Witnesses to Faith: 5 Inspiring Mother’s Day Stories, by Emily Chaffins
May 9, 2026Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations: You Are Not of the World
May 9, 2026
St. Gregory of Nazianzen (389), Bellarmine Forum
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St. Gregory of Nazianzen (389). Bishop, Doctor of the Church. (Traditional) “The Theologian”
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St. Pachomius (348). Abbot or Abbess, Founder or Foundress. (Historical) considered the founder of Christian monasticism
GREGORY was born of saintly parents, and was the chosen friend of St. Basil. They studied together at Athens, turned at the same time from the fairest worldly prospects, and for some years lived together in seclusion, self-discipline, and toil. Gregory was raised, almost by force, to the priesthood; and was in time made Bishop of Nazianzum by St. Basil, who had become Archbishop of Cæsarea. When he was fifty years old, he was chosen, for his rare gifts and his conciliatory disposition, to be Patriarch of Constantinople, then distracted and laid waste by Arian and other heretics. In that city he labored with wonderful success. The Arians were so irritated at the decay of their heresy that they pursued the Saint with outrage, calumny, and violence, and at length resolved to take away his life. For this purpose they chose a resolute young man, who readily undertook the sacrilegious commission. But God did not allow him to carry it out. He was touched with remorse, and cast himself at the Saint’s feet, avowing his sinful intent. St. Gregory at once forgave him, treated him with all kindness, and received him amongst his friends, to the wonder and edification of the whole city, and to the confusion of the heretics, whose crime had served only as a foil to the virtue of the Saint. St. Jerome boasts that he had sat at his feet, and calls him his master and his catechist in Holy Scripture. ….
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