Saints

Most information about John the Baptist comes from the Gospels. The Roman historian Josephus also mentions him. He was the son of Zachariah a Temple priest and Elizabeth, a quite old cousin of the Virgin Mary. An angel foretold his birth, adding that he would prepare people for the Lord. Scriptures tell us that when Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, came to visit Elizabeth, the infant John leapt ... Read More

Bishop and doctor of the church, Augustine was born in Tagaste, Algeria, in 354. The son of a pagan father and a Christian mother, St Monica, he was brought up a Christian but not baptised. Augustine studied rhetoric at Carthage and became a lawyer, but he gave this up and took up teaching and further study. For nine years he was absorbed by philosophy and Manichaeism, completely rejecting Chris... Read More

Martyr. Margaret Clitherow was born in 1555, in Middleton, Yorkshire, into a Protestant family. Her father, Thomas Middleton, was Sheriff of York from 1564 to 1565. Margaret was married at the age of 15 to John Clitherow who had a thriving butchery trade. The couple had three children and lived in The Shambles. Although her husband remained a Protestant, Margaret converted to Roman Catholicism t... Read More