St. Josemaria Escriva (1902-1975) was born in Spain, one of six children of a devout Catholic family. Observing his parents faithfully endure painful family trials—the death of three of their young children and devastating financial setbacks—had a deepening effect on his own faith. As a teenager he discovered his vocation to the priesthood when he saw the path of bare footprints in...

St. Dominic Henares (1764-1838) was born to a poor family in Spain. He joined the Dominican Order and was ordained a priest in 1790. Ten years later he was sent as a missionary to the Far East. He went from Mexico to the Philippines, and finally to North Vietnam. He became Bishop of Phunhay, Vietnam, in 1803. In 1831 the Vietnamese emperor officially prohibited Catholicism and severely...

Saint Rumbold (or Rumold, Romuold) was an Irish or Scottish Christian missionary, although his true nationality is not known for certain. He was martyred near Mechelen by two men, whom he had denounced for their evil ways. Saint Rumbold's feast day is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, and Western Rite Orthodox Churches, on 24 June; and it is celebrated in Ireland on 3 July. He is...

This siint is known as Ethelreda or Audrey. This daughter of a king of East Anglia was the sister to Sts. Ethelburga, Erkenwald, Sexburga, and Withburga. She was married to a prince of a local tribe of Saxons, but he allowed her to remain a virgin. When he died after three years, she entered religious life under St. Ebba at Coldingham, England, and then became abbess of the monastery at Ely....

St. John Fisher is the martyred cardinal of England and close friend of St. Thomas More. He was ordained a priest in 1491 and appointed bishop of Rochester in 1504. In 1529 he was named a counselor of Queen Catherine of Aragon, leading the opposition against King Henry VIII in his quest for a divorce. Twice imprisoned for opposing the king, he refused to sign Henry’s Act of Supremacy in...