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She understood the difficulties and marginalization to which women of her time were subjected and spared no energy to educate them and teach them the truths of faith. She was convinced that to welcome the Gospel it was necessary to free people from ignorance and error. Together with education, she believed that offering professional training would promote human development and affirmation in society. There were no doubts for Rosa Venerini, as she dedicated herself entirely to her apostolate and to the vocational education for women in the 17th century, an era in which they were barred from many opportunities.
It arrived wrapped in a sheet on a cart of manure—hardly a triumphant entrance for the image of Our Lady of the Rosary that Saint Bartolo Longo had brought from Naples on November 13, 1875. Its destination was the Valley of Pompeii, the place chosen for the construction of a Shrine dedicated to the Virgin. As humble as the journey was, so great was the devotion that later arose among the faithful.
Founder of cenobitic monasticism and the first to have written a rule for religious community life, Pachomius was born to a pagan family around the year 292 A.D., in the Thebaid region of Upper Egypt. At age twenty, he was enlisted against his will in the imperial armies of the Emperor Constantine to fight the Persian incursions. Locked in the barracks in Thebes with other soldiers and left without food, he was fed by the local Christians. Struck by their charity, Pachomius prayed to the God of the Christians, promising that if he were freed from this bondage he would dedicate his life to the service of his brothers. In fact, as soon as he was free, he converted and was baptized.
The Solemnity of All Saints, celebrated on November 1, is an occasion for Christian communities to lift their gaze toward Heaven, where men, women, young people and children of every age live in the grace and light of God. On this day, we remember not only the officially recognized Saints of the calendar but also all those who now share in eternal life.
Saint Leo shares with Pope Saint Gregory the title of “the Great.” He was born at the end of the 4th century in Etruria. Initially a deacon in Rome, he was ordained a priest and carried out a mission in Gaul before being elected Pope in 440, serving for twenty years during a time of great difficulty.
Caterina di Favarone, a member of the Offreduccio family and younger sister of Clare of Assisi, was born in the Umbrian city in 1197. Before she had even turned sixteen, she felt the desire to follow her elder sister’s example, choosing a life shaped by evangelical poverty and the Franciscan way.
The last days of October and the first days of November have always been considered a special time to commemorate the dead. One of the ancient beliefs explaining this choice is that the Great Flood—according to tradition—occurred precisely during this time of year, thus making it symbolically connected to death and remembrance.
Saint James of the Marches, born Domenico Gangale on September 1, 1393, in Monteprandone in the Ascoli region of Italy, spent his youth devoted to study. He first attended school in Ascoli Piceno, then the University of Perugia, where he earned degrees in both civil and canon law.
Saint Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, on December 9, 1579, and was baptized in the Church of Saint Sebastian. In the early years of his life, he lived with his mother—an ex-slave of African descent—and his sister Giovanna, in difficult conditions despite being acknowledged by his father. When Martin was about eight years old, his father, Juan de Porres, a Spanish nobleman, finally decided to take charge of his education, bringing his children with him to Guayaquil, Ecuador, where they could live more comfortably.
His two most well-known mottos — In Omnibus Christus (Christ in all things) and Caritas Christi urget nos (The love of Christ compels us) — perfectly sum up the heart of Monsignor Guido Maria Conforti’s work and spirituality. He was a leading figure in the revival of the Church’s missionary commitment between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Leonard was born at the end of the 5th century in a castle near Orléans, in what is now France. His family, connected to the Frankish court, had ancient roots and probably Roman origins. He received solemn baptism from Saint Remigius, Bishop of Reims, who became a deeply influential spiritual guide for him. Clovis, King of the Franks, served as his godfather and granted him the power to free prisoners whom he deemed innocent; Leonard used this privilege to help many oppressed people.
Willibrord was born around 658 in the English region of Northumbria. His education began at the monastery of Ripon, where he received a solid religious formation. At the age of twenty, he decided to deepen his theological studies in Ireland under the guidance of an abbot named Egbert. Around the age of thirty, he was ordained a priest and, together with a group of eleven companions, set out for the continent to spread Christianity in the still pagan lands of Frisia and northern Germany.
Daniele Comboni, who became the first Bishop of Central Africa and founder of two missionary institutes, was born into humble circumstances. He was born on March 15, 1831, in Limone sul Garda, northern Italy, into a poor family of farmers working for a landowner. His parents, Luigi and Domenica, were deeply religious yet their lives were marked by continual sorrow: Daniele was the only one of their eight children to survive past infancy.
Through his life, he showed that holiness is not reserved only for priests or religious, but can be lived by anyone — even at school, in the family or in front of a computer screen. He was able to speak about God to his peers using the language of technology, passion and friendship. His coherence between faith and daily life, his willingness to do good and his faith deeply rooted in the Eucharist and the Virgin Mary make him a model for young people of our time.
Saint Edward the Confessor, venerated as the Patron Saint of the English monarchy, was born around the year 1002 in Islip, near Oxford. The son of the Anglo-Saxon King Æthelred II and the Norman Emma, sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy, he spent much of his youth in exile at the Norman court, where he had taken refuge following the Danish invasion of 1013. He remained in Normandy for about twenty-five years, during which he developed a deep spirituality and a profound attachment to the Christian faith.
Callistus, a complex and much-debated figure of the early Church, was born in Rome in the second half of the 2nd century into a Christian family of servile condition. While still young, he became a slave in the household of a wealthy Christian named Carpophorus, who was connected to the imperial court. Thanks to his enterprising spirit and a certain talent for business, Callistus was entrusted with managing a financial enterprise that served as a kind of deposit and exchange bank, frequented mostly by fellow Christians.
In the heart of the 17th century, during the reign of Louis XIV (1638–1715), France was still bearing the wounds of the religious wars. Meanwhile, within the Church, a stern and austere spiritual current was spreading — Jansenism. This movement, far removed from the spirit of mercy, tended to instill fear rather than love of God in the faithful. At the same time, following the guidelines set by the Council of Trent, new religious communities were flourishing. Among them was the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary, founded in Annecy in 1610 by St. Francis de Sales and St. Jane Frances de Chantal. The two founders saw their Order as a gift born from the very Heart of Jesus and Mary — the fruit of Christ’s sacrifice.
One of the most significant figures of the early Christian era is Saint Ignatius of Antioch, a bishop who lived during the first decades of the second century and is venerated as a martyr for his unshakable faith. Tradition holds that he was chosen to lead the Christian community of Antioch by Saint Peter himself. His forced transfer from Antioch to Rome is famous; during this journey, while a prisoner, he wrote seven letters that today stand as an invaluable testimony to the faith of the first Christians.
The figure of the suffering Christ was the silent yet powerful center of his spiritual life, the inner strength behind his apostolic zeal and the spark that gave birth to the mission of the religious community he founded. There is no doubt that Paul of the Cross is the Saint of the Passion of Jesus Christ.
What is striking about her is not the extraordinariness of her works, but her ability to transform the ordinary into an inspired offering. Saint Maria Bertilla Boscardin—born Anna Francesca—was a simple woman, at times impulsive, yet endowed with deep determination and remarkable self-control. Often the target of jealousy and misunderstanding, she never allowed herself to be discouraged: her resolve, “I want to become a saint and bring many souls to Jesus,” became her life’s program.
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