From Season to Season

Anselm was born of noble parents in Piedmont (Italy) around the year 1033. At the age of twenty-seven he entered the English Benedictine abbey of Bec, where he became abbot in 1078. As abbot, he gained renown for his preaching and reforming spirit. In 1093, he succeeded his former teacher, Blessed Lanfranc , as Archbishop of Canterbury. Anselm soon found himself at odds with King William Rufus, whose unjust policies compelled Anselm to leave England. After traveling to Cluny and Rome, the Anselm returned to England only after he had received word of the king’s death. Conflicts with the new king caused him to flee to Rome where Pope Paschal II defended Anselm’s claim to authority over the English church. In 1106, he returned to Canterbury, where he died on April 21, 1109. Known as a man of recollection and erudition, Anselm’s writings have had a profound impact on Catholic thought and he has been called the “Father of Scholasticism.” Especially remembered for his Prosologion , the ...

Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” —John 10:27-28                                                           In his message for the 50 th World Day of Prayer for Vocations (which is celebrated each year on the Fourth Sunday of Easter) Pope Benedict XVI observed, “ Hope is the expectation of something positive in the future, yet at the same time it must sustain our present existence, which is often marked by dissatisfaction and failures… To have hope, therefore, is the equivalent of trusting in God who is faithful, who keeps the promises of the covenant.” This sense of hope is at the heart of this Sund...

An Italian by birth, Martin became Pope in 649. Immediately after his election he convoked a council in Rome to condemn both the Monothelite Heresy (which denied that Jesus had a human will and freedom), and the involvement of Emperor Constans II in Church affairs. In response, the outraged emperor had Pope Martin kidnapped and imprisoned in Constantinople. Saved from execution only through the intervention of the Patriarch of Constantinople, Martin was exiled to Kherson, in the Crimea, where he eventually died as a result of starvation and abuse in 655. He is the last of the Bishops of Rome to be honored as a martyr. The feast of Pope Martin I is celebrated in both the Eastern and Western Churches. Today’s First Reading tells us of a dark time in the life of the Early Church, as the first Christians faced severe persecution and exile following the martyrdom of Saint Stephen, the Church’s first martyr. The experience of this early Christians—and other saints, including Pope ...

Marie Rose Julie Billiart was born in Picardy in 1751. An intelligent and devout child, she was forced to perform heavy manual labor to support her impoverished family. After making a private vow of chastity when she was fourteen, she worked among the poor children within her parish, teaching catechism and visiting the sick. In 1773, she witnessed the attempted murder of her father, and as a result she developed a nervous paralysis that gradually prevented her from walking and caused her severe pain. She was an invalid by the age of thirty, but from her bed she carried on an apostolate of prayer and spiritual counsel to the many men and women who sought her advice and direction. During the French Revolution she was accused of harboring priests, but she was saved from the authorities by friends who helped her escape to Compiègne. Her illness continued to worsen, and for several months she was unable to speak. Following the end of the Revolution, Julie resumed her teaching and, gat...

Francis was born around the year 1416, at Paola, a small city in Calabria.   Educated by the Franciscans, he lived as a solitary about a half mile from Paola. He was eventually joined by two companions, and he built three cells and a chapel, in which the local priest would say Mass for them. This is regarded as the foundation for the Order of Friars Minims . In 1454, Francis constructed the new community’s first monastery, and their Rule of Life was approved by Pope SixtusIV in 1474. Francis soon established monasteries in Germany, France, and Spain.   Following the example of his patron, Saint Francis of Assisi, Francis was never ordained a priest and he was credited with a number of miracles, even during his life. Although none of his own words have survived, we know that he was completely devoted to solitude and self-denial, and that he had a special devotion to the Passion of Christ and the Mother of God.   In 1506, he wrote a Rule for nuns and accepted lay peo...