Maura was born in the ninth century at Troyes in Champagne.  A very prayerful child, she was able through her example and fervent prayers to convert her entire family to Christ.

Throughout her life, this virgin remained devoted to prayer and…

Unfortunately, there is little reliable information about St. Leonard. Some sources state that he was a Frank courtier who was converted by St. Remigius. It is also said that he refused the offer of a see from his godfather, King Clovis I,…

The Church venerates the sanctity of Sylvia and Gordian, the parents of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, as well as his two aunts, Tarsilla and Emiliana. St. Sylvia, who was a native of Sicily, and St. Gordian who was from the…

Charles was the son of Count Gilbert Borromeo and Margaret Medici, sister of Pope Pius IV. He was born at the family castle of Arona on Lake Maggiore, Italy, on October 2. He received the clerical tonsure when he was…

On May 16, 1962, Pope John XXIII, in a ceremony at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, made Martin de Porres the first black American saint. Martin was born on December 9, 1579, in Lima, Peru, the illegitimate son of Don…

Since the eleventh century, the Feast of All Souls has been celebrated for deceased Christians that they might "rest in peace." Catholics believe, as we recite in the Creed, in the "communion of saints."

In the Feast of All Saints and…

Today is the Feast of All Saints, which is celebrated every November 1. By the fourth century, this Feast of All Martyrs, as it was then known, was celebrated on May 13. The words "martyr" and "saint" originally meant basically…

Wolfgang was born in Swabia, Germany in 930 A.D. He studied at Reichenau under the Benedictines and at Wurzburg before serving as a teacher in the cathedral school of Trier. He soon entered the Benedictines at Einsiedeln in 964 and…

Jesuit Doorkeeper and Mystic

St. Alphonsus Rodriguez was born in Segovia, Spain, on July 25, 1532 and died October 31, 1617. He was the son of a wealthy wool merchant who took over the family business after his father’s death.  He…

One of the lesser-known Church Fathers, Serapion lived around the latter part of the second century. He was a contemporary of St. Jerome and much admired for his teachings on Scripture. There is not much that remains of his writings,…