Mathilda Taylor Beasley educated slaves prior to the Civil War, although it was not legal to do at the time. She also became a Franciscan nun who founded the first religious community for African-American women in Georgia and she opened an orphanage in Savannah in the late nineteenth century. She was named a Georgia Woman of Achievement in 2004 by Georgia Women of Achievement, a private, non-profit organization headquartered in Atlanta. In 2005, Mathilda Beasley was also named as a Georgia Heritage Celebration Honoree by the Georgia Historical Society. This photograph demonstrates some of the difficulties involved in doing...
Happy October 1 – Feast Day of Thérèse of Lisieux! Thérèse of Lisieux (1873-1897) was a French Discalced Carmelite nun, who is sometimes referred to as “the little flower.” She entered the Carmelite monastery in Lisieux at the age of 15 and cultivated a spirituality of littleness. This humility can be seen in her prayers, poems and spiritual writings that together comprise a spiritual approach often called “the little way.” She was beatified in 1923, canonized in 1925 and proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope John Paul II in 1997. Thérèse of Lisieux was born Marie Francoise-Thérèse Martin...
Last updated: April 29, 2024 Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) was born Caterina di Giacomo di Benincasa to a family of dye merchants in Siena, Italy. She began having mystical experiences in her childhood and decided at age 7 to dedicate her life to God. She did not go to school as a child, but she listened carefully at Mass and she learned about the lives of saints from her orphaned cousin Tommaso della Fonte, who was living with her family while he was studying to be a priest. Encouraged by Tommaso, as an adolescent, she defied her parents by cutting...
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) is regarded as one of the most prominent authors of Spanish literature and the foremost Baroque poet in seventeenth-century colonial Mexico (New Spain.) She was born in San Miguel Nepantla, the illegitimate daughter of Spanish Captain Pedro Manuel de Asbaje and a criolla (mixed race) woman, Isabel Ramírez. She learned to read at a young age, devouring her maternal grandfather’s books and showing signs of being an exceptionally intelligent child. At the age of 12, Sor Juana was sent to Mexico City, where she became a lady-in-waiting at the court of the Viceroy...
