St Andrew Dũng-Lạc (1795-1839) was a Vietnamese diocesan priest who was beheaded at Hanoi in 1839, one of 117 Vietnamese martyrs. Another was St Théophane Vénard, a member of the Paris Society of the Foreign Missions, who was beheaded in 1861 and exercised a strong influence on St Thérèse of Lisieux.
Cecilia was a young girl from Rome, born in a Christian family at a time that Christians were often persecuted. Historically, not much is known, but her legend is a very intense example of faith. Cecilia loved Jesus so much that she promised him to remain a virgin during all her life. However, her parents married her off to a rich young man, Valerian, who was not a Christian. She was devastated: what was to come of her private vow to Jesus?
When the Blessed Virgin Mary was presented in the temple, she dedicated herself to the service of God and kept herself open to God’s will. The feast prepares us for Advent and Christmas, when we celebrate the coming of her Divine Son into the world.
Daughter of the King of Hungary, St Elizabeth married Ludwig IV of Thuringia (Germany), and had three children, but was widowed at the age of twenty. After the death of her husband, she devoted herself to the poor and the sick.
Though born to Orthodox parents, St Josaphat became a Catholic. He worked faithfully for the reform of the Church and unity between East and West. He faced much opposition and suffered martyrdom at the hands of an angry mob.
The Great War brought the reality of modern conflict into the lives of a whole society. This blog collects some specifically Catholic experiences and responses.
