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

    Elijah ascending to heaven in a chariot of fire as Elisha watches, 18th-century painting
    Elijah and the Chariot of Fire
    How the prophet Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, witnessed by his successor Elisha, and why he never actually died in the biblical account.
    Queen Esther approaching King Ahasuerus to plead for her people, Baroque painting
    Esther Saves Her People From Annihilation
    How Queen Esther risked execution by approaching the Persian king uninvited to stop a planned massacre of the Jewish people — the story behind Purim.
    Joseph's brothers selling him into slavery to merchants, 17th-century painting
    Joseph Sold Into Slavery by His Own Brothers
    How jealousy over a colorful coat and two dreams led Joseph's brothers to sell him into slavery in Egypt — and how the story became about mercy, not revenge.
    The Holy Spirit descending as tongues of fire over Mary and the apostles, painting by Cesare Nebbia
    Pentecost
    A sound like a violent wind, tongues of fire, and a room full of frightened disciples suddenly understood by pilgrims from a dozen different nations at once.
    Ruth pledging her loyalty to Naomi, Pre-Raphaelite painting
    Ruth and Naomi: A Loyalty That Outlasted Grief
    Why Ruth's vow to her widowed mother-in-law Naomi became one of scripture's most quoted lines about loyalty, and how it led to King David's family line.
    Samson asleep in Delilah's lap as she prepares to cut his hair, Renaissance painting
    Samson and Delilah: Strength, Betrayal, and a Final Prayer
    The story of Samson's downfall at Delilah's hands, the secret of his strength, and the last prayer he prayed pulling down a Philistine temple.
    The three Magi kneeling before the infant Jesus, fresco by Giotto
    The Adoration of the Magi
    Foreign astrologers followed a star to a toddler in an ordinary house, opened boxes of gold and embalming spices, and knelt. Here's what Matthew actually records.
    The Angel Gabriel kneeling before Mary in Fra Angelico's Annunciation
    The Annunciation
    The moment a teenage girl in Nazareth was asked to say yes to something that made no biological sense — and the single sentence she answered with.
    Christ ascending into heaven as the apostles look on, Baroque painting
    The Ascension of Jesus: Why the Disciples Kept Staring at the Sky
    What happened when Jesus was taken up to heaven forty days after the Resurrection, and why two angels had to tell the disciples to stop looking up.
    Abraham about to sacrifice Isaac as an angel stays his hand, Baroque painting
    The Binding of Isaac: Abraham's Hardest Test
    The story of God testing Abraham by commanding the sacrifice of his son Isaac, and the angel's last-second intervention that stopped it.
    The Samaritan lifting the wounded traveler onto his horse, etching by Rembrandt
    The Good Samaritan
    Why Jesus made the hero of his most famous parable a man his audience had been raised to despise, and what that choice was really asking of them.
    Shepherds kneeling in adoration before the newborn Christ, painting by El Greco
    The Nativity of Jesus
    Why the birth of Jesus was announced first to shepherds working a night shift, not to anyone with status, and what the Gospel actually says happened in Bethlehem.
    The father embracing his kneeling son in Rembrandt's Return of the Prodigal Son
    The Prodigal Son
    The parable Jesus told about a father who ran to embrace a son who had already spent everything — and the other son who never left, and never forgave.
    Jesus calling Lazarus from the tomb before the astonished crowd, Baroque painting
    The Raising of Lazarus: Jesus Wept, Then Called Him Out
    How Jesus raised his friend Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb, the shortest verse in the Bible, and what the sign meant for his path to Calvary.
    The disciples recognizing the risen Christ at the supper table in Emmaus, painting by Velazquez
    The Road to Emmaus
    Two disciples walk seven miles with the risen Christ and don't recognize him until the exact moment he breaks bread at their table.
    Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well, painting by Rembrandt
    The Woman at the Well: A Conversation That Changed a Town
    How Jesus's conversation with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well broke two social taboos at once and led an entire town to believe in him.
    Zacchaeus perched in a fig tree looking down at Jesus, 18th-century painting
    Zacchaeus in the Tree: A Short Man's Big Change of Heart
    How a wealthy, despised tax collector climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus and ended up giving away half his fortune the same day.
    A 19th-century engraving of the western towers of Canterbury Cathedral.
    Canterbury Cathedral and the Murder That Made It Sacred
    How the 1170 murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket inside Canterbury Cathedral turned it into medieval Christendom's greatest pilgrimage site.
    The Baroque marble facade of the Basilica of the Holy House in Loreto, Italy.
    The Holy House of Loreto: A Cottage Said to Have Flown
    The legend behind the Holy House of Loreto, said to be Mary's own home from Nazareth, and the tradition claiming angels carried it across the Mediterranean.
    A 19th-century print of the Monastery of Montserrat seen from the east, set against its jagged mountain backdrop.
    Montserrat Abbey
    A Benedictine monastery built into the jagged cliffs above Barcelona, home to a centuries-old dark-wood statue of Mary that Catalonia has never stopped venerating.