Saints

St Pachomius Founder of Christian monasticism. Pachomius was born in 292, in Thebes (Luxor, Egypt) to pagan parents. According to his hagiography, at 21, he was swept up against his will in a Roman army recruitment drive, a common occurrence during this period of turmoil and civil war. With several other youths, he was put onto a ship that floated down the Nile river and arrived at Thebes in the ... Read More

Cistercian archbishop. Born in Dauphine, France in 1102, Peter joined the Cistercian Order at Bonneveaux at the age of 20 with his two brothers and father. When he was 30 he was sent to serve as the first abbot of Tamie, in the Tarantaise Mountains, between Geneva and Savoy. There he built a hospice for travellers. In 1142, he was named archbishop of Tarantaise, although he was initially very rel... Read More

Saint Damien of Molokai Missionary. Born in Tremelo, Belgium, in 1840, Joseph de Veuster, left school at 13 to help on the family farm. He entered the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary six years later, taking the name of a fourth-century physician and martyr. When his brother Pamphile, a priest in the same congregation, fell ill and was unable to go to the Hawaiian Islands as ass... Read More