Lucian and Marcian, living in the darkness of idolatry, applied themselves to the vain study of the black art; but were converted to the faith by finding their charms lose their power upon a Christian virgin, and the evil spirits defeated by the sign of the cross. Their eyes being thus opened they burned their magical books in the middle of the city of Nicomedia and, when they had effaced...

Sts. Crispin and Crispinian (d. 286 A.D.) were brothers, believed to be twins, from a noble Roman family. They were Christians and went as missionaries into Gaul (present-day France). Taking the Apostle St. Paul as their example, they earned their living through a trade, dividing their time between ministry and work. Their craft was shoe-making, and because they asked little pay for their...

Ruma and Areta were the princess and prince of the city of Nagrana (modern Najran, Saudi Arabia).  They and their children as well as 342 priests, religious and lay people were martyred together by order of Dhu Nuwas, king of the Omeritani, who had converted to Judaism and demanded that everyone in his kingdom do so as well. Some were beheaded. Others were buried alive in 523 at Nagrana....

On October 23, 1994, Sisters Esther Paniagua Alonso and Caridad “Cari” Alvarez Martín were each shot in the head as they walked to Mass. Sister Esther was a nurse who worked with sick and disabled children and had painstakingly learned fluent Arabic. In the discernment meeting with Msgr. Teissier about whether to stay or go, she said to her sisters, “At this moment, for...

Pope St. John Paul II (1920–2005) was born in Poland and was a vibrant, athletic, and intelligent child. His deeply religious father played an important role in his spiritual formation after his mother's death when he was 8 years old. He studied literature, poetry, and theater before his studies were interrupted by the Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939. He answered the call to the...