Lives of Saints 
Stories and biographies of the Saints and Blessed.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux
by M. Basil Pennington OCSO The Young Abbot Bernard, the founding abbot of Clairvaux Abbey in Burgundy, was one of the most commanding Church leaders in the first half of the twelfth century as well as one of the greatest spiritual masters of all times and the most powerful propagator of the Cistercian reform. He… Read More ›
Universal Church to honor life and witness of St. Thomas More
CNA STAFF, Jun 20, 2010 / 05:08 am (CNA).- (Today) marks the feast day of St. Thomas More – husband, father, lawyer, politician and the first layman to serve as Lord Chancellor of England. St. Thomas is best known for being a devout and faithful Catholic whose staunch defense of the rights of conscience and… Read More ›
The Service of Fatherhood
8. St. Joseph was called by God to serve the person and mission of Jesus directly through the exercise of his fatherhood. It is precisely in this way that, as the Church’s Liturgy teaches, he “cooperated in the fullness of time in the great mystery of salvation” and is truly a “minister of salvation.”(21) His… Read More ›
Work as an Expression of Love
22. Work was the daily expression of love in the life of the Family of Nazareth. The Gospel specifies the kind of work Joseph did in order to support his family: he was a carpenter. This simple word sums up Joseph’s entire life. For Jesus, these were hidden years, the years to which Luke refers… Read More ›
To Jesus through Mary
2. St Louis Marie proposes the loving contemplation of the mystery of the Incarnation with unusual effectiveness. Authentic Marian devotion is Christocentric. Indeed, as the Second Vatican Council recalled, “Devoutly meditating on her [Mary] and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church reverently penetrates more deeply into the great mystery… Read More ›
St. George
Although he is the patron of England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Genoa, and Venice and is venerated in the East as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, all that is known of him with any certainty is that he suffered martyrdom at Lydda, Palestine, sometime before the reign of Emperor Constantine and that he may have… Read More ›
Joseph, Husband of the Virgin Mary
7. … The Son of Mary is also Joseph’s Son by virtue of the marriage bond that unites them: “By reason of their faithful marriage both of them deserve to be called Christ’s parents, not only his mother, but also his father, who was a parent in the same way that he was the mother’s… Read More ›
Life of St. Patrick
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Hymn of Fiacc is one of the few accepted primary sources for the life of St. Patrick other than his own writings. Although its exact date of composition is disputed, there is no question that it is extremely ancient, a document of the Celtic Church before the Viking invasions. Tradition ascribes it… Read More ›
How Brave Are We?
Let me tell you a true, but humorous and slightly scandalous story that comes out of the early days of the church. When the father of Origen, a third century theologian, was arrested for being a Christian, Origen, then only 17, was aflame with the desire to follow his Dad and share in glorious martyrdom…. Read More ›
Phoenix bishop emphasizes importance of humility in life of St. Juan Diego
Phoenix, Ariz., Aug 7, 2009 / 11:15 pm (CNA).- Nearly 1,500 people gathered this morning in Phoenix, Arizona to celebrate a Votive Mass of St. Juan Diego for the second day of the International Marian Congress. Bishop Thomas Olmsted, the principal celebrant of the Mass, spoke to the participants about the Mexican saint, stressing his… Read More ›