Once upon a time, I was sitting in the car, reading and waiting for the spouse-person who was yakking with some other women after Mass. Suddenly, I noticed a little boy standing next to me at the window. He said, “You look like Father Brown.”
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Gregory of Nazianzus (also called Gregory Nazianzen) was born around 330 AD in Cappadocia, now modern Turkey. Gregory was given a classical education in the cities of Caesarea, Alexandria, and Athens. Among his schoolmates were St. Basil the Great and future Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.
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In many ways, St. John Cantius lived an unassuming life. As a young man, he applied himself to academics, with a particular focus on philosophy and theology.
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“One of the engines ingested a chunk of ice during the de-icing procedure in Philadelphia,” explains the pilot in a calm, even voice. “We shut down that engine and are returning to Philadelphia. We will be landing in about 30 minutes.”
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“The Man Who Popularized the Modern Christmas”, or something along the lines of “The Man Who Defined Christmas Traditions”, would have been better a better title than The Man Who Invented Christmas. I mean, it’s not a bad title, but there are implications that can be, shall we say, that becomes kinda problematic. But besides that and the fact that this is obviously a fictionalized account of Charles Dickens writing the book of A Christmas Carol, the movie was actually pretty well done.
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I’ve always thought that the best reading lesson is predicated on a child, a fishing pole, a pond, and an old copy of Howard Pyle’s Robin Hood on a quiet summer afternoon before it’s time to get the cows up for the evening milking.
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St. Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was born in Mexico in 1474. At that time, the Spanish governed Mexico, and often looked down on their native citizens, not least because the natives largely still worshiped their old gods rather than the Christian God.
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The Poets of Rapallo by Lauren Arrington (Oxford University Press) is a brilliant first draft; one looks forward to reading the completed work.
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Reverend Channing Moore Williams, Episcopal missionary and bishop, was born in Richmand, Virginia on July 18, 1829 to Mary and John Green Williams, who named him after the zealous second Episcopal bishop of Virginia, Richard Channing Moore. When Channing Moore Williams was only three years old, his father died, leaving Mary to raise their six children alone, which she proved quite capable of doing, raising her children in the Episcopal church.
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One of the most difficult things about being a Christian film critic (and a Christian film fan for that matter) is determining how badly a movie has to stray away from a biblical view of philosophy or ethics before it cannot be commendable to the Christian.
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Different groups claim that the dinner-on-the-grounds at Plymouth was not the first Thanksgiving. Texas, being Texas, claims TWO first Thanksgivings…
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The mysterious legend of St. Catherine of Alexandria begins during the persecutions of Emperor Maximinus. Catherine was of the noble classes, either the daughter of the governor or a princess, and a great scholar on top of it.
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Many denominations claim that praying to the saints are sacrilegious as they are dead and only God can answer prayers. Yet we continue to ask others to pray for us. The concept is the same with the saints who, proven through miracles obtained by God, are very much alive and living with Him in Heaven.
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Thomas Burgess was an accomplished Anglican Bishop, theologian, linguist, and abolitionist. He was born on November 18, 1756 in Hampshire to a grocer. He was educated at Odiham Grammar School, before moving on to Winchester and finally to Corpus Christi College at Oxford.
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Don’t let anyone dismiss your generation with cheap and shabby stereotypes. YOU would carry a baby amid the screams and terror and dust and heat to a waiting airplane and then return to the perimeter for another child or young mother or old man or anyone who needed your help.
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St. Martin of Tours was born in 316 in what is now Hungary. He became a Christian at the age of ten and was forced into the Roman army a few years later. However, believing firmly that Christians should not fight, Martin petitioned Emperor Julian the Apostate to be released, saying, “I am Christ’s soldier: I am not allowed to fight.”
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St. Charles Borromeo was born in 1538 near Milan in the castle of Arona. His family was one of good socioeconomic standing and were themselves immersed in religious duty.
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Little is known about these two disciples of Christ. They are only mentioned very briefly in the Gospels, and are celebrated together due to their close association in Christian tradition.
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Newsies, both in print and on the telescreens, seem unable to refer to anyone who has died as anything other than an icon. As a metaphor, this never worked well, anyway, as an icon is a two-dimensional painting or drawing—the Orthodox term is “written”—of a religious figure for inspiration. Obviously a human being, alive or dead, cannot be an icon in any meaningful sense…
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Hailed as a great peacemaker and one of the greatest popes in history, Saint Pope John Paul II had very humble beginnings. He was born Karol Wojtyła in Poland in 1920. His early life was marked by tragedy. His baby sister, his mother, and his elder brother all died before he reached his teens. He was a lively boy, a good student, and perhaps most surprising for a future pope, a gifted actor, co-founding a theater troupe.
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