Favourite Saint

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St. Monica.

In my first church there was a painting (below) of St Monica with St Augustine .

The parish's sodality for mothers was dedicated to St Monica and its members were called Monicans , much to the amusement of my dad who would refer to my mum as "the last of the Mohicans" .

 

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- St Louis de Montfort

Yes , St Louis de Monfort who has helped me in my attempts at total consecration to Jesus through Mary .

 

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-Francis Xavier
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Having lived in a parish served by Jesuits for my first 13 years and having attended a college run by the Jesuits , St Francis Xavier is one of the tops .

 

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Servant of God Sr. Leonie Martin.

Léonie Martin - Wikipedia

 

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St Stephen the First Martyr

I took St Stephen as my patron when I received the Sacrament of Confirmation .

My parents gave me a painting similar to the one below in memory of my Confirmation .

 

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Joseph

Yes , St Joseph , the quiet man in the background .

 

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St. Micheal

and St. Christopher

and my most favorite is St. Paul

 

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Saint Edmund Campion replied to the verdict sentencing him to death " It was not our death that ever we feared. We knew that we were not lords of our own lives, and therefore for want of answer would not be guilty of our own deaths. The only thing that we now have to say is, that if our Religion do make us traitors, we are worthy to be condemned; but otherwise are and have been as true subjects as ever the Queen had. In condemning us you condemn all your own ancestors-all the ancient priests, bishops, and kings – all that was once the glory of England, the island of saints, and the most devoted child of the See of Peter."

 

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St Bernadette has been part of my life for most of my life in some form or other .

 

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St. Micheal

Holy Michael the Archangel defeat the attacks of Satan and his demons .

 

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My Guardian Angel , whom I envisage as a mighty warrior ready to do battle for me against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms .

 

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St Martin de Porres , canonised in 1962 by Pope John XXIII , was the first saint I remember being canonised .

We were encouraged to learn of him and to pray to him .

Pope John XXIII did not like many images of St Martin because they depicted him as someone white .

 

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Canonised in 1970 , we were encouraged to pray for the canonisation of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales .

I was at a rally in 1961 at Preston North End's football ground when 20 000 Catholics gathered to pray for the Forty Martyrs' canonisation .

 

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The Pearl of York whose feast is kept this week .

I iive in Lancashire in the north of England . Lancashire is a county from which came one tenth of the English martyrs . Our neighbour is the county of Yorkshire with its capital York , an ancient city . So it’s not far away from me , just a couple of hours by train to York .

In York is a very old street called the Shambles in which lived a remarkable lady , Margaret Clitherow…

She is the Pearl .

Margaret Clitherow was born Margaret Middleton in 1556 in York. She was the daughter of a wax chandler and brought up a protestant, Margaret married widower, John Clitherow, in 1571. She was just 15. They had a happy marriage and had several children.

John Clitherow was a butcher and his shop and house were in the Shambles . Margaret converted to Catholicism in 1574 , when being a Catholic was a dangerous thing. Anyone celebrating Mass was hunted down and risked, at best, imprisonment or, at worse, death .

Within a couple of years of her conversion, Margaret was helping and sheltering priests in the city, Priests and those who were caught hiding them faced the death penalty.

In 1586, the Clitherow home was raided. The priest escaped but Margaret and her family refused to speak. A small boy staying with them was so frightened, he told the interrogators everything. Priest’s vestments and communion bread were found and Margaret was arrested and her children never saw her again.
At her trial Margaret was found guilty and sentenced to death .

She was stripped naked and made to lie on the floor with a stone in her back. A door was laid on top of her and piled with heavy stones. It’s thought she might have been pregnant and she took fifteen minutes to die, her last words being “Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! Have mercy on me.”

St Margaret Clitherow’s home is now a simple shrine in her honour…

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A plaque on Ouse Bridge marks the spot of her martyrdom…

To enter that house , and to stand where St Margaret Clitherow was martyred is a privilege and is very moving .

 

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Three popes of my lifetime who have been canonised

 

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St Anne is the patron of the church in my parish .

 

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St Cuthbert , a saint from the north of England

 

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St Oswald a saint from the north of England to whom the first Catholic church in town was dedicated and to whom my first school was dedicated .

St Oswald is also in the name of our neighbouring Oswaldtwistle - Wikipedia .

 

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Another North of England saint , St Aidan was a Celtic monk.

St Aidan chose Lindisfarne as his missionary centre. He started the monastic (Nun) life for women of Northumbria. Under his guidance St Hilda became the first great Abbess, ruling houses at Hartlepool and Whitby. So women had the chance to give themselves to God in a life of prayer and service. But they did not go go out as travelling missionaries in the same way as the men. St Aidan always travelled around by foot. He comforted the poor and attacked the rich.

Loved and respected by all St Aidan died at Bamburgh in 651, after 17 years as the first bishop of Lindisfarne. His feast day is 31st August

 

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Bede was a monk at the English monastery of Wearmouth and Jarrow, in Northumbria. From the age of seven, he spent all his life at that monastery except for a few brief visits to nearby sites. He says of himself: “I have devoted my energies to a study of the Scriptures, observing monastic discipline, and singing the daily services in church; study, teaching, and writing have always been my delight.”