THE FRANCISCAN FRIARS, TOR

Saint Angela Merici Saint of the Day for January 27 (March 21, 1474 – January 27, 1540) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Angela Merici’s story Angela has the double distinction of founding the first teaching congregation of women in the Church and what is now called a “secular institute” of religious women. As a young woman, […]

Saint Thomas Aquinas Saint of the Day for January 28 ( 1225 – March 7, 1274) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Story By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with […]

Servant of God Brother Juniper Saint of the Day for January 29 (d. 1258) Click to hear audio clip ► Servant of God Brother Juniper’s Story “Would to God, my brothers, I had a whole forest of such Junipers,” said Francis of this holy friar. We don’t know much about Juniper before he joined the […]

Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska Saint of the Day for January 30 (May 16, 1825 – October 10, 1899) Click to hear audio clip ► Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska’s Story Today we honor a woman who submitted to God’s will throughout her life—a life filled with pain and suffering. Born in 1825 in central Poland and […]

Saint John Bosco Saint of the Day for January 31 (August 16, 1815 – January 31, 1888) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint John Bosco’s Story John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood […]

Saint Ansgar Saint of the Day for February 1 (801 – February 3, 865) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Ansgar’s Story The “apostle of the north” (Scandinavia) had enough frustrations […]

Presentation of the Lord Saint of the Day for February 2 Click to hear audio clip ► The Story of the Presentation of the Lord At the end of the fourth century, a woman named Etheria made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her journal, discovered in 1887, gives an unprecedented glimpse of liturgical life there. Among […]

Saint Blaise Saint of the Day for February 3 (d. c. 316) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Blaise’s Story We know more about the devotion to Saint Blaise by Christians around the world than we know about the saint himself. His feast is observed as a holy day in some Eastern Churches. In 1222, the […]

Saint Joseph of Leonissa Saint of the Day for February 4 (January 8, 1556  – February 4, 1612) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Joseph of Leonissa’s Story Joseph was born at Leonissa in the Kingdom of Naples. As a boy and as a student in early adulthood, Joseph drew attention for his energy and […]

Saint Agatha Saint of the Day for February 5 (c. 230 – 251) Click to hear audio clip ► Saint Agatha’s Story As in the case of Agnes, another virgin-martyr of the early Church, almost nothing is historically certain about this saint except that she was martyred in Sicily during the persecution of Emperor Decius in […]