TORONTO - When Jorge Lopez joined Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Toronto nine years ago he didn’t speak a word of English. Still, he left his family behind in Nicaragua to follow his call to the priesthood.

TORONTO - It was an overwhelming sense of gratitude that  caused Giuseppe Scollo to give up his family and life in Sisley, Italy to follow his call to the priesthood.

TORONTO - Zachary Romanowsky heard his call to the priesthood while staying at Madonna House in Combermere, Ont.

Editor’s note: this is one in a series of articles on the men from Toronto’s St. Augustine’s Seminary and Redemptoris Mater Seminary who will be ordained as priests this spring.

TORONTO - Ann Jacques had been away from the church for a long time when she answered an ad in the church bulletin to go on retreat.

TORONTO - Kelly Boyden grew up in Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa, under the care of his adopted parents, two devout Catholics. He went to Catholic school and was an altar server, but in his teenage years he drifted away from the faith.

The daily prayer of the man with his finger on the pulse of Canada’s literary scene comes from a little devotional booklet containing a selection of prayers for all occasions. The particular prayer The Toronto Star’s chief book reviewer finds fit for most occasions is a prayer to the Holy Spirit.

For Green Party of Canada leader Elizabeth May it’s difficult to choose a favourite prayer. She’s partial to the Peace Prayer of St. Francis (which is Franciscan in spirit, but not written by St. Francis) and St. Francis’ Canticle of All Creatures (which probably does date from St. Francis’ lifetime).

Editor’s note: Lent is a time of almsgiving, fasting and abstinence, but most importantly, it is a time of prayer. During the six weeks of Lent, The Catholic Register will present the favourite prayers of well known Canadians. We start the series with Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.

Archbishop Thomas Collins says one of his favourite prayers — probably the one he resorts to most often during the day — is the Jesus Prayer.

Roman Catholic journalist James Risdon is launching a Canada-wide appeal for examples of answered prayers. He hopes that people will write to him with their testimonials, which will serve as material for the book he is writing.