Saint Brigid of Ireland

I wish I had a great lake of ale for the King of kings, and the family of heaven to drink it through time eternal. I wish I had the meats of belief and genuine piety, the flails of penance, and the men of heaven in my house.I would like keeves of peace to be at their disposal, vessels of charity for distribution, caves of mercy for their company, and cheerfulness to be in their drinking. I would want Jesus also to be in their midst, together with the three Marys of illustrious renown, and the people of heaven from all parts. I would like to be a rent-payer to the Lord, so that if I should suffer distress He would confer on me a good blessing.

-- Saint Brigid of Ireland

Saint John Bosco

My sons, in my long experience very often I had to be convinced of this great truth. It is easier to become angry than to restrain oneself, and to threaten a boy than to persuade him. Yes, indeed, it is more fitting to be persistent in punishing our own impatience and pride than to correct the boys. We must be firm but kind, and be patient with them.

See that no one finds you motivated by impetuosity or willfulness. It is difficult to keep calm when administering punishment, but this must be done if we are to keep ourselves from showing off our authority or spilling out our anger.

Let us regard those boys over whom we have some authority as our own sons. Let us place ourselves in their service. Let us be ashamed to assume an attitude of superiority. Let us not rule over them except for the purpose of serving them better.

This was the method that Jesus used with the apostles. He put up with their ignorance and roughness and even their infidelity. He treated sinners with a kindness and affection that caused some to be shocked, others to be scandalized and still others to hope for God's mercy. And so he bade us to be gentle and humble of heart.

-- Saint John Bosco from a letter

Saint Alphonsus Liguori

We must show charity towards the sick, who are in greater need of help. Let us take them some small gift if they are poor, or, at least let us go and wait on them and comfort them.

-- Saint Alphonsus Liguori

Saint Paul of the Cross

It is very good and holy to consider the passion of our Lord, and to meditate on it, for by this sacred path we reach union with God. In this most holy school we learn true wisdom, for it was there that all the saints learned it. 

-- Saint Paul of the Cross

Saint Thomas Aquinas

 Be assured that he who shall always walk faithfully in God's presence, always ready to give Him an account of all his actions, shall never be separated from Him by consenting to sin.

-- Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint John Baptist de la Salle

Pride makes us forgetful of our eternal interests. It causes us to neglect totally the care of our soul.

-- Saint John Baptist de la Salle

Saint Teresa of Avila

 
God, deliver me from sullen saints.

-- Saint Teresa of Avila

Saint Paul the Apostle

For this gospel I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, and therefore I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.

-- Saint Paul the Apostle from The Second Letter of Paul To Timothy 1: 11-12

Saint Francis De Sales

In the royal galley of divine Love, there is no galley slave: all rowers are volunteers.

-- Saint Francis De Sales

Saint Peter Julian Eymard

He loves, He hopes, He waits. If He came down on our altars on certain days only, some sinner, on being moved to repentance, might have to look for Him, and not finding Him, might have to wait. Our Lord prefers to wait Himself for the sinner for years rather than keep him waiting one instant.

-- Saint Peter Julian Eymard

Saint Vincent Pallotti

Not the goods of the world, but God.

Not riches, but God.

Not honors, but God.

Not distinction, but God.

Not dignities, but God.

Not advancement, but God.

God always and in everything. 

-- Saint Vincent Pallotti

Saint Agnes of Rome

Christ made my soul beautiful with the jewels of grace and virtue. I belong to Him whom the angels serve.

-- Saint Agnes of Rome

Saint John Vianney

I tell you that you have less to suffer in following the Cross than in serving the world and its pleasures.

-- Saint John Vianney

Saint Joseph Sebastian Pelczar

Earthly ideals are fading away. I see the ideal of life in sacrifice, and the ideal of sacrifice in priesthood.

-- Saint Joseph Sebastian Pelczar as a young man

Saint Jaime Hilario Barbal

To die for Christ, my young friends, is to live.

-- Saint Jaime Hilario Barbal

Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

Come, Holy Spirit. Spirit of truth, you are the reward of the saints, the comforter of souls, light in the darkness, riches to the poor, treasure to lovers, food for the hungry, comfort to those who are wandering; to sum up, you are the one in whom all treasures are contained.

-- Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi

Pope Saint Pius X

My hope is in Christ, who strengthens the weakest by His Divine help. I can do all in Him who strengthens me. His Power is infinite, and if I lean on him, it will be mine. His Wisdom is infinite, and if I look to Him for counsel, I shall not be deceived. His Goodness is infinite, and if my trust is stayed in Him, I shall not be abandoned.

-- Pope Saint Pius X

Saint Francis of Assisi

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society. 

-- Saint Francis of Assisi

Saint Thomas Aquinas

Almsgiving proceeds from a merciful heart and is more useful for the one who practices it than for the one who receives it, for the man who makes a practice of almsgiving draws out a spiritual profit from his acts, whilst those who receive his alms receive only a temporal benefit.

-- Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

If you must decided between me and the child, do not hesitate: choose the child - I insist on it. Save him.

-- Saint Gianna Beretta Molla

Saint Macarius the Wonder Worker

To you, O Master, who loves all mankind

I hasten on rising from sleep.

By your mercy I go out to do your work

and I make my prayer to you.

Help me at all times and in all things.

Deliver me from every evil thing of this world

and from pursuit by the devil.

Save me and bring me to your eternal kingdom,

For you are my Creator,

You inspire all good thoughts in me.

In you is all my hope and to you I give glory,

now and forever.

-- Saint Macarius the Wonder Worker

Saint Frances Salesia

Let us establish a permanent Spring season in our heart through ‘yes’ often repeated to all of God’s permissions and wills.

-- Saint Frances Salesia

Pope Saint Pius X

Whereas in the Lord's Prayer, we are bidden to ask for 'our daily bread,' the Holy Fathers of the Church all but unanimously teach that by these words must be understood, not so much that material bread which is the support of the body, as the Eucharistic bread, which ought to be our daily food.

-- Pope Saint Pius X

Saint John the Baptist

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 

-- Saint John the Baptist from the Gospel According to John 1: 29

Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

It is better to be the child of God than king of the whole world.

-- Saint Aloysius Gonzaga

Saint Vincent Ferrer

Christ, the Master of humility, manifests His Truth only to the humble and hides Himself from the proud.

-- Saint Vincent Ferrer

Saint Andre Bessette

When I joined this community, the superiors showed me the door, and I remained forty years.

-- Saint Andre Bessette This was in regard to Saint Andre having difficulty in being accepted into the order of the Holy Cross Brothers, and upon being accepted was given the job of doorkeeper.

Saint John Nepomucene Neumann

The few [priests] we have are sadly out of proportion to the ever-increasing wants of the faithful. There are Catholics who have not been to confession for many years, and there are young people of nineteen or twenty who have nothing of Catholicity about them, saving their baptism and all this from the want of priests. The longer this need continues, the more difficult it will be to reanimate faith and the fear of God.

-- Saint John Nepomucene Neumann

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

We know certainly that our God calls us to a holy life. We know that he gives us every grace, every abundant grace; and though we are so weak of ourselves, this grace is able to carry us through every obstacle and difficulty.

-- Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton 

Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Let us not esteem worldly prosperity or adversity as things real or of any moment, but let us live elsewhere, and raise all our attention to Heaven; esteeming sin as the only true evil, and nothing truly good, but virtue which unites us to God.  

-- Saint Gregory Nazianzen

Saint Basil the Great

Of the dogmas and messages preserved in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the tradition of the apostles, handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety, both are of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matters ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the gospel in its vitals; or rather, we would reduce the Christian message to a mere term.

-- Saint Basil the Great

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Mary's viginity and giving birth, and even the Lord's death escaped the notice of the prince of this world; these three mysteries worthy of proclamation were accomplished in God's silence.

-- Saint Ignatius of Antioch