An Italian Secular Franciscan couple who raised 10 children has been recognised as venerable by Pope Francis. The Bernardinis are the third married couple in the history of the Church to receive this title (they were preceded by Blessed Luigi and Blessed Maria Beltrame and St. Louis and St. Zelie Martin.) Eight of the Bernardini …
May 2025: Venerable Sergio and Domenica Bernardini (1882 & 1889) Read More »
Benedict-Joseph Labre was born in Amettes (France), diocese of Arras, the eldest of a family of fifteen children. Labre’s uncle, a parish priest, gladly received him, and undertook his early education for the priesthood. At the age of sixteen, Benedict-Joseph approached his uncle about becoming a Trappist monk, but his parents told him he would …
April 2025: Benedict-Joseph Labre (1748-1783) (April 16) Read More »
Blessed Angela Salawa, the youngest of ten children of Bartholomew and Eve Salawa, was born on September 9, 1881. The large family, despite owning a farm and earning an income from blacksmithing, led a very modest life, often on the verge of extreme poverty. However, they never lacked faith and piety. It was a family …
March 2025: Blessed Angela (Aniela) Salawa (1881-1922) – (March 12) Read More »
Christianity was introduced to Japan in the sixteenth century by Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries, resulting in approximately 300,000 baptized believers by century’s end. This promising beginning faced setbacks due to rivalries among missionaries and political intrigues from the Spanish and Portuguese, as well as power struggles within the Japanese government, resulting in the suppression of …
February 2025: Japanese Franciscan Tertiaries – Martyrs (Feb. 6) Read More »
This Tertiary pope of the 13th century, a friend of St. Bonaventure, was a true son of St. Francis, known for his love for the holy places in Palestine and his efforts to promote peace. Born Theobald Visconti in Piacenza in 1210, he distinguished himself through his virtue and academic success, particularly in canon law, …
Hugoline was born into a noble family in Camerino, Italy, and lived a life of privilege. After the death of his parents, he felt called to a religious life, becoming a Franciscan Friar Minor tertiary and renouncing his wealth to help the poor. Hugoline embarked on a journey of solitude and prayer as a hermit. …
December 2024: Blessed Hugolinus Magalotti (c. 1320 – 1373) Read More »
Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi was born in Catania on 12 January 1880. He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at La Sapienza University and graduated on 14 July 1902. During his studies (1901) he met Maria Corsini and, after three years of dating, he entered into a private engagement with her on 15 …
The Venerable Servant of God Lodovico Coccapani was born on 23 June 1849 in Calcinaia (Pisa, Italy). After the premature death of his parents, he and his sisters moved to Pisa. He then received the post of second-grade male primary school teacher, which he left due to voluntary resignation in 1869, when crucifixes were removed …
November 2024: Venerable Servant of God Lodovico Coccapani (1849 – 1931) Read More »
Lay mystic; Franciscan tertiary; born in Mindelstetten (between Regensburg and Ingolstadt), Bavaria, Germany, on February 18, 1882. She died in Mindelstetten on October 5, 1925. Anna Schäffer was one of many children of a carpenter. Offering her life to God for the welfare of others, she began working in Regensburg to help support her family, …
ANGELO GIUSEPPE RONCALLI was born in Sotto il Monte, in the Diocese and Province of Bergamo, on 25 November 1881. The fourth of thirteen children, he was baptized that same day. Under the guidance of an outstanding parish priest, Father Francesco Rebuzzini, he received a profound ecclesiastical formation which would sustain him in difficulty and …
