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Tuesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Catherine of Alexandria; became Christian after receiving a vision; debated 50 pagan philosophers, who became Christian, along with 200 soldiers and members of the emperor's family, and all were martyred; Catherine touched the spiked wheel on which she was to be executed, and it shattered; she was beheaded in about 310 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/25/25 Gospel: Luke 21:5-11

Monday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Andrew Dung-Lac and companions, the Vietnamese martyrs; Andrew Dung-Lac, a Catholic convert ordained to the priesthood, was one of 117 people martyred in Vietnam between 1820 and 1862; members of the companions group gave their lives for Christ in the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, and received beatification during four different occasions between 1900 and 1951; all were canonized during the papacy of Saint John Paul II Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/24/25 Gospel: Luke 21:1-4

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe; Christ the King 34th Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/23/25 Gospel: Luke 23:35-43

Saturday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Cecilia; legend has it that was a young Christian of high rank betrothed to a Roman named Valerian; through her influence, Valerian converted, and was subsequently martyred, along with his brother; Cecilia is reputed to have been struck three times on the neck with a sword, but lived for three days, and asked the pope to convert her home into a church; she died in about 230 A.D.; since the time of the Renaissance she has usually been portrayed with a viola or a small organ; she is the patroness of musicians Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/22/25 Gospel: Luke 20:27-40

Friday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; a feast of the Universal Church since the 16th Century; this celebration continues the impact of the feasts of the Immaculate Conception and of the birth of Mary Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/21/25 Gospel: Luke 19:45-48

Thursday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Edmund Rich, 1175-1240; he studied at Oxford and Paris, and taught art and mathematics, and was ordained; he taught theology for eight years, and became canon and treasurer of the Salisbury Cathedral; he preached a Crusade for Pope Gregoy IX, and was made Archbishop of Canterbury; he resigned his see in 1240, and went to France, where he became a Cistercian; he died at Soissons Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/20/25 Gospel: Luke 19:41-44

Wednesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Raphael Kalinowski, 1835-1907; Polish Discalced Carmelite friar; he was a teacher, engineer, prisoner of war, royal tutor, and priest, who founded many monasteries around Poland after the suppression by the Russians Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/19/25 Gospel: Luke 19:11-28

Tuesday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Rose Philippine Duchesne, 1769-1852; born in Grenoble, France, to a family of the "new rich"; at 19, she entered the convent of the Visitation of Mary; when the French revolution broke out, the convent was closed, and she began taking care of the poor and sick, opened a school for homeless children, and risked her life helping priests in the underground; when the situation cooled, Rose entered the infant Society of the Sacred Heart; but her ambition was to go to America to work with the Indians; she spent 11 weeks at sea en route to New Orleans, and seven weeks more on the Mississippi to St. Louis; the bishop had no place for Rose and her nuns to work with native Americans; he sent her to St. Charles, Missouri; when Rose was 72, a mission was founded at Sugar Creek, Kansas, among the Potawatomi and she was taken along; she was unable to learn their language, but they nicknamed her "Woman-Who-Prays-Always"; she died in 1852, at the age of 83 O

Monday of the 33rd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 1207-1231; at age 14, she married Louis of Thuringia; she led a life of prayer, sacrifice, and service to the poor and sick; her husband died in the Crusades, and his family believed that Elizabeth was squandering the royal purse, and kicked her out of the palace; but she was reinstated when her husband's allies returned home, since her son was the legal heir to the throne; in 1228, Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi; Elizabeth’s health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/17/25 Gospel: Luke 18:35-43

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/16/25 Gospel: Luke 21:5-19

Saturday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Albert the Great, 1206-1280; German Dominican who decisively influenced the Church’s stance toward Aristotelian philosophy brought to Europe by the spread of Islam; master of St. Thomas Aquinas; over 20 years, he wrote a compendium of all knowledge-- natural science, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, astronomy, ethics, economics, politics, and metaphysics; he is the patron of scientists and philosophers Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/15/25 Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Friday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Lawrence O'Toole, 1128-1180; born at Leinster; he was taken hostage in a raid, and was surrendered to the bishop of Glendalough; he became a monk, and was named Archbishop of Dublin in 1161; he helped negotiate with the English following their invasion of Ireland, and in 1172 convened a synod at Cashel; he also attended the General Lateran Council in Rome in 1179, and was named papal legate to Ireland; he died in Normandy, France, while on a mission to King Henry II of England Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/14/25 Gospel: Luke 17:26-37

Thursday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, 1850-1917; made her vows and took the religious habit  at the House of Providence Orphanage in Cadogno, Italy; when the orphanage was shut down, she and six nuns went to New York City to serve the Italian immigrants; in 35 years, Frances Xavier Cabrini founded 67 institutions dedicated to caring for the poor, the abandoned, the uneducated and the sick; she died of malaria in her own Columbus Hospital in Chicago in 1917 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/13/25 Gospel: Luke 17:20-25

Wednesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Josaphat, 1580-1623; born in what is now Ukraine, he became a Basilian monk, then a priest, and soon was well known as a preacher and an ascetic; he became bishop of Vitebsk and archbishop of Polotsk; most monks, fearing interference in liturgy and customs, did not want union with Rome; Josaphat went to Vitebsk, where he was martyred, and his body thrown into the river; it was recovered, and is now buried at St. Peter's in Rome; Josaphat is the first saint of the Eastern Church to be canonized by Rome Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/12/25 Gospel: Luke 17:11-19

Tuesday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of St. Martin of Tours, 316-397; after discharge from the army, he went to be a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers; Martin became a monk, first living in Milan, and then on an island; he returned to France and established what may have been the first French monastery near Poitiers; the people of Tours wanted Martin to be their bishop; so they invited him on a ruse, to visit a sick person; he was taken to the church and reluctantly allowed himself to be consecrated bishop; as death approached, Martin’s followers begged him not to leave them; he prayed, “Lord, if your people still need me, I do not refuse the work; Your will be done” Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/11/25 Gospel: Luke 17:7-10

Monday of the 32nd Week in Ordinary Time Memorial of Pope St. Leo the Great; elected pope in 440; known as one of the best administrative popes of the ancient Church; it is said of Leo the Great that his true significance rests in his doctrinal insistence on the mysteries of Christ and the Church and in the supernatural charisms of the spiritual life given to humanity in Christ and in his Body, the Church; he died in 461 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/10/25 Gospel: Luke 17:1-6

Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rom 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/9/25 Gospel: John 2:13-22

Friday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Engelbert; son of the count of Berg and became the possessor of many benefices; Engelbert was excommunicated but was restored into union with the Church; he became the archbishop of Cologne in 1217, at the age of thirty; he became tutor to the son of Emperor Frederick II; in 1222 he crowned Henry King of the Romans; Engelbert was slain by his cousin Frederick, whom he had thwarted in an attempt to steal from the nuns of Essen; Engelbert was ambushed at Gevelsberg and murdered on November 7 Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/7/25 Gospel: Luke 16:1-8

Thursday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Leonard of Noblac; Sixth Century Hermit-abbot, a convert of St. Remigius; he was a French courtier offered a bishopric, but became a recluse at Micy, France; he then lived at Limoges, France, and he was given land by the royal court on which he founded Noblac Abbey, later called Saint-Leonard; he died in 559 A.D.; he is a patron of Women in labor and prisoners of war Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/6/25 Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

Wednesday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time Saint of the Day: St. Elizabeth; cousin to the Virgin Mary; her husband, Zechariah, desiring a child, went to pray in the temple, and his prayer was answered; Elizabeth became pregnant shortly after; Mary visited Elizabeth, and the baby leaped in Elizabeth's womb; although Elizabeth's neighbors assumed the child would be named Zechariah, her husband insisted that John be his name, as the angel Gabriel had instructed him; he was, of course, later known as John the Baptist Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 11/5/25 Gospel: Luke 14:25-33