It’s the Feast of St Marcellus I, 3rd Class, with the color of Red. In this episode: the meditation: “Parental Authority”, today’s news from the Church: “Leo XIV’s Collegial Shift”, a preview of this week’s episode of The SSPX Podcast, “Reading the Psalms with the Fathers: St. Hilary Speaks”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.

• “Parental Authority” – From Epiphany to Lent
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/epiphany-to-lent
  
  
• “Leo XIV’s Collegial Shift” (FSSPX.news)
  • https://fsspx.news/en/news/leo-xivs-collegial-shift-56546
  
  
• “Reading the Psalms with the Fathers: St. Hilary Speaks” (SSPX Podcast)
  • View on YouTube
  • Listen & Subscribe on SSPXpodcast.com
  
  
• The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
  
  

Saint Marcellus I was a pope whose brief pontificate unfolded amid the wreckage left behind by persecution, making his task one of healing rather than triumph. He became bishop of Rome around the year 308, just as the Diocletian persecutions were easing. What he inherited was not peace, but fracture. Many Christians had endured torture and death rather than deny Christ. Others had faltered under pressure and now sought readmission to the Church. The wounds were fresh, emotions raw, and Rome itself still unstable.

The crisis Marcellus faced was pastoral at its core. How should the Church receive those who had lapsed? Some demanded immediate reconciliation, insisting that mercy must be swift and unconditional. Others argued that public penance was essential to preserve the seriousness of Christian witness. Marcellus chose a path that satisfied neither extreme. He upheld the ancient discipline of the Church, requiring genuine repentance and structured penance, while firmly rejecting the idea that forgiveness could ever be denied to the truly contrite. Mercy, he believed, must be real, but it must also be honest.

This approach sparked unrest. Ancient sources speak of riots among Christians themselves, with factions disrupting worship and public order. The conflict was not over doctrine, but over how costly repentance should be. Marcellus continued to insist on order, convinced that healing required patience and discipline. During this time, he also worked to reorganize the Roman Church, dividing the city into pastoral districts and appointing clergy to oversee reconciliation...

It’s the Feast of St. Paul, First Hermit, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: “The Education of the Children”, today’s news from the Church: “First Cristero Congress in Cancún”, a preview of the Sermon: “Challenges and Remedies for Families Today”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.

• “The Education of the Children” – From Epiphany to Lent
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/epiphany-to-lent
  
  
• “First Cristero Congress in Cancún” (FSSPX.news)
  • https://fsspx.news/en/news/mexico-first-cristero-congress-cancun-56547
  
  
• “Challenges and Remedies for Families Today” (SSPX Sermons)
  • SSPX YouTube: Sermons Playlist
  • Listen & Subscribe: SSPX Sermons Podcast
  
  
• The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
  
  

Saint Paul the First Hermit stands at the very beginning of Christian monastic history, a figure wrapped in silence whose life shaped centuries of desert spirituality. He lived in the third and fourth centuries, during a time of violent persecution, when choosing solitude was not escapism but a radical act of trust in God. Born into a wealthy Christian family in Egypt around the year 230, Paul was well educated and devout from an early age. When persecution broke out under Emperor Decius, he fled into the desert to avoid being forced to renounce his faith. What began as flight soon became vocation.

Paul settled deep in the wilderness near the Red Sea, dwelling in a cave beside a spring and a palm tree that provided food and clothing. According to tradition, he lived there in complete solitude for nearly ninety years. His life was one of prayer, fasting, and quiet endurance. Bread was brought to him daily by a raven, an image that later became inseparable from his story. Paul did not seek visions, disciples, or recognition. His holiness matured in hiddenness, shaped by constancy rather than intensity. He became a living witness that communion with God does not require structures or crowds, only faithfulness.

Late in Paul’s life, God sent him a visitor. Saint Anthony of Egypt, already known as a father of monks, was led to Paul’s cave by divine prompting. Their meeting is one of the most tender scenes in early Christian literature. The two old

It’s the Feast of St Hilary, 3rd Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: “The Sunshine of the Home”, today’s news from the Church: “Cardinal Zen Received in a Private Audience by the Pope”, a preview of the Sermon: “The One Thing Necessary for Families”, and today’s thought from the Archbishop.

• “The Sunshine of the Home” – From Epiphany to Lent
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/epiphany-to-lent
  
  
• “Cardinal Zen Received in a Private Audience by the Pope” (FSSPX.news)
  • https://fsspx.news/en/news/cardinal-zen-received-private-audience-pope-56530
  
  
• “The One Thing Necessary for Families” (SSPX Sermons)
  • SSPX YouTube: Sermons Playlist
  • Listen & Subscribe: SSPX Sermons Podcast
  
  
• The Spiritual Life – Archbishop Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
  
  

The Holy Monks of Raíthu and Mount Sinai belong to the early centuries of Christian monasticism, when the desert was both a refuge of prayer and a place of real danger. Their feast remembers not a single dramatic moment, but a pattern of fidelity lived to the end. These monks were hermits and cenobites who had withdrawn into the harsh landscapes of the Sinai Peninsula to seek God in silence, fasting, and continual prayer. They were not warriors or missionaries. They were men who believed that offering their lives to God in hiddenness was itself a powerful witness to the world.

Raíthu was a monastic settlement near the Red Sea, while Mount Sinai had already become a revered place of Christian prayer, associated with Moses and the revelation of God. By the fourth and fifth centuries, both regions were dotted with monasteries and solitary cells. Life there was austere. Food was scarce, water limited, and isolation intense. Yet these monks remained, convinced that the desert stripped away illusion and made room for truth. They prayed the psalms, copied Scripture, welcomed pilgrims, and lived under simple rules shaped by obedience and humility.

Their martyrdom came during raids by nomadic tribes who moved through the region. Ancient sources describe sudden attacks in which monks were slaughtered without resistance. Some were killed in their cells, others while gathered for prayer. They did not flee, arm themselves, or bargain