St. Alexius (d. 417 A.D.) was a native of Rome, the son of a distinguished Roman senator. His parents arranged a marriage for him, but he had a divine calling to a higher vocation. On the night of his wedding, with permission from his fiance, he secretly fled to Edessa in Syria to live in poverty and obscurity as a holy ascetic. He disguised himself as a beggar, unrecognized by all, even...

Eustace of Antioch, sometimes surnamed the Great, was a Christian bishop and archbishop of Antioch in the 4th century. He was a native of Side in Pamphylia. About 320 he was bishop of Beroea, and he became patriarch of Antioch shortly before the Council of Nicaea in 325. In that assembly he distinguished himself zealously against the Arians. His anti–Arian polemic against Eusebius of...

St. Bonaventure (1221–1274) was born with the name Giovanni in Tuscany, Italy. As a child he became seriously ill and was in danger of death until his mother brought him to St. Francis of Assisi, who was then living in the region as a mendicant friar. It is said that St. Francis healed the child and afterward exclaimed, "O buona ventura (O good fortune)!" when he prophetically...

St. Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680), also known as the 'Lily of the Mohawks,' was born in present-day New York. Her father was a Mohawk chief, and her mother an Algonquin who had been converted to the Christian faith by Jesuit missionaries. When Kateri was four years old, a smallpox epidemic killed her entire family and left her partially blind, disfigured, and crippled. She was raised...

Saint Henry II (972-1024 A.D.) was born to the Duke of Bavaria and the Princess of Burgundy. He was a pious child and was given the education of a priest. However, his destiny changed when he succeeded his father as the Duke of Bavaria and took a holy woman as his wife. Upon the sudden death of his cousin he also became the King of Germany. Then, in 1014 A.D. he was crowned Holy Roman Emperor...