Black Saints, Present and Upcoming
February is Black history month. In its honor, I present a few Black Saints and those on the way to canonization. The Process of Canonization Usually five years after a person’s death, someone petitions a bishop to open a cause for canonization. After approval,the proposed person is called Servant of God. An appointed person gathers […]
Saints for Fun
Because joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, naturally saints have a sense of humor. They are not the solemn, dour people as sometimes assumed to be. This quality makes them attractive. Arguably the prime example of a saint who loved to have fun was St. Philip Neri. He walked around in shoes too […]
Last Words, Sacred and Silly Ones
The Final Words of Jesus The final words of a person who is dying can have special meaning. Preeminent of these are what are known as the Seven Last Words of Jesus that he uttered from the Cross. To refresh your memory, they are as follows: Some Dying Words of Humans Those holy words are […]
Saints’ Witty, Funny, and Wise Sayings for Their Younger Siblings
Saints left us a legacy of words to inspire, enlighten and amuse us.
Special Devotions Enrich Spirituality: Saints Knew This
One devotion is to the seven sorrows of Mary.
Saint Hildegard of Bingen, an Extraordinary Woman
Recently I edited an article on Saint Hildegard and learned much about this remarkable woman. Although she was born in 1098, it took 900 years before Pope Benedict XVI named her a saint in an “equivalent canonization” in 2012 and then shortly after, she was given the title doctor of the church. A true polymath, […]
Saints: Flawed Heroes
Happy Halloween (Saints’ Eve) and Happy Feast of All Saints! What pops into your mind when you hear the word saint? Do you think of someone pale and sickly, serious (if not downright grim), clothed in religious garb and living in caves or on clouds? Actually the saints had their feet on the ground. They […]
Creation, a Springboard to God
I just finished writing an endorsement for a book that is built on the premise that there is divine presence in all of creation. This concept is scripture based, for we read in Jeremiah 23:24, “Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.” When the Son of God became incarnate, he united himself […]
Saint Julie Billiart: A Woman for Our Time
Although St. Julie Billiart lived from 1751 to 1816, several aspects of her life parallel our current world. My latest book is her biography in the form of a novel: The Walking Love of God: St. Julie Billiart. (It contains colored photos, which makes it more expensive, but I thought it was worth it.) Here […]
A Polish Saint, Maximilian Kolbe
I’m working on a project for an amateur radio operator who discovered that his hobby had a patron saint. In the process, I realized that this saint would also make a good patron saint for me: St. Maximilian Kolbe. For one thing he is Polish, and so was my mother. Second, he had a profound […]