Franciscan Media

Saint Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, is credited with having found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. The cross quickly became an object of veneration.

Saint John Chrysostom, the great preacher of Antioch, was the victim of his own success. Called to be a bishop, this simple monk found himself embroiled in the workings of the empire. He, however, managed to stay focused on the needs of the Church.

This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus: both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters. Mary encourages us to cooperate with Jesus in building a peace based on justice.

Saint Cyprian played an important role in the development of Christian thought and practice in the early Church. He was a noted speaker who became a Christian as an adult. He was ordained a priest within two years of his conversion, and was then chosen to be bishop of Carthage.

Saint Thomas was from Castile in Spain and received his surname from the town where he was raised. After joining the Augustinian friars at Salamanca, he became prior and then provincial of the friars. He sent the first Augustinian friars to the New World.

A native of Spain, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610, to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena, and began a ministry to the slaves brought there from West Africa, as well as becoming a moral force in the city of Cartegena.