Faithful Friday: Saints Perpetua & Felicity

March 11, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Perpetua and Felicity were early Christian martyrs who died in Carthage in 203AD. The primary narrative of their experiences was written by Perpetua herself in the form of a journal.

Faithful Friday: Adrian of Nicomedia

March 4, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

St. Adrian lived during the time of Emperor Maximian in the fourth century. Before his conversion to Christianity, Adrian had been a member of the Praetorian Guard, and was witness to the sufferings of the early Christians. So impressed was he by their courage and refusal to bend in the face of great suffering, Adrian asked these soon to be martyrs what rewards their God offered them for their sacrifice.

Faithful Friday: St. Polycarp

February 25, 2022.Reading time 4 minutes.

St. Polycarp was one of the earliest church leaders after the death of the original twelve apostles, having been taught by St. John himself. He was the bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor; one of the churches started by the Apostle Paul.

Faithful Friday: Colmán of Lindisfarne

February 18, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Colman of Lindisfarne was born in Ireland around 605AD. He first joined the monastery of Iona, then was moved to the monastery of Lindisfarne soon after its founding in 635. Eventually he became the abbot there, a position that also made him the bishop of Northumbria.

Faithful Friday: Saint Blaise

February 11, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

St. Blaise lived during the reigns of emperors Diocletian and Linius. Some early sources say that he was a physician, though we cannot be certain. He was unanimously elected bishop of Sabaste, due to his reputation as a devout man of faith.

Faithful Friday: Dietrich Bonhoeffer

February 4, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Pastor, theologian and Nazi resistor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Germany on February 4, 1906 to a professor of psychiatry and neurology and his wife, the daughter of a preacher. Bonhoeffer grew up to become a professor of theology, though his family wanted him to pursue a musical career.

Faithful Friday: Thomas Aquinas

January 21, 2022.Reading time 3 minutes.

St. Thomas became a prolific theological writer, famously dictating his thoughts for different works to multiple secretaries simultaneously… His seminal work is the Summa Theologica (or Summa Theologiae), a massive multi-volume explanation and defense of all of the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.

Faithful Friday: St. Agnes

January 14, 2022.Reading time 2 minutes.

Saint Agnes was a Roman martyr from the times of the early persecutions of the Church whose exact time period is unknown, though she may have died in 304. While her exact story is also unclear, tradition holds that Agnes professed herself to be married to Jesus and would accept no other husband.

Faithful Friday: The Magi

January 7, 2022.Reading time 1 minute.

Little indeed is known for sure about the magi who visited the child Jesus, bringing Him gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew is the only Gospel writer to mention them, detailing their visit in the second chapter of his gospel. Matthew does not call them kings, but ‘magi’ or ‘wise men’.

Faithful Friday: Mary, Mother of God

December 31, 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

During the octave of the birth of Jesus, I think it is fitting that we look at His mother, particularly today, on the eve of one of her feasts in the Catholic Church. Today, let’s simply take a look at the Gospels.

Faithful Friday: St Joseph

December 24, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

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While little is known of Joseph’s life, we do know that he was a man of high moral character. He would have to be in order to be the foster father of our Lord, Jesus. The Gospels tell us…

Faithful Friday: Saint Olympias the Younger

December 18, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

St. Olympias was born to a wealthy Roman family with many ties to nobility in the 360s AD. At a young age, she married Nebridius, Prefect of Constantinople. One of the invitees was St. Gregory of Nazianzus, though he was unable to attend.

Faithful Friday: Karl Barth

December 10, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

Perhaps the most famous theologian of the 20th century, Karl Barth was born in Basel, Switzerland in 1886, the son of a professor of Early Church History at Bern. Barth studied at several universities during his theological training, and came under the influence of 19th century liberal theology. After graduating, he became a minister in Geneva from 1909 to 1911, before moving to Safenwil, Switzerland.

Faithful Friday: St. Birinus

December 3, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

St. Birinus, sometimes called Birin or Berin was consecrated as a bishop and sent by Pope Honorius I to be a missionary to the people of Britain. He was successful in converting the pagan king of the West Saxons…

Faithful Friday: Isaac Watts

November 26, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

Without a doubt, one of the finest hymn writers in Protestant Christianity, Isaac Watts was born in 1674, while his father was imprisoned for his nonconformist beliefs. Though often in ill health and clinically depressed, Isaac Watts inherited his father’s steadfast character; a trait which kept him strong through fierce criticism, church splits and other hardships.

Faithful Friday: Mechtilde of Hackeborn

November 19, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

A nun in a black and white habit holds what looks like a bishop's staff.

St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn was born in 1240 or 1241 to one of the most important families of Thuringia. She was baptized immediately after her birth, as it was feared that she would die soon after. The priest who baptized her was unconcerned, saying, “This child most certainly will not die, but she will become a saintly religious in whom God will work many wonders, and she will end her days in a good old age.”

Faithful Friday: Richard Baxter

November 12, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

yet he always sought to keep the middle ground between the factions. He was fond of saying “In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity.”

Faithful Friday: Charles Chauncey

November 5, 2021.Reading time 1 minute.

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Charles Chauncey was one of the austere clergymen of what would one day become the United States of America. Born in 1592 in Hertfordshire, England, Chauncey was known as something of a trouble-maker in the church of England.

Faithful Friday: George Abbot

October 29, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

George Abbot was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1611 to 1633. He was born in Surrey in 1562… George studied under many eminent scholars and was chosen Master of University College in 1597. He took a leading part in preparing the authorized version of the King James New Testament.

Faithful Fridays: Pope John Paul II

October 22, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

Pope John Paul the Second was born Karol Wojtyla in 1920 in Poland. He was the first non-Italian pope in almost five hundred years. John Paul II was really interested in a greater understanding of other countries and nations with other religions.