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The Life of Sainit Gabriel Possenti, Co-Patron of Italian Catholic Youth: One of our powerful saints for the youth. Born in Assisi, he moved to Spoleto before a great Cholera epidemic broke out. Come to Morrovalle near the Adriatic Sea, where he spent most of his life as a brother, and then to Isola di Gran Sasso high on a mountain, where he died. Special scenes of his life and miracles from his Shrine in Teramo.

Through the divine fire which burned inside Saint Catherine of Genoa, while she was still on earth, she was able to understand the state of souls in Purgatory. The Lord had purified her soul, in the furnace of his love, as gold is refined of all its impurities, by fire! Cleansing her of every stain of sin while she was still in the flesh, he was perfecting her on earth, so that when Catherine passed to the next world, she would be ready to appear before him.

Whenever we are under attack from the slimy one, it is difficult to remember that God is in charge and that he is allowing this to strengthen us for even greater battles. The honeymoon over, God stood by and permitted Satan to tempt our little Catherine. But Sister Catherine was not so little that she could not tell the devil off when he tried to tempt her.

The fifth century brings us not one, but two future saints. It is AD 480, and a little voice cries out, "Here I am, world!" But no sooner heard, than another tiny cry fills the air. Not one, but two babies will be born to the parents of the future Saint Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica. Now, Norcia is not easy to get to, as we well know.

St. Paschal Baylon is one of the most multi-faceted diamonds the Church has ever contained in its treasury of faith. He is a lay person, never having been ordained a priest. Yet, he is the patron of Eucharistic congresses and Confraternities of the Blessed Sacrament. His whole life centered around the Eucharist, for which he is most known, yet he would not become a priest. He felt only called to be a brother.

We go to Careggi, Italy, where the incorrupt body of Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi is. We visit the Carmelite convent where she lived, the bell tower where she rang the bells while in ecstasy, the chapel and the garden where she had ecstasies and visions from souls in Purgatory.

The miracle that occurred in AD 700 was just the beginning. That was 1250 years ago. Had that miracle taken place and then the flesh and blood disintegrated, as would have been normal, the miracle would have been nonetheless a miracle. The priest's faith had been renewed. The entire town - the whole country, for that matter - became aware of the miracle.

Children have always been uppermost in the mind of the Father, as they have been helpless and in need of protection. There have been orphans and street urchins from the beginning of time. Over the centuries, the Lord has provided for these little ones, by sending men and women to take care of them. An epidemic of exploitation of children began at the end of the 18th century, with the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.

St. Robert Bellarmine, brilliant follower of St. Ignatius of Loyola, has been credited with being one of the most outspoken critics of the heresies of Martin Luther and John Calvin. He focused the church of his time on the true teachings of the Catholic faith, which were contradicted by the Protestant Reformation. He is one of the powerful men discussed in this book whom the Lord sent to construct a suit of spiritual armor to defend his Church in this crucial time of crisis.

When a pilgrim goes to the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi, he is given a pamphlet which reads: “An Encounter with Saint Francis in Assisi”. This is what we will attempt to do in this book: introduce you to and pray you experience such an encounter with the Poverello of Jesus. Your heart will burn to learn more about him. There is so much to know about Saint Francis of Assisi that it’s impossible in this short book to tell it all. In addition, Francis touches everyone in a different way, as does Jesus.