Arguably history’s most beloved and fascinating saint, we sometimes forget that Joan of Arc was not a legend. She was a real person with a real calling from God to do something heroic for Christ’s Kingdom. But Joan didn’t take any up her sword on her own initiative. She was not a political phenomenon [...]
If you were to consult a dictionary for terms like “heroism”, “perseverance”, “loving fidelity” and “longsuffering goodness”, you would likely come across a reference to a little Chinese mother known as Mamma Martina (her Christian name). A retired Italian missionary, who personally knew Mamma Martina, worked in a parish I used to visit some [...]
While doing research for a book on leadership, I came across a number of stories about the Titanic disaster in 1912 that riveted me to my seat. I had never heard of the extraordinary heroism of some of the men who went down with the ship in order to save the lives of others. [...]
In 1910, a newspaper column carried the following story: Jimmy, age 10, was a devoted brother to his sister, age 6. He nearly panicked when his sister fell off her bicycle and cut a large artery in her leg. The bleeding was profuse, and by the time a doctor arrived at the scene, the [...]