Daily Readings

Three men, different in age and nation, one in faith. Three examinations in Cilicia, and the beasts will not play their part.

Handsome, rich, and honored, Francis opens a queen’s coffin at Granada and vows never again to serve a sovereign who can change like that.

Of the Roman missionaries in Gaul, Denis goes farthest, plants his see at Paris, and leaves Chartres, Senlis, Meaux, and Cologne to his disciples.

A Swedish princess, married in obedience, mother of eight, then foundress of the Order of the Saviour once Ulpho entered the Cistercians.

October keeps the Rosary because the beads are not a hobby. They are how the Church remembers a battle won on its knees.

Urban II wants him in Rome. The city is too loud. He refuses the dignities, wrings leave for Calabria, and dies there in peace in 1101.

At seven Placid is taken to Subiaco. At twenty-one he is sent to Sicily to build a monastery on his father’s gift. Year five ends in fire.

A merchant’s son of Assisi envies the Man who had nowhere to lay His head, loses the family fortune, and gains a Father in heaven.

Sent to the French court, Gerard is so edified by St. Denis that he goes home, closes his accounts, and comes back as a monk.

Not a hair falls, not a sparrow drops, and still that is not enough: each soul that does not yet see the Father’s face has an angel assigned.