He is particularly remembered for having demonstrated the practical power of nonviolent action, not simply as a moral code for the individual, but as a practical instrument of social change.

Stunned by these words, Satoko determined to become one with the ragpickers, living among them and joining them in begging for trash.

St. Prisca was one of a number of women who played prominent roles in the early Church—not simply as “helpers” to the male apostles but as evangelists and Church administrators in their own right.

The Italian scientist Galileo achieved his original fame through his invention of one of the early thermometers, his experiments in physics, and his refinement of the telescope.

With her canonization in 1975, she became the first native-born saint of the United States.

Remarkably, in joining the Franciscans he found a new voice as a poet, indeed one of the great lyric poets of the Middle Ages.

Though not the main protagonist of the story of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar helps to characterize the Lord as a God of life who hears the voice of the oppressed and makes a way out of no way.

Through him, she called the Church to heed the voice of the poor, to serve as a vehicle for their cultural and spiritual survival.

Well does he deserve to be remembered as the patron of children, honored not just as the purveyor of toys but as a protector of the innocent, particularly the victims of human trafficking.

In his 2015 speech to Congress, Pope Francis included Dorothy Day among his list of four “great Americans” who offer a “new way of seeing and interpreting reality.”