Saints

Notburga was an Austrian laywoman from what is now called the Tyrol. She was born around 1250 to a poor peasant family. At the age of 18 she was employed as a kitchen maid in the castle of Count Henry of Rattenberg. The family squandered more food on pig-swill than Notburga's parents ate in weeks. She saved all the leftovers from the Count's family table and gave them to the poor. Count Henry's wi... Read More

Archbishop. Born in 347, the son of an army officer at Antioch, St John was brought up by his widowed mother. In 373 he went to live as a monk in a mountain community and became quite ill because of the austere regime there. In 381 he returned to Antioch and became a deacon serving the local church, until he was ordained priest in 407. He was soon made the bishop's assistant and was responsible... Read More

Married woman and mystic. Born in Genoa in 1447, Catherine Fieschi entered into an arranged marriage with a wealthy young man named Julian when she was just 16. He turned out to be a foul-tempered womanizer and she endured his bad behaviour for several years, until in 1473, she underwent some kind of conversion experience which changed her life, and that of her husband too. For the next 20 years ... Read More