Posts by Zach Kincaid
Isidore of Seville
The 76 years of Isidore’s life were a time of conflict and growth for the Church in Spain. The Visigoths had invaded the land a century and a half earlier, and shortly before Isidore’s birth they set up their own capital. They were Arians—Christians who said Christ was not God. Thus, Spain was split in…
Read MoreBenedict of Nursia
Saint Benedict was born at Norcia around 480 AD. That historical time frame, a mere four years before the Western Roman Empire formally fell by the deposition of the last Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was quite difficult. The only authentic life of Saint Benedict is that which is contained in the second book of the Pope…
Read MorePatrick
Much myth and legend surrounds the story of Patrick, born in Britain in the late 4th century. St. Patrick is often reduced to a mythical figure who performed magical feats (like driving all the snakes out of Ireland). The truth, as usual, is better than fiction! All that can be known about Patrick comes from two…
Read MoreAugustine of Hippo
Aurelius Augustine was born in 354 at Tagaste, Algeria, in North Africa, the son of Patricius, a non-believer, and his devout Catholic wife, Monica. Though he was enrolled as a catechumen by his mother when he was a boy, Augustine’s baptism was deferred to a later time in accordance with the prevailing custom. From his…
Read MoreAlban
St Alban’s story and this place built in his honour takes us back to the beginning of the Christian faith in Britain. Alban is believed to have been a Romano-British citizen of the third century in the Roman city of Verulamium, in the valley below the present Cathedral. The earliest versions of his history say…
Read MoreTertullian of Carthage
Tertullian, son of a Roman centurion from North Africa, was born around 160A.D. He received a good education in literature and thetoric and probably practiced law for a while before being converted to Christianity around the year 197A.D. It is the Church Father St. Jerome who tells us that Tertullian became a priest, but there…
Read MoreJustin Martyr
The Apostolic Fathers are the earliest Christian writers outside of the New Testament, belonging to what is called the ‘sub-apostolic age’. Their writings form a bridge between the New Testament and the Apologists who wrote later in the second century, the most noteworthy being Justin Martyr. They help us to understand the transition from the…
Read MorePaul of Tarsus
Early Life Paul himself tells us (Acts 22) that he was born in Tarsus in the south-east part of modern Turkey called Cilicia to a Jewish family of the tribe of Benjamin (Romans 11) and, important for Paul later in his life, born a Roman citizen (Acts 22). Knowing that he was present as a…
Read MoreFrancis Asbury
“Whither am I going? To the New World. What to do? To gain honor? No, if I know my own heart. To get money? No: I am going to live to God, and to bring others so to do.”
Read MoreGeorge Whitefield
George Whitefield was born on December 27, 1714 (December 16 of the Julian calendar), in Gloucester, England. The youngest of seven children, he was born in the Bell Inn where his father, Thomas, was a wine merchant and innkeeper. His father died when George was two and his widowed mother Elizabeth struggled to provide for…
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