Many are amazed by the humility and simplicity of the saint, others by her radical heart centred theology, and still others by her courage in facing the doubt that God even existed. And of course taken together, all three viewpoints form a sort of Trinitarian blueprint for the spiritual life.

Chesterton died relatively young, with his authorial boots on, whereas Belloc lived on to enormous old age. There are several evocations of him in the diaries of Evelyn Waugh.

Before there was an Armistice Day, Walter Ciszek was born on November 11, 1904, and lived through a crucified century. Death came gracefully in 1984 on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

When Father Solanus Casey died in Detroit in 1957, all he left after 86 years on this earth were a small crucifix, an old pair of sandals, several religious pictures, a wooden statue of St. Anthony, some dog-eared religious books, a knot of heavily darned socks and a framed, 40-year-old picture of his family.

You have to drive slowly along the dirt road or you will miss the old-style country mailbox and red barn marking the driveway of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Two great American men of the church celebrated important anniversaries this month.

Pope Benedict XVIs trip to Poland is making clear he understands his mission as he expressed it in the first public words after his election, spoken from the balcony of St. Peters: After the great John Paul He is content to be the one who comes after, and what is after is always to be understood in relation to what came before.

Amongst the thousands of cobblestones in St. Peters Square, there is one that is painted red.

Goalies are supposed to make saves: pad saves, stick saves, skate saves, and kick saves. It was the latter type, however his very first, and one that took place away from the hockey rink and the roaring crowd that was by far his most important, for it saved not merely a goal, but two lives.

In an era in which basketball is increasingly about the individual witness the basketball worlds obsession with phenom LeBron James, or the exploits of Kobe Bryant Steve Nash is a rare reminder of the value of teamwork.