SAINTLY GUIDANCE AND TEACHINGS

As you know there are literally hundreds of saints, so I've chosen to list some of the most popular saints who are called upon for intercession during prayer.

My personal favorites are: St. Nicholas who is the patron saint of children, who I call upon to watch over my grandson Nicholas Sequoia (an identical twin) who did not survive his birth. And St. Faustina Kowalska who Loved Jesus so much that He called upon her as His personal secretary to paint a picture of Him with the red and white rays coming from His heart with the words written below, "Jesus, I trust you." She was also asked to write down the Chaplet of Divine Mercy prayer, which she did! I share her Love for Jesus. Yep! You can definitely call me a "Jesus Freak!"

WHAT IS A PATRON SAINT? Catholic definition: "Patron saints are chosen as special protectors or guardians over areas of life. These areas can include occupations, illnesses, churches, countries, causes -- anything that is important to us. The earliest records show that people and churches were named after apostles and martyrs as early as the fourth century. Recently, the popes have named patron saints but patrons can be chosen by other individuals or groups as well. Patron saints are often chosen today because an interest, talent, or event in their lives overlaps with the special area. For example, Francis of Assisi loved nature and so he is patron of ecologists. Francis de Sales was a writer and so he is patron of journalists and writers. Clare of Assisi was named patron of television because one Christmas when she was too ill to leave her bed she saw and heard Christmas Mass -- even though it was taking place miles away. Angels can also be named as patron saints. A patron saint can help us when we follow the example of that saint's life and when we ask for that saint's intercessory prayers to God."

WHAT DOES INTERCESSION MEAN? The Catholic dictionary states: "Entreaty in favor of another person; hence mediation. In Biblical language, '"There is only One mediator between God and mankind, Himself a man, Christ Jesus, who sacrificed himself as ransom for them all"'(1 Timothy 2:5-6). The Blessed Virgin, Mediatrix of all graces, the angels, Saints in heaven, souls in purgatory, and the faithful on earth intercede for mankind by their merits and prayers."

When we pray to God for others, we are interceding for that person during their crisis. Catholics do not pray "to" saints or statues. The pictures of a Saint or a statue merely calls to mind reflection. Why is it okay to drool over a picture of a boyfriend? The act of calling on a saint for intercession and assistance is about meditating on the life experiences of the saint that you can relate to, thereby bringing to you awareness and enlightenment. Of course you can dial up God yourself and talk to Him! Go ahead and do it! He's there! Sometimes chatting with someone close to you, such as a friend, counselor or a Saint can really make the difference in your approach while moving along your spiritual progression path.

[ back to top ]

- A - St. Ambrose of Milan (animals, bees, candles, learning, students, wax) St. Angela Merici (disabled, handicapped, illness, loss of parents, physically challenged, sickness, virginity) St. Anthony of Padua (lost articles, American Indians, amputees, animals, domestic animals, elderly, expectant mothers, fishermen, harvests, horses, lost articles, mail, mariners, oppressed people, poor people, pregnancy, sailors, starvation, sterility, travel, travelers) St. Anthony the Abbott (amputees, animals, basket weavers, brushmakers, butchers, cemetery workers, domestic animals, eczema, epilepsy, epileptics, ergotism, erysipelas, gravediggers, graveyards, hermits, hospitals, manual labor, monks, relief from pestilence, skin diseases, skin rashes, swine, swineherds) St. Augustine of Hippo (brewers, printers, sore eyes, theologians) - B - St. Benedict of Nursia aka St. Benedict the Abbot (against poison, dying people, Europe, farmers, kidney disease, monks, religious orders, schoolchildren, temptations) St. Bernadette of Lourdes (sickness, illness, people ridiculed for their piety, poverty, shepherdesses, shepherds) St. Bernard of Clairvaux (bees, wax, candles, chandlers (candle-makers), beekeepers, wax-melters, wax refiners) - C - St. Christopher (archers, automobile drivers, bachelors, bookbinders, bus drivers, cab drivers, epilepsy, epileptics, floods, fruit dealers, fullers, gardeners, hailstorms, holy death, lightning, mariners, market carriers, motorists, pestilence, porters, sailors, storms, sudden death, taxi drivers, toothache, transportation workers, travelers, truck drivers) St. Clare (embroiderers, eye disease, eyes, gilders, gold, goldsmiths, gold workers, good weather, laundry workers, needle workers, telegraphs, telephones, television, television writers) - D - St. Dominic de Guzman (astronomers, astronomy, falsely accused, Dominican Republic, scientists) - E - St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (death of children, parents, in-law problems, loss of parents, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, widows) - F - St. Faustina Kowalska (Patron Saint of Mercy, Chaplet of Divine Mercy) St. Francis of Assisi (against fire, animal welfare societies, animals, birds, Catholic Action, dying alone, ecology, environment, families, laceworkers, merchants, needle workers, peace, tapestry workers, zoos) - G - - H - St. Hilary of Poitiers (against snakes, difficult children) - I - - J - St. James the Greater Apostle (apothecaries, arthritis, blacksmiths, conquistadors, druggists, equestrians, furriers, horsemen, knights, laborers, pharmacists, pilgrims, rheumatism, riders, soldiers, tanners, veterinarians) St. Jerome Doctor of the Church (archeologists, archivists, Bible scholars, librarians, libraries, scholars, schoolchildren, students, translators) St. Joan of Arc (captives, France, imprisoned people, martyrs, opposition of Church authorities, people ridiculed for their piety, prisoners, rape victims, soldiers, victims, WACs, WAVES, Women Appointed for Voluntary Emergency Service, Women's Army Corps) St. John the Apostle (art, authors, art dealers, books, bookbinders, booksellers, burns, compositors, editors, engravers, friendships, lithographers, painters, papermakers, poisoning, printers, publishers, tanners, theologians, typesetters, writers) St. John the Baptist (baptists, baptism, bird dealers, converts, convulsions, cutters, epilepsy, epileptics, farriers, hail, lambs, monastic life, motorways, printers, spasms, tailors) St. Juan Diego (not a patron saint) St. Jude of Thaddaeus (desperation, forgotten causes, hospital workers, hospitals, hospital workers, impossible causes, lost causes) - K - Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (ecology, environment, exiles, loss of parents, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, World Youth Day) - L - St. Leo the Great (not a patron saint) St. Lucy of Syracuse (authors, blindness, cutlers, dysentery, eyes, eye disease, glaziers, hemorraghes, laborers, martyrs, peasants, saddlers, salesmen, stained glass workers, throat infections, writers ) St. Luke the Apostle (artists, bachelors, bookbinders, brewers, butchers, doctors, glassworkers, gold workers, goldsmiths, lace workers, notaries, painters, physicians, sculptors, stained glass workers, surgeons, unmarried men)

- M - St. Martin de Porres (bi-racial people, black & mixed people, barbers, hair stylists, hotel and innkeepers, inter-racial justice, paupers, poor people, public education, public health, public schools, race relations, racial harmony, rats, social justice, state schools, television) St. Martin of Tours (alcohol, against poverty, alcoholism, beggars, cavalry, equestrians, geese, horse men, horses, hotel and innkeepers, impoverishment, quartermasters, recovering alcoholics, poverty, riders, soldiers, tailors, vintners, wine makers) St. Mary Magdalene (apothecaries, contemplative life, converts, druggists, glove makers, hairstylists, penitent sinners, penitent women, people ridiculed for their piety, perfumeries, pharmacists, reformed prostitutes, sexual temptation, temptation, tanners, women ) St. Matthew (accountants, bookkeepers, bankers, customs officers, financial officers, guards, money managers, security forces, security guards, stock brokers, tax collectors) St. Monica (adultery, abuse victims, alcoholics, difficult marriages, disappointing children, homemakers, housewives, married women, mothers, victims of adultery, victims of unfaithfulness, victims of verbal abuse, widows, wives) - N - St. Nicholas of Myra (bakers, barrel makers, boys, brewers, brides, children, dock workers, druggists, fishermen, grooms, judges, lawsuits lost unjustly, merchants, murderers, newlyweds, old maids, parish clerks, paupers, pawnbrokers, perfumeries, pharmacists, pilgrims, poor people, prisoners, robberies, sailors, scholars, schoolchildren, shoe shiners, spinsters, students, thieves, travelers, unmarried girls) - O - - P - St. Padre Pio (not a patron saint) St. Patrick (engineers, excluded people, fear of snakes, ophidiophobia, snake bites) St. Peter and St. Paul (against frenzy, bakers, bridge builders, butchers, clocks, clockmakers, cobblers, fever, fishermen, foot problems, harvesters, locks, locksmiths, longevity, masons, net makers, papacy, ship builders, shoemakers, stone masons, watches, watch makers) - Q - - R - St. Rita (abuse, bodily ills, desperate causes, difficult marriages, forgotten causes, impossible causes, infertility, loneliness, lost causes, parenthood, sick people, sickness, sterility, victims of physical spouse abuse, sterility, widows, wounds) St. Roque de Santa Cruz (bachelors, cholera, diseased cattle, dogs, epidemics, falsely accused people, invalids, knee problems, plague, relief from pestilence, skin diseases, skin rashes, surgeons, tile makers) St. Rose of Lima (florists, gardeners, against vanity, embroiderers, needle workers, people ridiculed for their piety) - S - - T - St. Teresa of Avila (body ills, headaches, laceworkers, loss of parents, opposition of Church authorities, people in need of grace, people in religious orders, people ridiculed for their piety, sick people, sickness) St. Therese of Lisieux (AIDS, African missions, AIDS sufferers, air crews, aircraft pilots, Belgian air crews, black missions, bodily ills, florists, flowers, flower growers, foreign missions, illness, loss of parents, missionaries, parish missions, restoration of religious freedom in Russia, sickness, Spanish air crews, tuberculosis) St. Thomas Aquinas (academics, against storms, against lightning, apologists, book sellers, Catholic academies, Catholic schools, Catholic universities, chastity, colleges, learning, lightning, pencil makers, philosophers, publishers, scholars, schools, students, theologians, universities) St. Thomas More (adoption, adopted children, civil servants, court clerks, difficult marriages, large families, lawyers, politicians, step-parents, widowers) - U - - V - St. Valentine (affianced couples, bee keepers, betrothed couples, engaged couples, epilepsy, fainting, greeting card manufacturers, greetings, happy marriages, Love, lovers, marriages, plague, travelers, young people) St. Victoria Not a patron saint. She is the sister of Saint Anatolia. - W - - X - - Y - - Z -

[ back to top ]

DISCLAIMER