerate the Holy Crucifix in thanksgiving for the miracle and as an expression of their faith.(Saints Vergilius and Modestus, Bishops)

Wednesday of week 34 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Leonard of Porto Maurizio (1676 - 1751)) Leonard was born in Porto Maurizio in 1676, the son of a master mariner. He joined the Franciscan order and for forty-seven years preached, wrote letters and sermons, and travelled the whole length of Italy. The popularity of the Stations of the Cross is much due to the impetus he gave to the devotion. He died at Rome in 1751.(Saint John Berchmans (1599-1621)) John Berchmans was born in Diest, Belgium. He joined the Jesuit novitiate when he was seventeen. Sent to Rome to study philosophy at the Roman College in 1619, he surprised both masters and classmates: he joined an exquisite charity and friendliness to a brilliant intelligence and great emotional maturity. His spiritual diary also reveals the depth of his interior life, which bespeaks a true mystical union with God. His health suffered from the effort he put into studying for his final examination, and he became steadily weaker as he prepared for the disputation. On July 8 1621, he passed his final examination brilliantly, but soon after he fell seriously ill with dysentery and died on 13 August 1621.

Tuesday of week 34 in Ordinary Time, or Saint Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin, Martyr Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Catherine of Alexandria (d. 305)) Legends coming from a number of sources say that St Catherine was very outspoken at the time of the persecutions of Christians. She even protested openly to the emperor Maxentius who had her arrested, tortured on the wheel and decapitated in 305. St Catherine’s courage is a great challenge to all African Christians in their struggle for justice and peace. The witness of her life and her readiness to die for the faith encourages us to be brave witnesses to the Lord and to speak out on behalf of all those who suffer.(Blessed Niels Stensen (1638-86)) Niels Steensen was born as the son of a Copenhagen goldsmith. After studying medicine in Copenhagen, he went on a European study trip, where in the Netherlands he encountered a religious and philosophical diversity that brought him into a religious crisis. He overcame the crisis and found a fervent faith in God’s providence, but he could no longer find the Protestant faith of his homeland convincing. After a series of anatomical discoveries and a stay in Copenhagen, he set out in 1664 on a new study trip, and in Florence he found friends and well-wishers. There he converted to the Catholic Church in 1667 and in the following years made a number of further anatomical and geological discoveries. After a stay in Copenhagen 1672-74, he gave up science and was ordained a priest in 1675 to devote himself to pastoral care among foreign travellers in Tuscany. In 1677 he was made a bishop and sent to Northern Germany, where he worked in Hanover, Münster, Hamburg and finally Schwerin, where he died in the reputation of sanctity. His mortal remains were taken to Florence and today lie in the Medici burial church of San Lorenzo. In 1988 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. He is loved not only for his pastoral zeal, his deep spirituality and his love for poverty and the poor, but also as an example of the cohesion of natural science and religious knowledge.(Saint Colman of Cloyne (522 - 600)) He was a royal bard who in later life became a bishop. He founded several churches, including the church at Cloyne: he is patron saint of the diocese. See the article in Wikipedia.(Blessed Mother Mary of the Good Shepherd) (Saint Alnoth, Hermit, Martyr)

Saints Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his Companions, MartyrsOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSaints Andrew Dũng-Lạc and his Companions The evangelization of Vietnam began in the 16th century and was formally established with the setting up of two Vicariates Apostolic in 1659. There are now about 6 million Catholics in Vietnam, some 10% of the population.This growth comes partly from the fact that since the earliest times the seed of the Faith has been watered by the blood of the martyrs of Vietnam – the missionary clergy, the local clergy and the ordinary Christian people. They have all shared the labour of apostolic work and have together faced death to bear witness to the truth of the Gospel. In the course of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries no less than 53 decrees, signed by the lords and emperors of the country from 1625 to 1886, launched one persecution of Christians after another, each one more savage than the last. Over the whole territory of Vietnam about 130,000 Christians were killed in these persecutions. Over the centuries the names of most of them have been lost, but their memory is still alive in the Catholic community.Since the beginning of the 20th century 117 of these heroes (those whose sufferings were cruellest and best documented) were beatified, in four groups. They were all canonized together by Pope John Paul II on 19 June 1988.Each one of them was a soul individually created and loved by God, with a life and gifts uniquely his or her own; but with such a huge crowd one can only classify. By nationality, there were 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spanish and 10 French. By status, there were 8 bishops, 50 priests, and 59 laymen and women. By mode of death, 75 were beheaded, 22 strangled, 6 burned alive, 5 torn to pieces while still alive, and 9 died of torture in prison.A description in French or Spanish can be found on the Vatican web site. An interesting and detailed history of the Catholic Church in Vietnam can be found in this blog entry. It includes an English translation of the Vatican text.

Christ the KingOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassChrist the King The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925, the sixteenth centenary of the Council of Nicaea at which the doctrine of the consubstantiality of Christ with the Father was defined. Its eschatological character was confirmed by its move, in the calendar reforms of the Second Vatican Council, to the final Sunday of the liturgical year.The Pope asserted that the most effective defence against the destructive forces of the age is the recognition of the kingship of Christ; and, furthermore, a feast which is celebrated every year by everyone is a far better way of deploying that defence than any number of books written by learned people. First, we do; then we come to understand what it is that we are doing.Each of us has been anointed with holy oil at baptism, as priest, prophet and king. The feast of Christ the King is thus a good moment to reflect on our kingship and on what “king” means and how to be one. Understanding the feast makes us understand our own call better.One possible point of entry is in Genesis, where Adam sits in state and God brings him all the animals for him to give them names. To give names to one’s subjects is the act of a king. The responsibility of a king is then to care for his subjects, which is why we are obliged to act as custodians of creation: something no other creature is. How far that responsibility takes one can then be seen in the King of the Universe, who is simultaneously the ruler of all and the servant of all. He rules in triumph; and he rules from the Cross. Perhaps a way into a meditation on all this would be to ask, “Over whom am I, personally, king?” and hence “Whom am I called to serve?”(Pope St Clement I) Clement was Bishop of Rome after Peter, Linus and Cletus. He lived towards the end of the first century, but nothing is known for certain about his life. Clement’s letter to the Corinthian church has survived. It is the first known Patristic document, and exhorts them to peace and brotherly harmony.(Saint Columbanus, Abbot (540? - 615)) He was born in Ireland before the middle of the sixth century. He was a monk from his youth and was learned in both sacred and secular literature. At the age of 45 he left Ireland and went to Europe, where he founded three monasteries in what is now France. His monastic rule was strict, based on Irish practice.King Thierry II of Burgundy had a veneration for Columbanus and often visited him. Columbanus’s criticisms of Thierry’s debauched living and practice of concubinage enraged the king’s grandmother Brunhild, and eventually Columbanus and all other Irish-born monks were ordered to be deported to Ireland. They eluded their captors, and after an unsuccessful attempt to evangelize the pagan tribes near modern-day Zürich they reached Italy, where Columbanus founded the monastery at Bobbio. He died there in 615.The Rule of St Columbanus was eventually superseded by the milder Rule of St Benedict. Columbanus’s writings are among the earliest evidence of Irish knowledge of Latin. Some of what he wrote related to ecclesiastical controversies of the time and is no longer read, but several extracts from his “Instructions” are still part of the Office of Readings. His style combines an underlying passion with a strong and rhythmic rhetorical structure.(Blessed Miguel Agustín Pro (1891 - 1927)) He was born into a mining family in the Mexican state of Zacatecas. He joined the Jesuits in 1911. Government persecution forced the Jesuits to flee to California in 1914, from where he went to study at Granada in Spain. He left there in 1919 and taught in Nicaragua until 1922. Because of his mining background and his natural ability to get on with people, he was sent to Enghien in Belgium to study Catholic labour movements. After his ordination in 1925 he worked among the miners in Charleroi.He returned to Mexico in 1926 because it was thought that his health (which was always poor) would improve in the warm climate. At this time the Church was being severely persecuted. Under the Mexican constitution religious education was banned, and priests were forbidden to wear clerical clothes, speak in public, or vote. In some Mexican states all churches had been closed, many priests had been killed, and the few remaining ones had to work underground at the risk of their lives.Pro celebrated the Eucharist clandestinely and administered the other sacraments to small groups of Catholics. He was arrested once in October 1926, and then in November 1927 he was falsely accused of an assassination attempt on the ex-president and executed without trial. Detailed photographs of his execution were widely published in Mexican newspapers to intimidate Mexican Catholics, but they were treated as holy pictures by the faithful and had the opposite effect.See also the detailed 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.