Saint Robert Bellarmine Quote

It is not difficult for one seal to make many impressions exactly alike, but to vary shapes almost infinitely, which is what God has done in creation, this is in truth a divine work.

– Saint Robert Bellarmine

Saint Robert Bellarmine's patronage: canon lawyers; canonists; catechists; catechumens; archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage Quote

After this we must subjoin, that being redeemed and quickened by the blood of Christ, we ought to prefer nothing to Christ, because He preferred nothing to us, and on our account preferred evil things to good, poverty to riches, servitude to rule, death to immortality; that we, on the contrary, in our sufferings are preferring the riches and delights of paradise to the poverty of the world, eternal dominion and kingdom to the slavery of time, immortality to death, God and Christ to the devil and Antichrist.

– Saint Cyprian of Carthage from his Exhortation to Martyrdom

Saint Cyprian of Carthage's patronage: Algeria; North Africa

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Quote On the Blessed Virgin Mary

Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.

Perhaps someone will say: “Had she not known before that he would not die?” Undoubtedly. “Did she not expect him to rise again at once?” Surely. “And still she grieved over her crucified Son?” Intensely.

Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary’s Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.

– Saint Bernard of Clairvaux from a sermon on the Martyrdom of Mary at the foot of the Cross

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 Andrew of Crete Quote on the Holy Cross

Therefore, the cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation – very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God’s suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world.

-- Saint Andrew of Crete from a discourse on the Glory and Victory of the Cross

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

Saint Francis of Assisi Quote

It is not fitting, when one is in God's service, to have a gloomy face or a chilling look.

-- Saint Francis of Assisi

Saint Francis of Assisi's patronage: against fire; animals; Catholic Action; dying alone; ecology; environment; families; fire; lacemakers; merchants; peace; zoos; Italy; Assisi, Italy; Colorado; Sante Fe, New Mexico; archdiocese of San Francisco, California; archdiocese of Denver, Colorado; archdiocese of Sante Fe, New Mexico; diocese of Salina, Kansas.

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