The founder of the English Franciscan province, Blessed Agnello, was admitted into the Order by St. Francis himself on the occasion of his sojourn in Pisa. He was sent to the Friary in Paris, of which he became the guardian, and in 1224, St. Francis appointed him to found an English province; at the time he was only a deacon. Eight others were selected to accompany him. True to the precepts of St. Francis, they had no money, and the monks of Fecamp paid their passage over to Dover. They made ...

St. Fina or Seraphina, Virgin A.D. 1253 The old town of San Geminiano in Tuscany treasures with special veneration the memory of Santa Fina, a young girl whose claim to be recognized as a saint lay in the perfect resignation with which she accepted bodily suffering. She was born of parents who had seen better days but had fallen into poverty. The child was pretty and attractive. Poor as she was she always kept half her food to give to those who were worse off than herself. As far as possible ...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) --The Catholic Church is made up of diverse people who are united by their faith in Christ and are called to welcome all of humanity, Pope Leo XIV said during his weekly general audience.

“Its unifying principle is not a language, a culture, an ethnicity, but faith in Christ,” he said in St. Peter's Square March 11.

Continuing his series of reflections on the Second Vatican Council, the pope focused on the Dogmatic Constitution "Lumen Gentium," which describes the Church as the “People of God.”

The Church is the assembly of “all those who in faith look upon Jesus,” he said, united not by nationality or culture but by their shared faith in Christ.

Pope Leo said this understanding is rooted in the Bible, pointing to God's covenant with Abraham and the people of Israel, which prepared the way for the new covenant established through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The pope said love is the law that governs relationships within the Church, as believers receive and experience it through Jesus. Through Christ, believers from every nation are united in faith, he said. The Church is the people of God who “draw their existence from the body of Christ and who are themselves the body of Christ.”

Rather than turning inward, the pope said, the Church must remain open to everyone.

“Unified in Christ, Lord and Savior of every man and woman, the Church can never turn inwards on herself, but is open to everyone and is for everyone,” he said.

In a world marked by conflict and division, Pope Leo added, the diversity of the Church is a sign of hope.

“It is a great sign of hope -- especially in our times, marked by so many conflicts and wars -- to know that the Church is a people in which women and men of different nationalities, languages and cultures live together in faith,” he said.

Before greeting Italian-speakers, the pope said he was close to the Lebanese people "in this moment of grave trial," following the death of Father Pierre El-Rahi. The Maronite priest was killed in an Israeli bombing of southern Lebanon March 9. The pope said his funeral was to be held March 11 in Al-Qlayaa, a Christian village. 

"In Arabic, ‘Adrachi’ means shepherd. Father Pierre was a true shepherd who always remained close to his people with the love and sacrifice of Jesus, the Good Shepherd," he said in Italian. "As soon as he heard that some parishioners had been wounded in a bombing, without hesitation, he ran to help them."

Before the audience, Pope Leo met privately with Cardinal Dominique J. Mathieu, Archbishop of Tehran and Isfahan, Iran. The Belgian cardinal, who is a member of the Franciscans, arrived in Rome March 8 after being evacuated along with every member of the Italian Embassy, where he is based. 

During the general audience, Pope Leo asked for prayers of peace in Iran and throughout the Middle East, above all for the many civilian victims and innocent children. 

"May our prayer be a comfort to those who suffer and a seed of hope for the future," he said.

Constantine was king of Cornwall. Unreliable tradition has him married to the daughter of the king of Brittany who on her death ceded his throne to his son and became a monk at St. Mochuda monastery at Rahan, Ireland. He performed menial tasks at the monastery, then studied for the priesthood and was ordained. He went as a missionary to Scotland under St. Columba and then St. Kentigern, preached in Galloway, and became Abbot of a monastery at Govan. In old age, on his way to Kintyre, he was ...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Of the many traditions and penitential practices observed during the season of Lent, one of the more visible is the stark change in church decor and a complete absence of flowers.

That shift was markedly noticeable during Pope Leo XIV's series of pastoral visits to different parishes in Rome. 

He started the weekly Sunday visits Feb. 15, before Lent, and the areas around the altar in the Church of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido were resplendent with bright yellow and white blooms and lush greenery.

Then, after Ash Wednesday Feb. 18, each church visit has featured an altar and surroundings to be somberly bare of all floral decorations.

"Using flowers is absolutely forbidden" during the season of Lent, according to Micaela Soranzo, a professor and expert in liturgy and religious architecture. 

However, this doesn't mean the church should be devoid of greenery, as small plants or simple compositions made up of leaves and branches are permissible, Sorano told Catholic News Service in an interview in 2019. She has since published a book on the subject, "Il giardino del cielo. Arredo floreale e liturgia," (The Garden of Heaven: Floral decoration and the liturgy.)

Even fruit and berries are acceptable adornments all year, and the cherry is particularly suitable for Lent because, as St. Augustine noted, its red pulp is a powerful symbol of Christ's passion and the pit recalls the wood of his cross, said Soranzo, who has also worked for the liturgy office of the Italian bishops' conference for two decades.

A modest display of flowers during Lent is possible on "Laetare" (Rejoice) Sunday, the fourth Sunday in the season, when the liturgical vestments change from purple to rose. This sudden visual variation is meant to strike the faithful that something new and joyful is approaching as Easter draws near, she had told CNS. 

On Easter day, there is a true "explosion of flowers," representing new life and "light," which means the predominant colors should be yellow and white, she said. All the other colored blossoms and plants are there "to give the idea of a garden, the garden of the Resurrection," she said.

For the Catholic Church, those sprigs, sprays and bouquets adorning church interiors are meant to bring deeper meaning and attention to the liturgy and the key elements inside each place of worship, Soranzo said. 

"The liturgy needs the language of flowers" because they complement "the immobility of the architecture" and church furnishings with their ability to appropriately represent different feast days and the changing cycle of seasons both in nature and the liturgy, she said.

"Flowers are meant to be an integral part of the liturgy," Soranzo said, "not filler."

In fact, when the true purpose of floral arrangements is misunderstood, churches run the risk either of being bereft of any gift of nature presented in homage to Christ or of being turned into a greenhouse "obstacle course" with pots and plants placed in every available space, she said. 

The topic is so important that the General Instruction of the Roman Missal and bishops' conference guidelines include norms on the appropriate use of floral decoration, said Soranzo.

Like all adornments, flowers and plants must not ignore or detract from the symbolic and theological meaning of sacred spaces and furnishings, and they should highlight -- not hide -- the altar, the ambo and the baptismal font, said Soranzo.

The altar -- the table of the Lord -- is Christ; the ambo -- from where the word of God is proclaimed -- is the visible image of Christ resurrected; and the baptismal font is where God's children are welcomed into the Church, she said. 

The need to focus on Christ and his sacrifice means only those elements necessary for the eucharistic celebration should be on the altar, she said, which means flowers should be placed near or next to the altar, never on top -- unless the altar is so large that a small arrangement would not be in the way.

Potted plants with roots should never be used near the altar -- only cut flowers to represent life "that is sacrificed," like the sacrifice of the Eucharist, she said. That is also why no artificial flowers or fake candles should ever be used, she said, because objects near the altar must always be things that "are consumed," depleted and fade away.

The use of flowers also should reflect the hierarchy of what is most important in the church, she said; for example, "it is not right if there are more flowers adorning the statue of the patron saint than the altar."

Soranzo said that a frequent concern of sacristans and parish workers in Italy is the high cost of floral decorations.

She said she tells them, "We must recognize that nature offers us so much," not just the usual hothouse flowers and expensive imports. 

"Creation is so beautiful and wide. The Lord really gave us a lot," she said.

Parishes can keep their costs down by working with florists or farmers and using what is available in their community, said Soranzo. Sometimes the greater the challenge -- be it low budgets, high snowdrifts or long droughts -- the more room for creativity.

"Often simplicity is what makes a composition more beautiful," she said.

The aim, she said, is to create a space where a person of faith or a visitor walks into church and says, "'How beautiful it is to be here.' It has to feel welcoming and flowers help do that."
 

Born in 1579, John Ogilvie belonged to Scottish nobility. Raised a Calvinist, he was educated on the continent. Exposed to the religious controversies of his day and impressed with the faith of the martyrs, he decided to become a Catholic. In 1596, at age seventeen he was received into the Church at Louvain. Later John attended a variety of Catholic educational institutions, and eventually he sought admission into the Jesuits. He was ordained at Paris in 1610 and asked to be sent to Scotland, ...

Frances was born in the city of Rome in 1384 to a wealthy, noble family. From her mother she inherited a quiet manner and a pious devotion to God. From her father, however, she inherited a strong will. She decided at eleven that she knew what God wanted for her -- she was going to be a nun. And that's where her will ran right up against her father's. He told Frances she was far too young to know her mind -- but not too young to be married. He had already promised her in marriage to the son ...

From the time he was eight to the day he died, John followed every impulse of his heart. The challenge for him was to rush to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit gave him, not his own human temptations. But unlike many who act impulsively, when John made a decision, no matter how quickly, he stuck with it, no matter what the hardship. At eight years old, John heard a visiting priest speak of adventures that were waiting in the age of 1503 with new worlds being opened up. That very ...

Sts. Perpetua and Felicity were Christian martyrs who lived during the early persecution of the Church in Africa by the Emperor Severus. With details concerning the lives of many early martyrs unclear and often based on legend, we are fortunate to have the actual record of the courage of Perpetua and Felicity from the hand of Perpetua herself, her teacher Saturus, and others who knew them. This account, known as "The Passion of St. Perpetua, St. Felicitas, and their Companions," was so popular ...

Colette was the daughter of a carpenter named DeBoilet at Corby Abbey in Picardy, France. She was born on January 13, christened Nicolette, and called Colette. Orphaned at seventeen, she distributed her inheritance to the poor. She became a Franciscan tertiary, and lived at Corby as a solitary. She soon became well known for her holiness and spiritual wisdom, but left her cell in 1406 in response to a dream directing her to reform the Poor Clares. She received the Poor Clares habit from Peter ...