Naples boasts the Basilica of Saint Peter in Aram, which according to tradition was founded on the place where St. Peter baptized St. Aspren (1st-2nd century), the first bishop of Naples.

While Constantius II used every means to impose Aryan heresy throughout the Roman Empire, Saint Eusebius of Vercelli (end of the 3rd century - 371) was one of the few bishops to defend strenuously, at the cost of persecution, the righteous faith in the Son of God “begotten, not created, of the same substance as the Father”, as had been solemnly confirmed by the Nicene Creed.

A distinguished moral theologian, composer of famous melodies in Neapolitan and Italian (including the Christmas carol “Tu scendi dalle stelle”), able to speak of the truths of faith to both learned and simple people, author of over a hundred works, some of which have been translated into more than 70 languages.

Before choosing holiness and consecrating his life to the greater glory of God, Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) had had a rather turbulent youth. The great protagonist of the Catholic Reformation was the last of 13 children of a couple of the high Spanish nobility, who had baptized him with the name of Iñigo.

The nickname of Chrysologus, Greek term for “golden word”, was deserved for the eloquence with which he set out the truths of faith. Allegedly it was given to him by the Empress Galla Placidia (daughter of Theodosius I, one of the three emperors who had jointly issued the Edict of Thessalonica), a fervent Christian and central figure in the history of the 5th century....

Bethany is two to three kilometres from Jerusalem and is known because Jesus passed through there several times during His public life. It was the village of Lazarus (hence the name given to it by the Arabs, al-Azariya, which means “of Lazarus”) and of his two sisters Mary and Martha.

“I feel that the Lord has destined me to be an oblation, a sacrifice of suffering... I consider the day I have not suffered a lost day for me,” said Saint Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception (1910-1946), a native of a village in the state of Kerala, India.

Saint Pantaleon is one of the most famous figures to have witnessed to his faith in Christ with his martyrdom during the Great Persecution (303-305). He is the patron saint of midwives and co-patron of doctors together with the famous Cosmas and Damian.

Today the Church jointly celebrates Saints Anne and Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary and therefore elected instruments in God's plan of salvation. Their story is not told in the canonical Gospels, but appears for the first time in the apocryphal Proto Gospel of James, a text written in the middle of the second century and with Gnostic accents.

Saint James, called the Greater to distinguish him from the apostle of the same name (James, son of Alphaeus), was the first of the Twelve to bear witness to Christ through martyrdom. Son of Zebedee and Salome, one of the pious women who followed Our Lord on Calvary, he was the brother of St. John the Evangelist.

The great Lebanese miracle worker and hermit Saint Charbel Makhlouf (1828-1898) was the fifth child of two peasants, who named him Youssef Antoun (Joseph Anthony). His father died when he was only three years old. His mother remarried two years later to a very pious man who directed him in daily prayer....

On 1 October 1999, she was proclaimed by John Paul II Co-Patroness of Europe, for good reason. Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373) is in fact one of those models of holiness capable of containing multiple vocations, which make her one of the richest and most luminous figures of the 14th century as well as a constant spur towards Christian perfection.