BIG C CATHOLICS

(In 2018, this feast is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.) From 2017: December 7th is the optional memorial of Saint Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275), a 13th century Dominican priest and theologian who, as a contemporary of Saint Thomas Aquinas, worked to help Christian captives during the period of the Crusades and added greatly to Canon Law, the Church’s legal code. A brilliant evangelist, in his writings, utterances and example, St. Raymond won numerous souls for Christ. Over 10,000 Muslims converted as a result of his efforts. Named the Superior General of the Dominican Order, he retired after only two years due to his advanced age. (Following this, he lived another 35 years during which he skillfully advanced the Good News.) His most notable work, the Summa Casuum , concerns the importance and correct administration of the Sacrament of Penance. He was born into a Spanish noble family, with ties to the royal house of Aragon, at the castle of Pennafort, in the Catalonian reg

Optional Memorial - September 17th (In 2017, this feast is superseded by the Sunday liturgy.) It is fitting that the month that heralds the beginning of a new school year is also the time in which the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Robert Bellarmine. A Jesuit priest during the Catholic Reformation, he won renown for his scholarship and theological insights. Bellarmine was a "Spiritual Father" to many, including Saint Aloysius Gonzaga. He was a consequential figure in the Church's renewal. He was born in Italy in 1542. His mother, Cinthia Cervini, was sister to Cardinal Marcello Cervini, who later became Pope Marcellus II. Educated by the then "new" order in the Church—the Society of Jesus—the young Bellarmine entered the Jesuits in 1560 at the age of 18. He was ordained 10 years later and became the first Jesuit professor at the Catholic University at Louvain, Belgium, where he taught theology. He remained until 1576, when he was appointed to t

By Father David Powers, Sch.P. Saint Joseph Calasanz (1557-1648) was a holy priest and the founder of both the world's first Christian public school and later the Order of the Pious Schools (known today as the Piarist Fathers,) and he devoted his life to the education of poor children. He was born in Spain on September 11, 1557, in a little village in Aragon called Peralta de la Sal.  He was the youngest of five children born to Don Pedro Calasanz and Donna Maria Gastonia. His mother and brother died while he was still in school. He studied at Estadilla, Valencia, and Alcala de Henares.  His father wanted him to become a soldier, to marry, and to continue the family, but a near fatal illness in 1582 caused him to seriously examine his life, and he realized that he was called to the religious life.  He was ordained as a diocesan priest on December 17, 1583, after receiving a doctorate in both canon law and theology from the University of Lereda.  Calasanz served as a parish

December 7th, is the optional memorial of Saint Raymond of Peñafort (1175-1275), a 13th century Dominican priest and theologian who, as a contemporary of Saint Thomas Aquinas, worked to help Christian captives during the period of the Crusades and added greatly to Canon Law, the Church’s legal code. A brilliant evangelist, in his writings, utterances and example, St. Raymond won numerous souls for Christ. Over 10,000 Muslims converted as a result of his efforts. Named the Superior General of the Dominican Order, he retired after only two years due to his advanced age. (Afterward, he lived another 35 years during which he skillfully advanced the Good News of Christ.) His most notable work, the Summa Casuum , concerns the importance and correct administration of the Sacrament of Penance. He was born into a Spanish noble family, with ties to the royal house of Aragon, at the castle of Pennafort, in the Catalonian region of present-day Spain. The future saint received a world class edu