Saint Bruno of Cologne Quote

For the devil may tempt the good, but he cannot find rest in them; for he is shaken violently, and upset, and driven out, now by their prayers, now by their tears of repentance, and now by their almsgiving and similar good works.

–- Saint Bruno of Cologne

Saint Bruno of Cologne's patronage: diabolic possession; Ruthenia; Germany; Calabria; monastic fraternities; Carthusians; trade marks; possessed people.

Saint Jerome Quote

No one should think that I mean to explain the entire subject matter of this great book of the prophet Isaiah in one brief sermon, since it contains all the mysteries of the lord. It prophesies that Emmanuel is to be born of a virgin and accomplish marvelous works and signs. It predicts his death, burial and resurrection from the dead as the Savior of all men. Whatever is proper to holy Scripture, whatever can be expressed in human language and understood by the human mind, is contained in the book of Isaiah.

– Saint Jerome from a commentary on Isaiah

Saint Jerome's patronage: Archeologists; archivists; Bible scholars; librarians; libraries; schoolchildren; students; translators; City of Saint-Jérôme, Quebec; diocese of Saint-Jérôme, Quebec; Taos Indian Pueblo

Saint John Vianney Quote on Angels

The first thing about the angels that we ought to imitate, is their consciousness of the Presence of God.

– Saint John Vianney

Saint Vincent de Paul Quote

Saint Vincent de Paul

As it is most certain that the teaching of Christ cannot deceive, if we would walk securely, we ought to attach ourselves to it with greatest confidence and to profess openly that we live according to it, and not to the maxims of the world, which are all deceitful. This is the fundamental maxim of all Christian perfection.

– Saint Vincent de Paul

Saint Vincent de Paul's patronage: charitable societies; charities; horses; hospitals; leprosy; lost articles; prisoners; volunteers; spiritual help; Saint Vincent de Paul Societies; Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory; Vincentian Service Corps; Madagascar; diocese of Richmond, Virginia; volunteers.

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina Quote

Stay with me, Lord, for it is necessary to have You present so that I do not forget You. You know how easily I abandon You. Stay with me, Lord, because I am weak and I need Your strength, that I may not fall so often. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my life and without You I am without fervor. Stay with me, Lord, for You are my light and without You I am in darkness. Stay with me, Lord, to show me Your will. Stay with me, Lord, so that I hear Your voice and follow You. Stay with me, Lord, for I desire to love You very much and alway be in Your company. Stay with me, Lord, if You wish me to be faithful to You. Stay with me, Lord, as poor as my soul is I want it to be a place of consolation for You, a nest of Love. Stay with me, Jesus, for it is getting late and the day is coming to a close and life passes, death, judgment and eternity approaches. It is necessary to renew my strength, so that I will not stop along the way and for that, I need You. It is getting late and death approaches, I fear the darkness, the temptations, the dryness, the cross, the sorrows. O how I need You, my Jesus, in this night of exile! Stay with me tonight, Jesus, in life with all its dangers, I need You. Let me recognize You as Your disciples did at the breaking of the bread, so that the Eucharistic Communion be the Light which disperses the darkness, the force which sustains me, the unique joy of my heart. Stay with me, Lord, because at the hour of my death, I want to remain united to You, if not by Communion, at least by grace and love. Stay with me, Lord, for it is You alone I look for, Your Love, Your Grace, Your Will, Your Heart, Your Spirit, because I love You and ask no other reward but to love You more and more. With a firm love, I will love You with all my heart while on earth and continue to love You perfectly during all eternity. Amen.

– Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina from his Prayer After Holy Communion

Saint Padre Pio of Pietrelcina's patronage: Civil defense volunteers; Adolescents; Pietrelcina; Stress relief; Italy; Malta

Saint Bede the Venerable Quote on Saint Matthew

"Saint Matthew"
-- by James Tissot

Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office, and he said to him: "Follow me.” Jesus saw Matthew, not merely in the usual sense, but more significantly with his merciful understanding of men. He saw the tax collector and, because he saw him through the eyes of mercy and chose him, he said to him: “Follow me.” This following meant imitating the pattern of his life – not just walking after him. Saint John tells us: “Whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” “And he rose and followed him.” There is no reason for surprise that the tax collector abandoned earthly wealth as soon as the Lord commanded him. Nor should one be amazed that neglecting his wealth, he joined a band of men whose leader had, on Matthew’s assessment, no riches at all. Our Lord summoned Matthew by speaking to him in words. By an invisible, interior impulse flooding his mind with the light of grace, he instructed him to walk in his footsteps. In this way Matthew could understand that Christ, who was summoning him away from earthly possessions, had incorruptible treasures of heaven in his gift.

– Saint Bede the Venerable from a homily

Saint Matthew's patronage: Accountants; bankers; bookkeepers; customs officers; security guards; stock brokers; tax collectors; Salerno, Italy.

Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn Quote

This is my last hour of life, listen to me attentively: if I have held communication with foreigners, it has been for my religion and for my God. It is for Him that I die. My immortal life is on the point of beginning. Become Christians if you wish to be happy after death, because God has eternal chastisements in store for those who have refused to know Him.

– Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn

Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn's patronage: Korea; Korean Clergy

Trivia note: Saint Andrew Kim Tae-gŏn was the first native Korean priest.

Saint Joseph of Cupertino Quote

Clearly, what God wants above all is our will which we received as a free gift from God in creation and possess as though our own. When a man trains himself to acts of virtue, it is with the help of grace from God from whom all good things come that he does this. The will is what man has as his unique possession.

– Saint Joseph of Cupertino

Saint Joseph of Cupertino's patronage: air travellers; astronauts; aviators; paratroopers; pilots; students; test takers.

Saint John Chrysostom Quote

The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together.

-– Saint John Chrysostom

Saint John Chrysostom's patronage: Constantinople; epilepsy; orators; preachers; speakers; education; lecturers; Istanbul, Turkey

Blessed Charles Spinola Quote

I, who can aver that I now begin to be a disciple of Christ amid the greatest pain and confinement of prison, even when my strength seemed failing from hunger alone, I was always refreshed by such delights of consolation, that I deemed all my sufferings undergone in the divine service richly rewarded. Were I still to pass several years in this dungeon, the time would seem to me short in my intense desire of suffering for His love, who so lavishly rewards the labors of this life and makes even torture itself sweet and desirable. Yet God is to be served chiefly for himself alone, for He is the fountain of all goodness, and merits all our devotion without any hope of reward.

-– Blessed Charles Spinola

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino Quote

The heavens are not pure in the sight of Him Whom I serve; how then shall I, a sinful man, stand before Him?

-– Saint Nicholas of Tolentino

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino's patronage: animals; babies; boatmen; diocese of Cabanatuan, Philippines; dying people; Lambunao, Philippines; Guimbal, Iloilo, mariners; diocese of Mati; holy souls; Philippines; sailors; sick animals; souls in purgatory; diocese of Tandag, Philippines; watermen; patron saint of Surigao City, La Huerta, Parañaque City and Buli and Cupang in Muntinlupa City, San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte a town named after St. Nicholas De Tolentino, Banton, Romblon in the Philippines; patron saint of La Aldea de San Nicolás in the island of Gran Canaria, Canary Island, Spain

Saint Peter Claver Quote

To do the will of God, man must despise his own; the more he dies to himself, the more he will live to God.

– Saint Peter Claver

Saint Peter Claver's patronage: against slavery; foreign missions; black people; race relations; Colombia; diocese of Shreveport, Louisiana; diocese of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Blessed Giovanni Battista Mazzucconi Quote

I do not know what He is preparing for me in the journey I begin tomorrow. I know one thing only, if He is good and loves me immensely, everything else: calm or storm, danger or safety, life or death, are merely changeable and passing expressions of the beloved immutable, eternal Love. Yes, my beloved brethren, we have another country, another home, a kingdom where we must all meet, where there will no longer be separations or departures, where past sorrows and danger will merely serve to increase our consolation and glory.

-– Blessed Giovanni Battista Mazzucconi, writing before his last missionary journey

Saint John Berchmans Quote

Our true worth does not consist in what human beings think of us. What we really are consists in what God knows us to be.

~ Saint John Berchmans

Saint John Berchmans' patronage: Altar Servers; Jesuit scholastics; and students

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Quote

Look at that clever calumniator! He begins by fetching a deep sigh, he affects to be humble, and puts on a modest look, and with a voice choking with sobs tries to gloss over the slander which is on the tip of his tongue. One would fancy that he expressly assumed a calm and easy demeanor; for when he speaks against his brother, it is in a tender and compassionate tone. I am really hurt, says he, to find that our brother has fallen into such a sin; you all know how much I love him, and how often I have tried to correct him. It is not today that I have noticed his failing; for I should always be on my guard to speak of others, but others have spoken of it too. It would be in vain to disguise the fact; it is only too true, and with tears in my eyes I tell it to you. This poor unfortunate brother has talent, but it must be confessed that he is very guilty, and however great may be our friendship for him, it is impossible to excuse him.

– Saint Bernard of Clairvaux from a sermon

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux's patronage: Cistercians; Cistercian Order; Burgundy, France; beekeepers; bees; candlemakers; chandlers; Gibraltar, Spain; Algeciras; Queens' College, Cambridge; Speyer Cathedral; Knights Templar; wax-melters; and wax refiners

Saint Bernardine of Siena Quote

When a fire is lit to clear a field, it burns off all the dry and useless weeds and thorns. When the sun rises and darkness is dispelled, robbers, night-prowlers and burglars hide away. So when Paul's voice was raised to preach the Gospel to the nations, like a great clap of thunder in the sky, his preaching was a blazing fire carrying all before it. It was the sun rising in full glory. Infidelity was consumed by it, false beliefs fled away, and the truth appeared like a great candle lighting the whole world with its brilliant flame.

– Saint Bernardine of Siena

Saint Saint Bernardine of Siena's patronage: Advertisers; advertising; against hoarseness; Aquila, Italy; chest problems; Italy; Diocese of San Bernardino, California; gambling addicts; public relations personnel; public relations work; Bernalda, Italy

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Quote (On Saints)

 

Come, brothers, let us at length spur ourselves on. We must rise again with Christ, we must seek the world which is above and set our mind on the things of heaven. Let us long for those who are longing for us, hasten to those who are waiting for us, and ask those who look for our coming to intercede for us. We should not only want to be with the saints, we should also hope to possess their happiness. While we desire to be in their company, we must also earnestly seek to share in their glory. Do not imagine that there is anything harmful in such an ambition as this; there is no danger in setting our hearts on such glory.

– Saint Bernard of Clairvaux from a sermon

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux's patronage: Cistercians; Cistercian Order; Burgundy, France; beekeepers; bees; candlemakers; chandlers; Gibraltar, Spain; Algeciras; Queens' College, Cambridge; Speyer Cathedral; Knights Templar; wax-melters; and wax refiners

Saint Maximilian Kolbe Quote

If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion. a new prospect will open before me, and I shall meet it with peace.

– Saint Maximilian Kolbe

Saint Maximilian Kolbe's patronage: against drug addiction; amateur radio; drug addicts; families; imprisoned people; journalists; political prisoners; prisoners; and pro-life movement.

Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer Quote

Holiness is not something for some privileged few. God calls everyone; from everyone He waits for Love: from everyone, wherever they may be; from everyone, whatever may be their state in life, profession, or occupation.

– Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer

Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer's patronage: Opus Dei

Saint Thomas Aquinas Quote

To know whom to avoid is a great means of saving our souls.

– Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Thomas Aquinas’ patronage: Academics; against storms; against lightning; apologists; Aquino, Italy; diocese of Aquino-Pontecorvo, Italy; Belcastro, Italy; book sellers; Catholic academies; Catholic schools; Catholic universities; chastity; colleges; Falena, Italy; learning; lightning; pencil makers; philosophers; publishers; scholars; schools; storms; students; University of Santo Tomas; Santo Tomas, Batangas; diocese of Sora-Aquino-Pontecorvo, Italy; theologians; universities; University of Vigo.