Empty Nest Syndrome

A kind reader pointed out that the Killer Baby Jesus stories are in the Book of Thomas, not the book of whatever I yammered it was the other day. Thank you for the much needed correction.

I love this idea of just laying out the problem. So simple, and new to me.  I would like to request help finding a saint to pray with  (in the new vernacular) for my baby sister, who starts  college in the fall. Our mother died when she was 13, and  I had the great blessing of being more involved in her  "growing up" than we had anticipated. I'm not looking forward  to her leaving, and would like to be able to direct that energy  in prayer.  Any suggestions? Thanks. I enjoy this blog. :) The actual patron saint for young people leaving home for the first time is an angel, St. Raphael. He accompanied  young Tobias all over the place and even helped him find  the love of his life. As a result, St. Raphael is also the  patron saint of young lovers. But it sounds to me like you're looking for a saint for  your own "empty nest syndrome". St. Rita springs to mind, because she went off and became  a nun after her husband was killed by the mob and her  sons died.  But then...she had always wanted to be a nun.  Not that she didn't grieve the loss of her husband and sons.  It's just that she finally got to fulfill her lifelong dream of  life in the convent, complete with stigmata. So I'm going with St. Elizabeth, who is actually the patron saint for blissfully  happy marriages. St. Elizabeth was betrothed, fairy tale style, to the infant  King of Thuringia and they pair was wed when she was only 14 years old.  You'd think this was a recipe for disaster, but she loved her husband intensely. Elizabeth always tried to live simply and give everything to the poor, even  though she was the queen. And her husband Louis agreed!  He tried too, and  encouraged his wife in her endeavors. They had three children.  And then poor Louis went off to the crusades and  never returned. I think he died of illness, never making it to the Holy Land at all.  Or he was killed fighting. I can't recall. Ever wonder why so many hospitals bear the name "Elizabeth"?  It's because  the inconsolably sad Elizabeth made arrangements for her three children to be  cared for and immersed herself completely in the care of the poor and ill. You  might say she invented the hospital, gathering up the sick the way she did and  seeing to their needs. This is St. Elizabeth of Hungary, by the way, not to be confused with  St. Elizabeth the mother of St. John the Baptist, although if she was still  alive after John left home, she might have felt pretty bad and wished he  had stayed home with her.