St. Junípero Serra was a Franciscan priest, professor, and an intrepid missionary known as “The Apostle of California”. He was born to farmers Antonio and Margarita Serra, who named him Miguel in 1713. The family farm was on the island of Majorca off the coast of Spain. As a child,...
“Prayer is the light of the spirit. Prayer and converse with God is a supreme good.…I do not mean the prayer of outward observance but prayer from the heart, not confined to fixed times or periods, but continuous throughout the day and night. Our spirit should be quick to reach...
St. Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad was a convert, religious sister and a foundress. Mary Elizabeth was born in 1870 in the village of Faglavik, Sweden. She was the fifth of thirteen children born to Augusto Hesselblad and his wife Cajsa and she went by the name Elizabeth. She was baptized into...
The Wisdom of the Saints….about the dignity of the human person (part 2) “’Let Us make man to Our own image and likeness.’ He did not say this of the Heavens or of the stars, but of man – not, indeed as regards man’s body, but as regards his soul,...
St. Bernard of Montjoux was a priest, missionary, and a caretaker of pilgrims. He is sometimes known as Bernard of Menthon, as some believe him to be of the noble Menthon family, born at the family chateau, but that is not certain. He was born c.1020, most likely in northern...
“I know that many say, ‘What good can prayers do for a soul that has departed this world, either with sins or without sins?’ If a king were to banish certain people who had offended him, but then their families should weave a crown and offer it to him on...
Pope St. Pius V was a priest in religious life who became pope during one of the most tumultuous and critical periods in Church history. Antonio Ghislieri was born in 1504 at Bosco, near Alessandria, Italy. When he was fourteen, he joined the Dominican order and took the name Michele...
“The alarming increase of divorces in our land and the consequent break-up of family life is due principally to the loss of love for the ideal in womanhood. Marriage has become identified with pleasure, not with love. Once the pleasure ceases, love ceases. The woman is loved not for what...
“The truly blessed are not the ones who can work miracles or see angels; the truly blessed are the ones who can see their own sins.” St. Anthony the Egypt (3rd-4th centuries) “Therefore, rise, run to the Church; here is the Father, here is the Son, here is the...
Blessed Marcel Callo was a pious French layman who was a martyr of Nazi Germany. Marcel was born in 1921 to a devout couple of modest means, Marcel Callo and his wife Felicita. Young Marcel was one of nine children and the family lived at Rennes in western France. He...