http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/cath...
Or check out the exhaustive Catholic Online resources, probably the best saint-site on the Web:
http://saints.catholic.org/index.shtml
July 22--Mary Magdelene
It's bad enough that Andrew Lloyd Webber has Mary Magdelene sing, "I Don't Know How to Love Him," arguably the worst song ever written. What's worse, his musical, Jesus Christ Superstar, perpetuates the questionable notion that MM was a prostitute. Many respected scripture scholars and church historians dispute this "fact". The Gospels don't name the repentant woman who bathed the feet of Jesus; however, Luke does name Mary Magdelene as one of Christ's most loyal disciples. That a woman in Jesus' time would have dared to publicly follow a controversial preacher speaks volumes for her bravery. Let's remember her for that, and not because of a dubious rumor about her past.
July 31--Ignatius of Loyola
Imagine a young Green Beret volunteer being sent home, injured, from VietNam. He's always loved reading magazines like Guns and Ammo, True Confessions and Modern Detective, so to make his painful recovery more bearable, his family gives him dozens of such magazines to read. But for some reason, this reading material just doesn't interest the soldier as much as it once did. Bored, he picks up his mother's copy of The Greatest Story Ever Told. Inspired by this vivid life of Christ, the soldier joins the priesthood, and forms one of the most revered religious orders in the Catholic Church.
Change a few details of that story, set it in Spain, hundreds of years in the past, and you have the story of St Ignatius, founder of the Jesuits.
August 4--John Vianney
Better known perhaps as the Cure of Ars, Vianney's saintly career got off to a slow start. A dreadful student, often called a simpleton, he struggled through the seminary and just barely graduated. He was sent to a French parish whose members were notoriously hostile to religion. Through personal prayer and penance, Vianney worked a miraculous change on his parishioners, so convinced was he that their salvation depended on his efforts.
Blessed with the gift of "reading souls," Vianney became so renowned as a confessor that he often heard confessions for more than 12 hours at a time, day in and day out. His advice prompted numerous dramatic conversions and healings. His reputation spread so widely that the French government had to re-route the trains to carry more penitents to Ars. Pilgrims tore at this clothing and hair for relics. Poor Vianney, haunted by feelings of unworthiness (and perhaps just a little exhausted!) tried to "escape" the village three times, but was carted back by "his people."
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