I like to sing the simple tone Marian antiphons with my daughter, who hasn’t had any Latin yet. I sing first the original Latin chant, and then I sing it again, putting English words to the chant melody. That is, if I have an English version of the chant! Maria A. Trapp’s book Around the…
Happy New Year–today’s the perfect day to talk about calendars, of course! If you’ve got a young family, you won’t want to miss the wonderful work done by Michaela Harrison, a Catholic wife and mother living near–and very inspired by!–Clear Creek Abbey in Oklahoma. Even if you don’t have children at home, your own faith…
This photo is a page from a delightful book called An Alphabet of Saints, by Fr. Robert Hugh Benson, Reginald Balfour, S.C. Ritchie, and illustrated by L. D. Symington. I made this happy discovery when searching for available scanned versions of Msgr. Benson’s fiction books (Lord of the World is probably his best-known work). Immediately…
We recently celebrated a Nameday for a family member–great fun! Namedays are very happy days for little ones. A nameday is the feast day of the saint for whom a person is named (assuming, of course, that when he was baptized he was given a Christian name). Until he is old enough to receive the…
If you’re ready to prepare for the beautiful liturgical season of Christmastide by learning traditional chants for this time, you’re in the right place. It’s never to early to begin practicing these chants, keeping a good Advent season the meanwhile! (Speaking of which–for Advent chants, please go here.) The chants for Christmas clearly inspired the…
Blessed Feast of All Saints! Earth is so near to Heaven today that the one thought which fills all hearts is happiness. –Dom Prosper Guéranger, The Liturgical Year What a glorious day this is! From sunrise to sundown will be remembering and celebrating the eternal joy that our big brothers and sisters, the saints, are enjoying in…
I have a small ambition: I really want to change the world. I want to save it–or at least, the souls in it. I want to help rebuild and restore Christian culture. Are you with me? Of course, it’s an immense undertaking that will likely take millions of people, generations of effort, and a constant outpouring of God’s abundant…
We just enjoyed the feast of St. Michael and the Archangels three days ago, and now we remember the tireless, loving work of our Guardian Angels in this feast today. Today is a great day to have angel food cake for dessert! Although most Catholics know the simple prayer to our Guardian Angels (“Angel of…
Today is a very special day for Catholics: the feast of a young and glorious Doctor of the Church! If I had not chosen St. Agnes for my patron saint, I think I would have picked today’s saint because she is 10,000% awesome. And with today’s feast of the Little Flower, St. Therese of Lisieux, the month of…
Blessed feast of St. Jerome! St. Jerome, Doctor of the Church, patron of librarians, and translator of Holy Scripture into Latin (which version is now called the Vulgate), is particularly known for having been a grumpy or irascible saint. Over and above all the many great and charitable and holy things he did, this fact about his personality…
St. Catherine Catholic Culture Center 