St. Joseph, foster father to Jesus, is patron saint of fathers.
St. Augustine had a son before his conversion. He loved his child very much, and the two would be baptized together.
St. Thomas More had four children by his first wife and an adopted stepdaughter by his second wife.
St. Simon of Cyrene’s sons, Rufus and Alexander, were missionaries.
St. Louis Martin and his wife had nine children together, five of whom would survive into adulthood. After Zélie’s death, Louis was left alone to finish raising his beloved daughters.
St. Louis IX was married at twenty to a devoted Christian. They had eleven children together, two of whom passed away in infancy.
St. Joachim had a daughter, Mary, who would herself go on to be mother to God incarnate. Joachim is Jesus’s grandfather!
St. Zachariah and his wife had a son late in life, though Elizabeth was barren. That son would become a prophet and foretold the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.
St. Homobonus and his wife were unable to have children, so Homobonus devoted his resources to caring for abandoned children.
St. Basil the Elder was father to nine or ten children, five of whom are canonized saints.
Bl. Charles of Austria and his wife were deeply in love and raised eight children together. Charles’s last words to his wife were “I love you endlessly”.
I’ve always struggled to find saints to pray to who were married or parents bc the single saints vastly outnumber them, but dang there are so many more than you think. It’s so important to see saints in every vocation and to know that marriage and parenthood is another path to sainthood, not just a fluke for a few holy men and women.
Tag: Saints
SAINTS IN MODERN TIMES – A list of some of laity, the ‘everyday people’ (non-clergy) whom have been recognized for their holy lives by the Catholic Church. The photos above includes those who have become ‘Saint’ or ‘Blessed’, the list below also includes those who have become ‘Venerated’ or ‘Servant of God’. (explained here) Men and women who gave their lives to Jesus and inspire us to do the same!
(hi-res image identifying each person in photo)
SAINTS
St. Bernadette (Lourdes)
Sts. Louis and Marie-Azélie Martin (parents of 9 children, all 5 of surviving daughters became nuns including St. Therese of Lisieux)
Sts. Jacinta and Francisco Marto (Fatima visionaries)
BLESSED
Bl. Carlos Santiago (1st layperson in USA to be beatified)
Bl. Luigi Beltrame Quattrocchi and Maria Corsini ( first couple to be beatified together)
Bl. Bartolo Longo (former Satanist who became lay Dominican)
Bl. Laura Vicuña (patron of abuse)
Bl. Jose Sanchez del Rio and other laypersons from Cristero War (Vatican article)
Bl. Bartolomé Blanco Márquez, (see martyr’s letter written to his girlfriend)
Bl. Hildegard Burjan (wife, mother, Jewish convert, politician, founder of Caritas Socialis which cares especially for women, children & elderly)
Bl. Franz Jägerstätter (Austrian conscientious objector WW2, martyr)
Bl. Nikolaus Gross, anti-Nazi activist
Bl. Alberto Marvelli (young layman involved in politics, looked to Frassati)
Bl. Alexandrina Maria da Costa
Bl. Anacleto González Flores, Cristero War
Bl. Ceferino Namuncurá (desired to be Salesian priest, died at 18, Argentina)
Bl. Victoria Díez Bustos de Molina
Bl. Pierina Morosini (patron of rape victims)
Bl. Lojze Grozde (patron of students, Catholic Action, Slovenian martyr)
Bl. Odoardo Focherini (journalist, father of 7, helped Jews WW2)
Bl. László Batthyány-Strattmann
Bl. Cecilia Eusepi, compared to St. Theresa of Lisieux
Bl. Contardo Ferrini (patron of universities)
Bl. Manuel Lozano Garrido (journalist)
VENERABLE
Ven. Giacomo Gaglione (apostolate of suffering)
Ven. Eurosia Fabris (patron of large families)
Ven. Concepcion Cabrera de Armida
Ven. Faustino Perez-Manglanoe (died at 16)
Ven. María del Carmen González-Valerio (died at age 9)
Ven. Bernhard Lehner (died at age 14)
SERVANT OF GOD
Gwen Coniker, pro-life advocate!
Dorothy Day (journalist, activist, Catholic convert)
Istvan (Stephen) Kaszap (Boy Scout, Jesuit novice, died at 19)
Maria Bolognese (mystic who suffered a demonic possession)
Marthe Robin (mystic, stigmatic)
108 Martyrs of WW2 (11 whom are laity)
Giovanni Palatucci (policeman who saved Jews in WW2)
Alcide De Gasperi (prime minister, cofounder of European Union)
Julius Nyerere (president of Tanzania, devout Catholic known for fasting)
Giuseppe Lazzati (politician)
Luisa Piccarreta ( mystic and author notable for having allegedly survived on nothing but Communion wafers for 65 years)
Élisabeth Leseur (converted her atheistBl. Albertina Berkenbrock (virgin, martyr of chastity, Brazil), anti-clerical husband)
Attilio Giordani (crusade of goodness)
Frank Duff (founder of Legion of Mary)
Edel Quinn (lay missionary, Legion of Mary)
Aldo Blundo (died at 15, offered suffering, belonged to ‘militia of Christ the King’)
Rachelina Ambrosini (teenager known for piety)
Antonietta Meo (may become youngest saint who is confessor of the faith)
Montserrat Grases (died at 17, member of Opus Dei)
Sources: here and here and here
This list was inspired by thatcurioustruth who was looking for those Saints & Blesseds modern enough to have a photograph. If you can think of any I’m missing, please let me know!
if you love a saint, they will certainly love you back and will look out for you I’m not kidding. it doesn’t matter if you’re in their general patronage or not, they’ll fucking grab you and say “I love you and want you to be in heaven and I want to be your friend.” Like I’m crying right now thinking that there are some extraordinary people up there who love and pray for me even when I don’t even love or pray for myself.
Shout out to St. Jude!
“God has ordained the intercession of the saints as a means of salvation, not on account of any defect of divine mercy, but to preserve the universally established order of operating by means of secondary causes.”
— St. Thomas Aquinas (via catherine-of-alexandria)
Wide Spread Interests 