The man whom Bible readers know by both the Semitic name “Saul” and the Greco-Roman name “Paul” was born into a setting that dovetailed two dramatically different cultures: the Judaism of Jerusalem and the Greco-Roman world of Damascus. More »
Saints & Heroes Resource Articles
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Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. (Luke 1:13) More »
Those who receive Communion lose themselves in God like a drop of water in the ocean: It’s impossible to separate them anymore. . . . In these vast depths of love, there’s enough to lose yourself for eternity.—St. John Vianney More »
Free, educated, and beautiful, Henriette Delille enjoyed the highest status possible for a black woman in a slave state before the Civil War. Yet, out of love for God, Henriette chose to exchange a life of relative ease and wealth for one of poverty and struggle. More »
The Communist interrogator couldn’t stand it any longer. “Admit it!” he shouted to the priest, “You’re part of a Vatican plot! You’re nothing more than an Imperialist lackey!” But the newly appointed archbishop of Saigon, Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan, answered quietly and directly, “No. I will not admit anything of the kind.” More »
The first time Christ uttered the word “Abba” on this earth, he was likely looking into the eyes of St. Joseph, which is a point that is worthy of mention. God the Father could have chosen to allow the Blessed Virgin to live and work as a single mother. More »
Eighteen-year old Helen Kowalska had things on her mind as she attended a dance in Lodz, Poland. She was doing her best to forget them, dancing gaily with her sister and friends, when her merriment came to a halt. As she later wrote, “I suddenly saw Jesus at my side. Jesus racked with pain, stripped of his clothing, all covered with wounds, who spoke these words to me: ‘How long . . . will you keep putting me off?’” More »
Renaissance and Elizabethan Englanders called Mary Magdalene the “Mawdleyn,” a version of her name that gave rise to the modern word “maudlin,” which describes someone who weeps sentimentally. More »