Blog

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

    A Renaissance portrait of Saint Thomas More, wearing a black cap and a fur-trimmed robe with a gold chain of office, gazing to the side.
    Saints John Fisher and Thomas More
    Bishop John Fisher and Thomas More both refused to accept Henry VIII as head of the Church. They died within weeks of each other in 1535.
    A Baroque altarpiece painting of Saint Nereus and Saint Achilleus standing beside Saint Flavia Domitilla, all in rich robes and holding martyrs' palms.
    Saints Nereus and Achilleus, Martyrs
    Nereus and Achilleus were Roman soldiers who abandoned military service after baptism and were martyred for it, their memory kept in an ancient catacomb.
    A dramatic portrait painting of the apostles Saint Peter, with a short white beard, and Saint Paul, bald with a long dark beard and a red cloak, standing side by side.
    Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles
    Why does the Church honor Peter and Paul on one feast day? Their shared June 29 solemnity marks two very different apostles bound by Rome.
    A 19th-century engraving of the ancient Roman catacombs, evoking the setting of the two martyrs' exile and death.
    Saints Pontian, Pope, and Hippolytus, Priest, Martyrs
    A pope and the rival priest who had broken from him were shipped to the same brutal mines in exile, and reconciled there before they both died as martyrs.
    A 15th-century painting of the martyrdom of Saints Simon and Jude.
    Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles
    One was a zealot who once dreamed of armed revolt against Rome. The other became patron of hopeless causes because his name sounded too much like a traitor's.
    A Byzantine illuminated manuscript miniature depicting the martyrdom and burial of Saint Timothy, companion of the Apostle Paul, before a domed church.
    Saints Timothy and Titus — Why the Church Remembers Them Together
    Why the Catholic Church pairs Timothy and Titus on a single feast day, and what their shared role as Paul's trusted delegates reveals about the early Church.
    A fresco detail of the seven founders of the Servite Order, dressed in gray monastic habits, gathered together as the Virgin Mary extends her mantle over them.
    The Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order
    How seven wealthy Florentine merchants gave up their fortunes together on a hillside outside the city and founded the Servite Order in devotion to Mary's sorrows.
    A Renaissance painting detail of two winged infant cherubs resting their chins on their arms, gazing upward.
    The Cherub
    What cherubim actually are in Scripture, why they guard rather than deliver messages, and how they became the chubby infant angels of popular art.
    Cain raising a stone against his brother Abel, painting by Pier Francesco Mola
    Cain and Abel
    The first murder in Scripture happens between brothers over an offering, and God's question afterward — "Where is your brother?" — still echoes through Genesis.
    Daniel kneeling calmly among lions in the den, painted by Briton Riviere
    Daniel in the Lions' Den
    Why Daniel kept praying with his windows open even after it became a capital crime, and what King Darius did the moment he realized his mistake.
    Thomas placing his finger in Christ's wound, painting by Caravaggio
    Doubting Thomas
    Thomas missed the first appearance of the risen Christ and refused to believe secondhand — then got the exact proof he'd demanded, and something more than that.
    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.