Saint Marianne Cope and Robert Louis Stevenson: The Poet Who Visited Kalaupapa
In May 1889 Robert Louis Stevenson spent eight days at the Kalaupapa leprosy settlement and wrote a poem to Mother Marianne Cope. The record of that visit.
Saint Josemaría Escrivá and Franco: The 1946 Retreat at El Pardo
In April 1946 Josemaria Escriva preached a retreat at El Pardo, the residence of Francisco Franco. What Opus Dei sources say, and what critics say.
Saint Joseph Calasanz and Galileo: The Schoolmaster Who Stood Near the Condemned Astronomer
Joseph Calasanz opened Europe’s first free public school in Rome and sent his Piarist priests to learn from Galileo. What the record says, and what it cost him.
Saint John Henry Newman and Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Poet He Received into the Church
In 1866 a young Oxford poet wrote to John Henry Newman, visited him, and was received at the Birmingham Oratory. The record of Newman and Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Saint Giovanni Calabria and C. S. Lewis: The Priest Who Wrote to Him in Latin
A Verona priest read The Screwtape Letters in Italian and wrote to C. S. Lewis in Latin. Their letters ran until Calabria died in 1954. The story of an unlikely friendship.
Saint Thomas More and Henry VIII: The King Who Watched the Stars With the Man He Later Executed
Henry VIII once took Thomas More up on a rooftop to study the stars and walked an hour with an arm around his neck. Years later he sent him to the block.
Auguste Rodin and Saint Peter Julian Eymard: The Monk Who Sent a Sculptor Back to His Studio
In 1862 Auguste Rodin joined the Blessed Sacrament Fathers. Their founder, Saint Peter Julian Eymard, urged him to keep sculpting. The story behind the 1863 bust.
Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko and Lech Wałęsa: The Priest and the Solidarity Leader
Lech Wałęsa stood with Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko in Solidarity’s years and spoke at his funeral on November 3, 1984. What the record shows about the two men.
Mother Teresa and Priyanka Gandhi: “Come and Work With Me” After Rajiv Gandhi’s Death
Mother Teresa visited Rajiv Gandhi’s grieving family in 1991. Priyanka Gandhi says she sat by her sickbed and said, Come and work with me, and that she later did.
Malcolm Muggeridge and Mother Teresa: The Skeptic Who Introduced Her to the World
Skeptic Malcolm Muggeridge interviewed Mother Teresa for the BBC, filmed her in Calcutta, and wrote Something Beautiful for God, which introduced her to the world.
Padre Pio and Beniamino Gigli: The Tenor Who Sang Mamma in the Friary Garden
Opera star Beniamino Gigli went to San Giovanni Rotondo to meet Padre Pio, was told his soul was dirty, and confessed. He kept returning to sing Mamma for the friar.