Regular Contributions
A Gift to Our Readers: Easter Strudel
We here at the Bellarmine Forum have often spoken of the revered traditional customs, especially those that take place at Easter and Christmas. Pope Benedict XVI has spoken eloquently of these and we have endeavored over the years to celebrate and bring to a wider audience these traditions. We have probably been disproportionate in our celebration of…
Go to Joseph!
By Guest Author, Terri Aluise “Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, There’s always laughter and good red wine, At least I have always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!” One of the best ways to honor St. Joseph, the patron of the family and protector of the universal church, is to hold a St. Joseph’s Day…
Miracle: St. Gennaro’s Relics Re-Vivify for Pope Francis [VIDEOS]
I used to watch the Bob and Penny Lord shows because they had a great way of traveling around and finding some great things worldwide about the Church that were really neat. I don’t recall them covering Naples and the miracle of St. Gennaro (Januarius). I can hear what they would be saying, though. I…
The Errors of Russia… Occultism, Theosophy, demon worship
Last year, I had an ambitious multi-part Fatima post series that I never finished. Truth be told, I’ve had a project about twenty years collecting tidbits and collating information. I’ve never been satisfied that “Marxist atheism” adequately describes the errors of Russia in the context of Fatima’s warning that “Russia will spread her errors throughout the world.”…
St. Joseph had to believe
I have a number of icons and a few images in my office, one of which is pictured to the right. It is an old print titled “The Death of St. Joseph.” I’ve always liked this print, because it points out the trust in God St. Joseph had to have in many ways. Joseph must have had…
No Pain, No Gain
“What are you doing to me!” my son yelled at the crucifix in his room. “I don’t think complaining about not eating between meals on a fast day to One who is nailed to a cross is a good tactic,” I replied. Yes, this conversation was about Ash Wednesday and the fast. I’d just reminded…
March 17 is Perfect for St. Patrick, don’t move this Feast!
Every year I wonder about the draw of so many to the green day. It used to be that you’d see shamrocks and the “Erin go braugh” or more recently, it seems that “luck of the Irish” is the bigger hit anymore, but I don’t see as many shamrocks, more leprechauns than anything else. I think that…
For your Phone: Annunciation Novena (March 17 to March 25)
I like to have prayers on my iPhone for the convenience. I will take a picture of the prayer in the prayer book, missal, whatever, and then save the picture into an album. It makes it easy to find the prayer later, and it is convenient because the prayer is right on the phone. Tomorrow, the Annunciation…
All Their Wars are Merry, And All Their Songs are Sad
For the great Gaels of Ireland Are the men that God made mad, For all their wars are merry, And all their songs are sad. –G.K. Chesterton There is a strange phenomenon on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is probably the one place in the world where Irishmen have largely been raised on…
Let Nothing Disturb You
by Guest Author, Terri Aluise This year, 2015, marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of St. Teresa of Avila. I have spent the last month or so trying to discern how I can, in my own feeble way, honor her on this occasion – for she is a close friend and a spiritual…