What is a Saint?
In the Catholic Church, the saints are ordinary people like you and me who made it to heaven. They’ve done nothing that you and I cannot do, if we persevere in following Jesus Christ and living our lives according to His teaching.
Catholic devotion to the saints is nothing more than respect and admiration for the memory of the deceased heroes of the Church. We honor them as men and women of heroic virtue who can serve as our role models. They were no more perfect than are we; but, at the end of their lives – and hopefully, ours – they received from Our Lord his words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”
We also ask the saints to intercede for us. Have you ever asked anyone to pray for you when you were having a hard time? That is how Catholics “pray to” the saints – we pray with saints, not to them. As the Letter of James says, “The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.”
Well-known saints like those below often are remembered in a special way on particular days during the year.
January – February – March – April – May – June
July – August – September – October – November – December
This Weeks Saints
April 14
Sts. Tiburtius, Valerian, and Maximus
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April 15
Sts. Basilissa and Anastasia
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April 16
St. Bernadette Soubirous
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April 17
St. Robert of Molesme
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April 18
St. Athanasia of Aegina
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April 19
St. Apollonius the Apologist
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April 20
St. Agnes of Montepulciano
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April 16
St. Bernadette Soubirous
Bernadette Soubirous was born in 1844, the oldest child of an extremely poor miller. She was a poor student and her health was fragile when, at the age of 14, a young lady appeared to Bernadette. The lady instructed Bernadette to return to the grotto, where she appeared to the young peasant girl a total of 18 times. At one of these times, the lady instructed Bernadette to dig in a certain spot where a spring streamed forth. Almost immediately cures were reported by those who drank there.
During the apparition on March 25, the lady identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. Having only a very rudimentary knowledge of her faith, she did not understand the term, but reported it to her parish priest. Bernadette reported the desire of the lady that a chapel should be built at the grotto. In 1862 Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions and authorized the worship of Our Lady of Lourdes.
During her life, Bernadette was hounded by the public until at last she fled to a hospice school of an order of nuns. Five years later, she joined the Sisters of Charity in Nevers where she served as sacristan and infirmarian until her death from tuberculosis in 1879, at the age of 35.
“The Blessed Virgin used me like a broom. What do you do with a broom when you have finished sweeping? You put it back in its place, behind the door!”
St. Bernadette Soubirous