St. Peter Claver was born at Verdu, Catalonia, Spain, in 1580, of impoverished parents descended from ancient and distinguished families. He studied at the Jesuit college of Barcelona, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Tarragona in 1602, and took his final vows on August 8th, 1604. While studying philosophy at Majorca, the young religious was influenced […]
Saint of the Week – St. Edmund Arrowsmith
St. Edmund Arrowsmith (born 1585) was the son of Robert Arrowsmith, a farmer, and was born at Haydock, England. He was baptized Brian, but always used his Confirmation name of Edmund. The family was constantly harassed for its adherence to Catholicism, and in 1605 Edmund left England and went to Douai to study for the […]
Saint of the Week – St. Joseph Calasanz
Feast Day- August 25th The Spanish priest, St. Joseph Calasanz (1556-1648), devoted his life to the education of deprived children. Joseph was ordained in 1583 after being trained in canon law and theology. He went to Rome, where it seemed he had a promising Church career, but he was shocked by the ignorance and poor […]
Saint of the Week – St. Bernard
Feast Day – August 20th St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church St. Bernard was born of noble parentage in Burgundy, France, in the castle of Fontane’s near Dijon. Under the care of his pious parents he was sent at an early age to a college at Chatillon, where he was conspicuous for his […]
Saint of the Week – St. Teresa Benedicta
Feast Day – August 9th Edith Stein was born October 12, 1891 (the Feast of Atonement) to a Jewish family in Breslau, Germany. Though she became agnostic in her teen years, through her passionate study of philosophy as an adult she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of […]
Saint of the Week – St. John Vianney
Feast Day- August 4th St. John Vianney Saint John Vianney was born on May 8, 1786 in the village of Dardilly in France. After serving a time in the army during the Napoleonic period he entered seminary formation to become a priest. He struggled mightily with all of his studies and he had a particularly […]
Saint of the Week – St. Samson
Feast Day – July 28th Saint Samson was born in Wales around the year 485 and is considered one of the greatest missionaries to come from the British Isles. At the age of seven, his parents dedicated him to the service of God in gratitude for his birth after a long period of childlessness. He […]
Saint of the Week – St. Lawrence of Brindisi
Feast Day- July 21st Cesare de Rossi was born at Brindisi, kingdom of Naples, Italy, on July 22, 1559. He was educated by the conventual Franciscans there and by his uncle at St. Mark’s in Venice. When sixteen, he joined the Capuchins at Verona, taking the name Lawrence. He pursued his higher studies in theology, […]
St. of the Week – St. Myrope
July 13th The Holy Martyr, Myrope was born in the city of Ephesus at the beginning of the third century. She lost her father at an early age, and her mother raised her in the Christian Faith. Saint Myrope frequently visited the grave of the Martyr, Hermione, daughter of the holy Apostle Philip. She took […]
St. of the Week – St. Anthony Zaccaria
At the same time that Martin Luther was attacking abuses in the Church, a reformation within the Church was already being attempted. Among the early movers of the Counter-Reformation was Anthony Zaccaria. Anthony Zaccaria’s mother became a widow at 18, and devoted herself to the spiritual education of her son. He received a medical doctorate […]
