Foundress of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Mother Cabrini could do all things in Him who gave her strength. At the command of Pope Leo XIII, St. Frances Cabrini was sent to the Americas to assist the Italian immigrants whose faith was threatened in the new world. She became their mother. An intrepid…

A Catholic of the Ruthenian rite, St. Josaphat was an apostle of the return of the Orthodox schismatics to the Church of Rome. At the age of twenty he became a Basilian monk, and while still young was made superior of his monastery, then archimandrite of Vilna and finally Archbishop of Polotsk. The young Archbishop's…

St. Albert, the son of a German nobleman, was studying at Padua when the Master General of the Dominicans, Jordan of Saxony, succeeded in attracting him to that Order. He was to become one of its greatest glories. After taking his degrees at the University of Paris he taught philosophy and theology at Paris and…

St. Gertrude, a Benedictine nun of the monastery of Helfta in Saxony, is one of the great mystics of the Middle Ages. She was favored by visions of our Savior and has left a marvelous account of them in a book which she called “Revelations” or “The Herald of Divine Love.” St. Gertrude introduced the…

St. Gregory was bishop of Neocaesarea in Asia Minor and was famous for the holiness of his life and his wisdom, but even more so for the numerous miracles that he wrought. Even during his lifetime he was known as “Thaumaturgus,” the wonderworker. His faith was of the sort that “can move mountains.” As a…

The whole Church celebrates today the dedication of the two great Roman basilicas of St. Peter at the Vatican and of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls. The basilica of St. Peter stands on the site of the tomb of the Prince of the Apostles, where stood Nero’s circus. It was here that St. Peter was executed. Recent excavations…

Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary, and wife of Duke Louis IV of Thuringia, was widowed at the age of twenty. She had three children, and died when she was twenty-four. St. Elizabeth has remained famous for her great kindness and inexhaustible charity towards the poor and the sick. Left to herself without…

St. Felix appears to have been one of the courageous companions of St. John of Matha in the foundation of the Trinitarian Order for the redemption of captives in the hands of the Moslems. He died in 1212, at Cerfroid, the motherhouse of the Order, in the diocese of Meaux.

The three feasts of the birthday of Our Lady, the holy Name of Mary and her Presentation in the Temple correspond in the Marian cycle with the first three feasts of the cycle of feasts of our Lord; namely, Christmas, the Holy Name of Jesus and His Presentation in the Temple (February 2). The feast…

St. Cecilia is one of the most famous and most venerated of Roman martyrs. Her body was discovered in 822 and transferred to the title-church that bears her name in Trastevere in Rome. In her youth, St. Cecilia consecrated her virginity to God, yet was compelled by her parents to marry a nobleman named Valerian.…