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Saints, Feasts, and Seasons

Saints, Feasts, and Seasons

What are the "12 days of Christmas"?

Wednesday, December 7, 2011
By Online Editor
What are the
As we're reminded every Advent, our Catholic Christmas customs are somewhat at odds with the secular "holiday season," which starts before Thanksgiving and goes on until the last college bowl game.But even though we Catholics wait a bit to get going, we have a similarly long season of celebration, of which the "12 days," made famous by a certain 12-verse carol, are but a piece.The 12 days themselv
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Lives of the saints

Wednesday, November 2, 2011
By Online Editor
Lives of the saints
These are the holy people who didn’t quite make the cut—until they did.Alphonsus Rodriguez must have thought he had it made. Yes, there had been a few bumps in the road. His education had been cut short when his father died and Alphonsus had to return home to Segovia, Spain, destined to take over the family wool business, though it had been much reduced.
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Don't trash our past: An interview with Robert Orsi on the history of devotions

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
By Online Editor
Don't trash our past: An interview with Robert Orsi on the history of devotions
In honor of the Feast of Saint Jude, we've dug up this interview with Robert Orsi from 2005 about the history of devotions--devotion to St. Jude being among the most popular.Orsi is the Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America at Harvard Divinity School.
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Heart to heart: Mary and motherhood

Tuesday, April 27, 2010
By Meghan Murphy-Gill
Heart to heart: Mary and motherhood
    Fact: Parents worry about their kids every day. No one knows this more than Mary.
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What's your sign: The cross or the tomb?

Friday, March 19, 2010
By Online Editor
What's your sign: The cross or the tomb?
    Though the cross reigns over Good Friday, Easter's mystery needs a symbol of its own.
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If Lent is 40 days, why are there 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter?

Thursday, July 3, 2008
By U.S. Catholic
If Lent is 40 days, why are there 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter?
“THE 40 DAYS OF LENT” has always been more of a metaphor than a literal count. Over the course of history the season of preparation for Easter Sunday has ranged from one day (in the first century) to 44 (today in the Roman church). Officially since 1970, Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sunset on Holy Thursday.
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Conscientious courage

Thursday, June 12, 2008
By U.S. Catholic
   Franz Jägerstätter paved the way for those who object to war by following a higher order.
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May the circle be unbroken: Why Catholics treasure their saints

Friday, November 4, 2011
By Online Editor
Although not all the faithful make the final cut for canonization, the communion of saints continues to flourish. Authors Sister Elizabeth Johnson, C.S.J. and Kathy Coffey discuss this ever-widening circle of holy membership. •A group of Christians gather at the Ne­vada test site to witness against the folly of nuclear weapons.
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Fake it till you make it: St. Genesius, patron of actors

Monday, October 31, 2011
By Online Editor
Fake it till you make it: St. Genesius, patron of actors
St. Genesius isn’t just the patron of high school thespians. We can all learn something about acting like Christ from this legendary actor.Anyone who was a member of a Catholic high school or college drama club during the 1950s and ’60s no doubt knows about St. Genesius—the patron saint of actors.
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The other Irish saint

Sunday, October 30, 2011
By Online Editor
The other Irish saint
Raise a pint and air out your linens—St. Brigid is coming.Early in our marriage my husband, Stephen, an Irish immigrant to the United States, was having trouble sleeping.
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