Do some persons live and die without ever committing any mortal sins? Recently Fr. John Zuhlsdorf ("Fr. Z") stated that "there is only one woman ever who" was "entirely free of mortal sin throughout their life”. Despite correction by several commentators, he continued to defend his claim, putting forth the arguments that (1) one cannot [...]
Archive for the ‘saints’ Category
Only excerpts or summaries of the posts are shown on this page. Click on the title of a post to see the whole post.Living Without Mortal Sin?
Saturday, January 7th, 2012Therese of Lisieux – Pope Benedict XVI's General Audience
Wednesday, April 6th, 2011Today the Holy Father's General Audience was on St. Therese of Lisieiux, St. Therese of the Child Jesus. The greater part of the audience is a retelling of her life. In the last two paragraphs the Pontiff reflects on her significance for us. I have translated these two paragraphs from the Italian. (An English translation [...]
Baptism of Blood
Saturday, October 30th, 2010Some time ago a question was raised about the baptism of blood, and how this is applicable to infants. Normally a martyr is someone who witnesses to Christ in the ultimate circumstance, when it means giving up his life for Christ. But infants don't know anything about Christ, and thus seemingly can't witness either to [...]
St. Therese of Lisieux
Friday, October 1st, 2010Today is the feastday of St. Therese, virgin and doctor of the Church. "Merit does not consist in doing or giving much. It consists in loving much." (Letter 142, to Celine). "When I have committed a fault that makes me sad, I know well that this sadness is the consequence of my infidelity. But do [...]
Beatification of John Henry Newman
Sunday, September 19th, 2010Pope Benedict XVI beatifies John Henry Newman. News and text from the Holy See Press Office.
Married Saints – Why so few?
Thursday, July 23rd, 2009Why are there so few married saints? And especially, why are there so few who were canonized precisely as married persons? Most married persons who have been canonized have not been canonized precisely as married persons, but as martyrs, or as religious or widows in the case of those who devoted themselves to the religious [...]
Francis on the Special Virtues of Particular Saints
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008This post continues the theme from the previous post, on the unique character of each saint, who is distinguished by particular virtues. St. Francis de Sales has the same understanding. "We say some were saved by faith, others by giving alms, others by temperance, prayer, humility, hope, chastity, because the acts of these virtues shown [...]
Every saint is unique
Saturday, November 1st, 2008St. Catherine of Sienna in her Treatise of Divine Providence keeps to the teaching that the virtues are connected, i.e., that whoever has one virtue, must have all of them. Nevertheless she teaches that God gives to each person one particular virtue as principal: to one he gives principally love, to another justice, to another [...]
Feast of all the Saints
Friday, October 31st, 2008On the feast of All Saints, we honor all the saints who lived in the divine love, both the known saints and those who are unknown or forgotten. There are too many saints for every one of them to have his or her own feast, and there are many saints who were not recognized as [...]
Saints on Love
Thursday, September 11th, 2008We are all called to love. That is our common vocation. So I've added a page devoted to writings of the Saints on Love, with texts from St. Francis de Sales, St. Therese of Lisieux, and Br. Lawrence of the Resurrection (not a canonized saint, but his writing his well worth reading). Feel free to [...]
I am a Catholic seminarian and deacon in Vienna, and a teacher at the