Blessed Maria Fortunata Viti (1827–1922) was born in Italy, the eldest daughter of nine children. Her father had a gambling and alcohol addiction, and her mother died when she was 14 years old. Maria then cared for her younger siblings and worked as a housekeeper to earn money for the family as her father sunk deeper into his addiction. Maria rejected an offer for marriage, deciding...

St. Barlaam of Antioch (d. 304 A.D.) was an elderly, uneducated peasant laborer from a village near Antioch. He was arrested for his Christian faith under the persecution of Roman Emperor Diocletian. He was detained for a long time in a dungeon before being brought before his judge. At his trial he was severely scourged, his bones dislocated on the rack, and tortured in other ways in an...

In Abrahamic religions, Noah was the tenth and last of the pre-Flood Patriarchs. The story of Noah's Ark is told in the Bible's Genesis flood narrative. The biblical account is followed by the story of the Curse of Ham. In addition to the Book of Genesis, Noah is mentioned in the Old Testament in the First Book of Chronicles, and the books of Tobit, Wisdom, Sirach, Isaiah, Ezekiel, 2...

Hilda of Whitby or Hild of Whitby is a Christian saint and the founding abbess of the monastery at Whitby, which was chosen as the venue for the Synod of Whitby. An important figure in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, she was abbess at several monasteries and recognised for the wisdom that drew kings to her for advice. The source of information about Hilda is the...

Saint Othmar of Saint Gall, also known as Audemar, Audomar, Otmar, or Otmaro, was an influential figure in the early Catholic Church. Born in Rhaetia, an ancient province in modern-day Switzerland and Germany, Othmar received an education that prepared him for a life dedicated to serving God and his community. After completing his studies, Othmar was ordained as a priest and assigned to the...