Wild Saints and Holy Fools
Early Christian writers valorized the desert life of ascetic monks, but the city also had something to offer would-be “fools for Christ”.
Meet Saint Wilgefortis, the Bearded Virgin
A Christian martyr, Wilgefortis was divinely gifted with a sudden growth of facial hair to escape forced marriage, only to be crucified by her father.
Autopsy of a Saint
In the late thirteenth century, followers of the Italian abbess Clare of Montefalco dissected her heart in search of a crucifix.
The Incorruptible Body of Francis Xavier
After the co-founder of the Jesuit Society died in 1552, the miraculous preservation of his body advanced the cause of Catholicism across Europe and Asia.
How Anti-Catholicism Created an American Saint
Elizabeth Ann Seton is known today as the first American Roman Catholic saint. Her road to canonization was no easy path.
Edith Stein, the Jewish Woman Who Became a Catholic Saint
In 1998, Pope John Paul II made one of his most contentious canonizations, elevating a Jewish woman named Edith Stein to the status of saint.