Posted on 05/29/2026 22:05 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
The sole bishop in Estonia, where only 0.8% of people are Catholic, discussed a small but unprecedented rise in conversions this year.
Bishop Philippe Jourdan received 48 adults into the Church at Easter; 33 of them were unbaptized.
“We had never had so many,” Bishop Jourdan told the National Catholic Register. “Previously, catechumens were often in the 30-to-40 age bracket. Now, they are much more often in their 20s.”
Posted on 05/29/2026 22:05 PM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
Paul III Nona, who was
elected Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church last month, was enthroned in Baghdad on May 29.
Syriac Press reported that the new Patriarch outlined six priorities, including unity in the Church, the spiritual life, and “authentic identity”: “preserving liturgical traditions, the Syriac-Aramaic language, customs, and Eastern Christian spiritual philosophy.”
Posted on 05/29/2026 04:05 AM (CatholicCulture.org - Catholic World News)
Posted on 05/29/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
Today is the Optional Memorial of Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978). Paul VI was canonized and added to the General Roman Calendar on January 25, 2019, the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. Giovanni Battista Montini was born on September 26, 1897, in a village near Brescia Concesio. On May 29, 1920, he was named Archbishop of Milan. He became Pope on June 21, 1963. He presided over the completion of the Second Vatican Council. He died on August 6, 1978.
Posted on 05/28/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
On the first Thursday after Pentecost, the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest is observed on the particular calendars in Spain, Poland, Netherlands, Czech Republic and England and Wales. Approval for this feast was first granted by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 1987. In 2012 the Congregation sent a letter to all conferences of bishops, offering the feast to be inscribed in their respective liturgical calendars if they request it.
Posted on 05/27/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
Today is the Optional Memorial of St. Augustine of Canterbury (d. 605), who was born in Rome and died in Canterbury, England, in 604. When Pope Gregory I heard that the pagans of Britain were disposed to accept the Catholic Faith, he sent the prior of St. Andrew, Augustine, and forty of his Benedictine brethren to England. Despite the great difficulties involved in the task assigned to him, Augustine and his monks obeyed. The success of their preaching was immediate. King Ethelbert was baptized on Pentecost Sunday, 596, and the greater part of the nobles and people soon followed his example. St. Augustine died as the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
Posted on 05/26/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
Today is the Memorial of St. Philip Neri (1515-1595), who was born in Florence and died in Rome. He lived a spotless childhood in Florence. Later he came to Rome and after living for fifteen years as a pilgrim and hermit was ordained a priest. He gradually gathered around him a group of priests and established the Congregation of the Oratory. He was a man of original character and of a happy, genial and winning disposition. A great educator of youth, he spent whole nights in prayer, had a great devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, and burned with an unbounded love for mankind. He died on the feast of Corpus Christi.
Posted on 05/25/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
In 2018 Pope Francis decreed that the ancient devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Mother of the Church, be inserted into the Roman Calendar. The liturgical celebration, B. Mariæ Virginis, Ecclesiæ Matris, will be celebrated annually as a Memorial on the day after Pentecost.
Posted on 05/24/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
And when the days of Pentecost were drawing to a close, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a violent wind coming, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them parted tongues as of fire, which settled upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign tongues, even as the Holy Spirit prompted them to speak (Acts 2, 1-4).
Posted on 05/23/2026 00:00 AM (Catholic Culture Liturgical Year)
The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. John Baptist de Rossi (1698-1764), who was from Genoa, and studied and worked in Rome before becoming a priest there and a canon of Santa Maria in Cosmedin. He worked tirelessly for homeless women, the sick, prisoners and workers, and was a very popular confessor, being called a second Philip Neri.
