Saints

Abbot and bishop. Many incredible healings are attributed to this early French saint. Born in 496 near Autun, he was abbot of a monastery before becoming bishop of Paris in 555. He is said to have cured King Childebert I of a serious illness, and converted him from his licentious life. Out of gratitude the King built a huge Abbey for St Germain. He moved there, but continued to live very frugally... Read More

Bishop and missionary. Known as the Apostle of the English, Augustine was a Benedictine monk and Prior of St Andrew's in Rome, when Pope Gregory the Great sent him with a band of 40 missionaries to evangelise England. They landed at Ebbsfleet near Ramsgate in 597. Augustine soon converted the local King Ethelbert whose wife Bertha, daughter of the King of Paris, was already Christian. Rather than ... Read More

Pilgrim. Bona was born in Pisa in 1156. From an early age she experienced visions, particularly of St James. By the age of ten she had decided to dedicate herself to the Augustinian rule and by 14 had set off on her first journey to see her father, who was fighting in the Crusades near Jerusalem. On her way home she was captured by Muslim pirates in the Mediterranean, wounded and imprisoned. Some... Read More