This is such an amazing story!
On this week’s episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan Scheel, Ryan DellaCrosse, and Fr. Rich Pagano discuss seven of the “some of the toughest” and holiest “people to ever walk the face of the Earth.”
One of these saints, St. Vitalis, was a hermit monk in Gaza, Palestine, a city mostly made up of Muslims.
Ryan Scheel explains that this saint “hired a hooker every single night.” But it isn’t what you might think!
Fr. Rich Pagano asks, “Did he have sexual addiction and converted later in his life?”
Scheel responds, “At 60 years old, this monk traveled to Alexandria. And what’s the first thing a good monk would do when going to a new city?…The first thing he did was obtain the name of every prostitute in the entire city.”
“So with his black book in toe, and the name of every prostitute in the city of Alexandria, his next step was finding a job. He hired himself out as a laborer.
“He did hard, physical work. He lifted rocks, hauled garbage–he did physical, hard, back-breaking labor. He then took the money he earned and hired a hooker every night.
“But instead of exploiting these women, he taught them about Jesus and that they had dignity. He taught them they that were more valuable than an object of lust or use–that they had inherent dignity beyond how they were being used.”
Scheel continues, “After hearing this, a lot of these women really saw the opportunity for conversion and got out of that lifestyle. They went onto a lifestyle that had more dignity and led to better things.”
Fr. Rich Pagano later comments, “Wow! What a great ministry to have!”
The episode below also discusses six more incredible saints:
1) The 70-year old warrior saint
2) The most unlikely war hero of all time
3) The saint who would likely be an MMA champ in today’s world
4) The saint who lived for 38 years in the oddest place
5) The saint who gave the most defiant answer ever when being tortured
6) The female saint who led a guerrilla army against persecution
Learn about all amazing seven saints below:
St. Vitalis of Gaza, pray for us!
[See also: 10 Quotes on the Most Counter-Cultural Virtue Today: Chastity]
[See also: Where the Angel Gabriel Appeared to Mary: Inside the Magnificent Basilica of the Annunciation]