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Become A “Battle Saint”May 12, 2011 5:03 PM **SNIP** The idea is the brainchild of Cynthia Lemay who wanted to honor the men and women who serve in the U.S. military. The bracelet sells for $5 and is made of wood with pictures of saints on it. “Wherever I go, people ask me about the bracelet, the story behind it, how we came up with the idea. And people who wear them just feel like it gives them a sense of protection,” Lemay told WWJ’s Marie Osborne. Lemay said she got the idea for the bracelet while chatting with young...

ThérèseSat. May 7 at 8 PM ET The mesmerizing story of a young girl's romance with God. Her faith and sacrifices reveal a way of life based on love and simplicity. A contemplative film based on the true story of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, the most popular saint of modern times. Thérèse - Behind The ScenesSat. May 7 at 9:40 PM ET First, watch the movie “Therese” at 8 PM ET, Saturday, May 7 and then stay tuned for this behind-the-scenes look at the telling of the story of St. Thérèse, one of the most beloved saints of our...

Arlington, VA Sunday, May 01, 2011 "The St. Gabriel Possenti Society, Inc. rejoices at the beatification in Rome on Sunday of Pope John Paul II," Society chairman John M. Snyder said today. "The late Pope's writings display an appreciation of the right of self-defense so exemplified by St. Gabriel Possenti," Snyder added. St. Gabriel Possenti used handguns in self-defense when he rescued the villagers of Isola del Gran Sasso, Italy in 1860 from a band of terrorists. Demonstrating his excellent handgun marksmanship, he shot a lizard running across the road. Then, without harming anyone, he drove the terrorists out of...

One of the greatest moments in the history of faith was also one of the greatest moments in modern political history. It happened in June 1979. Just eight months before, after dusk on Oct. 16, 1978, a cardinal had stepped out onto the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to say those towering, august words, "Habemus papem"—"We have a pope." The cardinal pronounced the new pontiff's name in Latin. Not everyone understood or could hear him, and the name sounded odd. For 456 years the church had been electing Italian popes. This didn't sound Italian. The crowd was perplexed. Then the...

Dead for 122 years now... simply astonishing Our Lady of Lourdes CathedralLourdes, France Do keep in mind that the poor sisters of those days -along with most everybody else- were simply buried in a pine box, and not professionally embalmed as is prevalent in civilized countries today- These photos show the "incorruptible" Saint Bernadette's body on display in Lourdes, France a full 122 years past her death... it's level of preservation a miracle in itself. In this Holy woman's lifetime, Bernadette's eighteen separate visions of Mary at Lourdes -each recognized officially as a Marian apparation by The Vatican- propelled the young Maria-Bernada Sobirós towards...

As House Speaker for most of Ronald Reagan's two presidential terms, bombastic liberal spendaholic Tip O'Neill was one of the fiercest opponents of the entire Reagan agenda, fighting it tooth-and-nail for six years. He called Reagan a "cheerleader for selfishness" and even went so far as to personally attack him as "most ignorant man that has ever inhabited the White House". Not one to be easily outwitted -but showing considerably more class and good humor- Reagan observed parallels between Yeltsin-esque Speaker O'Neill and the Pac-Man video game, as  "a round thing that gobbles up money". Yet despite the professional animosity, Ronald Reagan often...

Brother André expressed a saint’s faith by a lifelong devotion to St. Joseph. Sickness and weakness dogged André from birth. He was the eighth of 12 children born to a French Canadian couple near Montreal. Adopted at 12, when both parents had died, he became a farmhand. Various trades followed: shoemaker, baker, blacksmith—all failures. He was a factory worker in the United States during the boom times of the Civil War. At 25, he applied for entrance into the Congregation of the Holy Cross. After a year’s novitiate, he was not admitted because of his weak health. But with an...

The Conversion of Elizabeth Ann Seton: First American-born SaintFATHER CHARLES P. CONNORIn Elizabeth Ann Seton, we have a saint for our times. In Elizabeth Ann Seton, we have a woman of faith, for a time of doubt and uncertainty . . . a woman of love for a time of coldness and division . . . a woman of hope for a time of crisis and discouragement. Elizabeth Bayley Seton, the first native-born citizen of the United States to be canonized a saint, was of English ancestry and grew up in a family that had settled in colonial New York....

ST. MARTIN OF TOURS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2010      St. Martin of Tours was born at Sabaria (today Steinamanger in German, or Szombathely in Hungarian), Hungary around the year 316. In his early years, when his father, a military tribune, was transferred to Pavia in Italy, Martin accompanied him. When he reached adolescence he was, in accordance with the recruiting laws, enrolled in the Roman army. From the first, he was attracted towards Christianity, which had been in favor in the camps since the conversion of Emperor Constantine. His regiment was soon sent to Amiens in Gaul which became...

Mary MacKillop, the nun who will soon be Australia's first saint, was excommunicated by the Catholic Church because she discovered children were being abused by a priest and went public, the ABC's Compass program can reveal. In 1871, after only four years as a nun, she was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and turned out onto the street with no money and nowhere to go. MacKillop's cause for sainthood began in 1925 and has had the tireless backing of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the order she founded. On October 17, MacKillop's canonisation by Pope...

...Consider this statement of her desires in A.D. 1373: "I wanted to have every kind of pain, bodily and spiritual, which I should have if I died, every fear and temptation from devils, and every other kind of pain except the departure of the spirit." Reading a line like this, I can't help think that if Julian were a member of my church, I would encourage her to see a counselor. "For contemporary readers," Frykholm notes, "Julian's declaration that at a young age she 'desired a bodily sickness' coupled with her depictions of Christ bleeding on the cross are off-putting...

. . .Mr. Saint, a former newspaper reporter and political press secretary, founded his firm 26 years ago. It specializes in using political-campaign tactics—petition drives, phone banks, websites—to build support for or against controversial projects, from oil refineries and shopping centers to quarries and landfills. Over the years, it has conducted about 1,500 campaigns in 44 states. Mr. Saint says about 500 have involved trying to block a development, and most of those have been clandestine. For the typical anti-Wal-Mart assignment, a Saint manager will drop into town using an assumed name to create or take control of local opposition,...

<p>A family has built what could be the first public shrine in Mexico City to Jesus Malverde, Mexico's so-called "narco-saint" revered by many of the nation's drug traffickers.</p> <p>Malverde, whose original shrine is located in the city of Culiacan in northern Sinaloa state — considered the cradle of Mexico's top drug clans — is a controversial figure.</p>

Obtuse Rangel: Charlie seems to have forgotten his Sunday school lessonsSaturday, April 3rd 2010, 4:00 AM These are rough days for Rep. Charlie Rangel. He talks and some amazing things burst forth from his mouth. None of them more astonishing and hilarious than his great big oopsie Friday. There he was on Holy Thursday, the eve of the most solemn day of the Christian calendar, the day that marks the crucifixion of Christ after history's most notorious betrayal, that of Judas Iscariot. At a political rally, union big Chris Shelton branded Rep. Mike McMahon of Staten Island a "Judas" for...

A Palestinian nun could serve as an inspiration for Christians who remain in the Holy Land, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem said during her beatification. The beatification on Sunday "breathes upon us a new spirit, renews our Church and invites us to the happy hope that we ourselves, too, can be saints like her", said Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal about Blessed Soultaneh Maria Ghattas, founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Rosary of Jerusalem. "What the Church needs most is the witness of saints," he added in his homily. "Holiness is the sign of the Church's credibility." Patriarch Twal...

The New Testament begins its account of Mary's life with the visit of Gabriel the angel who was sent by God as His messenger. The Lord God had selected Mary to be mother of Jesus. The Bible records Mary's role in key events of the life of Jesus from his virgin birth to his crucifixion.

Friday, November 13, 2009 Le Curé d'Ars Camille Dolard (1818- ?) Le Curé d'Ars sur son lit de mort (saint Jean-Marie Vianney, 1786-1859) Also entitled: Le Curé d'Ars, décédé le 4 août 1859, photographié d'après nature Taken 1859 pos. montées sur carton : papier albuminé : d'après nég. sur verre au collodion Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris Saint Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney died on 4 August 1859 By 1855, the number of pilgrims who came to see him had reached twenty thousand a year. Vianney yearned for the contemplative life of a monk, and four times ran away from Ars, the last...

Madrid, Spain, Oct 31, 2009 / 08:20 am (CNA).- Award-winning director Roland Joffé discussed his upcoming film “There Be Dragons” in a Thursday press conference. The film, set during the brutal Spanish Civil War and based on the life of St. Josemaria Escriva, can teach about love and forgiveness between families and enemies, Joffé said. The film begins with a young journalist, estranged from his military father Manolo, who conducts research on the life of Opus Dei founder and priest St. Josemaria Escriva. He discovers his father was a childhood friend of the future saint, and also uncovers family secrets.The...

Pilgrims venerate the relics of St. Therese in Aylesford, England. Credit: Catholicrelics.co.uk London, England, Oct 13, 2009 / 09:19 pm (CNA).- As many as 100,000 pilgrims are expected to visit Westminster Cathedral to view and venerate the relics of St. Therese of Lisieux during their month-long tour of England and Wales.Agence France Presse reports that the cathedral has ordered 100,000 candles and 50,000 pink roses to meet the demand. The cathedral expects 2,000 pilgrims every hour until Thursday.St. Therese became a Carmelite nun at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the age of 24. Known as...

Saint Faustina's Diary includes a series of personal revelations she received from Jesus Christ in the 1930s. Many believe St. Faustina will eventually join the ranks of the great post-apostolic teachers Can you guess the following saint? The author, Fr. Steven Payne, OCD, wrote about this obscure and humble nun in 2002. He describes her "limited education," saying she "never wrote a treatise or published an article," and what she did write displayed an "imperfect literary style." Yet, he writes, no one would have guessed that she "would soon take the world by storm and go on to become the...