Author: Editor

(1310-1370) Guillaume De Grimoard, who would later be crowned Pope Urban V, was born to a noble family of Languedoc, France. He joined the Benedictines and taught law at Avignon. In 1352, he became the abbot of Saint-Germain Auxerre and in 1361 of Saint-Victor in Marseille. In 1362 he succeeded Innocent VI as pope and […]

(3rd century) St. Gatianus was sent to Gaul by Pope Fabian in the year 250 with six other bishops. Upon his arrival there he found a people steeped in paganism. Gatianus tried to show the people the absurdity of their pagan beliefs and the powerlessness of their idols. Instead he tried to show them the […]

(1098-1179) Hildegard of Bingen was the 10th child of a well-to-do family of West Franconia (now Germany). She had visions connected with illness (perhaps migraines) from a young age, and in 1106 her parents sent her to a 400-year-old Benedictine monastery that had only recently added a section for women. They put her under the […]

(1829-1916) Today’s saint was born Wenceslaus Kozminski in Biala Podlaska in 1829. At the age of 16 he had already lost his faith and his father had died. He studied architecture at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw. Suspected of participating in a rebellious conspiracy against the Czarists in Poland, he was imprisoned from […]

(1819-1876) Blessed Mary Frances Schervier was a descendant of a distinguished family in the old imperial city of Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle. Her hopes to enter a religious order were cut short by the early death of her mother in 1832, when Frances was only 13 years old. It fell upon Mary Frances to remain at […]

(1542-1591) St. John was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, in Fontiveros, Avila, Spain in 1542. His father was employed by wealthy family members as an accountant, but they disowned him when he married a poor woman from the lower class. As a result of his family’s poverty, John’s family suffered greatly. His father died […]

(284-304 AD) Lucy was born in 283 to wealthy Roman parents in the area of Siracusa in western Sicily. Her father was Roman, while her mother, Eutychia, had Greek origins. When Lucy was 5 years old, her father died, leaving Lucy and Eutychia to fend for themselves. Lucy was a Christian and knew that she […]

(470-549) It is believed that Finnian was born near the present town of New Ross in Ireland. St. Abban baptized him, and at an early age he was placed under the care of Bishop Fortchern of Trim. Sources say Finnian studied for a time at the austere monastic center of Martin of Tours in Gaul. […]

(304-384) Damasus was the son of a Roman priest, possibly of Spanish extraction. Damasus started as a deacon in his father’s church and served as a priest in what later became the basilica of San Lorenzo in Rome. He served Pope Liberius (352-366) and followed him into exile. When Liberius died, Damasus was elected bishop […]