Ave Maria Catholic Books And Gifts

03/25/2026

Pierre-Édouard Stérin, a French Catholic billionaire, has reportedly created a campaign fund to support right-wing candidates in municipal elections, aiming to promote a more Catholic-oriented society by encouraging higher church attendance, restricting abortion, and increasing birth rates.

Info: The New York Times

03/25/2026

Catholics will soon surpass evangelicals in number in the United States, becoming the largest Christian denomination, according to a new report.

Info: COPE

03/21/2026

More than 1,000 people will join the Catholic Church at Easter in the Archdiocese of Chicago, up from 696 in 2025—a 52% increase.

Image: St Edward Catholic Parish

03/11/2026

03/03/2026

MARCH IS DEVOTED TO SAINT JOSEPH

SAINTS OF MARCH

St. David's Day, Patron of Wales--------------March 1
St. Katherine Drexel------------March 1
Bl. Charles the Good--------------March 2
St. Chad--------------March 2
St. Cunegundes, Empress--------------March 3
Pope St. Lucius I, Martyr--------------March 4
St. Casimir--------------March 4
St. John Joseph of the Cross--------------March 5
St. Phocas--------------March 5
St. Fridolin----------March 6
Sts. Perpetua and Felicitas--------------March 6
St. Colette--------------March 6
St. John of God--------------March 8
St. Thomas Aquinas--------------March 7
St. Frances of Rome--------------March 9
St. Dominic Savio--------------March 9
The 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebast--------------March 10
St. Eulogius--------------March 11
St. John Ogilivie------------March 10
St. Sophronius--------------March 11
St. Nicholas Owen--------------March 12
St. Gregory the Great--------------March 12
St. Euphrasia--------------March 13
St. Josaphat--------------March 13
St. Rodrigo----------March 13
St. Matildis------------March 14
St. Maud--------------March 14
St. Clement Hofbauer [Haufbauer]--------------March 15
St. Longinus---------------March 15
St. Louise de Marillac----------------March 15
St. Abraham the Hermit--------------March 16
St. Joseph of Arimathea--------------March 17
St. Gertrude of Nivelles --------------March 17
St. Patrick---------------March 17
St. Cyril of Constantinople--------March 6
St. Joseph---------------March 19
St. Photina--------------March 20
St. Cuthbert--------------March 20
St. Benedict--------------March 21
St. Catherine of Sweden--------------March 22
St. Gabriel the Archangel--------------March 24
St. Dismas------------March 25
St. Ludger--------------March 26
St. John Damascene--------------March 27
St. John of Capistrano--------------March 28 [Trad.]
Sts. Jonas, Barachisius and Companions--------------March 29
St. Zozimus of Syracuse, Bishop--------------March 30
St. John Climacus--------------March 30
St. Acacius--------------March 31

02/20/2026

02/20/2026

02/03/2026

01/12/2026

Nobel Prize and Atheist Converted To Catholic Faith After Witnessing Miracle At Lourdes

A Nobel Prize–winning doctor, once an atheist and outspoken skeptic, converted to Christianity after witnessing miracles at Lourdes.

Dr. Alexis Carrel, Nobel laureate in Medicine, went to Lourdes in 1902 not as a pilgrim, but to expose it as a fraud. While there, he examined Marie Bailly, a woman dying of advanced tuberculous peritonitis. Other physicians agreed she would soon die.

After water from the Grotto was poured over her abdomen, Carrel watched in disbelief as the swelling vanished within minutes, her pulse normalized, and her strength returned. He carefully documented the case and had her monitored for months. She remained healed, later joining the Sisters of Charity.

Carrel later witnessed another instantaneous cure, this time of a blind child. Unable to deny what he saw, he embraced the faith he once rejected—at the cost of his standing among atheist peers.

Lourdes taught him that true science does not fear truth, and that God is not limited by human reason.

Deo gratias.

12/26/2025

THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Dating back to the 16th or 17th century, this carol was created as a memory aid to help children learn their Faith. The “true love” is no earthly suitor, but God Himself, Who gives His wondrous gifts to “me,” every baptized person.

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me,
A partridge in a pear tree…

The partridge is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who comes to us on the first day of Christmas. He is fittingly represented as a partridge, a bird which will feign injury in order to draw predators to itself and away from its young. By offering Himself on the Cross, “He hath delivered me from the snare of the hunters. He will overshadow thee with His shoulders: and under His wings thou shalt trust.” (Psalms 90:4)

The pear tree is the Cross itself. When King David wished to free his people from the scourge of the Philistines, the Lord told him that the moment would come “when thou shalt hear the sound of one going in the tops of the pear trees, then shalt thou join battle: for then will the Lord go out before thy face to strike the army of the Philistines.” (II Kings 5:24