Saint Wenceslas
The life story of Saint Wenceslas (907-935) is a tangled web. Son of the Duke of Bohemia, he lived in a land where Christianity was beginning to spread thanks to the evangelization of the Slavic peoples initiated a few decades earlier by Saints Cyril and Methodius.
Saint Vincent de Paul
In Europe torn apart by the spread of Protestantism, Saint Vincent de Paul (c. 1576-1660) was one of the most shining examples of charity working through the Church, so solicitous in helping the poorest and so brilliant that his legacy lives on thanks to the institutes he founded.
Saints Cosmas and Damian
They treated the sick without asking for compensation so were nicknamed Anargyroi, a Greek word meaning “without money”.
Our Lady of the Rosary of San Nicolás
On 25 September 1983, a mother named Gladys Quiroga de Motta, while praying the Rosary in San Nicolás de los Arroyos (Argentina), saw the Virgin Mary holding the Child Jesus. It was the first of a long series of apparitions.
Saint Pacificus
His favourite passage from the Gospel was taken from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God” (Mt 5:9). Thus, when at the age of 17, Carlo Antonio Divini (1653-1721) joined the Franciscans of the friary of Forano, it was natural for him to choose Pacificus as his religious name.
Saint Pio of Pietrelcina
“The fate of the chosen souls is to suffer”, said Saint Pio of Pietrelcina (1887-1968), born Francesco Forgione, and raised in a devout family that recited the Rosary together every evening...
Saints Maurice and companions
The oldest written source on the martyrdom of St Maurice (†287) and his companions of the Theban Legion, led by him, is the Passio Agaunensium martyrum. This was written in the 5th century by St Eucherius of Lyon.
Saint Matthew
First publican, then apostle and evangelist, and finally saint. Matthew, whom Luke and Mark also call Levi, describes the radical turning point in his life in this way: “And as Jesus passed forth from thence, He saw a man named Matthew, sitting in the customhouse. And He said unto him, ‘Follow Me.’ And he rose and followed Him” (Mt 9:9).
Korean Holy Martyrs
“Since we cannot find any means of changing the minds of Christians, it is imperative that they die in order to destroy the germ of their madness”. This was the edict of King Sunjo in 1802, which ratified the persecutions that had already been taking place since the end of the 18th century. Their blood has not been fruitless. In 1886 religious freedom was granted.
Saint Januarius
Januarius was Bishop of Benevento. Traces of his veneration exist in several ancient sources. His martyrdom took place at the beginning of the 4th century, during Diocletian's persecutions. The invocation that the faithful have been repeating for centuries in Naples relates to the phenomenon of the liquefaction of the blood of the glorious martyr.
Saint Joseph of Cupertino
That the gift of infused science exists can be ascertained by reading about Saint Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663), who yet called himself Brother Donkey. Even more than for his infused science, he became known for his levitations, which he would have liked to conceal.
Saint Robert Bellarmine
Author of ascetic, pastoral and theological works that earned him the title of Doctor of the Church, Saint Robert Bellarmine (1542-1621) was one of the most erudite men of his time, a strenuous defender of Catholic orthodoxy after the divisions caused by the Protestant Reformation.
