Saints Rome

We have been asked to write on lay people who became Saints. As we researched our last book, Visionaries, Mystics and Stigmatists, we found ourselves writing on many saints and blesseds, brothers and sisters who came from a life very much like our own; they never entered the religious life but instead served the Lord right where he had planted them, within their families. St. Frances of Rome is one such saint and visionary.

As he plunged his attacker’s blade deep into the man’s abdomen, Father Michael Thomas thought he understood the difference between murder and justifiable homicide. After Church officials learn what happened in that dark back-alley amid the slums of Bogota, they urgently whisked Michael away to an isolated compound in rural Wyoming. Alongside a handful of trainees, he lives under an assumed name, learns the skills of a moral investigator and clandestine operative, and faces the ethical dilemma repeatedly placed before him: When is a deliberate death a righteous act?

The audioguide tells the story, describes the architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica. Saint John the Evangelist preached in this place. Tradition tells us that John, the apostle of Jesus, was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, but came out miraculously uninjured and safe. The real gem of this church are the medieval frescoes, discovered during the restoration works of the last century.

The audioguide tells the story, describes the architecture and reports interesting facts about the basilica. Saint John the Evangelist preached in this place. Tradition tells us that John, the apostle of Jesus, was placed in a cauldron of boiling oil, but came out miraculously uninjured and safe. The real gem of this church are the medieval frescoes, discovered during the restoration works of the last century.

Although he was born in what was considered the backwaters of the Roman Empire, Saint Augustine of Hippo has long been renowned for his early religious and philosophical thought. He has been called a doctor of the Church for his unrivaled ability of patching up even the most complex of theological questions. He tackled such things as the condition of the soul and the omnipotence of God. During the course of his tenure as bishop of the North-African city of Hippo, Augustine often gained as many critics as he did followers.