OUR STORY

Acta Sanctorum began in Chicago in 2009, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Velvet Revolution. Its name, Acta Sanctorum — “Acts of the Saints” — expresses our conviction that Christian lives are called to bear witness through faithful and fruitful service, using the gifts entrusted to them for the good of the Church and society.

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From the beginning, this work has been a shared commitment of Lubomir Martin Ondrasek and Noema Bradnanska Ondrasek, who founded Acta Sanctorum as a way to serve God and neighbor together through education, formation, and public engagement. During its Chicago years, Acta Sanctorum functioned as a small nonprofit initiative with no paid staff. Its work was sustained chiefly by the co-founders’ own labor and resources, at significant personal and financial sacrifice, and took shape in research, writing, publishing, teaching, speaking, and consulting.

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The first chapter of our mission, which lasted for more than a decade, focused especially on Slovakia and the wider post-communist context of Central Europe. There, our work engaged four key publics: churches, academia, government, and broader society. This service bore fruit in seven authored or edited books, several of which featured essays and commentaries originally published in leading Slovak newspapers and were endorsed by prominent academic, religious, civic, and public figures. In addition, we contributed to edited volumes and academic journals, presented at international conferences, taught graduate courses, prepared expert opinions for Slovak government institutions, advised Christian leaders, spoke at numerous church events, and donated more than 1,200 books to institutional libraries.

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In 2023, following our relocation to the Washington, DC area, we reenvisioned and expanded this work under the name Acta Sanctorum Institute. The word “Institute” was chosen not to suggest institutional size, but to clarify the character of the mission: a serious educational initiative shaped by theological, ethical, and spiritual reflection, carried out with scholarly competence, and directed toward formation and public service. Today, Acta Sanctorum Institute continues as a personal initiative through which we write, publish, teach, speak, consult, and serve where we are invited: across ecclesial and ministry settings, academic institutions and conferences, civic contexts, individual consultations, and the wider public.