by Melanie Rigney Nothing had ever come easy, but Anna Schaeffer was working hard to achieve what she believed was her God-given vocation: life as a missionary. She was the third of six children, born in the small Bavarian town of…

by Melanie Rigney If you had encountered this Capuchin friar, you might have given him a second glance because of his stature —and then moved on. Other than being just 4 feet, 6 inches tall, there wasn’t much that was noteworthy about…

by Melanie Rigney It was a long name for an infant: Maria de las Maravillas Pidal Chico de Guzman. But her mother had a special devotion to Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas (Our Lady of Wonders, or Marvels) ... and there was, of course,…

by Melanie Rigney They gathered on March 4, 1920, in Washington, D.C., 122 voting delegates who represented all but one diocese in the country along with 57 women’s societies. Together, they formed the National Council of Catholic Women…

Katharine Drexel knew what money could do. From the time she was very young, she and her two sisters had helped her beloved stepmother Emma minister to Philadelphia’s needy, opening the family’s home three times a week to people who needed…