Listen to God's voice at the foot of the crucifix." ~St. Gaspar del Bufaro~

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Companion Saints

St. Lucy













we had fun choosing a few saints to guide us through the New Year, using the Saint's Name Generator...











But what we really believe is that these saints chose us to be our companions for the year.

Now the fun part begins...
Learning, praying, and discovering these new saints in our lives!
First of all, we have 2 new Family Saints:
~St Lucy and St. Leopold ~

We believe it was providential that these two saint's names begin with L 
and our last name also begins with L!
We also noticed that female saints chose the boys (with 1 exception) and male saints chose the girls in our family!
This began with St. Lucy popping up on the Saint Generator as our family saint for hubby and 
St. Leopold popping up when I used the Generator on a prior occasion.


I was particularly excited about St. Leopold because he is a Croatian Saint.  I learned about him during my Medjugorje Pilgrimage.  There is a statue of St. Leopold outside the confessionals at St. James church in Medjugorje since he was know to be the ultimate confessor.


I decided to post a photo of each family member with their companion saint.
The first photo of my husband and I begins the introduction to our companion saints.
Next in line, our oldest son was chosen by
St. Catherine of Sweden



~St. Catherine of Sweden
is a special guardian over "life" as
Patron Saint against 
Abortion and Miscarriages.
This is a special connection to
17yo Mer-man who is passionately Pro-Life~
St. Walburga 
Chose our 2nd son, Army Dude (Age 11), whose real name also starts with "W".
We had never heard of this saint.  However, we are discovering her beautiful story, which includes a miraculous healing oil that began to leak from her bones many years after her death.
Did you know there was a Benedictine Convent here in the U.S.(in Northern Colorado) called
St. Walburga Abbey?
We have now added that to our list of places to visit if we ever make a drive across country!





















St. Mark, the Evangelist
Chose our daughter Princess (Age 8)
We know that Mark's name and Princess' real name both mean "Gift of God."
Mark also became a beloved disciple of Peter, our first Pope.  He worked hard to found the first famous Christian school.










St. Basil the Great
Chose Superboy (Age 6)

He is said to have had a kind and generous heart.  These characteristics reminded me of our sweet Superboy.  He is patron saint of lawyers and hospital administrators.
His grandmother, mother, father and four of his nine siblings are canonized saints.












St. Juan Diego
Chose Angel Baby (Age 2)
I loved this connection to Our Lady of Guadalupe and have written about it in a previous post.

Our Lady and the True Devotion Consecration is what led to Angel Baby's Conception and she is also named after Mary... It is special and quite fitting that Angel Baby was chosen by 
St. Juan Diego, hence Blessed Mother too!
St. Teresa Margaret Redi
Chose Hubby!
We had never heard of this saint either.
What we have learned in recent days is that she was a pious child who saw God in all things, and she was confused to learn that not everyone knew that God loved them.  Her short life was spent in contemplative union with God and her favorite phrase was: "God is love."
If you knew my dear husband, you would realize that this saint makes a perfect companion for him!






Wrapping things up...
The Infant Child Jesus

Chose me through






My assignment is to be "praying for the reign of the Child Jesus in all hearts."  
I am looking forward to exploring the divinity of the infant King in more depth over the coming months.  I am reminded of this quote that convinces me that I have lots of work to do myself!
"We should submit our reason to the truths of faith with the humility and simplicity of a child."
~St. Alphonsus Liguori~
Closing with a quote from St. Lucy, one of our Family Saints:
"Those whose hearts are pure are the temples of the Holy Spirit."
My goal is to have the children make Liturgical Folders to display all they have learned about their companion saints.  Gardenia is my inspiration for this idea and I can only hope to do as lovely a job as she!  Be sure to check out her blog and links for Liturgical Folders.  Xhonane from Familia Catolica has paired up with Gardenia to make them in Spanish...Beautiful!








4 comments:

  1. Tiffany, some wonderful saints picked you and your family members! aren't they ALL wonderful though. I was especially touched to learn of your special connection with Our Lady of Guadalupe and the subsequent conception of your baby girl. just miraculous! I'm reading the book, Mystics and Miracles, and one of the saints featured which I just finished reading about is St. Teresa Margaret (her real name was Anna Maria). I always enjoy learning about a new saint, and then plunging into research to find out everything I can about him or her. didn't realize that St. Basil the Great had so many close relatives who also are saints. thanks for linking to my liturgical fikders. Be sure to post yours and your children's when they complete them! Blessings !

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  2. St. Lucy is a family favorite for us, but all the saints lives are so interesting. Our Catholic faith is such a blessing! I love the idea of creating a faith folder for the saint of the year, I have been admiring Gardenias. I am going to add that to our things to do list, thanks for the suggestion!

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  3. This is so beautiful! I did not realize how many saints St. Basil the Great had in his family. Amazing! We have such a rich faith, don't we?

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  4. Thank you for sharing such beautiful posts and your beautiful, loving family...I fell in love with the saints as soon as I heard about Our Lady of Medjugorje and started reading Her messages which led to reading about the saints for direction and advice in life. And my faith and reading became even more so after going there. The saints are so alive and real to me, my best friends and since I bought this computer on the feast day of St. Lucy, she became the guardian of me and my journeys on the computer....And I love listening to your song on your page. God Bless.

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