Pope St. John Paul II (1920–2005) was born in Poland and was a vibrant, athletic, and intelligent child. His deeply religious father played an important role in his spiritual formation after his mother's death when he was 8 years old. He studied literature, poetry, and theater before his studies were interrupted by the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. He answered the call to the...
St. Ursula (4th c.) was a pious Christian princess from Britain, perhaps Wales. According to the 13th century Golden Legend she set sail and embarked on a pilgrimage to Rome with a large court of handmaids prior to settling in what is today western France, where she was to be joined in marriage to a local governor. Along her pilgrimage route she attracted many followers who were influenced by...
Cornelius was baptized by Saint Peter the Apostle, as we are told in the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 10. He was later made Bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. He was a Gentile, and his Baptism is commemorated in Holy Scripture because it is the clear message of the Bible that the Faith was to go to the Gentiles by way of preservation to the end of the world. He is remembered on...
St. Isaac Jogues (1607–1646) was born in France to a middle-class family, and at the age of 17 entered a Jesuit seminary where he displayed a talent for writing and teaching. He was ordained in January of 1636 at the age of 29, and three months later was sent as a missionary priest to the rugged wilderness of New France (now Canada) to work among the Huron and Algonquin Native American...
St. Ignatius of Antioch (d. c. 98-117) was a Syrian who became a disciple of St. John the Apostle. Tradition holds that he was the infant whom Jesus took in his arms, saying, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me" as recounted in Mark's Gospel. St. Ignatius was a pagan convert to Christianity and...