Pope Leo XIV does not intend to overturn Pope Francis' limits on celebrating the traditional Latin Mass but will grant two-year dispensations to bishops who ask, a nuncio said. Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, the apostolic nuncio to Great Britain, told bishops Nov. 13 that Pope Leo told him he would not abrogate "Traditionis Custodes," Pope Francis' 2021 letter greatly restricting...

Most images of saints today show the lingering style of 19th century technique and sentimentality, which is ... not great. They’re disconnected from the reality of these great saints and bathed in a saccharine glow established in perhaps the worst century of Catholic artistic endeavor. From holy cards to statues, Catholics really need to step up our game and starting showing these great men and women either as they were...

JD and I spent the bulk of this week in Baltimore, together with our ever more accomplished and reliable freelance colleague Jack Figge. It was a good week of reporting, with several substantive issues discussed and passed by the bishops at their plenary assembly, and a few surprises among the election results. We will come on to all of that in a minute...

The liturgical year has a lot of hope-filled points — birthdays, Easter, Marian days. It also has dark moments — Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Beheading of John the Baptist. But never does it get as dark — or as hope-filled — as this Sunday. Here are five takeaways about the the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, from Sunday Readings columns at this site and the Extraordinary Story podcast.

You can tell a lot from verbs. In the cleansing of the Temple scene from the Gospel of John this Sunday, you get some violent ones: Jesus “made a whip,” “drove them all out,” “spilled the coins” and “overturned the tables.” Why was he so angry? Not to exact vengeance, but to correct vices: Priests and merchants were gouging a captive market for sacrificial animals and demanding fees to change money from various regions...

Feast date: Nov 20

Saint Bernward served as the thirteenth Bishop of Hildesheim, Germany during the middle of the tenth century. His grandfather was Athelbero, Count Palatine of Saxony. After having lost his parents, Bernward was sent to live with his uncle Volkmar, who was the Bishop of Utrecht. His uncle enlisted the assistance of Thangmar, the pious and well-educated director of the cathedral school at Heidelberg, the help with Bernward's education.

Under the instruction of Thangmar, Bernward made rapid progress in Christian piety as well as in the sciences. He became very proficient in mathematics, painting, architecture, and particularly in the manufacture of ecclesiastical vessels and ornaments made of silver and gold.

Saint Bernward completed his studies at Mainz, where he was then ordained a priest. In lieu of being placed in the diocese of his uncle, Bishop Volkmar, he chose to remain near his grandfather, Athelbero, to comfort him in his old age. Upon his grandfather’s death in 987, he became chaplain in the imperial court, and the Empress-Regent Theophano quickly appointed him to be tutor of her son Otto III, who was only six years old at the time. Bernward remained at the imperial court until 993, when he was elected Bishop of Hildesheim.

A man of extraordinary piety, he was deeply devoted to prayer as well as the practice of mortification, and his knowledge and practice of the arts were employed generously in the service of the Church.

Shortly before his death in 1022, he was vested in the Benedictine habit. He was canonized by Pope Celestine III in 1193.

The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Bernward of Hildesheim (960-1022), a Benedictine bishop, architect, painter, sculptor, and metalsmith. He was the Bishop of Hildesheim, Germany from 993 till 1020. Bernward encouraged the arts; commissioned religious paintings and sculpture, refurbished existing buildings, built new ones, and made altar vessels of gold and silver by hand, and dabbled in architecture and ornamental ironwork. His rule was marked with peace, and around 1020 he retired to a Benedictine monastery to spend his remaining days in prayer. --CatholicSaints.info

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