Catholic Insight

Saint Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians and the ‘second Apostle’ of Rome, recommended reading books beginning with ‘S’, that is, lives of the saints, so that we may imitate at least some degree of their virtues. He himself wanted all of his own spiritual sons to achieve sanctity, but in as hidden a way as possible. Amare nesciri, h...

The recent encomium on Anthony Kenny – former priest turned agnostic philosopher – struck me as disconcerting. The title of the reflection is indicative: “The Last Grand Master from a Grander Age”.

True enough, Kenny had a grandiloquent way with w...

We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendour of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord. (Saint Bede the Venerable, ...

The celebration of the beheading of Saint John the Baptist – an expeditious entrance into heaven – is sort of a bookend to the summer; you may recall that June 24th, just after the end of spring, was the solemnity of his birth. Now, as summer draws to its close, we celebrate his death.  A curious liturgical paradox, you might think, for why would not his dea...