Blessed Bartolomé Blanco Márquez, born on 25 November 1914 in Pozoblanco, Córdoba, Spain, was a young layman who lived during the tumultuous period of the Spanish Civil War. He was raised by his uncles and local Salesian brothers after losing his mother at the tender age of three, followed by the tragic death of his father when Bartolome was 12. Despite these early hardships, Bartolomé's...
Romanos the Melodist was a Byzantine hymnographer and composer who is a central early figure in the history of Byzantine music. Called "the Pindar of rhythmic poetry", he flourished during the sixth century, though the earliest manuscripts of his works are dated centuries after this. He was the foremost Kontakion composer of his time.
The main biographical source for Romanos is...
St. Jerome (347 - 420) was born to a wealthy pagan family in Dalmatia. He was sent to Rome for his schooling and there converted to Christianity, being baptized by Pope Liberius. He studied theology and traveled widely to the important intellectual and theological centers across the newly-established Christian Empire. He was ordained a priest at Antioch and lived many years as a hermit in a...
Originally, September 29 was the feast of St. Michael the Archangel. The day was chosen in remembrance of the day when, under his invocation, a church was consecrated on Mount Gargano. With the reform of the liturgical calendar after Vatican II, the other two named archangels were added to the feast. All three are named in Scripture.
However, the term “archangel” only...
Lorenzo was born in Manila of a Chinese father and a Filipino mother, both Christians. Thus he learned Chinese and Tagalog from them, and Spanish from the Dominicans whom he served as altar boy and sacristan. He became a professional calligrapher, transcribing documents in beautiful penmanship. He was a full member of the Confraternity of the Holy Rosary under Dominican auspices. He married...