15 Vegetarian Breakfasts Ready in 5 Minutes

Remember, Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, even on Fridays!

From EatingWell

By Danielle DeAngelis

All it takes is 5 minutes to whip up one of these meatless breakfast recipes. From loaded toasts to fruit-topped yogurt, these healthy and easy vegetarian breakfasts are perfect for busy mornings. Recipes like our Strawberry-Mango Banana Smoothie and Egg Salad Avocado Toast are tasty morning meals you'll catch yourself making on the daily.

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Strawberry-Mango-Banana Smoothie

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Making fruit smoothies at home saves time and money. For this easy smoothie, combine strawberries, mango and banana with a bit of cashew butter and ground chia seeds for body and richness.

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Egg Salad Avocado Toast

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It's like egg salad and avocado toast had a baby in this 5-minute healthy breakfast.

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Ricotta & Yogurt Parfait

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Reminiscent of a lemon cheesecake, this healthy breakfast recipe is easy to throw together in the morning. Or stir together the filling in a jar the night before and top with the fruit, nuts and seeds when you get to work.

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Avocado-Egg Toast

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Try it once and we think you'll agree: Topping avocado toast with an egg is a near-perfect breakfast.

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Scrambled Egg with Tofu

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ANA CADENA

Even when you are cooking for one, it's worth taking a few minutes to make a hot, protein-rich breakfast. By stretching an egg with a little tofu, you reduce the cholesterol and saturated fat. Try tucking it into a whole-wheat pita pocket for a simple and satisfying breakfast sandwich-and a healthful alternative to fast-food fare.

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Really Green Smoothie

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The combination of kale and avocado makes this healthy smoothie recipe extra green. Chia seeds lend a heart-healthy punch of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.

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Berry-Kefir Smoothie

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ANA CADENA

Get a probiotic boost at breakfast when you add kefir to your smoothie. Feel free to use any berries and nut butter you have on hand in this healthy smoothie recipe.

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The Last Avocado Toast Recipe You'll Ever Need

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JAMIE VESPA MS, RD

This is the easiest—and the last—avocado toast recipe you'll ever need to know. Memorize the recipe, then use it as a jumping off point for your favorite avocado toast riffs. Put an egg on it, top it with tuna salad or crown it with fluffy alfalfa sprouts for a healthy and satisfying meal. You can mix up the toppings too—we love Japanese furikake or everything bagel seasoning.

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Greek Yogurt with Strawberries

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Protein-rich Greek yogurt and sweet strawberries make for a super-simple and satisfying snack.

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Strawberry-Chocolate Smoothie

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This creamy, rich strawberry-chocolate smoothie will satisfy any chocolate cravings. It's so decadent you might want it as a dessert, too.

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Muesli with Raspberries

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Start your day off with whole grains, fiber and protein with this easy breakfast.

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Avocado Toast with Burrata

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Burrata (cream-filled fresh mozzarella cheese) takes this avocado toast recipe to the next level for a decadent, yet weekday-friendly breakfast.

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Anti-Inflammatory Beet Smoothie

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PHOTOGRAPHER: FRED HARDY II, FOOD STYLIST: MARGARET MONROE DICKEY, PROP STYLIST: SHELL ROYSTER

This vibrant beet smoothie combines sweet and earthy beets with berries, banana and orange juice for a well-balanced flavor. Look for packaged cooked beets where the prepared fruits and vegetables are sold. Beets are high in belatins, an antioxidant that may help decrease inflammation in the body. Other nutrient-packed ingredients add even more anti-inflammatory power, like the anthocyanins in blueberries and the gingerol found in ginger.

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Yogurt with Blueberries & Honey

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A simple combination of Greek-style yogurt and blueberries gets an extra touch of sweetness from golden honey. It's the perfect balance of protein and fiber to keep you energized.

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Fig & Ricotta Toast

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This easy toast makes a quick breakfast for any day of the week.

Mass of the Ages Episode III Premier

Oh, to be in Chicago a week from tomorrow! Since I can't be, I will look forward with great eagerness to the movie being uploaded to YouTube! 

From One Peter Five

By Jacob Tate

Editor’s note: OnePeterFive contributing editors and writers Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Dr. Mike Sirilla, Mark Nowakowski and myself will be present at the Chicago premier in a few weeks. We look forward to meeting OnePeterFive readers in person! -TSF

We are excited to announce that the third and final installment of the Latin Mass trilogy Mass of the Ages: Guardians of Tradition will premiere on March 9th at the historic Pickwick Theater in Park Ridge, Illinois, just outside of Chicago.

It will also screen in a few other cities and be available for free on our website and the Mass of the Ages YouTube channel starting March 19th.

This is the capstone film of a documentary series that is four years in the making and has been viewed by millions, introducing many to the Latin Mass for the first time.

We traveled all over the world gathering this stunning footage collecting stories in various parts of Africa, France, Italy, the UK, Mexico, and all across the United States.

Cameron O’Hearn, writer and director, describes Episode III in a sentence:

After Pope Francis restricts the Traditional Latin Mass a group of mothers set out to walk from Paris to Rome on a mission: deliver thousands of letters begging him to reverse his decision.

Guardians of Tradition follows these mothers as well as other experts and heroes of the Traditional Catholic Movement to paint a picture of where things stand in the Church as well as the effects of various responses to the ongoing liturgical revolutions.

You will experience the excellent and stunning cinematography you have come to expect from Mass of the Ages, as well as interviews from Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Joseph Fessio, Leah Darrow, Patrick Madrid, His Eminence Cardinal Iñiguez Sandoval, Trent Horn, Martin Mosebach and many more.

Despite the grim outlook that many have for the Church in the coming years, Cameron is optimistic and shares a hopeful message:

I firmly believe that the Traditional Latin Mass is the solid foundation of faith for our confused world—a treasure that must be shared. Mass attendance around the world is on the decline, but traditional masses are overflowing. I believe the next generation will see a growth of traditional parishes like never before. That’s why I founded Mass of the Ages; with the mission to introduce the world to the richness of the Traditional Latin Mass through the powerful medium of film.

The theatrical premiere on March 9th is open to the public, and complimentary tickets are available at latinmass.com/tickets.

For more information and all other inquiries, please visit latinmass.com/press.

See you in Chicago!

Friday After the 2nd Sunday of Lent

Today's Holy Mass from Corpus Christi Church, Tynong, VIC, Australia. You may follow the Mass at Divinum Officium.

Friday of the Second Week of Lent ~ Dom Prosper Guéranger

Friday, Second Week of Lent

From Dom Prosper Guéranger's The Liturgical Year

The Station for today is in the Church of Saint Vitalis, Martyr, the father of the two illustrious Milanese Martyrs, Saints Gervasius and Protasius.

COLLECT

Grant, O Almighty God, that being purified by this fast, we may come to the approaching solemnity with clean hearts. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

EPISTLE

Lesson from the Book of Genesis 37:6-22.

In those days: Joseph said to his brethren: Hear my dream which I have dreamed. I thought we were binding sheaves in the field; and my sheaf arose, as it were, and stood, and your sheaves, standing about, bowed down before my sheaf. His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king? or shall we be subject to thy dominion? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred. He dreamed also another dream, which he told his brethren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were, the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars, worshiping me. And when he had told this to his father and brethren, his father rebuked him, and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother, and thy brethren, worship thee upon the earth? His brethren therefore envied him, but his father considered the thing with himself. And when his brethren abode in Sichem, feeding their father’s flocks, Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Sichem; come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered: I am ready; he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren and the cattle, and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the vale of Hebron, he came to Sichem. And a man found him there wandering in the field, and asked him what he sought. But he answered: I seek my brethren; tell me where they feed their flocks. And the man said to him: They are departed from this place; for I heard them say: “Let us go to Dothain.” And Joseph went forward after his brethren, and found them in Dothain. And when they saw him afar off, before he came nigh them, they thought to kill him, and said one to another: Behold the dreamer cometh; come, let us kill him, and cast him into some old pit: and we will say: Some evil beast hath devoured him; and then it shall appear what his dream avail him. And Ruben hearing this, endeavored to deliver him out of their hands, and said: Do not take away his life, nor shed his blood; but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and keep your hands harmless. Now he said this, being desirous to deliver him out of their hands, and restore him to his father.

Today the Church reminds us of the apostasy of the Jewish nation, and of the consequent vocation of the Gentiles. This instruction was intended for the Catechumens; let us, also, profit by it. The history here related from the Old Testament is a figure of what we read in today’s Gospel. Joseph is exceedingly beloved by his father Jacob, not only because he is the child of his favorite spouse Rachel, but also because of his innocence. Prophetic dreams have announced the future glory of this child; but he has Brothers; and these Brothers, urged on by jealousy, are determined to destroy him. Their wicked purpose is not carried out to the full; but it succeeds at least this far, that Joseph will never more see his native country. He is sold to some merchants. Shortly afterwards, he is cast into prison; but he is soon set free, and is made the Ruler, not of the land of Chanaan, that had exiled him, but of a pagan country, Egypt. He saves these poor Gentiles from starvation during a most terrible famine, nay, he gives them abundance of food, and they are happy under his government. His very Brothers, who persecuted him, are obliged to come down into Egypt and ask food and pardon from their victim. We easily recognize in this wonderful history our Divine Redeemer, Son of God and Son of Mary: he was the victim of his own people’s jealousy, who refuse to acknowledge in him the Messias foretold by the Prophets, although their prophecies were so evidently fulfilled in him. Like Joseph, Jesus is the object of a deadly conspiracy; like Joseph, he is sold. He traverses the shadow of death, but only to rise again, full of glory and power. But it is no longer on Israel that he lavishes the proofs of his predilection; he turns to the Gentiles, and with them he henceforth dwells. It is to the Gentiles that the remnant of Israel will come seeking him when, pressed by hunger after the truth, they are willing to acknowledge, as the true Messias, this Jesus of Nazareth, their King, whom they crucified.

GOSPEL

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Matthew 21:33-46

At that time: Jesus spoke to the multitude of the Jews, and to the chief priests this parable: There was a house-holder who planted a vineyard, and made a hedge round about it, and dug in it a press, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a strange country. And when the time of the fruits drew nigh, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits thereof. And the husbandmen laying hands on his servants, beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the former; and they did to them in like manner. And last of all he sent them his son, saying: They will reverence my son. But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves: This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance. And taking him, they cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do to those husbandmen? They say to him: He will bring those evil men to an evil end: and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen that shall render him the fruit in due season. Jesus saith to them: Have you never read in the Scripture: “The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? By the Lord this hath been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes.” Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and shall be given to a nation yielding the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone, shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they knew that he spoke of them. And seeking to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude; because they held him as a prophet.

Here we have more than the mere figures of the Old Law, which show us our Redeemer in the far distant future; we have the great reality. Yet a little while, and the thrice-holy Victim will have fallen beneath the blows of his persecutors. How awful and solemn are the words of Jesus, as his last hour approaches! His enemies feel the full weight of what he says; but in their pride, they are determined to keep up their opposition to Him who is the Wisdom of the Father. They have made up their minds not to acknowledge him to be what they well know he is—the Stone on which he that falls, shall be broken, and which shall grind to powder him on whom it shall fall. But what is the Vineyard, of which our Lord here speaks? It is Revealed Truth; it is the Rule of Faith and Morals; it is the universal expectation of the promised Redeemer; and lastly, it is the family of the Children of God, his inheritance, his Church. God had chosen the Synagogue as the depository of such a treasure; he willed that his Vineyard should be carefully kept, that it should yield fruit under their keeping, and that they should always look upon it as his possession, and one that was most dear to him. But in its hard-heartedness and avarice, the Synagogue appropriated the Lord’s Vineyard to themselves. In vain did he, at various times, send his Prophets to reclaim his rights; the faithless husbandmen put them to death. The Son of God, the Heir, comes in person. Surely they will receive him with due respect, and pay him the homage due to his Divine character! But no; they have formed a plot against him; they intend to cast him forth out of the Vineyard, and kill him. Come, then, ye Gentiles, and avenge this God! Leave not a stone on stone of the guilty City that has uttered this terrible curse, May his blood be upon us and upon our Children! (Matthew 27:25) But you shall be more than the ministers of the divine justice; you yourselves are now the favored people of God. The apostasy of these ungrateful Jews is the beginning of your salvation. You are to be keepers of the Vineyard to the end of time; you are to feed on its fruits, for they now belong to you. From East and West, from North and South, come to the great Pasch that is being prepared! Come to the font of salvation, O ye new people, who are gathered unto God from all nations under the sun! Your Mother the Church will fill up from you, if you be faithful, the number of the elect; and when her work is done, her Spouse will return, as the dread Judge, to condemn those who would not know the time of their visitation. (Luke 19:44)

Bow down your heads to God.

Grant, we beseech, thee, O Lord, to thy people health both of soul and body, that the continual practice of good works they may always defended by thy powerful protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Let us encourage within ourselves the spirit of humility and penance by the following Hymn, which we take from the Greek Liturgy. It was composed by St. Andrew of Crete.

HYMN
(Feria V. quintæ Hebdomadæ)

I would mourn over the sins of my wretched life; but where shall I begin? O Jesus how shall I commence the lamentation I fain would make this day? Do thou, my merciful God, forgive me my sins.

Come, my poor soul, and thou, too, my body, come, and confess to the great Creator and henceforth, restrain you senseless passions, and offer to God the tears of repentance.

I have imitated my first parent in his sin; I acknowledge my nakedness, for I have lost my God, and the kingdom and the joys of eternity.

Alas, unhappy soul! where fore hast thou made thyself like unto Eve! Oh that guilty look! Oh that cruel wound! Thou didst stretch forth thy hand to the tree and, in thy frowardness, didst eat the forbidden fruit.

Adam was deservedly driven out of Paradise, because he broke one of thy commandments, O my Saviour! I, then, who am for ever setting thy life-giving words at defiance, what punishment shall I not have?

Now is the time for repentance. I come to thee, my Creator! Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes.

Despise me not, my Saviour! Cast me not away from thy face. Take from me the heavy yoke of sin, and, for thy mercy’s sake, pardon me my crimes.

Do thou, my Saviour, and my merciful God, pardon me my sins, deliberate or indeliberate, public or private, known or unknown. Have mercy on me, and save me!

Friday in the 2nd Week of Lent: Stone, Ladder, and Vineyard

A sermon for today. Please, remember to say 3 Hail Marys for the priest.

St Monan, Martyr, in Scotland

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:

ST. ADRIAN, bishop of St. Andrew’s, trained up this holy man from his childhood, and when he had ordained him priest, and long employed him in the service of his own church, sent him to preach the gospel in the isle of May, lying in the bay of Forth. The saint exterminated superstition and many other crimes and abuses, and having settled the churches of that island in good order, passed into the county of Fife, and was there martyred; being slain with above 6000 other Christians, by an army of infidels who ravaged that country in 874. His relics were held in great veneration at Innerny, in Fifeshire, the place of his martyrdom, and were famous for miracles. King David II. having himself experienced the effect of his powerful intercession with God, rebuilt his church at Innerny of stone, in a stately manner, and founded a college of canons to serve it. See King’s calendar, and the manuscript life of this martyr in the Scottish college at Paris, and the Breviary of Aberdeen.

St David, Archbishop, Patron of Wales

From Fr Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints:

ST. DAVID, in Welch Dewid, was son of Xantus, prince of Ceretica, now Cardiganshire. He was brought up in the service of God, and being ordained priest, retired into the Isle of Wight, and embraced an ascetic life, under the direction of Paulinus, a learned and holy man, who had been a disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre. He is said by the sign of the cross to have restored sight to his master, which he had lost by old age, and excessive weeping in prayer. He studied a long time to prepare himself for the functions of the holy ministry. At length, coming out of his solitude, like the Baptist out of the desert, he preached the word of eternal life to the Britons. He built a chapel at Glastenbury, a place which had been consecrated to the divine worship by the first apostles of this island. He founded twelve monasteries, the principal of which was in the vale of Ross, 1 near Menevia, where he formed many great pastors and eminent servants of God. By his rule he obliged all his monks to assiduous manual labour in the spirit of penance: he allowed them the use of no cattle to ease them at their work in tilling the ground. They were never suffered to speak but on occasions of absolute necessity, and they never ceased to pray, at least mentally, during their labour. They returned late in the day to the monastery, to read, write, and pray. Their food was only bread and vegetables, with a little salt, and they never drank anything better than a little milk mingled with water. After their repast they spent three hours in prayer and adoration; then took a little rest, rose at cock-crowing, and continued in prayer till they went out to work. Their habit was of the skins of beasts. When any one petitioned to be admitted, he waited ten days at the door, during which time he was tried by harsh words, repeated refusals, and painful labours, that he might learn to die to himself. When he was admitted, he left all his worldly substance behind him, for the monastery never received anything on the score of admission. All the monks discovered their most secret thoughts and temptations to their abbot. 1 The Pelagian heresy springing forth a second time in Britain, the bishops, in order to suppress it, held a synod at Brevy, in Cardiganshire, in 512, or rather in 519. 2 St. David, being invited to it, went thither, and in that venerable assembly confuted and silenced the infernal monster by his eloquence, learning and miracles. On the spot where this council was held, a church was afterwards built called Llan-Devi-Brevi, or the church of St. David near the river Brevi. At the close of the synod, St. Dubritius, the archbishop of Caerleon, resigned his see to St. David, whose tears and opposition were only to be overcome by the absolute command of the synod; which however allowed him, at his request, the liberty to transfer his see from Caerleon, then a populous city, to Menevia, now called St. David’s, a retired place, formed by nature for solitude, being as it were almost cut off from the rest of the island, though now an intercourse is opened to it from Milford-Haven. Soon after the former synod, another was assembled by Saint David at a place called Victoria; in which the acts of the first were confirmed, and several canons added relating to discipline, which were afterwards confirmed by the authority of the Roman church; and these two synods were, as it were, the rule and standard of the British churches. As for St. David, Giraldus adds, that he was the great ornament and pattern of his age. He spoke with great force and energy; but his example was more powerful than his eloquence; and he has in all succeeding ages been the glory of the British church. He continued in his last see many years; and having founded several monasteries, and been the spiritual father of many saints, both British and Irish, died about the year 544, in a very advanced age. St. Kentigern saw his soul born up by angels into heaven. He was buried in his church of St. Andrew, which hath since taken his name, with the town and the whole diocess. Near the church stand several chapels, formerly resorted to with great devotion: the principal is that of Saint Nun, mother of Saint David, near which is a beautiful well, still frequented by pilgrims. Another chapel is sacred to St. Lily, surnamed Gwas-Dewy, that is, St. David’s man; for he was his beloved disciple and companion in his retirement. He is honoured there on the 3rd, and St. Nun, who lived and died the spiritual mother of many religious women, on the 2nd of March. The three first days of March were formerly holidays in South Wales in honour of these three saints; at present only the first is kept a festival throughout all Wales. John of Glastenbury 3 informs us, that in the reign of King Edgar, in the year of Christ 962, the relics of St. David were translated with great solemnity from the vale of Ross to Glastenbury, together with a portion of the relics of St. Stephen the Protomartyr. 2 By singing assiduously the divine praises with pure and holy hearts, dead to the world and all inordinate passions, monks are styled angels of the earth. The divine praise is the primary act of the love of God; for a soul enamoured of his adorable goodness and perfections, summons up all her powers to express the complacency she takes in his infinite greatness and bliss, and sounds forth his praises with all her strength. In this entertainment she feels an insatiable delight and sweetness, and with longing desires aspires after that bliss in which she will love and praise without intermission or impediment. By each act of divine praise, the fervour of charity and its habit, and with it every spiritual good and every rich treasure, is increased in her: moreover, God in return heaps upon her the choicest blessings of his grace. Therefore, though the acts of divine praise seem directly to be no more than a tribute or homage of our affections, which we tender to God, the highest advantages accrue from these exercises to our souls. St. Stephen of Grandmont was once asked by a disciple, why we are so frequently exhorted in the scriptures to bless and praise God, who, being infinite, can receive no increase from our homages? To which the saint replied: “A man who blesses and praises God receives from thence the highest advantage imaginable; for God, in return, bestows on him all his blessings, and for every word that he repeats in these acts, says: ‘For the praises and blessings which you offer me, I bestow my blessings on you; what you present to me returns to yourself with an increase which becomes my liberality and greatness.’ It is the divine grace,” goes on this holy doctor, “which first excites a man to praise God, and he only returns to God his own gift: yet by his continually blessing God, the Lord pours forth his divine blessings upon him, which are so many new increases of charity in his soul.” 4 3 Note 1. This denomination was given to the valley from the territory where it was situated, which was called Ross. Frequent mention is made of this monastery in the acts of several Irish saints, under the name of Rosnat or Rosnant. [back] Note 2. See Wilkins, Conc. t. 1. [back] Note 3. In his History of Glastenbury, p. 130, published by Mr. Thomas Hearne, in 1726. [back] Note 4. Maximes de S. Etienne de Grandmont, ch. 105. p. 228. Item 1. Sententiarum S. Stephani Grand. c. 105. p. 103. [back]

Collect of St Monan, Martyr ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast (See Note)

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God: that the venerable feast of Blessed Monan, Thy Martyr, may through his intercession be strengthened in love of Thy Name.

Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen. 

I would assume that this indulgence also attaches to the recitation of the Troparion and Kontakion of the Saint of the day in the Eastern Calendar which are in my Eastern Rite post at 00.06.

Nota bene - St Monan is not celebrated on the Universal Calendar, but according to the Roman Martyrology, today is his Feast Day. The Collect is taken from the Common of One Martyr Outside of Paschaltide.

Collect of St David of Wales, Bishop & Confessor ~ Indulgenced on the Saint's Feast (See Note)

According to the Apostolic Penitentiary, a partial indulgence is granted to those who on the feast of any Saint recite in his honour the oration of the Missal or any other approved by legitimate Authority.

V. O Lord, hear my prayer.

R. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God: that the venerable feast of Blessed David, Thy Confessor and Bishop, may increase our devotion and further our salvation.

Through Jesus Christ, Thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.

R. Amen. 

I would assume that this indulgence also attaches to the recitation of the Troparion and Kontakion of the Saint of the day in the Eastern Calendar which are in my Eastern Rite post at 00.06.

Nota bene - St David is not celebrated on the Universal Calendar, but according to the Roman Martyrology, today is his Feast Day. The Collect is taken from the Common of Confessor Bishops. 

Dewi Sant (Saint David), Patron of Wales

Dewi Sant (St David) is the Patron of the Principality of Wales. As in Ireland with the shamrock on St Patrick's Day, the Welsh wear leeks and daffodils in honour of their Patron.

According to tradition, St. David was the son of King Sant of South Wales and St. Non. He was ordained a priest and later studied under St. Paulinus. Later, he was involved in missionary work and founded a number of monasteries. The monastery he founded at Menevia in Southwestern Wales was noted for extreme asceticism. David and his monks drank neither wine nor beer - only water - while putting in a full day of heavy manual labour and intense study. Around the year 550, David attended a synod at Brevi in Cardiganshire. His contributions at the synod are said to have been the major cause for his election as primate of the Cambrian Church. He was reportedly consecrated archbishop by the patriarch of Jerusalem while on a visit to the Holy Land. He also is said to have invoked a council that ended the last vestiges of Pelagianism. David died at his monastery in Menevia around the year 589, and his cult was approved in 1120 by Pope Callistus II. He is revered as the patron of Wales. Undoubtedly, St. David was endowed with substantial qualities of spiritual leadership. What is more, many monasteries flourished as a result of his leadership and good example. His staunch adherence to monastic piety bespeaks a fine example for modern Christians seeking order and form in their prayer life. His feast day is March 1.

The legendary story of Dewi Sant from Storynory, a site with stories for children, including tales of the Saints.

David’s father was the King of Ceredigion, and some say that he was the nephew of the famous English King Arthur, whose knights sat around a round table. David’s mother was a poor but beautiful young woman, and the King did not look after her. When she was ready to give birth to David, she found that she was caught outside in a storm. The sky was filled with great flashes of lightning, and there were terrifying crashes of thunder. Hail and rain were coming down everywhere, except on the spot where she got herself ready to deliver the child. All around her was dry and lit by the sun.

David was baptised by a blind monk. Some of the water from the font splashed onto his eyes, and immediately he could see.

When David grew up he became a monk, and he travelled around Wales and England. He founded monasteries and churches including the famous Abbey at Glastonbury where it is said that King Arthur is buried. You can still see the beautiful ruins of the Abbey to this day.

David told his followers to be vegetarians and, of course, they ate a lot of leeks which grow very well in Wales. The monks who joined him had to give up much more. They didn’t use animals for farming – and they even pulled ploughs themselves instead of using oxen. They weren’t allowed to own any possessions, and if one of them said “My book” he had to do a penitence, which is a kind of punishment.

Despite his tough ways, St. David became very popular – perhaps because he had the gift of working miracles. For instance, when his neighbours' land was drying up, he stuck his staff into the earth and a spring sprung out of the ground. A local ruler became very jealous of his popularity, and his wife told him to send slaves with sticks to beat David and his monks – but as they came to attack the monks, their arms lost all their strength, and all they could do was to hurl filthy insults at them. When they returned home, they found that all their cattle had died. They returned to the monks and asked forgiveness. This time when they went back, all their cattle had come back to life.

Another time, some of St. David’s monks turned against him and decided to poison his food, but a friend of his in Ireland foresaw this in a dream and he sent St. Scuthyn to warn him. There were no ships ready, to carry Scuthyn across the Irish sea to Wales, but he waded into the water and a sea monster picked him up on his back and carried him across. When he arrived he warned St. David that his cook had put some deadly poison into his bread. At dinner time, St. David broke the bread into three pieces. He gave one piece to a dog, and another to a crow – both immediately died. Then he blessed the third piece, which he ate himself. Everyone watching thought that he would surely die too – but he was perfectly alright.

His most famous miracle happened at a great religious meeting. There was a vast crowd of people in the audience, and not one of the bishops who spoke could make themselves heard – except for David. The ground beneath him rose up into a hill so that he stood high up above the crowd, and a dove landed on his shoulder. His voice rang out as clear as a trumpet. St. David is often pictured speaking with a dove on his shoulder.

David became Bishop, not just of the Welsh, but of all the Britons. At that time, the Britons often had to fight off Saxon invaders from Europe. Before one great battle, St. David told the army of the Britons to wear leeks in their hats as a kind of uniform. They won the battle, and ever since leeks have been a welsh symbol. To remember the victory, Welsh soldiers eat raw leeks on the eve of St. David’s day.

St. David lived to be more than 100 years old, and as he was dying, the monastery in which he lay was filled with angels. His last words were “Gwnewch y pethau bychain mewn bywyd,” which means, “Do the little things in life,” and to this day, it’s a common saying in Wales.

The only picture I could find

with his name in Welsh!

Happy St David's Day!

A Mass Worth Sacrificing For

A cri de cœur from a Catholic woman who has been attending the TLM in St Mary's Cathedral, Austin, TX and her anguish at its cancellation on Francis's orders.

From Crisis

By Amanda Farnum

Our family endured many hardships to attend the traditional Latin Mass. Now it's being taken away from us.

Four years ago, right before Covid changed the world, my husband and I decided to embrace all the obstacles that came with attending the nearest Traditional Latin Mass (TLM). We had moved back to our hometown two years earlier and could not find a parish home. We craved something that we couldn’t put into words. 

When we found the Latin Mass, and learned more about it, we knew that this beautiful Liturgy was exactly what we were in search of. Unfortunately, attending this Mass seemed next to impossible. This Mass was at the cathedral in downtown Austin, and we lived 26 miles north of this treasure. Depending on traffic, this Mass was anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour away, and getting to this Mass required us to skip a very important part of every growing family’s day: naptime. 

A 3:30 Mass time meant we had to leave our house by 2:15 to arrive in time to find a spot to sit. At the time, there was only one Mass time—and it was usually standing room only. Mass was over by 5 p.m., which then affected dinner. Eating out was required in order to ensure our hungry children could be fed in a timely manner and still get to bed at a reasonable time. (Our children were still attending Catholic School at this time.)

When we first started attending the TLM, we had three children: two school-aged children and a 2-year-old, and we were pregnant with our fourth child. Mass with a 2-year-old, as any parent will tell you, is always an adventure. The narthex at the cathedral is very small, very hot in the summer, and very cold in the winter. I spent a lot of time in that narthex with a squirmy or fussy baby and toddler. Even though it is separate from the nave of the church, it is not soundproof—it almost seems to make noise louder—so when a child gets especially inconsolable, stepping outside is the only option. 

Outside of St. Mary’s Cathedral, a mother will find the following: homeless people who are friendly with the parish community but will ask you for money; an armed security guard who guards the parish grounds seven days a week; 105-degree weather in the summer; and lots of wind in between the tall buildings in the cold winter months. Mass with small children at the cathedral is quite the experience. 

Covid lockdowns didn’t bring much goodness to the world. It did, however, eventually bring our TLM community another Mass time. Because of the social distancing requirements, the space available in the cathedral, and the number of people attending this Mass, we were blessed with a morning Mass time: 7:30! While we were overjoyed to have another Mass option, 7:30 a.m.—with now five children—is no joke. 

If we want to arrive in time for my son to altar serve, we must leave between 6:15 and 6:30 a.m. In spite of this incredibly early start time, we are not the only parents with multiple children and babies who make the effort to get there on time. It is a beautiful sight to see all the young families who fill the pews at this early Mass. And the silence that is still able to be maintained is quite remarkable. 

A particularly penitential part of our experience of attending Mass at the cathedral with small children is the sliding kneeler. The kneelers alone are enough to tempt one to throw in the towel and find another parish. These easily-sliding kneelers are every toddler’s dream Mass distraction—and every parent’s nightmare. And yet we, along with many other parents, choose to endure them. 

While it was initially very difficult to overcome and accept all of these obstacles and attend Mass here, after a short time it was no burden at all. We looked at our weekly trip to Mass as a pilgrimage, a small penance to take on. It changed our Sundays completely, and for the first time we understood what it meant to keep holy the Sabbath. Our entire Sunday became oriented toward the most important thing we do all week: the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. 

In 18 years of marriage, my husband and I have never felt more welcomed at a parish. We have never found more community. In 42 years as a faithful Catholic, I have never attended a Mass more reverent and more infused with the three Transcendentals: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness. In 20 years as a Catholic convert, my husband has never understood Catholicism more. What first appeared as insurmountable obstacles eventually became small and inconsequential. 

On February 11, 2024, we got the news everyone in the community was holding their breath to hear. In accordance with the motu proprio Traditionis Custodes, and by the instruction of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Traditional Latin Mass will no longer be celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral as of March 19th. We are heartbroken. The other night, I thought about those kneelers that have made Mass with toddlers very difficult, and I cried at the thought of not having them anymore. I would do anything to be able to continue to worship with those kneelers in that beautiful cathedral with all of those obstacles. 

Our time at St. Mary’s, worshipping in the Traditional Latin Mass, has completely changed our family life. When you find the Traditional Mass, you also find Traditional Catholic devotion and Traditional Catholic piety. Our spiritual lives have been enriched so greatly by this beautiful, timeless, ageless Liturgy. We are overjoyed that we overcame all the obstacles to be a part of it in this beautiful space, if only for a short time. We hope and pray this Liturgy will continue to be a part of our lives and that other families will come to know it and be enriched by it as well. In spite of whatever obstacles are keeping you from attending your nearest Traditional Latin Mass, I assure you, they are worth embracing; and God will surely bless you for it.