Raymond belonged to the noble Lull family and was born at Palma on the island of Mallorca in 1236. At a very early age he became a page at the royal court; and before he was thirty years old, he had been advanced to the position of marshal and high steward to King James of […]
Blessed Gentle was born at Matelica, a little town in the March of Ancona, of the noble and ancient Finaguerra family. As a young man he entered the Franciscan Order. After he completed his studies and was ordained a priest, he went to Mt. La Verna, where he experienced the sweetness of intimate union with […]
Liberatus of Lauro was a count belonging to the noble family of the counts of Brunforte in the March of Ancona. The glory of the world held no attraction for him, and so he left the castle of his forebears and repaired to the solitary little convent of Soffiano where he was invested with the […]
Born in the March of Ancona about 1260, Thomas became a Friar Minor in early youth and soon distinguished himself by his strict observance of the Franciscan rule, especially its precepts concerning the practice of poverty, and by his zeal for the salvation of souls. In 1289 he went with several other friars as a […]
Almighty God did marvelous things in the soul of St. Rose. It appears that her parents gave her that name by divine inspiration, for it was symbolic of her entire career. As long as she lived, she bloomed like a sweet-scented rose in the garden of the Church, and in full bloom was she transplanted […]
Practically every page in the history of the French Revolution is stained with blood. What is known in history as the Carmelite Massacre of 1792, added nearly two hundred victims to this noble company of martyrs. They were all priests, secular and religious, who refused to take the schismatic oath, and had been imprisoned in […]
The two Friars Minor, John of Perugia, a priest, and Peter of Sassoferrato, a lay brother, were sent to Spain with a large number of other friars by St. Francis himself. There they were assigned to the kingdom of Aragon, where they built a small convent in the little town of Teruel, and reaped much […]
Father Martin of Valencia came not from the large Spanish city of that name, but from a little village in the diocese of Leon. There he was born in 1470. Martin manifested a decided attachment for St. Francis and his order from his youth. He begged for the habit of the Franciscans shortly after he […]
Davanzato was a young student preparing for the priesthood when Blessed Luchesio was received in the Third Order at Poggibonzi. It was not long afterwards that Davanzato, who associated much with the devout Luchesio, also received the holy habit, in which he shone for many years as a special glory of the order. Shortly after […]
This blessed man belongs to the most outstanding clients of our Lady in the Franciscan Order. He was a native of France. As a result of a sermon on the Immaculate Conception, which had been delivered by a member of the Franciscan Order, he himself became a Franciscan. Due to his great learning and virtues, […]
