St. Alphonsus Rodriguez was a Jesuit brother who overcame great personal tragedy to become a kindly and esteemed porter and spiritual advisor. Alphonsus was born at Segovia, Spain in 1533 to a prosperous cloth merchant and his wife. The family hosted a young [St.] Peter Favre (Faber) for an extended...
Saints Eulogius, priest, and Leocritia, laywoman, of Cordoba were martyrs for the faith during the Moorish occupation of southern Spain. Since the early eighth century, southern Spain was under the rule of the Moors. They were a Muslim people mostly from northern Africa who had invaded the Iberian peninsula, as...
St. Joseph of Leonissa was a Capuchin priest, missionary, and peacemaker. Eufranio Desiderio was born to John Desiderio and his wife Frances in 1556, the fifth of eight children. The pious Catholic family lived at Leonissa, a hillside town in the Kingdom of Naples in present day central Italy. Eufranio...
Blessed Laura Vicuña was a heroically virtuous child who offered herself on behalf of her mother’s soul. Laura was born in Santiago, Chile in 1891 to José Domingo Vicuña and his wife Mercedes. José was from an aristocratic Chilean family. FAMILY TRAGEDY At the time of Laura’s birth, there was...
St. Melania the Younger was a wife and mother, a foundress of early monasteries, and a prolific philanthropist. In circa 383, Melania was born to parents of the wealthy Valerii family. Her father, Publicola, was a member of the Roman Senate, and her mother’s name was Albina. Both parents were...
St. Joseph Moscati was a brilliant physician and researcher and was known as “The Holy Physician of Naples”. Giuseppe (Joseph in English) Moscati, the seventh of nine children, was born in 1880 to Francesco Moscati and his wife, Rosa De Luca dei Marchesi di Roseto. The family lived at Benevento...
St. Philip Howard was a husband and father, a Catholic convert during the English Protestant persecution of the faithful, and a martyr for the Faith. Philip was born in 1557 in London to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, and his wife Lady Mary Fitzalan. A PRIVILEGED CHILDHOOD His maternal...
Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a prisoner of war, a cardinal, and a source of inspiration for the Vietnamese faithful worldwide. Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was born in 1928 near Huê´, then the imperial capital of Vietnam. HAPPY AND DEVOUT CHILDHOOD His parents were Nguyễn Văn ´m and Elizabeth...
St. Stephen of Hungary was a husband and father, and a great reforming king. Given the birth name Vajk, he was born to the leader of the Magyars, Grand Prince Geza, and Charlotte, his wife circa 975 at Esztergom built aside the Danube River. The Magyars were a nomadic people...
St. Thomas was a first century disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ. He took the Gospel message to the known ends of the earth. Thomas was likely born to a Jewish family in Galilee. Nothing is recorded of his early life or of how he came to be a disciple....