February, the Dark Threshold

Madonna di Montevergine, ora pro nobis

February arrives stripped of illusions. The year is no longer new, but it has not yet learned how to endure. Light returns reluctantly, thin and colorless, as if purified by cold rather than welcomed by warmth.

Candlemas reflects this tension. Flame is held against encroaching shadow. The Purification of the Blessed Virgin reminds us that holiness advances quietly, through obedience and endurance. At Montevergine, Our Lady stands as a sovereign presence in the mountain mist, severe and maternal at once.

It is also the month of blood and memory. St. Valentine, reduced by modernity to sugar and sentiment, remains first and last a martyr, bearing witness that love is proved only through sacrifice. For me, February is sealed by a more personal reckoning, the month my father passed from this world, leaving silence where authority once stood.

February does not console. It purifies. It teaches that love, faith, and lineage endure only by passing through darkness without complaint.

~ By Giovanni di Napoli, January 31st, Feast of Beata Maria Cristina di Savoia

Saints of the Day for February

(L-R) Sant'Agata, Madonna di Lourdes, and Sant'Antonino di Sorrento

February is traditionally the month the Church dedicates to the Holy Family.

• February 1 — Novena to Santa Scolastica da Nursia
• February 1 — Feast of San Raimondo di Fitero
• February 2 — Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Candlemas)
• February 2 — Feast of the Madonna di Montevergine
• February 2 — Feast of the Madonna del Soccorso di Sciacca
• February 3 — Feast of San Biagio
• February 3 — Feast of St. Werburga of Mercia
• February 4 — Feast of Sant’Andrea Corsini
• February 4 — Feast of Santa Giovanna di Valois
• February 5 — Feast of Sant’Agata of Sicily
• February 5 — Novena to San Valentino Martire
• February 5 — Novena to Sant’Antonino di Sorrento
• February 6 — Feast of Beato Angelo da Furci
• February 6 — Feast of Santa Dorotea
• February 7 — Feast of San Lorenzo Maiorano
• February 7 — Feast of San Riccardo del Wessex
• February 7 — Feast of Sant'Egidio Maria di San Giuseppe
• February 7 — Feast of Beato Pio IX
• February 8 — Feast of San Giovanni de Matha
• February 9 — Feast of San Sabino Vescovo
• February 9 — Feast of San Corrado di Molfetta
• February 9 — Feast of Sant’Apollonia di Alessandria
• February 10 — Feast of Santa Scolastica da Nursia
• February 11 — Feast of the Madonna di Lourdes
• February 11 — Feast of San Severino di Agaune
• February 12 — Feast of San Giuliano L'Ospitaliere
• February 12 — Feast of Santa Eulàlia of Barcelona
• February 13 — Novena to Santa Margherita da Cortona
• February 13 — Feast of Beata Beatrice di Ornacieu
• February 14 — Feast of San Nostriano di Napoli
• February 14 — Feast of San Valentino Martire
• February 14 — Feast of Sant'Antonino di Sorrento
• February 14 — Feast of Santa Fortunata
• February 15 — Feast of San Claudio de la Colombière
• February 16 — Feast of Santa Giuliana di Nicomedia
• February 17 — Feast of the Santi Sette Fondatori dell'Ordine dei Servi di Maria
• February 18 — Feast of St. Bernadette Soubirous
• February 19 — Feast of Beata Elisabetta di Mantova
• February 20 — Feast of San Leone di Catania
• February 22 — Feast of the Chair of San Pietro Apostolo at Antioch
• February 22 — Feast of Santa Margherita da Cortona
• February 23 — Feast of San Pier Damiani
• February 24 — Beato Tommaso Maria Fusco
• February 25 — Feast of Santa Valburga
• February 26 — Novena to San Tommaso D'Aquino
• February 27 — Feast of San Gabriele dell’Addolorata
• February 27 — Feast of San Leandro di Siviglia

• February 28 — Feasts of Saints Romano di Condat and Lupicino Abate

Candlemas at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Jersey City, New Jersey