Calendar Class of November 1, 2025

A Carpe Diem Snapshot:

This morning St. John Henry Newman was officially declared a Doctor of the Church at a Mass with Pope Leo XIV, and I was there! Sitting next to my friend Nina, who has worked for the causes of the saints, she casually happened to mention that she mailed the tapestry on display in the photo above to the Birmingham Oratory after Newman's canonization in 2019. We wondered if the tapestry today was the original that had to be sent back to the Vatican for today's ceremony or if a copy had been made. Rome is a small village, after all, and everything and everyone woven together by invisible threads. St. Newman and my Dad have been woven together in my mind since the connection between the two was first made for me by Dr. Jared Zimmerer of Benedictine College, whose doctoral dissertation was titled "Kindred Souls: The Influence of John Henry Newman on the Conversion of Russell Kirk." Here is a related article on their connection by our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Davis. In this Triduum of Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls, we remember the great chain of being that my Dad so frequently referred to, that chain that links those who have died with those who are living and those who are yet to be born, made a bit more visible today in the Mass in Rome.

Liturgical: Solemnity of All Saints

The Church celebrates all the saints: canonized or beatified, and the multitude of those who are in heaven enjoying the beatific vision that are only known to God. During the early centuries the Saints venerated by the Church were all martyrs. Later the pope set November 1 as the day for commemorating all the Saints. We all have this "universal call to holiness." What must we to do in order to join the company of the saints in heaven? We "must follow in His footsteps and conform [our]selves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. [We] must devote [our]selves with all [our] being to the glory of God and the service of [our] neighbor. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history" (Lumen Gentium, 40).

"This perfect life with the Most Holy Trinity—this communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed—is called "heaven." Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of the deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness" (CCC 1024).

Remember to pray for the Faithful Departed from November 1 to the 8th.

Sanctoral: During the year the Church celebrates one by one the feasts of the saints. Today she joins them all in one festival. In addition to those whose names she knows, she recalls in a magnificent vision all the others "of all nations and tribes standing before the throne and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, proclaiming Him who redeemed them in His Blood."

The feast of All Saints should inspire us with tremendous hope. Among the saints in heaven are some whom we have known. All lived on earth lives like our own. They were baptized, marked with the sign of faith, they were faithful to Christ's teaching and they have gone before us to the heavenly home whence they call on us to follow them. The Gospel of the Beatitudes, read today, while it shows their happiness, shows, too, the road that they followed; there is no other that will lead us whither they have gone.

According to various authors including Father Francis X. Weiser, SJ, the "Commemoration of All Saints" was first celebrated in the East. The feast is found in the West on different dates in the eighth century. The Roman Martyrology mentions that this date is a claim of fame for Gregory IV (827-844) and that he extended this observance to the whole of Christendom; it seems certain, however, that Gregory III (731-741) preceded him in this. At Rome, on the other hand, on May 13, there was the annual commemoration of the consecration of the basilica of St. Maria ad Martyres (or St. Mary and All Martyrs). This was the former Pantheon, the temple of Agrippa, dedicated to all the gods of paganism, to which Boniface IV had translated many relics from the catacombs. Gregory VII transferred the anniversary of this dedication to November 1.

St. John Henry Newman—Use of Saints’ Days read by James Majewski.

Human: Welcome, November! What used to be one of my least favorite times of the year has become a month of real festivity thanks to our seasonal and monthly studies. Read all about November's holidays and traditions here!

Natural: November’s traditional birthstone is the topaz, usually a yellow to amber color. The ancient Greeks believed that topaz could make a wearer invisible. A symbol of honor and strength, topaz was also believed to bring longevity and wisdom.

November’s birth flower is the chrysanthemum. Generally, chrysanthemums represent cheerfulness. A red one conveys, “I love you.” White symbolizes truth or pure love. A yellow one indicates slighted love.

Italian: Italian Vocabulary for Catching a Taxi in Italy + Some Survival Tips

Quote: “Never say, 'What great things the saints do,' but, 'What great things God does in His saints.'”-St. Philip Neri

“[ In that beautiful prayer, we come to realize that we are far from home, our feet are unsteady, we cannot interpret clearly the way ahead. Yet none of this impedes us, since we have found our Guide: “Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on;” “Lead, Kindly Light, The night is dark, and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on.” ]  ”

--Pope Leo XIV about St. Newman's prayer in his homily today

The Mission of My Life, by St. John Henry Newman

1. God was all-complete, all-blessed in Himself; but it was His will to create a world for His glory. He is Almighty, and might have done all things Himself, but it has been His will to bring about His purposes by the beings He has created. We are all created to His glory—we are created to do His will. I am created to do something or to be something for which no one else is created; I have a place in God's counsels, in God's world, which no one else has; whether I be rich or poor, despised or esteemed by man, God knows me and calls me by my name.

2. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my mission—I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow, I am necessary for His purposes, as necessary in my place as an Archangel in his—if, indeed, I fail, He can raise another, as He could make the stones children of Abraham. Yet I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connexion between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling.

3. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; if I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me—still He knows what He is about.

O Adonai, O Ruler of Israel, Thou that guidest Joseph like a flock, O Emmanuel, O Sapientia, I give myself to Thee. I trust Thee wholly. Thou art wiser than I—more loving to me than I myself. Deign to fulfil Thy high purposes in me whatever they be—work in and through me. I am born to serve Thee, to be Thine, to be Thy instrument. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see—I ask not to know—I ask simply to be used.

Meditations and Devotions, Part III. Meditations on Christian Doctrine, I. Hope in God—Creator, pp 300-302