February

One of the great things about the Catholic Church is its devotion to its saints, whether or not they have been canonised. When the question was asked of Pope St John Paul II as to whether or not he was doing too many canonisations, his reply was that the Church can never have too many saints.

This issue of MM is the last in which Kilian de Lacy will be writing the ‘Saints’ column. I’m sure that readers have appreciated the great work that Kilian has done down the years. Her first contribution was in March 2008, when Fr Brian O’Connell was the editor. For most of those years there were three holy people each month; since November 2020, two. My estimate is that Kilian has introduced readers to at least 486 saints and blesseds – what a remarkable record!

Many thanks, Kilian, for the great work you have done in promoting devotion to the saints the Church recognises in its calendar.

The man taking over the saints column is already well known to MM readers, and his first contribution is on page 36. Welcome back to Fr Mervyn Duffy SM! May you be writing for MM for as many years as Kilian de Lacy did!