The Communist interrogator couldn’t stand it any longer. “Admit it!” he shouted to the priest, “You’re part of a Vatican plot! You’re nothing more than an imperialist lackey!” But the newly appointed archbishop of Saigon, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, answered quietly and directly, “No. I will not admit anything of the kind.” More »
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By any account, 590 was a disastrous year in Rome. Plague had struck, sweeping through the homes of poor and wealthy alike. Even the pope was carried away by the fearsome disease. The spring floods were the worst in memory; the Tiber broke through its retaining walls, causing enormous damage. More »
In ancient times, when a king traveled from place to place, messengers ran ahead to announce his coming and encourage the people to prepare to receive the royal visitor. Messengers did not take this role upon themselves, but were appointed to it. So too was John an envoy, a herald chosen by God to announce his reign and the imminent coming of his Son. More »
On October 23, 2005, nearly eight thousand Chileans stood cheering in St. Peter’s Square as Pope Benedict XVI canonized their country’s second saint. More »
Mary’s Song, called the Magnificat, tells us more than any other gospel story just how Mary approached prayer (Luke 1:46-55). Mary had heard that her long-barren cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, and so she went to visit her. More »
Most people are familiar with the eight hundred-year-old Dominican Order, one of the ten largest religious communities in the world. But how many know much about its founder, St. Dominic? More »
When the doorbell of St. Bonaventure Monastery in Detroit rang, it sounded sharp and clear, like the clanging of a school bell. And if it rang in the wee hours of the morning, it nearly always startled the thirty or so residents out of their sleep. More »
Mary is identified in relation to her native village, Magdala, located near the Sea of Galilee, rather than in relation to a man such as her father, husband, or son, as is the case with many women who appear in the gospels and was the custom of the times. This way of identifying her suggests that she was a single woman following Jesus out of her own conviction. More »