St. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru on December 9, 1579. Martin was the illegitimate son to a Spanish gentlemen and a freed slave from Panama, of African or possibly Native American descent. At a young age, Martin's father abandoned him, his mother and his younger sister, leaving Martin to grow up in deep poverty. After spending just two years in primary school, Martin was placed with a barber/surgeon where he would learn to cut hair and the medical arts. As Martin grew older, he ...

Bishop and martyr. Originally a Greek, he became bishop of Pettau, in Pannonia (later Styria, Austria). He was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian (r. 284-305). Victorinus was also the author of several biblical cornrnentaries, although he may have been an adherent of Millenarianism, a heresy of that time.

Bishop and martyr of Vietnam. A native of Ellorio, Spain, he entered the Dominican Order and was sent to the Philippines. From there he went to Vietnam in 1858, serving as a vicar apostolic and titular bishop until betrayed by an apostate. He was martyred by beheading with St. Jerome Hermosilla and Blessed Peter Amato, by enemies of the Church. He was canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.

Wolfgang (d. 994) + Bishop and reformer. Born in Swabia, Germany, he studied at Reichenau under the Benedictines and at Wurzburg before serving as a teacher in the cathedral school of Trier. He soon entered the Benedictines at Einsiedeln (964) and was appointed head of the monastery school, receiving ordination in 971. He then set out with a group of monks to preach among the Magyars of Hungary, but the following year (972) was named bishop of Regensburg by Emperor Otto II (r. 973-983). As ...

Confessor and Jay brother, also called Alonso. He was born in Segovia, Spain, on July 25, 1532, the son of a wealthy merchant, and was prepared for First Communion by Blessed Peter Favre, a friend of Alphonsus' father. While studying with the Jesuits at Alcala, Alphonsus had to return home when his father died. In Segovia he took over the family business, was married, and had a son. That son died, as did two other children and then his wife. Alphonsus sold his business and applied to the ...

St. Narcissus was born towards the end of the first century in AD 99. He was almost 80-years-old when he was placed at the head of the church of Jerusalem, making him the 30th bishop of that see. In 195, he and Theophilus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, presided together in a council of the bishops of Palestine held at Caesarea regarding the time Easter is celebrated. It was then decreed that the feast of Easter is to be kept always on a Sunday. Bishop and historian, Eusebius says this ...

null / Credit: Image created using OpenAI's DALL·E through ChatGPT

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 15:50 pm (CNA).

Numerous news reports have said that a new artificially intelligent “Jesus” has begun taking people’s confessions at a Catholic church in Switzerland, but is it true?

St. John’s Cathedral in the Netherlands is lit up for Red Wednesday on Nov. 23, 2022. / Credit: Ldhank, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

CNA Staff, Nov 21, 2024 / 13:05 pm (CNA).

Organized by the Christian aid group Aid to the Church in Need International, “Red Week” has been taking place every November since 2016.

Father Max Josef Metzger, a Catholic priest executed by the Nazi regime in 1944 for his peace activism and ecumenical work, was beatified Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024, in Freiburg, Germany. / Credit: Photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, Germany

CNA Newsroom, Nov 21, 2024 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Father Max Josef Metzger, executed by Nazis in 1944 for promoting peace and Christian unity, was beatified Sunday in Freiburg, Germany.

“In Jesus there is no contradiction between truth and charity,” notes professor Marta Rodríguez Díaz, who teaches in the philosophy department of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. / Credit: Courtesy of Marta Rodríguez Díaz

Madrid, Spain, Nov 21, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Professor Marta Rodríguez Díaz says rather than fighting gender ideology, the mission of the Church is “to seek to make light shine in the darkness.”

The historic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Saint-Omer, in the Pas-de-Calais department of northern France, was ravaged by arson on the night of Sept. 2, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of Father Sébastien Roussel

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 20, 2024 / 07:00 am (CNA).

The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe report said 2,444 anti-Christian hate crimes occurred from 2023 to 2024.

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla was among the speakers featured at the 2024 Conference on Catholics and Public Life Nov. 15–17, 2024. / Credit: Courtesy of the Catholic Association of Propagandists (Advocates)

Madrid, Spain, Nov 19, 2024 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Bishop José Ignacio Munilla of Orihuela-Alicante, Spain, said at a conference that “we will only get out of this crisis through a renewal of holiness.”