The other farmhands thought Isidore was lazy and caused them extra work. Like them, Isidore was a day laborer on a wealthy estate in Madrid, Spain, about a thousand years ago. Because Isidore took time to go to Mass before coming to work, the other farmers thought they were doing some of his share of the work. They didn’t like that. Little did they know that Isidore did have some extra help, but it wasn’t them!
As a young shepherd, Paschal was so honest that he once offered to give farmers money to repay any harm done when his sheep walked through their crops. Born to a poor Spanish family in 1540, Paschal was put to work as a shepherd at the age of 7. He often prayed when he heard the town church bells ringing during Mass. He worked hard to teach himself to read and, when he could, he read religious books while tending his sheep. He was so holy even as a young man that his friends called him “Blessed Paschal."
As a young girl, Joachina believed she wanted to be a nun, but she married Theodore de Mas, a man from a royal family in Barcelona, Spain, in 1799, when she was only 16 years old. They had nine children before Theodore was killed when Napoleon invaded Spain.
Born on the island of Mallorca near Spain in 1713, Miguel Jose Serra wanted to be a monk. He joined the order of St. Francis Assisi when he was 15 and called himself Junípero. He studied philosophy and became a teacher of the same subject, but his heart longed to be a missionary.
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.
When he was 29 and fighting against the French who were attacking Pamplona, a cannonball shattered his leg. Ignatius spent a year in bed recovering from his wounds. When he was 30, Ignatius turned from working as a soldier to working as a missionary for God.
Dominic was born in 1170 in Castile, Spain. It was said that at his baptism, the priest saw a star-shaped light on the baby’s forehead. You will sometimes see a star in artwork of St. Dominic, and he is the patron saint of astronomers.
Peter Claver walked to the dock. He saw the ship that came from Africa. Peter saw guards outside the ship. He had to get on that boat. The guards tried to stop him, but Peter went inside anyway.
Teresa was born in 1515 in Ávila. She proved at an early age that she was an intelligent and thoughtful person. Teresa and her brother, Rodrigo, didn’t play the same games that the other children played. Instead, they preferred to go to the garden and read. They were most interested in reading the Bible and the stories of the lives of the saints.