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Luigi Orione was born on June 23, 1872, in Pontecurone (Alessandria) to a family of modest economic means. He began attending Don Bosco’s oratory in Valdocco, where he learned love for young people and concern for their future. In Turin, he was deeply moved by the charitable work founded by Saint Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo.
As a tireless opponent of the heresy of Monothelitism and as Patriarch of Jerusalem, he succeeded in preserving the faith of Christians during the Arab conquest. This was Sophronius, born in Damascus, Syria, around the year 550. From a young age he devoted himself to study and later to the teaching of literature and rhetoric.
Matteo Elia Nieves was born in Yuriria, Guanajuato, Mexico, on September 21, 1882. The son of humble farmers, he soon felt a vocation to the priesthood. Sadly, at the age of 12 his father was killed and he had to abandon his studies in order to support his family.
In 1903, he managed to enter the Augustinian college of Yuriria, despite having no financial resources and suffering from fragile health.
Francesca Bussa in Ponziani was known to people as “Ceccolella”. She was born into a noble family and was recognized for her charity and for her lack of shame in begging for alms for the poor.
Born in Rome in 1384 to Paolo Bussa di Leoni and Giacobella di Roffredeschi, she loved to read the biographies of the saints as a young child, and was attracted to spiritual matters. Her spiritual guide was Fr. Antonio di Monte Savello, an Olivetan Benedictine who served at the Church of Santa Maria Nuova al Foro. She wished to consecrate herself to God, but by the time she was 12, her father had already made plans to marry her off to Lorenzo Ponziani, who hailed from a very wealthy family.
Saint John of God’s name was Juan Ciudad. He was born in 1495 in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, where he spent his early years, before moving to Oropesa, Spain, when he was eight years old. He took part in two wars, one in Fuenterrabía in the Pyrenees and one in Vienna against the Turks. Following these events, he returned to Spain and embarked on a long spiritual journey that took him to various cities, including Seville, Ceuta, Gibraltar and Granada, where he worked as a book seller. After hearing a sermon by John of Avila, he underwent a profound spiritual transformation that led him to declare his “folly” for God, to the point that he was committed to the Royal Hospital of Granada. When he was discharged, he decided to dedicate himself entirely to serving the Lord.
They were two young mothers: a 22 year old woman who was still nursing an infant, and a young woman who was eight months pregnant. Both were catechumens who had been imprisoned in Carthage, by Emperor Septimius Severus in 203 A.D. Perpetua and Felicity were from different social classes. Perpetua was part of a noble family, while Felicity was a servant. They were united by their faith in Christ and, later, by their martyrdom. They were arrested along with their catechist, Saturus, and other catechumens, including Saturninus, Revocatus and Secundulus
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