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Featured Term (selected at random:REQUIEM A Mass celebrated for the dead. The name is derived from the firsrt word of the opening hymn in the Latin Rite Mass prior to the revision since the Second Vatican Council. The invocation said, "Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine" (Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord). (Etym. Latin requies, rest after labor, relaxation.) All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random:EVANGELICA TESTIFICATIO Apostolic exhortation of Pope Paul VI on religious life. The most important single document on the subject since the Second Vatican Council. It recognizes that some are calling into question the very existence of religious life. Its main focus is to urge religious to be faithful to the charism of their respective founders and to cultivate a strong spiritual life, whose center is the Eucharist (June 29, 1971). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

The blood of martyrs has proven to be the seed of the Church in China, as vibrant communities thrive despite government interference and restrictionsPart 4, Resurrection “We should be glad and rejoice. As the Shanghai Catholic youths said: ‘We are greatly honored to have been born and lived at this important time.’” — Cardinal Kung Pin-mei, Sermon for Catholics in China (Rome, June 30, 1991) When I published my book, China’s Saints, in 2011, I thought that only a few interested scholars would read it. I wrote it, after all, as an academic study, a work for curmudgeonly professors like...

Featured Term (selected at random:PENETRABILITY The capacity of a body to coincide with another body in such a way that both occupy the same space at the same time. Naturally this is impossible for ponderable matter, but is one of the qualities of a glorified body as witnessed after Christ's resurrection from the dead (John 20:19). All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Benedict XV, circa 1915. Photo courtesy of the United States Library of Congress. Vatican City, Sep 3, 2014 / 01:21 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Despite a biography title labeling him the “Unknown Pope,”  Benedict XV had a tremendous impact on life of the Church, and his legacy of diplomacy and efforts for peace live on today. On Sept. 3, 1914 – 100 years ago today – Giacomo Giambattista della Chiesa was elected Bishop of Rome. della Chiesa, a longtime diplomat who had been Archbishop of Bologna since 1907, took the name Benedict XV when he was elected a little more than...

Some believe it houses evidence of extraterrestrial life. Others, ancient texts that disprove the existence of Jesus. Perhaps dark truths that would discredit and destroy the Church? A mistranslated Latin word may be responsible for the conspiracy theories about the Vatican Secret Archives. In fact, the actual contents can stand on their own without delving into the absurd. The archives, or Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum, contains historical records chronicling intriguing historical events. Its contents, once plundered by Napoleon and moved to Paris, span 12 centuries. * There’s the document that began the Protestant reformations: Pope Leo X’s 1521 decree excommunicating...

The article below was written by one of the worlds foremost experts on the Crusades. I saw it over at Shoebat.com and was so impressed by it I wanted to post it here. It kinda long but it is written very well and is an easy read. I would deem this as a MUST READ and I’m sure many of you will.With the possible exception of Umberto Eco, medieval scholars are not used to getting much media attention. We tend to be a quiet lot (except during the annual bacchanalia we call the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo,...

How do we decide who deserves a place in history? Generations of devoted American history buffs have spent countless hours reading and writing long books about the American Revolution without ever having come across the name of Dr. Thomas Young. Yet it was Young who came up with the idea for the original tea party—the one in Boston Harbor. And he went on from there to help kick off the Revolution in Pennsylvania, co-write the first modern constitution, and name the state of Vermont. The reason he isn’t well remembered today is just this: The grandfather of today’s Tea Party...

Vatican City, Sep 1, 2014 / 10:32 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Faith is not founded upon human wisdom, but on the power of God, as made manifest in the Gospel. This was one of the main themes of Pope Francis' homily on Monday morning, resuming daily Mass at the Santa Marta residence following the summer holidays. Addressing the congregation, the Pope said that we do not read the Gospel simply to learn, but to find Jesus. This is “because Jesus is truly in His Word, in His Gospel.” One ought to receive the Word “as one receives Christ: that is, with...

Featured Term (selected at random:HIERONYMITES Also called the Jeronymites or the Hierohymitae. Groups of hermits who followed the way of life of St. Jerome (342-420), going back to the community of men and women who gathered around him in Bethlehem. They were later given the Rule of St. Augustine. Hieronymite nuns were founded in Spain in 1426. In the sixteenth century the order was one of the channels through which the Catholic Counter-Reformation found its expression. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

ROME, September 1 (RIA Novosti) - Pope Francis has written a letter to the residents of the town of Beslan in North Ossetia who are marking ten years since the Beslan school massacre, Italian media reported Monday. Abbot Paolo De Carli, who sheltered 60 Beslan residents for two months at his monastery in the Trentino province in Italy in 2004, will take Pope Francis’s letter, the contents of which are not disclosed, to North Ossetia, the press service of the Honorary Consulate of the Russian Federation in Bolzano told RIA Novosti. Paolo De Carli will also take part in the...

Featured Term (selected at random:VATICAN CITY Official name, Stato della Città del Vaticano. It is the territorial see of the Papacy, determined by the Lateran Treaty of 1929. Situated within the geopraphic boundary of Rome, it covers an area of 108.7 acres and includes the Vatican Palace, St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican Radio Station, and numerous other buildings that serve the Pope and the administration of the universal Church. Ultimate authority for Vatican City is vested in the Pope but actually administered by the Pontifical Commission for the State of the Vatican City. In generaly, the government is based on canon...

The Stories of Our Lady of Czestochowa Sarah ReinhardI never wanted to be a mom. It was never in my goals or my plan for life.And yet here I am, watching my three-year-old “mow”as I type away in the comfort of a camp chair in the shade of the garage. Right now this kid is the focus of most of my photos and social media efforts. He’s immensely quotable, hilarious, and spontaneous. It’s something that I can’t help but share (lest it drive me crazier than I already am).But don’t get me wrong. Three is not my favorite age. And...

“How many divisions does the Pope have?” Joseph Stalin once ironically asked the official warning him of the Vatican's “power.” Decades later, totalitarian regimes have all but vanished, while the Catholic Church, founded strictly on an evangelical message of love, has continued to grow. “I’d like to buy your argument,” replied the professor, “but the facts are other than you assert. How is it that Catholic countries such as Spain and Portugal promoted the slave trade in America, if, as you claim, the Catholic Church actually brought the end of slavery? How do you explain certain bishops of the American...

Featured Term (selected at random:NATURAL VIRTUE A good moral habit whose principles, object, and purpose are natural to the human person. This means any virtue whose existence in knowable by the light of natural reason and whose practice is possible (at least for a time) without the help of supernatural grace. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

William Dalrymple’s 1997 travelogue "From the Holy Mountain" is an excellent place to start for Westerners seeking to understand the devastating decline of Christianity in the Middle East. The historian William Dalrymple is Britain’s most famous living travel writer. He is also a member of the Dalrymple clan, a celebrated Scottish family of three principal branches. William’s branch became Roman Catholic in the 19th century, and in the 20th both his Uncle John (“Old Jock”) and his brother John (“Young Jock”) were ordained Roman Catholic priests. Today “Young” Father Jock Dalrymple is the pastor of a parish church in Edinburgh....

A Christian man was executed during the night by a high-profile ruler after making an uncompromising defense of real marriage. The Christian, who was renowned for his holiness, had told the ruler in public that his relationship with his partner was “against the law” of God. The Christian’s words enraged the ruler’s partner who successfully plotted to have him permanently silenced. John the Baptist was first imprisoned before he was beheaded. The Catholic Church honors him today, August 29, as a martyr and saint. While John’s death happened a little less than 2,000 years ago, his heroic stance for real...

Is Islam inherently violent? Does it justify violence against infidels? Does it encourage the faith to be spread by the sword? The establishment of an “Islamic State” in northern Iraq this summer has brought such questions to the forefront in the face of the lethal brutality the Islamic State has unleashed against religious minorities, including the expulsion and killing of Christians. There are political and military aspects to those questions, but they are most fundamentally theological. Does God desire violence to spread his revelation? Theology addresses reality at its deepest level, and, therefore, theological ideas matter a great deal in...

Featured Term (selected at random:CANONICAL LIFE A rule of life drawn up in ancient times for the clergy, mainly the cathedral assistants. Intermediate between the monastic life and secular priesthood, they lived in community. Many later become canons regular of St. Augustine (354-430), who introduced this mode of life into his own episcopal household. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

Featured Term (selected at random:TRANSITIONAL DIACONATE The temporary state of men who intend to go on for the priesthood. Before their ordination as deacons they must indicate whether they wish to enter the permanent or the transitional diaconate. They must also decide whether to marry or remain celibate. Once they are ordained deacons, they cannot marry and continue in the Church's ministry. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.