04/24/2026
Happy St. Fidelis feast day! Many of you know that we have a ministry that supports the St. Fidelis Friary, which is a retirement community for our Capuchin brothers. But you may not know the saint behind the name! St. Fidelis was born Mark Rey, and studied law and philosophy at the University of Freiburg. He became known as the "poor man's lawyer," but eventually became disillusioned with the evils in the law profession and joined his brother George as a Capuchin friar. He was christened "Fidelis," the Latin word for faithful, and celebrated his first Mass in 1612 on the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. During the course of his preaching he came into the crossfire of Calvinists and was ambushed after a Mass at the Church of Seewis. As Fidelis had predicted before his death, the rebels were soon defeated by imperial troops.
