Mural Saints Biographies

Here you can learn about the lives of the saints in the mural behind the altar. The saints are models of holiness. We can find inspiration from how God called them in all kinds of different circumstances to live out the Gospel in their time and place. We can also call on their prayers and intercession when we face difficulties in our own walk with the Lord. We are never alone, rather we are surrounded and protected by our brothers and sisters who have gone before us.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and  perfecter of faith.”-Hebrews 12:1-2
 

A Connecticut parish priest, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal group to help support Catholic families, often poor immigrants who were discriminated against by the then popular anti-Catholicism.  The Knights of Columbus also provided support to widows and orphans of deceased Catholic men. Father McGivney died of pneumonia during the pandemic of 1889-1890. Father McGivney was Beatified on Oct. 31^st, 2020.

An Italian Jesuit missionary, Padre Kino came to North America to evangelize the indigenous people of modern-day Sonora and Arizona.  He founded many missions, converted the native peoples, and helped them develop economically and socially. He also worked to defend the rights of the Indians against the Spanish landowners. He is remembered as a servant of God and a pioneer of Arizona.

An indigenous Mexican and early convert to Catholicism, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him and told him to go to the bishop and ask that a chapel be built on Tepeyac Hill. When the bishop asked for a sign as proof of Juan Diego’s vision, the Virgin asked him to collect flowers growing out of season around the hill. Juan Diego filled his tilma (cloak) with these flowers and went to present them to the Bishop. When Juan Diego presented the flowers to the Bishop an image of the Blessed Mother appeared on his tilma. This image of Our Lady of Guadalupe miraculously survives to this day, hundreds of years later.

Feastday: December 9

The second American-born saint to be canonized, Katherine Drexel was a religious sister who established a religious order to help support Native Americans and African Americans in the Western United States. Using her family inheritance, she built 63 schools and 50 missions for Native Americans. The order she founded continues to support African American and Native-American populations in 21 states and in Haiti.

Feastday: March 3

Born in Lima, Peru, he was the illegitimate son of a Spanish gentlemen and a freed African slave. Abandoned by his father, St. Martin became a Dominican lay brother where he worked in the infirmary caring for all people regardless of race or social status. Overcoming racial discrimination, he earned a reputation for holiness and even miraculous healings. He died at the age of 60 after a yearlong illness.

Feastday: November 3

The first Native North American to be recognized as a saint. Her mother was an Algonquin and her father a Mohawk chief. Her parents died in a smallpox outbreak when she was four years old. She survived the smallpox, but with scarred skin. She was taken in by her uncle. Despite family pressure she refused to marry and at 19 converted to Catholicism and took a vow of chastity. Because of ill health and rigorous fasting she fell ill and passed away at 24 only five years after her conversion.

Feastday: July 14

John Vianney came of age during the persecution of the Church during the French Revolution and received his early religious education in secret. After the Napoleonic wars, he was ordained a priest and was appointed pastor for Ars parish. There he worked to reestablish the Catholic faith lost during the years of revolution. He became known for his holiness and pilgrimages formed to visit him. He is the patron saint of parish priests.

Feastday: August 4

A Spanish Franciscan missionary, Junipero Serra established the California missions to evangelize the people of the new world. He founded twenty-one missions and converted thousands of Native Americans. In addition to religious education, he taught the natives methods of agriculture and cattle raising. He worked tirelessly in the missions for 34 years until his death in 1784 at the age of 70.

Feastday: July 1

A young devout woman from a noble family, Clare was inspired by St. Francis to live a life of poverty. At 18 years old she met with St. Francis, who had her hair cut, gave her a plain robe, and placed her in a Benedictine convent. When her father tried to get her to leave, she insisted she would have only Christ as a husband. Eventually other women came to join her, and they formed a new religious community eventually becoming known as the Order of Saint Clare.  

Feastday: August 11

An Italian Capuchin Franciscan and priest, Padre Pio was very devout from an early age having visions of Jesus and Mary as a young boy. As a priest, Padre Pio received the stigmata, the wounds of Christ miraculously appeared on his hands and feet. Padre Pio was said to perform many other miracles and was known for his holiness, preaching, and confessions. His stigmata was authenticated by church authorities, but to restrain his growing popularity, he covered his stigmata in public.

Feastday: September 23

The son of a wealthy merchant, young Francis dreamed of military success and honors, but military honor was not God’s will for Francis. One day while praying in the church of San Damiano, Francis saw Christ on the crucifix say to him, “Francis, repair my church.” Francis first thought God wanted him to repair the church building, but soon learned God was asking for a spiritual rebuilding. Francis began to live as a beggar dedicating himself to poverty and prayer. He gained a group of followers whom he called the Order of the Friars Minor (little brothers), who are known today as the Franciscans.

Feastday: October 4

A girl from a poor farm family, Maria was stab to death in an attempted rape by a neighboring boy, Alessandro. As she was dying, she forgave her murderer. After her death she appeared to Alessandro in a vision to convince him to repent of his sins. He was converted by this experience and after release from prison lived the rest of his life in a monastery. Alessandro was even present for Maria’s canonization mass.

Feastday: July 6

Born Angelo Roncalli, as a priest and bishop he served as Apostolic visitor (like an ambassador) to Bulgaria and apostolic delegate to Turkey and Greece. In the Second World War, he worked to protect Jews from the Nazi force occupying Italy. He was elected Pope in 1958. Expected to be a transitional Pope, he surprised everyone by calling the Second Vatican Council. He passed away in 1963 before the work of the Council could be concluded. 

Feastday: October 11

Born Karol Wojtyla, he entered seminary in secret when Poland was under Nazi occupation and was ordained a priest after the war. He was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of Cracow and participated in the Second Vatican Council. He was elected Pope in 1978. Over his long pontificate he made 95 pastoral visits outside of Italy, traveling all over the world. He died in 2005 after a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease.

Feastday: October 22

A religious with the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy, Saint Faustina experience several mystical visitations from Jesus. She was asked by Jesus to promote God’s divine mercy. She commissioned a painting of a vision of Jesus which is called the Divine Mercy image. Jesus also asked that the second Sunday of Easter become a feast of mercy, which is now called Divine Mercy Sunday. Saint Faustina’s diary Divine Mercy in My Soul is considered a spiritual classic.

Feastday: October 5

A Japanese Jesuit seminarian, he was crucified with 25 companions during the persecution of Catholics in Japan. Paul and his companions were put to death because they refused to repudiate their faith in Jesus Christ. As he was dying, Paul forgave the Japanese Emperor and his executioners and encouraged his fellow martyrs. St. Paul Miki and Companions are remembered on February 6.  

Feastday: February 6

Lucia (1907-2005), St. Francisco (1908-1919) & St. Jacinta (1910-1920)

Lucia and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta were three shepherd children who had visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. In the visions, Our Lady warned about the coming dangers of the twentieth century predicting the Second World War and the rise of communism in Russia. Our Lady asked for conversion and consecration to her Immaculate Heart. The children’s visions were confirmed by the “Miracle of the Sun” on October 13, 1917, when the sun appeared to flicker, dance, and send off rays of many colors. This was witnessed by 30,000 people and reported in the secular newspaper. Francisco and Jacinta died in childhood, where as Lucia entered a convent and died in 2005. Francisco and Jacinta were canonized in 2017 and the cause of Lucia’s sainthood is being investigate.

Feastday: February 20
 

A French Priest, Vincent passionately worked to help the poor and to reform the clergy. He formed a lay institute of women, the Ladies of Charity to help him serve the poor. He also formed an institute of priest, the Congregation of Priest of the Mission, known as the Vincentians, to help the poor and reform seminary preparation. The Vincentians continue his work to this day. Saint Vincent de Paul is the patron of all charitable societies.

Feastday: September 27
 

A Spanish Priest, Dominic established a new religious order called the Order of Preachers later know as the Dominicans. Dominic formed the order to help convert the Albigensians, a heretical group in Southern France who taught that matter including the human body was evil. Dominic succeeded in winning over many heretics by his preaching and example of austerity. According to legend, Dominic was given the Rosary by the Blessed Virgin Mary, to help in his mission of conversion. The Dominicans are one of the largest and well know orders in the Church today.

Feastday: August 8

Elizabeth Ann Seton was the first native born American to be canonized. Shortly after her marriage she experience several family tragedies. Her father in law died and her husband, William Seton, inherited the family business which soon fell into bankruptcy. Experiencing financial difficulty and failing health William moved the family to Italy, where he died of tuberculosis. While in Italy, in the wake of her loss Elizabeth became interested in Catholicism and entered the Catholic Church in 1805. After her conversion, Elizabeth established the first free Catholic school in America in Baltimore, Maryland. Elizabeth, along with some other women, formed a new religious community to help run the school, and Elizabeth became the superior of the community. She died at the age of 46.

Feastday: January 4

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojazhiu in Macedonia, she joined the Loreto Sisters and took the name Sister Mary Teresa and was sent to Calcutta, India as a missionary. With the Loreto Sisters, she taught at an all-girls school for 20 years, until she heard Jesus call her to establish a new community, the Missionaries of Charity, to work with the poorest of the poor. She left her community and adopted a simple Indian dress of a white sari with a blue boarder as her new religious habit. She was joined by some of her former students and she became Mother Teresa. Despite her own failing health, she continued to serve the poor until her death in 1997.

Feastday: September 5

The son of a Greek father and a Jewish mother, Timothy was a close follower and co-worker to the apostle Paul. According to the Book of Acts, Timothy accompanied Paul on his second missionary journey. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy, where Paul encourages Timothy to not be deterred because of his youth and instructs Timothy how to be a good bishop. According to tradition, Timothy became the first bishop of Ephesus where he was martyred.

Feastday: January 26

The youngest daughter of devout Catholic parents, Zelie and Louis Martin (who are also recognized as saints) Therese lived an almost idealistic childhood until her mother died when she was four years old. Inspired by her older sisters, who had already entered the Carmelite convent, she sought early entrance to the convent and entered Carmel at 15 years old. Here she developed her own spirituality, “the Little Way” a path of holiness not for the spiritually perfect but for the “little souls,” who become like small children completely dependent on the Heavenly Father. The “little way” is described in her spiritual autobiography The Story of a Soul.

Feastday:  October 1
 

The Apostle to the Gentiles, Paul was originally called Saul of Tarsus. Saul was a Jewish Roman citizen and a pharisee who started persecuting the early Church. He had a vision of the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, where he was heading to root out any Christians. Because of his encounter with Christ, Saul was converted to Christianity, was baptized, and became Paul. He went on several missionary journeys around the Eastern half of the Mediterranean spreading the Gospel. His letters to the churches he founded make up a large portion of the New Testament. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and sent to Rome to be tried. He was martyred in Rome. 

Feastday: June 29
 

Edith Stein was born in Breslau, Poland to a Jewish family. While she was raised in her Jewish faith, she lost the belief in God as a teenager. She pursued university studies in the philosophy of phenomenology earning her doctorate in 1918. During this time, she began to become interested in the Catholic faith and was baptized in 1922. Inspired by the writings of St. Teresa of Avila she entered the Carmelites taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. In response to the Dutch Catholic bishops denouncing Nazi treatment of the Jews, the Nazis rounded up all Jewish Catholic converts in Holland. St. Teresa was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where she was martyred.

Feastday: August 9

The first Pope, Peter was one of the twelve apostles who accompanied Jesus during his earthly ministry. Peter was given the “keys” of authority and set as the leader of the apostles because of his confession of Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God. Often impetuous and rash, Peter often made mistakes and misunderstood Jesus. His greatest failure was his denial of knowing Jesus when Jesus was arrested. After the Resurrection, Jesus forgave Peter and told him to tend his sheep. Peter became the leader of the early church boldly preaching Christ during Pentecost. According to tradition, Peter was martyred in Rome. His tomb was discovered under Saint Peter’s Basilica in the mid-Twentieth Century. 

Feastday: June 29

A Polish Catholic priest and Franciscan friar, Maximilian Kolbe was very active in promoting the Immaculate Virgin Mary and is known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary. He was arrested by the German Gestapo and sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp. There he volunteered to take the place of a prisoner sentence to death. He is recognized as a martyr of charity because he gave his life for another like Christ.

Feastday: August 14