Besides being put to death they were made objects of amusement; they were clothed in hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs.

At Antioch, Peter gave into racial prejudice, declining to eat with the pagans, but Paul boldly corrected him.

Summary of St Peter is a very attractive figure since he shared our weakness, but after the resurrection he became the one to strengthen his brothers.

Fr John Murray PP profiles the saint here.

Little is known about his life, but from his writings it is clear he was a zealous pastor. .

Cyril of Alexandria was a man who loved the truth and did not suffer fools gladly. At a time when the very nature of Christ [...]

Cyril certainly had a clear intelligent grasp of the issues but he was impulsive and intransigent.. Pope Leo XIII declared him a doctor of the church in 1883.

At the command of Julian the Apostate, they were beheaded secretly in the rooms of their own house on the Caelian Hill, Rome.

Paulinus was first a married man who became a Christian as an adult, then was ordained priest by popular acclaim.

The Gospel of the Feast tells of the delight of Elizabeth’s giving birth

'When a statesman forsakes his own private conscience for the sake of his public duty he leads his country by a short road to chaos.'

Summary: St John Fisher: scholar and a man of simple life, was both chancellor of Cambridge University and bishop of Rochester. For refusing to recognise King Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church in England, he was found guilty of treason, and executed.

Patrick Duffy [...]

Cardinal John Fisher was imprisoned, found guilty of treason and beheaded on 22nd June 1535. He was the first member of the College of Cardinals to suffer martyrdom.

. His Jesuit superiors in ome urgedAloysius to pray less, eat more, and be more sociable.

In 1992 Pope John Paul II proclaimed a representative group from Ireland as martyrs and beatified them.

Romuald's contribution to monasticism was to provide for living the hermit life.

At 15 Juliana refused her family's plans for her to marry and became a Servite tertiary.

Moling loved animals, many of whom - wild and tame - he kept around him in honour of their Maker, and they would eat out of his hand.

St Methodius encouraged the restoring the veneration of icons

Summary: St Vitus was the son of a pagan Sicilian senator who became a Christian under the influence of his Christian tutor Modestus and his Christian nurse Crescentia and suffered martyrdom along with them (See image). He is an example of how certain themes strangely become associated with the [...]

Germaine's stepmother accused her of stealing bread and chased her with a stick. In the chase Germaine let her apron fall and what fell out on the winter snow was not bread but summer flowers.

After the finding her tomb, it is said that a number of epileptics, insane people, and some said to be under diabolical influence were cured by the relics of Dympna, patron of the mentally ill.

Anthony had extraordinary influence both in the religious and civic life of town, reducing crime, denouncing usury, freeing debtors from prison and reconciling enemies.

Blessed Anna Maria Taigi is an example of how an ordinary mother can become a saint and influence others by her spirituality.

Summary of St Barnabas, Apostle: A Jew from Cyprus and one of the first converts in Jerusalem, a leading member of the Church there, though not one of the twelve. He was honoured as “a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (Acts [...]

Ephrem began to write hymns in order to counteract the heresies that were rampant during his time, having already heard the heretical ideas put into song.

Summary: St Columba, abbot, missionary also known as Colum Cille, was born in Gartan, County Donegal in 521 and was of royal lineage. He studied under Finnian of Moville and Finnian of Clonard. He founded monasteries in Deny, Durrow, Iona and possibly Kells. From Iona, which became his [...]

St Colmcille is one of the three patron saints of Ireland along with St Patrick and St Brigid. He initiated the movement known as the peregrinatio pro Christo - emigration in adventure for Christ.

Summary of  St William,  the “on and off” archbishop of York twice in the period of England’s history known as the Anarchy (1135-54), when the armies of two cousins – Stephen of Blois and Empress Matilda – were fighting for the monarchy. He is commemorated in [...]

Matt Talbot was a Dubliner who struggled with a drink problem, then led a severe ascetical life, and became known after his death as the Workers' Saint.

There are about 300 saints named Colman mentioned in Irish martryologies.