In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints, the feastday of Saint Valentine on 14 February was removed from the General Roman Calendar and relegated to particular (local or even national) calendars for the following reason: “Though the memorial of Saint Valentine is ancient, it is left to particular calendars, since, apart from his name, nothing is known of Saint Valentine except that he was buried on the Via Flaminia on 14 February.” (Calendarium Romanum ex Decreto Sacrosancti Œcumenici Concilii Vaticani II Instauratum Auctoritate Pauli PP. VI Promulgatum (Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis, MCMLXIX), p. 117 ) MORE

It’s interesting how he words this, ‘the touchiest’ as if it’s ‘molestation’.

Ash Wednesday is one of the touchiest observances on the liturgical calendar — literally. Many churches mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent with the imposition of ashes. Clergy smear ashes, usually those left after burning palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebrations, onto congregants’ foreheads, often in the shape of a cross. MORE

The story of Lourdes is well known. Between February 11 and July 16, 1858, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared eighteen times to fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous in that small town located in the foothills of the Pyrenee mountains of southern France.

The message of the lady was: “Penance! Penance! Penance! Pray to God for sinners!

Be blessed, O most pure Virgin, for having vouchsafed to manifest your shining with life, sweetness and beauty, in the Grotto of Lourdes, saying to the child, St. Bernadette: ‘I am the Immaculate Conception. ‘ A thousand times we congratulate you upon your Immaculate Conception. And now, O ever Immaculate Virgin, Mother of mercy, Health of the sick, Refuge of sinners, Comforter of the afflicted, you know our wants, our troubles, our sufferings deign to cast upon us a look of mercy.

French Sister Nathalie Becquart will be the first woman to be appointed to the position, and will have voting rights in the synod.This puts her in a place to help make key decisions in the Catholic Church, according to Vatican News, the Holy See’s official press website. MORE

POPE BENEDICT is “terrified” of Francis and his plans to modernise the church, as the pontiff made a landmark move to appoint Nathalie Becquart to a senior role, previously only ever held by men. MORE

Experts in the US are calling for the creation of a Reality Czar. They mean a Ministry of Truth. At first I couldn’t believe what I was reading. A writer for the New York Times was enthusiastically supporting a call made by ‘several experts’ around the Biden administration to create a Reality Czar. Apparently, a Reality Czar is needed to counter the campaign of disinformation being pushed by bitter conservatives. MORE

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The most ghoulish assault from the LGBT movement is their push to irreparably harm children through “sex-change” treatments. These “treatments” include deranged psychological counseling and chemical interventions (puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones), and often progress to disfiguring and irreversible surgeries. MORE