Thirty-two saints who died between 1072 and 1487: monks and hermits, friars, a pope, a martyred archbishop, abbesses, a king, queens, a peasant girl and a father of ten. Each is shown in his or her own words, in a pope's description, or in the profile kept by the Holy See's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. For nine of them a second entry quotes what the same sources say about a miracle, either one told from the saint's life or one examined for the canonization.
Drafted from primary sources. Every quotation is checked against the page it links to. This is a selection and not a complete list of the saints of these centuries. Passages from the Dicastery's website and from one radio message of Pius XII are quoted in Italian with our English translation, which has not been reviewed. A miracle entry is dated to the year of the canonization. Where a miracle comes from the tradition about a saint's life and not from a Church inquiry, the entry says so.
“O Blessed Cross … You are venerated, preached and honoured by the faith of the Patriarchs, the predictions of the Prophets, the senate that judges the Apostles, the victorious army of Martyrs and the throngs of all the Saints”
“What then appeared supremely necessary, and what Gregory VII tenaciously willed, was to restore the Church to the independence, the unity and the holiness with which her divine Founder had endowed her. The Church needed to be free. And so Gregory VII accepted the conflict forced on him in order to free her, like an agile and healthy body, from the chains and hindrances set by earthly powers, especially in the freedom to choose her Pastors.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Ciò che appariva allora sommamente necessario, e che Gregorio VII tenacemente volle, era di ristabilire la Chiesa nella indipendenza, nella unità e nella santità, di cui il suo divino Fondatore l'aveva dotata. Occorreva che la Chiesa fosse libera. Ecco quindi Gregorio VII accettare il conflitto impostogli per affrancarla, quasi corpo agile e sano, dalle catene e dagl'intralci mossi dalle potestà terrene, specialmente nella libertà di scelta dei suoi Pastori.”
“However, the charterhouse is a special oasis in which silence and solitude are preserved with special care, in accordance with the form of life founded by St Bruno and which has remained unchanged down the centuries. “I live in a rather faraway hermitage... with some religious brothers”, is the concise sentence that your Founder wrote (Letter to Rudolph “the Green”, n. 4).”
“He died on 21 April 1109, accompanied by the words of the Gospel proclaimed in Holy Mass on that day: "You are those who have continued with me in my trials; as my Father appointed a kingdom for me, so do I appoint for you that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom..." (Lk 22: 28-30). So it was that the dream of the mysterious banquet he had had as a small boy, at the very beginning of his spiritual journey, found fulfilment.”
“All food of the soul is dry … unless it is moistened with this oil; insipid, unless it is seasoned with this salt. What you write has no savour for me unless I have read Jesus in it”
“In fact, King Henry II wished to impose his authority on the internal life of the Church, curtailing her freedom. This stance provoked John of Salisbury to react and, in particular, prompted the valiant resistence of St Thomas Becket, Theobald's successor on the episcopal throne of Canterbury, who for this reason was exiled to France. … In 1170, when both John and Thomas Becket had returned to England, Thomas was attacked and murdered in his cathedral. He died a martyr and was immediately venerated as such by the people.”
“The vision fascinates my whole being: I do not see with the eyes of the body but it appears to me in the spirit of the mysteries.... I recognize the deep meaning of what is expounded on in the Psalter, in the Gospels and in other books, which have been shown to me in the vision. This vision burns like a flame in my breast and in my soul and teaches me to understand the text profoundly”
“All men were swept into the embrace of his charity, and, in loving all, he was beloved by all.... He claimed it his right to rejoice with the joyful and to weep with the sorrowful”
“Three times Christ on the Cross came to life, and told him: "Go, Francis, and repair my Church in ruins". This simple occurrence of the word of God heard in the Church of St Damian contains a profound symbolism. At that moment St Francis was called to repair the small church, but the ruinous state of the building was a symbol of the dramatic and disquieting situation of the Church herself.”
“He was called Giovanni di Fidanza. An episode that occurred when he was still a boy deeply marked his life, as he himself recounts. He fell seriously ill and even his father, who was a doctor, gave up all hope of saving him from death. So his mother had recourse to the intercession of St Francis of Assisi, who had recently been canonized. And Giovanni recovered.”
“Christ who is your life is hanging before you, so that you may look at the Cross as in a mirror. There you will be able to know how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other than the Blood of the Son of God could heal. If you look closely, you will be able to realize how great your human dignity and your value are.... Nowhere other than looking at himself in the mirror of the Cross can man better understand how much he is worth”
“Once, on entering a church on the Feast of the Assumption, she took off her crown, laid it before the Crucifix and, covering her face, lay prostrate on the ground. When her mother-in-law reprimanded her for this gesture, Elizabeth answered: "How can I, a wretched creature, continue to wear a crown of earthly dignity, when I see my King Jesus Christ crowned with thorns?”.”
“Pope Gregory IX himself, having heard him preach, described him as the "Ark of the Testament" and subsequent to miracles brought about through his intercession canonized him in 1232, only a year after his death.”
“The miracle of the loaves that were changed into roses fits into this context: while Elizabeth was on her way with her apron filled with bread for the poor, she met her husband who asked her what she was carrying. She opened her apron to show him and, instead of bread, it was full of magnificent roses. This symbol of charity often features in depictions of St Elizabeth.”
“I give you my blessing now while living, and after my death, in as far as I may: nay, even more than I may, I call down on you all the blessings that the Father of mercies has bestowed and continues to bestow on his spiritual sons and daughters both in Heaven and on earth, and with which a spiritual father and mother have blessed and will bless their spiritual sons and daughters. Amen”
“Her faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist was so great that twice a miracle happened. Simply by showing to them the Most Blessed Sacrament distanced the Saracen mercenaries, who were on the point of attacking the convent of San Damiano and pillaging the city of Assisi. Such episodes, like other miracles whose memory lives on, prompted Pope Alexander IV to canonize her in 1255, only two years after her death, outlining her eulogy in the Bull on the Canonization of St Clare.”
“If the Lord grant you some prosperity, not only must you humbly thank him but take care not to become worse by boasting or in any other way, make sure, that is, that you do not come into conflict with God or offend him with his own gifts”
“While, as was his wont, the Saint was praying before the Crucifix in the early morning in the chapel of St Nicholas in Naples, Domenico da Caserta, the church sacristan, overheard a conversation. Thomas was anxiously asking whether what he had written on the mysteries of the Christian faith was correct. And the Crucified One answered him: "You have spoken well of me, Thomas. What is your reward to be?". And the answer Thomas gave him was what we too, friends and disciples of Jesus, always want to tell him: "Nothing but Yourself, Lord!"”
“I confess before God that the reason which made me love the life of blessed Francis most is that it resembled the birth and early development of the Church. The Church began with simple fishermen, and was subsequently enriched by very distinguished and wise teachers; the religion of Blessed Francis was not established by the prudence of men but by Christ”
“Death reaches him, when he is 100 years old, on 6 January 1275 in Barcelona, and it is said that during his funeral many miracles took place. He was made a saint in 1601 by Pope Clement VIII, and today his mortal remains are kept in the cathedral of the capital of Catalonia.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“La morte lo raggiunge, quando ha 100 anni, il 6 gennaio 1275 a Barcellona, e si dice che durante le sue esequie avvennero molti miracoli. Fu fatto santo nel 1601 da Papa Clemente VIII e oggi i suoi resti mortali sono custoditi nella cattedrale della capitale della Catalogna.”
“He died in his cell at the convent of the Holy Cross, Cologne, in 1280, and was very soon venerated by his confreres. The Church proposed him for the worship of the faithful with his beatification in 1622 and with his canonization in 1931, when Pope Pius XI proclaimed him Doctor of the Church.”
“During unrest within the state, during the struggle for power in a kingdom divided into regions, during the devastating invasions of the Tartars, Saint Kinga was able to rise to the needs of the moment. She worked zealously for the unity of the Piast heritage, and in order to raise the country from ruin she did not hesitate to give away the entire dowry received from her father. … First and foremost, however, she was attentive to the needs of her subjects. The old biographies written on her confirm this, testifying that the people called her their “comforter”, “physician”, “nurse”, “holy mother”.”
“O Jesus, you who are immensely dear to me, be with me always, so that my heart may stay with you and that your love may endure with me with no possibility of division; and bless my passing, so that my spirit, freed from the bonds of the flesh, may immediately find rest in you. Amen”
“The more you pray … the more illumined you will be and the more profoundly and intensely you will see the supreme Good, the supremely good Being; the more profoundly and intensely you see him, the more you will love him; the more you love him the more he will delight you; and the more he delights you, the better you will understand him and you will become capable of understanding him. You will then reach the fullness of light, for you will understand that you cannot understand”
“A religious of the Order of the Servants of Mary who, in keeping with his condition as a servant of the Mother of God, shone in devotion to her Son Jesus and in care for the poor.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Religioso dell’Ordine dei Servi di Maria, che, in coerenza con la sua condizione di servo della Madre di Dio, rifulse nella devozione verso il Figlio Gesù e nella sollecitudine per i poveri”
“In those years the Pontiffs lived at Avignon, a long way from Rome: Bridget addressed a heartfelt plea to them to return to the See of Peter, in the Eternal City. She died in 1373, before Pope Gregory XI returned to Rome definitively.”
“in leaving my body, truly I have consumed and given my life in the Church and for the Holy Church, which is for me a most unique grace”
“Hedwig was also well aware that faith seeks rational understanding, that faith needs culture and forms cultures, that faith lives in the world of culture. And she spared nothing to enrich Poland with the whole spiritual heritage both of ancient times and of the middle ages. She gave to the University even her golden sceptre, using instead one of gilded wood.”
“She asked one of the priests to hold up a processional Cross in front of the stake. Thus she died, her gaze fixed upon the Crucified Jesus and crying out several times the Name of Jesus (PNul, I, p. 457; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 435). About 25 years later the Trial of Nullity, which opened under the authority of Pope Calixtus III, ended with a solemn sentence that declared the condemnation null and void (7 July 1456; PNul, II, pp. 604-610).”
“A religious who, married at a young age and having lived forty years in marriage, was a wife and mother of spotless virtue, admirable for piety, humility and patience. In times of hardship she gave her goods to the poor, served the sick and, at the death of her husband, withdrew among the oblates whom she herself had gathered in Rome under the rule of Saint Benedict.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Religiosa, che, sposata in giovane età e vissuta per quarant’anni nel matrimonio, fu moglie e madre di specchiata virtù, ammirevole per pietà, umiltà e pazienza. In tempi di difficoltà, distribuì i suoi beni ai poveri, servì i malati e, alla morte del marito, si ritirò tra le oblate che ella stessa aveva riunito a Roma sotto la regola di san Benedetto”
“The name of Jesus is the glory of preachers, because the shining splendor of that name causes his word to be proclaimed and heard. And how do you think such an immense, sudden and dazzling light of faith came into the world, if not because Jesus was preached? … So this name must be proclaimed, that it may shine out and never be suppressed.”
“A priest of the Order of Friars Minor, who defended the observance of the rule and carried out his ministry through almost the whole of Europe in support of the Catholic faith and morals. With the fervour of his exhortations and prayers he encouraged the faithful people and worked for the defence of the freedom of Christians. He died near Ujlak on the bank of the Danube in the kingdom of Hungary.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Sacerdote dell’Ordine dei Minori, che difese l’osservanza della regola e svolse il suo ministero per quasi tutta l’Europa a sostegno della fede e della morale cattolica. Con il fervore delle sue esortazioni e delle sue preghiere incoraggiò il popolo dei fedeli e si impegnò nella difesa della libertà dei cristiani. Morì presso Ujlak sulla riva del Danubio nel regno di Ungheria”
“A religious who, married to a violent man, bore his ill-treatment with patience and in the end reconciled him with God; afterwards, left without husband and sons, she entered the monastery of the Order of Saint Augustine at Cascia in Umbria, offering to all a sublime example of patience and compunction.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Religiosa, che sposata con un uomo violento, sopportò con pazienza i suoi maltrattamenti, riconciliandolo infine con Dio; in seguito, rimasta priva del marito e dei figli, entrò nel monastero dell’Ordine di Sant’Agostino a Cascia in Umbria, offrendo a tutti un sublime esempio di pazienza e di compunzione”
“After receiving the last Sacraments, she give her confessor the text she had written: The Seven Spiritual Weapons, and entered her agony; her face grew beautiful and translucent; she still looked lovingly at those who surrounded her and died gently, repeating three times the name of Jesus. It was 9 March 1463 … Catherine was to be canonized by Pope Clement XI on 22 May 1712. Her incorrupt body is preserved in the city of Bologna, in the chapel of the monastery of Corpus Domini.”
“The new Saint, Simon of Lipnica, a great son of Poland, a witness of Christ and a follower of the spirituality of St Francis of Assisi, lived in a distant age but precisely today is held up to the Church as a timely model of a Christian who - enlivened by the spirit of the Gospel - was ready to dedicate his life to his brethren. Thus, filled with the mercy he drew from the Eucharist, he did not hesitate to help the sick who were struck by the plague, and he himself contracted this disease which led to his death.”
“My Lord and my God, take from me everything that distances me from you. My Lord and my God, give me everything that brings me closer to you My Lord and my God, detach me from myself to give my all to you.”
“When for example her father-in-law, exasperated by the continual "withdrawals" in favour of the beggars, takes the keys of the storerooms from her and empties the family granary, a few days later, where only the chaff had been left, there are again hundredweights of excellent wheat. And no one had bought it back.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Quando per esempio il suocero, esasperato dai continui “prelievi” a favore dei mendicanti, le toglie le chiavi delle dispense e svuota il granaio di famiglia, qualche giorno dopo lì dov’era rimasta solo la pula ci sono di nuovo quintali di ottimo frumento. E nessuno lo aveva ricomprato.”
“More and more immersed in the contemplation of Christ, Rita asks to be able to share in his Passion, and in 1432, absorbed in prayer, she finds on her forehead the wound of a thorn from the crown of the Crucified, which lasts until her death, for 15 years. In the winter before her death Rita, ill and confined to bed, asks a cousin who has come to visit from Roccaporena to bring her two figs and a rose from the garden of her father's house. It is the month of January, and the woman humours her, thinking her delirious from the illness. On returning home she finds, astonished, the rose and the figs, and takes them to Cascia.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Sempre più immersa nella contemplazione di Cristo, Rita chiede di poter partecipare alla sua Passione e nel 1432, assorta in preghiera, si ritrova sulla fronte la ferita di una spina della corona del Crocifisso che persiste fino alla morte, per 15 anni. Nell’inverno che precede la sua morte Rita, malata e costretta a letto, chiede a una cugina, venuta in visita da Roccaporena, di portarle due fichi e una rosa dall’orto della casa paterna. É il mese di gennaio, la donna l’asseconda, pensandola nel delirio della malattia. Rientrata, trova, stupefatta, la rosa e i fichi e li porta a Cascia.”
“After the processes on the proposed miracles had been completed according to the rules, and after a third small additional process on one of them had been held in this City, on 6 April 1918 we solemnly declared: that two miracles are established, the first being the instantaneous and perfect healing of Maria Antonia Mirandelle from a perforating disease of the sole of the foot; and the other, the instantaneous and perfect healing of Teresa Belin from peritoneal and pulmonary tuberculosis and from an organic lesion of the mitral orifice. Then, on 17 June 1919, we decreed that it was safe to proceed to the solemn Canonization of Blessed Joan of Arc.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Dopo aver completato, secondo le regole, i processi sui miracoli proposti e aver fatto anche, riguardo ad uno, il terzo processetto addizionale in questa Urbe, il 6 aprile 1918 dichiarammo solennemente: Constare due miracoli, il primo, cioé la guarigione istantanea e perfetta di Maria Antonia Mirandelle da una malattia perforante la pianta del piede; e, l’altro, la guarigione istantanea e perfetta di Teresa Belin da tubercolosi peritoneale e polmonare e da lesione organica dell’orifizio mitralico. Poi, il 17 giugno 1919, decretammo che si poteva procedere con sicurezza alla solenne Canonizzazione della Beata Giovanna d’Arco.”
“In the end the Lord fills him with the three graces he has asked for: the consent of his wife and children to his leaving, the absence of any temptation to turn back, and the ability to live without drinking and without eating. … For 20 years they will find him there, dressed in coarse cloth, barefoot, with the rosary in his hand, feeding only on Jesus in the Eucharist.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“Alla fine il Signore lo ricolma delle tre grazie che ha richiesto: il parere favorevole di moglie e figli alla sua partenza, l’assenza di tentazione di tornare indietro, e la possibilità di vivere senza bere e senza mangiare. … Per 20 anni lo troveranno lì, vestito di panno grezzo, scalzo, con il rosario in mano, a nutrirsi solo di Gesù Eucaristia.”
“The cause for his canonization, taken up again by the Holy Father Pius XII on 25 June 1948, today reaches its happy conclusion, following the recognition of his heroic virtues and of the prodigious healing that took place in Kraków in 1943 and is attributed to the intercession of the Blessed. The respective Decrees were promulgated by the Holy Father Benedict XVI on 19 December 2005 and 16 December 2006.”
Our translation. The words as written, in Italian:
“La causa per la sua canonizzazione, ripresa dal Santo Padre Pio XII il 25 giugno 1948, giunge oggi alla sua felice conclusione, in seguito al riconoscimento delle sue virtù eroiche e della guarigione prodigiosa avvenuta a Cracovia nel 1943 e attribuita all’intercessione del Beato. I rispettivi Decreti furono promulgati dal Santo Padre Benedetto XVI il 19 dicembre 2005 e il 16 dicembre 2006.”