Blog

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

    A 17th-century oil painting of a dense forest with a kneeling hunter in red hose praying before a great oak tree, his hounds resting nearby and a stag visible in the shadows to the right.
    Saint Hubert of Liège, Patron of Hunters
    A nobleman hunted straight through Good Friday until a stag stopped and turned to face him, a crucifix glowing between its antlers.
    An 18th-century engraving of an elderly bearded man in flowing robes standing on a rocky shoreline, his arms crossed over his chest, based on William Blake's depiction of Joseph of Arimathea.
    Saint Joseph of Arimathea and His Tomb
    Who Saint Joseph of Arimathea was in the Gospels, why he gave up his own tomb for Jesus, and how later legend linked him to Glastonbury and the Holy Grail.
    A marble statue of Saint Longinus by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, showing a bearded Roman soldier in flowing robes gazing upward with arms outstretched, one hand holding a long spear.
    Saint Longinus, the Centurion at the Cross
    Who Saint Longinus is, why later tradition names the soldier who pierced Christ's side, and how that legendary story differs from what Scripture actually records.
    A 17th-century engraving of Saint Medard shown as a bearded bishop with an eagle sheltering him from rain, spreading its wings above his head, captioned "S. Medardus Epus."
    Saint Medard and the Forty Days of Rain
    French farmers still watch the sky on June 8 — a 6th-century bishop's feast day that folk tradition insists sets the weather pattern for forty days after.
    A painting showing Jesus and Nicodemus seated on a rooftop terrace at night, deep in conversation, with the hills and rooftops of Jerusalem visible in the moonlit background.
    Saint Nicodemus, the Pharisee Who Came by Night
    Who Saint Nicodemus is in Scripture, why he visited Jesus after dark, and what later Christian tradition adds to his brief but pivotal biblical story.
    A stained glass window depicting a crowned, haloed bishop or king figure in blue and gold vestments, holding a cross-topped staff, from a Gothic chapel window at All Souls College, Oxford.
    Saint Oswald of Northumbria
    A king raised in exile reclaimed his throne with a wooden cross and a battle prayer, then spent his short reign rebuilding Christianity across northern England.
    An 18th-century devotional painting showing a kneeling friar in a black habit before a crucifix, with an angel touching his leg and a young angel attending nearby.
    Saint Peregrine Laziosi, Patron of Cancer Patients
    The story of Saint Peregrine Laziosi, the Italian friar honored as patron of cancer patients after tradition holds his leg was healed on the eve of amputation.
    An 11th-century illuminated manuscript miniature showing Saint Radegund enthroned under a canopy, veiled and holding an open book, from the Life of Saint Radegund manuscript at Poitiers.
    Saint Radegund of Poitiers
    A Frankish queen who fled her husband's court to found a monastery, then spent decades quietly brokering peace among the very kings who might have hunted her down.
    A tempera altarpiece panel showing Saint Servatius as a bishop in full vestments and mitre, seated at a writing desk with an open illuminated book.
    Saint Servatius, Bishop and Ice Saint of Old Europe
    Saint Servatius, a 4th-century bishop of Tongeren, defended church orthodoxy at two major councils and became one of Europe's folk-tradition Ice Saints.
    A tempera panel painting of Saint Walburga as a haloed Benedictine abbess in a dark habit and grey veil, reading from an open illuminated book, with a forest and abbey ruins in the background.
    Saint Walburga, the Abbess and Her Healing Oil
    Saint Walburga, an English-born Benedictine abbess who helped evangelize Germany, governed monks and nuns alike, remembered for her shrine's healing oil.
    Saul thrown from his horse and struck blind by a heavenly light on the road to Damascus, from Caravaggio's Conversion on the Way to Damascus
    The Conversion of Saint Paul the Apostle
    The Damascus road story that turned Christianity's fiercest persecutor into its greatest missionary, and what the three biblical accounts actually say.
    19th-century engraved portrait of Pope Gregory VII in profile, wearing the papal tiara
    Saint Gregory VII, Pope
    The reforming pope who faced down Emperor Henry IV at Canossa, fought to free the Church from secular control, and permanently reshaped the medieval papacy.
    Period portrait of Saint Andrew Kim Taegon wearing a traditional Korean gat hat and hanbok, holding a book
    Saint Andrew Kim Taegon, Priest, and Companions, Martyrs
    How a fisherman's son crossed a closed border to become Korea's first native priest, and why September 20 honors him alongside 102 other Korean martyrs.
    Marble statue of Saint Anthony Mary Zaccaria in clerical vestments holding an open rule book and a sprig of flowers
    Saint Anthony Zaccaria, Priest
    The physician-turned-priest who founded the Barnabites, preached in Renaissance Milan's streets, and pushed for frequent, reverent reception of the Eucharist.
    Detail of Saint Eusebius of Vercelli in bishop's cope, gazing upward, from an 18th-century altarpiece
    Saint Eusebius of Vercelli, Bishop
    How a 4th-century bishop pioneered communal life for parish clergy, defied an emperor's demand to condemn Athanasius, and paid for it with years of exile.
    17th-century painting of an angel unchaining Saint Jerome Emiliani in prison as the Virgin Mary appears above
    Saint Jerome Emiliani, Priest
    How a Venetian soldier chained in a dungeon during a losing war became the priest who built a network of orphanages and founded the Somaschi Fathers.
    Photographic portrait of Pope John XXIII smiling, wearing red papal vestments, 1959
    Saint John XXIII, Pope
    How a 76-year-old "caretaker" pope elected as a safe compromise ended up calling the council that reshaped the modern Catholic Church.
    Sepia photograph of Saint Josephine Bakhita in her Canossian religious habit, kneeling in prayer before a crucifix, circa 1910
    Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin
    A Sudanese girl kidnapped into slavery and renamed by her captors found freedom in an Italian convent and became the Church's patron for trafficking victims.
    17th-century painting of Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi in mystical ecstasy, crowned by an angel, with a crucifix and skull nearby
    Saint Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, Virgin
    A Florentine noblewoman entered a Carmelite convent seeking silence and had ecstasies so vivid her sisters wrote down her words for forty nights straight.
    Christ handing the keys to a kneeling Saint Peter before a crowd of apostles, from Pietro Perugino's Delivery of the Keys fresco
    The Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle
    What the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter actually celebrates, why it isn't about a piece of furniture, and how Bernini's bronze reliquary came to be.