Saints Library
Friends of God.
Read the lives of Catholic teachers, witnesses, and martyrs. Each page follows the saint’s life through the sources.
Feast August 28
Augustine of Hippo
Bishop · Doctor of the Church · 354-430
A bishop, philosopher, and writer whose Confessions reshaped Western literature, and whose theology became one of the foundations for how Catholics understand sin, grace, time, and love.
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Feast August 27
Monica
Mother of St. Augustine · c. 332-387
A North African mother whose decades of prayer for her wayward son are still one of the Church's plainest proofs that intercession, sustained against every visible sign, is not in vain.
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Feast December 7
Ambrose of Milan
Bishop · Doctor of the Church · c. 339-397
A Roman governor acclaimed bishop before he was baptized. The hymnodist who shaped Latin liturgical music. The bishop who made an emperor kneel for the massacre at Thessalonica.
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Feast March 19
Joseph
Spouse of Mary · Patron of the Universal Church
The carpenter of Nazareth who raised the Son of God, guarded his mother, and is given not one spoken word in the Gospels.
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Feast January 28
Thomas Aquinas
Dominican · Doctor of the Church · c. 1225-1274
The Dominican friar who united faith and reason, wrote the Summa, and stopped writing when all he had written seemed like straw.
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Feast June 29
Peter the Apostle
First among the Apostles · First Bishop of Rome
The Galilean fisherman who denied Christ three times and was restored as the rock on which Christ built his Church.
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Feast June 29
Paul the Apostle
Apostle to the Gentiles · c. 5-c. 67
The former persecutor who met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and carried the Gospel to the Gentile world.
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Feast July 11
Benedict of Nursia
Father of Western Monasticism · Patron of Europe
The monk who left collapsing Rome, sought God in a cave, and wrote the humane Rule that shaped Western monastic life.
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Feast October 4
Francis of Assisi
Founder of the Franciscans · 1181/82-1226
The rich merchant's son who gave everything away, embraced the leper, and lived the Gospel with unsentimental joy.
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Feast June 13
Anthony of Padua
Franciscan · Doctor of the Church · c. 1195-1231
The young friar who wanted martyrdom, was hidden in a kitchen, and became one of the Church's greatest preachers.
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Feast April 29
Catherine of Siena
Dominican tertiary · Doctor of the Church · 1347-1380
The Sienese laywoman who could barely write, nursed the plague-stricken, and urged the Pope to return from Avignon to Rome.
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Feast October 15
Teresa of Ávila
Carmelite · Doctor of the Church · 1515-1582
The Spanish Carmelite who wasted twenty years, turned fully to God, and became one of the Church's great teachers of prayer.
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Feast October 1
Thérèse of Lisieux
Carmelite · Doctor of the Church · 1873-1897
The young Carmelite who found the Little Way: ordinary duties, hidden kindnesses, and small sacrifices done with great love.
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Feast May 30
Joan of Arc
Virgin · Patroness of France · c. 1412-1431
The teenage peasant girl who broke the siege of Orléans, saw a king crowned, and died faithful under a corrupt tribunal.
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Feast July 31
Ignatius of Loyola
Founder of the Jesuits · 1491-1556
The wounded soldier who learned discernment on a sickbed, wrote the Spiritual Exercises, and founded the Society of Jesus.
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Feast August 14
Maximilian Kolbe
Conventual Franciscan · Martyr of Charity · 1894-1941
The Polish friar who built Niepokalanów and freely gave his life at Auschwitz for a condemned husband and father.
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Feast October 22
John Paul II
Pope · Witness to Human Dignity · 1920-2005
The Polish pope who told the world not to be afraid, forgave his would-be assassin, and bore weakness as a final witness.
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Feast October 9
John Henry Newman
Cardinal · Doctor of the Church · 1801-1890
The English convert and newest Doctor of the Church who followed truth one step at a time, even into the dark.
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