Saint Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941)
On July 30, 1941, a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi camp in Poland. In retaliation, the commandant lined up inmates of cell block fourteen and ordered that ten of them be selected for death. When one of the ten cried that he would never see his...
Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253)
The story of St. Clare of Assisi is inevitably linked with St. Francis, the one she called her Father, Planter, and Helper in the Service of Christ. It was Francis who gave her a vision and enabled her to define a way of life apart from the options offered her by...
Blessed Franz Jagerstatter (1907-1943)
Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian peasant and devout Catholic, was executed for refusing to serve in Hitler's army. He was known in his village of St. Radegund as a man of honesty and principle, devoted to his family and his faith, a sacristan in his parish church, who...
Saint Marianne Cope (1838-1918)
Barbara Koob, who was born in Germany, immigrated with her family to the United States when she was less than two years old. At the port of entry, the family name became Cope. In 1862, Barbara entered the Third Order Regular of Franciscans and received her religious...
Venerable Antonio Margil (1657-1726)
Antonio Margil was born in Valencia, Spain. At a young age, he entered the Franciscans and adopted the nickname “Nothingness Itself,” by which he subsequently signed his letter. At twenty-five, after distinguishing himself as a preacher and theologian, he was...
Blessed Solanus Casey (1870-1957)
Solanus Casey, the son of Irish immigrants in Wisconsin, felt called to the priesthood after witnessing a drunken sailor stabbing a woman. Somehow, this scene of sin and suffering caused Casey to dedicate himself to God and to promote God's love as the answer to the...
Blessed Louisa of Savoy (1461-1503)
Louisa was born into the highest circle of nobility. Her father was the duke of Savoy, while on her mother's side her uncle was the king of France. A pious child, she dreamed of entering religious life. But this way hardly an acceptable vocation for a child of her...
Saint Kunigunde of Poland (1224-1292)
St. Kunigunde (or Kinga) was the daughter of the king of Hungary and a niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary. At the age of sixteen, she was married to King Boleslaus V of Poland. She waited until the night of their wedding, according to legend, to reveal that she had...
Saint Mary-Magdalen Postel (1756-1846)
Julia Frances Catherine Postel was born in a small French town near Cherbourg. After studying in a Benedictine convent, she returned home to teach school, though privately she dedicated herself to God’s service. Her calling became clear, with the onset of the...
Saint Bonaventure (1221 -1274)
Bonaventure, who was born to a wealthy family in Orvieto, joined the Franciscans around 1238 in the midst of his studies at the University of Paris. St. Francis had died only some dozen years before, but already his order was rapidly changing the face of the Church in...