How often have you begun Lent with the best of intentions to focus yourself spiritually only to give up because you can’t make the time? For most people, it isn’t a lack of will but the absence of a system … Read more

My friend, Claire, is an avid gardener…well, sort of. She has a large, fenced-in back yard always filled with luxuriant blooms. Her tulips always bloom before anyone else’s and the blooms last longer. Her daffodils are early too, with lots … Read more

Born in Florence at the beginning of the 14th century, Andrew Corsini entered religious life in the Carmelite house in his native city. He was appointed Provincial of Tuscany in 1348 by the General Chapter meeting in Metz and the … Read more

In the context of the Middle Ages, Andrew Corsini stands out as one who was ahead of his time as a church reformer and a saintly example of what a leader should be. In the calamitous 14th century, bishops tended … Read more

Peter Thomas was born into a very poor family (his father, a farm head, was a serf) in southern Périgord around 1305 (thought to be today’s Lebreil, a section of Salles-de-Belves, about forty kilometers to the southwest of Sarlat (Dordogne), … Read more

In a world like our own, where factionalism and deep religious and political divisions poison our relationships, a saint like Peter Thomas is like a breath of fresh air. His life as a devout Carmelite and a diplomatic healer and … Read more