Friday of the 1st week of Lent, (commemoration of Saint Gregory of Narek, Abbot and Doctor of the Church) Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Saint Gregory of Narek (c.950-1005)) He was born around 950 to a noble family in the region of Anzevatsik in Armenia: a region now on the borders of south-eastern Turkey and north-western Iran. He received a cultured and literary upbringing. As a young man he entered the monastery of Narek, of which his great-uncle Ananias was abbot. He was educated by the famous school of the monastery and spent the rest of his life there, being ordained priest and eventually becoming abbot.His life was marked by an intense love of the Virgin Mary. He attained great heights of sanctity and mystical experience, and expounded his teaching in various mystical and theological works. In 1003 he wrote his outstanding work, the Book of Lamentations, and he died about two years later.The Book of Lamentations retains enormous importance as a foundation-stone of Armenian literature, and remains widely influential to this day. Gregory’s work is still little known in the West but he was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Francis in 2015 and his memorial was added to the General Calendar in 2021.

Thursday after Ash WednesdayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Day of Sanctifying Works (Vietnam)) The third day of the Vietnamese New year celebration is concerned with what we are going to do with this new year which has been given us. It is a celebration of human work. As Christians we do not find fulfilment by self-absorbed self-contemplation. We do.The First Reading tells how God put man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and take care of it. In the Second Reading Paul boasts to the Ephesians how he has never asked them for money to support him in his preaching: when he needed money, he sat down and made tents. The Gospel is one of the most terrifying of all: the Parable of the Talents, which tells of the terrible fate of anyone who is given talents and uses them purely for sitting around and feeling safe.(Bl. Alvarez of Cordoba OP ( - 1430)) Dominican Friar and Priest.Born at Zamora, Spain, towards the middle of the fourteenth century, Blessed Alvarez entered the Order in 1368. He preached throughout Spain and Italy and established the priory of Scala Caeli at Cordova where he promoted the regular life. By his preaching and contemplation of the Lord’s Passion he spread the practice of the Way of the Cross throughout the West. He died on February 19, about the year 1430.

Thursday of the 1st week of LentOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Alexander of Alexandria (250 - 328)) Alexander played an important role in the growth of the catechetical school at Alexandria. When he was made bishop, he continued in his efforts to educate the faithful in the faith. He encountered serious challenges especially from Arius, a priest who was teaching that Jesus was only human and not divine. Alexander called bishops together to deal with Arius, who remained incorrigible in his position even after being excommunicated. Alexander died in 328, at the age of seventy-eight.

Wednesday of the 1st week of LentOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassStanisław Leon Kochanski (1923 - 1999) On this day in 1999 died Staszek Kochanski, father of Martin Kochanski, the founder of Universalis. Please pray for the repose of his soul; and for his son and daughter, who survive him.If you would like to follow the funeral service, you can do so here.(St Ethelbert (c.560 - 616)) Ethelbert, or Aethelberht, was King of Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death. He was the first king in England to convert to Christianity: according to Bede, this happened shortly after St Augustine arrived on his mission to the English. He helped the Church to establish itself by making it a gift of land at Canterbury.(Bl. Maria Adeodata Pisani (1806 - 1855)) She was the daughter of noble Maltese parents, who separated while she was still a small child. She renounced her wealth and position and became a nun at the age of 21 despite her mother’s disapproval. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2001.(St Walburga (- 776)) Walburga was the daughter of the saintly Saxon prince Richard of Wessex. At the invitation of St Boniface, she accompanied her brothers SS. Willibald and Winebald to Germany, where she founded monasteries. She died on May 11th 776, as Abbess of Heidenheim, and her body was placed in a rocky niche in Eichstadt. It was said that there began to exude from this place a miraculously therapeutic oil, which drew many pilgrims.Plymouth Ordo (Blessed Rani Maria, Virgin, Martyr)

Tuesday of the 1st week of LentOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Bl Josepha Girbes (1820-1893)) Josepha Naval Girbés was born at Algemes in the Archdiocese of Valencia, Spain, on December 11, 1820. As a very young woman she consecrated herself to the Lord by a perpetual vow of chastity. Josepha’s life was simple. She stood out for her ardent love, and she made progress along the way of prayer and evangelical perfection, while dedicating herself generously to apostolic works in her parish community. In her own home she opened a school where she taught needlework, prayer, and the evangelical virtues. She formed many young girls and women and shared with them her wisdom and spiritual understanding. She was a member of the Third Order Secular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Saint Teresa of Jesus, and had a special love for the Virgin Mother of God. Her holy death took place on February 24, 1893. She is buried in her parish church of Saint James in her native city.Carmelite Breviary (Bl. Constantius of Fabriano OP ( - 1481)) Dominican Friar and Priest.Born at Fabriano at the beginning of the fifteenth century, Blessed Constantius received the Dominican habit at the age of fifteen. He was noted for his austere and prayerful life, as well as his efforts in promoting peace. As prior at Fabriano, at Perugia, and at Ascoli he labored to restore regular life. He died at Ascoli on February 24, 1481.(Bl. Asccensión of the Heart of Jesus Nicol Goñi OP (1868 - 1940))

Monday of the 1st week of Lent, (commemoration of Saint Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr) Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Polycarp (- 155)) He was a disciple of the Apostles, bishop of Smyrna, and a friend of St Ignatius of Antioch. He went to Rome to confer with Pope Anicetus about the celebration of Easter. He was martyred at Smyrna in about 155 by being burnt to death in the stadium. Polycarp is an important figure in the history of the Church because he is one of the earliest Christians whose writings still survive. He bears witness to the beliefs of the early Christians and the early stages of the development of doctrine. See the articles in Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

1st Sunday of LentOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Peter's Chair) This feast has been celebrated in Rome since at least the fourth century. It signifies the unity of the Church founded upon the Apostles.

Saturday after Ash Wednesday, (commemoration of Saint Peter Damian, Bishop, Doctor) Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Peter Damian (1007 - 1072)) Peter Damian was born in Ravenna in 1007 and studied theology and canon law, becoming a renowned teacher in both Parma and Ravenna. In his late twenties he abandoned all this and joined the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, near Gubbio, where he became prior in 1043: a position he held until his death. He strongly promoted the religious life in many parts of Italy. The Church at that time was in a terrible state and he supported the Popes in their efforts at reform, both by his writings and as a papal envoy. Pope Stephen IX named him a cardinal and Bishop of Ostia. He died on 21 February 1072 and was immediately acclaimed as a saint. See the article in Wikipedia.(St Robert Southwell (1561 - 1595)) Although a Norfolk man by birth, Robert Southwell spent part of his boyhood at Roughway (now Roffey) Place near Horsham, which belonged to his mother’s family. She was a Copley, and her own mother a Shelley – both staunch Sussex Catholic families. Robert’s cousin Margaret Copley married John Gage of Firle. It was she who pressed through the crowd to ask Robert’s blessing on his way to Tyburn, and who was subsequently imprisoned for harbouring priests.At the age of fifteen, in 1576, Robert was sent to school at Douai and then to Paris. Before he was seventeen, he had decided to apply to join the Jesuits. The Belgian novitiate was closed because of the war between Spain and the Netherlands, so he walked to Rome and was accepted there. He was ordained priest in 1584 and for a time was Prefect of Studies at the Venerable English College in Rome.His great desire was to return to England, and in 1586 he was sent here with Father Henry Garnet. Before the end of the year he was established at Arundel House in the Strand, as chaplain to Anne, the wife of St Philip Howard, who was then imprisoned in the Tower. From Arundel House Robert conducted a remarkable apostolate. He had great gifts as a writer. His letters to St Philip Howard played a great part in strengthening Philip’s resolve during the long years of his imprisonment. Later they were printed, from a secret place in London, as “An Epistle of Comfort”. He also wrote many poems, the best-known being “The Burning Babe”, and among his prose works was “A Humble Supplication to Her Majestie”, on behalf of persecuted Catholics. His writings were widely read and held in high esteem by the literary men of the time.Robert was an organiser as well as a poet, and was reckoned by the authorities as “the chief dealer for the papists in England”. He was responsible for getting candidates for the priesthood out of the country for their training abroad, and for finding accommodation for those returning to work here. Small wonder that he was the priest most ardently sought by the infamous priest-hunter, Richard Topcliffe.By 1592, after Robert had spent six years in England, Topcliffe was hard on his heels. He knew that Robert had been at Roffey that year, but did not attempt to arrest him in that Catholic stronghold. But later that year Topcliffe put pressure on a Catholic girl, Anne Bellamy, to betray Robert. She asked him to come to see her at her home near Harrow. Topcliffe and his men arrived, and surrounded the house. When Robert realised that he had been betrayed, he came forward. Topcliffe had to be forcibly restrained from killing him there and then.Robert Southwell was a great prize. Topcliffe took him to his own house, and there had him tortured ten times over a space of four days, “worse than the rack”. Constantly questioned under torture to betray his friends, he consistently refused to give any names, even at the beginning his own. He was then moved to the Gatehouse Prison, and after a month there in the most squalid conditions he was committed to the Tower, where he remained for two and a half years. All this time he had not been brought to trial, and in the end he asked that he should be tried. In February 1595 he was tried for treason, on the ground that he was a priest remaining in the country against the law of 1585, and condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. The following day, 21 February 1595, the sentence was carried out. As he stood on the cart at Tyburn, after praying for the Queen, he said: “I acknowledge that I am a priest (I thank God most highly for it), and of the Society of Jesus. I commend into the hands of Almighty God my poor country, desiring him for his infinite mercy’s sake to reduce it to such perfect insights, knowledge and understanding of the truth that they may learn to praise and glorify God, and gain their soul’s health and eternal salvation.” Then he died, aged 33, and we are told that there was not one bystander to cry “Traitor”.Some time before his arrest he had written to his Superior General: “It seems to me that I see the beginning of a religious life set on foot in England, of which we now sow the seed in tears, that others hereafter may with joy carry in the sheaves to the heavenly granaries. We look for the time (if we are not unworthy of so great a glory) when our day shall come.” He was canonised as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970.

Friday after Ash WednesdayOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(Bl. Christopher of Milan OP (c.1410 - 1484)) Dominican Friar and Priest.Blessed Christopher was born at Milan around 1410. He dedicated his whole life to itinerant preaching after the example of Saint Vincent Ferrer. The austerity of his life and his zeal for souls led an ancient chronicler to say of him: “He was truly a Christ-bearer, for he carried Christ not only in name, but in his heart and on his lips.” While master of novices for the Dominican Order he wrote a treatise On the Service of God for them. He died at Taggia in March, 1484.

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.