St. Angela Merici (1474 – 1540) was born in the region of Lombardy, Italy. Her deep piety drew her to make a private vow of virginity at a young age. Her parents died when she was ten, and soon afterwards she lost her sister with whom she was very close. Angela went to live with her uncle, and, despite lacking a formal education, she grew in wisdom and virtue. She committed herself to...

Robert was born about 1029 near Troyes, a younger son of Thierry and Ermengarde, nobles of Champagne. He entered the Benedictine abbey of Montier-la-Celle near Troyes at age fifteen and rose to the office of prior. He was made the abbot of Saint Michel-de-Tonnerre around the year 1070, but he soon discovered that the monks were quarrelsome and disobedient, so he returned to...

St. Paul the Apostle, originally named Saul, was an intelligent and zealous Jewish scholar and Pharisee who fiercely persecuted the first Christian converts among the Jews. While on his way to Damascus with permission to arrest Christians, he received a vision of the resurrected Christ. Jesus rebuked him for his actions and struck him blind, and through this encounter St. Paul was converted....

His mother was Mella, his father Sillán, son of Conall, descendant of Rudraige Mór of Ulster. He was a monk and spiritual student of Saint Ciarán at Clonmacnoise. He founded a monastery to the west of Lemanaghan, Ireland, c.645 on land obtained by Saint Ciarán from the king of Connacht. The monastery has a healing well that came from a spring that opened when Manchán, out of water, struck a...

According to the legend of St. Agnes, Emerentiana was her foster-sister.  St. Agnes was a rich Roman heiress who was martyred after refusing her engagement due to her Christian religion. Emerentiana’s mother was the wet nurse and nanny of Saint Agnes.  A few days after Agnes' death, Emerentiana, who was a catechumen still learning about Christianity before being officially...