St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1850–1917) was the thirteenth child of a modest farming family born near Milan, Italy. Her father would often gather his children in the kitchen to hear him read from a book on the lives of the saints. St. Frances was endeared to the stories of missionaries working in the Orient and desired to become one herself, which in her day was a man's role. Turned...
Machar was a 6th-century Irish Saint active in Scotland. A Bishop of Irish origin, Machar is said to have been a former nobleman, baptized by St Colman. He came to Iona with Columba and preached in Mull and later ministered to the Picts around Aberdeen. Much of what is claimed to be known about St. Machar derives from the Aberdeen Breviary, a work compiled in the late fifteenth to early...
John the Merciful, also known as John the Almsgiver, John the Almoner, John V of Alexandria, John Eleymon, and Johannes Eleemon, was the Chalcedonian Patriarch of Alexandria in the early 7th century (from 606 to 616) and a Christian saint. He is the patron saint of Casarano, Italy and of Limassol, Cyprus. In his youth John had had a vision of a beautiful maiden with a garland of olives on her...
St. Justus of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk and a priest. He was later sent on a mission to the Anglo Saxons in 601 where he was sent by Pope Gregory the Great. He worked with several saints including St. Augustine of Canterbury, St. Paulinus of York and St. Lawrence of Canterbury. He was the first bishop of Rochester, England in 604 AD. In 616 AD, there was a rise of the paganism due to...
St. Benignus of Armagh (d. 467 A.D.) was the son of a pagan Irish chieftain in what is now County Meath in Ireland. He was baptized by St. Patrick and became his loyal follower in the saint's ministry across Ireland. In 450 A.D. Benignus became coadjutor with St. Patrick in the Diocese of Armagh, and also became the first rector of the Catholic school there. St. Benignus was a talented...