Posted on 01/03/2014 9:17:18 AM PST by NYer
It’s that time of year again! I used my week of being under the weather to touch up the Saint’s Name Generator, so it’s all set for another round of saint choosing.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, the Saint’s Name Generator is a simple program I created to choose a saint’s name at random. I like to use it to find saints to for each year, as well as for other causes and events for which I could use some extra prayers. There are about 300 names in the database, so it’s a great way to discover fascinating holy people whom you might not already be familiar with. (Also, I included the text of the Litany of the Saints in the source code, so every time the program executes, it runs through that prayer.)
This year I got St. Martin of Tours. I’m excited about having him as my patron for a lot of reasons, but this excerpt from the reflection at the bottom of his bio really jumped out at me:
The saints are not creatures of another world: They face the same perplexing decisions that we do. Any decision of conscience always involves some risk. If we choose to go north, we may never know what would have happened had we gone east, west or south. A hypercautious withdrawal from all perplexing situations is not the virtue of prudence; it is, in fact, a bad decision, for “not to decide is to decide.”
Along with his fascinating life story, it gives me a lot to think about as we begin this new year. St. Martin of Tours, pray for us!
You can get your own saint here. Leave a comment and let me know which saint was chosen for you!
A friend in need is a friend indeed ... by happy! As you pointed out, you know several individuals who have recently passed away from stomach disease. The next time a friend asks for prayers, turn to St. Wofgang for his assistance. Look at it this way. You now have a friend in higher places. Get to know him. More importantly, ask him to pray for you.
Of course ... it is quite uncanny.
Saint Leopold III, patron saint of large families, of step-parents, and patron saint against death of children. He was also known as Leopold the Good, Leopold the Pious, Leopold the Valiant, and Leopold of Austria. He was the grandfather of Friedrich Barbarossa, source of the nickname I had from my father’s uncle, a Roman Catholic priest, with whom I shared my baptismal name. Saint Leopold III’s feast day is November 15th.
http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-leopold-iii/
I get the sense that its not going to be that much longer until he makes an appearance.
these are the days of Noah
Blessed Miguel Pro - a martyr.
I had Father Pro last year. He’s great.
This gives me confort, as I am an adult daugther of a senior mother and just have had attended both the wake and funeral of the mother of my parish priest earlier this week.
That’s good to know. Last year or the year before I also had a martyr who was a “Blessed”. Blessed John Adams, who was sentenced to hanging, and then drawn and quartered.
So this year I have Fr. Pro, who was shot by a firing squad. Food for thought.....
I don’t know much about Fr. Pro, but I am going to make an effort to befriend him this year.
St. Joan of Arc >>
Isn’t there another reason?
St. Roque Gonzalez de Santa Cruz
Feast: November 17
patron of the cities of Posadas, Argentina, and Encarnación, Paraguay.
St. Barnabas
Feast: June 11
Patronage: Against Hailstorms; Cyprus; Invoked as Peacemaker
There’s a movie about him, “Padre Pro.” It’s available from Netflix.
Patron of hailstorms. Now that is fascinating. Keep an eye to the sky ; - )
St. Jude, patron of difficult/lost causes!
Wow .. I love St. Jude! He will be a great companion throughout the new year.
Another reason she is a saint or that I was assigned her?
There are still catholics who name their children after saints ... Domenico Bettinelli and his wife have 5 children, all named after saints.
Naming conventions follow trends. Up until recently, some parents sought to give their children unique names. FWIU, the new trend is to assign biblical names.
Also, in researching my family's genealogy, it was facilitated by the trend to name children and grandchildren for their parents and grandparents. In so doing, it enabled me to track down previously unknown relatives.
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