Maximilian Kolbe, born in Poland in 1894, was a Conventual Franciscan priest devoted to Mary. He founded the Militia of Mary Immaculate and died at Auschwitz in 1941.

Born in Spain in 1542, Peter Baptist became a Franciscan missionary whose Gospel zeal led him from the Philippines to Japan and finally to martyrdom 1597.

Joseph Desideri (baptized Eufranio) was born in 1156 and joined the Capuchin Friars in 1572. He was noted for the purity and austerity of his life.

From a Franciscan outpost in 1588 to a national devotion, the journey of Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno shaped Quiapo’s faith and the January 9 feast today!

Born in Scotland, John Duns Scotus was a Franciscan scholar whose independent thought and defense of the Immaculate Conception shaped Catholic theology.

Blessed Alfonso Lopez was born at Secorún, in the dioceses of Jaca, on 16th November 1875. He held various civil offices, but he felt to be called to religious life.

Saint Pedro Calungsod (c. 1654 – April 2, 1672) is a Filipino Roman Catholic martyr who was killed while doing missionary work in Guam in 1672.

Maximilian Mary Kolbe was born in Poland on January 7, 1894. He entered the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and was ordained a priest in Rome in 1918.

Fr. Carlos Murias, a friar martyred in Argentina’s “Dirty War,” was beatified on April 27, 2019, for his witness to the faith and service to the poor.

Between 1939–1945, many Catholics were martyred in Poland under Nazi occupation. Among them were seven Franciscan friars beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1999.