Blog

    Stories of saints, biblical events, angels, and sacred places.

    An 1836 painting of the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi, showing its facade and bell tower
    The Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi
    Inside the Upper and Lower Church built over Francis of Assisi's tomb, why it houses Giotto's famous fresco cycle, and how it became a major pilgrimage site.
    An 1835 painting of the facade of the Basilica of St John Lateran in Rome, crowded with pilgrims
    The Archbasilica of St. John Lateran
    Why the Pope's actual cathedral in Rome isn't St. Peter's Basilica, and what makes St. John Lateran the "mother and head of all churches."
    A historic photograph of the earlier church that stood on the Nazareth Annunciation site before the present 1969 basilica was built
    The Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth
    Inside the church built over the traditional site of Gabriel's announcement to Mary, its 1969 design, and the courtyard's Marian mosaics from around the world.
    Pilgrims inside the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem, sunlight streaming past hanging lamps and columns
    The Basilica of the Nativity, Bethlehem
    How a church built by Constantine's mother survived war after war to become one of the oldest churches still in use, over the traditional site of Christ's birth.
    Carved jamb statues of the Royal Portal at Chartres Cathedral, photographed around 1850
    Chartres Cathedral
    The history of Chartres Cathedral in France, its relic of Mary's veil, its famous blue stained glass, and the labyrinth set into its floor.
    The entrance courtyard and facade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, 1858
    The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem
    Inside the traditional site of Golgotha and Christ's tomb, and the centuries-old "Status Quo" agreement that governs who may touch what inside its walls.
    An 1860 illustration of the Grotto of Massabielle at Lourdes, site of the Marian apparitions
    Grotto of Massabielle, Lourdes
    A cave near the town garbage dump, so unremarkable no one had named it — until a spring appeared and a fourteen-year-old's visions made it a major pilgrimage site.
    The tidal island and abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, photographed in the 1930s
    Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey
    The history of Mont-Saint-Michel in Normandy, from a bishop's dream and a hole in his skull to a tidal island crowned by a medieval abbey.
    The Benedictine Abbey of Monte Cassino and its cloister, photographed in February 1944
    Monte Cassino Abbey — The Cradle of Western Monasticism
    How Saint Benedict's hilltop monastery became the birthplace of Western monasticism, was destroyed four times across fifteen centuries, and rose again after 1944.
    The spires of the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, still under construction, photographed in 2010
    The Sagrada Família in Barcelona
    How Antoni Gaudí's unfinished basilica in Barcelona became a working church, and what its soaring towers and forest-like columns actually symbolize.
    The golden mosaic sanctuary and crucifix inside the Basilica of the Holy Trinity at Fatima
    Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima
    How a barren field where three shepherd children saw a "lady brighter than the sun" became one of the largest Marian pilgrimage sites on earth.
    Michelangelo's Last Judgment fresco on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel
    The Sistine Chapel
    How a Renaissance pope's private chapel became home to Michelangelo's ceiling and Last Judgment, and why cardinals still lock themselves inside it to elect a pope.
    The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Saint Juan Diego's tilma, one of the Church's recognized Marian apparitions
    Marian Apparitions Recognized by the Church
    Guadalupe, Lourdes, and Fátima are the famous ones, but other apparitions have also received formal Church approval — here's how that process actually works.
    Leonardo da Vinci's painting of Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary, and the Christ Child
    Saint Anne, Mother of the Virgin Mary
    Why the woman honored as Mary's mother is never named in Scripture, and how an ancient tradition gave her the name Anne and a story of her own.
    A painting of Saint Anthony of Padua kneeling in adoration before the Christ Child, holding a white lily, with cherubs above.
    Saint Anthony of Padua
    How a Portuguese-born Franciscan became one of the great preachers of his century, and why he's the saint people ask for help finding lost things.
    Saint Barbara seated before the tower of her martyrdom, drawing by Jan van Eyck
    Saint Barbara, Virgin Martyr
    Who Saint Barbara was, why she is shown with a three-windowed tower, and why the Church removed her feast from its universal calendar in 1969.
    Raphael's cartoon of Paul and Barnabas at Lystra, mistaken for pagan gods
    Saint Barnabas the Apostle
    The "son of encouragement" who vouched for Saul when no one else in Jerusalem would go near him, and became an apostle without ever meeting Jesus in the flesh.
    The Roman centurion Cornelius kneeling as an angel appears to him in a vision
    Saint Cornelius the Centurion
    The story of Cornelius, the Roman officer whose vision and conversion in Acts 10 opened the Christian faith to the Gentile world.
    Icon of the Crucifixion showing Christ between the two thieves, including Saint Dismas the Good Thief
    Saint Dismas — The Good Thief Promised Paradise
    Who Saint Dismas is, what he actually said to Jesus while dying on the cross beside him, and why his last-minute conversion became a model of Christian hope.
    Saint Expeditus depicted as a Roman soldier holding a cross inscribed 'Hodie,' trampling a crow
    Saint Expeditus, Patron of Urgent Causes
    Who Saint Expeditus is said to have been, why he is invoked against procrastination, and why his very existence is a matter of scholarly debate.