Bruna Almeida Piva

Children are born without an instruction manual. They come changing all the rules, abolishing schedules, and doing away with selfishness. In the end, only after many failures do parents discover that, in order to raise them well, more than just books are needed: they must be good parents… Equipped with …

“The most moving scene in my life,” Dr. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira once commented to his spiritual children, “was my encounter with my mother, who was no longer there, whom God had called to Himself. […] When I entered the room and saw her lifeless body, I realized that those …

In the distant year of 1182, a little girl with bright and lively eyes was born into a family in Tongres, a town in Belgium, and she was christened Lutgardis. As her personality developed, she showed a remarkable appetite for the supernatural life and an almost experiential sense of God’s …

Curious, Friar Dominic of Caserta began to observe a monk who daily passed through the monastery at a very peculiar hour. Before Matins – therefore, in the first hours after midnight – he would steal quietly out of his cell and return just as the bell rang for prayer, so …

At the break of dawn on May 27, 1541, the Countess of Salisbury was told that her last hour had come. Her long and unjust captivity in the dreaded Tower of London was over. In defence of her innocence, her sense of justice still led her to protest against King …

Our fragile human nature contains two opposing laws within it: that of the flesh and that of the spirit. When we want to do good, it is wickedness that presents itself to us; when we strive for virtue, the desire of our members invites us to sin (cf. Rom 7:21-23). …

Immense and verdant pastures teeming with flocks, some of sheep and lambs, others of goats and kids: such is the picturesque scene that often meets our eyes when we venture far from the big cities. There is something special about these little animals, leading the Redeemer to mention them in …

In the last glimmers of the 12th century, to a wealthy family of the city of Assisi there was born a man sent by God, whose name was initially John (cf. Jn 1:6). His mother, a very pious woman named Pica, gave him that name without the knowledge of the …

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes …

A masterpiece of creation, the Most Holy Virgin Mary was favoured by God with such sublime perfection and such exalted gifts that the Church, in its desire to honour her worthily, has been “inexhaustible” in proclaiming her praises, particularly through the words and writings of its saints and Doctors. St. …