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14/10/2025

St. Theresa of Jesus - 15 October

Virgin, religious, doctor of the Church. At the age of 20 Teresa entered the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation at Avila, 2 November 1535. Held back for many years by a strong desire to be appreciated by others, she experienced conversion in the presence of an image of the sorely wounded Christ. This development dislodged the egoism that had hindered her spiritual development. Thus, at the age of 39, she began to enjoy a vivid experience of God's presence within her.

Among the writings of St. Teresa, three can be indicated as the depositories of her spiritual teaching: her autobiography, the Way of Perfection, and The Interior Castle.

Teresa of Ávila[b] OCD (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada;[c] 28 March 1515 – 4 or 15 October 1582),[a] also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer.

05/10/2025

St. Bruno - 6 October

Presbyter, hermit, religious founder. St. Bruno of Cologne (1030-1101) received a compelling vision of a secluded hermitage where he could spend his life becoming closer to God. He subsequently retired from his position as Chancellor of Reims to a mountain near Grenoble and founded what became the first house of the Carthusian Order.

Bruno's pupil, Eudes of Châtillon, had become pope as Urban II (1088) and called his former master to Rome in 1090. Lodged in the Lateran with the pope himself, privy to his most private councils, he worked as an advisor but wisely kept in the background, apart from the fiercely partisan rivalries in Rome and within the curia. Strangers to him were above all struck by his great knowledge and talents. But his disciples praised his three chief virtues -- his great spirit of prayer, extreme mortification, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

In Catholic art, Saint Bruno can be recognized by a skull that he holds and contemplates, with a book and a cross. He may be crowned with a halo of seven stars; or with a roll bearing the device "O Bonitas." The only Carthusian house in North America is the Charterhouse of the Transfiguration, Arlington, Vermont.

Biographical article on the founder of the Carthusians

02/10/2025

Blessed Columba Marmion OSB - 3 October

Beloved spiritual master for generations of monastics, Dom Columba was abbot of Maredsous Abbey in Belgium. Ordained as a diocesan priest of Dublin, in 1909 the monks elected him abbot, and he served in that capacity until his death on January 30, 1923.

Dom Columba authored three books based upon his extensive retreats. These works give a deep insight into his spirituality: Christ, the Life of the Soul (1917), Christ in His Mysteries (1919), and Christ the Ideal of the Monk (1922). His is a spirituality centered on Christ and our divine adoption as children of God. Translations of these works exist in many languages, and many consider them to be spiritual classics.

Pope John Paul II beatified Abbot Columba as a Blessed of the Church on September 3, 2000. Blessed Columba is included in the Benedictine calendar with an optional memorial. He is the patron of Marmion Abbey, Aurora, Illinois.

Columba Marmion O.S.B, born Joseph Aloysius Marmion (1 April 1858 – 30 January 1923) was a Benedictine Irish monk and the third Abbot of Maredsous Abbey in Belgium. Beatified by Pope John Paul II on September 3, 2000, Columba was one of the most popular[1] and influential[2] Catholic authors of th...

01/10/2025

Holy Guardian Angels – 2 October

The Holy Guardian Angels are the supra-celestial patrons of the Bavarian and American-Cassinese Congregations. Monastic authors have frequently compared monastic life to the angelic life. Abba Isaac's important Conference on Prayer as recorded by John Cassian lauds the obedience of the angels in chapter 20

Conferences, Book I, 9, by St. John Cassian. Introduction to prayer, including an exposition of the Lord's Prayer.

29/09/2025

Saint Jerome, 30 September

Presbyter, Doctor of the Church. Saint Jerome was the foremost biblical scholar of the ancient Church. His translation of the Bible into Latin (Vulgate), along with his commentaries and homilies on the biblical books, have made him a major intellectual force in the Western Church.

He was born about the year 342 at Stridonius, a small town at the head of the Adriatic, near the episcopal city of Aquileia. His father, a Christian, took care that his son was well instructed at home, then sent him to Rome. After three years at Rome, Jerome’s intellectual curiosity led him to explore other parts of the world. He visited his home and then, accompanied by his boyhood friend Bonosus, went to Aquileia, where he made friends among the monks of the monastery there, notably Rufinus. Then, still accompanied by Bonosus, he traveled to Treves, in Gaul. He now renounced all secular pursuits to dedicate himself wholeheartedly to God. About 380 Jerome went to Constantinople to study the Scriptures under the Greek, Gregory of Nazianzus, then bishop of that city.

Jerome was intemperate in controversy. In a letter to Eustochium he writes with scorn of certain members of the Roman clergy. "All their anxiety is about their clothes.... You would take them for bridegrooms rather than for clerics; all they think about is knowing the names and houses and doings of rich ladies." His hot temper, pride of learning, and extravagant promotion of asceticism involved him in many bitter controversies over questions of theology and of Bible interpretation. He was, however, a militant champion of orthodoxy, a tireless worker, and a scholar of rare gifts (James Kiefer).

Born to a rich pagan family, Jerome led a wild and misspent youth. Studied in Rome, Italy, and became a lawyer. He converted and joined the Church in theory, and was baptised in 365, but it was only when he began his study of theology that he had a true conversion and the faith became integral to hi...

26/09/2025

St. Vincent de Paul, 27 September

"Of practical and prudent mind, Vincent left nothing to chance; his distrust of himself was equalled only by his trust in Providence. When he founded the Congregation of the Mission (CM) and the Sisters of Charity (SC) he refrained from giving them fixed constitutions beforehand; it was only after tentative guidelines, trials, and long experience that he resolved in the last years of his life to give them definitive rules. His zeal for souls knew no limit; all occasions were to him opportunities to exercise it. When he died the poor of Paris lost their best friend and humanity a benefactor unsurpassed in modern times."

The Benedictine monks of Saint Vincent Archabbey celebrate their patronal feast as a solemnity.

Vincent de Paul, CM (24 April 1581 – 27 September 1660) was an Occitan French Catholic priest who dedicated himself to serving the poor.

26/09/2025

Today, 9/26/25, is Day Two of the Contemplative Summit.

In this session, Sufi teacher Jamal Rahman invites us into the heart of a wisdom tradition that doesn't deal in answers, but in presence, paradox, and transformation.

03/09/2025

Pope St. Gregory the Great, 3 September

Pope, religious, Doctor of the Church. St. Gregory is our only source for information about Saint Benedict. He tells the story of Saint Benedict in the second book of his Dialogues. Father Terrence Kardong OSB completed a critical edition of Gregory’s Life of Saint Benedict that was published by Liturgical Press, 2009 .

The Church in England honors Saint Gregory because of the Gospel mission he entrusted to St. Augustine of Canterbury .

In his classic Second Book of Dialogues, Pope Gregory the Great lionizes Saint Benedict as hero and casts him predominantly in the role of miracle worker. Yet in his Rule, Benedict comes across more as a practical community organizer and premier spiritual father. In this volume, Terrence Kardong off...

07/08/2025

St. Dominic - 8 August

Priest, mendicant, and religious founder. All the evidence shows that St. Dominic de Guzman (1170-1221) was a man of remarkable attractiveness of character and broadness of vision; he had the deepest compassion for every sort of human suffering; he saw the need to use all the resources of human learning in the service of Christ; his constant reading was St. Matthew’s gospel, St. Paul’s letters and the Conferences of St. John Cassian.

Saint Dominic, OP (Spanish: Santo Domingo; 8 August 1170 – 6 August 1221), also known as Dominic de Guzmán (Spanish: [ɡuθˈman]), was a Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron saint of astronomers and natural scientists, and he and his order are tradit...

06/08/2025

Transfiguration - 6 August

The feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord is rooted in the Gospel account, Matt. 17:1-9. In the Eastern Church, The Holy Transfiguration of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ often serves as the preferred occasion for monastic profession in Orthodox monasteries.

Peace Day

The Japanese recall on this day the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is especially poignant for survivors of the bombings (known as hibakusha). The primary ceremony of remembrance is the floating of paper lanterns, Toro-nagashi, on the Motoyasu River, near the A-bomb Dome. Peace activists all over the world participate in spirit, prayer, and symbolic action.

Pax

For centuries "PAX" has been the motto of the Benedictines, and the word is frequently inscribed or painted on or near the entrance to the guest house. Benedictines for Peace (BFP) carries the ancient monastic quest for peace into contemporary times. As the peace and justice outreach of the Erie Benedictine community, BFP members advocate for nonviolence, social change and justice by direct action, prayer and bearing witness .

https://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-city-guides/hiroshima-peace-park

Situated on Mabuni Hill in Itoman City, the Peace Memorial Park Okinawa stands as a poignant reminder of the devastating Battle of Okinawa during World War II. This expansive park, covering 122,100 square meters, serves as a place of remembrance, reflection, and education about the horrors of war an...

28/07/2025

Martha, Mary, and Lazarus - 29 July

Today this trio of saints from the New Testament is honored as "Hosts of the Lord." For Benedictines this is an opportunity to reflect on our charism of hospitality, a traditional hallmark of Benedictine monasteries. In his Rule, Benedict recognized that "guests are never lacking in a monastery."

Chapter 53: On the Reception of Guests offers a solid theological basis for this ministry that focuses on Christ. "In the reception of the poor and of pilgrims the greatest care and solicitude should be shown, because it is especially in them that Christ is received….”