Category Archives: patron saints

>Feast of St. Augustine!

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>Its the feast day of St. Augustine!
Ok, now this saint, from north Africa, is one of the biggies: a doctor of the church of course and one of the great writers throughout Church history. I like him for so many reasons, not the least of which is his connection with his mom and her devoted prayers for her son. You know, I will always have a soft spot for a mom and son….

His teachings are noted throughout Christendom for their lasting influence and, simply put, their beauty. Perhaps it was his years of living a life that was wild, utterly hedonistic, and dipped into all sorts of heresy and convoluted ideas of god…..but when he returned to the Faith, he did so in a big way, using his brilliant mind to convey the beauty of Truth to generations to come.
“Late have I loved you…“ Indeed. And perhaps, that is part of his appeal to so many, so many of us (ok, me), have really felt that, lived that. Late, have I loved You. I missed so much, for so long. The “band width” of my life was so slim, and I didn’t even know it. But I was fooled by the hedonistic life I lived into thinking it was so wide. I was arrogant enough to think I knew it all. Only, later, later when I finally “let go” of my grip on that did I finally come to realize how small it all was.
And then St. Augustine, once more, came through for me with one of his most famous prayers: “You have made us for yourself, oh God. And our hearts are restless, until they rest in you.” Ah. I know, I’m paraphrasing that quote, but that’s how it sticks in my head and heart. And that about sums it all up: St. Augustine, life in general, me in particular.

Happy feast day!
St. Augustine, pray for us!
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>St. Francis Xavier: Feast Day!

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>It’s the feast day of St. Francis Xavier!

Now, this is another of the saints I’m fond of, this Spanish saint is patron of African missions. He was also (in a timely link) a successful missionary in India for ten years, he loved it there. He eventually set out for the islands and China. He never made it to China, but he was an intrepid voyager, facing stormy seas and strange customs and countries. He relied on his faith and purpose, and he persevered. In doing this – persevering and respecting the foreign cultures he encountered – he not only followed God’s will for him, but pulled many to him and to God. He is considered “to have converted more people to Christianity than anyone else since St. Paul.” (see more, here).
For those homeschoolers out there, or anyone who wants an interesting, quick reading bio of this saint (and others), get Louis De Wohl’s book on St. Francis: Set All Afire.

You know I like to remember the feast days. With my daughter still in Africa, a saint that is a patron of African missions and was a courageous traveler is on top of my short list to ask for prayers: for her, for us to be together, to go get her, for all the traveling families on the road to bring their families together. That’s what St. Francis Xavier did too, just on a bigger scale.

St. Francis Xavier, pray for us!

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>Feast Day: All Saints Day!

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>http://godtube.com/flvplayer.swf

It’s All Saints Day today!

And while I might be calling on all the saints to intercede for me to save my computer…then again, I might not because I’m not sure that would be right. Tempting, yes. But I really don’t want to be a pest.

However, this is a fun happy feast day, a solemnity and one of the biggies historically in the Church. We just got back from Mass as it’s officially a Holy Day of Obligation (though Mass hardly feels like an obligation, but rather a gift).

Today is the day the Church celebrates and honors all the saints in heaven: the big hitters like St. Francis of Assisi, St. Jude, and St. John of the Cross, but also the smaller saints that are less well known like St. Charles Lwanga and the Ugandan Martyrs, or St. Felicity, and the saints in heaven that are not officially recognized or known here on earth. So I’m thinking that is some big party up there and it’s a happy day. Everybody gets a ribbon!

So I do love this day, it’s a cool weekend trio really. You’ve got your Dia de los Muertos (day of the dead of course) on All Hallows Eve (Halloween, of course) and then All Saints Day and tomorrow, All Souls Day. Because we Catholics, we still feel connected to our loved ones once they are gone. Often more so because the physical restraints of our bodies are removed in heaven and thus they can be closer to you in prayer now, than when these loved ones might have been states apart on earth. That gives me great comfort. These are the days to be reminded that the veil between this life here on earth and the next can be awfully thin at times – and we can only marvel and wonder.

So today say thanks for the saints, the holy ones, {“sanctus“}. Because they show us the way, in all their own individual unique lives, how to strive for holiness in our own. So have a chat with your favorite saint or go meet a new one; they are great pals, supports and even cheerleaders for us on our way.

All the saints, pray for us!

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>Feast Day: St. Francis of Assisi

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St. Francis, by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

Today is the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.

St. Francis is arguably one of the most popular saints, regardless of your precise religious affiliation. He is the saint depicted with the birds and flowers, too often dumbed down to the birdbath saint with the dripping seventies hymn. For a quick decent bit on him, (disregarding the standard flowery image) go here. For more thorough info, go here. For one of the more worthwhile (and readable) reads on him, read this book.

I confess, for a long time I had a hard time thinking closely about St. Francis. Too much of the blessing birds, embroidered prayer samplers sort of thing, I guess. Nice, yeah, but not my thing. Then I read Kazantzakis and I realized that there is much more to this saint than I was giving him credit for. So, my view of this saint changed.

St. Francis was a radical. No wonder he has captured the imagination of so many for so long! He was raised in a family of wealth and after being quite the typical pampered party-hardy rich boy, he had a conversion experience and then found the courage to reject that life, entirely. He called for a radical conversion of heart and therefore of living. He did rejoice in the nature and wildlife, yes, but as a way of praising God’s creations rather than a sentimental sweet pause. He was called a fool after all this. But Francis called the comfortably entrenched on their hollow lives and challenged them, sometimes castigated them, to do better.

I think the reason he still captures our imagination, and that the Fransiscan Order is still so strong is that he was really a radical. (And some of our favorite priests and brothers are Franciscans!) And it is only the truly radical that can really capture our imagination and seize our stony hearts.

That’s what St. Francis does for us (ok, me), he offers us an example of radical courage. That often comes with hardship but the joy that he showed us can come alongside that very hardship is so, well, exciting that it pulls us all out of our complacent ease and whispers to our truest selves.

That is the continued allure and appeal of St. Francis. It’s not the sentimental conversations with the birds – those are great stories and my kids love them too – but it’s the challenge. Really, our hearts are always wanting a challenge I think. It’s programmed into our nature. St. Francis calls to that. He celebrated and was enthralled with the nature that God made, it overwhelmed him (“brother sun, sister moon”). But it is his ongoing call and challenge to our nature that makes him still such a compelling saint and such an ongoing fascination. It’s what makes those cool Franciscan Friars of the Renewal so compelling: the joy and the radical lives.

So let loose your inner radical today and celebrate the feast of St. Francis!
St. Francis of Assisi, pray for us!

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>Feast Day: St. Theresa of the Child Jesus aka St. Therese of Lisieux

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>So, today is the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux!

The novena finishes today and it’s been a nice quiet start, often early in the morning, to my days. Thinking about her and her ‘little way’ is a nice reminder to me as I prep to start the typically hectic days around here. The Deacon’s Bench speaks well about her and the constant call to conversion, here. And that is one of the important things for me about this saint: her constant reminder to struggle against our own self-ish selves. Mine. Me. That really, it’s NOT about me at all. It’s about everyone else.

From Deacon:
“Conversion isn’t a one-time event. It isn’t a moment. It is thousands of moments. It is a lifetime of moments.”
snip.
“Loving, and growing in love, is part of our lives as Catholic Christians – part of our own ongoing conversion in each. The effort is unceasing. “

Happily, I’ve been pestering her for prayers for another (ok a few) in this novena and I am sure she is praying for them too. And that is such a comfort to me and hopefully to those others who know they are specifically in this novena too.

Years ago at the National Shrine of St. Therese, near ChicagoSo today is her feast day, and I will remember her with her flower: roses. Happy Feast Day!
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>Feast Day: St. Jerome

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St. Jerome, by Peter Paul Rubens

It’s the Feast of St. Jerome today.

And I don’t want to blast you all with endless saint feast days, but then again, why not? Because, well, we Catholics, we love a feast and any reason to feast! {maybe that’s just me…my wardrobe is saying, um, yeah!} Kidding, mostly….

Truly, I DO love the whole liturgical year deal. I know I’ve said it before on this blog, but it bears repeating: it just gives such a richness and texture to our year. Days of feast and fasting, seasons of expectation and celebration, and yes, days of mourning as well (lent and Easter week can be tough). But yeah, it does make my days a little richer, have a little more meaning, when I think about the saint of the day and if they have a special connection to me or my family or friends – or if they set an example worth considering (and gee whiz, they are saints, they do!).

So today is the feast of St. Jerome and he is the patron of a dear friend’s son, so a friend of ours. Happy feast day Joe!

To read more about him go here and here. And he is worth knowing a bit about, as St. Jerome was the one who translated the bible from the Hebrew into the common language of the time: Latin. Hence his translation is known as the Latin Vulgate (“vulgar” meaning common). So, clearly we are all in some debt here. He’s an important saint to know, and he is also in fact a Doctor of the Church.

St. Jerome, by Fra Filippo Lippi

I like thinking about St. Jerome because here he is, a ‘big hitter’, and yet, he is also historically known to be a cranky guy. He was known for his bad temper and stories of it abound.

And for me, on a day with little sleep (ok for many days now), up at 4:30 to give a breathing treatment to Little Man after listening to him bark cough and wheeze, that gives me comfort.
Even we cranks have the potential to grow into saints. It gives me hope.

Plus, on a personal aside (I know, the whole thing is a personal aside) I am thinking about asking for his prayers in assisting me in learning Amharic. I am dreadful at languages and I will need “the gift of tongues”, so to speak, to learn this language in preparation for our next daughter to come home!

St. Jerome, pray for us!

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>Feast Day: Saints Cosmas and Damian

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>It’s the Feast Day of Saints Cosmas and Damian, patron of physicians.

And so, of course, a Feast day for our own Coffeedoc!

These two twin brothers were physicians, born in Arabia and known for their great faith and healing. They never accepted payment for their services and instead healed because it was their gift and skill and a desire to live a life of charity. This mindset and behavior, even way back then, wouldn’t go unnoticed and they came to the attention of Diocletian. They were martryed under his persecutions of Christians. They had a holy mother who taught them their Christian faith and set them on their paths. Here is another place to read about them as well.

And so, these two twins are great patrons for physicians (and pharmacists), an example of living a life in the pursuit of caritas and comfort of others. Our Coffeedoc counts them as his patrons, and rightly so. They have been faithful intercessors and so today, we celebrate their saintly example to us all.

Happy Feast Day, Coffeedoc!
Saints Cosmas and Damian, pray for us!
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>Feast Day: Saint Augustine

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Image courtesy of Augnet.org

It’s the feast of Saint Augustine!

Yup, his mom’s feast day was yesterday. I think it’s nice to have them together on the calendar, fitting. And yup, yesterday I made mention of a brief bit about him: Doctor of the Church, Bishop of Hippo, born in North Africa, biracial, lived in Italy and Africa. But go to the ever interesting Anchoress, here, or here to read more, in depth.

Here’s the deal with Augustine. He is recognized by so many, not only Catholics, as an intellectual giant. He was brilliant. But the thing about Augustine that is so appealing I think, at least to me, is that he lived a real honest to goodness human life that so many of us can relate to. I mean, he was a total hedonist for a good while, he led a live that was centered in well, him, and what was fun and felt good if you didn’t like it (mom) then, that was too bad but oh well. He thought fairly well of himself, knew he was smart and thus knew better than his old mom and those stodgy fogies.

He was, well, us, me.
Only, finally, realizing the emptiness of such a life, did he bitterly cry out from the depths of his soul to God . And of course God responded. He was just waiting on him.

As St. Augustine said, “Late have I loved thee.” Ah, that’s it. That’s me. Again and again.

And the rest, is, well, history. And we are so lucky, no, not lucky, so graced to have this intelligence and tempered faith be turned in eternal service to the Church. We are all so fortunate to have his writings and prayers to learn from and soak into our hearts and souls.

“You have made us for Yourself, O God.
And our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.”
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>Feast Day: Saint Monica

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This one is for the moms, all of us!

This is St. Monica, and today is her feast day!
She is most well known as mother to St. Augustine, one of the doctors of the church.
And she is a patron of all mothers, everywhere, as well as to wives – for good reason. Read more about her here.

As a mom, who is impatient and worries about her kids, at times losing sleep over them and the whole process of raising them….it helps me to remember her and her steadfast course on behalf of her husband and children, Augustine in particular. Monica was from North Africa, a tribal African woman, married to a Roman soldier. She was married to a difficult man, a nonchristian (who only tolerated her faith) and she prayed for him without ceasing. He experienced a deathbed conversion, surely due to her faithful prayers.

Her eldest boy, Augustine, was a wild and wayward kid. The kind of young man that makes mothers lose sleep and fret and fume. He left home, he was a wild party-er. Disregarding his mother’s typical advice, he met a girl (ok, many, he was quite the man about town), lived with her, got her pregant, fell in with a psuedo religious cult, an intellectual snob…all the top of the charts mom stressers. And so she prayed for her son, got tough on him when she had to, didn’t just let him drop out of her life even when he wished for her to….and she never quit on him. She was faithful. It was not fun or rewarding. She just did it with the grace of hope and faith.

And he ended up not only coming back to a good life, but converting to the church and eventually becoming a Doctor of the Church (meaning one of the few people who’s writings are recognized as foundational teachings – a big wig). So, wayward young man makes good, through no small faithful effort of his mom. Hence she is also the patron saint of patience!

In a way, I suppose in modern times she would be considered a helicopter parent, huh? However, then again, not. She was a mom, and she loved her husband even though he was hard to live with and her son despite his poor choices and she believed in them and her faith enough to persevere in prayer. And that, for me, is a role model – one of the best.

Because, really that is what we do, what we are called to do, what we get tired of doing, but what the whole mom gig is all about. So, she is a saint for moms, everywhere, and for me in particular. So, happy feast day!

St. Monica. Painting by John Nava.
Shamelessly stolen from The Deacon’s Bench.
For a nice prayer and bit on St. Monica, go see.

St. Monica, pray for us!

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>Feast Day: Saint Maximilian Kolbe

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Today is the feast day of another patron saint in our family, Booboo’s patron: Saint Maximilian Kolbe. Go read about him here and here.

He was an amazing man, but what is the most cool thing about him is his devotion to his Blessed Mother and his willingness to step up to sacrifice.

He started a magazine to spread the word about the devotion to the Immaculata (Immaculate Mother) and his Knights of the Immaculata; using the most modern mass communications of the era. If he was alive today I would betcha he would have a blog and website devoted to Her too! Sadly, he was was killed in Auschwitz, offering himself to die in the place of a young father.
Sacrifice in the most literal manner imaginable.

He wasn’t big, he wasn’t burly, he wasn’t famous or rich or powerful…but he poured himself out, utterly, for his faith, with courage. A small frail Fransiscan, who helped change the world just a little bit more. Another hero, and a great patron.Happy feast day Booboo!
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