Blog

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

    A tinted early-20th-century postcard portrait of a Franciscan friar in a brown hooded habit, based on a historical portrait of Junípero Serra.
    Saint Junípero Serra
    A Franciscan friar founded nine of California's 21 missions and became a canonized saint in 2015 — one of the most contested figures in US religious history.
    A c. 1520 painted altarpiece panel showing a bishop saint in gold pontifical vestments and a mitre, holding a sword in one hand and a crozier in the other, from the Mainfränkisches Museum in Würzburg.
    Saint Kilian
    An Irish missionary bishop told a Franconian duke his marriage broke canon law. The duke's furious wife had him murdered while her husband was away at war.
    A portrait painted from life around 1581 showing Saint Louis Bertrand as an older Dominican friar in black and white habit, holding a crucifix, with the inscription "Vera Efigies" (true likeness).
    Saint Louis Bertrand
    A Spanish Dominican preached to South Americans across a language barrier and spent seven years openly opposing colonial abuse of the people he converted.
    An 1890 photograph of Sister Mary MacKillop seated in her brown Josephite habit, holding a rosary and cross, with two companions standing beside her.
    Saint Mary MacKillop
    Australia's first canonized saint was briefly excommunicated by her bishop in 1871 — and later cleared, after her order reported a priest's abuse of a child.
    A 19th-century engraved portrait of a Jesuit priest in a habit, holding up a small crucifix, with a halo rendered as a glow behind his head.
    Saint Peter Claver
    A Spanish Jesuit boarded incoming slave ships in Cartagena for 40 years, climbing into the hold to bring water and medicine before the enslaved were sold.
    A painted portrait of a nun in a dark habit and white bonnet, hands folded in prayer over a map of North America, with a luminous vision of Christ appearing above her.
    Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne
    At nearly 49, a French nun who survived the Revolution sailed to the Missouri frontier and opened the first free school west of the Mississippi River.
    A 19th-century oil portrait of a bearded Capuchin friar in a brown hooded habit, representative of the religious order Blessed Solanus Casey belonged to.
    Blessed Solanus Casey
    Ordained a priest barred from hearing confessions or preaching, he spent decades answering a friary door in Detroit. Thousands came looking for him anyway.
    A white marble sculpture of the young martyr Saint Tarcisius lying fatally wounded, eyes closed, clutching the hidden Eucharist to his chest.
    Saint Tarcisius
    A young Roman carrying the Eucharist to imprisoned Christians died protecting it from a mob — a beloved story resting on a few lines of ancient poetry.
    A medieval illuminated manuscript depiction of the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket, showing four armed knights attacking him with swords before the altar of Canterbury Cathedral.
    Saint Thomas Becket
    Four knights heard an English king's furious outburst as a command and killed Archbishop Thomas Becket inside Canterbury Cathedral — a well-documented murder.
    A 17th-century oil painting of a kneeling archbishop in a red cape and white vestments, praying before an altar, with a group of indigenous Andean figures standing behind him.
    Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo
    A Spanish judge who had never been ordained was named Archbishop of Lima by royal decree — and had to become a priest and a bishop within weeks of each other.
    An ancient Roman catacomb fresco of early Christians gathered together at a shared table, evoking the Sunday Eucharistic assembly the Martyrs of Abitina died defending.
    Saint Victoria of Albitina
    A young North African noblewoman jumped from a window to escape an arranged marriage, then joined 48 others arrested for celebrating the Sunday Eucharist.
    A Baroque painting of the martyr Saint Vitus rising from a cauldron with arms outstretched, as an angel descends bearing a martyr's crown before watching Roman soldiers.
    Saint Vitus
    A boy martyr's legend gave a real neurological disorder its name, Saint Vitus's Dance, through a strange medieval custom of dancing before his statue.
    A pencil and wash drawing of a crowned, haloed Duke Wenceslaus seated at a small oven, personally baking communion bread with tongs, while two attendants press wine in the background.
    Saint Wenceslaus
    A Bohemian duke was murdered by his own younger brother's men in 935, then became the "Good King" of a carol describing charity that never actually happened.
    A Renaissance panel painting of two haloed physician-saints in red hats kneeling beside a sleeping patient in bed, one of them touching his leg during a healing miracle.
    Saints Cosmas and Damian
    Twin physicians who treated the sick free of charge were later said to graft a dead man's leg onto a living patient — a legend arriving centuries later.
    An elderly woman in a blue robe holds a pair of golden pincers gripping a tooth, gazing calmly outward, in a Renaissance devotional panel painting.
    Saint Apollonia
    An elderly deaconess in Alexandria had her teeth violently knocked out by a mob, then chose the fire herself rather than renounce her faith under threat of it.
    A haloed woman bound to a pillar is scourged by a man raising a whip overhead, in a 17th-century engraving of her martyrdom.
    Saint Bibiana
    A Roman basilica built over her relics in the 5th century is essentially all that history can confirm about her — everything else is later, unverifiable legend.
    A bearded bishop wearing a mitre gazes upward toward a haloed vision of Christ, holding wool-combs, in a 16th-century engraving.
    Saint Blaise
    Almost everything told about this Armenian bishop, including the choking boy he's famous for saving, is later legend — yet the throat blessing built on it endures.
    An 18th-century engraving of Blandina being thrown upward by a bull in the Lyon arena as another bull charges nearby and crowds and officials watch from the amphitheater walls.
    Saint Blandina
    A young slave girl outlasted her torturers for days with one repeated line, then died in the Lyon arena in a pose witnesses said echoed the crucifixion.
    A medieval illuminated manuscript miniature showing a bound figure being tortured beside a cross while a winged devil looms above and flames burn below, illustrating the legendary Passion of Saint Boniface of Tarsus.
    Saint Boniface of Tarsus
    A Roman servant sent to Tarsus for holy relics converted at the sight of Christian suffering — then the Church struck his feast from the calendar in 1969.
    A sepia-toned oval portrait of a young boy with short dark hair, dressed in a dark jacket with a white collar and bow, looking directly at the viewer.
    Saint Dominic Savio
    A 12-year-old joined Don Bosco's Turin oratory, organized his own small club to help friends stay faithful, and was dead of illness within two short years.