Viewing all items in Resource Category: Holy Days

Have you done something bad which haunts you?  Does the memory of it still follow you through each day – and keep you awake at night?   If so, then Laurence Loricatus (c. 1190 – 1243) is the saint for you.  He was born at Facciolo (Apulia) and as a youth he killed a man. After...

Some people are pushy and a bit grasping.  They get on your nerves.  Pray that they go on to find God’s will for their lives, for then all that pushiness is put to good use. Take Jeanne Delanoue.  She was born at Saumur in 1666, and grew up small, authoritarian, and quite frankly, a bit...

How will you become a better person than you are now?   Have you ever denied yourself in order to try and please God?  No matter what your dedication, it is unlikely that your efforts will ever have outshone those of Rose of Lima (1586 – 1617), who in 1671 became the first saint of America,...

On consecutive days this month (27th and 28th) the Christian Church celebrates, a mother and her son. The mother is Monica, and her son is Augustine. The story of their relationship and how, after a long process, they both came to share the same Christian faith is a moving one, and perhaps has a message...

After St Paul, who was the most influential Christian writer ever?  St Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), whose feast-day is on 28th August.  He lived and wrote in a time of social and spiritual chaos.  The Roman Empire was collapsing, the world was about to slide into the dark ages and the Church was...

After St Paul, who was the most influential Christian writer ever?  St Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), whose feast-day is on 28th August.  He lived and wrote in a time of social and spiritual chaos.  The Roman Empire was collapsing, the world was about to slide into the dark ages and the Church was...

Spare a thought for John the Baptist: however rough your local sandwich bar may be, it probably doesn’t serve you locusts with a honey dip; you won’t be imprisoned for saying derogatory things about the local MP’s wife, and even the boss from hell is unlikely to have a daughter who wants to hip-hop about...

After the Bible, John Bunyan’s wonderful Christian allegory, the Pilgrim’s Progress, is one of the most celebrated and widely-read books in the English language.  It has been translated into more than one hundred languages around the world and keeps its place as a Christian classic. Names of people and places from its pages have been...

31st August is the feast of St Aidan, who brought Christianity to northern England.  He is a strong contender for the title of the first English bishop. Not that honours meant a great deal to this austere but captivating character. In 635 he came to Northumbria at the invitation of the local ruler, Oswald.  Oswald...

Raymond Nonnatus (1204 – 40) is a good patron saint for anyone who does not take life for granted. The account of his own life begins with the story of how his mother died just before his birth, and of how Raymond was somehow extracted from her dead body just in time to save him.(‘Nonnatus’...

As saints’ days do not change from year to year, most of these have appeared on this site before.  The one with an asterisk is new this year. For the first half of each year (Advent to Whitsuntide) our focus is on what God has done for man, particularly through sending us Jesus Christ.  But...

If you are thinking of turning your back on wealth and privilege, in order to do something you feel God is calling you to do, St Theobald (1017 – 1066) may be the saint for you.   He was born into an aristocratic family at Provins in France.  But he became a hermit with a fellow...