Library

(1887-1961)
In 1942, as Nazi General Rommel pushed deep into Egypt’s northern desert and soldiers of fortune pillaged the rest of the country, a middle-aged American gazed at the hundreds of hungry Egyptian children under her care and prayed for another miracle. 

(1824-1907)
Spear-carrying cannibals setting his house afire, an irate chief stalking him for hours with a loaded musket, a native suddenly rising up from a sickbed and holding him captive with a dagger to his heart—the life of John Paton reads at times like a lurid adventure story, with the hero saved at the last possible moment by his own death-defying heroics.

(1552-1610)
Conversion of the Chinese people to Christianity seemed a fruitless cause in the late 16th century.  The early influence of Nestorian missionaries in the 7th century and Catholic monks in the 13th and 14th centuries had withered completely, and recent missionary efforts by various Catholic orders had been stonewalled by Chinese authorities.

By David O’Hara

(1891-1942)
Edith Stein was born on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in 1891 in Breslau, Germany. The date is auspicious: Her writings illustrate her constant concern for atonement, community, and reconciliation, and her life is an example of faithful stewardship of her talents on behalf of the oppressed and in the face of enormous resistance.

The deaconess movement in American Protestantism emerged in the late 19th century concomitant to a dramatic increase in women’s public service opportunities, and it provided a valuable venue for women’s full-time service for God, church, and society.

(1580-1660)
Born of peasant stock in a small village in Gascony, France, Vincent de Paul never envisioned that he would devote his life to the cause of the poor. His strongest boyhood ambitions were to escape his own poverty and elevate himself socially, and it was for these practical reasons he chose the priesthood—the best career path at the time for an intelligent boy of humble background.

(1863-1932)
In September 1878 a 15-year-old girl boldly stepped forward to speak at an outdoor meeting of 5,000 “Salvationists” who had come from all corners of England to celebrate the establishment of the 35th Corps of the Salvation Army in Coventry.

(1780-1847)
Although best known for his role in the “Disruption of 1843,” which led to the creation of the Free Church of Scotland, Thomas Chalmers was a man of diverse talents and undertakings, to each of which he brought enthusiasm, energy, and a power to arouse others to action. 

(1909-2001)
Born into Judaism, sidetracked briefly by atheism, and then converted to Christianity, Richard Wurmbrand, the “Iron Curtain St. Paul,” endured 14 years of harsh imprisonment and brutal torture for his faith under communist rule.