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St Conrad of Parzham (St Conrad de Parzham) Feast Day– April 22 St Conrad of Parzham, whose baptismal name was John, was the son of the devout and honest couple George Birndorfer and Gertrude Niedermayer. He was born on a farm near the town of Parzham in Bavaria in the year 1818. From his earliest years, St Conrad of Parzham gave indications of his future sanctity by his modesty and love of solitude. The fervor of his devotion was noticeable especially when he prayed in church, the distant location of which was no hindrance to his visiting it frequently even...

Guest Bio Father Cantalamessa Tears Down Religious Barriers CBN.com –A CALL TO PREACH   Father Cantalamessa, O.F.M., Cap., is a Franciscan Capuchin Catholic priest born in Ascoli Piceno, Italy and ordained in 1958. He is a former professor of history of ancient Christianity at the Catholic University of Milan. Father Cantalamessa’s life was transformed in 1976 when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit on a trip to Kansas City. “The love of scripture which results from receiving the Holy Spirit is unbelievable,” shares Father Cantalamessa. Then in 1979 he felt called to leave his teaching position to become a full...

The heart of a revered 19th-century Argentine friar and patriot has been stolen from the Franciscan monastery where it was kept for years as a religious relic, a church official said.The thief removed Mamerto Esquiú's heart yesterday, leaving behind the urn in which it was stored, said Jorge Martinez, head of the San Francisco monastery in the north-western province of Catamarca."The theft was carried out because of the heart - nothing else was stolen," he told local reporters. "It's very sad." Born in Catamarca in 1826, Esquiú entered the monastery at a young age and was ordained a Catholic priest...

When Father Solanus Casey died in Detroit in 1957, all he left after 86 years on this earth were a small crucifix, an old pair of sandals, several religious pictures, a wooden statue of St. Anthony, some dog-eared religious books, a knot of heavily darned socks and a framed, 40-year-old picture of his family. Bl. Solanus Casey (1870-1957) But he left another rich legacy — a long list of curious "favors" to an equally long list of devoted believers. Father Solanus Casey had come to Detroit to be a Capuchin friar. During his years as a priest he spent...

Pittsburgh Woman Believes Locket of Hair Helped Deliver Her Preemie SafelyApril 21, 2005 — Christopher Ian Frederic Chadwick looks like any other 5-year-old today.  Did a medallion and a locket, containing strands of white hair from French Canadian priest Frederic Janssoone, help deliver a baby? (ABC News) But in 1999, his mother, Jill Chadwick, went into labor four months early, and she fears things might have turned out differently if her mother hadn't brought her a medallion and locket from a blessed French Canadian priest.The items came from tiny St. Anthony's chapel in a working-class neighborhood on Harpster Street in Pittsburgh,...

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, US Virgin Islands - She'd been a spiritual wanderer for 20 years, studying century-old teachings of a Russian philosopher, seeking tranquility in Zen and Hinduism. For Charlene Kehoe, Catholicism was a relic of a past she thought she'd left far behind. Her bond with the Catholic Church of her youth had frayed to little more than a seasonal reflex - one token visit at Christmas that was more social than religious. And even that one service could be a sharp reminder of why she'd left. ''I was so disgusted, I think I walked out after Communion,'' Kehoe said...

YONKERS — Cardinal Edward Egan will ordain eight new priests this morning, but only four will go out in the world with the classic parish priest look: all black suits, white clerical collar, neat Eddie Haskell haircuts. The other four will look as if they're auditioning to play medieval monks in some community theater, with their gray, hooded robes, shaved heads and long, unkempt beards of which Mrs. Haskell never would have approved. Few at St. Patrick's Cathedral will stare with wonder at these men, though, because the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal have become a common sight at New...