The holy martyrs venerated today have in common the place of their cultus which is the catacomb of Domitilla, well known to pilgrims in Rome. Nereus and Achilleus, two Roman soldiers were converts; they were beheaded for their faith and their bodies rest in a basilica which may be as early as the fourth century.…

A member of the Society of Jesus, St. Robert Bellarmine was a professor of theology and preacher at Louvain (1569-76), he taught controversial theology at Rome, where he was St. Aloysius Gonzaga’s confessor. Sixtus V sent him on a diplomatic mission to France; he became provincial of the Jesuits at Naples, and was made a…

Today the Roman liturgy celebrates the feast of a martyr of Tarsus whose relics were taken to Rome at an early date. St. Boniface was a steward of a very wealthy and beautiful lady, Aglae. Together these two were involved in criminal activities but one day Aglae said to Boniface, “I have heard that they…

St. John Baptist de la Salle belonged to a great family at Rheims. He became a priest and canon of the diocese of Paris, but renounced his canonry to devote himself to educating poor children. He founded a new religious Congregation, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, which soon spread throughout the world. The Brothers…

Bishop of Gubbio, his native city, St. Ubaldus is remembered in central Italy as a bishop who was entirely devoted to the duties of his office. He led a life of exceptional austerity. The saint often defended his flock in public dangers. Hearing one day that a sedition was raised in one of the streets,…

St. Paschal, a poor shepherd boy of Aragon, at the age of twenty-four entered the Order of Discalced Franciscans as a lay brother where he became a model of austerity, obedience and absolute poverty. His meditation on the things of God was so profound that he was often in ecstasy; he had a great devotion…

St. Peter Celestine was Pope only for a few months. He was about seventy when he was dragged from his monastic solitude and made to accept the heavy charge of head of the Church; the Holy See had been vacant for twenty-seven months; he could not refuse. But a few months later he voluntarily resigned…

Born in 1380, St. Bernardine of Siena at an early age left the world in order to lead a hermit’s life; then, at the age of twenty-two, he entered the Franciscan Order, one of whose glories he is. Having been made General of the Order, he resigned this charge in order to devote himself to…

St. Rita (Margarita) after eighteen years of married life, lost, by death, her husband and her two sons. Called afterwards to the religious state, she professed the Rule of St. Augustine at Cascia her native town, near Spoleto, in Central Italy. In a life-long and terrible malady her patience, cheerfulness and union by prayer with…

Julia was a noble virgin at Carthage who when that city was taken by Genseric in 439 was sold for a slave to a pagan merchant of Syria. Under the most mortifying employments for her station, by cheerfulness and patience she found, besides her sanctification, a present happiness and comfort which the world could not…