John Vernon McGee was born in 1904 in Hillsboro, Texas. His family moved to Tennessee when his father died in 1918. Vernon, as he was known, graduated college then seminary, then became the pastor of a church first in Decatur, Georgia, and afterward in Cleburne, Texas. It was there that Vernon met his future wife, Ruth Inez Jordan.
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Ephrem the Syrian was born in Nisibis, in the province of Mesopotamia (now Nusaybin, Turkey, lying 166 miles from Mosul, Iraq) in approximately 306 AD… Ephrem was baptized as a youth and began right away in building up the Body of Christ in Nisibis as a deacon. It is also highly likely that he was a “son of the Covenant,” an early type of friar or lay brother. As a deacon, he used his gift as a poet and composer to write instructional hymns, teaching the people to confront heresy through song.
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Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologist, born about the year 100 AD. He was a student of philosophy and was converted circa 130 AD in part by the witness of martyrs going joyfully to their deaths.
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Nothing is known of the youth of the Apostle to the English. What we do know is that he was born sometime in the sixth century and was probably upper-class Roman. He was close friends with Pope Gregory the Great, and his mission to Britain was by the Pope’s specific request…
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Lydia of Philippi is one of the comparatively few women mentioned by name in the Acts of the Apostles, but very little is known about her. Acts 16:11ff tells us that Lydia sold purple cloth, that she was from Thyatira, and she was a believer who took Paul, Silas, and Luke into her home when they arrived in Philippi.
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on May 13th, 1917, three children tending sheep outside of Fatima, Portugal were visited by the Virgin Mary. Over the next several months, Mary appeared to the children on the 13th of every month to deliver visions of future events, including the end of World War I, the beginning of another war, and other important events in their future.
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Dominic Savio was born to Carlo (or Charles) and Brigitta Savio on April 2, 1842, one of ten children. At age seven, Dominic wrote down four resolutions, the fourth of which was “Death before sin.”
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Joseph of Arimathea was a man who followed Jesus Christ from a distance. He was a wealthy member of the Sanhedrin, the leaders of the Jewish community.
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St. Theodore of Sykeon’s mother Mary was given a vision of a star, coming down from Heaven and entering her womb. His father Cosmas and various holy men interpreted Mary’s vision to mean the newly conceived child was to be a holy man of God.
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Martin Chemnitz (1522-1586) was a second wave Lutheran, often known as “the Second Martin” as his contributions to the Lutheran faith were second only to those of Martin Luther.
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The exact details of the life of Mary of Egypt are scarce; her story is told to us third hand by an order of monks living in the Palestinian desert. They tell us that she was a devout holy woman who had once lived a life of sin…
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Today (March 25th) is exactly nine months before Christmas Day, so today we celebrate the Annunciation. Since we’ve already covered the Blessed Virgin Mary this year, today we’re going to look at the other person in that room – the angel Gabriel.
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Twice Cyril found himself driven out of his diocese; fully half of his time as bishop was spent in exile. When he was finally vindicated, and able to return to his seat, he found the whole church in Jerusalem in chaos.
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Perpetua and Felicity were early Christian martyrs who died in Carthage in 203AD. The primary narrative of their experiences was written by Perpetua herself in the form of a journal.
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St. Adrian lived during the time of Emperor Maximian in the fourth century. Before his conversion to Christianity, Adrian had been a member of the Praetorian Guard, and was witness to the sufferings of the early Christians. So impressed was he by their courage and refusal to bend in the face of great suffering, Adrian asked these soon to be martyrs what rewards their God offered them for their sacrifice.
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St. Polycarp was one of the earliest church leaders after the death of the original twelve apostles, having been taught by St. John himself. He was the bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor; one of the churches started by the Apostle Paul.
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Colman of Lindisfarne was born in Ireland around 605AD. He first joined the monastery of Iona, then was moved to the monastery of Lindisfarne soon after its founding in 635. Eventually he became the abbot there, a position that also made him the bishop of Northumbria.
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St. Blaise lived during the reigns of emperors Diocletian and Linius. Some early sources say that he was a physician, though we cannot be certain. He was unanimously elected bishop of Sabaste, due to his reputation as a devout man of faith.
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Pastor, theologian and Nazi resistor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Germany on February 4, 1906 to a professor of psychiatry and neurology and his wife, the daughter of a preacher. Bonhoeffer grew up to become a professor of theology, though his family wanted him to pursue a musical career.
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St. Thomas became a prolific theological writer, famously dictating his thoughts for different works to multiple secretaries simultaneously… His seminal work is the Summa Theologica (or Summa Theologiae), a massive multi-volume explanation and defense of all of the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.
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