Pope Saint Cornelius
Pope Saint Cornelius (251-253) whose feast day is September 16th. A Roman priest, Cornelius was elected Pope to succeed Fabian in an election delayed fourteen months by Decius' persecution of the Christians. The main issue of his pontificate was the treatment to be accorded Christians who had been apostasized during the persecution.
Pope Saint Gregory The Great
Pope Saint Gregory The Great (590-604) is certainly one of the most notable figures in Ecclesiastical History. He has exercised in many respects a momentous influence on the doctrine, the organization, and the discipline of the Catholic Church.
Pope Saint Zephyrinus
The pontificate of this first third-century pope was to see a storm of heresy rage around the pontiff, who had to keep a firm hand on the tiller of Peter's barque. According to the "Liber Pontificalis," Zephyrinus was a Roman, the son of Habundius. He ordered that all ordinations, whether of priests, deacons, or simple clerics, should take place before the assembled clergy and laity.
Pope Saint Pius X
Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914) Perhaps nowhere in the history of the Church is there a better example of a man possessed of so many of the saintly virtues—piety, charity, deep humility, pastoral zeal, and simplicity—than in Pope St. Pius X.
Pope Saint Hormisdas
Pope Saint Hormisdas (r.514-523) was born at Frosinone in the Roman Campagna. Married before ordination, he had a son, Silverius, who also became pope. As a deacon, Hormisdas had staunchly backed St. Symmachus in his trouble with the antipope Lawrence and the pro-Byzantine faction. Elected with difficulty, St. Hormisdas began his career of peace with victory by receiving back into the Church the last die-hards of the Laurentian schism.
Pope St. Hormisdas
Gloom and storm marked the pontificates of Anastasius II and Symmachus, but on St. Hormisdas the sun of peace and victory shone with cheerful...
Pope Saint Anicetus
Pope Saint Anicetus, the 11th pope, succeeded St. Pius towards the year c. 153, and reigned till about 168. He condemned Montanism, conferred with St. Polycarp on the Paschal date controversy, and forbade priests from growing their hair. He was martyred and is venerated on April 17.
Pope Saint Pius V
Pope Saint Pius V (1566-1572) was a Domincan. He called the Council of Trent, Excommunicated Elizabeth I of England for schism, was the patron Palestrina, and organized the Holy League for the defense against the Ottomans at the Battle of Lepanto.
Pope Saint John XXIII
Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities. The date assigned for the liturgical celebration (where authorized) of Blessed John XXIII is not June 3, the anniversary of his death, as would be usual, but October 11, the anniversary of his opening of the Second Vatican Council.
St. Peter
Simon Peter or Cephas, the first pope, Prince of the Apostles, and founder, with St. Paul, of the see of Rome.
Peter was a native...
