need help finding saints who struggled with addiction. preferably male, but any will do.

[CodyR4]

i have struggled with addiction of a lustful nature for quite some time. often involving sexual deviancies. i know it sounds weird to come out and say that but it would give yall a better picture of what i am looking for.

and while youre at it. if anyone can give me a good recommendation for online catholic stores where i can buy prayer cards and such id much appreciate it.

 

[Pavel Mosko]

This is a good one.

Mary of Egypt


I believe Saint Augustine also fits to a lesser degree

The Confessions of Saint Augustine, by Saint Augustine

 

[Rene Loup]

I have made this same post in another topic:

Sexual immorality is a common and hard to overcome sin. Hard, but not impossible, because with God, all things are possible (Luke 18:26-27, Mark 10:26-27, Matthew 19:25-26). I also strongly recommend doing research on how it affects people, both the actors/actresses and the viewers.

Here is to start you off:

Home - Fight the New Drug

YouTube.com - The Fuel Project - The "M" Word Series.

Here is a three-step process I use with my own sexual sins. I use them in combination whenever the temptation arrives. Basically, Rebuke, Pray, and Quote Scripture. Do it whenever needed and NEVER GIVE UP!!!

REBUKE
(Acts 16:16-18, Luke 10:17-20, Matthew 28:18)​

Every time you are tempted to look at inappropriate content, say out loud:

"This is someone's daughter."
(Matthew 5:27-30, Proverbs 17:6, Psalms 127:3-5)

"The Lord rebuke you."
(Jude 1:8-10, Zechariah 3:1-2)

The context of truth is more important than the actual wording. There are Bibles with reading levels ranging from Grades 3 to 12.[1]

1. What are the reading levels of the Bibles on Bible Gateway?

Pray & Fast
(Acts 19:11-16, Mark 9:26-29, Matthew 17:19-21)

Bible Book Abbreviations​

Pray to God for help. The Lord's Prayer is a good start:

Jesus Teaches About Prayer
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites. They love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners and pray loudly. They want people to see them pray. I tell you the truth. They already have their full reward. 6 When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door. Then pray to your Father who cannot be seen. Your Father can see what is done in secret, and he will reward you.

7 “And when you pray, don’t be like those people who don’t know God. They continue saying things that mean nothing. They think that God will hear them because of the many things they say. 8 Don’t be like them. Your Father knows the things you need before you ask him. 9 So when you pray, you should pray like this:

‘Our Father in heaven,
we pray that your name will always be kept holy.
10 We pray that your kingdom will come.
We pray that what you want will be done,
here on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us the food we need for each day.
12 Forgive the sins we have done,
just as we have forgiven those who did wrong to us.
13 And do not cause us to be tested;
but save us from the Evil One.’
[The kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours forever. Amen.]

14 Yes, if you forgive others for the things they do wrong, then your Father in heaven will also forgive you for the things you do wrong. 15 But if you don’t forgive the wrongs of others, then your Father in heaven will not forgive the wrong things you do.

~Matthew 6:5-15 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 6 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 6 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 6 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 6 - International Children’s Bible

Pray to God to help you develop the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:13-26). Here is a daily prayer I use:

Character Development Prayer

Dear, Father God…​

Thank You for putting me in a time and place where someone like me may have a chance at life. Thank You for guiding, protecting, loving, and never leaving nor forsaking me, even during my worst moments (Deut. 31:6, John 3:16, Ps. 91). Though it may not feel like it at times, the truth shall make me free (John 8:31-32, 14:6-7, 14:15-27).

I pray to You for Christ-like character development through the Fruit of the Spirit. Today, this is known as ‘Emotional Intelligence,’ and is recognized as more important than intelligence and talent. I pray to You to allow The Holy Spirit to continue helping me learn and apply the Fruit of the Spirit in my daily life, so I may grow in humility, maturity, positive character, self-discipline, and Christ-like love, empathy, and compassion towards others and myself (1 Cor. 9:24-27, 13:1-13, Eph. 4:25-32, Gal. 5:13-26, Luke 16:1-15, Phil. 2:1-11).

I pray to You to continue allowing The Holy Spirit to renew my mind, heal my wounds, and help me learn and apply Love, Kindness, Gentleness, Goodness, Self-Control, Patience, Faithfulness, Peace, and Joy (Gal. 5:22-26, Ps. 147:1-6, Rom. 12:1-3). I pray for the Fruit of the Spirit in thought, word, and deed (Col. 3:15-17, Matt. 5:1-7:29, Rom. 2:5-11). Please transform me into the person You want me to be, so I may serve You better each and every day, for the rest of my life (Ex. 20:2-7, Josh. 24:15).

I also pray to You to help me overcome all of the Acts of the Flesh, especially [name the ones you struggle with most] (1 Cor. 10:13, Gal. 5:19-21). I pray to You to continue helping me learn and apply forgiveness, to learn from my past experiences, and never dwell on them (Col. 3:13, Eph. 4:32, Matt. 18:21-35). I am a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I will not suffer forever (2 Cor. 5:16-21, John 3:16, Rev. 21:1-8).

Basically, I pray to You to help me learn and apply loving You with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving others as myself, even when used, abused, and rejected (Ex. 20:1-17, Luke 10:25-37, Mark 12:28-34, Matt. 22:34-40, 1 Pet. 3:8-22, Rom. 13:8-10). I also pray this over [names of people and communities], so we may all continue an economy of empathy and compassion (1 Cor. 13, Eph. 6:10-20, Matt. 5:43-48).

Give us this day our daily bread, nourishment to our hearts, minds, and souls (Luke 11:3, Matt. 6:11).

In the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Amen and amen.​

Another prayer I use whenever temptation comes:

God, I pray to You that when it comes to women, let my future wife be my only desire. Amen.

There is also fasting, as mentioned in the Bible passages provided under this section's title. I personally see that as things like detoxing, medicine, and therapy. NEVER DISCOUNT THESE!!!

QUOTING SCRIPTURE
(John 8:44, 14:6, 14:14-31, Luke 4:1-13, Matthew 4:1-11, 2 Timothy 3:15-17)​

I also recommend quoting the following Scripture out loud:

Use Your Bodies for God’s Glory
12 “I am allowed to do all things.” But not all things are good for me to do. “I am allowed to do all things.” But I must not do those things that will make me their slave. 13 “Food is for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” Yes. But God will destroy them both. The body is not for sexual immorality. The body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 By God’s power God raised the Lord Jesus from death. And God will also raise us from death. 15 Surely you know that your bodies are parts of Christ himself. So I must never take parts of Christ and join them to a prostitute! 16 It is written in the Scriptures, “The two people will become one body. So you should know that a man who joins himself with a prostitute becomes one with her in body. 17 But the one who joins himself with the Lord is one with the Lord in spirit.

18 So run away from sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person does is outside the body. But those who are sexually immoral sin against their own bodies. 19 You should know that your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in you. You have received the Holy Spirit from God. You do not own yourselves. 20 You were bought by God for a price. So honor God with your bodies.

~1 Corinthians 6:12-20 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 6 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 6 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 6 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 6 - International Children’s Bible

9 But if they cannot control their bodies, then they should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.

~1 Corinthians 7:9 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 7 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 7 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 7 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: 1 Corinthians 7 - International Children’s Bible

Jesus Teaches About Adultery
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You must not be guilty of adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that if anyone looks at a woman with lust, he has already committed adultery with her in his mind. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, then take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand causes you to sin, then cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

~Matthew 5:27-30 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 5 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 5 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 5 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 5 - International Children’s Bible

15 And he said: “Listen to me, King Jehoshaphat! Listen, all you people living in Judah and Jerusalem! The Lord says this to you: ‘Don’t be afraid or discouraged because of this large army. The battle is not your battle. It is God’s battle.

~2 Chronicles 20:15 (ICB)

Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 20 - King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 20 - New King James Version
Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 20 - New International Version
Bible Gateway passage: 2 Chronicles 20 - International Children’s Bible

There are definitely more, but these are the ones I am currently the most familiar with. I strongly encourage you to read, study, and KNOW Scripture on a daily basis.

Take care, stay safe, and God bless!

 

[Jeshu]

i have struggled with addiction of a lustful nature for quite some time. often involving sexual deviancies.

Yes i know i have struggled with these as well but you can overcome. What i found was that i was divided within between a self who didn't want to sin and offend God, i call this my faithful self, and a self where i change in my will to serve God and i become deviant. (The sheep and the goats within.)

Now go to God the sexual deviant person you can become and accept God's grace in your life in this part of your life. The more you eat God's grace in your sinner self the more you will love Jesus for saving you from your sins.

Understand that wilful sin will die in us only when love for God grows in our hearts. The more we eat grace the more we love Jesus so the more we are able to resist temptation.

Love for God has no desire to sin i found to be true. The more i love God the more i will be able to resist sin.

Now in our sexual deviant self we are in the grip of unfaithful love, we love what is wrong instead of what is right, so i discovered for myself that unfaithful love only dies when we become faithful while we are in sinners mood. This is a very difficult time were our mood is to do wrong but we hold onto our love for God fighting temptation. The more times we successfully battle this way the stronger to temptation we become.

Rebuking the evil desires and placing ourselves into the truth of the Scriptures looking at Jesus and not ourselves is the only way out of temptation. And not to forget to eat God's grace when we fall! Very important to always get back up again after we fall. Confess our sinful time to God and determine to fight the sin with an upright heart.

This battle could take years but the more we internalise God's love battling sin, the quicker freedom will come our way.

Peace

Four Saints Who Struggled with Lust | Orthodox Christian Fellowship

 

[CodyR4]

thanks for the nice replies but i was asking for saints that struggled with things like this.

 

[Michie]

St. Mary of Egypt (344-421) is often called a prostitute, but she didn’t accept money for her services. No, Mary was a nymphomaniac, a woman so consumed by desire for carnal pleasure that she sometimes even compelled men against their will. It’s hard to imagine the redemption of a nymphomaniac and a rapist, but God didn’t define Mary by her sin. Having made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land (for the challenge of seducing all the pilgrims on the way), Mary was suddenly convicted of the wickedness of her sin. She repented and fled to the desert, where she continued to struggle against sin and shame and temptation. For 17 years she had lived according to the flesh and for 17 years she fought not to be consumed again by her passions. Finally, she was set free and lived the rest of her life without temptation, a hermit in the desert who became one of the greatest saints of the Eastern Church.

St. Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614) was an Italian man, the son of an angry and negligent father. Large and strong, Camillus became a mercenary when he was still a teen and traveled Europe fighting for whoever could pay the most. He was a violent young man with a short temper and an addiction to gambling, which ultimately left him penniless and helpless with a chronic wound on his leg that made it impossible for him to find work. There at rock bottom, Camillus found Jesus and was converted—until the vices of his old life called to him. Again and again he returned to his sin; again and again, his wounded leg drove him to a hospital, where he repented again. Finally, Camillus was given the grace to turn from sin once and for all. With St. Philip Neri as his spiritual director, he left behind his addiction to gambling and his love of fighting and drinking. He eventually founded the Camillian order, a community of health care workers that changed the face of medical care.

St. Augustine Yi Kwang-hon (1787-1839) belonged to an aristocratic pagan family in Korea. In his youth, he had fallen into a degenerate life, driven particularly by a love of drink. Unsurprisingly, his marriage to St. Barbara Kwon Hui did nothing to fix him. But when Augustine heard the Gospel preached and chose to be baptized, he was healed of his addiction. While most addicts continue to struggle long after their initial choice to get clean, Augustine was given a miraculous grace and never desired wine again. He became a catechist and, with his wife, opened his home to the persecuted Church. The two were martyred along with their daughter St. Agatha Yi and Augustine’s brother St. John Baptist Yi Kwang-ryol.

St. Mark Ji TianXiang (1834-1900) was an opium addict. Because his priest didn’t understand the nature of addiction, he told TianXiang that he couldn’t be absolved until he had beaten his addiction—which meant that he couldn’t receive Communion either. For 30 years, this Chinese doctor continued to practice the faith while being denied the Sacraments. He never did manage to get clean, but he died a martyr along with his family and has been canonized a saint not just for his martyrdom but for his decades of striving to follow Jesus while carrying the cross of addiction.

Ven. Matt Talbot (1856-1925) was raised in a family of alcoholics in Dublin. A drunk by the time he was 13, Matt spent the next 15 years focused more on alcohol than anything else. An outpouring of grace when he was 28 let Matt to take a pledge of sobriety and he never touched alcohol again, but he never stopped struggling against the temptation that had ruled his life for so long. Till the day he died, he didn’t carry money on him because it was a temptation to go into a pub and have a pint. A single man, he lived as a humble laborer, far more concerned with prayer and asceticism than anything else. “Never be too hard on the man who can’t give up drink,” he once said. “It’s as hard to give up the drink as it is to raise the dead to life again. But both are possible and even easy for our Lord. We have only to depend on him.”

Saints who struggled with addiction

 

[Michie]

Free Catholic Prayer Cards-Catholic Prayer Cards - Buy Affordable Handmade Rosaries Online -Catholic Patron Saint Religious Medals

Prayer Cards / Holy Cards

 

[Michie]

7 Saints Who Will Help You In Your Battle Against inappropriate content


purity - help for those struggling - All Saints Catholic Church in Lakeville, MN

 

[chevyontheriver]

i have struggled with addiction of a lustful nature for quite some time. often involving sexual deviancies. i know it sounds weird to come out and say that but it would give yall a better picture of what i am looking for.

and while youre at it. if anyone can give me a good recommendation for online catholic stores where i can buy prayer cards and such id much appreciate it.

St. Mark Ji Tianxiang

 

[CodyR4]

Thank all of you for the replies. Really appreciate it.