'Blessed Apollinaris spilled his blood many times and with his wounds and the faith of his soul bore witness to his Lord'
Macrina, after a lifetime of service to others, was so poor when she died that Gregory had to provide a shroud in which to bury her.
Summary: St Hedwig: Born in 1374, Hedwig was betroth to the heir of Austria at the age of one and married to Jagiello when she was only twelve. She was later falsely denounced as an adulteress and a bigamist. She faced these slanders bravely and with faith. She [...]
After his ordination he travelled over nearly the whole Roman world, preaching against pagans, Jews, and heretics, and especially the Arians
Pavel, a Byzantine Rite Catholic priest, prisoner no. 681, suffered mistreatment and humiliation which brought about his death.
Carmelite spirituality is like falling in love and the pearl of great price. If your love is real, it will be all-consuming. All lesser loves fall away.
Bonaventure is called "the Seraphic Doctor" because of his insightful wisdom
Summary: St Kateri. Many Catholics outside of the USA will not have heard of this young Native American girl, Bl Kateri Tekakwitha (Teck-ak-with-a), who lived in the 17th Century. She was born in 1656, at Fonda, upstate New York. Her mother was [...]
Camillus saw the foolishness of his ways, repented and began to live a life of penance.
Summary: Kateri Tekakwitha was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and Kahenta, a woman of the Alonquin tribe who had found Christ through the evangelisation done by the Jesuit priests in what is now upstate New York. She is the first native [...]
Summary: Henry, born of royalty, was educated at the cathedral school of Hildesheim. He was wise, prudent and never grasping. He built monasteries and endowed dioceses. He threw his weight behind many Church reforms in Germany especially priestly reform. Pope Benedict VIII crowned him and his wife Holy [...]
Juanita was too young she to receive her first communion learned how to make communions of desire.
No reference is made to Veronica or the towel in the canonical Gospels. Even so....
St Benedict was founder of Western monasticism and author of the Rule which gave monasticism its constitution
Summary: St John of Dukla: a Polish Franciscan who worked among Catholics in the Ukraine is one of 339 saints canonised by Pope John Paul II.
St Canute IV, was the illegitimate son of Swein Estrithson, nephew of King Canute the Great. Both were great in diferent ways.
Summary and Homily for the Chinese Martyrs: This is a slightly abbreviated version of a homily delivered by Father Li on October 29th. 2000 in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong, to mark the canonisation of one hundred and twenty Chinese [...]
Many clerical, religious and lay people were killed in China but the Christian presence remained.
Kilian, an Irish monk, like Columbanus, Fiacra, Fursey and Feargal went on an adventure to Europe spreading the good news.
In 755 Maelruain founded a monastery at Tallaght in south Co Dublin
St Maria Goretti is often seen as a patron saint both for those who have been abused and for those who are guilty of abuse.
Summary: St Moninne, also known a Darerca or Bline one of Ireland’s earliest women saints, founded and was the abbess of a community of hermits which initially consisted of 8 virgins and a widow with a baby.
Anthony wore himself out in the service of Jesus and the poor and died aged thirty-six.
Summary: St Andrew of Crete (7th Century) is recognised as a great theologian, homilist, and hymnographer.
Patrick Duffy tells what is known about St Andrew.
Early life
Elizabeth cared for lepers with her own hands and had an extraordinary knowledge.
Summary: Was St Thomas called “The Twin” because he had two sides to his personality – a bit like you and me?
Fr John Murray PP gives us some insights into the personality of [...]
Thomas is patron of blind people, probably because of his own spiritual blindness.
If it rains on Saint Swithun's day, 15th July, it will rain for 40 days and 40 nights indicate the saint's displeasure.
Saint Oliver Plunkett was the last person to be martyred for the Catholic faith in England in 1681.
Besides being put to death they were made objects of amusement; they were clothed in hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs.
