St Frances of Romw

Frances was born into a very rich family.  Her parents loved God very much and they taught Frances to take care of others and to follow God.  When Frances was 11 years old, she told her parents that she wanted to be a nun.  Her parents thought it would be better for her to get married instead and so they found her a good husband.  Frances and Lorenzo got married and loved each other very much.  Although Frances did not become a nun, she still continued to pray lots and do good deeds for the poor and sick around her.  She inspired other rich women around her to do good too.  Through lots of hard times, during sickness, wars, loss of possessions; Frances and Lorenzo never stopped helping the poor and sick and giving freely of what God had given them.  Frances and Lorenzo were married for 40 years and when Lorenzo died, Frances spent the rest of her life living with a religious group of nuns she helped to start, the Collatines.

St John of God

Although John’'s parents raised him to know and love God, John thought he knew better and him and his friends turned away from God and did what they wanted to do.  When John was 40 years old, all the things that he thought would make him happy, made him sad and lonely instead.  He felt like his heart was empty.  One day at Church he heard St. John of Avila talking about God and John realized that what he needed in his life was God.  With St. John of Avila’'s help, John started to live his life for God.  The Bishop nicknamed him John of God, because he could really see that John was giving his whole life to God.  He opened a house in Spain to care for the poor, sick and homeless; it became a little hospital where he cared for people and told them about God'’s love.  He also started an Order of men that cared for the poor, called the Brothers of St. John of God.

Sts Perpetua and Felicity

During the time that Perpetua and Felicity were alive in Africa, people were not allowed to believe in Jesus.  The ruler of North Africa would kill anyone that said they believed in Jesus.  Even though Perpetua’'s father did not believe in Jesus, Perpetua did and she was willing to die for her faith.  She was put into prison with her maid Felicity because of their faith in God.  Perpetua'’s dad tried to get her to change her mind so that she would be saved, but she loved Jesus so much that she could not turn her back on him.  When it was time for Perpetua and Felicity to die, they walked out of prison holding hands and they gave each other a kiss, as a Christian sign of peace.  They both had cheerful faces because they knew that they were going to be with Jesus in heaven.  They died martyrs deaths because of their faith in Jesus.

St John Joseph of the Cross

Even though John Joseph came from a rich and important family, he dressed liked a poor man, because he wanted to be poor just like Jesus was.  When he turned 16, he joined the Franciscan Order so that he could live more like Jesus did.  Brother John was a very good person; he always volunteered to do the hardest jobs, never wanted to be the centre of attention and always reached out to others in their needs.  He was given many gifts from God; he was able to know what would happen even before it happened (gift of prophesy) and he was able to heal people who were sick.  He also had the gift of floating in the air (levitation) when he was praying and he was able to be in more than one place at a time (bilocation)!  He lived until he was 80 years old.

St Casimir

Casimir was born a Polish prince and he had 12 brothers and sisters.  His dad was the king of Poland.  When Casimir was only 15 years old, he was asked to become the King of Hungary, but Casimir said no.  He didn't want to be a King, he wanted to spend his whole life praying and doing service, so that he could get closer to God.  He prayed everyday and sometimes spent many hours praying at night too.  He was very strict with himself so that he would not sin; he fasted lots and sometimes slept on the floor of his room to remind him to always try to be good.  Casimir also loved Mother Mary; he would sing a song to her everyday called “Daily, Daily, Sing to Mary”.  His love for God made him want to help anyone that was suffering; the poor, the orphaned, the sick, those in prison; he cared for them, protected them and gave them everything he could.  Although Casimir never let anything stop him from loving God and doing good, he was often sick.  When Casimir was 26, he was on a mission in another country, and his lungs became very sick with Tuberculosis and died.

St Katherine Drexel

Even though Katharine grew up in a rich family, she was taught to love her neighbours and to take care of the poor around her.  Her family used the money they had to help others and show how much they loved God.  Katherine and her sister taught children about God at Sunday School and later Katherine worked hard to help the poor and those people that had no one to take care of them.  She helped the African American and Native American people in the USA.  She spent millions of dollars of her family’s money to build schools, buy food and clothes and to help the teachers in the communities she was helping.  She also found priests to come and tell the people about God.  Katherine then became a nun, changing her name to Sister Mary Katherine and started an order of sisters called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament. Mother Katherine, as her sisters called her, found Jesus truly present in the Eucharist and in the people that she served.  She lived until she was 97 years old.

St Charles the good

Count Charles of Flounders was the son of St. Canute, King of Denmark.  Charles was called “the good” by the people he ruled in his kingdom because he was gentle and fair and a good example for everyone.  Every morning Charles walked to mass without any shoes on, because he wanted to pray and get closer to God.  He would go to the Church early so that he could pray by himself before mass started.  Count Charles took very good care of the poor and made sure that they were fed at his castle every day.  Charles’ kindness to the poor made some rich people angry, especially because when the rich people tried to do mean things Count Charles made them stop.  These people wanted to kill him, because he was so good.  So one day when he was praying by himself in the Church, he was killed by those rich people who hated him.