Burning napalm. Fleeing refugees. Soldiers slogging through rice paddies and jungle trails. Booby traps, snipers, ambushes, bloody firefights. The anguished faces of the wounded and dying, desperate for compassion and comfort. When we think of the Vietnam War, these are the images we see. More »

“We have some wonderful memories,” I said as Brother Art lay on his deathbed. “Yes, some wonderful memories,” he replied, almost as if singing. More »

In 1534 the English Parliament passed legislation that declared King Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England. Holding fast to the Catholic Church’s teaching on papal authority, Sir Thomas More (b. 1478) refused to take an oath recognizing the king’s supremacy, which was required by the law, and was imprisoned in the Tower of London. More »

Stories abound about the extraordinary events coloring the life of St. Anthony of Padua, the “wonder-worker.” Fish are said to have listened to him preach, their heads attentively raised out of the river, when the hard of heart refused to heed his words. More »

Sometimes, the voice of a saint echoes clearly to us down through the centuries. As a young adult, I found myself struggling, in the ordinary way of young people, with feeling alienated from God. More »

On a spring day in 1916, three children watched their family’s sheep on a hillside in rural Portugal. Completely oblivious to the fact that their country was at war and that Pope Benedict XV was begging Mary’s intercession and lamenting World War I as the “suicide of Europe,” the children sang, danced, and played games. More »

Outside, gray clouds scudded damply across the spring sky. Inside, a continuous procession passed by the woman’s bedside. “People came to pray near her, to bring her a last token of affection,” her husband recalled years later. More »

The carpenter of Nazareth knew first-hand the challenges of the daily grind and of toiling to support a family. St. Joseph experienced the tiring monotony of the work week. More »