Saint Ambrose

Saint Ambrose was born in France around 340.  When his father, who was in the employ of the Roman government, died his mother took him and his sister back to Rome. He was reared by his widowed mother and his sister, St. Marcellina. He excelled in his studies of law, literature, and rhetoric and became …

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St. John Damascene

St. John Damascene was born in Damascus, Syria to a well-to-do Christian family and lived in the 7th and 8th centuries.  He became the government official at Damascus after his father’s death. The ruling emperor enacted a law forbidding Christians to have statues or pictures of our Lord and the saints.   St. John and …

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Ste. Thérèse D’Avila

Ste. Thérèse D’Avila (Ste. Thérèse de Jésus) est né à Avila le 28 mars 1515, de parents nobles et chrétiens.  Dès l’âge le plus tendre, un fait révéla ce qu’elle devait être un jour.  Elle avait dès lors une grande dévotion à la Sainte Vierge. Chaque jour elle récitait le rosaire. Ayant perdu sa mère, …

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St. Jerome

St. Jerome was born in 427 to a wealthy family in Dalmatia. He was schooled in  Rome where he was baptized by Pope Liberius and converted to Christianity.   He studied theology and traveled widely to the important intellectual and theological centers across the newly-established Christian Empire. He was ordained a priest at Antioch and …

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St. Gregory the Great

Saint Gregory the Great was born in Rome in 540 to a well to do family.  He was well educated and in his early 30’s became the Prefect of Rome.   In 579 he was chosen by the pope as his emissary to the emperor’s court in Constantinople, primarily to seek the emperor’s assistance in …

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St. Alphonsus Liguori

St Alphonsus graduated from college with a civil and canon law degree at the age. of 16.   He practiced law for 8 yrs and when he lost a legal matter he ceased his law practice.  He subsequently heard an inner voice speak to him while visiting the terminally ill at a local hospital: “Leave the …

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St. Catherine of Siena

Saint Catherine of Siena, was the 24th of 25 children in her pious family imbued with the love of God.   She had great religious fervor and exercised extreme moments of self-sacrifice.  She ate only bread and raw vegetables and drank only water for her entire adult life.  She reportedly had locutions with God and …

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St. Bonaventure

Saint Bonaventure joined the Franciscan order in 1243 and earned his doctorate in theology from the University of Paris.   He became master of the Franciscan school in 1253.   He wrote on fundamental theology, the nature of dogma, Scripture and history, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, angels, creation, the virtues—and all of it was …

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St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas was born in .   His parents placed him at the age of 5 in a Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino hoping that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239, he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was there that he was first attracted to …

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St. John Chrysostom

St. John Chrysostom was born in 347.    He earned a degree in the liberal arts and was baptized at the age of eighteen, in keeping with the custom of adult baptism common to his era. He joined a rustic group of hermits in the hills outside of his hometown in his mid-twenties. The conditions were …

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