Community of Saints

 Mary, the Mother of GOD Feast Day – January 1

Mary, the Mother of Jesus has long been venerated in our church. We honor Mary as Jesus’ natural mother, a divine mother and our spiritual mother. We celebrate and honor her with prayers, stories of her apparitions, and as an example of woman of unlimited faith.

 St. Thomas Feast Day – July 3

St. Thomas was one of the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus to go out and shepherd the people. St. Thomas is most noted for his lack of faith after the resurrection of Jesus. (John 24:24-29) The symbols associated with Thomas are a carpenter’s square and a spear. The carpenter’s square stands for the church he built in India with his own hands and the spear is a sign of how he was martyred.

 St. Joseph Feast Day – March 19

St. Joseph was a good and just man and was chosen by GOD to be the husband of Mary and the earthly father to Jesus. This sacred task of supporting Mary and the Christ Child demonstrated his faith and love for Almighty GOD.

 St. Patrick Feast Day – March 17

St. Patrick was captured by pirates and was forced into slavery as a youth in Ireland. In his six years of captivity, he took comfort in reciting the Christian prayers his parents taught him. After escaping, he returned home but a short time later he had a dream and heard Irish voices pleading with him to return. Patrick became a priest and returned to Ireland to be their bishop. Because of Patrick, almost all of Ireland converted to Christianity. We honor St. Patrick because of our pastor’s Irish homeland.

 St. Valentine Feast Day – February 14

St. Valentine was a doctor in Rome during the 1st century. Few people knew he was a Christian and prayed with his patients secretly at night. He befriended the Emperor’s jailer and his daughter hoping to cure her blindness.

One evening, the Emperor’s soldiers arrested any persons believed to be Christians and put Valentine in jail. Moments before he was to be executed, he gave the jailer a note to give to his daughter. The moment she opened the letter her sight miraculously return and the note stated “LOVE, FROM VALENTINE”

 St. Francis of Assisi Feast Day – October 4

Francis was a wealthy man who enjoyed the pleasures of life. But he became gravely ill and felt that GOD was calling him to live like Jesus. He began to serve and live with the poor. When he preached, he often referred to the sun, moon, stars, and animals as brothers and sisters.

 St. John Baptist de la Salle Feast Day – April 7

St. John was born in 1651 in France and is the patron saint of teachers. He believed in the education of all the children of France, poor and wealthy. He established the Christian Brothers, an order of men that focuses on education. He and the Brothers began a new kind of schooling known as high school and trade school. He also realized that children needed help in learning, so he began the first training college for teachers preparing large numbers of teachers to teach children.