Daybreak

Tuesday of the First Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Chromatius; a native of Aquileia, Italy, and participated in the Synod of Aquileia that condemned Arianism in 381; seven years later, he became bishop of the see; Chromatius was known and revered as a scholar and was described by St. Jerome as “a most learned and most holy man”; he was also a friend of St. John Chrysostom; Chromatius died in 406 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/2/25 Gospel: Luke 10:21-24

Monday of the First Week of Advent Saint of the Day: St. Edmund Campion, 1540-1581; English convert who became a Jesuit, and preached up to three times per day, riding from town to town on horseback, winning many converts; in 1581 he was captured by Elizabethan authorities, and tortured on a rack before being sentenced to death; in December 1581, he was executed by drawing and quartering at Tyburn, London Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 12/1/25 Gospel: Matthew 8:5-11

First Sunday of Advent Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/30/25 Gospel: Matthew 24:37-44

Saturday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Radbod of Utrecht, 850-917; he was educated by his Uncle Gunther, the bishop of Cologne, Germany, and became bishop of Utrecht, Holland in 900; he distinguished himself for his aid to the poor and for his poetry; he was forced to move his see to France after an invasion by the Danes, and he died there Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/29/25 Gospel: Luke 21:34-36

Friday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. James of the Marches, 1391-1476; born in Ancona, studied law, and joined the Franciscans in 1416; he became an effective and forceful preacher; he worked as a missionary in Italy and in Germany, Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, and in 1426 was named inquisitor against the Fraticelli by Pope St. Martin V; in 1462 he became involved with the Inquisition because of a sermon he preached at Brescia; the case was referred to Rome, and no decision was ever rendered; he died in Naples, where he spent the last three years of his life Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/28/25 Gospel: Luke 21:29-33

Thursday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time - Thanksgiving Day in the United States Saint of the Day St. James Interecisus; in the Fifth Century, he was a favorite of King Yezdigerd I of Persia, and James was a Christian; but James renounced his faith when the king began a persecution of Christians; when Yezdigerd died, James repented and once again professed Chrstianity; when he refused to apostasize, he was executed by having his body cut apart in pieces--thus, his name, "Intercisus"--cut in pieces--and he was beheaded. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/27/25 Gospel: Luke 17:11-19

Wednesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Leonard of Port Maurice; born in Port Maurice, Italy, and joined the Franciscans of the Strict Observance in 1697; after ordination in 1703, he began preaching through Tuscany in Italy, and attracted huge crowds; he erected almost 600 Stations of the Cross through the lands; in 1744, Leonard was sent by Pope Benedict XIV to preach on Corsica, returning to Rome in 1751 after receiving a summons from the pope; he died at his friary in 1751 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/26/25 Gospel: Luke 21:12-19

Tuesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria; became Christian after receiving a vision; debated 50 pagan philosophers, who became Christian, along with 200 soldiers and members of the emperor's family, and all were martyred; Catherine touched the spiked wheel on which she was to be executed, and it shattered; she was beheaded in about 310 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/25/25 Gospel: Luke 21:5-11

Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, the Vietnamese martyrs; Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862; members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951; all were canonized during the papacy of Saint John Paul II Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/24/25 Gospel: Luke 21:1-4

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe; Christ the King 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/23/25 Gospel: Luke 23:35-43

Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Cecilia; legend has it that was a young Christian of high rank betrothed to a Roman named Valerian; through her influence, Valerian converted, and was subsequently martyred, along with his brother; Cecilia is reputed to have been struck three times on the neck with a sword, but lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church; she died in about 230 A.D.; since the time of the Renaissance she has usually been portrayed with a viola or a small organ; she is the patroness of musicians Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/22/25 Gospel: Luke 20:27-40

Friday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; a feast of the Universal Church since the 16th Century; this celebration continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/21/25 Gospel: Luke 19:45-48

Thursday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Edmund Rich, 1175-1240; he studied at Oxford and Paris, and taught art and mathematics, and was ordained; he taught theology for eight years, and became canon and treasurer of the Salisbury Cathedral; he preached a Crusade for Pope Gregoy IX, and was made Archbishop of Canterbury; he resigned his see in 1240, and went to France, where he became a Cistercian; he died at Soissons Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/20/25 Gospel: Luke 19:41-44

Wednesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Raphael Kalinowski, 1835-1907; Polish Discalced Carmelite friar; he was a teacher, engineer, prisoner of war, royal tutor, and priest, who founded many monasteries around Poland after the suppression by the Russians Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/19/25 Gospel: Luke 19:11-28

Tuesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, 1769-1852; born in Grenoble, France, to a family of the "new rich"; at 19, she entered the convent of the Visitation of Mary; when the French revolution broke out, the convent was closed, and she began taking care of the poor and sick, opened a school for homeless children, and risked her life helping priests in the underground; when the situation cooled, Rose entered the infant Society of the Sacred Heart; but her ambition was to go to America to work with the Indians; she spent 11 weeks at sea en route to New Orleans, and seven weeks more on the Mississippi to St. Louis; the bishop had no place for Rose and her nuns to work with native Americans; he sent her to St. Charles, Missouri; when Rose was 72, a mission was founded at Sugar Creek, Kansas, among the Potawatomi and she was taken along; she was unable to learn their language, but they nicknamed her "Woman-Who-Prays-Always"; she died in 1852, at the age of 83 O

Monday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 1207-1231; at age 14, she married Louis of Thuringia; she led a life of prayer, sacrifice, and service to the poor and sick; her husband died in the Crusades, and his family believed that Elizabeth was squandering the royal purse, and kicked her out of the palace; but she was reinstated when her husband's allies returned home, since her son was the legal heir to the throne; in 1228, Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi; Elizabeth’s health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/17/25 Gospel: Luke 18:35-43

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/16/25 Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Albert the Great, 1206-1280; German Dominican who decisively influenced the Church’s stance toward Aristotelian philosophy brought to Europe by the spread of Islam; master of St. Thomas Aquinas; over 20 years, he wrote a compendium of all knowledge-- natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, politics, and metaphysics; he is the patron of scientists and philosophers Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/15/25 Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Friday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Lawrence O'Toole, 1128-1180; born at Leinster; he was taken hostage in a raid, and was surrendered to the bishop of Glendalough; he became a monk, and was named Archbishop of Dublin in 1161; he helped negotiate with the English following their invasion of Ireland, and in 1172 convened a synod at Cashel; he also attended the General Lateran Council in Rome in 1179, and was named papal legate to Ireland; he died in Normandy, France, while on a mission to King Henry II of England Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/14/25 Gospel: Luke 17:26-37

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, 1850-1917; made her vows and took the religious habit  at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadogno, Italy; when the orphanage was shut down, she and six nuns went to New York City to serve the Italian immigrants; in 35 years, Frances Xavier Cabrini founded 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick; she died of malaria in her own Columbus Hospital in Chicago in 1917 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/13/25 Gospel: Luke 17:20-25