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Pope Pius XI described Saint Therese of the Child Jesus and the Face as “the star of my pontificate”. He beatified her on 29 April 1923 and canonized her on Sunday, 17 May 1925, in the Basilica of Saint Peter, before a crowd of some 50,000 faithful, most of whom could not find room inside the Vatican Basilica. On that occasion, the Pontiff underlined that, “aware of her own frailty, she confidently entrusted herself to divine Providence so that, leaning solely on its help, she could attain perfect holiness of life, even through bitter difficulties, having decided to strive for it with the total and joyful abdication of her own will”.
There is a House that is more important than others, a House whose walls witnessed the Annunciation and Mary’s complete openness to God’s will. According to tradition, this House is in Loreto, in the Marian Shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Loreto.
Scholastica, the twin sister of Saint Benedict of Nursia, is inextricably linked to her brother’s name. She served God in contemplation and communal life. Saint Gregory the Great’s Second Book of Dialogues, which focuses on Benedict’s life, contains only a few hagiographical accounts of her life.
Our Lady appeared to the 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous 18 times, between 11 February and 16 July 1858, in the Grotto of Massabielle in Lourdes. She asked Bernadette to become her messenger and to cooperate with her in the conversion of sinners. She also made some requests: to make the Grotto a place of prayer and pilgrimage and spoke to her about the dogma proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854.
There is no doubt that Saint Martin of Tours is well known throughout the world, if for no other reason than his act of charity of sharing half his cloak with a beggar. According to tradition, on that same night Jesus appeared to him wrapped in the beggar’s garments, wearing half a cloak.
This “cape” that belonged to Saint Martin was preserved as a celebrated relic and became part of the collection of the Merovingian kings. Charlemagne sent the Saint’s cape to the Palatine chapel of Aachen, whose name was changed to Aix-la-Chapelle in French and Aachen in German. The chapel’s name has its roots in the place where the Merovingian kings kept Saint Martin’s cape.
“With your hand on your conscience may each one hear the anguished cry which is raised to the skies from all parts of the earth, from the innocent children to the elderly, from the people of the communities: Peace, peace! We renew this solemn plea today”. With these words broadcast on Vatican Radio on 25 October 1962, Saint John XXIII launched an appeal for peace to world leaders, in particular those of the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The world was in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis, and had not come this close to a third world conflict, since the end of World War II. Indeed, between 14 and 19 October, the world was on the very edge of a nuclear abyss. The words of the Pope, who had opened the Second Vatican Council on 11 October, were strongly persuasive on the consciences of people, especially those of John Fitzgerald Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev ((Sergeevič Chruščëv).
There is no Latin American who does not know Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is invoked as Empress of the Americas and Patron Saint of Mexico, and is worshipped by indigenous peoples as “Virgen morenita”, young indigenous woman.
He never hesitated when faced with people in need, giving everything to everyone in charity, even going so far as to give away his own clothes to help the poor. He challenged the hostility of some anticlerical citizens, for which he was even beaten with clubs on one occasion, as he walked through Viareggio’s streets, distributing food. Known to everyone as the “Curatino”, he was seen as the manifestation of God’s presence among the people. He was the father of the poor and a supporter of sailors, who faced the storms to feed their families. Everyone knew they could count on the prayers of this little friar, who was small in height, but who had a big heart that was open to the needs of others.
A witness of Christ, who made the ultimate sacrifice of her life, she is an example of consistency for those who refuse to submit to the powerful of the moment and prevailing ideologies. She is Lucia, the Saint of light and charity, beloved by boys and girls in many European countries. On the night of 13 December, processions of young people light up the darkness with their candles, passing through towns and cities to remember their peer, who gave her life to remain faithful to the true Light: Christ. This tradition is still very much alive, especially in Northern Europe, and pays homage to Lucia’s great charity. Her name, which comes from the Latin word lux, meaning light, is linked to an act of courage and generosity performed by this young woman. It is said that in order to bring food and aid to Christians hiding in the catacombs, she placed some candles over her head to illuminate the dark tunnels. Lighting the catacombs in this way, her hands were free to lend assistance.
Born into a noble and wealthy pagan family in Poitiers, Aquitaine, around 310, he was able to receive an education befitting his status. He felt compelled to seek the truth from a young age and, at the end of his journey, he converted to Christianity. He was baptized when he was 30 years old. Reading the Gospel of John gave him with an opportunity to find answers to his questions. He described his personal journey in the introduction to his famous work on the Trinity (De Trinitate), in which he highlighted the stages a pagan goes through to come to know God.
‘Glory to God, in all things’: with these words, on 14 September 407, Saint John Chrysostom, ‘Golden Mouth’, so called because of his oratorical art and eloquence, concluded his earthly pilgrimage. Born in Antioch in a year between 344 and 354, he devoted himself to the study of rhetoric and letters under the direction of the famous Libanius. After finishing his studies, he became fascinated by the world and became involved in theatre and debate. Shortly afterwards, however, he prepared himself for baptism and received it on an Easter Sunday of an unspecified year. He then attended the Diodorus Circle, a kind of seminary where theological studies could be done. During that time, he became interested in exegesis of the Holy Scriptures and learned the historical-literary method of the Antioch school. He then spent six years living a hermit's life, first on Silpius Hill, near Antioch, and then in a cave in solitude and penance.
“God humbles the soul greatly in order to exalt it greatly afterward”, Saint John of the Cross once wrote. He reformed the Order of Carmel, along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, and is considered one of the most important poets in Spanish literature. His greatest works are: The Ascent of Carmel, Dark Night of the Soul, Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love.
Cyril and Methodius are known for being the evangelizers of the Slavs, for whom they created an alphabet that was understandable to a large part of the people, in order to pass on the teachings of the Scriptures. The two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, were from Thessalonica, today known as Salonika, in Greece, but then part of the Byzantine Empire. Methodius was born around 825, while Cyril was born two years later. Cyril’s original name was Constantine, but he changed his name when he became a monk on his deathbed.
“We should glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he is our salvation, our life and our resurrection: through him we are saved and made free” (Gal 6:14), is the entrance antiphon for the Feast of the Exhaltation of the Holy Cross. This Feast celebrates Christ’s victory over sin and death and is shared by the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. Indeed, the Orthodox Church considers this Feast day to be almost as important as Easter. The origins of the Feast can be traced back to the first Christian communities of Jerusalem, when the faithful solemnly venerated the Holy Cross on Good Friday.
“For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”.
Albrecht von Bollstädt, better known as Albert the Great, was a Bishop, a philosopher, a theologian, a naturalist, a chemist and the teacher of Saint Thomas Aquinas. He was highly educated, especially in natural sciences, and wrote a Summa Theologiae that became the model for Aquinas’ own celebrated, Summa Theologiae.
The Apostolic Nuncio in Spain, Archbishop Filippo Sega, described Teresa of Jesus as “a restless and wandering woman… whose teachings opposed Saint Paul’s command that women should not teach”. His description of the restlessness of Teresa of Jesus, in the world Teresa de Ahumada, was accurate. Indeed, at the time of his comments, she had already founded 12 monasteries throughout Spain and had travelled more than 50,000 kilometres. And she had done all this with the travel means available at the time, journeying on roads that were not quite roads, with all the discomforts involved in moving from one side of the kingdom to the other, especially for a woman, and even more so, for a nun. She managed to open 17 monasteries with very few funds, health problems and countless difficulties in finding homes that could be turned into religious convents. Her “crime” was that she was a woman, and above all, a reformer of consecrated life, including that of males.
Seven merchants met in an oratory in Florence on the Feast of the Assumption of Mary in 1233. They were all wealthy and part of the old nobility of Florence. Their names were Bonfilius Monaldi, Bonajunta Manetti, Manettus dell'Antella, Amidius Amidei, Hugo Uguccioni, Sosthenes Sostegni and Alexis Falconieri.
They shared a great devotion to Our Lady and belonged to a confraternity, whose aim was to pay homage to Mary. Known as “Laudesi”, members of the confraternity felt called to be at the service of Our Lady and follow Christ. After seeking the advice of the Bishop of Florence, Ardingo, who encouraged their project, they began their new lives.
Anthony is considered the Father of Monasticism. Details of his life are narrated in “The Life of Anthony”, by Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, written in 360 AD. Anthony was born to a wealthy family, in Koma, Egypt, on the left bank of the Nile, around 251. He was an orphan by the time he was 18 years old. Two years later, taking the Gospel literally, he sold all his possessions, distributed them to the poor and withdrew into the desert to live a life of penance.
Saint Patrick's real name was Maewyn Succat. Born around 385 in Scotland, he was the son of a Roman centurion from Great Britain.
When Maewyn was 16 years old, he was kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave to a Druid in what is now Ulster, Ireland. During his six years of slavery, he worked as a shepherd for an Irish clan leader and discovered Christianity, becoming a practicing Christian.
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