Modern-Day Saints (1800 CE – Present)
Meet the saints of the modern era - holy men and women who lived in times much like our own. From missionaries and martyrs to mystics and servants of the poor, their lives show that holiness flourishes in every age.
Holiness inOur Own Time
The nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced an extraordinary harvest of saints - men and women who responded to the challenges of industrialisation, world wars, and rapid social change with heroic faith and charity. These are saints whose photographs we can see, whose writings we can read, and whose impact on the world is still felt today.
Here you will encounter St Therese of Lisieux, whose "little way" transformed spiritual life for millions; St Maximilian Kolbe, who gave his life for a stranger in Auschwitz; St Teresa of Calcutta, who saw Christ in the poorest of the poor; and St John Paul II, whose pontificate shaped the Church for a new millennium. You will also meet lesser-known saints whose quiet faithfulness speaks powerfully to our own circumstances.
These modern saints remind us that holiness is not reserved for distant ages or extraordinary circumstances. They lived through the same struggles we face - doubt, suffering, the pressures of daily life - and found in Christ the strength to become saints.
At a Glance
“Holiness is not the luxury of the few; it is a simple duty for you and for me.”
St Teresa of Calcutta
Called to Holiness
The saints of the modern era are not distant figures - many lived within living memory. Their example reminds us that we too are called to holiness in our own time and circumstances.