The heroic life of Saint Maria Goretti (1890-1902) is like an anthology of virtues, full of teachings now forgotten by the world and even mocked. “The sweet little martyr of purity” (as Pius XII called her when he canonized her) preferred earthly death rather than sin with the one who became her executioner.

“It is the nature of great hearts to put themselves at the service of others without reward and to fight not for pay”, said the founder of the Barnabites, Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502-1539), one of the protagonists of the Catholic Reformation.

Tireless in charity, in prayers, in fasting. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal (1271-1336), also known as Isabella of Aragon, was a woman who marked an era, although not many people know her extraordinary figure today.

We often wrong Saint Thomas, also known as Didymus (both names, the first Aramaic and the other Greek, mean “twin”), by remembering only his disbelief. This, among other things, plays a providential role in the economy of salvation, as Saint Gregory the Great effectively explained in one of his homilies.

Before deciding for religious life and becoming the patron saint of Lecce in a very singular way, Saint Bernardino Realino (1530-1616) had had an honest and brilliant career as an administrator. He grew up with many interests and sometimes risking the abyss, from which he was saved thanks to his faith.

The faithful of all times and in particular the saints have always shown great piety towards the Most Precious Blood of Jesus, which the Church celebrates on 1 July in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, with the liturgical rank of solemnity.

The day after the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the Church celebrates the many Christian martyrs who were brutally killed during the first persecution in Rome, which took place under Nero and began in 64.

Christians of all times owe much to Saints Peter and Paul (†67), two Apostles with different charisms but united by the same love for God and for souls. Through preaching, suffering and the witness given to Christ by their personal martyrdom under Nero they enabled the development of the Church and the transmission of the Christian faith.

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-202), a disciple of Saint Polycarp, in turn a disciple of Saint John the Evangelist, was the first theologian who lived after the apostolic age to compile an organic synthesis of Christianity

Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 370-444) in the East was called “Seal of all the Fathers” because of the way he expounded the doctrine of the Incarnation and defended orthodoxy, playing a central role in the Christological dispute that led to the Council of Ephesus in 431.

“Either we know how to find the Lord in our ordinary life, or we will never find Him,” taught Saint Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975). The founder of Opus Dei (Work of God) had the merit of remembering that all men are called to holiness, which can be achieved first of all through the sanctification of daily work.

The day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Church celebrates the liturgical commemoration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, awaiting with firm hope the fulfilment of the promise made by the Heavenly Mother to the three little shepherds of Fatima: “Finally, my Immaculate Heart will triumph”.