Saint Catherine of Alexandria
Saints Andrew Dung Lac
He was born, it seems, in the last years of the 18th century, in Bar-Ninh, Tonkin, in what is now northern Vietnam. His father, living in extreme poverty, agreed to let a Christian catechist take the boy in exchange for a small sum. The catechist brought him to the mission of Vinh-Tri and had him […]
Saint Columban
Colum, Colman, Palumba, or Columba (in Spanish the form Columbano is used, coming from the Latinized Columbanus), shares his name with another Irish monk also honored as a saint. But this Columban is the best representative of Irish monastic culture and of the extraordinary missionary work carried out by the monks of Ireland. He was […]
Saint Clement I
Saint Clement I was the third successor of Saint Peter as bishop of Rome. It is uncertain whether Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Philippians (4:3), was speaking about him when he mentioned a man named Clement as his co-worker. Still, the first Christians considered this Roman Clement—our Clement—to be a direct disciple of […]
Saint Cecilia
Cecilia, as a virgin and martyr, has no historical evidence before the 6th century. Her feast was already being celebrated in the year 545 in the basilica that bears her name. However, all of these early references depend on a Passio (a martyrdom story) written later than the year 486, modeled after Victor of Vita, […]
The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary
The tradition of Mary being presented in the Temple of Jerusalem comes from a pious belief, whose earliest source (or better said, its origin) is found in the apocryphal and pseudonymous work known as the Protoevangelium of James, written in the first half of the 2nd century. According to this text, Mary was presented in […]
The Dedication of the Basilicas of Saints Peter and Paul
This memorial recalls the dedication of the basilicas of the apostles Peter and Paul—one at the Vatican, the other on the Via Ostiense. It celebrates together two specific consecrations. On November 18, 1626, Pope Urban VIII consecrated the new basilica of Saint Peter, whose construction had begun in the early 1500s, following the designs of […]
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth, or Elisabet, daughter of Andrew II, king of Hungary, married Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia. When he died while on crusade, the young widow devoted herself to an extraordinary life of charity. She founded a hospital in Magdeburg in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, her contemporary. Elizabeth spent the rest of her life […]
Saint Gertrude
She is known by the title “the Great,” which sets her apart from others with the same name. At the age of five, she entered the Cistercian monastery of Helfta (near Eisleben, in northern Thuringia). There, under the guidance of Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn (with whom she is often confused), she received a solid humanistic […]
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Margaret was born in Hungary during the exile of her father, the English prince Edward Atheling. Her mother was a Hungarian princess named Agatha. When the family was finally able to return to their homeland, Margaret spent many years at the court of her great-uncle, Edward the Confessor. But when wars with the Danes and […]