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 Paul Chong Hasang Quote

I have told you that I am a Christian, and will be one until my death.

-- Saint Paul Chong Hasang

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 Jerome Quote

Thank God I am deemed worthy to be hated by the world.

– Saint Jerome

Saint Jerome's patronage: archeologists; archivists; Bible scholars; librarians; libraries; school children; students; translators

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 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.