St. Veronica Giuliani was a Capuchin abbess, and a recipient of extraordinary mystical spiritual gifts. In 1660 Ursula Giuliani was born to her parents Francesco and Benedetta at Mercatello, located in the Duchy of Urbino in north central Italy. Ursula was one of five girls. Benedetta was a very devout...
St. Germaine Cousin was a simple poor shepherd girl who bore nothing but love and faith in her heart despite suffering horrendous abuse. There is some doubt about Germaine’s parentage, but it is likely that she was the daughter of Laurent Cousin and his unnamed wife, who died when Germaine...
Servant of God Edward Flanagan was a priest, a social reformer, and a founder of an important ministry. He was born to John and Nora Flanagan in 1886, the eighth of eleven children. Edward was born prematurely, and his grandfather Patrick was said to have spent many an hour holding...
St. John Baptist de la Salle was a priest, teacher, educational innovator, and the founder of a religious order. He was born in 1651 at Rheims, France and was the oldest of ten children. His parents were of the noble class and were wealthy. They were very attentive to John’s...
St. John of God was a shepherd and a soldier, who had a dramatic conversion and became the founder of a charitable religious order. John was born at Montemayor-el-Novo, Portugal in 1495, the only child of middle-class parents. At age eight, John inexplicably vanished, and it is not known whether...
Servant of God Leo Heinrichs was a Franciscan priest and pastor who was assassinated for being a Catholic priest. Joseph Heinrichs was born on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1867 at Oestrich, a small Prussian town in western modern-day Germany. His parents, Joseph and Agnes, educated him very...
St. Gregory Nazianzen was a monk and bishop, a Father and Doctor of the Church, who defended the Catholic truth against the Arian heresy. Gregory was born about the year 329 at Arianzus, Cappadocia in Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey. His mother, Nonna, converted her husband (also Gregory) after her...
Servant of God Walter Ciszek was a missionary priest, political prisoner, professor, retreat master, author, and spiritual director. Walter was born in 1904 in the small coal-mining town of Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. His parents, Martin and Mika Ciszek, were hard working, poor Polish immigrants. Tough guy from the start From early...
St. Martin de Porres was a religious brother, a mystic, and a man of extraordinary charity. Martin was born to an unmarried woman, Anna Velasquez, in 1579 in Lima, Peru. Anna was a freed slave. Martin’s father, Juan de Porres, was a Spanish noble. He initially denied paternity of the...
. By Sarah Bedia Her life of heroic virtue is a reminder that very ordinary people can become saints. Blessed Chiara Badano, (1971-1990), was an ordinary Italian teenager with an extraordinary spiritual strength. Ruggero and Maria Teresa Badano struggled with infertility for the first eleven years of their marriage. They...