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. More »

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. More »

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. More »

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. More »

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. More »

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. More »

How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs.(Matthew 5:3) More »

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. More »