Holy SaturdayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Isidore of Seville (560 - 636)) He was born in Seville in about 560 and after his father’s death he was educated by his brother Leander, Archbishop of Seville. He was instrumental in converting the Visigothic kings from the Arian heresy; he was made Archbishop of Seville after his brother’s death; and he took a prominent part in councils at Toledo and Seville. The Council of Toledo, in particular, laid great emphasis on learning, with all bishops in the kingdom commanded to establish seminaries and to encourage the teaching of Greek and Hebrew, law and medicine. He promoted the study of Aristotle, long before the Arabs discovered him and centuries before 13th-century Christian philosophers discovered him through the Arabs. He embarked on the project of writing an encyclopaedia of universal knowledge but did not live to complete it. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.(St Benedict 'The Black' (1526 - 1589)) Benedict was born in 1526, the son of Christopher and Diana, an Ethiopian couple who were kept as slaves in Sicily. When Benedict reached the age of 18, he was set free and after a while he joined a hermit called Jerome. His reputation for holiness was spread throughout the area and people flocked to him all the time. Eventually he moved to a Franciscan monastery where he spent the rest of his life serving his brothers as a cook. Even though he was a lay brother and without education, he was chosen to be their Superior and, at the end of his term of 6 years, he went back to the kitchen. People kept on visiting him seeking his advice and the help of his prayers. He died on 4 April, 1589. Humility, spirit of service, wisdom and powerful intercession were the special gifts bestowed on Benedict “The Black”. See the articles in the Catholic Encyclopaedia and Wikipedia.

Friday of the 5th week of LentOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St John of Egypt (304 - 394)) At the age of 25, John left his home and became a monk. He lived under the tutelage of a wise hermit and when his master died, John decided to withdraw into a more remote cave on Mount Lycos. There he lived a very strict life, devoting himself to prayer and manual work. People started to visit him, since he was able to perform miracles, heal the sick and read people’s hearts. He died in 394, at the age of 90.

Good FridayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass

Maundy ThursdayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Francis of Paola (1436 - 1507)) He was born in Paola in Calabria. He founded an order of hermits which later became the Order of Minims (“minimi,” meaning “least,” because they were to be the least of the religious orders). He died on Good Friday, 2 April 1507, at Plessis in France. See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.(St John Payne (c.1550-1582)) John Payne (or Paine) was born in Peterborough into a Church of England family but in his early adult life became a Catholic. He went to the English College at Douai in 1574 and was ordained priest in 1576; the short time he was at the college may suggest that he had studied theology elsewhere. He returned to England in the company of Cuthbert Mayne (1st December). He went to Essex where he stayed at the home of the Petre family in Ingatestone Hall. From here he ministered to local Catholics, while apparently working as an estate steward. In 1577 he was imprisoned for a short time, afterwards returning briefly to Douai. He came back to Essex and continued working as a priest until in 1581 he was once again arrested. He was imprisoned at Greenwich, being charged with conspiracy against the Queen, was racked in the Tower, and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. He denied the evidence brought against him completely, stating at his trial “that he always, in mind or word, honoured the queen’s majesty above any woman in the world; that he would gladly always have spent his life for her pleasure in any lawful service; that he prayed for her as for his own soul; that he never invented or compassed any treason against her majesty, or any of the nobility of England.” He was executed at Chelmsford on 2 April. He was so well known and respected in the neighbourhood that the crowd compelled the hangman to wait until he was dead before cutting him down.DK (Blessed Pedro Calungsod (- 1672)) He was a teen-aged native of the Visayas region of the Philippines, one of the boy catechists who went with some Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the Ladrones Islands – later renamed “Marianas” – in the western Pacific in 1668, to evangelize the Chamorros. On 2 April 1672, while helping Fr Diego Luis de San Vitores, the rector of the Mission, to recover a runaway servant and to perform some baptisms at the village of Tomhon on the Island of Guam, he was killed by two natives for being a Christian, for catechizing the Chamorros and for helping in the administration of the Sacrament of Baptism. His body was thrown into deep ocean together with that of the rector, who was also killed after him.He was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on 21 October 2012.

Wednesday of Holy WeekOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Ceallach (1080 - 1129)) He became hereditary bishop of Armagh in 1105 and made many reforms; not least on his deathbed, when he abolished the hereditary principle by appointing St Malachy as his successor.

Tuesday of Holy WeekOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Modestus, Bishop)

Monday of Holy WeekOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass

Palm SundayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassThe Donkey When fishes flew and forests walked And figs grew upon thorn, Some moment when the moon was blood Then surely I was born.With monstrous head and sickening cry And ears like errant wings, The devil’s walking parody On all four-footed things.The tattered outlaw of the earth, Of ancient crooked will;Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb, I keep my secret still.Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet.G.K. Chesterton

Saturday of the 5th week of LentOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass

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.