Saints and Biographies

Father Hardon’s writings on saints and biographies explore the lives and spiritual witness of holy men and women throughout Church history. These articles examine virtue, conversion, sacrifice, sanctity, and the example the saints provide for faithful Christian living.

St. Robert Bellarmine – Preacher

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. St. Robert Bellarmine, as a Saint, scholar and Doctor of the Church, needs no introduction to Catholic readers. When Clement VIII appointed him to the College of Cardinals, he is reported to have said: “We elect this man because he has not his equal for learning in the Church […]

The Little Way

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. This issue of The Catholic Faith is dedicated to the memory of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. September the thirtieth is the one hundredth anniversary of her death. Shortly before she died, she wrote, “I have never given the good God anything but love, and it is with love that […]

Devotion of St. Thérèse of Lisieux to the Blessed Virgin Mary

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. A new stage is developing in the devotion of the faithful to St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In 1947, the fiftieth anniversary of her death, a congress of theologians was held in Paris with the object of studying the theological implications of St. Thérèse’s spiritual doctrine and of tracing her […]

Lessons from the Newest Doctor of the Church for the Catholic Academy

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. St. Therese of Lisieux is the latest Doctor of the Church. She is also the youngest saint to have received this honor from the Vicar of Christ. “Doctor of the Church” is the title given since the Middle Ages to certain saints, whose writing or teaching is outstanding for […]

Mother Teresa: The Person, Religious, and Channel of Grace

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. It is an unexpected privilege to write to you on the occasion of Mother Teresa’s entrance into eternity. More than twenty years ago, while teaching in New York City, Mother Teresa invited me to speak with her about the new branch of the Missionaries of Charity that she was […]

St. Peter Canisius on Christmas Joy

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. In the three hundred and fifty years since Peter Canisius died at Fribourg in Switzerland on December 21, 1597, his name has become synonymous with the Counter-Reformation of the Church in German-speaking Europe. He has been variously called the “hammer of heretics,” the “Second Apostle of Germany,” “Papstesel,” “swindling […]

Father Gerald Fitzgerald Manuscript

By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. Introduction The Catholic Church is a permanent miracle of God’s providence. From the days of her Founder she has been oppressed and persecuted, opposed and betrayed. Yet she stands after nineteen centuries stronger than ever and rising above her enemies as the City of God on earth. Already in […]

Modern Secularism and the Priesthood

(Biography: Father Gerald Fitzgerald) By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. There is a basic problem that the founder of the Paracletes and Handmaids raises for anyone who is concerned, as he was, with the status of the Catholic priesthood in the modern world. The problem is, “Whatever happened to the priesthood?” Why has the Church, […]

What is a Priest?

(Biography: Father Gerald Fitzgerald) By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. It is impossible to grasp Father Gerald’s great love and concern for the priesthood, unless we see something of his understanding of what a priest is. During his lifetime, he did things that others misunderstood. He traveled many thousands of miles, to distant countries, and […]

The Virtues of a Priest

(Biography: Father Gerald Fitzgerald) By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. It is not surprising that the man who spent so many years laboring to bring priests back to the fold should have much to say about the virtues of a priest. We might almost say that this was the substance of all he had to […]

We Can Achieve What We Will

(Biography: Father Gerald Fitzgerald) By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. One evidence of Father Gerald’s balanced spirituality is the fact that he never lost sight of the human factor in the pursuit of sanctity. He never tired urging priests to pray. And all we have so far seen should make it clear that he looked […]

The Humanity of Christ

(Biography: Father Gerald Fitzgerald) By Father John A. Hardon, S.J. It is impossible to understand Father Gerald’s spirituality without seeing something of his understanding of the humanity of Christ. Somewhere near the center of this spirituality was the realization that God became man, not only to redeem a sinful race by dying on the Cross, […]

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