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The Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, 40 days after Christmas. The feast is better known as the Feast of the Candelora (Candlemas) or the Festival of Lights, because it is inspired by a verse from the Gospel of Luke (2:22-40), in which Simeon prophesies that Jesus is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel”.
“Do not ever forget these three things, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, devotion to Mary Help of Christians and devotion to the Holy Father”, Don John Bosco said to his companions, shortly before he died.
Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco was born on 16 August 1815 in Becchi, Castelnuovo d'Asti, to a poor and humble rural family. His parents' names were Francesco Bosco and Margherita Occhiena. He had two brothers, Giuseppe and Antonio.
“Because we cannot know what God is, but rather what he is not, we have no means for considering how God is, but rather how he is not”, Saint Thomas Aquinas wrote. Thomas was born in 1225 in Roccasecca, in the province of Frosinone, to one of the most prominent families in Italy. Because he was the youngest child, he was destined for an ecclesiastical career. At the age of five, he entered Montecassino as a “puer oblatus”, and at fifteen, he studied Aristotelian philosophy, grammar, natural sciences, Arabic science and Greek philosophy at the University of Naples.
In a courageous and innovative way for the 16th century, Saint Angela Merici developed a new form of consecrated life for women: no longer in the cloister, but out in the world. She founded the Company of St. Ursula for these women. Angela was closely attentive to the signs of the time, and based her model on the example of the early Church, lived by the Apostles and the early Christian communities, thus paving the way for modern devotion.
The Church celebrates Saint Paul’s Conversion on the road to Damascus, on 25 January. In one of the most powerful manifestations of divine grace, Saul, the fierce persecutor of Christians, became the Apostle of Nations. The event is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles.
Born on 21 August 1567 in the Château de Sales in Thorens-Glières (Upper Savoy), Francis de Sales grew up in a Catholic family belonging to the Savoyard aristocracy. His father, who served as maître d’hôtel to Count Sébastien of Luxembourg-Martigues, was also Lord of Sales.
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Profound sorrow for the death of Pope Francis
Sr. Raffaella Petrini, Archbishop Emilio Nappa and Atty. Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi, respectively President and the Secretary Generals of the Governorate, together with Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, President Emeritus, join the entire Church in mourning for the passing of beloved Pope Francis, whose papacy was a blessing for the whole world.
He is remembered as a promoter of peace who, with great authority, defended freedom and human dignity, firmly opposing armed conflict as a means of resolving international disputes.
Throughout his pontificate, Francis promoted interreligious and intercultural dialogue, constantly calling all people to seek what unites rather than what divides them, pointing to the values of solidarity and civility in building societies that are more human-centered. He showed particular attention to friendship and love of neighbor, always keeping a special focus on the poor, forgotten and most vulnerable.
The State’s governing bodies, together with all the employees of the Governorate of the Vatican City State in all its Departments and Offices, join with the Church’s liturgy for the departed, lifting their prayers to God for the late Pontiff.