On May 21, 1844...
Venerable John Henry Newman wrote to his sister Jemima:

I am very sorry to make you anxious, but do not know what to do. I don't like you to be ignorant of my state of mind, yet don't like to tease you with my rigmarole statements. Unless anything happened which I considered a divine call, and beyond all calculation, I never should take anyone by surprise, and therefore you need not alarm yourself as if anything were happening. But if I judge of the future by the past, and when I recollect the long time, now nearly five years, that certain views and feelings have been more or less familiar to me, and sometimes pressing on me, it would seem as if anything might happen. And I must confess that they are very much clearer and stronger than they were even a year ago. I can no more calculate how soon they may affect my will and become practical, than a person who has long had a bodily ailment on him (though I hope and trust it is not an ailment) can tell when it may assume some critical shape, though it may do so any day.

Fr. Michael...
has some new posts.
Also Summa Minutiae posts a letter from the Venerable.

The Pontificator...
has made the local paper .

The Feast of St. Eugene de Mazenod, O.M.I., Priest and Founder
is today. There is information on him here. To any Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate out there, blessed feast day !
This saint had the sorrow of watching his parents constantly fighting, and then seeing them go through a divorce. Prayers for his intercession for the many children who have suffered, or are suffering, this type of heartbreak would be appropriate.

On May 19, 1864...
Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O., published Part Five of his masterpiece, Apologia pro Vita Sua

One week...
until St. Philip's Day !

I know, I'm really late...
but the Catholic Carnival is up.

Thanks be to God !
It seems that the Pontificator is heading home.

The Feast of Pope St. Celestine V
is today. There is information on him here.
This is one case where we know Dante was wrong, since apparently the poet put him in Hell.
It is also the feast of Blessed Peter Wright, S.J., Priest and Martyr

From Meditations and Devotions
by Venerable John Henry Newman, C.O.

My God, I adore Thee, as the Third Person of the Ever-Blessed Trinity, under the name and designation of Love. Thou art that Living Love, wherewith the Father and the Son love each other. And Thou art the Author of supernatural love in our hearts—"Fons vivus, ignis, charitas." As a fire Thou didst come down from heaven on the day of Pentecost; and as a fire Thou burnest away the dross of sin and vanity in the heart and dost light up the pure flame of devotion and affection. It is Thou who unitest heaven and earth by showing to us the glory and beauty of the Divine Nature, and making us love what is in Itself so winning and transporting. I adore Thee, O uncreate and everlasting Fire, by which our souls live, by which alone they are made fit for heaven.

Eleven days...
until St. Philip's Day !

If it were not Sunday...
today would be the feast of St. Isidore the Farmer, St. Dymphna, Virgin and Martyr, St. Gerebernus, Priest and Martyr, and St. Pachomius, one of the earliest Religious.