Author name: Fr Terence Spiteri

He was born in 1402 or 1404 at Mascioni (Aquila) in a good family and at the age of 14 he joined the Augustinian Monastery at Montereale. In 1431 he studied theology at Rimini and the following year at Padova and at Ferrara. He graduated as a lecturer and obtained his baccalaureate. In 1438 he was sent to the University of Siena to study and explain the books of verdicts […]

We celebrate today the memory of Blessed Stephen Bellesini, a man who lived during a difficult period of the Church’s history at the turn of 19th Century Italy. His vocation as an Augustinian religious was severely tried by strong anticlerical government regulations. Nevertheless, he did not withdraw in shame, nor did he become embittered by external challenges. Rather, he redoubled his commitment and persevered in his resolved, giving himself generously

We are celebrating today the memory of an Augustinian friar of Spain who was called to become a bishop, and in the exercise of that ministry became a martyr of the Church, during a bloody civil war which saw hundreds upon hundreds of priests, religious and committed laymen and women give their lives in fidelity to their faith. Bishop Polanco and his fellow martyrs are not historical figures of the

  Christina was named Mattia Ciccarelli. She was the daughter of Domenico and Maria di Pericolo at Colle dei Lucoli (Aquila) and was born on 24 February 1480, the last of six children. From an early age she was full of the virtues of obedience, humility, serenity and she was totally dedicated to prayer to which she devoted the entire day in a corner of the family home in front

He was born in Furci (Abruzzo) in 1246, a son of wealthy parents who could not have children. According to the tradition as recounted in the story of his life, he was born through the intercession of St. Muchael the Archangel after his parents went on a pilgrimage to his sanctuary near Gargano. At his baptism he was given the name Angelo which he retained even when he became a

Gulia was born in Tuscany near Certaldo around 1320 in a noble family that became poor. She was orphaned at a young age and started working for a family at Tinolfi, near Florence where she came across the Augustinians and their holiness. When she was not even twenty years of age she joined the Augustinian laity. Later she felt a desire to lead a life without vanity and, in the

He was born on 17 January 1355, son of Simpliciano Migliorati who was a farmer. The holiness of St. Nicholas of Tolentino, who died in 1305, led him to join the Augustinians of his locality where he received his priestly ordination. For twelve years he lived at Tolentino, and for a time at Bari from where, in the beginning of the fifteenth centure, he returned to Amandola (Ascoli Piceno). Here

Persecutions do not only create martyrs but many times create “soldiers of Christ”. Such was Thomas Jihyoe, a Japanese Augustinian, who was a Christian soldier during the persecution against Christians of the seventeenth century. For five years he evaded the Emperor’s soldiers who were seeking him because he was a catholic priest. He was born at Omura near Nagasaki around 1600. His parents, teachers of religion, both died martyrs for