8. St. Juan Diego – The peasant to whom Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, Juan Diego is essentially the evangelizer of an entire hemisphere. Blessed Pope John Paul II named Our Lady of Guadalupe the patroness of the Americas in 1999 and canonized Juan Diego in 2002. He is the first indigenous Mexican saint.
9. St. Daniel Comboni – Another great missionary in the history of the Church, Daniel Comboni traveled from his native Italy to Central Africa and founded the Comboni Missionaries and the Comboni Missionary Sisters in 1867 and 1872, respectively. He spent nearly all of his priesthood in Africa and was named a bishop and apostolic vicar to Africa in 1877. He died in 1881 and was canonized in 2003.
10. St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus – Also known as St. Thérèse of Lisieux and the Little Flower, Thérèse was a French Carmelite in the late 1800s. She is best known for pursuing the “little way” to holiness, serving God in every little action of daily life, before dying of tuberculosis at the age of 24 in 1897. She was named the patroness of Catholic missions by Pope Pius XI because of her devotion of praying for missionaries. She was named a Doctor of the Church (the third woman and youngest person ever to receive this honor) by Blessed Pope John Paul II in 1997.
