Bl. Maria Francesca of Jesus Rubatto (1844– 1904) was one of eight children from an Italian family. Her father died when she was four. In her teenage years she received an offer of marriage, which she declined as she had taken a vow of virginity from an early age. When she was nineteen, after the death of her mother, Maria moved to Turin and befriended a noblewoman who gave her...

Our Lady of the Snows is one of the oldest devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It commemorates a miraculous event that happened during the reign of Pope Liberius. A wealthy, childless Roman couple prayed to know how their fortune should be used for God. Our Lady answered them in a dream and asked that a church be built in her honor. She also appeared in a dream to the Holy Father with the...

Saint Onofrio of Panaia, also known as Onofrio Catanzaro, Onofrio the Hermit, or Onofre, was a revered Catholic saint who lived a life dedicated to prayer, solitude, and spiritual discipline. He is particularly venerated in Calabria, Italy, where he spent most of his life as a hermit in the forests of Panaia. Onofrio was born in the town of Catanzaro in Calabria, around the end of the 10th...

Waltheof (c. 1095 – 1159) was a 12th-century English abbot and saint. He was the son of Simon I of St Liz, 1st Earl of Northampton and Maud, 2nd Countess of Huntingdon, thus stepson to David I of Scotland, and the grandson of Waltheof, Earl of Northampton. Whether as a result of being a younger son in the world of Norman...

The image of Our Lady of the Angels is only about three inches high, and is carved in a simple fashion on dark stone. She has a round, sweet face, slanted eyes and a delicate mouth. Her coloring is leaden, with scattered golden sparkles. She carries the Christ Child on her left arm. Only the faces of Mary and the Child are visible; the rest is covered by a cloak that is gathered in pleats. The...