Melanie Rigney's Blog, page 32

Friends in Faith: Liz Schiavone

Liz Schiavone has a passion for service—and she does it well, very well. Her main focus is her husband, Angelo, and their five adult children and grandchildren. But somehow, she manages to work a full-time job (with a commute of 30 minutes each way) and serve on a number of committees and boards, including as province director for the National Council of Catholic Women. I don’t think the woman ever sleeps!

What inspires me most about Liz is that she’s always available when I need advice on wh...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Augusta of Treviso

The Basics: Born about 410 in Italy; died before 450 in Italy; canonized on May 22, 1754, by Benedict XIV; feast day, March 27. Martyr.

The Story: It appears to have been a loving housekeeper who introduced the young Augusta to Christianity. The motherless child was

By Mauro Girotto [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...)], from Wikimedia Commons; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

baptized by a hermit the housekeeper knew, and began doing...

Cleansing the Inside First

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

He was thirty-one when he converted to Christianity.  He had already fathered a child with a woman not his wife, and sent her away because he had plans to marry a very young heiress. He was a brilliant scholar and a well-connected teacher. He had a mother who wouldn’t stop talking to him about Jesus and who he often ignored and avoided, and a me...

Author Spotlight: Mary Elizabeth Sperry

Note: In this feature, Whitney Hopler profiles women who write about faith. If you are the author of a new book (published within the past six months) and would like to be considered for an interview, please email Melanie.

By Whitney Hopler

How cluttered is your home? Many people struggle with a clutter problem, yet don’t make much of an effort to address it. Why? Household clutter can seem like an annoying but not serious issue, and the decluttering process can seem like a boring chore. Auth...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Alice of Schaerbeek (Aleydis)

The Basics: Born in 1204 in Belgium; died in 1250 in Belgium; canonized in 1907 by Pius X; feast day, June 15. Woman religious.

The Story: Alice’s burden was a heavy one, but she bore it with humility and grace.

The child was sent to live with Cistercian nuns when she was

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...

seven, and eventually felt called to join the community. Then when she was in her early twenties, she contracted a skin condition that was diagno...

God: The Only Option

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

I’m reading Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation. While much of his walkthrough of the past seven centuries and how Christians got to where we are today is above my head, so far I’ve got two big takeaways. They’re both things I knew. They’re both things you know too. But they are both things we n...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Hunegund

The Basics: Born after 600 in France; died in 690 in France; canonized precongregation; feast day, August 25. Woman religious.

The Story: Many of us have stories about old love interests, but few end the way Hunegund’s did.

Born into a wealthy family, the first spouse Hunegund’s family planned for her died in childhood. The second was a man named Eudalus, and when Hunegund was old enough to marry, the plans were set.

The bride to be convinced her fiance (or husband; it’s unclear whether they...

“Eat What I Am Giving You”

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

But you, son of man, hear me when I speak to you and do not rebel like this rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. (Ezekiel 2:8, NABRE)

He was still a child when the Blessed Virgin put the choice before him: Would Raymond Kolbe accept a white crown for purity, or a red one for martyrdom? He answered that he would accept...

Wednesday’s Woman: St. Euphrosyne of Polotsk

The Basics: Born in 1110 in Belarus; died in 1173 in Israel; canonized in 1984 by John Paul II; feast day, May 23. Woman religious, composer.

The Story: Euphrosyne’s sixty-plus years were full of reboots and redirections. The daughter of nobility, she rebelled when her parents were making plans for her marriage. (She was only twelve.) The child ran away to a convent where an aunt was abbess and entered religious life, eventually spending time as a hermit.

However, Euphrosyne found she had sig...

Restoration

Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.

This portrait is of my great-grandmother Abigail Leane Rigney, taken by one of my great-aunts around 1910. (And yes, that’s me taking the picture in the background, sorry.) The family wasn’t well to do by any means, but photos of Abbie, my great-grandfather, and my grandfather were made into those trendy-in-the-day raised portraits with convex g...