Mychal Fallon Judge, OFM, was an American Franciscan friar and Catholic priest who served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. While serving in that capacity, he was killed, becoming the first certified fatality of the September 11 attacks.
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest and Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die in place of a man named Franciszek Gajowniczek in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II. He had been active in promoting the veneration of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, founding and supervising the monastery of Niepokalanów near Warsaw, operating an amateur-radio station (SP3RN), and founding or running several other organizations and publications.
Agnes of Bohemia, O.S.C., also known as Agnes of Prague, was a medieval Bohemian princess who opted for a life of charity, mortification of the flesh and piety over a life of luxury and comfort. Although she was venerated soon after her death, Agnes was not beatified or canonized for over 700 years.
Lawrence of Brindisi, OFM Cap., born Giulio Cesare Russo, was a Neapolitan Catholic priest, theologian and member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. An accomplished linguist, in addition to his native Italian, Lawrence could read and speak Latin, Hebrew, Greek, German, Czech, Spanish, and French fluently. Lawrence was ordained a priest at the age of 23. Lawrence was beatified on 1 June 1783 and canonized as a saint on 8 December 1881.
Peter of Alcántara, OFM was a Spanish Franciscan friar who was canonized in 1669.
The Martyrs of Gorkum were a group of 19 Dutch Catholic clerics, secular and religious, who were hanged on 9 July 1572 in the town of Brielle by militant Dutch Calvinists during the 16th-century religious wars—specifically, the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, which developed into the Eighty Years' War.
Benedict the Moor was a Sicilian Franciscan friar. Born of enslaved Africans in San Fratello, he was freed at birth and became known for his charity.
The Buttevant Franciscan Friary is a ruined 13th-century Franciscan friary is situated in the middle of the town of Buttevant, County Cork, Ireland. The Augustinian friary in nearby Ballybeg is often confused with the Buttevant Franciscan Friary in historical documents.
John Forest was an English Franciscan friar and martyr. Confessor to Queen Catherine of Aragon, Forest was burned to death at Smithfield for "heresy", in that he refused to acknowledge the King as head of the church.
John of Perugia and Peter of Sassoferrato, were both Franciscan friars, who in 1216, were sent by St. Francis, to preach and convert the Moors, at Teruel and Valencia. Both of them would go on to suffer martyrdom in 1231, at Valencia.
Rani Maria Vattalil, FCC was an Indian Catholic religious sister and social worker in the Franciscan Clarists who worked in the Diocese of Indore. Vattalil, a Syro-Malabar Eastern Catholic, dedicated herself to catechetical formation and educational instruction in different areas of the region. She was vocal in matters of social justice, which led to her murder by those opposed to her aid of the poor.
The Church of Our Lady of the Snows is a Catholic church established in 1347 near Jungmann Square in Prague, Czech Republic. It is operated by the Franciscans and was the site of the murders of the Martyrs of Prague in 1611.
Cosma Spessotto, OFM was an Italian Catholic priest of the Order of Friars Minor. He was sent to serve in the foreign missions in El Salvador in 1950, where he aided the faithful through evangelization and the construction of churches.
Andrea Caccioli was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor. He became the first priest to enter the Franciscans and served as one of the disciples of Francis of Assisi himself - the priest was at his deathbed and attended his canonization. The friar preached across Italian cities such as Rome and Padua as well as in France and he became noted for miracles performed during his lifetime.
Gregorio Celli was an Italian priest of the Roman Catholic Church and a professed member of the Order of Saint Augustine. Celli lived with the latter order in Rimini until he decided to spend the remainder of his life in deep contemplation and so moved to the region's hills where he dwelled in a cave near the Franciscans stationed there. It is claimed he was expelled from his order and became a Franciscan though there is no evidence to support this claim.
Andrés Hibernón Real was a Spanish, Roman Catholic, professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor. Hibernón was born to nobles who fell poor, and he was robbed when he sought to provide funds for his parents. This occurrence prompted him to revise his approach to material and spiritual goods and so he became a lay brother to cultivate his spiritual nature.
Juan de Prado, OFM was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest and a professed member from the Order of Friars Minor. He served as part of the missions in Muslim Morocco at the request of Pope Urban VIII and brought much solace to the small Christian population there before the ruler had him murdered.
Carlos de Dios Murias, OFM Conv. and his two companions Gabriel Longueville and Wenceslao Pedernera were two priests and a married man who were killed in the La Rioja province in Argentina. Enrique Angelelli was the Bishop of La Rioja, murdered on August 4, 1976 while returning from celebrating a Mass for the murdered priests.
Gabriel Ferretti was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and a professed member of the Order of Friars Minor. He was an ancestor to both Cardinal Gabriele Ferretti and Pope Pius IX having been descended from a long noble lineage. Ferretti entered the religious life after becoming of age and soon after his ordination held two important leadership positions in the order. He set about restoring run down Franciscan convents in the region as well as seeing to the establishment of new ones to deal with an influx of new novices.
Gerardo Cagnoli was an Italian Roman Catholic and professed religious from the Order of Friars Minor. He embarked on a long pilgrimage south where he passed through Rome and Naples before settling in Trapani and then on the slopes of Mount Etna for a long hermitage. He later entered the Franciscans and served in two of their Sicilian convents where he was known for having caused miracles in addition to his humble and simple childlike nature which people believed was one of the signs of his holiness.
