Category: Lives of the Saints

The reason that the Church honors the saints is not just to give them glory, but to hold them up as exemplars for imitation. Many of the saints became saints themselves by reading the lives of saints. Saint Ignatius of Loyola’s by reading the Life of Christ and the Lives of the Saints. If these men can make such heroic sacrifices for God, then why can’t I, he wondered. Wonder turned into determination.

Some saints wrote biographies of other saints. Saint Athanasius wrote the Life of Saint Anthony of the Desert, a work that indirectly influenced Saint Augustine. Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote the Life of Saint Gregory Thaumaturgus. Saint Bonaventure wrote the Life of Saint Francis of Assisi. Saint Bede wrote the Life of Saint Aidan. Some saints wrote autobiographies: Saints Augustine, Thérèse of Liseux, Antonio Maria Claret, and Margaret Mary Alacoque are among them.

In a letter to her aunt, Isidore Guerin, Saint Thérèse wrote: “I love to read the lives of the saints very much. The account of their heroic deeds inflames my courage and spurs me on to imitate them.”

Charles de Foucauld to be Canonized

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Asia News: Charles de Foucauld, the apostle of the desert, will be proclaimed saint, the “universal brother” indicated by Pope Francis in the encyclical Fratelli tutti as heir to the legacy and dream of Francis of Assisi. More here.

Saints of Iraq

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National Catholic Register, Edward Pentin: As one of the oldest continuous Christian communities in the world, the Christians of Iraq — whom Pope Francis will visit March 5-8 — have not only given the world a culturally rich ecclesiastical heritage, … Continue reading →

Brother Andre the Undertaker

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Mary O’Regan: The Holy Cross Brothers – the religious order to which Little Brother Andre belonged – were often asked by families to prepare a dead body for burial.  It may sound an odd practice to us, that a brother … Continue reading →