Peter Kanis was born at Niemguen in Holland. His father a Dutch man wanted him to be a lawyer. To please him, young Peter began to study law before he had finished all his other studies and received a master's degree when he was 19. But soon he realized that he would never be happy practicing law.

About that time, people all over were talking about the wonderful preaching of Blessed Peter Faber. He was one of the first members of the Jesuit order. Peter Canisius attended the retreat and knew that he, too, would be happy serving God as a Jesuit.

So he joined the order and after more years of study and prayer, he was made a priest. During his prayers he saw a vision of the Sacred Heart and from that time he offered all his work to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The great St. Ignatius of Loyola soon realized what an obedient and eager apostle St. Peter Canisius was. He sent him to Germany where Peter worked hard for forty years.

St. Peter Canisius' did many great works, prayers and sacrifices during that time. His concern was to save many cities of Germany from the false teachings of the day.

He also worked strongly to bring back to the Catholic Church those who had accepted false teachings. He traveled about twenty thousand miles in thirty years. This he did on foot or on horseback.

In spite of all this, St. Peter Canisius still found time to write many books on the Christian faith. He realized how important books are. So he started doing whatever he could to stop bad books from being sold and began to spread good books to teach the faith.

The two catechisms St. Peter Canisius wrote were liked so much that they were printed over two hundred times and were translated into fifteen languages.

When people told him that he worked too hard, St. Peter Canisius would say, "If you have too much to do, with God's help, you will find time to do it all." This wonderful saint died in 1597.

John was born at Kanty in Poland and was the son of good country folk. Seeing how intelligent their son was, they sent him to the University of Krakow. He was a brilliant student who became a priest, a teacher, and a preacher.

He was also well-known for his great love of the poor. Once he was eating in the university dining hall. At the beginning of the meal, he happened to see a beggar passing by the window. Immediately, he jumped up and gave the man his dinner.

Some people became very jealous of St. John's success as a teacher and preacher. His enemies finally told lies about him and managed to have him sent to a parish as a pastor. Here, he put his whole heart into the new life.

At first, however, things did not go well at all. The people did not like St. John much, because John was terribly afraid of the responsibility, although he tried to do his best.

But he did not give up, and he finally won the hearts of his parishioners. He was a serious man, and humble but all the poor knew him well because of his kindness. By the time he was called back to the university, the people of his parish loved him dearly. They went part of the way with him.

In fact, they were so sad to see him go that he had to tell them: "This sadness does not please God. If I have done any good for you in all these years, sing a song of joy."

Back in Krakow, St. John taught Bible classes and again became a very popular teacher. He was invited to the homes of rich nobles. Still, however, he gave everything he had to the poor and dressed very poorly himself.

Once he wore an old black habit, called a cassock, to a banquet. The servants refused to let him in. St. John went home and changed into a new one. During the dinner, someone spilled a dish of food on the new cassock. "Never mind," said the saint with good humor, "my cassock deserves some food, anyway, because without it, I wouldn't have been here at all."

St. John lived to be eighty-three. Again and again during all those years he cleaned out everything he owned to help the poor. He slept little and that too on the floor. He did not eat any meat and ate only just enough to live.

When people burst into tears on hearing that he was dying, he said, "Don't worry about this prison which is decaying. Think of the soul that is going to leave it." He died in 1473.