St Luke was a Greek who trained as a doctor. He converted to Christianity, became a disciple of St Paul and wrote both a Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles. His vivid descriptions of the childhood of Jesus has led some to believe that he was close to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
St Ignatius followed St Peter as bishop of Antioch and was thrown to wild beasts in Rome during the persecution of Trajan. On his way to Rome he wrote seven epistles, which give a clear picture of Christian belief and practice a century or so after Christ’s birth.
One day, Teresa was travelling in bad weather along a muddy stream. Her carriage got stuck and she tumbled into the water with her belongings. As she complained to Jesus, he said: ‘That’s how I treat my friends’, and she replied promptly: ‘No wonder you have so few friends.’ This made her think. Precisely because Jesus had so few friends, Teresa felt they had to be good friends.
In anticipation of the relics of St Bernadette touring Britain this Autumn, frequent pilgrim David Baldwin explores the importance of these relics. He describes eight ways that the message of Lourdes can still resonate powerfully with each of us today and emphasise the abundance of grace that will surely flow from an encounter with St Bernadette.
This Memorial commemorates the battle of Lepanto (7th October 1571), when a Christian fleet defeated the Turks. The victory was attributed by Pope St Pius V to the recitation of the Holy Rosary. This great Marian prayer is sometimes traced back to St Dominic and his confrères, preaching against the Albigensian heresy in the thirteenth century.
In a deserted chapel, dedicated to San Damiano, St Francis knelt before the icon of Jesus on the Cross. Here, he heard a voice telling him to repair God’s house. First, he thought that he was to restore the chapel, which was crumbling down. Then he realised that the entire Church community was crumbling down, and that preaching the faith was of the utmost importance. This discovery changed his life completely.
