Bl. Margaret was one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, an English saint and martyr of the Roman Catholic Church, sometimes called "the Pearl of York". Margaret Clitherow (née Middleton) was born in 1556, one of five children of Thomas and Jane Middleton. Her father was a respected businessman, a wax-chandler and Sheriff of York in 1564. He died when Margaret was fourteen....

St. Catherine of Sweden (1331-1381) was the fourth of eight children born to St. Bridget of Sweden and her husband, Ulfo. As a child she was sent by her parents to be educated in a convent, and was later given in marriage to a German nobleman. Catherine was able to persuade her husband, a virtuous young man, to live together in a mutual vow of perpetual chastity. They lived happily together in...

Gwinear was the son of the pagan King Clito of Ireland. When Saint Patrick arrived at Clito's court, the king was hostile; Gwinear recognized Patrick‘s sincerity and piety, treated him well, and meditated on his message. Then he became a convert to Christianity and a hermit. Upon his father‘s death, he returned home, gathered 770 other converts, and worked to spread the faith...

Saint Benvenutus Scotivoli (died 22 March 1282) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of Osimo from 1264 until his death. Pope Martin IV canonized him as a saint in 1284. Benvenutus Scotivoli was born sometime in the 1200’s in Ancona. Scotivoli studied at the Bologna College and studied jurisprudence with Saint Silvestro Gozzolini at which point he was ordained...

Daughter of Giuseppe and Francesca Cambiagio, she grew up in Pavia, Italy. At the age of 20 she had a profound mystical experience that left her devoted to prayer and desiring a religious life. However, to go along with her family’s wishes, she married Giovanni Battista Frassinella on 7 February 1816. The couple had a normal married life for two years, but Giovanni, impressed with...