Saint Joseph of Cupertino (1603-1663)
St. Joseph was born to a poor family in the small Italian town of Cupertino. His early life offered no evidence of any special gifts. He was considered slow-witted and easily distracted. He made several unsuccessful attempts to become a Franciscan before winning...
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Dante Alighieri, one of the great literary geniuses of all time, was also a man of action, committed to social justice and the affairs of his native Florence. But he was at the same time a man of deep faith, a visionary and a prophet, who judged the world and the...
Father Mychal Judge (1933-2001)
On the bright fall morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters across New York were summoned to a scene of unimaginable horror: Two hijacked airlines had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As firefighters rushed into the burning buildings, they...
Saint Rose of Viterbo (1235-1252)
The short life of St. Rose was set against the background of turbulent ecclesial and political conflicts in which, even as a child, she played a significant role. From her earliest years she had displayed remarkable spiritual gifts, including, at the age of nine, a...
Servant of God Bernard of Quintavalle (1241)
Bernard, one of the wealthiest young men of Assisi, became intrigued by reports about one of his peers—Francesco di Bernardone, previously known as something of a dandy and carouser—who had recently aroused wonder, as well as ridicule, by his ostentatious embrace of...
Blessed Maria Del Transito Cabanillas (1821-1885)
Eugenia de los Dolores, to use her baptismal name, was born in Cordoba in Argentina. Drawn from an early age to religious life, she dreamed of staring a religious institute for the care of poor and abandoned children. Her path, however, was convoluted. Staring as a...
Martyrs of Chimbote (1991)
These martyrs are three priests, two Conventual Franciscans and an Italian missionary priest, murdered in August 1991 by the Shining Path guerrillas of Peru. Alessandro Dordi, the eldest, was born in Italy in 1931. He had arrived in Peru in 1980. Michael Tomaszek,...
Saint Louis of Anjou (1274-1297)
Louis was born to a royal family. His father, Charles II, was king of Naples and Sicily. This had its downside. When Charles was taken prisoner in a battle with the king of Aragon, he agreed to secure his release by surrendering his three sons as hostages. Thus, Louis...
Venerable Mary Magdalen Bentivoglio (1834-1905)
In October 1875, Sr. Mary Magdalen Bentivoglio and her sister Constance, with whom she had entered the Poor Clares, sailed from Italy to New York to establish the first contemplative community in the United States. They had departed with the personal blessings of Pope...
Saint Roch (1348-1378)
The Third Order of St. Francis has traditionally claimed St. Roch as a member, and his name appears on the calendar of Franciscan saints. But little is known of his actual life. According to legend, he was born to a noble family in Montpellier, France. At the age on...