Benedictine abbot and defender of the faith. Born in Canas, Navarre, Spain, circa 1000, he entered the Benedictines at San Millan de Ia Cogolla. King Garcia III of Navarre challenged him when he became abbot of the monastery, and Dominic refused to surrender part of the Benedictine lands to the crown. For this he was exiled, going to King Ferdinand I of Castile and Leon, who made him abbot of St. Sebastian Abbey at Silos, now called St. Dominic�s. Dominic reformed the abbey, built the ...

ROME (CNS) -- With the Vatican's Nativity scene and huge Christmas tree glittering in the Roman sun behind him, David Henrie reflected on the joy of giving during the Advent season.

As a father of three young children, he said, it was important he find a more "visual way" to help them understand and experience this "spirit of Christmas that involves giving back."

An actor, director, producer and active Catholic, Henrie was in Rome promoting some of his latest projects, including his expanding partnership with the U.S.-based Cross Catholic Outreach, which helps mobilize Catholics to bring material and spiritual support to the poorest of the poor through the church's international network of dioceses, parishes and missionaries. 

Henrie told Catholic News Service Dec. 18 that the charity's Box of Joy ministry made the joy of Advent and Christmas more "memorable" for his family by helping them experience it in a different, concrete way.

"It was the perfect thing for me and my family because my kids got to go pick out little toys and little gifts that they put in a little shoe box and send to a kid somewhere in the world who maybe hasn't had a Christmas present before," he said.

Since 2014, Cross Catholic Outreach has helped families, parishes, schools and others pack and deliver more than 781,000 Box of Joy gifts to children in developing countries. The gifts include toys, clothing, school supplies, a rosary and the story of Jesus as a sign of Christ's love and compassion for everyone.

Henrie said the project opened his children's eyes to how some children don't have toys or even enough food to thrive. "I got to explain to them the concept of poverty in a way that they felt like they were contributing."

"What a way to help them be curious about poverty and what we can do to help poverty," he said, "and they took so much delight in picking out their favorite toys for other kids out there."

To this day, he said, when they pray the family rosary, "I go, 'What do you guys want to pray for?' And they go, 'For the poor kids who don't have gifts!'"

As "ambassador" for Cross Catholic Outreach, Henrie went with his wife, Maria, to Guatemala in 2024 and the Dominican Republic in 2023 to personally deliver Box of Joy gifts. 

"I remember we were handing out tons of boxes, my wife and I, and I got down to one last box," during the mission trip to the Diocese of Santa Rosa de Lima in Guatemala, he said.

One little girl "wanted the box so bad, but she goes, 'But I have a brother.' And so she took our last box, and she gave it right to her brother," Henrie said, remarking how impressed he was with her selflessness.

"I was like, 'Oh, I'm not that generous.' That was so nice of her to do for her little brother," he said.

While the people he saw lacked so many material necessities, they were abundant in faith, he said. Homes without bathrooms and running water would have "little shrines to the Blessed Mother" and "prayer corners."

"I got so much out of it," he said, urging Catholics to visit BoxOfJoy.org and get involved before Dec. 25.

"Right now is the perfect time," he said, especially "if you're looking for a way to get your family together around this wonderful initiative."

Martyr of Egypt. He was burned alive in Alexandria, Egypt, during the persecutions under Emperor Trajanus Decius. Nemesius was arrested and scourged and then burned to death. Like Christ, he was executed between two criminals.

Rufus and Zosimus were citizens of Antioch (or perhaps Philippi) who were brought to Rome with St. Ignatius of Antioch during the reign of Emperor Trajan. They were condemned to death for their Christianity and thrown to wild beasts in the arena two days before the martyrdom of Ignatius. Feast Day December 18.

Olympias born into a wealthy noble Constantinople family. She was orphaned when a child and was given over to the care of Theodosia by her uncle, the prefect Procopius. She married Nebridius, also a prefect, was widowed soon after, refused several offers of marriage, and had her fortune put in trust until she was thirty by Emperor Theodosius when she also refused his choice for a husband. When he restored her estate in 391, she was consecrated deaconess and with several other ladies founded a ...

An archbishop and scholar, Ado was born in Sens and educated at the Benedictine abbey of Ferrieres. Abbot Lupus Servatus, an outstanding humanist of the time, trained Ado, and was impressed with the obvious holiness of the young man. A noble by birth, Ado renounced his inheritance and became a Benedictine, in time assigned to the monastery of Prum, near Trier, Germany. Ado's holiness made him enemies, and he was forced to leave Prum. He went to Rome on a pilgrimage and remained there for two ...

Saint Mary (Paula) Di Rosa December 15 The pounding on the barricaded door of the military hospital sent every heart thudding in terror. In the middle of the war in Brescia (Italy) in 1848, the wounded, sick, and those who cared for them knew what that pounding meant. The shouts from beyond the door came from soldiers, not obeying any command but their inner desire to destroy and plunder. Who could do anything to stop them? The only people here were some Sisters, the Handmaids of Charity, who ...

Saint John of the Cross was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, in Fontiveros, Avila, Spain in 1542. His father was employed by wealthy family members as an accountant, but they disowned him when he married a poor woman from the lower class. As a result of his family�s poverty, John�s family suffered greatly. His father died when he was three, and his older brother, Luis died two years after that, likely because of malnutrition. John�s mother eventually found work weaving which helped her to ...

Lucy's history has been lost and all we really know for certain is that this brave woman who lived in Syracuse lost her life during the persecution of Christians in the early fourth century. Her veneration spread to Rome so that by the sixth century the whole Church recognized her courage in defense of the faith. Because people wanted to shed light on Lucy's bravery, legends began to crop up. The one that has passed the test of time tells the story of a young Christian woman who vowed to live ...

An elder Mexican man makes his way to Mass in the early morning twilight of December 9, 1531. He is a peasant, a simple farmer and laborer, and he has no education. Born under Aztec rule, he is a convert to Catholicism, and each step he takes this morning is a step into history. The morning quiet is broken by a strange music that he will later describe as the beautiful sound of birds. Diverting his path to investigate the sound, Juan Diego comes face to face with a radiant apparition of the ...