At the end of a lengthy reflection on Advent, Alfred Delp writes: “Light the candles wherever you can, you who have them. They are a real symbol of what must happen in Advent, of what Advent must be, if we want to live.” Continue Reading »
Against our bleak horizon, it seems impossible to hope that peace and liberty may prevail. But Providence is still at work, if hidden from our eyes. Continue Reading »
As of May 15, Catholic journalists around the world will be able to count one of their number among the saints, as Titus Brandsma, a Dutch Carmelite killed at the Dachau concentration camp in 1942, is canonized in St. Peter’s Square. Continue Reading »
Together the mafia martyrs lived out the true mission of baptism and confirmation; they honored their sacraments, rather than corrupting them. Continue Reading »
The late philosopher Roger Scruton once told a Guardian journalist that he thought he had been “too soft” over the course of his life. The interviewer was taken aback: Scruton was known as a scourge of political correctness and academic fashion. But as Scruton explained: “I’ve tended . . . . Continue Reading »
The priest martyrs of Silesia, and the nuns who suffered with them, were victims of a broader pattern of terror practiced by agents of the radicalized left. Continue Reading »
In 1951, security forces in communist Czechoslovakia arrested Silvester Krčméry—and as they were taking him away, he burst out laughing. The young physician knew what he was about to face: years behind bars, shattering physical and mental torture, the loss of his professional career. Yet . . . . Continue Reading »
We began just after daybreak. One by one, the brigades filed out of the parking lot, each singing a different hymn. Turning away from the water, the lengthening line of pilgrims snaked up the hill toward a colossal statue of St. Isaac Jogues. This St. Isaac was not the bashful youth of prayer cards. . . . . Continue Reading »