Saints

Archbishop of Dublin. Laurence (Lorcan O Tuathail) was born about 1128 in Co Kildare, of a marriage between the chieftain families O'Toole and O'Byrne. He spent most of his childhood as a hostage of Dermot McMurrogh, King of Leinster. Laurence became a monk at Glendalough and was elected abbot at the age of 25. Besides leading a life of prayer, the community was very involved in famine relief an... Read More

St Frances Xavier Cabrini Nun. Frances Xavier Cabrini was the first American citizen to be canonised. Born in 1850, in Lodi, Italy, she was the 13th child of her family. As a young woman she worked as a teacher in a parish orphanage at Codogno. In 1874 she founded the Mother House of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart there. She dreamed of sending her sisters to China but instead her bis... Read More

Hermit. Born in Leinster, in the 9th century, Fintan was captured and made a slave by Vikings who took him to the Orkneys. He escaped and was protected by a Scottish bishop whose name has been lost. To give thanks for his rescue, Fintan made a pilgrimage to Rome. On his way back he joined a group of Irish hermits on an island in the Rhine near Schaffhausen, where he spent the rest of his life. ... Read More