The Holy Innocents (1st c.) are the children mentioned in the account of Jesus' birth in Matthew's Gospel (2:16-18). When the Magi came to Jerusalem to find and adore the Baby Jesus, the newborn King of the Jews, King Herod requested that they inform him of the Child's location under the pretense of offering Him adoration, too. After paying the Child homage and offering Him their...

There are those who portray St. John the Evangelist (1st c.) as one of the Twelve Apostles and one of the three in Jesus' inner circle, along with his brother, James, and Simon Peter. There are others, however, you identify him not as one of the Twelve, but as the Beloved unnamed disciple of the Gospel who moved to Ephesus and gave a home to the Blessed Mother. The discussion will never be...

St. Stephen (1st. c.) was one of the Church's first deacons in Jerusalem and an eloquent preacher of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. According to Sacred Scripture he was "a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost" and "full of grace and fortitude." The account of his martyrdom is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. After boldly preaching against the Jewish leaders for...

St. Anastasia (c. 281-314 A.D.) was a Roman citizen of the noble class, born to a wealthy pagan father and a Christian mother. She was secretly baptized due to her mother's desire to raise her as a Christian. Anastasia married a Roman pagan of her class, and, when he discovered that she was a practicing Christian, he became a cruel tyrant and inflicted much suffering upon her. After her...

Paola Elisabetta Cerioli (28 January 1816 – 24 December 1865), born Costanza Cerioli Buzecchi-Tasis, was an Italian Roman Catholic widow and the founder of both the Institute of Sisters of the Holy Family and the congregation of the Family of Bergamo. Costanza Cerioli was born in 1816 as the last of sixteen children of Francesco Cerioli and Francesca Corniani. At the age of eleven in...