Born to the Italian nobility, Lorenzo’s family had a military history and a duty to protect the outer defenses of the city of Pisa, Italy. Lorenzo, however, was drawn to the religious life, began studying for the priesthood, and while a deacon, joined the Dominicans at the convent of Saint Catherine in Pisa in 1396. He went on to be ordained a priest. He worked for reform of the...

Saint Elzéar of Sabran, T.O.S.F., Baron of Ansouis, Count of Ariano, was born in the castle of Saint-Jean-de-Robians, near Cabrières-d'Aigues in Provence, southern France, in 1285. He died in Paris, France, on September 27, 1323. He was a tertiary of the Franciscan Order as well as a ruler, diplomat and military leader. In his youth, Elzéar was given a thorough training in the Christian...

Saint Cadoc or Cadog, born c. 497 or before, was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorganshire, Wales, a monastery famous from the era of the British church as a centre of learning, where Illtud spent the first period of his religious life under Cadoc's tutelage. Cadoc is credited with the establishment of many churches in Cornwall, Brittany, Dyfed...

Pacificus of San Severino was born at San Severino as the son of Antonio Maria Divini and Mariangela Bruni. His parents died soon after his Confirmation when he was aged three. He suffered hardships until December 1670 when he took the Franciscan habit in the Order of the Reformati at Forano in the March of Ancona. Pacificus was ordained to the priesthood on 4 June 1678 and served as...

St. Peter was succeeded by St. Linus who governed the Church of Rome from 67 A.D. to 76 A.D. when he was martyred. He is mentioned by name in the Second Letter to Timothy: “Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers send greetings (II Timothy 4:21).” The earliest witness to Linus's status as bishop was Irenaeus, who in about the year 180 wrote, "The blessed...