Here at Aquinas and More Catholic Goods we’re always searching for new products for our customers. We talk to hundreds of suppliers about all kinds of things, from books to rosaries to church supplies. Its important to us that we continue to offer you the largest online selection of Catholic goods in the world! We hear from so many of our customers about this, and we know you appreciate our efforts just as we appreciate your loyalty and your businesss!

We also hear from so many of you that you respect and appreciate our No Chinese Products policy, which means that we do not carry any items that are made in China. This sometimes makes it hard to find certain products, but we believe that as a Catholic retailer we simply cannot support a system (China) which is so blatantly and brutally anti-life and anti-Christian. 

With that said, we’d like to let you know about some great new items which we are offering here at Aquinas and More this week -

Lots of beautiful bookmarks from the Vatican Library Collection -

Hand-crafted genuine leather Bible covers from South America -

A wonderful new selection of chapel veils from Saint Francis Chapel Veils -

The official EWTN documentary DVDs of the Papal Visit to the U.S. -

And, finally, all the resources for the Pauline Year that you will need to make it as meaningful as possible for you and your family -

As always, thank you for reading and for your support of Aquinas and More!

Please check back with us next Monday for more exciting new product news.

Today is the Patronal Feast of the Holy Roman Church, the Solemnity of St. Peter and St. Paul.

On June 29, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul. These saints are venerated individually on other days such as February 22^nd, the feast of the chair of St. Peter, and January 25^th, the celebration of St. Paul’s conversion. However, the feast on June 29^th celebrates both saints as co-founders of the Catholic church. The feast is ancient, having been celebrated at least as early as the 4^th century.

The date of June 29^th marks either the date of their martyrdom, which occurred around 65 A.D. or the translation of their relics. St. Peter was crucified - upside down, as he protested that he was unworthy to die in the same manner as Christ - and Paul, being a Roman citizen, was slain by the sword. Their relics were transferred at some point, at least by the year 258, to the Via Appia catacombs near San Sebastiano. At a later date, the relics of both saints were moved back to their original resting places - Peter’s at the Vatican Basilica and Paul’s at the Via Ostiensis catacombs and ultimately to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls…

St. Peter Visited in Jail by St. Paul - Fine Art Print

On this day, in the Roman Catholic liturgical year, newly-created metropolitan archbishops are presented with the primary symbol of their office, the pallium, by the Pope. The pallium, once specific to the Pope, is a vestment bestowed upon metropolitans and primates as a symbol of their jurisdiction over Christ’s “flock”, granted by the Holy See. It is a scarf-like band of wool cloth that sits on the shoulders on top of the chasuble. It is decorated with six black crosses, one on each tail and four on the loop, and is garnished with three jeweled gold pins; from the front or back, the pallium resembles the letter ‘Y.’

In both the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, the feast marks the end of the Apostles’ Fast, which began the second Monday after Pentecost. The evening before the feast, members of the Eastern church are recommended to attend the all-night vigil, or at least evening vespers, and then Divine Liturgy on the morning of the feast.

In more recent decades, the feast has also taken on ecumenical importance. The Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox church will often travel to the Vatican to be received by the Pope and be invited to the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. In turn, the Pope will sometimes travel to Constantinople on the feast of St. Andrew, patron of the church of Constantinople to be received by the Ecumenical Patriarch. This is to “emphasize the desire of the Eastern Church and the Western Church to continue along the way towards the full communion willed by the Lord, and to re-establish the unity which they enjoyed in the first millennium.”

Blessed and glorious Apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, pray for us.

This article has been adapted from the New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia articles on St. Paul and St. Peter, the wikipedia article on the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and this document from the Vatican Press Office archives.

On June 28, 2007 Pope Benedict XVI announced the coming of the Pauline Year to begin June 28, 2008. This Jubilee Year, intended to celebrate the 2000^th anniversary of the birth of St. Paul - which is believed to have occurred between 7 and 10 AD - is intended to increase awareness of St. Paul and his mission.

Letters of St. Paul

Citing St. Paul as an example of what Christians should strive to be - he was willing to give his life for his faith in Christ, ecumenically committed to sharing Christ’s word to everyone, and willing to sacrifice everything for harmony between all Christians - the Pope hopes that dedicating a year to the life and mission of St. Paul will encourage others to follow his example. One of the main focuses of the Pauline Year is unity for all Christians, for which St. Paul worked tirelessly after his conversion. Catholics are encouraged during the year to read St. Paul’s letters, learn what he taught the Gentiles, pray for the unity of Christians all over the world, and, if possible, make pilgrimages to his tomb and places where he visited and taught.

There are many pilgrimage opportunities available to those who are able, including to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls where pilgrims can pass through the Pauline Door, go to confession, and participate in a liturgy. There is much to see and visit at the basilica, including St. Paul’s tomb. There are also pilgrimages to various places inside Rome that are connected to the life of St. Paul, such as the Church of St. Paul of the Three Fountains where he was beheaded, or to places around the world where St. Paul visited. People are also encouraged to journey to local churches dedicated to St. Paul.

The Pope announced that a plenary indulgence is available to those Catholics who make pilgrimages to the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome during the Pauline year. An indulgence is also available to those who attend any special liturgical ceremony honoring St. Paul either on the opening or closing day of the Pauline year. It can be applied also to those liturgical ceremonies held for the same purpose on another day. Those who cannot leave their homes because of a disability or need but who spiritually unite themselves to a celebration in honor of St. Paul are able to attain the indulgence as well. Read more about the indulgence at the official announcement here.

For those who are unable to make a pilgrimage, or anyone who wants to learn more about this thirteenth apostle, there are many resources available to do so - books of his letters, books about his life, prayer and Bible study guides, DVDs, and much more. Visit the Pauline Year specialty store at Aquinas and More Catholic Goods by clicking here, where there are also links to articles and other websites with information about the Pauline Year and St. Paul.

The hope of those involved in this Jubilee Year of St. Paul is that Christians all around the world will take up St. Paul’s mission and work towards the unity of the entire Christian church, and that more will become like St. Paul in his willingness to give up his entire life for the faith in which he so strongly believed.

For more information about the Pauline Year, visit the official Pauline Year website.

After reading all the great postings about the conference, I really wish I could have gone. Hopefully they will be doing this again next year! For some great summaries of the conference take a gander here, here, here, here, here and here.

Before the conference started we had a few guest posts from other podcasters and bloggers talking about the conference and how technology has changed evangelization. We promised to let you, our readers, pick which post was the best. Please leave your votes below. The winner will get a $50 gift card to our store! Voting ends July 5th.

• Greg Willits from the Rosary Army
• Mark Shea
• Mac and Katherine from Catholics in a Small Town
• Kathryn from Catholic Family Kids

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The voters in the 2008 election have spoken and the winners are:

1) Jesus of Nazareth
2) St. Francis of Assisi
3) Diary of a Country Priest

We heard grumbling that we stacked the deck by putting the Pope’s book on top and did notice some questionable voting activity from IP addresses designated to some “vatican.va” domain (whatever that is) and that American Papist tried to surreptitiously sabotage the voting by tainting Brideshead Revisited with his posting of the horrible trailer to the new movie version. In the end, we believe that the voting was fair and no voters were turned away from the polls.

So now it’s time to download a study guide, download the resource kit and take it to your parish or local store and get a discussion group started!

June 27 is the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Our Mother of Perpetual Help (Succour) or Our Lady of Perpetual Help is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, associated with a Byzantine icon of the same name, said to be 13th or 14th century, but perhaps 15th century, which has been in Rome since at least the late 15th century. The image is very popular among Catholics in particular, and has been much copied and reproduced. In the Byzantine Church this iconography is known as the Theotokos of the Passion.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Florentine Plaque

To read more about Our Lady of Perpetual Help, click here.

St. John the Baptist Before Herod

Today is the feast day of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist

On June 24^th, in the Roman calendar, the church celebrates the birth of St. John the Baptist. The celebration of the birth of the Forerunner is one of the oldest feasts in the Church’s history, dating from the earliest days. St. John the Baptist has remained a beloved saint throughout the life of the Church, and many religious orders, institutions, churches, and shrines were established under his patronage. The Eastern Church especially venerates him and he is given a prominence in the Liturgy and Church art to a degree which is not seen in the West - an expression of Our Lord’s words “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there is none greater than John the Baptist.”

What little we know of the life of the Baptist and his mission is contained in the four gospels:

John’s father, Zachery, was a priest of the Jewish law, and John’s mother, Elizabeth was also of the house of Aaron. One day, Zachery received a vision from the angel Gabriel that his wife Elizabeth, who was called barren, would conceive a son to be named John. The angel told Zachery that John would “be great before the lord.” Zachery, amazed, asked for a sign to be given, and in response, the angel answered that Zachery would be unable to speak until the birth of the child. When Elizabeth gave birth, friends and family assumed the baby would be named Zachery, after his father. But Zachery took a tablet, and wrote on it “John is his name,” and immediately he recovered his voice and broke into the Benedictus, the great canticle of love and thanksgiving.

Go here to read more.

June 21 is the feast day of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, patron of teens and young people, an extremely devout young Jesuit novice who died at the age of 23. The first born child to the Marquis of Castiglione in 1568, Aloysius was born an Italian noble, and as such he grew up in a castle, trained from the age of four to be a courtier and soldier. His father expected him to become a soldier, as small wars were often breaking out in the region, but at an early age Aloysius interpreted the call to religious life. As son of a Marquis, Aloysius was obligated to appear often at court, and witnessing the frivolous lifestyle at court motivated him to take a private vow of chastity at age nine.

About two years later, he suffered from kidney disease and he counted this as a blessing because it left him bedridden, which gave him time for prayer and reading about the saints. He recovered, but his health was weakened forever. It was around this time that he read a book about the Jesuit missionaries in India. Having already privately determined to resign his right to inherit the Marquisate of Castiglione in favor of religious life, Aloysius seemed to have been inspired by the book at this point to join the Jesuits and work for the conversion of heathens. Around the age of eleven, he began to spend the summers teaching the Catechism to the poor boys of Castiglione.

To read more, please click here.

So, this is our first attempt at a podcast. Don’t expect anything fancy or technically perfect. In fact, the twelve-year-old that I interviewed for this has far more experience at podcasting than I do. A little bit of humbling is never a bad thing.

Go find out more about the CNMC sponsored by SQPN. And be sure to check out the Catholic Family Kids and Catholic Family Podcasts.

 

 Catholic Family Kids Interview [10:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (52)

It isn’t often that you can experience the opposite ends of customer service within a couple of hours. Today I had the opportunity to experience the best and worst in customer service.

First, the best: A few months ago we changed our health insurance company and the agent was one of those fortunate people who actually got past my natural inclination to hang up on salesmen. She was able to get us a policy at a much lower price and found us dental insurance all for a price lower than our old policy. This week I got a letter from the insurance company saying our policy was in default for non-payment and all claims were being rejected even though we were set up on auto-pay.

Instead of contacting the insurance company I sent a note to our original agent and told her the situation. She contacted the company on our behalf and got the mixup resolved. She sent us a note saying the insurance company had messed up the auto pay and we would need to send a check to cover the missing time period. Within an hour she called me and told me to ignore the email because she had talked to them again and gotten them to get the auto-pay established and gotten us a free month of coverage so I wouldn’t need to send a check. Can you beat that?

On the other end of the spectrum, I dealt with Chadwicks which is a catalog clothing company. I ordered a gift certificate for my wife that all the ads on the website would be emailed to me in time for Mother’s Day. I got an email confirmation of the order but never received an order number.

I waited and waited and right before Father’s Day I sent a note to customer service asking where the gift card was. I got an auto response telling me that it would arrive within 8-11 days after placing the order. Since this was almost a month later, I wrote back telling them that their auto responder was wrong. I never got a reply.

At the beginning of this week I sent another email asking for the certificate again. I got the same autoresponder as before. I sent another note to customer service and received a reply that the original gift certificate was probably stuck in my spam folder. I checked, it wasn’t and sent a reply back. That was four days ago.

Today I wrote again and finally received a gift card number through email. No apology. No free gift. No acknowledgement that anything had gone wrong.

Which company do you think I’ll be recommending to others? If you look at Chadwick’s Bizrate ratings, they only have a 75% positive rating. Our rating is close to 100%.

Oh, if you want to talk to our health insurance agent about a new policy, leave a comment and I’ll send you her number.