Sticks and Stones Will Break Your Bones

Dear Sister, I have a good one for you! I have been teaching sunday school this year. We started the yr with one kiddo in a cast for a broken arm. Then we had another kiddo who fell- this time a broken wrist! Right before Christmas we had another boy fall and break his elbow! Well I did warn the parents we were the broken arm class, but I certainly didnt expect to be the next one (and the first of the "girls"). On Saturday I fell and broke my wrist. So what we need here in gr 4 at OLG is a patron saint for prevention of falls resulting in broken arms! Help us out. I'll link your blog in my classroom newsletter if you answer! They'll get a kick out of that, I bet. Get their 15 minutes of internet fame out of the way early and before they join myspace and disgrace us all. Thanks!

Oh dear! Poor babies! Poor teacher!

Of course, there is a patron saint for broken bones. There is a patron saint for everything, even coffee drinkers and hangovers.

I'm just not thrilled with the answer. He's not very exciting for children is all.

Not that there's anything wrong with St. Stanislaus Kostka. Stanislaus was a pious Polish boy. He was so pious that he would head off to piety dreamland in the middle of Easter dinner. He was a model of humility and obedience and he was a cheery lad.

This didn't sit well with his older brother Paul. Paul had very nice things to say about his little brother when St. Stanislaus was beatified, about how pious and holy little Stanislaus had been.

But Paul is the reason St. Stanislaus is the patron saint of broken bones. All that piety got on his last nerve and he beat up Stanislaus to the point of broken bones. He better say nice things at the party!

Stanislaus desperately wanted to become a Jesuit priest but his father wasn't very happy with the Jesuits. Stanislaus knew he'd have to sneak out of town to join the order and made an elaborate plan to run away and make the long journey. He told his brother Paul that he wouldn't be back for dinner and by the time Paul realized that Stanislaus wouldn't be back at all, Stanislaus had a whole day head start. Stanislaus had left the city in disguise, Paul searched on the wrong road, and ten months later, Stanislaus was in Rome with the Jesuits.

He was a model of piety there, too.

He had always been a sickly boy, and the arduous trip hadn't helped that. When he was in school before leaving for the Jesuits, St. Barbara came over with two angels to administer Holy Communion to him in his sick bed.

Wasn't that nice of her?

At any rate, Stanislaus didn't last long as a Jesuit. Within a year Stanislaus knew his number was up. He wrote a letter to the Blessed Mother asking if he could join her in Heaven to celebrate the feast of the Assumption and his wish was granted. He was 18.

St. Stanislaus is the patron saint of broken bones because his brother broke his.

I like to think of him when I eat perogis and glumki. I'm not sure I've spelled glumki correctly. It's what the old Poles call stuffed cabbage. I think they should call it "Stuffed Cabbage" because "glumki" doesn't sound appetizing at all.

But I digress.

I think you might want to look into St. Ignatius Loyola. He is much more exciting!

His leg was broken by a cannonball! Isn't that much more exciting for children that getting beat up by your brother? On the other hand, perhaps the children can completely relate to getting beat up by one's brother.

St. Ignatius was a knight who got hit in the leg by cannonball. The cannonball shattered one leg and broke the other. He was taken to the nearest castle to recuperate. He had to endure many surgeries with no anesthetic because they didn't have that type of thing back then. What a tough guy he must have been!

It took months and months for his leg to heal and while he was there all that time there was absolutely nothing to do but read. Unfortunately for him, there were only two books in the whole castle, so he had to read them over and over again.

But fortunately for us, the two books were the Bible and La Vita Christi, an elaborate treatise on the Life of Christ. St. Ignatius left his knightly days behind and founded the Jesuit order.

Which was also fortunate for St. Stanislaus Kostka.

Hi Sister. I was wondering what type of necklace she was talking about when she said "She's the one with hair loss due to Alopecia, for whom you made the necklace with St. Agnes and company." What type of necklace was it? I have hair loss and I have tried everything and am looking for desperate help. Please let me know. Thank you

I made her a custom necklace.