The Blessed Mother labored for Love Himself, giving birth to God’s only Son Jesus and raising Him here on earth. By extension, her mother St. Anne’s labor bringing her into the world was similarly blessed. In honor of Mary’s birthday on Sept. 8, the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary Sept. 12, and the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows Sept. 15, get to know more about the life of Mary through the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, an Augustinian nun and stigmatic (someone who bears the physical wounds of Christ, called the stigmata), in “The Life of the Virgin Mary.”
The Catholic Intellectual Tradition – an ongoing conversation about faith and reason illuminated by the Gospel – is as old as the Church itself. The word “intellectual” may sound lofty, yet there are many easy-to-understand ways to explore the depths of this 2,000-year conversation. In honor of the start of school and the feast day of one of the most influential Catholic thinkers, here are three accessible ways to mine the treasures of this tradition: