saints and martyrs Archives

Pope moves Down syndrome advocate closer to sainthood

Jan 21, 2021

The French doctor who discovered the genetic basis of Down syndrome but spent his career advocating against abortion as a result of prenatal diagnosis has taken his first major step to possible sainthood.

By Nicole Winfield

Catholics in public life, saints to be included in Trump’s new ‘heroes’ garden

Jan 20, 2021

Catholics in public life, saints and sainthood candidates, figures from U.S. history, military heroes, leaders in science, politicians and athletes were included in a list of dozens of figures President Donald Trump said will be in a new National Garden of American Heroes he created by executive order Jan. 18.

By Julie Asher

Children’s book chronicling saints’ lives shows they were ‘relentlessly human’

Jan 17, 2021

Carey Wallace’s new children’s book, “Stories of the Saints: Bold and Inspiring Tales of Adventure, Grace and Courage,” shows that holy men and women — whose miraculous deeds, charitable works and battles with armies, beasts and demons she chronicles with gusto — also were what Wallace calls “relentlessly human.”

By George P. Matysek Jr.

Lebanese man’s decades of research helps great-uncle’s sainthood cause

Jan 4, 2021

A Lebanese Capuchin then serving in Baabdat — Father Salim Rizkallah — had been appointed vice postulator of the sainthood cause of Armenian Catholic Archbishop Ignatius Maloyan of Mardin, Turkey.

By Doreen Abi Raad

Recalling first martyr, pope says ordinary goodness can change the world

Dec 26, 2020

Pope Francis Saturday pointed to Saint Stephen, stoned to death for promoting Jesus’s teachings, as a heroic example of how small, everyday acts of goodness can have a major yet unseen impact of the world.

By Elise Ann Allen