Going Dutch

Greetings, Sister!

I have a saint-matching request.

I recently moved to the Dutch speaking part of Belgium but I don't speak any Dutch! Learning foreign languages doesn't come easily to me.
Can you recommend a saint for me for either language learning in general and/or Dutch in particular?

Many thanks for any help!


Oh, you poor thing!  I suppose some people have a penchant for languages. I am not one of them.  I speak English and few badly pronounced words of French. Numbers one through ten in Spanish. Miro!  Look! 


As a result, I am forever baffled by people who are hard on immigrants in the States for not learning English.  To me, that is like being aggravated with someone for not knowing how to fix a car.  It would be nice to know, but it's just not that easy.


There have already been a couple of very good suggestions in the comments section, but I'm going to go with:

THE TWELVE APOSTLES!


And here we are just after Pentecost! You do remember Pentecost?  The disciples got together in a room and the Holy Spirit descended on them and voila! (French for "There!"), they could speak and be heard in any language. I'm sure Dutch would have been in there if there was a Dutch language at that time.

Wouldn't that be great?  The Holy Spirit descends on you and you can speak Dutch?  How 'bout it? Since it sounds like you need as much help as I would, I decided to go with all twelve, although you could conceivably focus on someone like St. Thomas, who maybe was the only apostle to leave the Roman Empire.  He went to India (maybe) and would have had to use his new gifts.


The patron saint of Belgium is St. Alena. Such a pretty name!  She was the daughter of a chieftain and her night time disappearing act worried her father.  He had her followed. She was going to a chapel.  He decided she had been bewitched by the Christians and had her dragged home.  A fight ensued where her arm was cut or torn off.  An angel swooped in and grabbed the arm and flew it over to the chapel, placing it on the altar. Having seen an angel fly in and fly off with the arm, caused Alena's parents to reconsider their attitude toward Christians and they both converted. Being a saint, Alena didn't seem to care about her missing arm.  Although, technically it wasn't missing. Everyone knew right where it was.  Here she is in Heaven with her arm back. I think.

Seminarian Saints

Dear Sister Mary Martha:
I was just accepted to Seminary for next year, and I was wondering if you could recommend some saints for me. I already know about St. John Vianney, since the seminary I will be attending is named after him. I was hoping for some more obscure saints. 

Thank you very much.

Obscure saints, eh?  How come? Not that that isn't a fine idea. Are you thinking, being obscure, they'll have more time for you?  Works for me!

So, my suggestion for you is Saint Cristobal Magallanes Jara, who is not obscure, obscure, but I'll bet most Americans don't know him from Adam.  He was a parish priest from Mexico.  He was a busy guy. He opened schools, a newspaper, a catechism center and even a power plant.  In his youth he was a shepherd, a farm boy, so he knew from farming life.  He was able to start up farm co-ops with towns people. Move over farmer's market!

Here's where the rubber meets the road, where you are concerned, patron saint-wise.  The anti Church government closed down all the seminaries, so St. Cristobal opened one on his one and gathered up all the displaced seminarians.  It was quickly suppressed.  He quickly opened a new one. Which was suppressed. So he opened another one. Over and over and over again. As fast as they closed him down, he reopened.  When they were all closed he met with the seminarians in private homes.

How's that for devotion to seminarians?

It didn't work out well for St. Cristobal.  He preached against the rebellion and one day he was arrested as an instigator of the guerilla resistance, which wasn't true. He was arrested on his way to say Mass. Falsely imprisoned with no trial, he was sentenced to the firing squad.  He gave away all his possession to his captors and forgave them and gave them absolution.

You can actually find pictures of him being led down the street, standing in front of the firing squad and the final kill shot (as the Navy Seals say) online.  The firing squad actually didn't kill him and he was then shot point blank in the head.

So if it's bravery, devotion, energy and strength that you feel you need, there you go.

And if he isn't enough for you, there were a bunch of these guys.  He was martyred with St. Agustin Caloca.  The rebellion made quite a few martyrs.

And then there's this little fellow. He never got to become a priest because of the mess his country was in.  I'm sure he'd love to help you.

Conventfornia Dreamin'

Sister, I love reading your blog! Since you mentioned your little hobby about dreams, I was wondering if you could tell me something about one that I had a couple weekends ago. In this dream, our Holy Father (yes, the Pope) walked up to me. Sitting, I looked up at him with tears pouring down my face and said to him, "Holy Father please help me, I want to be a nun." He automatically responded "You will be" then gently kissed me on the forehead.

Any ideas, or pretty self-explanatory?


Have you been thinking about being a nun?  Or were you just sitting there, minding your own business, having spent your waking life thinking about how happy you are, how fulfilling your role in the world feels and looking forward to tomorrow's drive to work and day spent returning emails when you suddenly found yourself asking the Pope if you could become a nun, out of nowhere?  Because if it's the latter, that is one interesting dream.


We often play all the roles in our dreams, unless the person is highly symbolic of something.  I'd say either applies here.  You are telling yourself you can go be a nun.  Your mind, represented by the highest authority of the Church, is telling you that you can go be a nun.


The question here is, do you actually want to be a nun? Because if this is a new idea for you, you might want to consider what you think about when you think about being a nun, and why your subconscious mind thinks that will bring tears of joy to your eyes.


If that's what you want, what's stopping you?  You don't even need to pack, because you don't need much there at the convent. Here's your hat! What's your hurry!  Off you go!

This doesn't mean you will actually become a nun, just because you want to be a nun.  It's a two way street. The convent has to accept you as a candidate.  You may decide you hate being bossed around and having to be humble and obedient 24/7.


But you won't find out any of that unless you give it a whirl. The grass is growing under your feet.  What do you need to move forward?  Someone to look after the cat?  Pray for the intercession of St. Gertrude, patron saint of cat lovers.  Family members who aren't on the same page?  St. Monica, patron saint of turning hard hearts into saints.  Shoes too fancy?  Grab a pair of nun shoes from Pay-less.


Don't wait until the Pope revisits you in dreamland and gives you a kick instead of a kiss.

Tidy Cats

Hi Sister!

I know how you like Patron Saint matching, so here's one for you:

I'm getting ready to move to a new apartment at the beginning of July. I am not a tidy person by nature, and my current apartment got into a very sorry state that took a very long time to try and set right. I don't want this to happen in my new place! To what patron saint(s) could I pray for intercession to help me stay motivated and better organized in my new home? I'm even thinking about getting a medal or icon to keep somewhere where I'd see it all the time to help me remember to keep at it.

Thanks for your help! :)


Oh dear! You're not one of those poor souls that have a whole television show about them, are you?  Those people who don't ever throw anything away, even old food, until the garbage literally erodes the house and ruins the plumbing and the neighbors call the city and a psychiatrist has to come and talk you out of the tree in the yard because you've had to move into it because you can't move a foot in the mess you've made?


No, you're not.  Those people are mentally ill. Poor things.


You need three saints!  The patron saints of staying tidy: St. Throw Away, St. Give Away and St. Put Away.

St. Throw Away: St. Lawrence.  Learn what is important to hang on to, and toss the rest. St. Lawrence was asked to bring the new local poobah all the treasures of the Church. He gave St. Lawrence three days.  St. Lawrence gave away all the money and gold he could lay his hands on to the poor and returned three days later with all the sick and poor and lepers and losers he could find.  "These are the treasures of the Church, " he quipped.


What is valuable?  Not that much, here on earth.  Certainly not a bunch of stuff.


St. Give Away: St. Theresa the Little Flower.  St. Theresa wanted to be a missionary, but she was too sickly to travel anywhere. (She only lived to age 24.)  So she did everything she could as though she were doing it for Jesus, Himself. She washed the dishes as though He was going to eat off of them. She washed the floor as though He was going to walk on it.  You get the picture.  


Give your work away and it won't be work anymore. It will be a gift.

If that thought doesn't work for you, clearly, you really hate cleaning. You could also offer up your suffering to the Poor Souls in Purgatory. St. Theresa is your girl in Heaven for that, too!  Get yourself some St. Theresa sacrifice beads!  Every time you suffer through cleaning something you move one of these movable beads.


St. Put Away: St. Charles Borromeo. You will have to keep some things and keep them tidy, put things away after you use them, clean up after yourself, etc.  St. Charles Borromeo came to his monastery when things were very messy, very messy indeed. He cleaned house so thoroughly that the brothers who had to rise to the occasion tried to poison him hired a hit man to rub him out.  He missed.


Now that's some discipline.

I have a thought. You could hire a cleaning person to come in once a month. I realize it sounds like a lazy extravagance, but it isn't that at all to the person who comes in once a month and would like to add clients to earn money. It's not a lazy extravagance. It's someone's job. You'll have to clean anyhow, because you will be embarrassed by the horrible mess you've made in a month and you'll find yourself "cleaning for the cleaning lady".  


Meanwhile here's a couple of cleaning tips:


1. Have less stuff. Much easier to clean that way.


2. Clean the bathroom sink area each time you use it, right then.  Wipe everything off and rise it.  Wipe off whatever counter space you have. It will only take 2 minutes that way.


3. If you have a washer and dryer in the house, put your clothes right in there and then wash them when the load is full.  If you don't, make sure all your dirty clothes are in a hamper. You really can't lean over and put that sock in the hamper? Leaving it there is a lazy extravagance.


4. Get out of the house.  Go out and perform some corporal works of mercy. That way you won't be there to make a mess.

Dream a Little Dream

Hi sister Martha, today was  a very hard day for me and I cried a lot and then went to sleep a little because of the headache caused by crying.  I don't remember much, but I saw the Infant of Prague. I never saw a picture of him but then I searched for it in google and there I find that it was him...Can you please help me with this dream!!!As soon as I saw him in my dream I began the 9 hours novena...
THANKS A LOT GOD BLESS YOU... 


I think I can help you with this dream, although it's very uneven ground on which to tread. Dream research is one of my little hobbies.  Have a look:


Dream On


Pot Roast with Peas and Carrots.  (not a recipe)




We can't say for certain that the Infant of Prague was visiting you in a dream, so let's not say that.  Some people are visited in dreams with important messages, like St. Joseph. But since you didn't get any message from the Infant of Prague, it's more likely your own brain is trying to tell you something.


Having read my previous ramblings on the subject, you now know that your dream is dealing with something immediate. In order for us to figure that out, you've left out some very pertinent information. I will not ask you to supply any details, but clearly you have had something enormous on your mind. And your mind brought you an image of the Infant of Prague.


The big question here is that you didn't seem to know anything about the Infant of Prague to start with.  So how in the world did you end up finding his picture?


Recently,  I was looking for a picture of a saint that I had seen. I couldn't remember where I had seen the picture, but it showed the saint with what looked like another person locked into some sort of cage made out of a fish.  I was trying to find out what was going on with the person in the fish cage. I thought perhaps the saint was one of those people who visited people in prison and maybe the fish cage was some artist's rendition of a person imprisoned for being a Christian, as a fish was a not so secret code for followers of Christ.


But I could not remember the saint's name and I searched forever to no avail.  "Saint with fish"    "Saint with cage"  "Saint at prison"  "Saint with person in a fish cage"   Hopeless. 


I finally remembered where I had seen the picture in the first place. Over at the shop, someone had asked for the patron saint of candy makers.  Yes, there really is a patron saint for everything.  St. Macarius was the patron saint of candy makers. He gave up his lucrative candy making business to trudge off to the desert and become a follower of Christ.  It's not a person in a fish cage.  It's a really odd rendition of an angel. He's with a Seraph, no doubt come to comfort Macarius in the desert.


That or it's a Treat or Treater, delighted to have found a the mother lode.


I'm joking.  It's an angel. Maybe a Cherub, according to some.


My point is, without knowing who was in the picture in the first place, I never would have found it.

There are lots and lots of depictions of the Infant Jesus. The Holy Infant of Good Health (pictured here...in red) looks pretty much just like the Infant of Prague.  The Infant of Prague, although he changes his outfits to match whatever the priest is wearing on any given day, is best known in red.  Was he in red?  That would be the big tip off.  If you do any search for the Infant Jesus, the first thing you'll see are dozens of depictions of the Infant of Prague. 


I'll bet you've seen the Infant of Prague in your travels, or something that looks a lot like the Infant of Prague. Of all the depictions of the Baby Jesus, he's the most famous.


So, during a time of crisis, you saw this image that you didn't know anything about. The Infant of Prague in your dream didn't come with a message for you, unless the message was "Who am I?  Do a Google search!"  So this is your brain, bringing you an image of the Baby Jesus.  That means you'll have to ask yourself "what does the image of the Baby Jesus mean to me?"


A good place to start would be to think about why we have a devotion to the Infant Jesus.  It begins as soon as Jesus is born, a celebration of the Good News He brings and an acknowledgement that Jesus is fully human.  We join the shepherds and the men from the East as we ponder the Child Jesus living a a loving home with the protection of his mother and father.  

A Match Made in Heaven

Hello, I have a question about soteriology. I'm an atheist dating a nice Catholic boy. We've been dating for a year and a half, so we're at the point where we're trying to talk about points of conflicts between our religious beliefs to discern whether we can find a way to make this work out in the long term.


The primary impediment is my boyfriend's interpretation of Catholic theology surrounding damnation. He believes that, if we were to one day marry and have children, those children would be pretty much automatically damned because they would have an awareness of Catholic teachings, but having an atheist for a mother would poison their faith. Regardless of whether they attended catechism class, my boyfriend believes any hypothetical children would be lost unless I pretended I was a Catholic and lied about my true beliefs.


Is this what the Catholic church asks of an atheist who ends up with a Catholic? I am uncomfortable engaging in a complex, long-term deception. I also wonder, if my boyfriend's interpretation of theology is correct, why the Catholic Church would ever sanction this kind of marriage under any circumstances.


I wonder if you could point us to any resources/teachings on this topic. It's hard for my boyfriend to get spiritual guidance on campus, since the priests are very liberal (well-nigh universalists) so he's not sure they think anyone is in danger of Hell.

Well, there's a year and a half down the drain.


There's no Catholic rule against a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic or an atheist.  But any priest worth his salt will try to discourage such a union, or at the very least, make the Church's teachings very clear.


Children born to a Catholic parent must be raised as Catholics.  No "we'll go to your church every other Sunday".  And very, very certainly not, "you'll just pretend you believe as I do, Mom, and we'll fool the kids."


Ultimately, it is about the danger of Hell, but before that, it's also about what constitutes a Catholic marriage in the first place, which is this: the union of a man and a woman who are responsible for each other's salvation and the salvation of their children. This is not your boyfriend's "interpretation" of Catholic theology. That IS the teaching of the Catholic Church.


How are you going to handle not using birth control, by the way? The reason Catholics may not use birth control is that they are leaving themselves open to God's will.  You don't believe in God. How's that going to work?


And how are your going to actually GET married? You would be lying during your vows if you do it in Church, as you are pledging your troth before God. Very silly for you.  Surely, your Catholic boyfriend who fears for his and his children's salvation, will wish to be married by a priest performing the Sacrament of Matrimony.


I don't agree with your boyfriend that the children are automatically damned because of their atheist mother. He doesn't give himself much credit.  Their faith will meet many challenges. But the idea that you'll have to lie to the children about your beliefs?  Lying is a sin. He's asking you to sin. That's crazy. And it certainly doesn't have anything to do with helping out with your salvation, which is also his job as a spouse.


Marriage and raising a family is about trust. It can't be sitting on the eroding riverbank of lies.


The Catholic church would sanction the marriage, but only if you agree to raise the children as Catholics.   The Church has sanctioned marriages between Catholics and Jews, Catholics and Protestants, etc.  But the Church does warn against such unions, as the non-Catholic spouse must agree to raise the children as Catholics. I don't know how couples work that out, but they often do.  For some, Episcopals ( or Catholic lite as we like to call it) say, it wouldn't be such a stretch.  A Catholic with another Christian will at least agree on the teachings of Jesus, if not the veneration of Mary. and how much we love statues of saints.  A Catholic with a Jewish spouse....well, Jesus was Jewish after all and we can agree on many of the things that God wants from us.


But a Catholic and an atheist?  Good luck with that.  You realize, of course, that Catholics don't believe in luck.

Everything That Grows

Will you explain Rogation Days?

Of course!  Rogation days are the days when bald people pray to grow some hair!


I'm kidding, although, perhaps bald people do just that during Rogation Days. The word "Rogation" comes from the Latin words that mean "to Ask" and they follow the days after the Gospel in which we hear "ask and ye shall receive".


After that the explanation gets a bit thick.  For one thing, they land between Easter and the Ascension and since Easter moves around, so do they.  In general, they start on April 25th, unless we have a late Easter that lands after that, then they we start them the next week. There are four days, the major Rogation on April 25th (or the week after that) and the Minor Rogation, for the three days before the Ascension.  They used to involve fasting, but now only involve praying the Litany of the Saints and maybe a procession.  They used to involve big processions.  If there is a procession, it has to be followed by a Mass. 


That's if you can find anyone who still observes them at all. They were removed from the Church calendar during Vatican II in 1969. You'll be hard pressed to find any processions these days.  Rogation days were established (already considered an "ancient" practice in the 6th century) to pray for a good harvest and to mark the change of seasons.


Rogation Days are another one of those things that the early Church grabbed to replace a pagan practice.   I say, "Good for them!" The pagans had a big procession going on around this time of year to pray to the gods and make sacrificial offerings for good crops.  The early Church was sharp as a tack in replacing pagan festivals and holidays with Christian ones, so no one felt deprived, while at the same time ridding the world of silliness.


Although, obviously, there is work to be done, as we saw last weekend. (And will see again in a few months, it seems.  Reverend Crazypants now claims he was off by five months. Think anyone will believe him?  Third try is a charm, afterall.)

Many people still observe Rogation days on their own.  It's a lovely way to observe the change of season and to connect ourselves to nature.  You can have 'do it yourself" Rogation days by simply saying the Litany of the Saints.  


You should, however, walk around while you do that, since the whole idea is to connect with nature a bit.  Put on your Sketchers and take in God's bounty.

Not Rapturous

Since there is no such thing as the Rapture, I'm still here. Are you surprised?

I've always been quietly thrilled that as Catholics we do not believe in the Rapture. I do not find the Rapture rapturous.


This decade's crazy preacher (he was last decade's crazy preacher, too) posited that some 200 million "true believers" would be sucked out of their shoes last Saturday, because misguided Bible wavers love numbers. Exact numbers. You would think that someone who knew the Bible so well would appreciate one important fact: all numbers in the Bible are symbolic. Even the numbers that actually were the right number.


The Twelve Apostles. Yes, there were twelve. The "inner circle" of Jesus. There were twelve to represent the Twelve Tribes of Israel.  But Jesus traveled with quite a few more folks than that. Quite a few women were around, people that went with Him this way and not that way and then went with Him this way again. Jesus could have had three apostles or eleven, but He didn't.


And if He did, that number would also have been symbolic.  That's the way the Bible works.


But that's not the disturbing thing to me about the Rapture.  I am disturbed to the point of disgust at the idea that anyone would be so happy to be whizzed up to heaven because they are so righteous while many more millions suffer the Wrath of God.


I don't want anyone to suffer the Wrath of God. I'm sure they would tell you that they don't either, hence the warning billboards.  If I was a rapture believer, I would not be happily waiting my flight to Heaven, I would be mourning the fate of the rest of the world and the horrific suffering that was to come. I can't help but notice the sense of glee at the idea that they are chosen and others are not.  


So now, these believers are "disappointed" at best and "devastated" at worst. I would think they would be delighted to have more time to save more people! Thrilled! "Whew!" they should be saying, "Jesus wants many more people than 200 million with Him!  Let's roll up our sleeves and get back to work!" But they are disappointed and upset that hundreds of thousands of people across the globe were not destroyed in earthquakes, fires and floods.  They are sorry the ground didn't open up and swallow people into a fiery pit.  They are sorry that they are not taking tea with Jesus while the rest of us wail and gnash our teeth. And make no mistake, Catholics are not included with these righteous believers.  We don't believe right.


As we communicate here, there is a protest underway of righteous believers who want their money back, as though they bought a ticket on a flight that was canceled.  


Someone asked me my take on the Rapture last week.  Here's my take: it's sad and selfish.

Good-bye Cruel World

Sister, what's your take on May 21 being the end of the world?


I'll let you know on Monday.

The Corporate Ladder to Heaven

I've been stuck at entry level in my job for four years despite trying my best - and asking St. Joseph and St. JoseMarie 

I can accept no for an answer. Would praying for a visible sign in this case be evil?




I imagine that the visible sign would be a promotion? You haven't mentioned that you'd like a whole different job. 


St. JoseMaria Escriva is the patron saint of diabetics, not that he wouldn't help you. He certainly was a highly motivated individual.  St. Joseph, although he is the patron saint of workers, was a humble man who accepted his lot in life.

If you're striving to get out of your entry level job, you need a patron saint who climbed up the ladder through the stained glass ceiling. I recommend a person who did that, and ended up  in the greatest job in the world for a very, very long time.


Pope John Paul II, now Blessed John Paul II.  Did we all watch his ceremony on EWTN?  I did!  



In Step Two in the canonization process, after much vetting and proving that the person possessed heroic virtue (not run of the mill virtue), having been declared "Venerable" (worthy of veneration), the candidate is declared "Blessed" when one miracle has been proved.


You may recall that Pope John Paul II had Parkinson's Disease.  It seems there was a nun who had a severe and fast moving case and the moment Pope John Paul II passed on to his Heavenly reward, her whole convent began praying for his intercession with the dual goal of her cure and his sainthood.

These miracles are nothing to sneeze at.  There can't be any guessing, any, "well...she seems a little better today".  Instantaneous and unexplained.  That's the criteria.  Sister Marie Simon-Pierre went to sleep one night with  severe Parkinson's and the next morning she was reborn (her words).


Sister Marie Simon-Pierre was on hand for the ceremony, which begins with a night long vigil.  A very snappily dressed Italian woman with big hair was the hostess who interviewed people who had known the Pope.  Sister Marie Simon-Pierre told her story and her whole convent (the Congregation of the Catholic Maternity Wards from France) was in the audience.  Sister Simon-Pierre woke up one morning two months after the death of the Pope, cured. She could walk and talk normally, write, drive!  


What a night!  I meant the ceremony...but really, that night of being cured in her sleep, too.


She says Blessed John Paul II is with her every day, and will be through out her life.  


He'll help you, too!


I don't think it's evil to ask for a sign. The question is, will you know it when it comes?
 . 

Like a Good Neighbor

Is there a point in praying for a change in people who have no intention of changing? We've had no offers on our house and I am still in an unhappy relationship with neighbours that seem to get more vindictive with no provocation...I'm praying for myself to rise above it as well...


No, they're going to Hell.


I'm kidding.


We think of miracles as outward signs, tangible proof of God's mercy.  The lame walk and the Parkinson's disappears. But there are other miracles that aren't seen. The softening heart, the finding of forgiveness.  All of those things can come from prayer.


So don't despair. For one thing, despair is a sin. With God there is always hope.


We don't know the details of your situation. I'm not asking you to provide them. We'd still only be hearing your side of the story, although we're assuming you are dealing with the neighbors from Hell, who play heavy metal music at all hours and scream across the yard and the house at each other using all types of foul language as beer bottles roll down the driveway.  They are Satan worshippers who don't pick up after their dog.  Or dogs. Dangerous dogs who may eat one of their children or the mailman.


Here's some help: Jesus still loves them. And you, too. He has your back. What is the point of praying for them?  Jesus loves them. If you want to be in harmony with Jesus, you'll want to love the people he loves, which is everybody.


Sometimes it's no fun to be a follower of Jesus.  Then on top of how impossible Jesus' demands are, you can't sell your house and get away from these people.


You do know about St. Joseph?  Have you buried him in the yard yet?  I know a lot of people are rather horrified by this old Catholic wives talely ritual, but a lot of folks swear by it. I don't have a problem with it. I have yet to hear any objection from priests, bishops, cardinals....you can buy a little kit at any Catholic goods store. 


If it bothers you to actual bury a statue in your front yard, which is entirely understandable, at least turn to St. Joseph for help.  His neighbors were way worse than yours and he also had to move his family. He's got your back.

Cinco de What?

What month is it?  My goodness, am I ever behind!  Between getting over my food poisoning, our Easter festivities, basketball playoffs and lovely gardening weather, I have been a blur of black and white. What a wonderful time we've had!  


If you have followed our little convent on the internet for any length of time, you'll know about my basketball fandom.  I'm not sure if I mentioned that it all began because I lived in Chicago for a while, during the heyday of Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and Phil Jackson.  So of course, I am tickled pink at the success of this year's team.  If you'd like a Mother's Day treat, find Derek Rose's speech, accepting the MVP award (the youngest player ever to receive the honor, just shy of age 23). He waxes poetic about his mother, who is in attendance, and there isn't a dry eye in the house.  


But, back to work.

Sister, who do you suggest as a Patron Saint for a person with kidney troubles?


That would be none other that St. Benedict!  THE St. Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Monks and the Rule of Benedict. St. Benedict was a teenage living in Rome, watching his peers' lives turn to sinful mush and thought he'd better get out of Dodge to save his own soul.


Off he went to the desert, and the rest is history.  Major, major church history. 


He is the patron saint of kidney disease. I have no idea why.  If anyone knows why, I'd love to hear it. Here is my best guess: the other monks tried to poison him. Twice.

Benedict was all about discipline and rules and the monks didn't much care for what he was asking of them.  They put poison in his drink. The goblet shattered.  They put poison in his bread.  A raven swooped in and snatched it away. Let's hope the raven was part of a miracle and not just hungry or it was curtains for that raven.


The shattered goblet and the raven incident were viewed as miraculous and part of the reason St. Benedict's reputation grew.


I can't help but think that his association with poison might have something to do with the idea of bad kidneys. That's the best I can do.  I'd love to find out more, if there are any Benedict experts out there.


Meanwhile, we have two other questions that have been answered before, but they happily bear repeating:


Hello Dear Sister,

Who is a good saint for when you feel spiritually dead? i.e. - I feel like I'm praying to a brick wall. I go to Mass out of habit/duty. I am near to weeping out of frustration in not knowing how to "fix" this.
Not sure who the saint of the day is, but my answer is their two feet that follow Jesus.


Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta!


What a lovely blog - thank you for enriching our knowledge of our catholic tradition. A request more than a question: apparently there is no patron saint for autistic children. If you are going to the blogger's picnic/conference at the Vatican, please speak to the powers that be to allocate a saint to our wonderful children. And (perhaps of equal importance), a saint for those who take care of autistic children and adults - the educators, the doctors, mums and dads and sibling - there is a LOOOONG list and we all need help at times.


St. Joseph Cupertino!