Among the seven new saints canonized by Benedict XVI this past weekend, maybe one of the lesser known new saints is Anna Schäffer, an example of how to accept pain and suffering. Anna was born in Mindelstetten, German on February 18, 1882. Her family was not a rich family and the death of her father ...read more

Beatified by Blessed John Paul II in 1980, Kateri Tekakwitha was proclaimed the first Native woman saint by Pope Benedict XVI on October 21, 2012. Saint on October 21, 2012 ...read more

Sister Marianne Cope (formerly Barbara Koob) was born January 23, 1838 and baptized the following day in what is now Hessen, West Germany. The young Sister Marianne worked as a teacher and hospital administrator in New York. In 1870, she was elected superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse. Seven years later she became second ...read more

Lisa Charleyboy and John Copegog during the filming of reenactments for In Her Footsteps. by Gillian Kantor “Catherine Tekakwitha is the name of the sainted young woman, who I am going to write about. She is today so renowned in New France because of the extraordinary marvels that God has performed and continues to perform ...read more

Just as the faithful of Vancouver have a pilgrimage to celebrate the feast of Assumption, Catholics in Edmonton have their own shrine to visit on this feast. The Skaro shrine, located 80 km northeast of Edmonton, was built at the turn of the 20th century by residents of the Polish settlement there. In 1904 residents ...read more

Today’s photo of the day is courtesy of WYD Rio 2013. The official WYD prayer was launched July 13 during a mass with Archbishop Joao Orani Tempesta. A participant holds the sheet of paper with images of the WYD patrons saints and intercessors printed on it. The words in the centre of the page say ...read more

Yesterday the universal church celebrated Elizabeth of Portugal known in her home country as Saint Queen Elizabeth. Elizabeth born in Zaragoza, Spain in 1271, she was the daughter of Peter III of Aragon and was married off to King Denis of Portugal in 1282.  From the beginning Elizabeth showed a great compassion to the poor. ...read more

Throughout this past week in the daily gospel readings for mass, we have been working our way through Chapter 17 of St. John’s Gospel, a passage known as Jesus’ great priestly prayer. Quite providentially, these readings bring us up to the feast days of three important “priestly” saints: St. Bede the Venerable, Pope St. GregoryVII, ...read more

This article was first published in L’Osservatore Romano, no. 21, on Wednesday, May 23, pg. 9. It is written by Salt + Light’s very own Sebastian Gomes. Click here to see all his blog posts. When our most distant ancestors awoke on the first Easter morning, they could not have imagined what took place during ...read more