Some people have called Pier, or Peter, Frassati a saint for today’s young people. He was handsome and athletic. He hiked, climbed mountains, rode horses, and skied with his many friends. He loved to laugh, and he was famous for his practical jokes. He loved life and lived it to the fullest.
Maria Goretti was only twelve years old when she died in 1902, but the story of this young Italian girl has touched the hearts of Catholics everywhere for over 100 years.
Amabile Visintainer was born in a poor section of Italy in 1865. When she was 10 years old, her family and many of their neighbors sailed to South America. They were looking for a better life.
Benedict was born to a noble family in Nursia, Italy, about 480 AD. When he grew up, he studied in Rome. Then, wanting to pray alone, Benedict lived for three years in a cave near Subiaco.
More than 300 years ago, around 1656, Kateri lived in what is now the state of New York. Her mother was a Catholic and a member of the Algonquin tribe, and her father was a Mohawk warrior. At the time, this Native American nation did not believe in the Christian God.
When Francis was ordained, he thought he would spend his life as an ordinary priest in his Spanish homeland. He did not know that his desire to follow Jesus would take him to foreign lands to share the Word of God.
Justa and Rufina were sisters who lived in Seville, Spain, about 200 years after Jesus’ life, death, Resurrection, and Ascension into heaven. We believe that they became Christians after hearing missionaries preach about Christ. They were devout members of the Church and tried to live as faithful disciples of Jesus.
Youssef (Joseph) Makhlouf was a shepherd in a small Lebanese village. He was raised by an uncle after his father died in 1831 when Youssef was just 3.
Joachim and Anne were the parents of Jesus’ mother, Mary. We don’t know many details about their lives because they are never mentioned in the New Testament. Everything we know about them comes down through tradition—the stories people told about them.
Jesuit missionaries came to Andrew’s Vietnam village to preach the Gospel in 1640, when he was 15 or 16. Andrew began to study with the priests so that he could understand what it meant to be a follower of Christ. He was baptized later that year and was eager to begin sharing his faith.