In the quiet little Franciscan convent at Coimbra he received a friendly reception, and in the very same year his earnest wish to be sent to the missions in Africa was fulfilled. But God had decreed otherwise. St. Anthony scarcely set foot on African soil when he was seized with a grievous illness. Even after […]
However, Cardinal Borromeo, who was then only twenty-two years old, was an exceptional young man, endowed with extraordinary gifts of mind and heart, deeply spiritual, and devoted wholeheartedly to the welfare of the Church. It was due to the young cardinal’s vigorous efforts and leadership that the Council of Trent was re-opened and carried to […]
Chapter II through IV While away from his mother, Galgano stayed in Siena to pick a home better suited to entertainment and pleasure, with a secondary sight set upon a military career. This was very dangerous, not only as it is today, but more so in that time as it was seldom separated from violence […]
We call by the name of divine providence God’s preservation and government of the world. 1. God maintains the world, i.e., He preserves all creatures in existence as long as He wills. A ball hanging from a piece of string falls to the ground as soon as the string is cut. So the whole world […]
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 […]
As patriarch of Venice he wore the purple of the cardinalate for another period of nine years, always remaining a faithful son of the poor St. Francis. The death of Pope Leo XIII in 1903 brought him to Rome for the papal election. Who would be the new pope? Cardinal Sarto answered: “Leo XIII, who […]
