Is it Monday already?

I was hoping to get these patron saint matches out to you over the weekend.  I'm thinking that in the future I should maybe set aside one day each week in which to address all our patron saint requests. I'm catching up.

Sister, my daughter wants to give her boyfriend a holy medal for his birthday and is trying to find the patron saint of runners. I've googled it with little luck. I found that St. Sebastian may be the patron of athletes, but my kids are into competitive archery and we've always thought of him as their patron. (They all have medals of him in their bow cases -- you gotta love the picture of him with all the arrows.) We also call on Bl. Pier Giorgio Frassati as our patron of winter sports (the kids also skate and ski). But no luck finding a patron for runners. There's got to be one, right? Thank you Sister for your awesome blog!


Good old St. Sebastian. He really is the patron saint of a lot. Did you know he is also the patron saint of pin makers? Yes. Because of the arrows...pins, arrows...things that stick into things... He is also the patron saint of the Pontifical Swiss Guards.


I suppose you all feel he's busy enough. Yes, Blessed Giorgio is the new kid on the block for youth and particularly young athletes.

Lately, St. Christopher has made a resurgence in the athletic department. You can find medals of him for just about every sport, from golf (if that really a sport? I suppose there is a lot of walking involved) to swimming, to running to ping pong. I've seen one for runners. I think it all started when the surfers adopted him as their patron saint. That makes sense, their boards keep them about the waves, St. Christopher bore the Christ Child above the water.


My favorite rendition was one in which there is a golfer teeing off in the foreground of the medal, and in the background St. Christopher is coming up over the ridge with the Christ Child on his shoulders. I can't help but think of all the people who have been beaned with golf balls when I see it. Hope that golfer yelled, "Fore!" Why do golfers yell "Fore", anyhow? Why don't they yell, "Look out!" or "Duck!"


You might also consider going with someone who covered a lot of ground. St. Peter or St. Paul who ran all over the known world spreading the Gospel. Of course, they only ran figuratively speaking. I'm sure they mostly walked. St. Paul had a horse, we know that.


Dear Sister,
I need a patron saint for a poor friend/co-worker who is consumed with guilt. She was involved in an auto accident where a pedestrian died. The accident was not her fault. I need a heavenly prayer partner to help on her behalf, and on behalf of the poor soul who lost his life.


How terrible for everyone involved. She has to find a way to forgive herself. A tall order. Those horrible moments when you wish you could just take back those few seconds in time and the tortured feeling because you cannot. When things are really dire and sad, we always turn to Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

Hi Sister! Is there a patron saint for those trying to lose weight and deal with stress? And also...for those of us who need a little help doing volunteer work overseas, is there any saint we can look to to help us pray for some protection?

We have a bracelet with no less than five saints for weight loss help in our shop! It is our best selling item!  Of course, you don't need to purchase the bracelet to ask for the intercession of these saints.  I suppose many people like the constant reminder of wearing the bracelet. I imagine it jangles ever time you reach into the refrigerator and clanks against the rim of the cookie jar.

There are some very great saints who did 'volunteer work overseas'. The North American Martyrs spring to mind. St. Raymond Nonnatus....

But I'd like to direct you to St. Therese the Little Flower. She never went overseas. She never went anywhere. Her life, in fact, was pointedly spent in one spot, a cloistered convent. But she had so wanted to become a missionary. That was her life's dream, so I think she would be so happy to accompany you on your journey.