Saints

Born to peasant farmer parents in France in the 16th Century, Saint Vincent de Paul showed much promise for reading and writing at an early age.  At age fifteen, he was able to enter the seminary to continue with the study of theology from the livestock his family sold.  By …

Saint Pio was born as Francesco Forgione on May 25, 1887 in Pietrelcina in the Archdiocese of Benevento.  His parents were Grazio Forgione and Maria Giuseppa De Nunzio.  At the age of sixteen, he joined the Capuchin Friars Minor novitiate in Morcone and took the name of Brother Pio.  After …

Saint Thomas of Villanova was a friar and archbishop of the Order of Saint Augustine.  He was born in Fuentellana, Castile, Spain in 1488.  His father was a miller who, like his mother, frequently gave food to the needy.  Following the good example of his parents, Saint Thomas had often …

Saint Matthew was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and one of the four evangelists.  The son of Alpheus, he most likely hailed from Galilee.  He worked as a tax collector, which was one of the most hated jobs during those times.  As written in the Gospel, Jesus came …

This day the Church commemorates the martyrs of Korea who sacrificed their lives in proclaiming God’s Kingdom.  It was around 1784 when the evangelization of their country began through the efforts of a group of lay people headed by a Korean named Yi Sung-hun.  Soon, the Christian Church grew.  However, …

Saint Januarius, a Bishop of Benevento, was martyred along with other clergymen, deacons, and  lay Christians in the beginning of the 4th century, around the year 305.  It was during the time of Christian persecution by Emperor Diocletion.  Saint Januarius came to visit deacons and laymen in prison.  He, however, …

Saint Joseph, born in 1603 at Cupertino, Italy, was a Conventual Franciscan friar and a mystic.  He was said to be an unclever child, often absent-minded and aimlessly wandering about.  It was probably because of the lack of care from his mother who did not like him much.  He also …

Born in 1542 at Montepulciano, Italy, Saint Robert Bellarmine was the nephew of Pope Marcellus II.  His mother, Cinzia Cervini, was a pious woman who dedicated herself in fasting, almsgiving, and mortification of the body.  Having this good example, he already started composing poems and hymns in Latin and Italian …

This day the Catholic Church celebrates the feast of the birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The earliest known document that commemorates this feast was from a sixth-century hymn written by Saint Romanus, an ecclesiastical lyricist in the Eastern Church.  The Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal writing from the second …

Saint Cloud, or Saint Clodoald in French, was one of the three grandsons of King Clovis, founder of the Kingdom of the Franks.  Following the death of their parents, he and his brothers became heirs to the kingship.  However, a few years after, Saint Cloud’s uncles plotted against them to …