Category Archives: saints
Saint Damien de Veuster (“Unclean! Unclean!”) and Father Gordon J. MacRae (“Unclean! Unclean!”)
While Bishop Louis Désiré Maigret, vicar apostolic, believed that the lepers at the very least needed a priest to minister to their needs, he realized that this assignment could potentially be a death sentence, and thus did not want to … Continue reading
| LUMENA | PAX TECUM FI | Indeed: Peace be with you, Philomena, you Lover of the Light of Christ! (Update on the Autism Novena and the coolest icon to date)
This is the best representation by way of a written Icon or a painted image that I’ve come across yet. It’s be Vivian Imbruglia, who has a child living on the autism spectrum. She was inspired to write this icon … Continue reading
Monsignor Michael and These Stone Walls
Monsigor Michael, an extraordinary canon lawyer, has an awesome guest-post over on These Stone Walls. It’s a great read about not counting the cost, about witnessing to our Lord when no one else will, about taking the heat for that … Continue reading
Here’s Dawn Eden’s Exclusive Guest-Post on HSH (about Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Sexual Abuse, and Creative Love)
St. Maximilian Kolbe: “Only Love Is Creative” By Dawn Eden One of the observations I make in my new book My Peace I Give You: Healing Sexual Wounds with the Help of the Saints is that saints are sometimes patrons … Continue reading
The incredible irony of the real Saint Catherine of Siena — A HSH special — parce que je suis un enfant terrible! Hah!
Some snippets from a previous post: We find some of the fruits of the conversations between our Lord Jesus and Saint Catherine in The Divine Doctrine of Jesus Christ. In this post, I include a vignette representing the incisiveness of … Continue reading
Saint George — 23 April — My patron saint
Outside of my great friend, Saint Philomena – the veracity of whose existence as a virgin and martyr of the early Church has recently been sustained by exhaustive scientific evaluations of the evidence — outside of her… there is perhaps no … Continue reading
I like that. I like that very much.
O Jesus, I pray for Your faithful and fervent priests, for Your unfaithful and tepid priests; for Your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields; for Your tempted priests; for Your lonely and desolate priests; for Your … Continue reading
Filed under Prayers for Priests, saints
Saint Maximilian Kolbe and Saint Michael the Archangel: A Militia! (Yikes!)
Some free advertising for Stained-Windows! We read this brilliantly written summary on Stained-Windows: Father Kolbe, a Polish Saint: Maximilian Kolbe was born in Poland on January 8, 1894. The two crowns on the right recall his vision of Mary, who … Continue reading
Saints Dominic Savio and Gerard Majella on false accusation. Yikes!
A reader sends this in. Wow. The saints are awesome! The Life of Saint Dominic Savio by Saint John Bosco From Ch. 6, “Taking Punishment” … His teacher tells us a striking episode: “One day some of my pupils … Continue reading
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Freakishly anti-Semitic Google. Against Google, we’re all Jews.
I always like to “pick” flowers (pictures) in honor of a great Jewess, the Mother of Jesus. I sometimes like to look up words as I use them. I googled “Jewess” and came up with the top entry definition supplied by … Continue reading
Conversion of Saint Paul and HSH
On this day, five years ago, this is how I closed off the comments of thanksgiving prefacing the doctoral thesis on Genesis 3,15. I call the conversion of Saint Paul (today’s feast), the reception of the enmity as described in … Continue reading
The Venerable Father Price and today’s family relative, seminarian Philip Gerard Johnson
Cause for Beatification and Canonization of Father Thomas F. Price From the Diocese of Raleigh website: The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge has announced the diocesan phase of the Cause for Beatification and Canonization of Father Thomas Frederick Price will … Continue reading
Filed under saints, seminarians, Vocations
Following God’s Holy Will: Saint Anthony of the Desert, Abbot
Today’s the Feast of Saint Anthony of the Desert, hailed as the Father of Monasticism. He’s called a hermit, an abbot, a spiritual director of all and sundry who has some spiritual sense about them. In the picture above, he’s … Continue reading
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Saint and sinner: it’s either both or neither one
I just love that: the Virgin Martyr Philomena (posts HERE) and the sainted penitent Mary of Magdala, together! This is the glory of the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant, and the aim of going through purgatory in this life instead … Continue reading
Filed under Confession, saints, Spiritual Life
More on Saint Philomena
From an email: The new book on St. Philomena has arrived from Italy. It does not talk about the Rome 2005 conference, but there is a small section about analysis of the substance in the vial, which was found in … Continue reading
Filed under martyrdom, Persecution, saints, Vocations
Saint Bernadette and today’s seminarian
I dare you. Go ahead. Click on the picture.
Filed under saints, seminarians, Vocations
Non praevalebunt! The gates of hell shall not prevail!
I put this also in the saints category, since the cause of the good Archbishop is up and running. Enjoy!
Happy Birthday, from HSH, Mary!
Today, September 8, is the feast of the birthday of Mary! How pleased was Saint Ann to hold and care for little Mary!
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20 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — Saint Louis Marie Grignon di Montfort
Saint Louis was my introduction to an understanding of Catholic devotion to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God. I didn’t know about him until after high school. Before that, I knew the scapular and the rosary and all about lighting … Continue reading
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19 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — Saint John the Baptizer
Today is the feast of the decapitation of Saint John the Baptizer. He was decapitated not far from where these donkies are standing, not far from where I would have been a hermit had not logistical difficulties come up at … Continue reading
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18 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines – Pope Benedict XVI
O.K. I know. He’s not canonized. He’s not even dead yet! But there is much that makes me want to have our present Holy Father as a hero of Holy Souls Hermitage. First of all, he’s our present Holy Father, … Continue reading
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17 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines – Blessed John Paul II
I have a great deal to write about Genesis and John Paul II and Benedict XVI. My sojourn in this direction started years ago at the JPII Institute for Marriage and the Family at the Pontifical Lateran University over in … Continue reading
A Hymn to Saint John Vianney by Father J.O’N. Very cool!
When I asked Father John about putting this up on the internet, he said: “I would be delighted!” Father O’Neill and I have been great friends for a long time. There are many, many stories to tell. Perhaps Post Mortem, … Continue reading
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16 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — The great Virgin Martyr Philomena
About eight years ago, I had a website called the Little Philomena Society. I think that anyone who is a martyr because of being a virgin for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is a saint who is as … Continue reading
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15 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — Saint Aloysius Gonzaga, S.J.
The 1962 Missale Romanum has this as the opening prayer for the feast of Saint Aloysius: Cæléstium donórum distribútor, Deus, qui in angélico júvene Aloísio miram vitae innocéntiam pari cum pæniténtia sociásti: ejus méritis et précibus concéde; ut, innocéntem non … Continue reading
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14 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines – Alexámenos !!!
This is a picture of the third century Roman graffito, etchings which are almost invisible in the original wall, which is surely why the graffito has lasted for so many centuries. Archaeological remains can be seen on Monte Palatino, Rome, … Continue reading
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The Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on Holy Souls Mountain
An Extraordinary Mass today. She is Queen, of course, because she is the Immaculate Mother! After a year or two, I might ask for a special indult for Holy Souls Hermitage, that I might be able to have an appropriate … Continue reading
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13 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines – Saint Francis of Assisi
I recently put up yet another post about the wild wild rain forest of Holy Souls Mountain, promising to put up a post about why Saint Francis appreciated nature so much. I ran my thoughts about this before various Franciscan … Continue reading
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12 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — Pope Sixtus V
“Sixtus” is from “Christ”, that is “Xystus” not “six”! I have very often prayed at his tomb in the Sistine Chapel (named after him) of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. I would go to his tomb just after visiting the … Continue reading
Please ask Saint Joseph for this favor!
Please, in your charity, ask Saint Joseph for a particular favor for Holy Souls Hermitage, already known to him. To call on Saint Joseph is to call on the big guns, as it were, but there is a reason for … Continue reading
11 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — Saint Elijah
I took this picture on the North-Eastern slope of Mount Carmel, where Elijah killed off hundreds of false prophets. He has the flaming firey sword of Gen 3,24. The flowers in the background I think are named after the drops … Continue reading
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10 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines — Saint John of the Cross — How to be obedient unto death, even when the going gets tough — the seal of confession!
A huge chapter of my life is involved with all that is Discalced Carmelite. Saint John of the Cross is a hero of mine in that he sticks my face in the reality of who I am before Christ our … Continue reading
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09 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and heroines – Saint Maximilian Kolbe
The Friars Minor are rightly proud of their martyred saint. For my part, I think he’s great for the reason that his very goodness lets me know how much I have been and am in need of the Divine Mercy … Continue reading
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08 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines – Saint Thérèse of Lisieux
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux – for whom hell on earth was a training ground for heaven! This post has some pointers on prayer! If I remember the story correctly, Saint Thérèse heard about some criminal, a bit of an atheist, … Continue reading
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05 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes and Heroines – the Dog-Woman of the Gospels
In the ordinary form of the Mass, the Gospel is about the “Dog-Woman” One of the books I’m working on deals with the women mentioned in the Gospels, one of which is the famous Dog-Woman of the Gospels of both … Continue reading
03 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes — The Infant of Prague
The statue on the gradines next to the tabernacle of HSH was donated by Father K.L. Very regal, majestic, sovereign, trustworthy…. the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Prince of the most profound peace. He holds the … Continue reading
01 Holy Souls Hermitage Heroes – John of Nepomuk
Wikipedia has it that… of Nepomuk (or John Nepomucene) (Czech: Jan Nepomucký) (c. 1345 – March 20, 1393) is a national saint of the Czech Republic, who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus, King of … Continue reading
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. I pray for benefactors daily, offering Holy Mass for their intentions about once a month. You'll have to force me to take your donations, though. Scroll down for an explanation.
