St. Francis Borgia was a royal-born husband and father, Jesuit priest, and superior-general. Francis was born in eastern Spain in 1510. He was born into the Spanish branch of the Borgia family, his father being the 3rd Duke of Gandia and his mother being the granddaughter of King Ferdinand V...
Blessed Hermann of Reichenau was an esteemed scientist and abbot, as well as a profoundly disabled man. Hermann was born in 1013 to Count Wolverad II von Althausen and his wife Hiltrud. Althausen was located in the Swabian region of southern Germany. Hermann was born with multiple anomalies, likely including...
St. Peter Faber was a one of the original members of the Society of Jesus, a missionary priest and reformer. Peter Faber is the anglicized form of the name Pierre LeFèvre or Favre. He was born in 1506 to a family of farmers in a small village in France near...
BORN A SLAVE Venerable Augustus Tolton was born a slave and overcame tremendous discrimination to become the first Roman Catholic priest of African descent in the United States. Augustus was born in 1854 to slaves Peter Paul Tolton and his wife Martha Jane Chisley in Brush Creek, Missouri. Augustus was the second...
St. Charles Lwanga and companions were martyrs for purity during Christian persecution in Uganda. CHRISTIANITY COMES TO THE KINGDOM OF BUGANDA In the early1880s, Christian missionaries entered the Ugandan Kingdom of Buganda, and were welcomed by King Mutesa. They were especially successful with the young people, many of whom served...
St. John Berchmans was a gifted Jesuit seminarian who lived a short life of exemplary virtue. John was born in 1599 to a master shoemaker’s family in Belgium. From early childhood, he wished to become a priest. He was notably affectionate and kind, and he possessed a cheerful disposition. He...
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...