Albert degli Abbati was born in Trapani in Sicily in the thirteenth century. Having joined the Carmelites and been ordained a priest, he soon became famous for his preaching and miracles. He was provincial in Sicily in 1296, and died at Messina, probably in 1307, with a reputation for purity and prayer.
Edith Stein was born to a Jewish family at Breslau on October 12, 1891. Through her passionate study of philosophy she searched after truth and found it in reading the autobiography of St. Teresa of Jesus. In 1922 she was baptized a Catholic and in 1933 she entered the Carmel of Cologne where she took the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Bl. Isidore Bakanja, a member of the Boangi tribe, was born in Bokendela (Congo) between 1880 and 1890. In order to survive, even as a boy, he had to work as bricklayer or in farms. He was converted to Christianity in 1906. He was working in a plantation run by a colonialist in Ikili and was forbidden by the owner to spread Christianity among his fellow-workers.
Angelus was born in Florence or near there; the year is unknown but it was before 1386. He was the first member of the reformed observance of Our Lady of the Wood, was many times prior of various houses and noted for his work in preaching the Word of God. He died in Florence in 1438.
Saint Mary of Jesus Crucified (the little Arab) was born of the Baouardy family, Catholics of the Greek Melchite Rite, Abellin in Galilee in 1846. In 1867 she entered the Discalced Carmelites at Pau in France and went with the founding group to the Carmel of Mangalore in India where, in 1870, she made her profession. She return to France in 1872.
Bl. Jacques Retouret was born at Limoges in France on 15th September 1746 to a merchant family. He was a serious young man, a lover of books and greatly gifted. At fifteen years of age, he entered the Carmelite house in his native city. After ordination, his zeal and learning were widely admired and large crowds of people were attracted by his way of preaching.
Mother Euphrasia was born on October 17, 1877 in Kattur village in Edathuruthy which is in the present Irinjalakuda Diocese and was baptized on October 25, 1877 in the Mother of Carmel Church in Edathuruthy and was named Rose (Rosa). Her family was very wealthy and owned acres of land and coconut plantations.
