Shahbaz Bhatti

The only Christian in Pakistan's cabinet was assassinated last week for publicly opposing the unjust laws and threats of violence of radical Islam.

The last time a Christian Pakistani statesman was killed, Islamic groups praised the murder. This time they did not, so that is some progress. But not much. They still defend the killing of Salman Taseer two months ago for openly condemning Pakistan's "blasphemy" law. Shahbaz Bhatti was more careful in his criticism. Apparently not careful enough for the thugs whose bloodshed disgraces Pakistan. Will they be punished for their crimes?



May God have mercy on the soul of Shahbaz Bhatti, and comfort his family in this time of grief.

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Wisdom 3:1-9

¹ But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.

² In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery:

³ And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.

⁴ And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.

⁵ Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.

⁶ As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them.

⁷ The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.

⁸ They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.

⁹ They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect.

Show with Haydock Commentary or the Latin Vulgate Bible
Bible passage courtesy of VeritasBible.com

Saint Agatha , Virgin and Martyr

Today is the feast of Saint Agatha, who was martyred in 251 in Catania, Sicily. She died about a half-century before Saint Agnes and slightly precedes her in the Nobis quoque peccatoribus of the Traditional Mass. Even more than Saint Agnes, little is known with certitude about today's saint, beyond the fact of her martyrdom and her veneration by the early Church.

The story of the two saints is similar. Saint Agatha was a bit older, in her mid-teens or early 20s, with a reputation for great beauty. She attracted the attention of a Roman official in Sicily during the time of the Decian persecution. When she refused his advances, he delivered her to a pagan woman named Aphrodisia, who for a month tried to persuade Agatha to apostatize, with promises of a life of ease of she would yield and warnings of grievous torments if she would not. When Aphrodisia concluded that she would not be able to persuade Agatha, the Roman official (Quintianus) put her in prison, and tried to coerce her into submitting using the anti-Christian laws then in effect, and then tortured more viciously when she still refused, until finally she died in the midst of her torments. She is sometimes depicted in art with her breasts cut off.

By some accounts St. Peter appeared to her with an angel during her torments to heal and comfort her. St. Agatha in turn is said to have interceded for Christians in later centuries, a demonstration of the bond of charity that unites the body of Christ from generation to generation. Her merits and prayers are credited with quieting Mount Aetna when it threatened to erupt, and with saving Malta from invasion by Turkey.

In addition to being remembered in the Mass, Pope Pius XI honored her in 1934 by making her church in Rome a Stational church (Third Tuesday in Lent).


My fellow Christians, our annual celebration of a martyr’s feast has brought us together. Agatha achieved renown in the early Church for her noble victory. ...For her, Christ’s death was recent, his blood was still moist. Her robe is the mark of her faithful witness to Christ. ...Agatha, the name of our saint, means “good.” She was truly good, for she lived as a child of God. ...Agatha, her goodness coincides with her name and her way of life. She won a good name by her noble deeds, and by her name she points to the nobility of those deeds. Agatha, her mere name wins all men over to her company. She teaches them by her example to hasten with her to the true Good, God alone.
- from a homily on Saint Agatha by Saint Methodius of Sicily

Saint Agnes - Virgin and Martyr

Today is the feast of Saint Agnes of Rome, Virgin and Martyr.

Saint Agnes was born to a noble family in Rome in A.D. 291. Her family, by the grace of God, instilled in her a deep and fearless Christian faith.

The prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and when Agnes refused, she was denounced as a Christian. This was a time of persecution, and she might have escaped punishment if she had been willing to sacrifice to pagan idols, but she refused, and boldly confessed her faith in Christ.

In reprisal, she was humiliated by being dragged naked through the streets to a brothel, where she was threatened with rape. She maintained her modesty as well as she could, covering herself with her hair, and refusing to surrender to the will of her tormentors.

Following an unsuccessful attempt to kill her by fire, she died by the sword. From that time, she has been deeply revered for her purity and constancy. She is often pictured with a lamb (a symbol of her unblemished purity), and a palm branch (symbol of her martyrdom).

Because of the influence of her family, St. Agnes' body was not thrown into the river, which was common practice for martyred Christians at the time. Instead, she was buried in the family cemetery. There, a few days later, Agnes' nurse's daughter Emerentiana, was caught praying. Emerentiana was not yet a Christian, but she was a catechumen, and she followed her friend into martyrdom, stoned to death for refusing the leave the tomb and for reprimanding the pagans for killing Agnes. "Baptized by blood", Emerentiana is honored as a saint.

Many other Christians since then have followed St. Emerentiana in remembering and honoring St. Agnes...

(Have to stop here -- leaving now for a traditional Latin Mass that commemorates St. Agnes. Praise God, pope, pastor and priest for making this Mass available today).

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

St. Agnes, pure in heart, intercede for us!

Holy Innocents

"A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning: Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not."
- Matthew 2:18

Alas for our nation and our world, that greater lamentation is not heard in this time when the mass murder of innocents has again become public policy. God bless and strengthen those who year in and year out attempt to awaken numbed consciences to the horror that is abortion.


Saint Joseph, guardian of the holy family, pray for them.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe, in a death camp killed but not defeated, pray for them.
Blessed Margaret of Castello, in weakness perfected, pray for them.
Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, comforter of the abandoned, pray for them.
Saint Gianna Beretta Molla, exemplar of maternal love, pray for them.
Saint Gerard Majella, protector of expectant mothers, pray for them.
Saint John the Baptist, herald of our Lord, pray for them.
Holy mother of God, Mary most blessed and pure, pray for them.

St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen

"I am sent to you to confute, not to embrace your heresy. The Catholic religion is the faith of all ages, I fear not death."

- St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen, to the protestant soldiers who killed him

On this day 385 years ago, St. Fidelis received the crown of martyrdom, the foreseen culmination of a life of faithful service to our Lord in dangerous times. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XIII on the 24th of March, 1729, and canonized on the 29th of June, 1746 by Pope Benedict XIV.

Blessed counsellor and advocate for the poor, pray for us who have become spiritually poor.
Courageous refuter of heresy, pray that your Church may find again the zeal for truth it once possessed.
Zealous advocate of the Faith of all ages, please pray that your Church may once again freely pray the Mass of ages.
And may it please God that you, who have been honored by two popes named Benedict, will have your prayers answered through the good offices of a third.
We ask this through Christ our Lord, Who, with our Father in Heaven, reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ages of ages until the end of time. Amen.