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September 26 across 2,026 years of Catholic history

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Catholic Saints for Kids

Junior Edition · September 26, 2026

True stories of the saints for curious readers ages 10–12.

A damaged fresco on a plaster wall: at left, bishops in mitres and friars stand around a lectern with an open book beside the body of St. Clare; at right, a crowd of men and children in red, green and cream robes walks in procession.
Start here 3 min read

Who decided

The cardinal who said 'wait' made St. Clare a saint

At Saint Clare of Assisi's funeral a cardinal told the Pope to wait, and two years later that cardinal made her a saint.

Witnesses
Twenty, fifteen of them her sisters
Where
San Damiano, Assisi, and Anagni, Italy
When
1253 to 1255 AD
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More from this edition

A painting in the manner of a fresco of a Roman basilica with round arches. At the centre of the apse an old, white-bearded man in a blue-grey cloak sits on a stone bench with one hand raised, beside another elderly seated man in orange. A younger dark-bearded man stands forward on the right with his head lowered, two scribes write on tablets at a table in front, a book lies open on a lectern, and a crowd of men and veiled women, some with raised hands, fills both sides of the nave.
About this picture

AI-generated image, in the manner of fresco, from the paper's reference portrait based on St Augustine's Vision of St Jerome (Benozzo Gozzoli, 1464-1465, Apsidal chapel, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano) View source artwork.

Story 02 3 min read

Who decided

The bishop who broke a rule without knowing it

At 71, St. Augustine chose the man to lead his church after him, then explained why that man had to wait.

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A painting in an early Renaissance style shows a woman in a dark blue gown and black veil standing alone at the back of a small stone church, while townspeople kneel before a priest at the altar and nuns watch from behind an iron grille.
About this picture

AI-generated image, in the manner of Umbrian quattrocento tempera on panel, from the paper's reference portrait based on Portrait of St. Rita, detail from the painted sarcophagus (Unknown Umbrian painter, 1457, Monastery and Sanctuary of Santa Rita, Cascia) View source artwork.

Story 04 3 min read

How she got in

Three saints, a steep rock and a convent's locked doors

Saint Rita of Cascia, a widow whose two sons had died, asked to join the nuns at Cascia, and they kept saying no.

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An oil painting of a candlelit stone room in which a young woman in a dark brown gown, white collar and linen coif kneels holding a prayer-book stuffed with written sheets, while a seated friar in a grey habit and knotted cord speaks to her, one loose sheet lying on the floorboards.
About this picture

AI-generated image, in the manner of French religious oil painting of the later seventeenth century, from the paper's reference portrait based on Apparition du Christ à Marguerite-Marie Alacoque (Unknown, 18th century, Musée du Hiéron, Paray-le-Monial; photograph by Benjamin Smith, CC BY-SA 4.0) View source artwork.

Story 06 3 min read

In her own words

The friar who wouldn't listen to her list of sins

Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque wanted to be a nun, but for four or five years her brother kept her at home.

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Today in the Church for kids

Saturday in the 25th week of Ordinary Time

  • Saints Cosmas and Damian, who died for their faith in Jesus

Saint of the day for kids

Saints Cosmas and Damian

Saints Cosmas and Damian were martyrs, people who died for their faith, and they were honoured at Cyrrhus in Syria. According to longstanding Catholic Tradition, St. Cosmas and St. Damian were doctors who cared for sick people without asking to be paid.

On this day in the Church for kids

  • 1660 At Saint-Lazare in Paris, St. Vincent de Paul was carried to the chapel, where he heard Mass and received Holy Communion for the last time, and that evening he received the last sacraments.Source
  • 2007 Pope Benedict XVI gave his second General Audience about St. John Chrysostom, telling of the times St. John Chrysostom was sent away from home, his death, and how his relics were moved to Rome in 1204 AD.Source