Hugely influential in the life of many British writers - particularly C S Lewis, but also across the pond with Mark Twain. Born a Calvinist, died an Anglican, this Scottish minister and writer left a profound legacy 

The first female doctor in Switzerland - she would convert to Catholicism and set up the community of St John with Hans Urs von Balthazar

Gilles de Rai was one of the earliest serial killers on record, today he was arrested in 1440 after an investigation by the Bishop of Nantes

Dominic de Guzman founded the Order of Preachers who were hugely responsible with spreading devotion to the Rosary. He has two countries named after him. This is the story of the miraculous painting attributed to him 

Now the most famous champagne is named in his honour, Pierre Perignon was a Benedictine Monk who perfected the method of making sparkling wine 

The final novel of Dostoevsky is possibly his most famous - the Brothers Karamazov.  Wrought out of terrible grief and struggles with faith after the death of his three year old son Aloysha.  One of Russia's greatest novelists has produced on of the greatest novels of all time. Charting the tumultuous transition of Russia from feudalism, the devoutly Orthodox Christian has produced one of the most powerful chapters on faith and reason with the Grand Inquisitor.  

Bishop Richard Challoner has been called the most influential English Catholic of the 18th Century.  It was an uneasy time before Catholic Emancipation laws and least safe in London. The Catholic Church was still illegal after Queen Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity and there were sporadic riots against Catholics. Challoners' life is a case study of successful leadership in a hostile environment 

Bishop Bartholomew De La Casas chronicled the terrible atrocities that Spanish colonists carried out on the indigenous people of Central and South America.  He was appointed protector of the Indians by the Spanish Legal Establishment, His writing and thinking was influenced the School of Salamanca  and lead to both international law and the first concepts of universal human rights.

Carl Gustav Jung was one of the most creative thinkers of the 20th Century. The founder of analytical psychology his fascination with religion was life long

Today we remember the life of Michael Novak - influential author of the Spirit of Democratic Capitalism.  He tweaked Weber's famous Protestant Work Ethic and claimed that free capitalist economies owed more to a Catholic Work Ethic