St. Emma was raised in the court of Henry II, the Holy Roman Emperor, to whom she was related, and was educated by his wife, St. Cunigunde. When Emma came…

In 1964 the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and other civil rights organizations called for a Freedom Summer, recruiting northern activists to join local civil rights workers in the South…

In 1883 Antoni Gaudí, a young architect in Barcelona, was offered the task of designing and building the Church of the Holy Family, a project sponsored by a lay association…

Mariam Thresia Mankidiyan was born to a poor Catholic family in the southern Indian state of Kerala. When she was twelve her mother died, forcing her to leave school to…

Marc Sangnier, who was born in France to a wealthy family, determined from an early age to apply his faith to the social problems of his day. With fellow Catholic…

St. Rita of Cascia   Widow (ca. 1377–1457)   St. Rita was born to a peasant family in Umbria, Italy. Though she wished to become a nun, she acceded to her parents’…

Larry Rosebaugh   Oblate Priest (1935–2009)   Fr. Larry Rosebaugh spent his life among people on the margins, those most vulnerable to the violence of the world. It was thus not surprising…

Blessed Clara Fey   Founder, Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus (1815–1894)   Clara Fey, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, was born in Aachen, Germany. In her youth, she observed the…

By tradition they became the first Franciscan tertiaries.

But increasingly he emphasized a new mission—humane care of the mentally ill.