1. St. Rita
•Feast Day: May 22
•Though she wanted to be a nun, St. Rita got
married in obedience to her parents.
•Her husband was a cruel and abusive man.
He was killed by his enemies, and Rita’s sons
sought revenge.
•St. Rita prayed that they would not commit
the sin of murder. They repented and forgave
the killers. Soon after, they both died.
•In 1417, Rita entered the convent. She spent
her days deep in prayer.
•One day while praying, she asked to share in
the suffering of Christ. From that day on, she
bore the stigmata of a thorn from the Crown
of Thorns on her forehead.
•St. Rita died on May 22, 1457
*Patron of desperate situations
and the impossible

2. St. Joan of Arc
•Feast Day: May 30
•In 1431 Joan was given leadership of the
French forces fighting the English during
the Hundred Years War.
•She heard the voices of St. Michael and
other saints, who told her of he mission to
help France.
•At 19, St. Joan was captured and sold to
the English. When she would not deny the
voices she heard, she was declared a witch
and burned at the stake.
•St. Joan was canonized in 1920
•Patron of France

3. St. Maria Goretti
•Feast Day: July 6
•Maria Goretti lived in poverty with her
family in Italy. When she was 12, she was
stabbed 14 times by an 19-year old
neighbor, Alessandro Serenelli, because
she resisted his advances.
•As she lay dying in the hospital, Maria
forgave her killer and prayed that he would
repent and turn to God.
•==============================
•After serving six years of a thirty year
sentence, Alessandro began having dreams
in which Maria appeared to him. He
began to repent for his sins.
* Patron of young people
•When he was released from prison, he
entered a monastery to continue his
penance. He and Maria’s mother and
siblings were together at her canonization
in 1950.

4. Saints Joachim & Anne
•Feast Day: July 26
•Joachim and Anne are the names traditionally given
to Mary’s parents
•Joachim and Anne were strong in their faith and
raised Mary to be faithful as well.
•They are the Patrons of grandparents

5. •Feast Day: August 27
•Monica prayed successfully for
the conversion of her pagan
husband and for her son, St.
Augustine.
•Patron of mothers and alcoholics
St. Monica

6. St. Augustine of Hippo
•Feast Day: August 28
•Doctor of the Church who wrote
Confessions, a book about his
struggle to find God.
•His mother, St. Monica, prayed for
his conversion.
•Patron of printers and brewers

7. The Archangels
St. Michael cast Lucifer out
of Heaven; Patron of police
and guardian of souls.
* Feast Day: September 29
St. Gabriel was the Angel
who told Mary that she
would be the Mother of
the Savior; Patron of
communications.
St. Raphael traveled
with and guarded
Tobiah in the O.T.
book of Tobit;
Patron of travelers.

8. St. Therese of the Child Jesus
(St. Therese of Lisieux)
•Feast Day: October 1
•Called the Little Flower, Therese was a Carmelite
nun who taught by word and example about pure
faith and simplicity.
•St. Therese was declared a Doctor of the Church in
1997 by Pope John Paul II. Her autobiography is
called Story of a Soul.
•She died at age 24 and
was canonized in 1915.
•Therese defined her path
to holiness as “The Little
Way”
•Patron of florists and
AIDS sufferers.

9. You know well enough that Our Lord does not look so much
at the greatness of our actions, nor even at their
difficulty, but at the love with which we do them.
-Saint Therese of Lisieux
The knowledge that it was impossible to do anything of myself greatly
simplified my task. Confident that the rest would be given me over and
above, the one aim of my interior life was to unite myself more and more
closely with God.
- St. Therese of Lisieux
Prayer to St. Therese
St. Therese, the Little Flower, please
pick me a rose from the heavenly
garden and send it to me with a
message of love. Ask God to grant the
favor I thee implore, and tell Him I
will love Him each day more and more.

10. St. Francis of Assisi
•Feast Day: October 4
•Gave up a life of wealth to serve
God.
•He loved all creation, including
animals.
•St. Francis founded the Franciscan
Order of priests
•He wrote the well-known Peace
Prayer
•Patron of animals, the
environment, and vegetarians
“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures
from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men
who deal likewise with their fellow men.”

11. St. Teresa of Avila
•Feast Day: October 15
•Doctor of the Church who
entered the Carmelite Order at
age 17
•Her writings include The Way of
Perfection, in which she gives
personal insights about how
prayer can strengthen one’s
relationship with God
•Teresa experienced Holy Visions
•Patron of Spain

12. St. Nicholas
•Feast Day: December 6
•Bishop of Myra (in modern-day Turkey)
•Protector of the innocent
•There are many stories and legends about
Nicholas helping the poor
•Patron of children

13. St. Lucy
•Feast Day: December 13
•St. Lucy vowed her life to
Christ
•When she would not
marry a man, he had her
tortured and killed
•Patron of vision and eyes

14. The Holy Innocents
•Feast Day:
December 28
•These
represent the
children
slaughtered by
Herod when
he was
searching for
the infant
Jesus
•Patrons of
babies
Painting c. 1640 by Francesco de Rosa – Philadelphia Museum of Art