Living under the Mystery of the Cross
The Story of St. Edith Stein
On August 2, 1942, the German S.S. stormed a Carmelite convent in Echt, Holland, and demanded that one of its nuns, Sister Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, be handed over immediately, along with her sister Rosa. Continue »
Saint of the Confessional
How St. John Vianney brought a whole town to conversion.
On a gray and misty late afternoon in February 1818, a thirty-one-year-old priest reached the outskirts of a backwater village north of Lyons, France. Immediately, he knelt down on the roadside and prayed. Continue »
Ignatius the Saint
St. Ignatius Feast Day
He was born the year before Columbus discovered America. His contemporaries were larger-than-life figures like Michelangelo, St. Teresa of Avila, Martin Luther, and King Henry VIII. Continue »
Carmelite St. Therese of the Child Jesus
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Feast Day
Thérèse of Lisieux, commonly known as the Little Flower, died in a French convent on September 30, 1897. Her popularity rapidly extended well beyond her Carmelite convent community, her hometown of Lisieux, and her country. Continue »
The Lily of the Mohawks
The Life of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
In the seventeenth century, French fishermen, fur traders, and explorers were landing in New France, which included not only Quebec but all the lands watered by the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes. Continue »
Light in the Dark Ages
Benedict Feast Day July 11
The West was certainly wounded badly by the fall of the Roman Empire. Civilization collapsed almost completely. Literacy, once common, was now a rare accomplishment. Culture itself was in danger of dying. Continue »
Doing What Needed to Be Done
The Life of Mother Cabrini
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (July 15, 1850 – December 22, 1917) also called Mother Cabrini, was the first American citizen to be canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Continue »
Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (1901–1925)
A Saint for All of Us
How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.(Matthew 5:3) Continue »
Herald of the Messiah
Nativity of John the Baptist
John the Baptist reached beyond himself, both backward and forward in time. He represented the history of Israel, waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Messiah. And he pointed to the future, announcing the coming of the Messiah who would establish the reign of God. Continue »
The Joyful Duty
St. Thomas More
How St. Thomas More—the busiest man of his age—found contentment in his calling Continue »