Saints Archives

Lay volunteer nurses to be beatified as martyrs in Spain

May 20, 2021

Three Red Cross nurses are to be beatified as martyrs in Spain, 85 years after they were raped and shot while caring for wounded Civil War soldiers, having refused to renounce their Catholic faith.

By Jonathan Luxmoore

Pope approves canonizations, but doesn’t set date because of pandemic

May 3, 2021

The sainthood causes of seven men and women — including the hermit Blessed Charles de Foucauld and the Indian martyr Devasahayam Pillai — cleared their final hurdle May 3 during an “ordinary public consistory,” a meeting of the pope, cardinals and promoters of sainthood causes that formally ends the sainthood process.

By Cindy Wooden

Pope extends outreach to women with halo, home visit

Feb 22, 2021

Days after Pope Francis appointed two women to major Vatican posts, he continued his outreach by announcing the beatification of an Italian suffragette and by visiting an elderly Holocaust survivor.

By Elise Ann Allen

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

Blessed McGivney’s vocation, formation, ministry are focus of virtual series

Nov 15, 2020

St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore launched a virtual discussion series in honor of the beatification of an alumnus — Blessed Michael McGivney, a member of the class of 1877 and founder of the Knights of Columbus.

By Colleen Rowan

Pandemic tempers patron saint festival in Romania

Oct 31, 2020

The feast of St. Dimitrie of Basarabov, the patron saint of Bucharest, is a show of Orthodox Christianity’s strength in Romania, where a weeklong festival devoted to the former hermit typically draws up to 100,000 people from all over the country to the capital every October.

By Vadim Ghirda and Andreea Alexandru

St. Jude Thaddeus draws immense devotion from Mexico’s downtrodden

Oct 24, 2020

St. Jude is known as the patron saint of difficult and desperate causes. It’s a devotion that’s found fertile ground in Mexico, where millions confront seemingly difficult and desperate problems in their daily lives.

By David Agren