October 29: BL. CHIARA BADANO: The Girl Who Chose Joy

St. Jude was one of Jesus's original twelve apostles — and for centuries, Catholics were too afraid of his name to pray to him. Present at the Last Supper and at Pentecost, Jude preached the Gospel from Judea all the way to Persia before he was martyred for his faith. Because his name sounded too close to Judas's, Christians avoided praying to him for centuries — until people in truly desperate situations began calling on him anyway, and he became known as the patron of hopeless causes. "Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?" Want to keep living Jude's story after the episode ends? Grab our free Family Pack — a saint calendar with daily challenges, feast-day activities, family discussion questions, and more — free for email subscribers, so your family can follow along together: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along

Blessed Contardo Ferrini was one of Europe's most celebrated law professors — and he stopped everything every day at noon to pray. A brilliant scholar of Roman law who also lived a private vow of chastity and simplicity, Contardo believed that studying seriously was itself a form of worship. No matter how busy his day, he paused at noon to pray the Angelus, and spent his summers hiking into the Alps to study and pray in the mountain silence. "The mind is a gift from God and studying is a way of honoring Him." Today's challenge is just the start. Grab our free Family Pack — a saint calendar, activity pages, and discussion questions for the whole family, plus more surprises along the way: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along

Blessed José Gregorio Hernández trained with Europe's finest doctors — then spent his whole career treating Venezuela's poor for free. One of the most gifted physicians of his time, José Gregorio walked the poor neighborhoods of Caracas with his medical bag, paying for patients' medicine out of his own pocket when they couldn't afford it. He went to Mass every morning and carried his rosary everywhere, and died delivering medicine to a sick woman when he was struck by a car in the street. "Holiness is available to every person who takes the gifts God gave them and places them entirely at the service of love." José Gregorio's challenge doesn't have to end when the episode does. Our free Family Pack has a saint calendar, feast-day activity pages, and family discussion questions to keep it going at home — free when you subscribe: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along

St. Antonio de Sant'Anna Galvão, known as Frei Galvão, turned tiny handwritten prayers into pills the sick could actually hold. As the friary's confessor in colonial São Paulo, Frei Galvão listened patiently to the sick and suffering who had nowhere else to go, then wrote a prayer to Our Lady on a scrap of paper, rolled it into a tiny cylinder, and gave it to them in faith. The healings that followed were remarkable enough that his paper pills are still made and given out today. "It was a pill. A prayer made into something you could hold." Want to keep living Frei Galvão's story after the episode ends? Grab our free Family Pack — a saint calendar with daily challenges, feast-day activities, family discussion questions, and more — free for email subscribers, so your family can follow along together: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along

An entire Christian city in ancient Arabia was given a choice — deny Christ or die — and chose Jesus together. When King Dhu Nuwas surrounded Najran and demanded its Christians renounce their faith, the chieftain Arethas and his people answered as one, walking singing toward the fire dug to execute them rather than deny Christ. Their extraordinary public witness spread across the ancient world, remembered still today in the Church's oldest martyrologies. "We will not deny Christ." Today's challenge is just the start. Grab our free Family Pack — a saint calendar, activity pages, and discussion questions for the whole family, plus more surprises along the way: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along