Born in Florence in 1515, St. Philip Neri lived all his life in Rome and was one of the most influential persons of his times. He was a man of original character and happy disposition, but his soul was burning with an ardent and unbounded love of God and for people of all conditions, with…
Born at Jarrow in Northumberland, England, Bede was entrusted as a young lad to the care of St. Benedict Biscop, Abbot of Wearmouth. Having himself become a monk, Bede, “the most observant and the happiest of monks,” was also one of the most learned churchmen of his time. He wrote very full commentaries on Holy…
St. Augustine, a monk of Mount Coelius in Rome, was sent by St. Gregory to England to preach the Gospel to the Anglo-Saxons. It is now known that this mission was undertaken at the express wish of the Anglo-Saxon kings who desired that their subjects, by the grace of baptism, might benefit by the ancient…
A Florentine of the noble family of Pazzi, St. Mary Magdalen became a Carmelite nun at the age of sixteen. She practiced great mortification for the salvation of infidels and sinners, taking as her motto: “to suffer, not to die.” She died in 1607, and her body, which she had so greatly mortified, still remains…
St. Felix I, who governed the Church from 268 to 273, was buried after his martyrdom in the “crypt of the popes” at the catacomb of St. Callixtus. Pope St. Felix commanded that Masses be offered over the tombs of martyrs. This union of the martyrs with the sacrifice of the Mass shows that their…
The faithful, under the guidance of an unerring Catholic instinct, have ever recognized the queenly dignity of the Mother of “The King of kings and Lord of lords.” The Fathers, the Doctors of the Church and Popes, down the centuries, have given authoritative expression to this truth and the crowning testimony to this common belief…
Born at Desenzano on Lake Garda in North Italy, St. Angela Merici received a solid Christian education whose value she appreciated to the full. She was fond of saying that the disorders of society are the result of disorder in the family, and that there are too few Christian mothers. To remedy this evil she…
Peter and Marcellinus are two Roman martyrs who suffered under the Diocletian persecution, about the year 303; the first was a priest, the second an exorcist. Their cultus was so important that after peace was restored to the Church, Constantine built a basilica in their honor, as he did for St. Peter, St. Paul, St.…
Going back to the thirteenth century, the feast of Corpus Christi was instituted by the Bishop of Liege, Belgium, for his diocese at the urgent request of St. Juliana, prioress of a convent on Mount Cornillon, near the gates of the city. A few years later Urban IV, a former arch-deacon of Liege, extended its…
The vocation of St. Francis Caracciolo is a curious one. A letter, delivered to him by mistake, informed him of the project of founding a new congregation of Minor Clerks Regular. He decided to join it and was practically the co-founder. His life, devoted to prayer and penance, was penetrated by a burning love of…
