Remember the 1990s when Ashley, Ashleigh, and Ashlee all ended up in the same kindergarten? That’s what it was like to research St. Hippolytus. I found two different Hippolytuses who claim the feast day, Aug. 13 and a third thrown in on…

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction. (James 1:27)  Nazar sits in a crib in a bare room, smiling and laughing. Staffers gather around in amazement. They’ve…

July’s saint may have a funny name but let me tell you, Olha (890 – 969) was no joke. Just ask the Drevlians. They murdered her husband so she murdered them — 5,000 of them. Mafia style. That was before her conversion to Christianity. Olha,…

Finally, a woman! Have you noticed that most of our saints with funny names are men? It’s not my fault. There just aren’t that many women on the Eastern calendar. In June alone the ratio of females to males is 3:22. It’s really nobody’s…

For once, you have probably heard of these saints with funny names whose feast day the Eastern churches celebrate on May 11. These two brothers, who hailed from the ancient Greek city of Thessalonica, are well beloved by Catholics of both…

Do we really get Mary? We know God made her perfectly sinless. She needed to be perfect, because Jesus would take his human nature from her. That’s why she was humble, meek, and so, so good. And that’s where we get stuck. Everybody focuses…

St. Sosipater (aka Sopater) is mentioned twice in the Bible and both times he comes across as, well, boring. But stick with me because boring people often have exciting friends and therein lies our story. We first read his name in the Book…

This month’s saint with a funny name is not “Nice 4 Us” like some ancient precursor of Toys R Us. Think hard “k” sound. Something like: Ni-ki-for-os. That’s more like it. Nicephorus (feast day March 13) spent most of his life close to the…

Since we are on the subject of “breathing with both lungs lately,” let’s talk about how Eastern rite Catholics practice Lent. Easterners don’t do Lent cold turkey. Maybe because it’s too hard (read on) or maybe because the Slavs are just…

There is not a lot of information on this month’s saint with a funny name and that suits a greater purpose. You see, St. Bucolus was the first bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor (present day Turkey to you and me). He reposed peacefully in the…