The Woman Who Made Forgiveness Stronger Than Revenge Saint Rita of Cascia is often called the saint of impossible causes, but that familiar title can obscure the extraordinary reality of her life. Before becoming the figure to whom millions turn…
The restless merchant’s son who chose poverty and changed Christianity forever Few names in Italian history are as universally recognized as Francis of Assisi, and few lives have been simplified so enthusiastically. He is often reduced to a gentle man…
The noblewoman who chose radical poverty and fought for the freedom of her community Clare of Assisi is often introduced as the female companion of Saint Francis, a description that is true and at the same time much too small.…
The dyer’s daughter who advised popes, crossed political battle lines and became a Doctor of the Church Catherine of Siena lived only thirty-three years, never attended a university, struggled to learn reading and writing, held no official political office and…
The monk from Norcia whose Rule helped shape the monasteries, culture and memory of Europe Saint Benedict of Nursia is one of the most influential Italians who ever lived, even though we know surprisingly little about him with the certainty…
Padre Pio: faith, suffering, controversy and one of the most powerful devotions of modern Italy There are saints whose lives seem to belong to a distant age of legends, and then there is Padre Pio, a man who died in…
The Martyr Who Became the Heart of Naples There are saints who belong to the history of the Church, and there are saints who seem to belong to the bloodstream of a city. Saint Januarius, known in Naples as San…
The Priest Who Built a Future for the Young John Bosco entered history through a door that respectable society often preferred not to see: the door through which poor, abandoned, unemployed and delinquent boys entered the rapidly changing cities of…
The Apostle of Rome and the Saint Who Refused to Be Gloomy Saint Philip Neri is proof that holiness and humor are not natural enemies. In the Rome of the sixteenth century, a city of magnificent art, political ambition, spiritual…
The Doctor Who Made Science and Charity Speak the Same Language Giuseppe Moscati is one of the most unusual saints in modern Italian history because his holiness did not grow in a monastery, a mission station or a parish rectory.…