A rich and noble citizen of Bethlapeta in Persia, Bademus, desiring to devote himself to the service of God, founded a monastery near that city which he governed with great sanctity. God permitted him, with seven of his monks to be apprehended by the king Sapor in 376. He lay four months in a dungeon…
Aware of the greatness of the task which confronted him in the fifth century with the great upheaval caused everywhere in Europe by the invasion of the Barbarians, St. Leo guided the destiny of the Chruch with such trust in God and wideness of view that he became not only the guardian of the faith…
Braga was a populous resort of the Romans on which account it was watered with the blood of many martyrs in the persecution of Dioclesian. St. Victor, who is mentioned in the Roman Martyrology was a catechumen who refusing to sacrifice to idols was condemned to lose his head and baptized in his own blood.
Son of the king of the Visigoths in Spain, St. Hermenegild married the daughter of the king of the Franks and, despite the opposition of his mother who was an Arian, was converted to Catholicism. He was imprisoned and then put to death on April 13, 586, going to heaven to enjoy the royal estate…
St. Justin, apologist and martyr, was one of the most important Christian writers of the second century. He himself tells how his study of all the schools of philosophy led him to Christianity and how he dedicated his life to the defense of the Christian faith as “the one certain and profitable philosophy.” St. Justin…
Born in 1190 kingdom of Leon in Spain, St. Peter’s uncle, the bishop of Astorga, preferred him to a canonry and shortly after to the deanery of his chapter. The young dean took possession of his dignity with great pomp but in the midst of his pride happened by a false step of his prancing…
Benedict Joseph Labre was truly eccentric, one of God's special little ones. Born in France and the eldest of 18 children, he studied under his uncle, a parish priest. Because of poor health and a lack of suitable academic preparation he was unsuccessful in his attempts to enter the religious life. Then, at 16 years…
The tenth successor of St. Peter, St. Anicetus governed the Church from 155 to 166 when he was martyred. These were years of great difficulty when Christianity in Rome had to face not only persecution by the emperors but also the heretical tendencies of the second century. St. Anicetus was visited in Rome by St.…
Born in Murcia in Spain in 1532, Andrew was of noble parents, whom family reverses had reduced to a state of poverty. He entered the Order of St. Francis as a lay brother and led a life known only to God. He was assiduous in prayer and yet worked with an untiring enthusiasm, habitually taking…
