St. Giles was an abbot of the seventh century. He lived in the neighborhood of Beziers on the coast of the Mediterranean. He founded a monastery, which in succeeding ages became a flourishing abbey of the Benedictine Order. The little monastery of St. Peter, where his body rested, became one of the most popular shrines…

Vaik, son of Geza, Duke of Hungary, was baptized about 985 by St. Adalbert of Prague who gave him the name of Stephen. He was chosen by God to bring his people to the Christian faith. With the assistance of monks from Burgundy he established bishoprics, founded several monasteries and reorganized the whole life of…

Joseph Sarto was born at Riese a small village in Venetia, on June 2, 1835, in humble circumstances. He was successively curate, parish priest, bishop of Mantua, patriarch of Venice—offices to which his keen intelligence, hard work and great piety caused him to be quickly promoted. He was elected Pope on August 4, 1903, and…

St. Rosalia Sinibaldi left her home when she was young to live as a recluse in a cave on Mount Coschina in Sicily. An inscription was found carved on its walls which reads: “I, Rosalia, daughter of Sinibald, lord of Quisquina and Rosae, decided to live in this cave for the love of my Lord…

St. Laurence, one of the great Italian saints of the fifteenth century, belonged to the illustrious Giustiniani family, but preferred a simple, holy life to the brilliant career that his mother planned for him. He entered the Canons of St. George of Alga where he led a life of constant prayer and penance until Eugenius…

Blessed Sante, who sprang from a noble family, achieved great success in his studies and intended to become a soldier. Following a duel in which he killed his adversary, Sante threw away the sword to put on the Franciscan habit as a lay brother. The two virtues most dear to him were humility and penance.…

St. Grimonia was an Irish maiden of illustrious birth, who left her country to consecrate herself to God. She was martyred in defense of her chastity in the place of her retirement in Picardy in the diocese of Laon. On the spot a chapel was built which became famous for her relics and miracles, and…

The Church in keeping a solemn festival for the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates the dawning of redemption over the world when, after a long period of waiting, there was born she who was to be the Mother of Our Savior. In memory of all that this birth implied the Church rejoices and…

Dorotheus was first chamberlain to the emperor Diocletian; Gorgonius and Peter were under chamberlains. They were the three principal eunuchs of the palace and had sometimes borne the weight of the most difficult affairs of state, and been the support both of the emperor and his court. When the palace of Nicomedia was set on…

St. Nicholas was born about the year 1245 in the March of Ancona. As a young man, but already endowed with a canon’s stall, he was one day greatly affected by a sermon preached by a Hermit of St. Augustine and decided to enter this newly-founded Order. At first he lived at the hermitage of…

They were eunuchs and retainers to St. Eugenia. Saints Protus and Hyacinthus are honored in the sacramentary of St. Gregory in the ancient Martyrology. The ancient calendar, drawn up in the pontificate of Liberius mentions their festival on September 11. Pope Damasus, in 366, removed the earth which hid their tomb, and during his pontificate…

In accordance with Jewish custom our Lady’s parents named her eight days after her birth, and were inspired to call her Mary. The feast of the Holy Name of Mary therefore follows that of her Birthday, as the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus follows Christmas. This feast originated in Spain and was approved…

In the fifth century, leaving a large estate and a tender mother at Milan in order to serve God in holy retirement, St. Maurilius addressed himself to St. Martin of Tours by whom he was directed in the narrow path of Christian perfection. He founded a monastery on a hill called Prisciac, near the village…

Pope Cornelius, a Roman, died in exile at Civitavecchia on September 14, 253, after a pontificate of two years troubled by the schism of the first antipope, Novatian. St. Cyprian, a former lawyer, was converted to Catholicism and became bishop of Carthage; he was one of the great leaders of the third century African church,…

Two years before his death St. Francis retired to Mount Alverno where he began a forty days’ fast in honor of St. Michael the Archangel. There, while in a state of continual prayer and unceasing watching, he saw in a vision a seraph with burning, dazzling wings whose feet and hands were nailed to a…

St. Joseph of Cupertino is one of the most extraordinary saints of the Franciscan Order. Born in 1603 at Cupertino in the old kingdom of Naples, he appeared to be lacking in even the minimum of those intellectual qualities necessary for a candidate to the religious life. Nevertheless he was accepted by the Conventual Franciscans…

St. Januarius was bishop of Benevento when the persecution of Diocletian broke out. Moved by the capture of his good friend Sosius and others (Proculus, Eutychus and Acutius), St. Januarius determined to visit them in order to comfort and encourage them. His visit was noticed by the prison keepers who reported that an eminent person…

St. Eustace was a nobleman who suffered martyrdom at Rome, together with his wife Theopista, and two sons Agapius and Theopistus, about the reign of Adrian. The ancient sacramentaries mention his profuse charity to the poor on whom he bestowed all his large possessions some time before he laid down his life for his faith.…

At the time that Jesus summoned him to follow Him, Matthew was a publican, that is, a tax-gatherer for the Romans. His profession was hateful to the Jews because it reminded them of their subjection; the publican, also, was regarded by the Pharisees as the typical sinner. Jesus let none of this stand in His…

St. Thomas, who was born in Spain in 1488, joined the Hermits of St. Augustine at Salamanca. He it was who, as Provincial of Andalusia and Castille, sent out the first missionaries to Mexico. After refusing the archbishopric of Granada he was forced to accept that of Valencia. The Church honors him especially for his…

All the ancient lists of the bishops of Rome name St. Linus as the immediate successor of St. Peter in the government of the Church (67-76) and he is mentioned after the apostles in the Canon of the Mass. It is possible that he might be called a martyr on account of his sufferings for…

The Order of Our Lady of Ransom, known first under the name of the Order of St. Eulalia for the ransom of captives, was established in the thirteenth century. Its aim was to redeem the Christian prisoners of the Mohammedans. In the fifteenth century its foundation was attributed to St. Peter Nolasco and St. Raymund…

Born in the village of Camporosso in the diocese of Ventimiglia, Blessed Francis Mary showed great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary from his early youth. As a young man, he went to Mass every morning, and then began his work as a herdsman. He spent any time left over saying his prayers, or teaching…

Saint Cyprian surnamed the Magician was a native of Antioch. His pagan parents devoted him to the devil and he was brought up in the impious mysteries of idolatry. His skill was employed in tempting the modesty of virgins but he found Christian women proof against his assaults and spells. There lived at Antioch a…

These two Martyrs were first venerated in the East for the innumerable miracles at their tomb at Cyr (in North Syria) where they were martyred during the Diocletian persecution. Their cultus in Rome goes back to the sixth century. On the Thursday of the third week of Lent, when the station is held at their…

Duke of Bohemia, St. Wenceslaus was born about the year 907 and was eighteen years old when he succeeded his father. Without regard for the opposition which he aroused, he did all in his power to hasten the conversion of his country, which was still pagan, helping the German missionaries, himself giving an example of…

St. Jerome was born about the year 340 at Stridon in Dalmatia (modern Yugoslavia). His parents sent him to Rome for his education where he was baptized in about his twentieth year by Pope Liberius. A period spent at Trier brought him into contact with the monastic life; he encountered it again at Aquileia, and…