28th November - Saint James of La Marche was born in Monteprandone in the March of Ancona in Italy in 1391. When he thought about choosing his path, he considered becoming a Carthusian, but because of his relationship with the Franciscans, he decided to join the Order of Friars Minor of the Observance.

Already in the novitiate, he stood out for his virtue. What made him so special was his piety: he spent his days in prayer, slept only three hours, and spent the rest of the night in prayer at the foot of the cross, where he would burst into tears during this contemplation. He did not eat meat, and at mealtimes only a little bread and vegetables. For eighteen years he wore only a cilice, which was even on the skin, and whose hem was made of metal.

He successfully proclaimed the Gospel in Germany against heretics. In one town alone, two hundred young people were trained by his example and became religious. The heretics tried to poison him, but James looked at the plate, signed himself and the plate broke. The heretics said, "Here is the hand of God"; and they repented. James of the March baptised two hundred thousand in Norway and Denmark. Also in Prague, heretics promised him that if he performed miracles, they would convert to Christianity. After calling God and making the sign of the cross, James drank the poisoned water, but it did not affect him. When James was about to return to Italy, the sailor refused to take him on board, so he did not hesitate, spreading his coat over the river to cross to the other bank. Someone also intended to kill him, and as he passed by, a voice asked the man: "Bad man, what are you doing in my presence? Do you want to kill my servant and the servant of my Son Jesus?" The man was so frightened that he refused to fulfil his intentions. But what is most astonishing in the work of James of the March is his vision and the fact that he resurrected a child killed by the Jews.