Blessed Laura Vicuña was a heroically virtuous child who offered herself on behalf of her mother’s soul. Laura was born in Santiago, Chile in 1891 to José Domingo Vicuña and his wife Mercedes. José was from an aristocratic Chilean family. FAMILY TRAGEDY At the time of Laura’s birth, there was...
“When I had come by ill luck to Ireland – well, every day I used to look after sheep and I used to pray often during the day, the love of God and the fear of Him increased more and more in me and my faith began to grow and...
St. Melania the Younger was a wife and mother, a foundress of early monasteries, and a prolific philanthropist. In circa 383, Melania was born to parents of the wealthy Valerii family. Her father, Publicola, was a member of the Roman Senate, and her mother’s name was Albina. Both parents were...
“I have been amazed that some are utterly in doubt as to whether or not the Holy Virgin is able to be called the Mother of God. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the Holy Virgin who bore Him not be the Mother of God?” St....
St. Joseph Moscati was a brilliant physician and researcher and was known as “The Holy Physician of Naples”. Giuseppe (Joseph in English) Moscati, the seventh of nine children, was born in 1880 to Francesco Moscati and his wife, Rosa De Luca dei Marchesi di Roseto. The family lived at Benevento...
“All truth wherever it is found belongs to us as Christians.” St. Justin Martyr (2nd century) “What contradicts truth cannot be just.” St. Augustine (4th-5th centuries, Doctor of the Church) “For it is our plain duty to preach and defend the truth in a straightforward way. Those who are to...
St. Philip Howard was a husband and father, a Catholic convert during the English Protestant persecution of the faithful, and a martyr for the Faith. Philip was born in 1557 in London to Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, and his wife Lady Mary Fitzalan. A PRIVILEGED CHILDHOOD His maternal...
“If you have begun to act well, do not turn back through constraint of the enemy, for your endurance destroys the enemy. Those who put out to sea at first sail with a favorable wind. Then the sails spread, but later the winds become adverse. Then the waves toss the...
Venerable Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a prisoner of war, a cardinal, and a source of inspiration for the Vietnamese faithful worldwide. Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was born in 1928 near Huê´, then the imperial capital of Vietnam. HAPPY AND DEVOUT CHILDHOOD His parents were Nguyễn Văn ´m and Elizabeth...
“The Cross, if you wish to define it, is the confirmation of victory, the way by which God descended to man, the trophy against material spirits, the repulsion of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day, and the ladder for those who hurry to enjoy the light...