Tag: Saints

How to Pick a Confirmation Saint

Congratulations on your upcoming confirmation! How exciting! In many dioceses, confirmandi are invited to pick a Saint to accompany them on this journey. If you’re hoping to find just the right Saint, here are some thoughts that might help—and might keep you from being one of the eleven kids at your confirmation who pick the same Saint.

First and foremost, remember this: your confirmation Saint is not the be-all and end-all of your Saintly relationships. There’s no pressure here: pick someone you love and then if you find other Saints you love later, you can add them to your Saint squad informally. But there’s no reason to stress about this!

Second, you’ll want to find out the rules for confirmation Saints in your diocese. In most dioceses you can pick a Saint or a Blessed; in some just Saints, in some anyone with an open cause for canonization, and in some any name that isn’t contrary to Christian sensibilities.

After that, it’s time to start doing some research! I obviously recommend both of my books (Saints Around the World and Pray for Us: 75 Saints who Sinned, Suffered, and Struggled on Their Way to Holiness), but I’ve got some other recommendations here. When I’m helping a godchild pick a Saint, here’s what we do:

  1. Before we meet to talk through it, you have to read both my books and jot down names of Saints you’re interested in. (If a kid is reluctant to be confirmed—or not much of a reader—I can work with that, but so far everyone has been down.)
  2. I’ll ask you what you’re thinking and we’ll talk about the Saints you like, from the books or otherwise.
  3. I’ll draw out some common themes I see in what you highlight, then ask what else you might be looking for.
    -A certain profession? Hobbies? Sports? Academic interests? Personality types?
    -Any health issues (physical or mental) that might be relevant? Family difficulties? Personal struggles?
    -If you’re comfortable sharing, what are some sins you struggle with? What elements of your personality need some purification? Maybe pride or anger?
    (Note: I always make it clear that they don’t have to tell me and I always suggest sins that aren’t so hard to talk about. Often this has already come out by this point, but many people really appreciate a Saint with similar struggles. So we find Saints who had similar struggles and overcame them—or at least continued pursuing holiness in spite of them. We also find Saints who were the opposite, whose natural inclination was to holiness in those areas. We talk about how it’s good to have both kinds of Saint friends, the ones you can admire and try to imitate and the ones who you know understand your struggle.⁣)
  4. Are you looking for a particular gender/race/cultural background/vocation?
  5. What do you want from your Saint long term? Do you want:
    -a Saint with lots of writings you can read?
    -a Saint with lots of books about him?
    -a popular Saint with lots of merch? (Medals, art, t-shirts, etc)
    -a less popular Saint you can introduce to people?
    -a Saint you can learn a ton about or one we don’t know much about whose story is succinct?
    -are you okay with a Saint whose story is mostly legend or do you think that will bother you down the road?
  6. As we go, I tell stories and jot down names of Saints who resonate with you.
  7. Once we’ve got a good solid list, we’ll mark each one yes/no/maybe, crossing off each no.
  8. We’ll research the ones still on the list, finding podcasts and articles and translating websites and even discovering books and music that they wrote and checking those out.⁣ We’ll even look at their pictures to see if any of this helps one Saint take the lead.
  9. Usually at this point we’ll take a break for Mass or dinner, then come back, repeating step seven until we’ve got a very short list. Then we keep talking until there’s a clear front-runner (or take a break for a few days and let things percolate). And then you’ve got your Saint!

This can be trickier if you don’t have a Saint-obsessed godmother, but hopefully reading a few books and doing some good googling (looking for athlete saints here and here or musician Saints here, for example) will help you find just the right Saint for you. Good luck!

Making a New Saint Friend

If you follow me on social media, you’ve probably seen the project I’m working on for Lent: matching people with Saint friends. I’ve been loving the challenge of finding the right match and the responses I’ve been getting, both from the people I’ve matched and from people watching from the sidelines and finding all kinds of new friends. Honestly, I can’t tell you the joy it gives me to see dear, dear friends of mine shared 60 times on Facebook, introduced to thousands of new people who can learn from these Saints what following Christ might look like in their lives.

Through this whole project, people have been asking me where I find out all about these Saints. Honestly, the answer is Google, but I do have some go-to resources that I start with.

  1. Modern Saints by Ann Ball is the reason I love the Saints the way I do. For years after I met Jesus, I was okay with the idea of the Saints’ intercession (Rev 5:8) and the importance of their witness (1 Cor 11:1), but I didn’t really see why one would love them. Then I encountered these books and heard the stories of the Saints told well for the first time. Instead of boring stories that somehow didn’t in any way speak to the love of God, I encountered incredible adventures that gave me hope for the possibility of finding holiness in my own life, with my own struggles. And they’re so compelling that I actually wanted to keep reading, even after my self-imposed quota of spiritual reading was up! These two books are among the six most important books I’ve read in my life–grab a used copy of volume one and volume 2 today (or get them on kindle so you can search within the book for particular topics you’re interested in).
  2. Faces of Holiness by Ann Ball is a new discovery for me, and just as good as the earlier volumes. This one doesn’t seem to be available electronically.
  3. The Big Book of Women Saints by Sarah Gallick is also fantastic, though quite different. It has the stories of 365 different female Saints, and while Ball’s book gives the full story of each Saint, Gallick gives you a bite-sized taste, just enough to whet your appetite and send you to Google for more. This is an excellent book to get on Kindle so you can search within it.
  4. My 2017 articles on Aleteia were all about Saints. If you click here, you can scroll through and learn about 50 different Saints. Or you can search for a Saint with my name to see if I’ve written about them. There’s little that makes me crazier than Saint stories made dull and saccharine, so I can promise you one thing: these stories won’t be boring. (And if you want this and the Saint ninja project to turn into a book, you can support that by letting me know when you’re out of town and want me to hunker down in your house for a couple of weeks to write, because I can’t get anything done on the road.)
  5. www.catholicsaints.info is my favorite website, especially for seeing all the options for Saints on a particular day or for searching for a particular issue. Do a site search for a key word (piano or depression or Madagascar) and you’ll find a really good beginning to your research.
  6. Saintly Solutions to Life’s Common Problems (and its sequel) by Fr. Joseph M. Esper are wonderful books where you can look up struggles like anger, doubt, and marital problems to be pointed to Saints who walked the same path. It’s just a first step as it doesn’t give their whole stories, but it’s a great first step.
  7. Saints Behaving Badly by Thomas J. Craughwell is a fun read, but do me a favor and when the bishop asked you where you found your confirmation Saint, don’t tell him that I gave you a book with this title (as one of my students may have done into the microphone during confirmation).
  8. Louis de Wohl’s books are all fantastic. They’re novels, so you’ll have to do a little research to find out what’s truth and what’s fiction, but they’ll give you a sense of the Saint that will really help build a friendship rather than just an interest.
  9. Various other books–my Goodreads Saints shelf might help.
  10. My social media accounts have plenty of Saint stories–if you’re not following me yet on Instagram or Facebook, do it! And you can search my Facebook page for Saint’s names or features of their lives, or just look through my #blackSaints #AsianSaints and #LatinoSaints hashtags.

That’s all I’ve got for the moment–what other Saint books or websites do you love?

A Novena of Saints for a Church in Crisis

With all the news out of Washington and Pennsylvania, with the continued revelations of unimaginable horrors perpetrated by priests and bishops, we the laity have work to do. We must demand accountability and transparency. We must work for reform. We must speak out against the evils wrought in our name. But above all, we must pray. We must fast and pray for the healing of the victims, the protection of the innocent, the conversion of abusers, the restoration of the Church.

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption, a holy day of obligation in this country. Ten days from now is the Feast of St. Bartholomew, a holy bishop who was flayed alive rather than betray his sacred office. I invite you to join me in praying a novena of Saints in the nine days leading up to St. Bartholomew’s feast day, for all those impacted by this new wave of scandals. Lord, have mercy on us.

Day 1: Mary, Mother of Priests, Mother of Sinners, Mother of All Believers

On the Solemnity of the Assumption, we ask the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church, who weeps for those who suffer and for those who sin.

Father, we come before you afraid and broken. We have sinned, our leaders have sinned, and so many have suffered. Forgive us, Lord. Heal those who have been abused. Bring conversion to the hearts of sinners. Comfort those who can see no truth, goodness, or beauty in a Church that harbors such predators. Give us the grace to become Saints in and through this crisis.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Mary, Mother of the Church, pray for us.

Mary, Mother of Priests, pray for us.

Mary, Mother of Sinners, pray for us.

Mary, Mother of All Believers, pray for us.

Day 2: Bl. Laura Vicuña

Bl. Laura Vicuña suffered abuse at the hands of her mother’s lover for years. From her childhood, he pawed at her and tried to force drunken kisses on her. When she was uncomfortable spending the night under the same roof as him, knowing what he would try to do to her, she ran away. He beat her so badly that she died a week later of her wounds, forgiving both him and her mother.

Father, we pray for all victims of sexual abuse, especially those wounded by priests, bishops, and other representatives of your Church. Bring them healing, Lord, in mind, body, soul, emotions, and memories. Give them the grace to forgive and to be made new. Send your Spirit of peace on all who wrestle with guilt over abuse suffered by those in their care. May all who suffer surrender fear and shame and find rest in you.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Bl. Laura Vicuña, pray for us.

Day 3: St. John of the Cross

St. John of the Cross was, along with St. Teresa of Avila, the great reformer of the Carmelites in the 17th century, but his work made him enemies. A group of Carmelites who did not want to be reformed locked him in a tiny cell, nearly starved him to death, and beat him so brutally that he was scarred for life. Still he saw Christ as his bridegroom and wrote some of the most beautiful spiritual poetry ever written.

Lord, there are so many in your Church who have been terribly wounded by those who claim to speak in your name. Bring comfort to their hearts and healing, Lord Jesus. Help them to know your love and to find safety in your arms once more.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

St. John of the Cross, pray for us.

Day 4: St. Mary of Egypt and Bl. Anthony Neyrot

St. Mary of Egypt was a nymphomaniac and a rapist, herself likely a survivor of sexual abuse. She ran away from home at 12 and took up residence in the home of one of her father’s friends, where she was instructed in the art she would practice on young men, willing and unwilling, for the next 17 years. She was converted at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and retreated to the desert to do penance for the rest of her life.

Bl. Anthony Neyrot was an arrogant Dominican priest who became no more humble when sold into slavery to Islamic captors. When he was put in prison and made to fast on bread and water, though, he denied the faith, became a Muslim, married a Muslim woman, and began to translate the Quran into Latin. After an apparition from his mentor St. Antoninus, he repented, did public penance, and was martyred for leaving Islam.

Jesus, we beg for the conversion of all wolves in shepherds’ clothing. Put the fear of hell into the hearts of every deacon, priest, bishop, and lay minister who has harmed any of your people. Bring them to true repentance, Lord. Save their souls. We ask your mercy also, Lord, for all we have done to enable this sin, for our silence and complicity. Lord, have mercy.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

St. Mary of Egypt, pray for us. Bl. Anthony Neyrot, pray for us.

Day 5: St. Raphael Kalinowski

St. Raphael Kalinowski was a brilliant young Pole who was disillusioned by the Church of his parents and fell away from the faith in his youth. After years of study, work as a railway engineer, and a career as a revolutionary, he eventually returned to the Church and became a Carmelite priest and a personal hero of St. John Paul II.

Lord, as this scandal rocks our Church we know that many thousands will turn away from your Body here on Earth. Give them, Father, the grace to return. Divine Physician, heal their broken hearts and restore their faith in your Church. 

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

St. Raphael Kalinowski, pray for us.

Day 6: St. Catherine of Siena, St. Catherine of Genoa, and St. Charles Lwanga

St. Catherine of Siena was an uneducated laywoman who followed the call of the Holy Spirit to challenge the Pope himself. He had left Rome for Avignon and St. Catherine rebuked him with respect and fearlessness, demanding that he sacrifice his comfort to obey the Lord.

St. Catherine of Genoa lived a few centuries later, during a time of profound corruption in the Church. Weak bishops had refused to make the necessary sacrifices to implement the reforms of the Fourth Lateran Council, but this St. Catherine brought about reform through calling individuals to holiness rather than appealing to the hierarchy. A married woman whose husband was violent and unfaithful, Catherine had spent some years pursuing the things of the world before being converted and bringing her husband (and many, many others) to Christ. The Oratory of Divine Love movement, which spread throughout Italy and involves small groups of the faithful seeking personal holiness through prayer, study, and service, can be traced to her.

St. Charles Lwanga was a Ugandan layman who risked his life to protect teenage boys from the sexual predation of the king. His resistance to the king’s depravity and refusal to allow him to abuse other young men led to his martyrdom alongside many other chaste Christians.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the countless laypeople who quietly pursue you in their daily lives. We pray that you would fill them with your Spirit to call your Church to greater holiness. Help us to fight for the protection of the innocent, whatever the cost. Give us the courage, wisdom, and humility to speak truth, demanding holiness from those who lead us while becoming saints ourselves.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

St. Catherine of Siena, pray for us. St. Catherine of Genoa, pray for us. St. Charles Lwanga, pray for us.

Day 7: Bl. Thaddeus McCarthy and St. Francis de Sales

Blessed Thaddeus McCarthy was appointed bishop of an Irish diocese but discovered that his see had been usurped. In an attempt to serve his people he went from village to village and was rejected everywhere. He dressed as a peasant to avoid being captured by his enemies, never once giving up on his call to shepherd his people, even though it was so exhausting that it soon cost him his life.

St. Francis de Sales was a wise and kind bishop who knew how to discipline his clergy when necessary. Once, having thrown a priest in jail, he appeared before the offending cleric in tears and spoke thus: “I conjure you, by the love and mercy of God, in which we all hope, to have pity on me, on the diocese, on the Church, and on the whole Order so much dishonored by the scandalous life you have hitherto led, which gives matter to our adversaries to blaspheme our holy Faith. I pray you to have pity on yourself, on your own soul, which you are sending to perdition for eternity; I exhort you in the name of Jesus Christ, on which you trample; by the goodness of the Saviour, Whom you crucify anew; and by that spirit of grace, whom you outrage!”

Lord, we are in desperate need of holy bishops. We beg you to convict the hearts of bishops who ought to resign and to raise up men who are unconcerned with status and advancement but long only to serve the kingdom. We pray for the purification of all clergy, that they would become men who seek you above all else.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Bl. Thaddeus McCarthy, pray for us. St. Francis de Sales, pray for us.

Day 8: St. Gerard Majella and St. Vitalis of Gaza

St. Gerard Majella was a lay Redemptorist brother when he was falsely accused of impregnating a woman. He refused to defend himself, preferring to suffer in silence as Christ had, but was ultimately vindicated.

St. Vitalis of Gaza was a hermit who returned to the city after decades in the desert and began visiting a different prostitute each night. The faithful were scandalized until he was killed in the street and hundreds of reformed prostitutes came to his funeral. He had given his reputation and ultimately his life for their salvation, for the souls of victimized women.

We pray, Lord, for all decent priests. Lord Jesus, you have called men to ordained ministry to be priest and victim; give those men who suffer unjustly the grace to unite their sacrifice to yours and to offer their pain in reparation for the sins of their brother priests. May they weep for the survivors of these crimes and not for their own suffering. Strengthen them to remain faithful, however heavy the Cross.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

St. Gerard Majella, pray for us. St. Vitalis of Gaza, pray for us.

Day 9: Bl. Oscar Romero and St. Bartholomew the Apostle

Blessed Oscar Romero was a peaceful, bookish man, happy to fly under the radar in his native El Salvador, where the government was oppressing and murdering his people. He spent years as a bishop who refused to make waves until a priest friend of his was murdered. Looking on the corpse of this priest, he was changed. He began to fight injustice and to speak out against the abuse of the innocent. He knew that he was making enemies but refused to be silenced and was ultimately assassinated while celebrating Mass.

St. Bartholomew was one of the first bishops, ordained by Jesus Christ himself. He was flayed alive rather than deny Jesus Christ.

Father, we pray for our bishops, that they would be given wisdom and courage to speak and act against the evil within their ranks. Send your Spirit upon them, Lord, and empower them to root out this sin, to punish predators, and to repent for their own complicity, whatever the cost. Make decent men Saints, Lord, and pastors in your image.

Lord, heal the survivors and protect the innocent.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

Bl. Oscar Romero, pray for us. St. Bartholomew, pray for us.

 

The Daughters of St. Paul have put together a beautiful holy hour for reparation, which can be found here.

An Asian Saint a Day

Do you know when the Gospel first got to Asia?

When I ask this of fairly educated people, they often guess the 16th century, with St. Francis Xavier.

“Earlier.”

“Maybe something to do with Marco Polo in the 13th century?”

“Earlier.”

“Ummm…maybe during the Patristic period?”

“Let me help. Where was Jesus born?”1

“…Bethlehem.”

“Which is in Israel. And what continent is Israel on?”

“Oh, shoot. Asia.”

Yup. The Gospel was first preached in Asia. The angels sang Gloria in Asia, to an Asian couple with an Asian baby. The Apostles were all Asian.

But people don’t usually mean the Middle East when they say Asia. So, okay. When did the Gospel first get further east? Into, say, India?

52.

That’s a year.

52 AD.

That’s when St. Thomas took the Good News to India.

China was first evangelized in the 7th century.

Much of Asia didn’t have any missionaries sent to them until much later, but they’ve certainly made up for it in the meantime. Korea alone has 103 Saints, 124 Blesseds, and 133 Servants of God. Japan has 26 Saints and 188 Blesseds. Not to mention the many, many Middle Eastern Saints. Or the 120 Chinese. Or the thousands of Vietnamese martyrs.

Let’s just say, if all the statues in your Church are of white people, it’s because y’all aren’t looking very far from home. (Also, my celestial bestie is Japanese, so you should really get to know him.)

The Catholic Church is not a white Church. It wasn’t when it started and it sure as heck isn’t now, when it’s most alive in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

May is Asian and Pacific American Heritage Month. To celebrate, I’ll be sharing a different Asian Saint on Instagram and Facebook every day. I’d love it if you’d join me and get to know our beautiful and incredibly diverse family in heaven.

  1. You would be amazed at how often youth answer “Jerusalem” to this question. I know they know better, they’re just not thinking. [↩]

How to Make a Pilgrimage to Every American Saint

Several years ago, I started falling in love with the Saints, with the witness they provide and the encouragement I find in their holiness despite their brokenness. And since I spend a good amount of time abroad, I got to visit lots of different Saints. It’s much harder to do in the US, I thought, but then I flew back from Europe and accidentally visited five Saints in six weeks. Turns out, it’s not as tricky as it might be, if you’re being intentional about it. So over the course of about 14 months, I managed to visit every Saint and Blessed in the US.

It’s much easier when you’re a hobo, of course, but some of these Saints might be driveable from your home–or a good excuse for a family vacation to paradise. If you’re looking to join me in visiting every American Saint, here’s how to do it–in the most epic Catholic road (/air) trip of all time.

We’ll begin just across the border in Montreal (though since we’re about to visit St. Kateri’s hometown you can skip this one if you must. This is where she’s buried, though, and you’ll get three extra Canadian Saints, too).

St. Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American Saint, is buried in the mission church on the Kahnawake Mohawk reservation just south of Montreal. The church is called St. Francis Xavier and is a beautiful witness to authentic inculturation, with prayers written in English and Mohawk throughout the church. You can pray in front of the tomb of the young woman who endured ridicule and persecution but never gave up her faith.

They also have a great gift shop.

A few miles north is the incredible shrine to St. Joseph, built by St. André Bessette. In all honesty, I really don’t like the upper basilica, but there are some beautiful images of St. Joseph down below, as well as thousands of crutches left by people who came with disabilities and left walking on their own. Also, the body of St. André, the first Saint of the Congregation of the Holy Cross.1

Canes and crutches no longer needed thanks to his intercession.

Not too far from St. Andre is the church housing the body of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys, though it’s closed for half of January and all of February, so plan accordingly. We didn’t get to go inside, but said hi from the street.

I’m sure it’s lovely when it’s open.

Half an hour north of the city is a beautiful church stunningly situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, where St. Marguerite d’Youville is buried, a woman whose life reads like a soap opera but ends with a halo.

The chandeliers are remarkable.

Heading south from Canada (though really, you ought to make a detour to visit the Canadian shrine to the North American martyrs–it’s amazing), we’ll spend a little more time with St. Kateri in her hometown of Ossernenon. The shrine at Auriesville is the burial ground of St. Rene Goupil, St. Isaac Jogues, and St. Jean de Lalande. Ten years after the martyrdom of St. Isaac and St. Jean, St Kateri Tekakwitha was born in this town. The blood of the martyrs is truly the seed of the Church.

Four Saints in one village is nothing in Europe, but it’s a huge deal in the US.

Continuing south, we’ll stop in northern Manhattan to visit St. Francis Xavier Cabrini. While you’re in town, swing by St. Patrick’s Cathedral to visit a handful of Venerables and Servants of God (Ven. Fulton Sheen!) and make your way down to Staten Island to see Dorothy Day and Fr. Vincent Capodanno, both Servants of God.

St. Francis Xavier Cabrini, bottom; Jesus, top.

Fulton Sheen, Pierre Toussaint, and Terence Cooke, all at St. Pat’s.

Because she’s not far out of our way, we’ll swing through Convent Station, New Jersey to say hello to Bl. Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, a sort of American St. Thérèse. The church will probably be locked, but if you go through the convent, you may find a Sister who’s excited to tell you all about her. (Look for the Holy Family Chapel on the grounds of the College of Saint Elizabeth.)

She likely died of a burst appendix, so a good intercessor in cases of appendicitis.

From there, we’ll head down to Philadelphia, where we’ll visit St. Katherine Drexel and St. John Neumann. Though I visited St. Katherine Drexel at her motherhouse just north of the city, apparently her relics will soon be moved to the cathedral in downtown Philadelphia, not far from St. John Neumann’s shrine. If you’re headed to visit her, I’d call the motherhouse and see what the status is. If she hasn’t been moved yet, you can always go try to sweet talk one of the Sisters into letting you make a visit–it’s worth the detour from St. John Neumann to give it a shot.

He seems to have been absolutely tiny. (His body is in the crypt. I have no idea what’s in the sarcophagus-looking thing in the main church.)

She’s a beautiful intercessor for racial justice.

Next we’re off to see the very first native-born American Saint to be canonized, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, MD, just down the street from Mount St. Mary’s University.

Featuring my niece, Elizabeth Anna, who considers St. Elizabeth Ann Seton her “best Saint friend” and is proudly showing off her Saint block that is now a third class relic.

Now it’s finally time to leave the East Coast and head inland to visit some more Saint friends. Our first stop will be in Saint-Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana, to see St. Theodore Guerin (spoiler: she’s a woman). Make sure to visit the adoration chapel while you’re there–it’s beautiful.

Her tomb is inside the museum.

Here’s the monstrance.

Further west, we’ll find St. Rose Philippine Duchesne (and Imo’s Pizza) in St. Charles, MO. It’s an…interesting chapel. But Jesus is there, and so is our Saint friend, so we’re calling it a win.

I kind of love it when they don’t update their tombs to say “Saint” because her being their Mother is so important.

Now we have to drive the rest of the way across the country, so we might as well stop by Oklahoma City to see Bl. Stanley Rother. He’s the United States’ first native-born martyr and our first beatified native-born priest, plus he’s an Oklahoma farm boy, so he’s all around awesome. He used to be buried out in his hometown, but his body has been moved to a chapel at the cemetery by the OKC Pastoral Center while they get an amazing shrine built.

I can’t find the picture of his grave, so you’ll have to settle for this shot of me with two seminarians, Bl. Stanley’s sister, his brother, and his sister-in-law, nbd.

Stop through Chimayo if you like on your way to the Carmel Mission, one of many mission churches established by St. Junipero Serra, our most recently canonized Saint.

It’s really a beautiful, peaceful spot.

From there I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to hop a plane to Hawaii. If you can make it out to Molokai to spend time in the leper colony where St. Damien de Veuster and St. Marianne Cope worked, that’s awesome! But if not, you can stop by the cathedral in Honolulu and visit their relics there.

Part of his body is in Belgium and she’s got a museum in Syracuse, NY, but you can’t truly visit them without going to Hawaii, right? Right.

Apologies to Bl. Solanus Casey and Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, who didn’t make this road trip because they were geographically inconvenient. If you want to add Detroit and New Orleans to your list, you will have hit every single (U.S.) American Saint and Blessed.2 Don’t even get me started on Venerables and Servants of God…. (Pro tip: www.findagrave.com is your best resource for all of them.)3

Bl. Solanus Casey, future patron Saint of ice cream, pray for us!

If you go see Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos, then you get to eat in New Orleans. Double worth it.

So there you have it, folks: how to visit every American Saint (and Blessed). Share your pictures with #AmericanSaintsPilgrimage and tag me (@mhunterkilmer on Instagram) so I can be excited with you. And to make it even easier, here’s a map!

Click the link for more details, though not exact addresses. You can find those by visiting the websites linked above.

  1. Go Irish!! [↩]
  2. And you can visit Ven. Henriette DeLille while you’re in NOLA. [↩]
  3. Pretty sure nobody voice searches “Where is [X] buried?” as much as I do. [↩]

A Saint a Day for Black History Month

Last week, I sat in the back row of an adoration chapel in Texas. In that row with me sat an Asian woman, a black woman, and three Hispanic women.

On New Year’s Eve, I went to Mass in Georgia. Watching people go up for communion, I was awed at the diversity. People from India, East Asia, the Pacific Islands, Africa, North and South America, even Europe–this really is a universal Church we belong to.

And, whatever your church’s stained glass windows may suggest, the Saints are a remarkably diverse group as well. There are ten times as many Chinese Saints as American Saints, and while many of the ones we know best are white, even some of those aren’t as blond and blue-eyed as the statues in our Irish-built churches would lead us to believe.

So for Black History Month, I thought it might be nice to get to know some of the many Saints with roots in Africa. With some of the older ones, it’s hard to know exactly what race they may have been, but to my mind there’s no reason to assume someone from North Africa didn’t have some traditionally African features.

I’ll be sharing one of these Saints (or Saints-to-be) every day over on Instagram and Facebook with the hashtag #BlackSaints, so follow me over there to keep these heroes of the faith before your eyes this month. FYI, this is just a small sampling of the many, many black Saints. And believe me, there are some incredible stories in here.

  1. Bl. Victoire Rasoamanarivo

    2. Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo (1848-1894) was born a pagan princess and ultimately became an activist, a contemplative, and a national hero. After she converted to Catholicism in her teens, she experienced extreme persecution from her family, even an attempted assassination arranged by her husband. When Bl. Victoire was 35, the queen of Madagascar sent all the priests in the country into exile. They left the care of the Church in Bl. Victoire's hands. When the government locked the churches, she presented herself before the queen and the prime minister to object. When they stationed soldiers outside to bar entry for prayer, Victoire calmly approached the armed men, saying, “If you must have blood, begin by shedding mine. Fear will not keep us from assembling for prayer.” She stared them down, then led the assembled community into the church. After the missionaries' return, she worked with prisoners, lepers, and the abandoned poor, and when the uncle who had so persecuted her fell out of favor with the court, she cared for him as well. Finally, at the age of 46, this strong and courageous leader went home peacefully to Christ. #BlackSaints #BlackHistoryMonth

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  2. St. Moses the Black

    3. St Moses the Black was basically a land pirate. A former slave, he became the ringleader of a band of 75 outlaws. This guy delighted in murder, fornication, and revenge, once swimming the mile-wide Nile with a dagger in his teeth to knife a guy whose dog had barked at him. Eventually, his brigandry got the better of him and he ran to a monastery in an attempt to avoid the police. Once there, he was overcome by the love of Christ and begged to be received as a monk. It took him quite a while to adjust to life as a monk; once four robbers broke in and Moses beat their faces in before remembering himself. He then tied them up and took them to his abbot, sheepishly saying something like, “It used to be I woulda killed them, but I’m thinking that’s not how we do?” His monastic life was extremely difficult, as one might expect of a man accustomed to action and terrible sin, but he fought for years to overcome his temptations and ultimately became a priest and then an abbot himself, leading dozens of souls in the way of holiness. When another group of outlaws was approaching the monastery, Moses urged his men to flee, saying of himself, “Those who live by the sword must die by the sword.” He welcomed his murderers with open arms and was rewarded with a martyr’s crown. #BlackSaints #BlackHistoryMonth

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  3. Bl. Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa

    4. Bl. Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa were teenage catechists martyred in Uganda in 1918. Daudi was born around 1902 and Jildo around 1906, both to pagan families, but they took to heart the preaching of the missionaries and were both baptized in 1916. Not long after, the catechist in a remote village died, leaving those villagers with nobody to instruct them in the faith. After some time, Daudi convinced the local priest that he and Jildo were ready to take on the role of catechist, and 18 months after being baptized, they were setting out alone to a village known to be unsafe. Shy Daudi took the lead in instruction while the more excitable Jildo led the children in games and songs. But there were those who saw Christianity as an imposition of the British Empire, and thus the two young men as tools of colonialism. Despite their youth and gentle natures, they were killed for their faith in October of 1918. #BlackSaints #BlackHistoryMonth

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  4. Pope St. Victor I
  5. St. Martin de Porres
  6. Servant of God Augustus Tolton
  7. Ven. Henriette deLille
  8. St. Josephine Bakhita
  9. Sts. Augustine and Monica
  10. St. Charles Lwanga
  11. Bl. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi
  12. St. Mary of Egypt
  13. Ven. Pierre Toussaint
  14. Servant of God Julia Greeley
  15. St. Antonio Vieira
  16. Servant of God Mary Elizabeth Lange
  17. Sts. Timothy and Maura
  18. St. Cyprian of Carthage
  19. Our Lady of Kibeho
  20. Sts. Perpetua and Felicity
  21. Ven. Teresa Chikaba
  22. St. Maurice
  23. Bl. Isidore Bakanja
  24. St. Simon of Cyrene
  25. Bl. Marie-Clémentine Anuarite Nengapeta
  26. Bl. Benedict Daswa
  27. St. Benedict the Moor
  28. Ven. Zeinab Alif

I’ll drop in every day to share an image of a different black Saint along with their story, in brief. If you just can’t wait, click through to this great site for an introduction to some of the Saints we’ll be getting to know later this month. So head on over to Instagram and let’s rejoice in the remarkable universality of our Catholic Church.

What the Saints Did in the Face of Racism

This weekend a bunch of men (and some women) in polo shirts and khaki pants grabbed their tiki torches and showed their true colors to a world of white people who responded in stunned disbelief while people of color raised an eyebrow at how very shocked we all were. They flew swastikas and screamed hatred without even having the decency to hide behind hoods and masks and while there weren’t many there were far too many. And they were heavily armed, many of them, but unmolested by police, though it doesn’t take much research to see that other protestors aren’t accorded the same rights. And didn’t they go to middle school and read Anne Frank’s diary and don’t they know this wasn’t their land and can’t they see that nothing about what they’re doing is okay???

So we wring our hands and #Charlottesville because what do you say when people who look like you have gone absolutely crazy? Obviously you condemn it. Obviously. But these things keep happening and everybody knows racism is bad and I’m just so tired of it all.

We don’t get to be tired.

Or rather, if you’re tired, you get to push through. You get to nap and get up and keep going. You get to keep fighting this because if you’re reading this you’re likely white and so you have an obligation. We can talk some other time about the use of the word privilege, but right now I just need you to know that your privilege is a currency that you can spend on yourself or on others. If you have the ability to ignore this situation and you do, that is privilege spent on yourself. If you have the ability to ignore this situation and you choose instead to speak, to fight, to donate, to pray until your knees are bruised, that is privilege spent on the marginalized.

That’s what the Saints did.

We’re a 2,000-year-old Church with some Saints who were very much products of their time (not to mention the racist sinners who have often been the face of the Church), but we’ve also got Saints who poured their life’s blood out for the truth that racism is evil. We’ve got Saints who were prophets against slavery and Nazism, Saints who literally gave their lives to protest the filth being spewed by white supremacists in Charlottesville this weekend. So if you’re staring at your phone unsure what to do or say or retweet, maybe their witness will help.

St. Katharine Drexel gave up an enormous fortune and a brilliant future as a socialite to begin a religious order devoted to working with African-American and Native American children. She literally gave up everything–most especially the respect of her peers–in order to fight individual and institutional racism, taking a fourth vow “to be the mother and servant of the Indian and Negro races.” And she suffered for it, notably through the opposition of the Klan. Once members of the KKK threatened a white pastor at one of the churches where Drexel’s Sisters worked; the Sisters prayed, a tornado hit the Klan headquarters, and the cowards in white hoods kept their distance from the warriors clad in black.

  • Make a donation to a Cristo Rey school, a system of Jesuit high schools that work with largely minority populations to educate them and prepare them for the work force.
  • If you’re a teacher, consider working at a school that serves underprivileged minority students. If you’re a student, reach out to inner city summer programs and see if you can volunteer. (Try the Missionaries of Charity.)
  • Pray for the conversion of white supremacists (or, barring that, for the necessary acts of God).

St. Josephine Bakhita was kidnapped from her Sudanese village when she was about 7 years old and sold into slavery; she was so traumatized by the events that she forgot her own name and was called “Bakhita,” which means “lucky one,” by the slavers. She was beaten bloody and ritually scarred for years until she was sold to a “kind” Italian family of slave owners. Serving as their little daughter’s lady’s maid, she accompanied the little girl to a convent school, where she heard the Gospel for the first time and determined to be baptized. When the family returned and told her to go with them to Sudan, Bakhita refused. After nearly 15 years of doing everything she was told, she threw a metaphorical fist in the air and resisted, unwilling to leave the Sisters before being baptized. Eventually, the case went to court where a judge ruled that Bakhita (who had the support of the future Pope St. Pius X) had been free from the moment she arrived in Italy, establishing a precedent that not only was the slave trade illegal in Italy but also the possession of slaves. She went on to become a Canossian sister and at the end of her life declared that if she met her captors again she would kiss their feet because without their evil acts she would never have come to know Christ.

  • Contribute to a group that provides legal aid to the underprivileged.
  • Choose to forgive people whose racism has impacted you or those you love.

St. Peter Claver gave his whole life to serve slaves, calling himself “the slave of the Negroes forever.” Born in Spain, he became a Jesuit priest and spent 40 years in Colombia, where he would meet slave ships as they arrived from Africa and plunge into the hold with food, medicine, and the Sacrament of Baptism. He said, “We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips,” and in so doing earned himself the right to preach of the gentle, loving Savior common to all men. He preached to Europeans as well, but avoided the hospitality of the slave owners whenever he could, preferring to sleep in the slaves’ quarters instead. He visited hospitals and prisons, making friends for God and securing the enmity of many who profited by the ignorance of their slaves. It’s said that he baptized nearly 300,000 people in his 40 years as a priest.

  • Consider the importance of corporal works of mercy as well as spiritual works. Feed hungry people.
  • Research the ways in which black people today are still suffering from cycles of poverty and incarceration that began with slavery. We are not saying this is your fault. But learning how people have suffered and continue to suffer can make us more compassionate.
  • Educate yourself on how human trafficking happens in this country and around the world. Do something about it.

Blessed Emilian Kovch is one of dozens of Saints killed for their opposition to Nazism. Some were killed simply for being Catholic, but many lost their lives specifically for fighting the racism of the Nazi regime. Fr. Kovch was a husband, a father of 6, and an Eastern Rite Catholic priest. He preached against anti-Semitism, stared down a mob of Nazis, and baptized Jews by the thousands in defiance of Nazi orders forbidding it. He was arrested and sent to a concentration camp, from which he wrote his family asking that they not seek his release as the prisoners had need of a priest. After celebrating Sacraments for a year in the camp, he died far from his family but surrounded by his children.

  • Consider marching in just protests (for example, counter-protests against guys with swastikas) and taking a much smaller risk than Bl. Emilian’s.
  • If you’re a priest or deacon, preach against racism. Somehow Christians have missed the message that you can’t be a follower of Jesus and a racist–fix that.
  • Use your privilege as currency, speaking up when you don’t have to about issues of race and injustice.

Venerable Henriette Delille could have passed. Her mother called herself white when asked by the census, as did her siblings. But Henriette wanted to show other free women of color that their lives didn’t have to be dictated by the racist system, that they could be black and truly free. While Henriette’s mother wanted her to live as the concubine of a rich white man, as she herself had done and as Henriette’s sister had as well, Henriette chose Christ. She began a religious order of women of color to serve the elderly. Though many Church and state officials opposed a religious order of African-American women, her small group of educated black women eventually became the Sisters of the Holy Family.

  • Talk about issues of race, both with people who are comfortable with the topic and with those who aren’t.
  • Attend Mass at an African-American or Filipino parish or go to the Spanish or Vietnamese or Portuguese Mass at your parish and get to know people who are different from you.

Servant of God Augustus Tolton was the first African-American Catholic priest to acknowledge his African heritage publicly. (The Healy brothers were mixed race and chose to live as white men.) Born a slave in 1854, Tolton and his family escaped to Illinois where he first began to discern a call to the priesthood, despite the racism he endured at the hands of white Catholics. But while his pastor supported his vocation, he was rejected by every American seminary because of his race. For years, Tolton persevered, waiting in hope that he would one day be permitted to serve at the altar. Finally, he was accepted at a seminary in Rome and prepared to serve in the African missions as the American bishops were quite sure that the American Church wasn’t ready for black priests. But Rome saw differently, and Fr. Augustus was sent first to Quincy, IL and then to Chicago where, despite constant struggles with prejudiced clergy and laity, he served his people tirelessly, dying of exhaustion at only 43.

  • Work to be welcoming of international priests serving in your parishes, getting to know them as individuals and encouraging other parishioners not to write them off because they’re “hard to understand.”
  • Learn about the history of racism in the American Catholic Church–and the issues we still deal with today.

Servant of God Bartolomé de las Casas worked for 50 years to end the enslavement of Native American peoples, advocating to the Spanish crown that they be permitted to rule themselves. Though he had been a slave owner himself, he was struck by the Christmas Eve sermon of Antonio de Montesinos, in which the good friar condemned the leading citizens of Santo Domingo:

You are in mortal sin, and live and die therein by reason of the cruelty and tyranny that you practice on these innocent people. Tell me, by what right or justice do you hold these Indians in such cruel and horrible slavery? By what right do you wage such detestable wars on these people who lived mildly and peacefully in their own lands, where you have consumed infinite numbers of them with unheard of murders and desolations? Why do you so greatly oppress and fatigue them, not giving them enough to eat or caring for them when they fall ill from excessive labors, so that they die or rather are slain by you, so that you may extract and acquire gold every day? And what care do you take that they receive religious instruction and come to know their God and creator, or that they be baptized, hear mass, or observe holidays and Sundays? Are they not men? Do they not have rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves? How can you lie in such profound and lethargic slumber? Be sure that in your present state you can no more be saved than the Moors or Turks who do not have and do not want the faith of Jesus Christ.

Las Casas, already a priest at the time, said hearing Montesinos was a pivotal point in his life and it sparked him on a course that made him the first great advocate of the rights of native peoples in the New World.

  • Interact with your elected officials in meaningful ways and help them see that there is no ethical or prudential justification for pandering to racists.
  • Have the courage to speak up when people make mildly–or appallingly–racist comments.

There are others, of course, other missionaries who valued the differences of those they served (St. Francis Xavier, much?), other priests who publicly decried racism (like St. Paul), other Sisters who served minorities (St. Theodore Guerin), other Saints of color who endured racism (Kibe). But here you have a start, a witness to the fact that Christians have to take a stand against racism in word and in deed. For many of us, the most we’ll suffer is discomfort. Not concentration camps or lynchings or death threats on social media. That is a privilege. Exercise your privilege by refusing to be silent.

 

(Here are 50 more suggestions of how to imitate the Saints in seeking to heal our divided nation. Please feel free to recommend more Saints in the comments.)

16 Scientist Saints

There are few things that can more quickly cause me to pull out my soapbox and climb up for a rant than the implication that science and faith are at odds. “I don’t believe in God, I believe in science,” they say, to which I respond, “You’re welcome.” For science, that is. It was invented by a Franciscan friar, after all. And you’re welcome for genetics (Augustinian monk). And the Big Bang Theory (Jesuit priest). And I rant and I rave about how sciencey the Church is. Because there is simply no such conflict.

Servant of God Takashi Nagai speaks simply on the alleged conflict between science and faith: “If you read what the great scientists actually said, it is not so. Social and literary critics, that is, men who have held pens but never test tubes, are the ones who make that claim.” So in the interest of dispelling that silly rumor (and introducing you to some new Saint friends), I thought it would be good to collect some of our more scientifically-brilliant Saints. Not just Sunday-Mass Catholics who were scientists, Saints. Not just Saints who could do chemistry or build a bridge, pioneers who changed their fields forever. Turns out, there are rather a lot, but let’s start with these.

Saint Anatolius of Laodicea (d. 283) was the bishop of Laodicea and a leading scholar in all the natural sciences (including arithmetic, geometry, physics, rhetoric, dialectic, and astronomy) as well as being an Aristotelian philosopher.

I really can’t get over the idea of calculus with Roman numerals.

Saint Abbo of Fleury (945-1004) was an abbot, a mathematician, a liturgist, a historian, and an astronomer who worked on the theory of numbers before the introduction of Arabic numerals. He was stabbed to death for working to reform a monastery of not-so-holy monks.

Blessed Herman of Reichenau (1013-1054) was born with severe disabilities (cleft palate, cerebral palsy, and spina bifida or possible spinal muscular atrophy) and raised in a monastery. He wrote on geometry, arithmetic, history, astronomy, theology, and music theory. When he eventually went blind, he turned his attention to composing, most notably the Salve Regina.

St Albert the Great (d. 1280) is called the last man to know all there was to know. (He taught St. Thomas Aquinas, whose work was so impressive that nobody could know all of Thomas and all of the rest of the world’s scholarship.) In addition to being a holy bishop, he wrote on philosophy, theology, botany, geography, astronomy, zoology, music, and physiology, mostly with remarkable accuracy, especially given the time.

From a secular site. Because everybody in these fields knows this guy was a beast.

Blessed Nicolas Steno (Niels Stenson) (1638-1686) was a convert to Catholicism, a bishop, a pioneer in anatomy and geology, and the father of paleontology because he discovered what fossils were. His laws of stratigraphy are still in use. And he managed all this before dying at the age of 48.

Blessed Francesco Faà di Bruno (1825-1888) was a nobleman, an army officer, and a cartographer before earning a doctorate in math and devising a theorem on derivatives of composite functions that is named after him. He published around 40 articles in respected mathematical journals over the course of his career. Oh, and he was also a social reformer who worked with St. John Bosco and then a priest and the founder of religious order. Plus he worked to help women escape from human trafficking.

Saint Giuseppe Moscati (1880-1927) was a dedicated single layman, a doctor who served the poor for free and risked his life to rescue elderly patients during a volcanic eruption. He was a pioneer in the field of biochemistry whose published research led (among many things) to the discovery of insulin as a treatment for diabetes. He was among the first to use CPR and his innovative patient-centered method influenced the field as a whole and encouraged a more holistic approach to medicine.

Nagai with his two children as he lay dying.

Servant of God Takashi Nagai (1908-1951) was a married Japanese doctor and convert from Shintoism and atheistic nihilism. The father of 2 worked at the leading edge of radiology research, eventually contracting leukemia from his exposure to radiation. His condition was dramatically worsened by the atomic bomb that incinerated his wife when dropped on Nagasaki. The poetry he wrote over the next several years, about suffering and forgiveness, transformed the way the Japanese responded to the catastrophic end of World War II.

Servant of God Jerome Lejeune (1926-1994) was a married French pediatrician, geneticist, and father of 5 who discovered that Down Syndrome was caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21. His later work identified several other diseases caused by chromosomal abnormalities, all of which together earned him the William Allen Award, the world’s highest honor for genetics. In addition to his scientific research, Lejeune was a vocal pro-life advocate, concerned especially with defending children whose lives could be threatened by their prenatal genetic diagnoses.

 

I’d like to include here also a number of canonized (or soon-to-be-canonized) physicians, though they weren’t research scientists or pioneers in mathematical or scientific fields. By separating them from the others, I don’t mean to imply that medicine isn’t a serious science, only that people tend to be less surprised when someone in the “caring professions” is a Christian, even if that person is a scientist as well. We also have quite a lot of doctor Saints, so I thought I’d limit it to a handful.

St. Joseph Canh (d. 1838) was a Vietnamese doctor, and third order Dominican, who was beheaded by the Japanese for refusing to deny Christ.

St. Anthony Nam-Quynh (d. 1838) was a Vietnamese doctor and catechist who was strangled to death for his faith.

St.Mark Ji Tianxiang (d. 1900) was an opium addict. Not had been an opium addict—was an opium addict at the time of his death. He was a Chinese Christian doctor who treated the poor for free but became hooked on opiates after a stomach ailment. For 30 years he was barred from receiving the Sacraments and prayed that he would die a martyr. Finally, his prayer was answered when he was captured during the Boxer Rebellion. He went to his death singing the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Blessed Ladislao Batthyány-Strattmann (1870-1931) was a prince, a father of 13, and a surgeon specializing in ophthalmology who operated on the poor for the fee of one Our Father.

St. Richard Pampuri

St. Richard Pampuri (1897-1930) was an Italian doctor and a religious brother in the order of the Hospitallers of St John of God. He served as a medic in World War I before becoming a doctor and entering religious life.

Servant of God Vico Necchi (1876-1930) was a husband, father, third-order Franciscan, doctor, professor of biology, daily communicant, and founder of the University of the Sacred Heart. He was a leader in the Catholic Action movement and worked diligently to improve the lot of mentally handicapped children.

St. Gianna Molla (1922-1962) is, of course, famous for having refused to abort her child at the expense of her own life, but it wasn’t that sacrifice that made her a Saint, it was the life leading up to it that made it possible. Gianna was a pediatrician, a wife, and the (working) mother of 4.

Got a Favorite Disney Princess? Meet Your New Favorite Saint.

If there’s one thing I know about kids, it’s that they can be remarkably single-minded. From an hour-long tantrum inspired by tyrannical authorities switching off an electronic device to the uncanny ability to make every conversation about Spiderman, once they fixate, they may be stuck for years.

Which is why we need to get them focused on the right things. Superheroes and construction vehicles are all well and good, but we who are blessed to be part of a 2000-year-old Church have much more to offer our children than Doc McStuffins and Paw Patrol.

What if your kids loved the Saints as much as they love fictional characters? What if they wanted to dress like Isaac Jogues and Catherine of Siena instead of (or in addition to) Batman and Elsa? I’ve been doing my part to share these stories, but it occurred to me that it would help if you used the obsessions they already have to draw them into the lives of the Saints. And since Disney princesses aren’t so very different from Princess Saints, I thought we’d start there. Scroll through to find your (or your child’s) favorite Disney Princess/Lady-who’s-cool-enough-to-be-a-princess and check out the Saint who might be your new bestie.

disney-saints-2

cinderella-germaineCinderella: St. Germaine

I honestly wonder if St. Germaine wasn’t the inspiration for Cinderella. After her mother died when she was a baby, Germaine’s father remarried, a horrid woman named Hortense who deserved her name. She was terribly abusive to her stepdaughter, refusing to feed her, pouring boiling water on her, and laughing when her children put ashes in Germaine’s food. Like Cinderella, Germaine was sweet as can be imagined, sharing what little she had with beggars and even finding it in herself to forgive her stepmother. Like Cinderella, she was rescued from her life of suffering servitude to be wed to a prince, though her happily ever after came through her death at 22, when she was married to the King of Kings; 40 years later, her body was exhumed and discovered to be incorrupt.

rapunzel-barbaraRapunzel: St. Barbara

Like Rapunzel, the beautiful St. Barbara was locked in a tower for years to protect her from her many expected suitors. What her pagan father didn’t expect was that her long hours staring out the window at creation would turn her mind to the creator of all things, convincing her (through the use of her senses and reason) that pagan idols are worthless. She devoted her life to the pursuit of wisdom, refusing all the suitors her father had finally allowed to come calling. Realizing that he’d messed her up, he let her out of the tower to try to make her normal again and was more than a little dismayed when she met several Christians and decided to be baptized. When she began to witness to her father, he rushed upon her with a sword. Despite miraculously avoiding him several times, she was eventually captured, tortured, and martyred by her own father. (Don’t worry, he was struck by lightning shortly afterward.)

pocohontas-kateriPocahontas: St. Kateri Tekakwitha

Okay, so you probably don’t need help to make this connection; it’s basically just their ethnicity. But while Kateri wasn’t as hot as Pocahontas or as loved by raccoons, she’s more of a true heroine than Pocahontas could ever be–even if you read the real story and not the Disney rom-com. Kateri was born to a Christian mother and a pagan father who both died when she was four. The same smallpox epidemic that killed them left her disfigured and nearly blind, in the care of an uncle who despised Christians. She suffered throughout her life for her faith as people spread rumors about her, ridiculed her, and refused her food on Sundays when she was unwilling to work. Finally, she escaped to a Christian village, walking 200 miles so that she could live with the Sacraments, embracing a vow of virginity and a life of prayer. When she died at 24, her pockmarked face was cleared and those who looked at her dead body saw her as radiantly beautiful.

belle-catherineBelle: St. Catherine of Alexandria

Every girl I’ve ever known who loved Belle loved her because of books. And nobody loved books like Catherine of Alexandria, a pagan princess in Egypt who refused to marry because she was too busy reading. As suitors sought to win her and remained unable to distract her from reading, a hermit came by and promised her a man who knew more than was contained in all her books. Catherine was interested in this and allowed the hermit to tell her about Jesus. Entranced, Catherine offered her life and her hand in marriage to the king of kings. When the Roman emperor heard this, he tried to convince her of the error of her ways by sending 150 of the world’s greatest philosophers to debate her; Catherine convinced every one (and the emperor’s wife) of the truth of the Gospel and was eventually martyred herself.

jasmine-casildaJasmine: St. Casilda

The Moors didn’t dress like Jasmine, but neither did whatever culture she’s supposed to be from. In any event, both Jasmine and Casilda are from Muslim countries, so we’ll call it good. The Muslim daughter of a Moorish king, Casilda knew nothing about Christianity until she met Christians imprisoned for their faith and heard the joy they had found in the love of Christ. She longed to become a Christian but her father threatened her with imprisonment, so it seemed there was nothing she could do. Her longing for Christ was so strong that she began to waste away, consumed by an illness no medicine could cure. Finally, her father consented to send her to a healing spring in a Christian country, where Casilda was healed and then baptized. Unable to return home, she became a hermit and lived to be 100.

tiana-henrietteTiana: Ven. Henriette Delille 

Like Tiana, Henriette Delille was a New Orleans-born woman of color (though we wouldn’t know it to look at her) who worked to earn her place in the world. The great-great-granddaughter of a slave, Henriette belonged to an elite class of African-Americans whose daughters were expected to become mistresses to white men. Refusing to submit to such an ungodly arrangement, Henriette founded the Sisters of the Holy Family, a religious community made up of other educated, intelligent women of color. She spent the rest of her life working with the sick and poor, particularly in the African-American community.

mulan-joanMulan: St. Joan of Arc

If you’re drawn to Mulan because she’s Asian, you’ve got a whole host of Saints to choose from. But if it’s the strong femininity/leading men in battle thing, look no further than St. Joan of Arc. (Actually, feel free to look further to the book of Judith. She’s a boss.) It seems silly even to summarize her story, as I’m sure you know that she was a French peasant girl to whom the voices of St. Michael, St. Margaret, and St. Catherine of Alexandria (see above) spoke. She was told to lead France to victory in the Hundred Years War. Unlike Mulan, Joan was not seeking to impersonate a man–her strength lay in her ability to serve the Lord as a woman, even though he called her to an unusual role. As with Mulan, her story ends gloriously in fire, though Joan didn’t walk away from her fire. Always a hero to France, it took 500 years before she was canonized by the universal church.

merida-margaretMerida: St. Margaret of Scotland

A queen of Scotland is the obvious choice for Merida, but it helps that St. Margaret also had rather a strong personality. She entered Scotland a shipwrecked princess and proceeded to refuse marriage for several years before consenting to marry King Malcom. As queen, she managed to introduce courtly manners to the less-than-couth Scottish nobles. She also brought the Church in Scotland out of a near schism, washed the feet of beggars every day in Advent and Lent, prayed like a nun, and raised eight children, one of whom went on to become a Saint himself. But mostly it’s the Scottish thing.

jane-helenaJane: St. Helena

Though not exactly a princess, Jane (of Tarzan fame) is quite the compelling character. She’s intelligent, brave, and adventurous, just like St. Helena, mother of the Roman emperor Constantine. Having witnessed the degradation of Christianity at the hands of the Roman nobility, Helena traveled to the Holy Land at an advanced age to search for the True Cross. That makes her an empress, an adventurer, and an archaeologist–no dainty, decorative princess here.

megara-pulcheriaMegara: St. Pulcheria

Meg’s always been a favorite of mine, and it’s not just the name. She’s sassy, cynical, and single, just like me! Take out the selling-your-soul-to-the-devil thing, and we’re a perfect match. But it’s her intelligence that has me pairing her with St. Pulcheria, a woman who reigned as empress in Constantinople not because of her marriage but because of her brilliance. She ruled along with her brother the emperor until his death, at which point they asked her to continue in her position. A consecrated virgin, Pulcheria always made prayer her top priority, even in the midst of important affairs of state. This prayerfulness gave her such wisdom in divine things that Pope St. Leo the Great asked her to speak before the ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in order to help the bishops better understand the nature of Christ. A woman like that could outsmart the devil himself.

esmeralda-catherineEsmeralda: Bl. Catherine Jarrige

Unfortunately, the only gypsy on the path to canonization is a man (Bl. Ceferino), but a woman who loved to dance when she was young and spent her adulthood deceiving corrupt agents of the state sounds like a good match for Esmeralda. Bl. Catherine served the poor as a third order Dominican (kind of a lay nun) but is best known for her work to protect priests during the anti-clerical French Revolution. She would sometimes pretend to be a drunken vagrant to distract the authorities and is said to have saved thousands of priests from the guillotine through her quick wit and acting ability. (Click the link–she’s fantastic.)

As for the others, I’m at a loss. There are obviously no mermaid Saints, no Saints who slept for 100 years, no Saints who lived with seven dwarves, and no ice-magic-working Saints (though St. Catherine of Sweden was at least a Nordic queen). For Ana and Elsa, you could try Sts. Perpetua and Felicity, since at least they come in a pair? But a very different pair. Sleeping Beauty could be Jairus’ daughter from Mark chapter 5.1 I bet there are some good medieval legends that could supply us with some alternatives, but for now we’ll just have to steer our girls away from Ariel (because she’s the worst) to better princesses and marvelous Saints.

So there you have it, friends What other suggestions would you make?

  1. This was my niece’s favorite Bible story because I would wrap her up in a sheet, pretend she was dead, then say, “Little girl, arise!” and hold one end of the sheet while she spun out. It’s not pink and blue fairies, but it was always good for a laugh. [↩]