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Learn about what Catholic saints represent
Staff Reporter
Published: Mar 16, 2011
Whether you're an accountant, a construction worker or a
comedian, there's a special saint just for you. The saints are
also there when you face life's special challenges: St.
Columbanus will protect you against floods, St. Katherine Drexel against
racism, and St. James the Greater against arthritis.
`Some saints are patron saints, which means they are invoked for
a particular cause, or against a particular illness, or to bless a
particular profession,' explains Thomas J. Craughwell, author of
`Saints Behaving Badly.' `Sts. Cosmas and Damian
are the patrons of doctors because they were doctors. St. Bernadette is
the patron of asthma sufferers because she was asthmatic.'
Sometimes, he explains, it works in reverse: St. Sebastian, the
good-looking martyr usually depicted as shot through with arrows, is the
patron saint of archers. In this case, he wasn't the archer, but
the archer's target.
There are 40,000 Catholic saints.
Here is Craughwell's list of some special saints and the feast
days on the Church's liturgical calendar when that particular
saint is commemorated.
St. Anne (1st century). The mother of the Virgin Mary and the
grandmother of Jesus, St. Anne has been beloved by Catholics and
Orthodox Christians for more than 1,500 years. Feast day: July 26.
St. Jude (1st century). Although he was one of the 12 apostles and a
cousin of Jesus, there was almost no devotion to St. Jude until the 20th
century. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, a priest on the South
Side of Chicago urged his unemployed parishioners to pray to this almost
forgotten saint. So many prayers were answered that devotion to St. Jude
spread rapidly across the United States. Feast day: Oct. 28.
St. Therese the Little Flower (1873-1897). This French Carmelite nun is
considered one of the great wonder-working saints of all time. It is
said that through the prayers of St. Therese, miracles drop from heaven
like a shower of roses. Feast day: Oct. 1.
St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231). Anthony' canonization process
was the fastest in history: He was proclaimed a saint less than a year
after his death. Feast day: June 13.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). It is said that of all the saints,
Francis of Assisi most closely imitated Jesus Christ. He is also the
first person to receive in his hands, feet and side the stigmata - the
wounds that Christ suffered on the cross. Feast day: Oct. 4.
St. Tarsicius (died 3rd century). A Roman altar boy, Tarsicius concealed
the Eucharist, the bread consecrated at Mass, under his clothes so he
could bring Holy Communion to imprisoned Christians. A gang of men and
boys suspected Tarsicius was hiding something and demanded that he show
them what he had; when Tarsicius refused, they beat him to death. Feast
day: Aug. 26.
St. Expeditus (died 4th century). Expeditus was a Roman soldier who,
with six fellow Christians, was martyred in Armenia. In 19th century
France, Catholics began to invoke St. Expeditus against procrastination.
Feast day: April 19.
St. Marcellus of Paris (died. c.430). There is a legend that in a
cemetery outside Paris there was a female vampire who fed on the people
of Paris. To protect his flock, Bishop Marcellus entered the tomb,
confronted the vampire and killed her. Feast day: Nov. 1.
St. Isidore of Seville (c.560-636). This Spanish bishop compiled a
20-volume encyclopedia of all existing knowledge. In the 1990s, when
online technology was young, Catholics in the new industry interpreted
St. Isidore's encyclopedia as the world's first database
and adopted him as patron saint of the Internet. Feast day: April 4.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-80). A Mohawk Indian, Tekakwitha was
born near present-day Auriesville, New York, in the Mohawk Valley. In
1675, a French Jesuit missionary arrived in Tekakwitha's village
- she became his only convert to Christianity and took the name Kateri
(Mohawk for Catherine). Subjected to relentless harassment, Kateri fled
to a village of Christian Indians near Quebec, where she could practice
her faith in peace. Feast day: July 14.
From: A. Papazian
Learn about what Catholic saints represent
Staff Reporter
Published: Mar 16, 2011
Whether you're an accountant, a construction worker or a
comedian, there's a special saint just for you. The saints are
also there when you face life's special challenges: St.
Columbanus will protect you against floods, St. Katherine Drexel against
racism, and St. James the Greater against arthritis.
`Some saints are patron saints, which means they are invoked for
a particular cause, or against a particular illness, or to bless a
particular profession,' explains Thomas J. Craughwell, author of
`Saints Behaving Badly.' `Sts. Cosmas and Damian
are the patrons of doctors because they were doctors. St. Bernadette is
the patron of asthma sufferers because she was asthmatic.'
Sometimes, he explains, it works in reverse: St. Sebastian, the
good-looking martyr usually depicted as shot through with arrows, is the
patron saint of archers. In this case, he wasn't the archer, but
the archer's target.
There are 40,000 Catholic saints.
Here is Craughwell's list of some special saints and the feast
days on the Church's liturgical calendar when that particular
saint is commemorated.
St. Anne (1st century). The mother of the Virgin Mary and the
grandmother of Jesus, St. Anne has been beloved by Catholics and
Orthodox Christians for more than 1,500 years. Feast day: July 26.
St. Jude (1st century). Although he was one of the 12 apostles and a
cousin of Jesus, there was almost no devotion to St. Jude until the 20th
century. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, a priest on the South
Side of Chicago urged his unemployed parishioners to pray to this almost
forgotten saint. So many prayers were answered that devotion to St. Jude
spread rapidly across the United States. Feast day: Oct. 28.
St. Therese the Little Flower (1873-1897). This French Carmelite nun is
considered one of the great wonder-working saints of all time. It is
said that through the prayers of St. Therese, miracles drop from heaven
like a shower of roses. Feast day: Oct. 1.
St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231). Anthony' canonization process
was the fastest in history: He was proclaimed a saint less than a year
after his death. Feast day: June 13.
St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226). It is said that of all the saints,
Francis of Assisi most closely imitated Jesus Christ. He is also the
first person to receive in his hands, feet and side the stigmata - the
wounds that Christ suffered on the cross. Feast day: Oct. 4.
St. Tarsicius (died 3rd century). A Roman altar boy, Tarsicius concealed
the Eucharist, the bread consecrated at Mass, under his clothes so he
could bring Holy Communion to imprisoned Christians. A gang of men and
boys suspected Tarsicius was hiding something and demanded that he show
them what he had; when Tarsicius refused, they beat him to death. Feast
day: Aug. 26.
St. Expeditus (died 4th century). Expeditus was a Roman soldier who,
with six fellow Christians, was martyred in Armenia. In 19th century
France, Catholics began to invoke St. Expeditus against procrastination.
Feast day: April 19.
St. Marcellus of Paris (died. c.430). There is a legend that in a
cemetery outside Paris there was a female vampire who fed on the people
of Paris. To protect his flock, Bishop Marcellus entered the tomb,
confronted the vampire and killed her. Feast day: Nov. 1.
St. Isidore of Seville (c.560-636). This Spanish bishop compiled a
20-volume encyclopedia of all existing knowledge. In the 1990s, when
online technology was young, Catholics in the new industry interpreted
St. Isidore's encyclopedia as the world's first database
and adopted him as patron saint of the Internet. Feast day: April 4.
Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-80). A Mohawk Indian, Tekakwitha was
born near present-day Auriesville, New York, in the Mohawk Valley. In
1675, a French Jesuit missionary arrived in Tekakwitha's village
- she became his only convert to Christianity and took the name Kateri
(Mohawk for Catherine). Subjected to relentless harassment, Kateri fled
to a village of Christian Indians near Quebec, where she could practice
her faith in peace. Feast day: July 14.
From: A. Papazian