Today is the Feast Day of Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, a Capuchin Franciscan friar, who was martyred during the Catholic Counter Reformation in 1622 (some 100 years after the start of the Protestant Reformation). Fidelis had been evangelizing in Graubünden, now a canton of eastern Switzerland, which at the time was a stronghold of Calvinism. He was meeting with a great deal of success in receiving people into full communion with the Catholic Church. While journeying on a local road he encountered soldiers under the command of the local Calvin leadership. They demanded Fidelis (Latin for “faithful”) renounce Catholicism, which he refused to do. The soldiers then murdered him. The Protestant minister who had participated in Fidelis’ martyrdom was converted by this circumstance, made a public renunciation of Calvinism and was received into the Catholic Church Continue reading →