Saint Mary and Saint Xenophon were married and the parents of Saint John and Saint Arcadius. Theirs was a wealthy family of Senatorial rank in 5th century imperial Constantinople, but were known as a Christians who lived simple lives. To give their sons a good education, Xenophon and Mary sent them to university in Beirut, Phoenicia. However, their ship wrecked, there was no communication from...

St. Arnold Janssen (1837–1909) was born in Germany to a large Catholic family. He was a man of simple faith who studied theology, entered the priesthood, and served as a school teacher. He had a profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which awakened in him an increasing desire for missionary work. This led him to found The Little Messenger of the Sacred Heart, a monthly magazine...

Saint Felician of Foligno (c. 160–c. 250) is the patron saint of Foligno. According to Christian tradition, he was born in Forum Flaminii (present-day San Giovanni Profiamma), on the Via Flaminia, of a Christian family, around 160. He was the spiritual student of Pope Eleutherius and evangelized in Foligno, Spello, Bevagna, Assisi, Perugia, Norcia, Plestia, Trevi, and Spoleto. He was...

Second son of Adam and Eve, slain by his brother Cain because the latter's oblation was not accepted favorably by God as was Abel's. For his death in this way he is regarded as a type of Our Savior. His death symbolizes, too, the bloody sacrifice of the Cross and the unbloody one of the altar. He is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, and his name holds first place in the Litany for...

St. Anastasius the Persian (7th c.) was the son of a Persian sorcerer. He became a Zoroastrian soldier in the army of Khosrau II, the Persian monarch who absconded the True Cross of Christ from Jerusalem and took it to Persia in 614. St. Anastasius inquired about the mysterious Cross and the Christian religion and as a result soon converted to the true Faith, left the army, received baptism,...