St. Macrina the Younger (d. 380 A.D.) was born in Cappadocia to a family of saints. Her mother was St. Emelia, and her father was St. Basil the Elder. Her grandmother was St. Macrina the Elder, after whom she was named. Her holy parents had ten children. Macrina was one of the oldest, and received an excellent religious education from her holy mother. Her parents betrothed her to a pious...

St. Camillus de Lellis (1550–1614) was a wild, undisciplined youth who became a battle-hardened soldier with a violent temper and a gambling addiction. His bad behavior, combined with a persistent war wound in his leg, left him in poverty. He found work doing odd jobs at a Capuchin friary. Gradually the good influence of the friars inspired him to a better life, and he experienced a true...

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...