Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock Albertina Berkenbrock was born in Santa Catarina, Brazil in 1919. On August 16, 1928, she made her First Holy Communion; an experience she described as the most beautiful day of her life. She had a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Aloysius Gonzaga, a model of purity and the ...read more

Blessed Adilio Daronch Born in October 1908 to a family of modest means in an isolated town in the interior of Brazil, Adilio Daronch from early childhood loved to pray and serve at Mass. At 16, he was killed alongside Fr. Manuel Gomez Gonzalez, when revolutionaries met them on the road during a trip to ...read more

Yesterday in Rome Salt + Light was awarded the “Capax Dei” Prize at the Mirabile Dictu International Catholic Film Festival, organized annually by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture. The award was presented for Salt + Light’s documentary “In Her Footsteps: the Story of Kateri Tekakwitha,” which premiered in Rome last October. The following story ...read more

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Handsome, athletic, courageous Pier Giorgio Frassati was born in Turin, Italy on April 6, 1901. He was born into a well-respected, devoutly Catholic family. His mother, Adelaide Ametis, was a painter. His father Alfredo was the founder of the newspaper, “La Stampa”. At birth he presented respiratory failure, so he was ...read more

I’m excited to introduce you to today’s WYD Rio patron. He is a remarkable figure, known as a bringer of Christ’s peace and love. Meet:  Saint Anthony from Santana Galvão Fr. Anthony from Santana Galvão, is the first Brazilian-born saint. Anthony was born in Guaratinguetá, São Paulo in 1739 to a deeply religious family of ...read more

Next in our series of blogs reviewing the patron saints and intercessors for this year’s World Youth Day, we take a look at: St. Sebastian Although nothing can be certain about the history of St. Sebastian, it is said that he was an officer in the imperial guard, known for the good works that he ...read more

In the lead-up to World Youth Day Rio I thought we’d get acquainted with the patron saints and intercessors for this year, as there are 18 in total. Now, that’s some serious intercession! Some of these saints you’ll recognize immediately like St. Therese of Lisieux, others will be completely new – isn’t it great how ...read more

On June 11th we celebrate the feast of St. Barnabas. The Church sees him as an apostle though he was not one of the twelve. We first hear about him in the Acts of the Apostles, where he is given the name Barnabas which means “Son of Encouragement” (Acts 4).  And he lived up to ...read more

February 11 will long be remembered as the day Pope Benedict announced his resignation – the first pontiff in 600 years to do so. But do you recall the event during which he made his stunning declaration? The Holy Father had convoked a meeting of cardinals to vote on three causes for canonization. As expected, ...read more

A few weeks ago, during a homily, I suggested that we should take the opportunity of this Year of Faith to do what the Holy Father has proposed: That we learn about our Faith; that we live our Faith and that we share our Faith. Soon after, I thought, ‘why don’t we make this a ...read more