Pope Francis on February 21, 2015 named St. Gregory of Narek a Doctor of the Church , one of the highest distinctions in Roman Catholicism.
This 10th century Armenian mystic and theologian was recently given his own liturgical feast day on the Roman calendar. And now Catholics will keep his memory each year on February 27.
It is quite extraordinary for a saint who was not a Latin, but an Armenian a member of a Church that dates back to apostolic times.
The formal relationship between the Armenian Church and the Latin Church started only in the 12
thcentury.
Though the Armenians had much more contact with the Byzantines, the Crusades brought Latin Catholics back into contact with the Armenians.
WATERTOWN â Perhaps the driving factor for why Robert A. Irvine continues to work as a crossing guard at 85 years old is because his late wife inspired him after they did it for so long just blocks from each other.
Mr. Irvine was married for 58 years to his wife Shirley. They were friends before dating, and he just called her one day. It all worked out from there, as he puts it.
Shirley was a crossing guard at the corner of Lansing and Hoard streets, while Mr. Irvine coordinated the mail at the New York Air Brake Corporation on Starbuck Avenue. They had children together, then got to meet their grandchildren, and he worked the mail for 36 years.