Saints

Bishop. Born in 345, this saint was one of the founders of the Armenian church. He worked with St Isaac the Great as a missionary among his people. St Mesrop developed an alphabet for the Armenian language and set up schools around the country. He then accomplished the massive task of organising a translation of the Bible - with students travelling as far as Rome to collect manuscripts. He contr... Read More

Bishop. Born in Ireland, Colman became a monk at Iona and succeeded St Fintan as bishop of Lindisfarne. Bede gives a glowing account of Lindisfarne under Colman's rule, which took place from 661- 664. He emphasised the example of frugality and simplicity of living set by the bishop, and the complete devotion of the clergy to the work of preaching the Gospel and ministering to their people. During... Read More

Child visionaries. Between 13 May and 13 October 1917, three children, Jacinta, Francisco and Lucia, Portuguese shepherds from Aljustrel, saw apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fatima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded... Read More