BIG C CATHOLICS

March 10th, the Church celebrates the optional memorial of Saint Dominic Savio (1842 - 1857), the 19th century boy-saint. This brilliant student noted for his personal piety, died at the age of fifteen. He was one of the great hopes of Saint John Bosco for the future of his congregation. Dominic was canonized in 1954. He was one of ten children of Carlo and Birgitta Savio. Carlo was a blacksmith and Birgitta was a seamstress. When Don Bosco was looking for young men to train as priests for his Salesian Order, his parish priest suggested Dominic Savio. Dominic became more than a credit to Don Bosco's school — he single-handedly organized those who were to be the nucleus of Don Bosco's order. St. Dominic Savio was twelve when he met Don Bosco and organized a group of boys into the Company of the Immaculate Conception. Besides its religious purpose, the boys swept, took care of the school and looked after the boys that no one seemed to pay any attention to. When, in 1859, D

December 12th, dioceses in Canada celebrate the memorial of Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys (1620-1700), the 17th century consecrated religious, accomplished educator and foundress who established the Congrégation de Notre-Dame, a community of mendicant sisters ministering to the world. Renowned for her tireless work advancing the Gospel, she was instrumental in founding the city of Montreal. A mystical vision of the Virgin Mary compelled her to devote her life to God. With her canonization, Bourgeoys became Canada’s first female saint. She was born on Good Friday, in Troyes, France, the sixth of twelve children to Abraham Bourgeoys and Guillemette Gamier, and baptized the same day. Her large middle-class family was devoutly Christian. Her father died when she was very young. At nineteen years of age Marguerite’s mother died. The following year, on October 7, 1640, during a procession in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary, while observing a statue of the Blessed Virgin, she experienced a d

The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12th. She first appeared on December 9th, 1531. According to the account, the Virgin Mary told Juan Diego, an Indian convert, to tell Bishop Juan de Zumárraga to build a chapel. Bishop Zumárraga asked Diego for a sign as proof that it was truly the Mother of God. Our Lady instructed Diego to gather some roses in his tilma [tradition attests that Mary arranged the roses in the tilma herself] and present them to the bishop. As Diego did this, the roses fell to the floor, revealing the miraculous image of Mary as she appeared in real life. All present praised her intercession and believed. See Ten Amazing Facts About the Miraculous Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe . In 1910 Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared Patroness of Latin America, and in 1945 Pope Pius XII declared her to be the Empress of all the Americas. O God, Father of mercies, who placed your people under the singular protection of your Son's most holy Mother, grant that

On October 19th, dioceses in the United States observe the memorial of Saints Isaac Jogues, Jean de Brébeuf and companions, also known as the North American Martyrs. The six Jesuit priests and two laymen from France, were the first martyrs of North American to be officially recognized by the Church. At the expense of their own safety and despite great hardship, they brought Christ to the native population. It is estimated they converted some 7,000 members of the Huron tribe. The Huron’s enemies, the Iroquois waged ruthless wars against the Huron and Algonquian nations as well as the French. Iroquois Mohawk braves brutally tortured and killed the North American Martyrs between 1642 and 1649. In 1534, Jacques Cartier voyaged to the New World where he explored current day Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River Valley for France. By the 17th century, French Jesuit missionaries were the first to teach the Gospel to the indigenous people living there. Enduring harsh conditions and shif

October 11th, is the optional memorial of Saint John XXIII, (1881-1963) the 20th century Italian pope known for convening the Second Vatican Council. He reigned as pontiff from October 28, 1958 until his death. Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was born in the village of Sotto il Monte, Italy, on November 25, 1881. He was the fourth in a family of 14, the eldest son, of parents, Giovanni and Marianna Giulia Roncalli. The family labored as peasant farmers. Of his beginnings he remarked, "Born poor, but of honored and humble people, I am particularly proud to die poor." Roncalli credited his godfather, Zaverio, for providing his first and most fundamental religious instruction. His pious home life and the local parish instilled in him a fervent love of God and the Church. At 8, Roncalli received his first Communion and Confirmation. He entered the Bergamo seminary in 1892, where he began the practice of making spiritual notes. These, which he continued in one form or another until

Pope vs. Hitler is a two-hour television docudrama presenting one of the least known stories of World War II. Premiering Sunday night, September 4th, at 9 PM EST on the National Geographic Channel, it explores the role the Vatican played in the conspiracy to assassinate German Führer, Adolf Hitler. Contrary to the assertions of recent anti-Catholic scholars that Pope Pius XII and Hitler were involved in a clandestine alliance, the program definitively shows how Pius XII plotted from the outbreak of war to halt Nazi aggression and eliminate Hitler. Pius found moral justification in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, that allowed the assassination of tyrants in extreme (and extremely rare) circumstances. Hitler was a megalomaniac who demanded godlike fidelity. The existence of the Church, whose pontiff, he knew, was actively undermining him, proved especially galling. By 1942, Hitler resolved to invade Vatican City and kill the pope. In September 1939, when the Nazis invaded Pol

August 22, 2016 Having observed the Feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15th, when Christ took Mary up into heaven, we now celebrate her Queenship over all creation. It is important to distinguish between the Ascension of our Lord who rises to his heavenly enthronement by the power of his own Divinity and the Assumption of Mary. Mary did not ascend under her own power. She is assumed into heaven by the power of her Son through the Holy Spirit. Moreover, our Lady’s Assumption is a means to the end of her coronation and Queenship. Mary functions not only as the Mother of Christ, ( Luke 1 ) but also as the mother of all of the children of God ( Revelation 12:17 ). Exercising her maternal love, she intercedes unceasingly on behalf of those who keep the commandments of Christ. Pope Pius XII’s encyclical letter,  Ad Caeli Reginam , establishing the Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary notes in part: "Let all, therefore, try to approach with greater trus

August 15, 2016 On November 1, 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution  Munificentissimus Deus , Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church. The doctrine of the Assumption solemnly states that at the end of her earthly life Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven. Contrary to popular perception, Our Lady did not "ascend" into heaven. Only Christ ascended into heaven under his own power. Mary was taken up into heaven by God. In celebrating her most glorious Assumption, we ask Mary to help us live with faith and hope, seeking God's will in all things. May she enlighten our minds on the destiny that awaits us, the dignity of every person, and God’s immense love for humanity. Giving birth to the Savior O Theotokos, you kept and preserved your virginity; and in falling-asleep you have not forsaken the world; for you were protected from sin, being the Mother of Life. Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, t

The Immaculate Heart of Mary The attention of Christians was early attracted by the love and virtues of the Heart of Mary. The Gospel itself invited this attention with exquisite discretion and delicacy. What was first excited was compassion for the Virgin Mother. It was, so to speak, at the foot of the Cross that the Christian heart first made the acquaintance of the Heart of Mary. Simeon's prophecy paved the way and furnished the devotion with one of its favourite formulae and most popular representations: the heart pierced with a sword. But Mary was not merely passive at the foot of the Cross; "she cooperated through charity", as St. Augustine says, "in the work of our redemption". It is only in the twelfth, or towards the end of the eleventh century, that slight indications of a regular devotion are perceived in a sermon by St. Bernard (De duodecim stellis). Stronger evidences are discernible in the pious meditations on the Ave Maria and the

Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin.  — Venerable Pope Pius XII This quotation is part of Pope Pius XII's radio message to participants at the closing of the National Catechetical Congress of the United States in Boston. Here is the relevant paragraph from that address.  Perhaps the greatest sin in the world today is that men have begun to lose the sense of sin. Smother that, deaden it — it can hardly be wholly cut out from the heart of man — let it not be awakened by any glimpse of the God-man dying on Golgotha's cross to pay the penalty of sin, and what is there to hold back the hordes of God's enemy from over-running the selfishness, the pride, the sensuality and unlawful ambitions of sinful man? Will mere human legislation suffice? Or compacts and treaties? In the Sermon on the Mount the divine Redeemer has illumined the path that leads to the Father's will and eternal life; but from Golgotha's

[This prayer may be recited individually or as a family before an image of Christ crucified on Palm Sunday and throughout Holy Week. It is taken from the words of Pope Pius XII On the Sacred Liturgy .] "Dearly beloved, in Holy Week, when the most bitter sufferings of Jesus Christ are put before us by the liturgy, the Church invites us to come to Calvary and follow in the blood-stained footsteps of the Divine Redeemer, to carry the Cross willingly with Him, to reproduce in our hearts His spirit of expiation and atonement, and to die together with Him." V/ We ought to glory in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ R/ in whom is our salvation, life and resurrection. V/ Let us pray. All-powerful, eternal God, You have chosen to give mankind a model of humility; our Savior took on our flesh, and subjected Himself to the Cross. Grant us the grace to preserve faithfully the lessons He has given us in his Passion and to have a share in His Resurrection. This we ask of You

Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, c 1928 The following ominous quote is attributed to Cardinal Pacelli concerning the future of the Church from Msgr. Georges Roche and Philippe Saint Germain's Pie XII devant l’Histoire (published in 1972 by Robert Laffont, Paris) p. 52. I submit it for your awareness/consideration. For more information see here  and here . I am worried by the Blessed Virgin’s messages to Lucy of Fatima. This persistence of Mary about the dangers which menace the Church is a Divine warning against the suicide of altering the Faith, in Her liturgy, Her theology and Her soul. … I hear all around me innovators who wish to dismantle the Sacred Chapel, destroy the universal flame of the true Faith of the Church, reject Her ornaments and make Her feel remorse for Her historical past. A day will come when the civilized world will deny its God, when the Church will doubt as Peter doubted. She will be tempted to believe that man has become God. In our churches, Christians