BIG C CATHOLICS

Memorial - August 21st St, Pius X did great things for the Church during his relatively brief pontificate — he was pope from 1903 until 1914. He is perhaps best remembered as the "pope of the Eucharist," because he transformed the way ordinary Catholics regarded reception of Holy Communion. Among the modifications he introduced included lowering the age at which children received their first Communion to seven, the "age of reason." He believed that earlier reception of the Eucharist would lead to an earlier and deepened devotion to Jesus Christ in the most Blessed Sacrament. He was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on June 2, 1835, in the village of Riese near Venice, Italy, the second of ten children to a poor postman and his wife. He was baptized the following day. Though exceedingly poor, his devout parents valued education. At every stage of study, Giuseppe's intelligence and high moral character attracted notice. On September 18, 1858, Father Sarto wa

Optional Memorial - February 8th There are many types of slavery and also many types of freedom. For some, who appear outwardly free, the slavery is internal and has various guises, such as attitudes that entrap, hurtful emotions that have not healed, or addictions which cripple and bind. Then there are people who seem trapped, but who have actually achieved an inner freedom of spirit that nothing in the world can overcome. Saint Josephine Bakhita, who was born in the Darfur region of southern Sudan around 1868, belonged to the later. Her story began in slavery and ended in sainthood. No one knows what her parents had called her. The child, who would eventually be known as Josephine, was kidnapped by Arab slave traders when she was barely seven years old. It was they who gave her the name Bakhita which, ironically, means “fortunate” or “lucky.” For several years, her name appeared to be a cruel joke, as she was sold and resold, to an Arab chieftain and then to a Turkish milita

Numerous popes have warned of dangers to the Church and to humanity should false reformers enter the Church's hierarchy and sow apostasy. Christ promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail against the Church. He did not promise local Churches would be faithful: "many will be led into sin; they will betray and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and deceive many; and because of... increased evildoing, the love of many will grow cold." (Matthew 24: 10-11) "These most crafty enemies [the devils] have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered." — Pope Le

Sanctity alone makes us what our divine vocation demands, men crucified to the world and to whom the world has been crucified, men walking in newness of life who, in the words of St. Paul, show themselves as ministers of God in labors, in vigils, in fasting, in chastity, in knowledge, in long-suffering, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere charity, in the word of truth; men who seek only heavenly things and strive by every means to lead others to them. — St. Pius X ______________________________________ Prayer for St. Pius X's Intercession Glorious Pope of the Eucharist, Saint Pius X, you sought "to restore all things in Christ." Obtain for me a true love of Jesus so that I may live only for Him. Help me to acquire a sincere will to strive for sanctity that I may avail myself of the riches of the most Holy Eucharist. By your love for Mary, mother and queen of all, inflame my heart with tender devotion to her. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

September 22nd is the first day of the novena to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, more popularly known as St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "the Little Flower." This beloved saint is the patron of foreign missions, missionaries, against tuberculosis, AIDS sufferers, illness and loss of parents. Her perfect trust in God, deep faith and patient suffering is an example of heroic virtue for us to follow. Saint Pius X called St. Thérèse the "greatest saint of modern times." She is a powerful intercessor whose help is sought by many. Join thousands of others around the world in praying the novena to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. O God, who opened your Kingdom to those who are humble and to little ones, lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of St. Thérèse, so that through her intercession we may see your eternal glory revealed and spend eternity with you in heaven. For more about this novena including daily email reminders go HERE .

Pope Saint Pius X’s papacy was both courageous and immensely consequential. The Modernist crisis in biblical exegesis occurred during his reign. Using new methods of historical and literary criticism scholars challenged the meaning of Scripture. Such methodology led to erroneous conclusions that called into question many Church dogmas. St. Pius X published the encyclical, Pascendi dominici gregis , denouncing the Modernist heresy. He also instituted the Oath Against Modernism to be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries. The oath addressed five solemn tenets central to the Catholic Faith . It reads in part: "I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ when he lived among us, and that the Church was built upon Peter, the prince of the apostolic hierarchy, and his successors

Perhaps the most eloquent testimony to Saint Pius X's life spent in the service of God is the inscription on his tomb in the crypt of the basilica of St. Peter's: “Born poor and humble of heart, Undaunted champion of the Catholic faith, Zealous to restore all things in Christ, Crowned a holy life with a holy death. Here are seven quotations from Pope St. Pius X that speak to the Church of today. Truly we are passing through disastrous times, when we may well make our own the lamentation of the Prophet: “There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land” (Hosea 4:1). Yet in the midst of this tide of evil, the Virgin Most Merciful rises before our eyes like a rainbow, as the arbiter of peace between God and man. ***  God could have given us the Redeemer of the human race, and the Founder of the Faiths in another way than through the Virgin, but since Divine Providence has been pleased that we should have the Man-God through Mary, who

Memorial - August 21st St, Pius X did great things for the Church during his relatively brief pontificate — he was pope from 1903 until 1914. He is perhaps best remembered as the "pope of the Eucharist," because he transformed the way ordinary Catholics regarded reception of Holy Communion. Among the modifications he introduced included lowering the age at which children received their first Communion to seven, the "age of reason." He believed that earlier reception of the Eucharist would lead to an earlier and deepened devotion to Jesus Christ in the most Blessed Sacrament. He was born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto on June 2, 1835, in the village of Riese near Venice, Italy, the second of ten children to a poor postman and his wife. He was baptized the following day. Though exceedingly poor, his devout parents valued education. At every stage of study, Giuseppe's intelligence and high moral character attracted notice. On September 18, 1858, Father Sarto wa

August 19th, the Church celebrates the feast of Saint John Eudes, (1601-1680) the French priest and missionary who founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and the Order of Our Lady of Charity. He was born in a small village near Normandy, France, the son of peasant farmers Isaac and Martha Eudes. At 14, he entered the Jesuit college at Caen. Defying his parents' wishes, Eudes joined the Congregation of the Oratory of France in 1623. Two years later, he was ordained. During this time, he studied the Christocentric spiritual thought of Cardinal de Bérulle whose desire was "restoring the priestly order to its full splendor". To that end, Eudes became an apostolic missionary, preaching over 100 parish missions, throughout Normandy, Ile-de-France, Burgundy and Brittany. His gifts as a preacher and confessor won him great renown. The founder of the Sulpicians, Father Jean-Jacques Olier called him, "the prodigy of his age". His parish mission work brought to

"The desire for peace is certainly harbored in every breast, and there is no one who does not ardently invoke it. But to want peace without God is an absurdity, seeing that where God is absent thence too justice flies, and when justice is taken away it is vain to cherish the hope of peace. "Peace is the work of justice" (Is. xxii., 17). There are many, We are well aware, who, in their yearning for peace, that is for the tranquillity of order, band themselves into societies and parties, which they style parties of order. Hope and labor lost. For there is but one party of order capable of restoring peace in the midst of all this turmoil, and that is the party of God. It is this party, therefore, that we must advance, and to it attract as many as possible, if we are really urged by the love of peace." — St. Pius X _______________________________________________ Prayer for St. Pius X's Intercession Almighty ever-living God, who to safeguard the C

Clockwise from L to R: Pope Pius XI, Pope Paul VI, Pope St. John XXIII and Pope St. Pius X. The Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. If not for the Incarnation, there could be no Eucharist. In the words of Servant of God Father John Hardon: "We are to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ - simply, without qualification. It is God become man in the fullness of His divine nature, in the fullness of His human nature, in the fullness of His body and soul, in the fullness of everything that makes Jesus Jesus. He is in the Eucharist with His human mind and will united with the Divinity… That is what our Catholic Faith demands of us… If we believe this, we are Catholic. If we do not, we are not, no matter what people may think we are." Below are quotes on the Most Holy Eucharist, the source and summit of our Faith, from 20th century pontiffs. The faith of the Church is this: That one and identical is the Word of God an

Today marks the first apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1858 to fourteen-year-old Saint Bernadette Soubirous. Our Lady’s message to humanity stressed devotion to God through Christ, ceaseless prayer, penitence and forgiveness. Three revelations in particular are worth pondering. One concern’s doctrine. The others speak to our earthly pilgrimage and our destiny, if we persevere in love. On February 18th, our Lady began her message telling Bernadette, "I do not promise to make you happy in this life but in the next." On February 24th, Mary asked for penance and prayer for the conversion of sinners. The next day, the feast of the Annunciation, Mary stated, "I am the Immaculate Conception." The liturgical feast of Our Lady of Lourdes was initially celebrated on February 11th. It was approved by Pope Leo XIII, and first granted to the Diocese of Tarbes in the year 1890. Less than twenty years later, on November 13, 1907, his successor, Pope Saint Pius X pro

September 22nd is the first day of the novena to Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face, more popularly known as St. Thérèse of Lisieux, "the Little Flower." This beloved saint is the patron of foreign missions, missionaries, against tuberculosis, AIDS sufferers, illness and loss of parents. Her perfect trust in God, deep faith and patient suffering is an example for us to follow. Saint Pius X called St. Thérèse the "greatest saint of modern times." She is a powerful intercessor whose help is sought by many. Join thousands of others around the world in praying the novena to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. O God, who opened your Kingdom to those who are humble and to little ones, lead us to follow trustingly in the little way of St. Thérèse, so that through her intercession we may see your eternal glory revealed and spend eternity with you in heaven. Click for more about this novena and daily email reminders sent to your inbox .

August 19th, the Church celebrates the Optional Memorial of Saint John Eudes, (1601-1680) the French priest and missionary who founded the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and the Order of Our Lady of Charity. He was born in the village of Ri, in Normandy, France, the son of peasant farmers Isaac and Martha Eudes. At 14, he entered the Jesuit college at Caen. Despite his parents' hopes that he marry, Eudes joined the Congregation of the Oratory of France in 1623. Two years later, he was ordained to the priesthood. During this time, he studied the Christocentric spiritual thought of Cardinal de Bérulle whose desire was "restoring the priestly order to its full splendor". To that end, Eudes became an apostolic missionary, preaching over 100 parish missions, throughout Normandy, Ile-de-France, Burgundy and Brittany. His gifts as a preacher and confessor won him great renown. The founder of the Sulpicians, Father Jean-Jacques Olier called him, "the prodigy of his age&q

St. John XXIII and Monsignor Loris Capovilla with the incorrupt body of St. Pius X. In 1913, Pope Pius X suffered a heart attack from which he never fully recovered. On the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, [August 15, 1914] he became ill for the final time. His condition was exacerbated by the outbreak of World War I. Following a second heart attack, he went to his eternal reward on August 20, 1914. Pius X was buried in an unadorned tomb in the crypt beneath St. Peter's Basilica. Papal physicians customarily removed organs from the deceased pontiff's corpse as part of the embalming process. Pius X prohibited this practice in his burial, as have successive popes. Forty years after his death, Pius X's body was exhumed as part of the beatification process and found intact. Below is rare footage of St. Pius X's incorrupt body in which his face is adorned with a bronze mask. St. John XXIII is seen venerating his predecessor's earthly remains along with various princes