THE UNSUNG SAINTS BEHIND THE GREAT SAINTS

Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins:

Jan Tyranowski (1900-1947), Catholic layman, served a crucial role as spiritual adviser to the young Karol Wojtyla, who later became St. Pope John Paul II.

An eccentric figure with white-blond hair and a distinctive, high-pitched voice, Tyranowski lived with his mother and several cats across the street from the Wojtylas in Poland.

Then there’s Jacqueline De Decker, Mother Teresa’s “Spiritual Powerhouse” in a surgical collar, and Léonie Martin, “difficult” younger sister of the universally beloved St. Thérèse of Lisieux.

READ THE WHOLE PIECE HERE.