St. Philip Neri was a Christian missionary and founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, a community of Catholic priests and lay brothers. He was born in Florence on July 21, 1515 as one of four children to Francesco Neri. From a very young age, Philip was known for being cheerful and obedient. He was affectionately referred to as "good little Phil." He received his early teachings from friars at the Dominican monastery in Florence, San Marco. At 18-years-old, Philip went off to live with ...

It would be easy to concentrate on the mystical experiences God gave this saint, rather than on her life. In fact, it would be difficult to do differently, so overwhelming were those gifts from God. The temptation for many modern readers (including the author) would be to see little to identify with in these graces and walk away without seeing more. The other temptation would be to become so fascinated with these stories that one would neglect to dig deeper and learn the real lessons of her ...

St. John Baptist de de Rossi, also known as Giovanni Battista de' Rossi, was born on February 22, 1698 in Voltaggio, Italy. He was the fourth child of Charles de Rossi and Frances Anfossi, known to be a holy and faith filled couple. Though John's family was not financially wealthy, they were rich in faith. Through their guidance and a wonderful education, John learned to excel in his living faith, piety and gentleness. A pair of priests, Scipio Gaetano and Giuseppe Repetto, saw great ...

Saint Rita was born Margherita Lotti in Roccaporena, Italy in 1381. The day after her baptism, Rita was surrounded by a swarm of white bees, which went in and out of her infant mouth without hurting her. Rather than being alarmed, her family believed she was marked to be virtuous and devoted to God. At an early age, she begged her parents to allow her to enter a convent but was instead arranged to be married to a cruel man named Paolo Mancini. Young Rita became a wife and mother at only twelve ...

Eugene de Mazenod was born on August 1, 1782, at Aix-en-Provence in France. Early in life he experienced the upheaval of the French Revolution. None the less, he entered the seminary, and following ordination he returned to labor in Aix-en-Provence. That area had suffered greatly during the Revolution and was not really a safe place for a priest. Eugene directed his ministry toward the poorest of the poor. Others joined his labors, and became the nucleus of a religious community, the ...

In the year 1400, a young man came to the door of the largest hospital in Siena. A plague was raging through the city so horrible that as many as twenty people died each day just in the hospital alone. And many of the people who died were those who were needed to tend the ill. It was a desperate situation -- more and more people were falling ill and fewer and fewer people were there to help them. The twenty-year-old man who stood there had not come because he was ill but because he wanted ...

Nicaraguan auxiliary bishop Silvio Báez, reflecting on Jesus' empowering of the Twelve Apostles to drive out demons, drew an analogy to resisting today's dictatorships.

Bishop Mark Brennan of Wheeling-Charleston is urging Catholics to reflect on the nation’s blessings and shortcomings while renewing their commitment to faith, human dignity, and the common good.

“We are brought together by love for Colombia and the certainty that, without God, we will not be able to build the civilization of love we all long for, nor sustain our common home,” they said.

The school has fought against the release of the report detailing its handling of abuse allegations connected to Theodore McCarrick.

The Legislature "can leave it up to a vote of the people" if it does not want to abolish capital punishment outright, the governor said.

Anna Minj, nominated to a reserved seat by the governing party, used her first budget-session address to urge that new funds actually reach Bangladesh's poorest ethnic communities.