Portal:Catholic Church

Catholic Church Portal

Introduction

The Catholic Church (Latin: Ecclesia Catholica), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.28 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2024. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions and has played a prominent role in the history and development of Western civilization. The church consists of 24 sui iuris (autonomous) churches, including the Latin Church and 23 Eastern Catholic Churches, which comprise almost 3,500 dioceses and eparchies around the world, each overseen by one or more bishops. The pope, who is the bishop of Rome, is the chief pastor of the church.

The core beliefs of Catholicism are found in the Nicene Creed. The Catholic Church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church founded by Jesus Christ in his Great Commission, that its bishops are the successors of Christ's apostles, and that the pope is the successor of Saint Peter, upon whom primacy was conferred by Jesus Christ. It maintains that it practises the original Christian faith taught by the apostles, preserving the faith infallibly through scripture and sacred tradition as authentically interpreted through the magisterium or teaching office of the church. The Roman Rite and others of the Latin Church, the Eastern Catholic liturgies, and communities and societies such as mendicant orders, enclosed monastic orders, third orders and voluntary charitable lay associations reflect a variety of theological and spiritual emphases in the church.

Of its seven sacraments, the Eucharist is the principal one, celebrated liturgically in the Mass. The church teaches that through consecration by a priest, the sacrificial bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ. The Virgin Mary is venerated as the Perpetual Virgin, Mother of God, and Queen of Heaven; she is honoured in dogmas and devotions. Catholic social teaching emphasizes voluntary support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The Catholic Church operates tens of thousands of Catholic schools, universities and colleges, hospitals, and orphanages around the world, and is the largest non-government provider of education and health care in the world. Among its other social services are numerous charitable and humanitarian organizations. (Full article...)

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The Ursuline Convent Riots were riots that occurred on August 11 and August 12, 1834 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, near Boston in what is now Somerville, Massachusetts. During the riot, a convent of Roman Catholic Ursuline nuns was burned down by a Protestant mob. The event was triggered by reported abuse of a member of the order, and was fueled by the rebirth of extreme anti-Catholic sentiment in antebellum New England. In 1820, the Most Reverend Jean-Louis Lefebvre de Cheverus, bishop of the newly created diocese of Boston, granted permission for the establishment of a convent of Ursuline teaching nuns in a building next to the cathedral. A school for girls was set up in the convent, in which approximately 100 students were enrolled.By 1827, the school and convent had outgrown the building. In July of that year, the community moved to a larger building on Ploughed Hill (later Mount Benedict), in Charlestown. The school began to enroll primarily the daughters of the Protestant upper classes of Boston; by 1834 there were forty-seven students, only six of whom were Catholic.
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Credit: Diliff/Fir0002

The chapel of the Palace of Versailles, one of the palace's grandest interiors. Located in Versailles, France, Versailles is famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy which Louis XIV espoused. Originally the royal hunting lodge when he decided to move there in 1660, the building was expanded over the next few decades to become the largest palace in Europe. Louis XIV officially moved in 1682 and the Court of Versailles was the centre of power in Ancien Régime France until the royal family was forced to return to the capital in 1789.

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William de Corbeil or William of Corbeil (c. 1070– 1136) was a medieval archbishop of Canterbury. Educated as a theologian, he served the bishops of Durham and London before becoming a canon. He was elected as a compromise to the see of Canterbury in 1123, succeeding Ralph d'Escures who had employed William as a chaplain. William was the first canon to become archbishop in England. William was soon involved in a dispute over primacy with Thurstan, archbishop of York, and he also concerned himself with the morals of the clergy. He was known as a builder, having built the keep of Rochester Castle in England. At the end of his life, William was instrumental in the selection of Count Stephen of Boulogne as king of England instead of the Empress Matilda, daughter of King Henry I of England. William de Corbeil was born probably at Corbeil on the Seine possibly around 1070, and was educated at Laon, where he taught for a while.
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Did you know...

... that Academy Award winner Going My Way was filmed at St. Monica Church (interior pictured), and the irascible old Irish priest character was based on its pastor?
... that at least eleven of the twenty electors of the papal conclave of 1362 were from the Limousin province of France?
... that nobody knows what happened to the Diocese of Hexham after Tidfrith, its last bishop, died?

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Feast Day of April 24

Fidelis of Sigmaringen, OFM Cap. (1577 – 1622) was a German Capuchin friar who was involved in the Catholic Counter-Reformation. He was martyred by his opponents at Seewis im Prättigau, now part of Switzerland. Fidelis was canonized in 1746. (Full article...)

Attributes: sword; palm of martyrdom; heretics; the Morning Star; trampling on the word "heresy"; with a club set with spikes; with a whirlbat; with an angel carrying a palm of martyrdom; with Saint Joseph of Leonessa
Patronage: -
See also: Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, France; Benedict Menni