Mystics
Saints drawn into a deep, contemplative union with God, whose lives and writings open a window onto prayer.
All Saints
4 Stories
St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
A Capuchin friar from a poor Italian farming village who bore the bleeding wounds of Christ for fifty years and heard confessions from dawn to dusk. Hidden behind fingerless gloves, he told the anxious crowds who found him only: pray, hope, and don't worry.
St. Joan of Arc
An unlettered peasant girl who heard voices in her father's garden, led France's armies to break the siege of Orléans, saw a king crowned — and was burned as a heretic at nineteen by the Church that would one day make her a saint.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux
A cloistered Carmelite who died at twenty-four, unknown to the world — and became one of the Church's great teachers through her 'little way' of trusting love.
St. Francis of Assisi
The rich merchant's son who traded a life of silk and swords for poverty, peace, and a love of all creation — and founded an order that reshaped the Church.