“What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun!” Thus says the Book of Ecclesiastes, a sentiment that may well summarize much that has happened in 2023. Old wars continued; new
Born in Spain, John entered the Carmelite order and was ordained in 1567. He found the Carmelites to be suffering excessive laxity, so he joined forces with St. Teresa of Avila to reform the order. He encountered severe opposition to these reforms
Born in Sicily to a noble Roman family, Lucy was a young child when her father died. Her mother raised her in the Christian faith. Spurning marriage and worldly goods, Lucy vowed to remain a virgin in the tradition of St. Agatha.
In 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to the Mexican peasant Juan Diego on Tepeyac Hill near Mexico City. She instructed Juan to ask the bishop to build a church on the site, but the bishop requested a sign. Our Lady had Juan
Born in Mexico, Juan converted to Catholicism at age 50. While walking to Mass on Dec. 9, 1531, Mary appeared to Juan on Tepeyac Hill. She asked him to petition the bishop for a shrine to be built there in her honor,
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Bl. Pius IX proclaimed
St. Ambrose was one of the four original Doctors of the Church and an important theological figure of the fourth century. Born the son of a Roman official in Gaul, Ambrose practiced law in Rome.
He served as the governor of Aemilia-Liguria before
St. Nicholas was the bishop of Myra in what is now Turkey, where he was known for his generosity to the poor. One legend associated with St. Nicholas was how he saved three young women from prostitution by throwing bags of gold
Born in Damascus, Syria, John was the last of the Greek Fathers. He succeeded his father as chief representative of the Christian community to the caliph in Damascus, then under Islamic rule. After serving several years, he was forced to resign his
Known as the Apostle to the Indies and to Japan, Francis was born in Navarre, the youngest in a noble Spanish family. He studied at the University of Paris, where he met St. Ignatius of Loyola, who
convinced him to become one of