Hallowtide.
Fr. Paul Pecchie Perhaps you are not familiar with this word, so let me explain. All Souls Day follows after All Saints Day. But before All Saints Day, we have Halloween. Every good Catholic feast begins the night before, with a vigil. The word “Halloween” comes from contracting the phrase “All Hallows’ Eve” or “All […]
Transfiguration of Christ
Giambettino Cignaroli, Transfiguration of Christ (1741) The account of the supernatural trans-formation of Christ is recorded in the synoptic gospels (Mark 9:2-8; Matt. 17:1-8; Luke 9:28-36). There is no mention of the event in the gospel of John, but there is a reference at 2 Pet. 1:18. In the context of the Bible, the mention of Moses […]
The Transfiguration of Jesus
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf If you want to know what happened in the transfiguration start by reading Matthew 17, Luke 9 and Mark 9. John does not recount it. We also hear about it in 2 Peter 1:16-18. It harkens to the description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. We need to place this […]
History of the feast of Corpus Christi
This beautiful feast was inaugurated for the universal Church is 1264 AD. The circumstances that led to this are surrounded by coincidence. St. Juliana, a nun in the diocese of Liege, Belgium, had a vision of Our Lord requesting a feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. When she revealed this request, many ridiculed her, […]
Halloween
This year some questions have come from members of our faith communities about the Catholic observance of Halloween and its relationship to the modern cultural celebrations of this day. To be clear, the Church does not oppose the celebration of Halloween, and its roots in Catholic history and liturgy are described briefly below. In the […]
Sunday and its Observance as a Day of Rest
The worship of God takes precedence over the daily affairs of life, with the exception of those activities, which are necessary to sustain human life or for the well-being of society. Thus, it came to be that the ordinary affairs of life gave place to the worship of God, and the rest from labor became […]
The Feasts of Our Lady
Note: Only Universal Feasts have the Month cited with each Feast; Local Feasts, etc., are cited by date within each month, unless the particular Local Feast begins a month. JANUARYThe Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God—–January 1 Foundation of the Abbey of Dunes, Flander, in Honor of the Blessed Virgin—–2 Our Lady of Sichem, Belgium—–3 Our Lady of Treves, Italy—–4 Our […]