‘Do Not Be Unbelieving Any More’

St. Thomas is officially the patron saint of architects, but he must also have a special concern for all those—I imagine many if not all of us—who at some point in our lives have had any doubts about our faith.… Read More

The Replacement Apostle

After the Ascension, the apostles had a bit of housekeeping to do, as Acts 1 reports. The issue: how to fill the spot Judas had held among the Twelve. The replacement eventually chosen was a man known to us as… Read More

Encountering the Resurrected Christ

The story of Christ’s appearance to St. Paul on the road to Damascus has special significance. First, and most obviously, the account stands apart from the others because St. Paul was not one of the original Twelve. This is important… Read More

Rekindling ‘Amazement’ at the Resurrection

Easter Saints Part II—In the later years of his papacy, John Paul II called for a rekindling of ‘Eucharistic amazement.’ This Easter season is an opportunity for us to also rekindle our amazement at the resurrection, following the example of… Read More

Lessons from St. Mary Magdalene on Longing for Christ

There were many initial witnesses to the resurrection—but who was the first to actually see the resurrected Christ? Answer: St. Mary Magdalene, at least according to the Gospel of John. In Chapter 20, we read that as she came across… Read More

Why Is Mexico so Catholic?

What is it that makes Mexico—which Pope Benedict XVI is visiting this weekend—so Catholic? With more than 80 percent of the population professing the faith, our neighbor to the south is the second-most Catholic country in the world, surpassed only… Read More

Saints and Sexual Temptation

It seems that even the best of us—namely, the saints—are not free from sexual temptation. There are numerous ways to avoid temptation, but sometimes we forget the most obvious one: fleeing from it, or, when it won’t leave, forcefully driving… Read More

When Sibling Saints Squabbled

Sibling bickering, it seems, does not stop even when both brother and sister are saints. The year was 547 AD and St. Benedict of Nursia—yes, that St. Benedict, for whom the Benedictines are named—was having a rare once-a-year visit with… Read More

The Saint Who Saved the Church from Schism—Or Died Trying

Church history offers us up examples of saints who stood in the breach, so to speak—saints who seemed to be all that there was that stood between the Church and spiritual disaster. One of them was St. Catherine of Siena.

The Saint Who Bowed to Church Authority

St. Francis’ commitment to Church authority was put to the test when St. Francis was charged with drafting a new rule for the order that he had founded.

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About Stephen Beale

Stephen Beale

Stephen Beale is a freelance writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. Raised as an evangelical Protestant, he is a convert to Catholicism. He is a former news editor at GoLocalProv.com and was a correspondent for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where he covered the 2008 presidential primary. He has appeared on Fox News, C-SPAN and the Today Show and his writing has been published in the Washington Times, Providence Journal, the National Catholic Register and on MSNBC.com and ABCNews.com. A native of Topsfield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Brown University in 2004 with a degree in classics and history. His areas of interest include Eastern Christianity, Marian and Eucharistic theology, medieval history, and the saints.