He was a soldier of fortune who became a mercenary for the usual reasons: fame, fortune, females. As the youngest son of minor Spanish nobility, there was small prospect of these at home, and his industry and bravery were paying off, when a French canon ball tore open his left calf and broke his right shin. I igo was confined to bed for months, his leg clumsily set, re-broken, and set again. A protruding limb was sawn off. His leg had to be stretched with weights. He passed his long convalescence reading books, either on chivalry or the saints. To his surprise, he began to enjoy the latter, to draw meaning and hope from them. They led to a much deeper Catholicism than Ignatius of Loyola had previously known.

The spiritual journey of every Christian is a journey of conversion that involves inward maturing, openness to the spirit and a developed prayer life. For Walter Ciszek, S.J., a small, stocky Polish-American, this spiritual journey was tested in the fire of Moscow’s dreaded Lubyanka prison, wh

How did Walter Ciszek, S.J., find “the abundant grace” to make his unlikely pilgrimage?

Fr. James Martin, S.J., writes "desire is a key way that God speaks to us, whether in Advent or the rest of the year."

When I heard the news that the U S Bishops had heartily endorsed the advancement of the sainthood cause of Dorothy Day at their annual Fall General Assembly in Baltimore my heart leapt for joy that this remarkable 20th century Catholic lay woman was at last being recognized as a true model of holi