Almost everyone knows who this man was. The fifth station on the Via Dolorosa tells us that he helped Jesus to carry his cross to Calvary.  He was compelled by the Romans to carry the cross of Jesus of Nazareth as Jesus was taken to his crucifixion, according to all three Synoptic Gospels. "And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear...

Saint Maura was a young Catholic virgin of Constantinople, cruelly martyred for the Faith.  Her memory haunted the haters of the Catholic Faith for years after her death.  Even Julian the Apostate, the Roman Emperor who died in 363, was worried about the way in which Saint Maura was venerated.  One of the Ionian Islands, between Greece and Italy, was named after her.  Her...

Blessed Denis of the Nativity (1600-1638) was born as Pierre Berthelotin in France and became a sailor at the age of twelve. He had a successful career as pilot-in-chief and cartographer in service to the Kings of France and Portugal, even being knighted for bravery. He later chose the religious life and became a Carmelite friar, taking the name Dionysius (Denis) of the Nativity. He was sent...

James Gangala was born at Montebrandone, Ancona. He studied law and then joined the Franciscans at Assisi in 1416. He studied under St. Bernardino of Siena at Fiesole, was ordained when he was twenty-nine, and became an effective and forceful preacher. He worked as a missionary with St. John Capistran in Italy and in Germany, Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary, and in 1426, with John, was named...

Barlaam and Josaphat are legendary Christian martyrs and saints. Their life story is likely to have been based on the life of the Gautama Buddha. It tells how an Indian king persecuted the Christian Church in his realm. When astrologers predicted that his own son would someday become a Christian, the king imprisoned the young prince Josaphat, who nevertheless met the hermit Saint Barlaam and...