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Raymond of Peñafort cofounded the Order of the Mercedarians, served as Master General of the Dominicans, and above all, was a renowned expert in canon law. Born between 1175 and 1185 in Villafranca del Panadés, Raymond studied at the Cathedral of Barcelona, where he later taught rhetoric and logic.
John Neumann, the first U.S. Bishop to be canonized, is best known for his pastoral and educational work. While serving as Bishop of Philadelphia, he founded the first diocesan Catholic school system in the United States of America.
While meditating on the death of the Son of God on Holy Wednesday in 1301, Saint Angela of Foligno heard the following words within her: "My love for you is no joke". These words embody the essence of Saint Angela, the Franciscan mystic whom Pope Francis canonized on 9 October 2013, by equipollent canonization.
The Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church are united in their celebration of the Nativity of Mary. This feast was born in the East and was introduced to Rome by Sergius 1, in the seventh century. On that day, a procession would leave from the Church of Sant’Andrea al Foro, and head to the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. According to the liturgical Calendar, the Feast Day was celebrated on 8 September. In the East, the Nativity of Mary had been celebrated since the 4th century and was linked to the construction of the Basilica of Saint Anne in Jerusalem, which was built on the site of Anne and Joachim’s house, where Mary was believed to be born. From Jerusalem the recollection of the nativity of Mary spread to Constantinople, where the Eastern Church linked it to the Conception. It should be noted that the Church celebrates the birth on earth and in heaven only of Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist.
“Our new Blessed lived that way: in the joy of the Gospel, without compromises, loving to the very end. He embodied the poverty of the disciple, which is not only detachment from material goods, but also victory over the temptation to put oneself at the centre, to seek one’s own glory”, Pope Francis said in his homily for the Beatification of John Paul I, in the world, Albino Luciani, held in Saint Peter’s Square on 4 September 2022.
Bartholomew was one of the twelve disciples who followed Jesus after the Baptism in the Jordan River. His name is included in the Synoptic Gospels as one of the Apostles linked to his contemporary Philip. We know little about this Apostle, whose Feast Day is celebrated on 24 August, the day Catholic tradition dates as his martyrdom. He was originally from Cana in Galilee, near Nazareth. Jesus said of him: “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (Jn 1:47). In his Gospel, John speaks of Nathanael, who is Bartholomew, at least according to the exegetes.
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