Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

It’s an unusual story. One day, Jesus is with three disciples on a high mountain in Galilee, when His appearance dramatically changes. Also, Moses and Elijah suddenly appear, and from a cloud comes the voice of God. What is this all about? This event was witnessed by James, Peter, and John. They were close friends...

The story is told in Matthew (17:1-9), Mark (9:1-9) and Luke (9:28-36). It was a time when Jesus’ ministry was popular, when people were seeking Him out.  But on this day, He made time to take Peter, James and John, His closest disciples, up a high mountain.  In the fourth century, Cyrillic of Jerusalem identified...

Bit short of cash for your holiday this year?  Cajetan (1480 – 1547) should be the patron saint of anyone who needs some extra money – right now.  For it was he who founded the Monts de Piete – the pawnshops – in the 16th century.  They were first designed to help people through a...

If you enjoy reading the Bible and in encouraging others to have faith in God, then Dominic is the patron saint for you. His passion for helping Christians to learn and proclaim their faith led him to found the Order of Preachers, or Black Friars, because of the black cape they wore over white habits....

The Mothers’ Union is now more than 140 years old. It has accomplished a staggering amount in that time, and nowadays numbers more than four million members, doing good work in 83 countries.  That is a far cry from the modest circle of prayer for mothers who cared about family life, which is how it...

Laurence was a deacon of the Church in Rome who was martyred in 258.  His story is found in the very ancient Depositio Martyrum, which tells us that he was closely associated with Pope Sixtus II, who was martyred just a few days before him during the persecution of the Emperor Valerian.   We also know...

Assisi, a beautiful town in the Italian province of Umbria, was the birth-place in the twelfth century of two of that country’s greatest saints, Francis and Clare. Francis first, and then Clare, discovered the liberating effect of release from the burden of wealth. For them simplicity, a godly poverty, was the way to blessing. Their...

Clare (1194 – 1253) was the famous virgin foundress of the Minoresses or Poor Clares.  Born at Assisi of the Offreduccio family, Clare grew up to hear the teaching of St Francis of Assisi, and at 18 she renounced all her possessions and joined him at the Portiuncula, where she became a nun.  Soon Francis...

In the year 1212 Clare, the 18-year-old daughter of a local Count, heard a young preacher called Francis. A few years earlier he had caused a sensation in the centre of the town where they both lived, Assisi in Italy, by stripping himself of his wealthy clothes and declaring that from now on he would...

St Radegund (518-87) is a saint for anyone who has suffered domestic abuse. She is also a reminder that domestic abuse can occur in any family, however wealthy, and can span the generations, so that some women go straight from violent father to violent husband. Radegund was born in 518, the daughter of Berthaire, king...

Some people’s lives seem to epitomise the suffering of millions, but also to shine with a Christian response to it.  One such person was Maximilian Kolbe, 1894 – 1941, a Franciscan priest of Poland, and publisher extraordinary. Maximilian was born at Zdunska Wola, near Lodz, where his parents, devout Christians, worked in a cottage weaving...

The Church responds with a resounding ‘Yes’ to that question, as we celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary on 15thAugust. (Usually her feast day is on the 16th.) An ancient name for this day is the transition of Mary – her crossing over to eternal life – or the assumption of Mary. But her story begins...