Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org As a thirteen-year-old shepherd of Sisan, Turkey, Simeon heard a Gospel reading of the Beatitudes that greatly affected him. Entering a nearby monastery, he learned all the Psalms by heart and began to manifest the extraordinary spirit of self-denial that was to become a hallmark of his spirituality. Thereafter Simeon lived as a hermit. In...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Elizabeth of Hungary, also known as St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, was born in Hungary in 1207 to the Hungarian King Andrew II and Gertrude of Merania. At the age of four, Elizabeth was betrothed to Ludwig IV of Thuringia, a German nobleman. In 1221, Elizabeth and Ludwig were married. Together the couple had three children. At around the...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Rose of Lima is remembered for her piety and chastity. Born in 1586 in Lima, Peru to Spanish colonists, and named Isabel Flores de Olivia, she was exceptionally beautiful. Her beauty was so great that she was nicknamed "Rose." From an early age, Rose wanted to become a nun. She often prayed and fasted in secret. Rose kept herself...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Born in Bithynia, Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), circa 248, St. Helena was married to Roman Emperor Constantius and had a son who would become Constantine I, also known as Constantine the Great, the first Roman emperor to become a Christian. St. Helena, who converted as well, oversaw the construction of churches on Holy Land sites. She would...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Blessed Joan of Aza was born in the Old Castile region of Spain. The date of her birth is unrecorded. She married Felix de Guzman, governor of Calaruega, Burgos, Spain circa 1165. Joan and her husband had three grown children together. While pregnant with her fourth child, Joan had a dream of a dog carrying a torch in his mouth. When she...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Francis Ignatius Vincent Peis was born in Laconi, Italy on December 17, 1701 to a poor farming family. His mother named him Francis because she attributed his safe delivery after a difficult pregnancy to the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi. In her petitions, she promised the saint that she would name her baby Francis and that he would...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Bridget of Sweden was born circa 1303 to a prestigious family. From an early age, she had remarkable religious visions that prompted her to lead a simple and pious life. In 1316 she married Ulf Gudmarsson, later governor of the province of Nericia, and bore eight children, including St. Catherine of Sweden. Following the death of her...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Born on July 5, 1773 in Le Blanc, France, Elizabeth was the daughter of Antoine Bichier, the Seigneur of Ages and a public official, and Marie Augier de Moussac, whose father was a politician. She spent much of her childhood at the convent at Poitiers. In 1792, after the death of her father, Elizabeth and her mother went to live in La...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Thomas was born a Jew and was called to be one of the twelve Apostles. His birth and death dates are unknown, but his feast day is celebrated July 3. He lived before the formal establishment of the Catholic Church but is recognized as the patron saint of architects. He was a dedicated but impetuous follower of Christ. When Jesus said He...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Aloysius Gonzaga was born the eldest of seven children in Castiglione, Italy into the illustrious House of Gonzaga. As the first-born son, he stood to inherit his father's title and status. However, by the age of 9 Aloysius had decided on a religious life. Wishing for a strong heir to perpetuate the family name, his father violently...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Anthony of Padua was born on August 15, 1195 in Lisbon, Portugal to a prominent family. At 15 years of age, St. Anthony, then-called Ferdinand, entered the Order of St. Augustine. The young monk, viewing a solemn funeral procession for five Franciscans who were martyred in Morocco, was inspired to leave the Augustinian monastery to become...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Damien of Molokai, also called Father Damien, was born Jozef De Veuster on January 3, 1840 in Tremelo, Belgium. He was educated at the college of Braine-le-Comte, and in 1858 he joined the Society of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary at Leuven, Belgium. In 1863, Fr. Damien went as a missionary to the Hawaiian Islands. Moved by the...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Joan of Arc was born on January 6, 1412 in Domremy, France to a peasant family. She was only 12 when she experienced a vision and heard voices that she later identified as Saints Michael the Archangel, Catherine of Alexandria, and Margaret of Antioch. Joan believed that God had chosen her to lead France to victory in its Hundred Years’ War...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Lutgarde was born in 1182 in Tongres, Belgium. When she was twelve she was placed in St. Catherine's Benedictine Convent at Saint Trond because her family did not have the necessary dowry for marriage. During her teenage years, a young man fell in love with her and began paying her frequent visits. One day, while Lutgarde was speaking...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Born near Aosta in Italy in 1033, St. Anselm began his education under the tutelage of the monks of a local Benedictine monastery. At age 27, he fulfilled his desire to be a monk. He entered the monastery of Bec in Normandy and was elected Prior three years later. St. Anselm was later named Abbot of the monastery. In 1093 he was summoned to...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born in New York City on August 28, 1774 to a prominent Episcopal family. At the age of 19, Elizabeth married William Magee Seton, a wealthy businessman. The couple’s happy life turned tragic when William's business went bankrupt and his health failed. William died of tuberculosis in 1803, leaving Elizabeth penniless...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org John Baptist de la Salle was a French priest, educational reformer, and founder of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. Born to a wealthy family in Rheims, France in 1651, La Salle felt called to the priesthood very early in life. La Salle received the tonsure at age 11 and was named canon of Rheims Cathedral when he was 16....

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org In this powerful episode, the story of Jesus’ trip from Bethany to Jerusalem is told through the lens of two people in the desert. A crippled Bedouin Arab chieftain, traveling through the desert to find the "Miracle Worker," is abandoned by his caretaker brother and left to die so he could take over the tribe. Rachel, a follower of the...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Patrick of Ireland was born in Britain around the year 386. Around the age of fourteen, he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, when he escaped after having a dream in which God told him to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Catherine de Vigri was born on September 8, 1413 in Bologna, Italy. She was a member of an aristocratic family and the daughter of a diplomat to the Marquis of Ferrara. Catherine received a wonderful education in reading, writing, singing and drawing while being raised at the court of the Marquis. She excelled in painting, Latin and the viola....

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org The valiant woman who became world-renown as Mother Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu on August 26, 1910 in Macedonia. At the age of 18, she joined the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland and took the name Sister Mary Teresa after St. Therese of Lisieux. In 1929, she was sent to Calcutta, India to become a teacher. In 1946, Mother Teresa, as she...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Orsola Giuliani was born on December 27, 1660 in Mercatello, Italy. At the age of 17, Orsola was received into the monastery of the Capuchin Poor Clares in Città di Castello in Umbria, Italy, taking the name of Veronica in memory of the Passion. At the conclusion of the ceremony of her reception, the bishop said to the abbess: "I commend this...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Valentine is a third-century Roman saint. Few facts about his life are known, but one of the legends attributed to him involves a miraculous healing. Valentine was a priest arrested for trying to convert people to Christianity, a crime punishable by death. While under house arrest in the home of a local judge, Valentine was introduced to...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org St. Hildegard, also called Hildegard of Bingen, was born in 1098 in Bockelheim, Germany to noble parents. She was educated at the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg by the holy woman, Blessed Jutta. She received her habit at age 15 and began a religious life. Hildegard succeeded Jutta as prioress in 1136. Having experienced visions since...

Rebroadcast of the long-running radio program, "The Ave Maria Hour," a presentation of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. www.AtonementFriars.org Alfred Bessette was born in Quebec on August 9, 1845. Alfred was a sickly and frail child, but from an early age he had a deep faith in God and a strong devotion to St. Joseph. His pastor encouraged Alfred to consider a vocation to religious life. With the assistance of the Archbishop of Montreal, he was received into the Congregation of Holy...