This is the pope whose job it was to implement the historic Council of Trent. If we think popes had difficulties in implementing Vatican Council II, Pius V had even greater problems after Trent four centuries earlier. During his papacy (1566-1572), Pius V was faced with the almost overwhelming responsibility of getting a shattered and scattered Church back on its feet. The family of God had...

Also called St. Peter of Verona, an inquisitor and martyr, he was born in Verona to parents who were adherents of the Cathar heresy. Educated in a Catholic school and the University of Bologna, he was brought into the Dominican Order in 1221 by St. Dominic himself. Preaching with some success in Lombardy, he endured and overcame false accusations that he had been visited by women in his cell....

St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort (1673 – 1716) was born in Brittany, France, to a large farming family. As a child he displayed an unusual spiritual maturity and spent much time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. At the age of 19 he went on foot to Paris to study theology at a prestigious school with the support of a benefactor; along the way he gave his possessions to the poor...

St. Simeon was the son of Cleophas, otherwise called Alpheus, brother to St. Joseph, and of Mary, sister to the Blessed Virgin. He was therefore nephew both to St. Joseph and to the Blessed Virgin, and cousin to Our Savior. We cannot doubt but that he was ail early follower of Christ, and that he received the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, with the Blessed Virgin and the apostles. When...

St. Rafael Arnáiz Barón was born on 9 April 1911 in Burgos as the first of four sons to Rafael Arnáiz (an engineer) and Mercedes Barón (newspaper columnist); his siblings after him were Fernando, Leopoldo, and Mercedes. His baptism was celebrated on 21 April 1911 and he was named as "Rafael Arturo Alvaro José de la Immaculada Concepción i San Luis Gonzaga". He made his First...