Saints

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is often confused with the virginal conception of Jesus. Today's feast was first approved by Pope Sixtus IV in 1476. In 1830 St Catherine Laboure experienced a vision in which she saw Our Lady standing on a globe with ra... Read More

Bishop of Milan. Ambrose was born at Trier in 339. He was the son of the Pretorian Prefect of Gaul. He studied Greek rhetoric and poetry and became a successful advocate. In 370, he became governor of Aemilia and Liguria at Milan. When the first Arian bishop died, he appealed for peace at the noisy assembly called to elect his successor. During his speech a child cried out: "Ambrose for bishop"... Read More

Visionary and one of the first indigenous saints of the New World. Born in around 1474, Juan Diego was an Indian peasant who experienced a vision of Our Lady on Tepeyac Hill on December 9, 1531. The bishop at the time did not believe his story until he returned with his cloak or tilma filled with roses. As he spread the roses onto the ground before the bishop - an image of Our Lady miraculously f... Read More