St. John of Matha (1154-1213) was born near Provence, France to noble and pious parents, and was dedicated to God from his birth. He learned the arts of a nobleman and advanced in Christian virtue, tending the sick and giving alms to the poor. Through his study of theology at the University of Paris he discerned a call to Holy Orders and became a priest. On the day of his first Mass he had a...

Ado of Vienne (died 16 December 874) was archbishop of Vienne in Lotharingia from 850 until his death and is venerated as a saint. He belonged to a prominent Frankish family and spent much his early adulthood in Italy. Several of his letters are extant and reveal their writer as an energetic man of wide sympathies and considerable influence. Ado's principal works are a martyrology, and a...

Maria Crocifissa Di Rosa (1813 – 1855) was the founder of the Handmaids of Charity (also called the Servants of Charity) in Brescia, Italy, in 1839. She was canonized by Pope Pius XII. She was born as Paolina Francesca di Rosa, into a wealthy family, in the city of Brescia, Italy on 6 November 1813. First educated in a convent by the Visitation Sisters, she left school after the death of...

Mary Frances Schervier (3 January 1819 – 14 December 1876) was the founder of two religious congregations of religious sisters of the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, both committed to serving the neediest of the poor. One, the Poor Sisters of St. Francis, is based in her native Germany, and the other, the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, was later formed from its province in the...

Odile of Alsace, also known as Odilia and Ottilia, born c. 662 - c. 720 at Mont Sainte-Odile, is a saint venerated in the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church. She is a patroness saint of good eyesight and of the region of Alsace. Odile was the daughter of Etichon (also known as Athich, Adalrich or Aldaric), Duke of Alsace and founder of the Etichonid noble family. According to...