On this day, three separate encyclicals were issued: Immortale Dei (On the Christian Constitution of States), November 1, 1885; Tametsi Futura Prospicientibus (On Jesus Christ the Redeemer) November 1, 1900; and Divino Afflatu (1911), on the reform of the Roman breviary. Read more

On this day in 1950, Pope Pius XII exercised papal in fallibility for the first and only time in Church when he declared the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Read more

On this day in 1849, St. Vincent’s Hospital was founded by the Sisters of Charity in New York City. Today its forms the core of St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center. Read more

Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky was the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from 1901 until his death. During his tenure, he led the Church through two world wars and seven political regimes: Austrian, Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Soviet, German National Socialist (Nazi), and again Soviet. According to the historian Jaroslav Pelikan, “Arguably, Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky was the most influential figure… in the entire history of the Ukrainian Church in the twentieth century.” He was born in Galicia, then a part... Read more

Rupert Mayer, “the Apostle of Munich,” was born in Stuttgart in 1876, and entered the Society of Jesus in 1900. He served as a military chaplain during World War I, and like Saint Ignatius himself, was severely wounded in battle. Mayer had to have his left leg amputated after a grenade attack, and in 1915 was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery in administering to soldiers at the front lines in France, Poland and Romania.He denounced Nazi ideology (as... Read more

On this day in 1700, Father Jacques Gravier, S.J., celebrated the first recorded Mass in what is now the state of Arkansas. Read more

Gertrud von Le Fort was a German writer of novels, poems, and essays. She came from a Protestant background, but converted to Catholicism in 1926. Most of Gertrud’s writings come after this conversion. Her novel Die Letze am Schafott (The Song at the Scaffold), by far her most famous work, was the basis for Dialogues of the Carmelites. It’s the story of the sixteen Carmelite martyrs who were guillotined during the French Revolution.(Adapted from Wikipedia) Read more

The saints have ever been, are, and ever will be the greatest benefactors of society, and perfect models for every class and profession, for every state and condition of life, from the simple and uncultured peasant to the master of science and letters, from the humble artisan to the commander of armies, from the father of a family to the ruler of peoples and nations, from simple maidens and matrons of the domestic heart to queens and empresses.Pope Pius XI,... Read more

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William-Adolphe Bougereau, The Virgin With Angels, 1900. Read more