A monk of Exeter in England, St. Boniface is one of the great figures of the Benedictine Order and of the monastic apostolate in the Middle Ages. Gregory II sent him to preach the Gospel in Germany. He evangelized Hesse, Saxony and Thuringia and became Archbishop of Mainz. He well earned the title of Apostle…
St. Norbert was born at Xanten near Cologne about the year 1080. As a young cleric he resided at the court of the archbishop of Cologne and then at the court of the emperor where he allowed himself to be influenced by the spirit of the world. But he was won back by grace; caught…
Saint Robert began his religious life as a rector of a parish in the diocese of York, and after becoming a Benedictine monk, attempting to practice its primitive rule, his small monastery was accepted into the Cistercian order by St. Bernard. He was then asked to become abbot of a new Cistercian monastery in Northumberland…
Daughter of Louis VIII and of Blanche of Castille, Isabella was a worthy sister of Louis IX, born in 1225. From her mother she received a Christian education and also the love of virtue. When she had visited the poor in their hovels and looked after all their needs, she spent the rest of her…
Primus and Felician were brothers and lived in Rome many years. They lived for the poor and often spent both nights and days with the confessors in their dungeons or at the places of their torments and execution. They had escaped the dangers of many bloody persecutions and were grown old in the heroic exercise…
St. Margaret the great-niece of St. Edward the Confessor, after the battle of Hastings, fled to the court of Malcolm, the King of Scotland, whom shortly afterwards she married. She proved a model mother and exemplary queen who brought up her eight children in an atmosphere of great devotion and worked hard to improve the…
Designated by the Holy Spirit to share the charge and mission of the twelve Apostles, St. Barnabas is venerated by the Church as one of them. He played an important part in the first extension of Christianity outside the Jewish world. It was Barnabas who presented St. Paul to the other Apostles when, after his…
Born in 1430 at San Facondo in Spain, John de Gonzalez was a canon of the cathedral of Burgos and then entered the Hermits of St. Augustine. He was distinguished for his great devotion to the sacrificed of the Mass and for his forceful preaching. His sermons dealt especially with peacemaking and concord for which…
Born at Lisbon in Portugal, St. Anthony became first a canon regular, then a Franciscan, and preached the Gospel everywhere in Portugal and Italy. Both as a theologian and as a popular preacher he fought vigorously against heresy. His preaching was inspired by the love of God and of souls and had an extraordinary power…
St. Basil was born at Caesarea in Cappadocia of a fervent Christian family. After studying at Constantinople and Athens he became a monk in the province of Pontus. He wrote the famous “Rules” which bear his name and were praised by St. Benedict; they are still observed to this day by the monks of the…
