Saturday of week 10 in Ordinary Time, or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Office of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassG.K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936)

Saint Antony of Padua, Priest, DoctorOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | MassSt Antony of Padua (1195? - 1231)

Saint Antony was first of all an Augustinian monk, but he was so impressed by the martyrdom of five Franciscans who had been spreading the faith in Morocco that he became a Franciscan friar himself, so that he could preach the gospel in Africa too. Illness obliged him to leave Morocco, and a storm then drove his ship to Sicily, so that he found himself taking part in the General Chapter of the Franciscans in 1221, where he met Saint Francis of Assisi himself. His preaching career then took him to northern Italy and southern France, then a stronghold of the Albigensian heresy. Later he returned to Italy, to Padua, where he was an outstanding preacher and the first Franciscan theologian. His sermons are full of gentleness, but he reproved the wicked with fearless severity – especially backsliding clergy and the oppressors of the weak.His shrine is a centre of pilgrimage, and he is also the patron saint of the lost and found.See the article in the Catholic Encyclopaedia.

Thursday of week 10 in Ordinary TimeOffice of Readings | Morning Prayer | Evening Prayer | Night Prayer | Mass(St Onuphrius (d. 400))

Onuphrius lived as a hermit in the desert for seventy years. He was from Thebaid (Egypt) and at an early age he joined other monks in the desert. Soon he discovered that he was called to live as a hermit and, having left the monastery, he began a solitary life. In the desert he suffered much from privation of food and drink, and also from many temptations. He spent his life praying and working until his death at the age of ninety. It was about the year 400.(Blessed Antoni Nowowiejski and his companions, Martyrs)