By Lyn Wilson … St. Herculanus, whose feast days are both November 7 and March 1, is Patron Saint of Perugia, Italy. His life story is a fact decorated by a bit of fantasy. He was said to have been sent to Perugia from Syria to evangelize sometime in the earlier half of the 6th century.
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Venerated for his personal holiness and artistic devotion to the church, St. Bilfrid of Lindisfarne was a man of great dedication and talent. He was a man that those of us who engage in artistic endeavors can emulate…
By Lyn Wilson
From childhood she was interested in caring for the poor – one of her brothers related in a letter how she wanted to change a dollar for pennies to give to beggars. She also trained herself to avoid the luxurious living of her family – once at the age of twelve she slept on a marble seat as a self-imposed penance for thinking too much about her comfortable hotel bed…
By Sarah Losordo
From his cell, Wulfric dispensed wisdom and healing to all who came to him. He lived a simple life of penance and fasting to atone for his previous life of self-indulgence, and even influenced the court of the king.
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As the first pastor and founding member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Reverend Jones held an important position in the history of the Church in America…
By Ian Wilson
Saint King Ine, and his wife, Saint Ethelburga of Kent were both devoutly religious people, supporting the church and the poor with their own money…
By Lyn Wilson
By Sarah Losardo … In 1883, Mother Marianne received a letter from the Sandwich Islands – now known as Hawaii – begging for someone to take charge of their hospitals and schools. Along with six other sisters, Mother Marianne set out halfway around the world, primarily to care for those with leprosy (now called Hansen’s Disease).
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Christopher was born November 21, 1924 in Leeds to Edith and John Tolkien. From a young age, the boy had an aptitude for remembering the complexities of his father’s work, once stopping storytime (where The Hobbit was being read aloud) to correct his father on a few minor points…
By T.K. Wilson
Seventy years after the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons by St. Augustine of Canterbury, St. Adrian stepped onto England’s green shores to continue the work started there….
By Ian Wilson
By T.K. Wilson … Today (December 19th), the church commemorates Stephen Nguyen Van Vinh and his companions, who were martyred for their faith on this date in 1839.
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By Ian Wilson … The celebrated mystic, St. John of the Cross, was born Juan de Yepes y Alvarez on June 24, 1542, in Fontiveros, Spain. Even as a child, John knew he wanted to live the ascetic life. After the untimely death of his father and older brother when John was only three years old, John was sent to a boarding school for poor orphaned children. There, he received a religious education, and served as an acolyte at an Augustinian monastery.
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By Lyn Wilson … Saint Justinian (or Stinan) of Ramsey was a 6th Century Monk from Breton who moved to Ramsey Island in Pembrokeshire in modern day Wales.
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By Sarah Losardo … It was in Paris that she discovered the identity of the priest in her vision – St. Vincent De Paul, the founder of the Sisters of Charity. In January 1830, Zoe finally joined the Sisters of Charity in Paris, taking the name Catherine. The same year, first in July and again in November, Sister Catherine was visited by the Blessed Virgin Mary, who entrusted to her a medallion to be given to the world.
Read MoreBy T.K. Wilson Not much is known about the early life of Paul the Confessor of Constantinople. We first learn of him as he was elected bishop of Constantinople, over the violent objections of the Arian minority on the council. However, Paul wasn’t bishop for very long. The Emperor of Constantinople at the time was […]
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By Sarah Levesque … Giulia Salzano was born on October 13, 1846, in Santa Maria Capua Vetere, Caserta, Italy. Her father, Diego Salzano, died when Giulia was only four years old, and she was taken in by the Sisters of Charity, with whom she stayed until she was fifteen years old.
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By T.K. Wilson … James, the son of Alpheus, was one of the original Twelve Apostles called by Christ at the start of his ministry. According to tradition, he is one of Jesus’s cousins or half-brothers and brother of St. Jude. He is called “the Lesser ” or “The Just ” to avoid confusion with James son of Zebedee – though even this is disputed!
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By Lyn Wilson … Pope Cletus, sometimes known as Anacletus, was the third Bishop of Rome after St. Peter and Linus. We know very little about this man’s life and yet his name is remembered through history.
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By Ian Wilson … Born in 954 in Somerset, England, Aelfheah had everything – a noble family, wealth, food, drink, servants – yet none of those things had affected him so much as knowing and drawing nearer to God. Much to his family’s dismay, Aelfheah entered the monastery, where he was respected for his austerity and extreme piety.
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By Sarah Levesque … Adoniram Judson, missionary to Burma (Myanmar), was born on August 9, 1788 in Malden, Massachusetts. After a period of skepticism, Judson studied theology at Andover Theological Seminary in his home state…
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By Ian Wilson … In her youth, Juliana had quickly learned Latin and memorized the works of St. Augustine and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, devoting herself to theological study; an unusual pursuit for a woman in her time. At the young age of 13, Juliana was welcomed into the order.
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LogoSophia Magazine 