Saints

St Raymond of Penafort Dominican friar and teacher. Patron of church lawyers. Raymond was born to an aristocratic family in 1175 in Catalonia, Spain. He was educated at the cathedral school in Barcelona and became a priest. After completing his law degree in Bologna, Italy, he joined the Dominican order in 1218 and worked among the Moslems and Albigensians until he was called to Rome by Pope Greg... Read More

Canadian laybrother. Alfred Bessette was born on August 9, 1845, near Montreal in Quebec province, Canada, the eighth of twelve children. When Alfred was nine, his father, a wood cutter, died in a work accident. Three years later, his mother died of TB. The children were separated and placed in different homes. Alfred went to live with an aunt and uncle. Because his family had been so poor and h... Read More

Abbot and bishop. Born in London towards the end of the first millennium, St Wulsin was made the first abbot of Westminster Abbey by St Dunstan, after it was restored around 980. In 992 he was also made bishop of Sherborne in Dorset. He is said to have rebuilt the church there and introduced a Benedictine chapter. A few letters from him survive. One is from the scholar Aelfric, then Abbot of Cern... Read More