After the canonization of the seven new Saints in Saint Peters Square in Rome on Sunday October 19. 2025, Pope Leo XIV addressed the pilgrims who traveled from all over the world for the event. He described the celebration in which saints were canonized as one that reminded us that the communion of the church embraced all the faithful, across space and time, in every language and culture, uniting us as the people of God, the body of Christ, and the living temple of the Holy Spirit.

Today we are looking at Saint Maria Troncatti, FMA (1883-1969). She was born in Brescia, Italy. Early in her life she expressed a desire to become a religious sister. In 1908 she made her profession as a member of the Daughters of Mary, Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters). After she took a course in health care, she served as a nurse during World War I. This training would serve her well in her future assignments.

Saint Ignatius Maloyan (1869-1915), the Armenian Catholic Bishop in Mardin Turkey, was among 1.5 million Armenians who died in the great genocide of 1915.

On Saturday November 1, 2025, Pope Leo XIV proclaimed St. John Henry Newman the thirty-eighth Doctor of the Church. Newman spent the first forty years of his life as a distinguished minister in the Church of England. In time, he became a noteworthy leader of the High Church Oxford Movement in the Anglican Church. His research on the development of doctrine led him to become a member of the Catholic Church. After studies in Rome, he was ordained a Catholic priest and returned to England to establish the oratory of Saint Philip Neri in working class Birmingham (England). His writings were enormously influential in combating anti Catholic prejudice in England.

Among the seven saints canonized on October 19, 2025, Bartolo Longo (1841-1926) stands out for having undergone a dramatic conversion story. He grew up in a Catholic household and studied law at the University of Naples. He went from being a practicing Catholic to taking part in anti-papal demonstrations to becoming an atheist, then a Satanist, even to being “ordained” to the Satanist priesthood

Pope Leo XIV canonized seven new Saints in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, October 19. Among the seven was Saint Peter To Rot (1912-1945) who was the son of a village chief and his wife who were among the first baptized Catholics on New Britain Island, which is part of Papua New Guinea. As a boy Peter became a faithful altar server at both Sunday and daily Mass. When the Pastor of the Mission Church noticed Peter’s great interest in religion, he suggested to Peter’s father that perhaps Peter had a vocation to the priesthood. His father disagreed but gave consent for Peter to become a catechist. Peter went for studies at St. Paul’s College. In 1934 he received his catechist’s cross from the bishop and returned to his village to assist his pastor.

As the Church celebrates World Mission Sunday 2025 today, the late Pope Francis gave us a powerful theme that resonates deeply in this Jubilee Year: “Missionaries of Hope Among All Peoples.” In his message, the Pope Francis reminded us that hope is at the heart of the Christian mission, calling every baptized person to be “messengers and builders of hope” in a world that often finds itself overshadowed by uncertainty and despair.

On September 7, 2025, Pope Leo XIV canonized Carlo Acutis and Pier Giorgio Frassati.  Today I want to write about Pier Giorgio. 

In addition to being Respect Life Month, October is also National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.  Several years ago, the U.S. Department of Justice estimated that 1.3 million women and 835,000 men were victims of physical violence by a partner every year.

Today the Archdiocese of Washington is joining the universal church and celebrating the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.  There will be a procession with reflection beginning at 2:30 p.m.  at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart (located at 3211 Sacred Heart Way, NW, Washington DC). Those participating in the procession will walk in prayer from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart to the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle (1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW) where there will be Mass at 5:30 p.m.

September the 21st is normally the feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle. In honor of his feast day, I want to talk about the history of our Cathedral Parish of Saint Matthew the Apostle which is the mother Church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. I have taken much of the material here from the cathedral website.

A parishioner asked me after Mass recently what was a Doctor of the Church. He had heard on the news that Saint John Henry Newman would soon be named a Doctor of the Church and wanted to know what that meant.