St. Botulph was born circa 610 in East Anglia (which is a part of present-day England). He became a Benedictine monk in what is present-day France and then established the Benedictine Order in the British Isles in 647. He founded the Ikanhoe monastery in East Anglia. The area around the monastery required the religious men...Read More

MEXICO CITY – The Catholic aid agency Caritas has responded to the torrential downpours in Guatemala with appeals for food and clothing for the victims of what has been described as the heaviest rains to be dumped on the Central American country in more than 50 years.Read More

SEOUL, South Korea – A whistle-stop visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to a church in China is not a sign that the secretive communist regime’s stance toward religion is softening, South Korean Catholics say.Read More

St. John Mary Vianney was born in the Lyons area of France in May 1786. As a child, he taught other children prayers and catechism. He was ordained in 1815 and sent to the parish of Ars in 1818. He visited his parishioners, most especially the sick and the poor, and he spent a lot...Read More

Ss. Felix and Adauctus lived in the third century. St. Felix was a priest in Rome. After refusing to make a sacrifice to the pagan gods, he prayed and the idols broke. He was then arrested, tortured and beheaded for his faith in 303. St. Adauctus professed his faith when he saw St. Felix being...Read More

NEW YORK – More than 1,000 people dressed in blue and white filled a cordoned traffic lane across from the Empire State Building Aug. 26 to protest the decision of the building’s owner to deny a request to illuminate the upper floors in honor of the 100th birthday of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.Read More

WASHINGTON – Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo praised a federal judge’s recent ruling that temporarily stopped federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, but the U.S. Department of Justice said it would appeal the decision.Read More

St. Siricius, born circa 334 in Rome, was elected the 38th pope in 384. Siricius extended the authority of the pope, and he said papal documents must be widely distributed. In a synod in 386, he reaffirmed canon laws. The importance of celibate life for the religious and clergy was reaffirmed in another synod, 390-392....Read More