ChurchPop: So, Christina the Astonishing is sort of a saint. She lived in the late 12th century and early 13th century, right around the time the Church was forming the modern canonization process, and she’s never been been formally canonized. Nonetheless, she … Continue reading
Category: Lives of the Saints
St. Telemachus: Martyr Whose Death ended Gladiator Fights
ChurchPop: In ancient Rome, a popular form of entertainment was gladiator fights. If you’ve seen the movie Gladiator, you have an idea of what they were like: violent, cruel, and often ended in people’s death – all just for entertainment. Read … Continue reading
Sainthood Cause Entered for Jesuit Martyr in Philippines
UCANews: The southern Philippine Diocese of Dipolog has launched the first step toward the beatification and canonization of an Italian Jesuit missionary murdered in Mindanao in the 1600s. More here.
‘I Fear Only Bad Catholics’: Saint Bernadette of Lourdes
Another great post by Monsignor Pope Community in Mission: The average person may worry about any number of things: finances; security; strife in the family, community, nation, or world; health; the status of a relationship; how he is perceived by … Continue reading
Religious Brother From NH on Path to Sainthood
Seacoastonline: Brother William Gagnon, a Dover [New Hampshire] native born in 1905, is on the path to become the first saint in New Hampshire’s history and only the second person born in the United States to be canonized, or declared … Continue reading
Saint Germanus: Here’s to You!
Saint Germanus of Auxerre was the Bishop of Auxerre in Gaul, born in that same city, in 380. He died at Ravenna in 448 while on a mission in Italy. The story of his conversion is peculiar indeed. Born into … Continue reading
St. Giuseppe Moscati: Doctor of the Poor
Good short review here by Father C. John McCloskey of Antonio Tripodoro, S.J.’s biography of a wonderful saint. St. Giuseppe cared for the wounded and dying soldiers in the Italian army during World War I. With them, as with all his … Continue reading
St. Martin of Tours Raised a Catechumen to Life in Order to Baptize Him
Feastday of St. Martin of Tours, uncle of Saint Patrick Catholic Online: As disciples came to Martin for direction, he founded a monastery for them called Ligug‚. It was there he performed the first of many miracles. When a catechumen died … Continue reading
Martyred Syrian Bishop to Be Beatified
Catholic Herald: Bishop Melki, who was martyred during the Assyrian Genocide, will soon be ‘blessed’. The bishop was killed in Gazarta during the sayfo – “putting to the sword” – of Syrians in 1915, after he refused to convert to Islam. … Continue reading
November 3: One Big Day for Many Saints
Today, in this month dedicated to All Saints, our calendar gives us five saints to venerate. Paging through the Saint Benedict Center book, Saints to Remember, by the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Still River, Massachusetts, I … Continue reading
Pope Canonizes Parents of St. Therese
CNA: On Sunday Pope Francis canonized four new saints, whose greatest legacy he said was their tireless imitation of Jesus in humble service to others, which is something each of us are asked to emulate. “The men and women canonized today … Continue reading
Twelve Morsels From Saint Teresa of Avila
When she felt that she was going to go into an ecstasy and levitate she summoned the nuns to hold her down and sit on her so this would not happen publicly. “For mental prayer in my opinion is nothing … Continue reading
Pope Francis Canonizes Father Junipero Serra
Sister Maria Philomena wrote a biography of Father Serra, The Father of California. You can read it here. In his homily for the canonization, Pope Francis stressed the zeal of the saint to spread the joy of the gospel unto … Continue reading
Saint Peter Claver: Slave of the Slaves
Yesterday was the feast day of one of my favorite saints, the Jesuit missioner Peter Claver. His heroic acts of charity with the Negroes of Colombia, South America, surely have no equal in the annals of hagiography. I have excerpted … Continue reading
Martyr Bl. John Forest and a Prophecy Very Literally Fulfilled
Great short life of a valiant friar by Rick Becker King Henry VIII’s presumptuous rebellion against the pope brought out the worst – and the best – in the Catholic Church in England. Some Catholics turned traitor to the Church … Continue reading