Augustinian Blessed

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 […]

On 5 April 1983 Fr. Mariano de la Mata Aparicio, an Augustinain priest and missionary in Brazil, departed this life at the age of 77 years. It is certain that he himself, a humble and unpretentious person, never expected to find himself as the protagonist at his beatification ceremony in the cathedral of Sao Paolo, Brazil.       He was born on the last day of the year 1905 in

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

Towards the end of the thirties of the XX century Spain went through a turbulent period of great political upheavals. The so-called “Spanish Civil War” were bloody years when hatred towards co-nationals resulted in the death of thousands of Spanish citizens. The Church found itself in the midst of this turmoil and, notwithstanding its traditions of being a secular presence on Spanish soil, with a great number of saints who

11 May: Blessed Gregory Celli, Religious Blessed Gregory’s life is a mixture of historical truth and legend. This because no documents of his time are available and biographies concerning him are comparatively recent. Thu, we have the ideal conditions so that, as is not unusual in writings on saints, we have an interesting mixture in which, as time passes, it becomes more difficult to distinguish between the truth and what

In 1451 Cherubino was born into the noble Testa family of Avigliana (Turin). From his early life he was inclined towards a religious life and he joined the Hermits of St. Augustine at the convent established by Blessed Adrian Berzetta from Buronzo. There he led a life free of vanity but full of mortifications and holiness, always ready to obey and to be of help. He was known for his

Antonio was from Milan and was born of the Della Torre family around 1424. After studying, he graduated in medicine in Pavia and spent some time working as a doctor in Milan until he became acquainted with the Augustinians of the famous convent of St. Mark where he eventually asked to be accepted. He continued his formation and was ordained a priest in Milan. He was soon sent to the

Although the year of her birth is unknown, we know that Oringa Menabuoi was born in the village of Santa Croce on the river Arno, close to the town of Pistoia, Italy. According to some historical sources, it is most probable that she was born towards the end of the 30th year of the 13th century. The background of this blessed person follows the traditional ways of those times, when

At Rieti there was a young religious named John. He was simple, humble, always happy. He followed the same lifestyple as his fellow friars insofar as concerns both food and drink. However, he had a particular character. He loved very much the other friars; he lived with them in a charitable manner, never uttering words or doing anything contrary to the rules of love for our neighbour. He treated everybody

What we know regarding Veronica is that she was born in 1445 in Binasco, in the province of Milan, within a family of farmers and that she was God fearing. However, her mother was so poor that she was unable to give her even a little schooling. At 22 years of age “after many requests she managed to wear the habit of St. Augustine” as a lay member of the