St. Monica (322-387 A.D.) was raised in a Christian home in Tagaste, North Africa. Early in life she struggled with alcoholism, sneaking draughts of wine from the family cellar, before being caught and overcoming the habit. She was later given in marriage to an ill-tempered and adulterous pagan Roman official. She suffered greatly on account of her husband, and that of her unkind mother-in-law...

St. Orontius of Lecce (1st c.) was the son of the Roman imperial treasurer in Lecce, Italy. Upon his father's death he inherited the position. Orontius was converted to the Christian faith along with his nephew, Fortunatus, by Justus, a disciple of St. Paul the Apostle. Orontius was later denounced to the authorities as a Christian and was ordered to sacrifice to the pagan gods. He refused...

Louis IX (25 April 1214 – 25 August 1270), commonly known as Saint Louis, was King of France and is a canonized Catholic and Anglican saint. Louis was crowned in Reims at the age of 12, following the death of his father Louis VIII the Lion, although his mother, Blanche of Castile, ruled the kingdom until he reached maturity. During Louis' childhood, Blanche dealt with the opposition...

Emily de Vialar was born on 12 September 1797 to Jacques and Antoinette Portal de Vialar, in Gaillac. Her father was a doctor. Emily was born 3 years after the Reign of Terror, in the same year as Pope Pius VI was taken prisoner by French troops. She was the oldest of 3 children and was baptized in secret. At a young age, Emily was taught by her mother how to read. At the age of thirteen...

St. Rose (1586-1617) was born in Lima, Peru, one of ten children belonging to a Spanish immigrant and his wife, a descendant of the Incas. Rose was beautiful and very pious. She was so sensitive to compliments on her physical appearance that, to combat vanity, she disfigured her face with pepper and lime. When her father's finances deteriorated, Rose used her skill at needlework to help...