Author: Editor

(1182-1226) Francis was born in 1182 the son of a rich fabric merchant Pietro di Bernardone and a noblewoman from Provence, Pica. While his father was away on business (possibly to France), Pica had her newborn son baptized with the name Giovanni. It was Pietro who later began to call him Francesco (Francis in English), […]

(1798 -1856) Anne-Thérèse Guérin was born in Etables, France, but eventually became an American saint. Her life was shattered by her father’s murder when she was 15. For several years she cared for her mother and younger sister. She entered the Sisters of Providence in 1823, taking the name Sister St. Theodore. An illness during novitiate […]

Perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet, guardian angels are not only for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer and to present their […]

(1873-1897) Thérèse Françoise Marie Alençon once said her parents were “Worthy more of heaven than of Earth.” She was the last of eight children, three of whom died in childhood. Orphaned of her mother at the age of 4, she relived the drama of abandonment as each of her four sisters in turn entered Carmelite […]

(c. 340-420) St. Jerome is considered to be a “Father of the Church.” He is best known for his translation of the Bible into Latin, called the Vulgate (or “common language of the people”), historically the most important vernacular edition of the Holy Scriptures. After having been tutored by his father in religion and essential […]

One can hardly count the number of churches, shrines, monasteries, chapels — but also mountains, caves, and hills – named for St. Michael the Archangel. The name Michael, which is mentioned five times in the Bible, is derived from a Hebrew expression meaning, “Who is like unto God?” A string of these holy places dedicated […]

(907-929) We have all heard the carol of “Good King Wenceslaus,” but who was this man and what is the message of the carol? Wenceslaus stands as an example for Christian values in the midst of the political intrigues which characterized 10th-century Bohemia. Wenceslaus was born near Prague, son of the Duke of Bohemia. His […]

(1581-1660) St. Vincent de Paul was born to a poor peasant family in the French village of Pouy. He did so well learning at the hands of Franciscans that he was hired to tutor other children. He used the monies he earned teaching to continue his formal studies at the University of Toulose, where he […]

Legends about Sts. Cosmas and Damian far outrun any verifiable historical details about their lives. A meager collection of long-lost documents builds a narrative that Cosmas and Damian were twins and natives of Saudi Arabia who studied medicine in Syria. They became known as the “moneyless ones” for refusing to accept payment for their healing […]