Ah, the weekend. I’m working on a pretty substantial post that I think will be worthwhile — but I don’t think I’m going to finish tonight. Today is the Feast of St. Paulinus of Nola (354–431), a pagan convert, bishop, and poet, and a contemporary and friend of St. Augustine. Born of a wealthy Roman …
Category Archives: Quotations
St. Justin Martyr on the Eucharist
Y’all love Justin, don’t you? Here is the continuation of the quote from yesterday, from St. Justin Martyr (100–165), describing the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in his First Apology, about A.D. 150 (Chapter 66): And this food is called among us Εὐχαριστία [the Eucharist], of which no one is allowed to partake but the man …
St. Justin Martyr on Christian Liturgy
Between work and school, I have a lot on my plate right now, so I’m afraid I’m going to have to delay another serious post for a few days at least. I am kicking around some ideas, and may tinker on them some — but for today I’ll leave you with a worthy patristic quotation. …
St. Ignatius of Antioch on the Episcopacy
St. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, is one of our most vivid testimonies to the Early Church at the beginning of the second century. Arrested by the Roman Empire and sentenced to die, ca. A.D. 108, Ignatius wrote a series of letters to various churches while en route to his martyrdom in the arena at Rome. …
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St. Boniface, Apostle of the Germans
Today is the Feast of St. Boniface (c. 7th century – 754), known as the Apostle of the Germans. Born with the name Wynfrith in the English kindgom of Wessex, he was renamed Boniface by Pope Gregory II, who commissioned him. He spent the last thirty years of his life as a missionary to the …
Thomas Merton on Saints
“It is a wonderful experience to discover a new saint. For God is greatly magnified and marvelous in each one of His saints: differently in each one. There are no two saints alike: but all of them are like God, like Him in a different and special way. In fact, if Adam had never fallen, …
St. Justin Martyr on Christian Baptism
St. Justin Martyr (100–165) was a second-century Christian apologist and one of our earliest testimonies to the worship of the Early Church. A pagan convert, he died a Christian martyr in Rome. In St. Justin’s First Apology (ca. 150), he writes regarding Christian Baptism: I will also relate the manner in which we dedicated ourselves …
Early Testimonies to St. Peter’s Ministry in Rome
So I’m realizing why the “tomb of st. peter” is such a popular search term. It seems the issue of St. Peter’s presence and ministry in Rome is one of the major points of contention between Catholics and many Protestants (especially those of an anti-Catholic bent). This is somewhat surprising to me. Even as a …
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Merton on Baptismal Grace
“Once you have grace, you are free. Without it, you cannot help doing the things you know you should not do, and that you know you don’t really want to do. But once you have grace, you are free. When you are baptized, there is no power in existence that can force you to commit …
The Real Presence
I have admired the Church Fathers for a long time, since my first serious introduction to them some eight years ago in Dr. G’s History of the Christian Church. I conducted my first study of them in depth five years ago. And yet through all that time and reading, my own bias never occurred to …