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Mother, widow, teacher, social worker, nurse, and founder, Louise de Marillac embodied every state in a woman’s life.
In the volume I lustri antichi e moderni della Città di Forlì one reads:
“Although born in Tuscany, he has been recognized as a shoot from the Forlì tree by the Sacred Congregation of Rites itself on January 28, 1752, in the decree by which it granted the Mass and the Office to the City of Forlì, which in the present year 1755, with the unanimous votes of the Councillors, acclaimed him as one of its Protectors.”
There is not much information about Castulus (or Castolo). In the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, Castulus is commemorated on March 26 and together with another martyr on January 12.
Not much is known about the origins of Blessed Berthold of Mount Carmel. He may have been born in Solignac in the 12th century, while other sources indicate that he was born in Lombardy. According to tradition, Berthold was related to Aymeric de Malifaye, Patriarch of Antioch (1141–1193).
Cunegonde was born in 978 in Luxembourg to Sigfrid, the first Count of Luxembourg, and Hedwig of Nordgau, a descendant of Charlemagne. In 998 she married Henry IV, Duke of Bavaria, who was later elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire as Henry II the Saint. After the death of Otto III, her husband was crowned King of the East Franks on June 6, 1002. Cunegonde was crowned queen on the following August 10 in Paderborn.
A life dedicated to serving poor and abandoned youth, in order to transmit the faith and allow them to experience Christian charity: this was the life of Saint Leonard Murialdo. Born in Turin, Italy on October 26, 1828, into a simple family, at the age of eight he was sent to a boarding school in Savona run by the Piarist Fathers, where he remained from 1836 to 1843.
Saint Virgilius was born in Burgundy in the 6th century. He became abbot of the monastery of Saint Symphorian in Autun, and in 588 he was appointed Bishop of Arles.
He was outstanding in charity, helping the poor and the needy by founding hospitals and facilities for the sick. His pastoral zeal led him to evangelize southern Gaul. Pope Gregory the Great repeatedly invited him to support the efforts of Saint Augustine, prior of the Benedictine monastery of Saint Andrew on the Caelian Hill, and his 40 companions, whom he had sent to evangelize the Anglo-Saxons.
Rose was born in Viterbo in 1233, into a humble family. At that time, the city was the scene of clashes between Guelphs and Ghibellines, as Emperor Frederick II sought to remove it from papal influence. Her parents, Catherine and John, raised her in the faith, inspired by the charisma of Saint Francis of Assisi.
“An aspect of Saint Joseph that has been emphasized from the time of the first social Encyclical, Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, is his relation to work. Saint Joseph was a carpenter who earned an honest living to provide for his family. From him, Jesus learned the value, the dignity and the joy of what it means to eat bread that is the fruit of one’s own labour.” So wrote Pope Francis in the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Saint Joseph as Patron of the Universal Church.
He was called the Apostle of Andalusia, a great preacher, a spiritual Master who guided many people to holiness and who was able to inspire conversions among those who listened to him.
His name was John of Ávila. He was born in Almodóvar del Campo (Ciudad Real), Spain around 1499 or 1500 into a very religious and wealthy family who owned a silver mine.
He walked through the streets of the city of Cagliari begging for alms and offering the Word of Life to all those he met along his way. He was illiterate and frail in health, yet in the school of Saint Francis of Assisi he learned how to bring peace to troubled souls and convert sinners.
"Pancrazio" was the name of a sport practiced in the Olympics of ancient Greece. The athletes had to compete in a cross between boxing and hand-to-hand wrestling, with no holds barred. Only biting and blinding were prohibited.
It was May 13, 1917, when Our Lady appeared to three children who were in a field grazing their sheep: Francisco Marto, aged 9, his younger sister Jacinta Marto , aged 7, and their cousin, Lucia dos Santos, aged 10. The apparition took place in Cova da Iria, a town near Fatima and was the first of a series apparitions. In fact, every 13th of the month, from May to October, the Virgin Mary appeared to the three little shepherds, entrusting them with a message.
In the Acts of the Apostles (1:15-26) it is said that in the days following the Ascension of the Lord, the Apostle Peter, presiding at the assembly of 120 brothers, proposed that they choose one amongst themselves to take the place of the traitor Judas Iscariot.
He was a humble farmer, very poor, who spared no effort and sacrifice to bring a piece of bread home. However, he had discovered Christ and everything else seemed nothing compared to his friendship with Him. His name was Isidore. He was born around 1080 in Madrid, which at the time was not yet the capital of Spain but a city like any other.
The exact year of birth of Ubaldo Baldassini is not known, probably around 1085, in the town of Gubbio in the Italian province of Umbria. He was the only son of Rovaldo Baldassini, and Giuliana. He lost his parents as a child and was taken care of by his uncle Ubaldo. In 1115 he was ordained a priest and three years later he became prior of the Cathedral of San Mariano.
He was almost illiterate, teaching himself to read and write, humble, poor, a simple lay friar following in the footsteps of Saint Francis of Assisi, a great devotee of the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar to the point of being called the "theologian and Seraphim of the Eucharist". He is Paschal Baylón, born in Torrehermosa, then Kingdom of Aragon, to Martín and Isabel Jubera, on May 16, 1540. They were a large family but very poor. For this reason, the boy was sent at an early age by his father to graze the flocks. He took advantage of his time in nature to praise God and sing hymns to the Virgin Mary.
He was called the “Friar Deo gratias”, because that was how he greeted people he met. For forty years, in fact, he wandered the streets of Rome asking for alms, taking advantage of the opportunity to give spiritual advice to commoners and aristocrats. He is Felice Porro, known as Saint Felix of Cantalice, for the name of the place where he was born in the province of Rieti in 1515. As a child he moved to Cittaducale to serve a family as a shepherd and farmer. He devoted himself to reading the Lives of the Fathers and the desire to lead an austere existence grew in him.
“The power of God creates us, wisdom governs us, mercy saves us”. This is what Friar Crispin of Viterbo repeated to those he met. A simple lay brother of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, assigned to soliciting alms on behalf of the Order, serving the sick and taking care of the convent garden, Friar Crispin (Pietro) Fioretti was born in Viterbo on November 13, 1668. His father, Ubaldo Fioretti, had married Marzia, who was already a widow with a daughter. Crispino soon lost his father and his uncle Francesco took care of him, sending him to attend the school run by the Jesuits. Crispino also worked as an apprentice shoemaker in his uncle's shop.
A lone bishop against all, including the Emperor, in the defense of the Niceo-Constantinopolitan Creed, commonly called the Nicene Creed, fearlessly risking exile, marginalization, or persecution. He is Saint Athanasius, a staunch defender of the orthodoxy of the faith in the face of Arian heresy.
Born near Alexandria, Egypt, around 298, he studied Greek literature and philosophy. At a very young age he entered the Church’s service where for six years he was a lector. Ordained deacon, Patriarch Alexander appointed him his personal secretary.
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